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At least 811 records · Page 45

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NASA NTRS1977

An experimental investigation of a three-dimensional wall jet

An experimental investigation of the effects of a curved and flat wall surface on the flow development of an axisymmetric jet exhausting into a moving airstream has been made. Of primary concern was the comparison of the one-point statistical properties of the unconfined jet to the quantities measured in the flows over a flat plate and a curved wall surface. Quantities measured in this investigation included mean velocities in all three directions, turbulent intensities, autocorrelations, power spectral densities, and intermittencies. The investigation was confined to the near field of the turbulent jet. The curved wall (flap) was found to have a very large effect on both the mean velocity and the turbulent velocity components of the flowfield. The potential core region of the jet was found to break up most rapidly for the flow over the flap. A laser-Doppler velocimeter, using a phase locked-loop processor, was used to make the desired velocity field measurements. To determine the intermittency profiles, a laser light scattering technique was employed.

Catalano, G. D.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Silicon Solar Cell Process Development, Fabrication and Analysis, Phase 1

Solar cells from RTR ribbons, EFG (RF and RH) ribbons, dendritic webs, Silso wafers, cast silicon by HEM, silicon on ceramic, and continuous Czochralski ingots were fabricated using a standard process typical of those used currently in the silicon solar cell industry. Back surface field (BSF) processing and other process modifications were included to give preliminary indications of possible improved performance. The parameters measured included open circuit voltage, short circuit current, curve fill factor, and conversion efficiency (all taken under AM0 illumination). Also measured for typical cells were spectral response, dark I-V characteristics, minority carrier diffusion length, and photoresponse by fine light spot scanning. the results were compared to the properties of cells made from conventional single crystalline Czochralski silicon with an emphasis on statistical evaluation. Limited efforts were made to identify growth defects which will influence solar cell performance.

Yoo, H. I.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Protoplanetary material around nearby stars

A statistical analysis of IRAS observations indicates that about 20 percent of the nearby main sequence stars, and probably a similar fraction of main sequence stars not detectable by IRAS, shows evidence of significant infrared excess beyond 12 microns. Spectral type A dwarfs are predominant, but not exclusive in showing large 60-micron excesses. The solar system, when viewed from sufficient distance, appears to have, in contrast to this, less than 1 percent of cool infrared excess. These observational facts are consistent with the working hypothesis that cold infrared excess in stable main sequence stars is due to protoplanetary material, observable during the accretion phase in the evolution of a solar system.

Aumann, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Mesospheric ozone changes associated with 27-day solar ultraviolet flux variations

Solar ultraviolet flux changes associated with the 27-day solar rotational period cause corresponding variations in mesospheric ozone near the maximum of the 11-year sunspot cycle. This statement is based on a correlation and spectral analysis of ozone mixing ratios, deduced from Solar Mesospheric explorer satellite-based measurements of 1.27-micron O2 airglow emission and solar flux observations made from the same spacecraft in 1982. With the Lyman-alpha flux taken as an indicator of solar ultraviolet variability, spectral analysis shows a primary period of 27.1 days with a secondary period of 13.5 days. The 27.1-day period is observed in the ozone mixing ratio data together with other periods, including 13.5 days. Both a classical statistical analysis and a time series treatment show that, for 244 days, there is a correlation between ozone and solar flux near 50 km and between 65 and 70 km. Calculations predict a positive correlation over the entire mesosphere if there is no change in temperature accompanying the solar flux. Lack of correlation is temperature induced.

Aikin, A. C.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Observational Review of Gamma-Ray Bursts

The observed gamma-ray temporal, spectral, intensity and spatial distribution characteristics of GRBs (Gamma Ray Bursts), primarily from data obtained from the Compton Observatory, will be described. The talk will concentrate on recent studies of burst properties, correlations of GRB parameters and other statistical studies that have only recently come to light with the unprecedented sample of over two thousand GRBs, along with some mention of studies in progress by members of the BATSE (Burst and Transient Source Experiment) team. Recent studies of possible observational biases, un-triggered GRBs and threshold calculations for BATSE will also be described.

Fishman, Gerald J.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Gamma-Ray Burst Observations with BATSE

The observed gamma-ray temporal, spectral, and duration distribution characteristics of GRBs (Gamma Ray Bursts) from data obtained from the BATSE/Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory will be described. The talk will concentrate on studies of burst properties, correlations of GRB parameters and other statistical properties from the unprecedented sample of over 2700 GRBs.

