Carbon isotopic trends in the hypersaline ponds and microbial mats at Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico - Implications for Precambrian stromatolites
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Des Marais, David J.↗
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Carbon isotopic trends in the hypersaline ponds and microbial mats at Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico - Implications for precambrian stromatolites
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Des Marais, David J.↗
Antarctic ozone hole - Possible implications for ozone trends in the Southern Hemisphere
Satellite-borne instruments (the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer and the Solar Backscattered Ultraviolet Instrument) show that, compared to 1979, total column ozone has a year-round decrease of more than 5 percent in the neighborhood of 60 deg S. The meteorological conditions (warmer temperatures, the absence of polar stratospheric clouds) at these latitudes do not seem to favor heterogeneous chemistry as the direct cause for the observed year-round ozone reduction. A mechanism involving the seasonal transport of ozone-poor air from within the polar vortex to lower latitudes (the so-called 'dilution effect') is proposed as a possible explanation for the observed year-round ozone reduction in subpolar regions. A two-dimensional model with an imposed springtime Antarctic ozone depletion is used to study the post-ozone hole impact on the spatial and temporal distributions of column ozone at latitudes north of 60 deg S. It is found that the time constant associated with the dilution effect in the latitude region 40-60 deg S is about 1 year, long enough to contribute to the observed year-round decrease of total ozone in that region.
Sze, N. D.↗
Lightning trends as a precursor to microbursts
The feasibility of using lightning-rate data to aid in the early warning of microburst occurrence in moist environments is illustrated. Convective tendency images were generated for a small microburst-producing storm that developed in northern Alabama on July 20, 1986 during the Cooperative Huntsville Meteorological Experiment. Radar observations were obtained from the NCAR CP2 10-cm dual-polarization Doppler radar, while the measurements of total lightning activity were provided by the National Severe Storm Laboratory, a mobile laboratory that was located under the storm throughout its lifetime. The scenario for the evolution of wet microburst producing thunderstorms is described.
Buechler, Dennis E.↗
Modeling, design, and control of flexible manipulator arms: Status and trends
The desire for higher performance manipulators has lead to dynamic behavior in which the flexibility is an essential aspect. The mathematical representations commonly used in modeling flexible arms and arms with flexible drives are examined first. Then design considerations directly arising from the flexible nature of the arm are discussed. Finally, controls of joints for general and tip motion are discussed.
Book, Wayne J.↗
Modeling future trends in wetland loss and brown shrimp production in Louisiana using Thematic Mapper imagery
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Browder, Joan A.↗
Lagrangian photochemical modeling studies of the 1987 Antarctic spring vortex. II - Seasonal trends in ozone
A photochemical model consisting of 40 species and 107 reactions is integrated along 80-day air parcel trajectories calculated in the lower stratosphere for the springtime Antarctic. For the trajectory starting at 58 deg S, which may be regarded as outside the circumpolar vortex, only a small change in O3 occurs in the model. In contrast, for the air parcel starting in the vortex at 74 deg S, the O3 concentration is reduced by 93 percent during the 80 days from the beginning of August to late October. The model results for several species are compared with measurements from the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment and, in general, good agreement is obtained. In the model, the dentrification of the air parcels in polar stratospheric clouds increases the amount of chlorine present in active form. Heterogeneous reactions maintain high active chlorine which destroys O3 via the formation of the ClO dimer. Results of calculations with reduced concentrations of inorganic chlorine show considerably reduced O3 destruction rates and compare favorably with the behavior of total O3 since the late 1970s. The remaining major uncertainties in the photochemical aspects of the Antarctic ozone hole are highlighted.
Austin, J.↗
Reconstruction of the constituent distribution and trends in the Antarctic polar vortex from ER-2 flight observations
The measurements of ozone, ClO, and N2O concentrations in the south polar region taken aboard the ER-2 aircraft during the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment are analyzed using conservative coordinate transformations to potential temperature-N2O and potential temperature-potential vorticity space. The latter transformation is equivalent to interpreting trace species observations within the modified Lagrangian mean (MLM) coordinate system. The results show that the MLM transformed ozone concentration decreases at about 0.06 ppmv per day between 20- and 16-km altitude inside the polar vortex during the mid-August to mid-September period. These ozone changes are collocated with the region of high ClO concentration. Outside the chemically perturbed region, at the highest aircraft altitudes, ozone concentration systematically increases, suggesting a diabatic cooling of the order 0.3-0.6 K/day.
Schoeberl, Mark R.↗
Trends and individual differences in response to short-haul flight operations
A survey of airline pilots was undertaken to determine normative patterns and individual differences in mood and sleep during short-haul flight operations. The results revealed that over the course of a typical 2-d trip, pilots experience a decline in positive mood, or activity, and an increase in negative mood, or tension. On layovers, pilots report experiencing sleep of shorter duration and poorer quality than at home. These patterns are very similar to those reported by Gander and Graeber (1987) and by Gander et al. (1988), using high-fidelity sleep and activity monitoring equipment. Examination of the impact of two personality dimensions extracted from the Jenkins Activity Survey measure of the Type A personality, Achievement Striving and Impatience/Irritability, suggested that Impatience/Irritability may serve as a marker of individuals most likely to experience health-related problems on trips. Achievement Striving may serve as a predictor of performance in crew settings.