Fishman, G. J.↗

NASA NTRS2021

The role of analysis error in the convergence of reanalysis production streams in MERRA-2

Due to production time constraints, most reanalyses are produced in multiple parallel streams instead of a single continuous one. These streams cover separate segments of the reanalysis time period with short overlaps to allow reconstruction of the official record. A fundamental assumption justifying this approach is that the streams will be assimilating the same observations during the periods where they overlap, and so will eventually converge to a similar atmospheric state, making discontinuities at stream junctions negligible. This assumption is revisited in this work by examining the impact of analysis error on the differences between MERRA-2 overlapping streams in three historical periods. Comparison results are shown in terms of standard deviations of stream differences as well as the spectral decomposition of the variance of their differences. Residual differences were found at the end of each year of overlap, with larger values observed in the earlier segments of the presatellite era. By drawing parallels with analysis error statistics estimated from the GMAO OSSE system, these differences are shown to reflect the varying constraint of data with the varying observing network, and to further carry the imprint of errors that the data assimilation process is not able to mitigate. As such, they are unlikely to be reduced by longer spinup periods. The ability of data assimilation to ensure continuity in the parallel streams is put into question when the observing system coverage is inadequate or simply when the data assimilation system as a whole is suboptimal.

Amal El Akkraoui↗

NASA NTRS1979

The role of phenology in statistical crop acreage measurement

In order to achieve market acceptance, the accuracy of remote sensing systems needs to be increased from the historically achieved average level of approximately 80-85% to 96-98%, i.e., by a factor of at least three, preferably five. A theory of discrimination is developed based on the fine-grained spectral data from LACIE supersites. It is shown that significant improvements in discrimination accuracy are possible by exploiting the differentials of crop spectra occurring between different phenologic stages. The major effects of such techniques on data system design are examined with respect to recurrence frequency, data volume, and information extraction.

Castruccio, P. A.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Inventory of forest and rangeland and detection of forest stress

The author has identified the following significant results. Three small scales of CIR photography were interpreted to determine the number of bark beetle-killed trees detected in each of six spot size categories. A procedure was developed to predict the probability of detecting spots in each spot size category and in turn to estimate the number of infestations and dead trees even on the smallest scale. Statistical tests of the data indicated that the linear model did not fit the data and that other models should be tested. As a result of daily monitoring of Black Hills radiometric instruments it was possible to show the spectral energy relationships in the ponderosa pine ecosystems over time. These data have been helpful for comparison with radiance signatures extracted from ERTS-1 bulk 70mm using precision microdensitometry. Effects of atmospheric interference were shown by a 30 percent increase in scene radiance on channel 4 of the satellite imagery. A calibration and scaling technique was developed and tested to enable interpretation of ERTS-1 bulk and precision data for the Atlanta test site. The technique includes calibration of a photographic copy system for the I2S image combiner and the production of scaled overlays of grid coordinate systems, study area locations, and outline maps of county boundaries.

Heller, R. C.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Statistics of the radiated field of a space-to-earth microwave power transfer system

Statistics such as average power density pattern, variance of the power density pattern and variance of the beam pointing error are related to hardware parameters such as transmitter rms phase error and rms amplitude error. Also a limitation on spectral width of the phase reference for phase control was established. A 1 km diameter transmitter appears feasible provided the total rms insertion phase errors of the phase control modules does not exceed 10 deg, amplitude errors do not exceed 10% rms, and the phase reference spectral width does not exceed approximately 3 kHz. With these conditions the expected radiation pattern is virtually the same as the error free pattern, and the rms beam pointing error would be insignificant (approximately 10 meters).

Stevens, G. H.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Dipole and quadrupole anisotropy of the 2.7 K radiation

Results of measurements of the dipole and quadrupole anisotropy of the microwave background radiation are reported. Balloon-borne measurements of the temperature difference between two horn antennas pointed 90 deg apart and 45 deg from the zenith were carried out at frequencies of 24.8, 31.4 and 46.0 GHz to determine three dipole and four quadrupole parameters. When combined with data from two previous balloon flights, a dipole anisotropy of 3.78 + or - 0.30 mK in the direction 11.6 + or - 0.2 h RA, -12 + or - 5 deg dec is obtained. The measurements reveal a spectral index of 0.04 + or - 0.28 between 19.0 and 46.0 GHz, indicating that the dipole effect arises from an intrinsic anisotropy in the temperature of the background and/or a first-order Doppler shift due to solar motions. A statistically significant quadrupole effect is also detected which is attributed to the intrinsic anisotropy of the 2.7 K background.

Boughn, S. P.↗

NASA NTRS1982

The possible modifications of the Hisse model for pure LANDSAT agricultural data

An idea, due to A. Feiveson, is presented for relaxing the assumption of class conditional independence of LANDSAT spectral measurements within the same patch (field). Theoretical arguments are given which show that any significant refinement of the model beyond Feiveson's proposal will not allow the reduction, essential to HISSE, of the pure data to patch summary statistics. A slight alteration of the new model is shown to be a reasonable approximation to the model which describes pure data elements from the same patch as jointly Guassian with a covariance function which exhibits exponential decay with respect to spatial separation.

Peters, C.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Vertical tilts of tropospheric waves - Observations and theory

Two methods are used to investigate the vertical tilts of planetary waves as functions of zonal wavenumber and frequency. The vertical tilts are computed by cross-spectral analysis of the geopotential heights at different pressures. In the midlatitude troposphere, the eastward-moving waves had a westward tilt with height, as expected, but the westward-moving waves with frequencies higher than 0.2/d showed statistically significant eastward vertical tilts. For a free Rossby wave, this implies that the Eliassen-Palm flux is downward along with its energy propagation. A downward energy propagation suggests an upper-level source of these waves. It is proposed that the eastward-tilting waves were forced by the nonlinear interaction of stationary waves and baroclinically unstable cyclone-scale waves. The predicted vertical tilt and phase speed were consistent with the observations. In addition, simulations of a general circulation model were analyzed. In the control run, eastward-tilting waves disappeared when the sources of stationary waves were removed. This is consistent with the present theory.

Ebisuzaki, Wesley↗

NASA NTRS1995

Measurements in Transitional Boundary Layers Under High Free-Stream Turbulence and Strong Acceleration Conditions

Measurements from transitional, heated boundary layers along a concave-curved test wall are presented and discussed. A boundary layer subject to low free-stream turbulence intensity (FSTI), which contains stationary streamwise (Gortler) vortices, is documented. The low FSTI measurements are followed by measurements in boundary layers subject to high (initially 8%) free-stream turbulence intensity and moderate to strong streamwise acceleration. Conditions were chosen to simulate those present on the downstream half of the pressure side of a gas turbine airfoil. Mean flow characteristics as well as turbulence statistics, including the turbulent shear stress, turbulent heat flux, and turbulent Prandtl number, are documented. A technique called "octant analysis" is introduced and applied to several cases from the literature as well as to data from the present study. Spectral analysis was applied to describe the effects of turbulence scales of different sizes during transition. To the authors'knowledge, this is the first detailed documentation of boundary layer transition under such high free-stream turbulence conditions.

Volino, Ralph J.↗

NASA NTRS2004

An Artificial Intelligence Classification Tool and Its Application to Gamma-Ray Bursts

Despite being the most energetic phenomenon in the known universe, the astrophysics of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has still proven difficult to understand. It has only been within the past five years that the GRB distance scale has been firmly established, on the basis of a few dozen bursts with x-ray, optical, and radio afterglows. The afterglows indicate source redshifts of z=1 to z=5, total energy outputs of roughly 10(exp 52) ergs, and energy confined to the far x-ray to near gamma-ray regime of the electromagnetic spectrum. The multi-wavelength afterglow observations have thus far provided more insight on the nature of the GRB mechanism than the GRB observations; far more papers have been written about the few observed gamma-ray burst afterglows in the past few years than about the thousands of detected gamma-ray bursts. One reason the GRB central engine is still so poorly understood is that GRBs have complex, overlapping characteristics that do not appear to be produced by one homogeneous process. At least two subclasses have been found on the basis of duration, spectral hardness, and fluence (time integrated flux); Class 1 bursts are softer, longer, and brighter than Class 2 bursts (with two second durations indicating a rough division). A third GRB subclass, overlapping the other two, has been identified using statistical clustering techniques; Class 3 bursts are intermediate between Class 1 and Class 2 bursts in brightness and duration, but are softer than Class 1 bursts. We are developing a tool to aid scientists in the study of GRB properties. In the process of developing this tool, we are building a large gamma-ray burst classification database. We are also scientifically analyzing some GRB data as we develop the tool. Tool development thus proceeds in tandem with the dataset for which it is being designed. The tool invokes a modified KDD (Knowledge Discovery in Databases) process, which is described as follows.

Hakkila, Jon↗

NASA NTRS2012

Satellite Remote Sensing of Snow/Ice Albedo over the Himalayas

The Himalayan glaciers and snowpacks play an important role in the hydrological cycle over Asia. The seasonal snow melt from the Himalayan glaciers and snowpacks is one of the key elements to the livelihood of the downstream densely populated regions of South Asia. During the pre-monsoon season (April-May-June), South Asia not only experiences the reversal of the regional meridional tropospheric temperature gradient (i.e., the onset of the summer monsoon), but also is being bombarded by dry westerly airmass that transports mineral dust from various Southwest Asian desert and arid regions into the Indo-Gangetic Plains in northern India. Mixed with heavy anthropogenic pollution, mineral dust constitutes the bulk of regional aerosol loading and forms an extensive and vertically extended brown haze lapping against the southern slopes of the Himalayas. Episodic dust plumes are advected over the Himalayas, and are discernible in satellite imagery, resulting in dust-capped snow surface. Motivated by the potential implications of accelerated snowmelt, we examine the changes in radiative energetics induced by aerosol transport over the Himalayan snow cover by utilizing space borne observations. Our objective lies in the investigation of potential impacts of aerosol solar absorption on the Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) spectral reflectivity and the broadband albedo, and hence the accelerated snowmelt, particularly in the western Himalayas. Lambertian Equivalent Reflectivity (LER) in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths, derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer radiances, is used to generate statistics for determining perturbation caused due to dust layer over snow surface in over ten years of continuous observations. Case studies indicate significant reduction of LER ranging from 5 to 8% in the 412-860nm spectra. Broadband flux observations, from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System, are also used to investigate changes in shortwave TOA flux over dust-laden and dust-free snow covered regions. Additionally, spatio-temporal and intra-seasonal variations of LER, along with snow cover information, are used to characterize the seasonal melt pattern and thus to distinguish the outstanding aerosol-induced snowmelt signal. Results from this observational work are expected to provide better understanding of the radiative impact of aerosols over snow surface, especially its role in the Himalayan hydro-glacialogical variability.

Hsu, N. Christina↗

NASA NTRS2013

Interior Noise Predictions in the Preliminary Design of the Large Civil Tiltrotor (LCTR2)

A prediction scheme was established to compute sound pressure levels in the interior of a simplified cabin model of the second generation Large Civil Tiltrotor (LCTR2) during cruise conditions, while being excited by turbulent boundary layer flow over the fuselage, or by tiltrotor blade loading and thickness noise. Finite element models of the cabin structure, interior acoustic space, and acoustically absorbent (poro-elastic) materials in the fuselage were generated and combined into a coupled structural-acoustic model. Fluctuating power spectral densities were computed according to the Efimtsov turbulent boundary layer excitation model. Noise associated with the tiltrotor blades was predicted in the time domain as fluctuating surface pressures and converted to power spectral densities at the fuselage skin finite element nodes. A hybrid finite element (FE) approach was used to compute the low frequency acoustic cabin response over the frequency range 6-141 Hz with a 1 Hz bandwidth, and the Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) approach was used to predict the interior noise for the 125-8000 Hz one-third octave bands.

Grosveld, Ferdinand W.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Climatology of the Aerosol Optical Depth by Components from the Multi-Angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) and Chemistry Transport Models

The Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) Joint Aerosol (JOINT_AS) Level 3 product has provided a global, descriptive summary of MISR Level 2 aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol type information for each month over 16+ years since March 2000. Using Version 1 of JOINT_AS, which is based on the operational (Version 22) MISR Level 2 aerosol product, this study analyzes, for the first time, characteristics of observed and simulated distributions of AOD for three broad classes of aerosols: spherical nonabsorbing, spherical absorbing, and nonspherical - near or downwind of their major source regions. The statistical moments (means, standard deviations, and skew-nesses) and distributions of AOD by components derived from the JOINT_AS are compared with results from two chemistry transport models (CTMs), the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) and SPectral RadIatioN-TrAnSport (SPRINTARS). Overall, the AOD distributions retrieved from MISR and modeled by GOCART and SPRINTARS agree with each other in a qualitative sense. Marginal distributions of AOD for each aerosol type in both MISR and models show considerable high positive skewness, which indicates the importance of including extreme AOD events when comparing satellite retrievals with models. The MISR JOINT_AS product will greatly facilitate comparisons between satellite observations and model simulations of aerosols by type.

SPRINTARS↗