Chidester, Thomas R.↗
Scientific data visualization software - Trends and directions
Scientific data visualization has finally come of age as an important and accepted discipline. While scientists have been using computer graphics to visualize experimental data and computational results for at least 30 years, recent improvements in cost/performance of graphics workstations, more readily available software, and a new-found identity based on the report "Visualization in Scientific Computing" (McCormick, DeFanti, and Brown, 1987) have solidified the discipline. The thesis here is that scientists are forced to work too hard to create these visualizations, but that the evolving set of visualization tools can greatly reduce the requisite effort. The architecture of a new class of software can lead to a more widespread availability of interactive visualization tools, which can make the process of creating a visualization as simple as doing interactive chart and graph layout.
Foley, James D.↗
Trends in solar variability
Radiocarbon (delta C-14) records suggest a 200-year periodicity in solar activity in the last millennium. Researchers examined the Carbon-14 record going back 8 millennia for this and other periodicities. The computation differs from that in most previous work in its use of techniques developed for unevenly spaced sampling without rebinning the data to equally spaced intervals. A variation with a 200-year period is a strong feature of the Carbon-14 record going back several millennia. Periodicities that appear to be significant are listed and their physical interpretation discussed.
Jastrow, Robert↗
Control-Structure-Interaction (CSI) technologies and trends to future NASA missions
Control-structure-interaction (CSI) issues which are relevant for future NASA missions are reviewed. This goal was achieved by: (1) reviewing large space structures (LSS) technologies to provide a background and survey of the current state of the art (SOA); (2) analytically studying a focus mission to identify opportunities where CSI technology may be applied to enhance or enable future NASA spacecraft; and (3) expanding a portion of the focus mission, the large antenna, to provide in-depth trade studies, scaling laws, and methodologies which may be applied to other NASA missions. Several sections are presented. Section 1 defines CSI issues and presents an overview of the relevant modeling and control issues for LLS. Section 2 presents the results of the three phases of the CSI study. Section 2.1 gives the results of a CSI study conducted with the Geostationary Platform (Geoplat) as the focus mission. Section 2.2 contains an overview of the CSI control design methodology available in the technical community. Included is a survey of the CSI ground-based experiments which were conducted to verify theoretical performance predictions. Section 2.3 presents and demonstrates a new CSI scaling law methodology for assessing potential CSI with large antenna systems.
Source record↗
Software development environments: Status and trends
Currently software engineers are the essential integrating factors tying several components together. The components consist of process, methods, computers, tools, support environments, and software engineers. The engineers today empower the tools versus the tools empowering the engineers. Some of the issues in software engineering are quality, managing the software engineering process, and productivity. A strategy to accomplish this is to promote the evolution of software engineering from an ad hoc, labor intensive activity to a managed, technology supported discipline. This strategy may be implemented by putting the process under management control, adopting appropriate methods, inserting the technology that provides automated support for the process and methods, collecting automated tools into an integrated environment and educating the personnel.
Duffel, Larry E.↗
High rate information systems - Architectural trends in support of the interdisciplinary investigator
Data systems requirements in the Earth Observing System (EOS) Space Station Freedom (SSF) eras indicate increasing data volume, increased discipline interplay, higher complexity and broader data integration and interpretation. A response to the needs of the interdisciplinary investigator is proposed, considering the increasing complexity and rising costs of scientific investigation. The EOS Data Information System, conceived to be a widely distributed system with reliable communication links between central processing and the science user community, is described. Details are provided on information architecture, system models, intelligent data management of large complex databases, and standards for archiving ancillary data, using a research library, a laboratory and collaboration services.
Handley, Thomas H., Jr.↗
Advances and trends in computational structures technology
The major goals of computational structures technology (CST) are outlined, and recent advances in CST are examined. These include computational material modeling, stochastic-based modeling, computational methods for articulated structural dynamics, strategies and numerical algorithms for new computing systems, multidisciplinary analysis and optimization. The role of CST in the future development of structures technology and the multidisciplinary design of future flight vehicles is addressed, and the future directions of CST research in the prediction of failures of structural components, the solution of large-scale structural problems, and quality assessment and control of numerical simulations are discussed.
Noor, A. K.↗
Satellite ozone measurements and the detection of trends
Due to the international scientific community's concern with the problem of anthropogenic gas-caused depletion of the ozone layer, an international observational program has been established to conduct stratospheric studies for at least a decade. These observations, which will be performed both by the Space Shuttle and the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, will encompass the energy input by solar UV irradiance, source and intermediate gases in ozone chemistry, and the global distributions of these ozone-affecting gases by winds.
Hilsenrath, Ernest↗
Analyzing remote sensing geobotanical trends in Quetico Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, using digital elevation data
A 10 x 13-km area in Quetico Provincial Park, Canada has been studied using a digital elevation model to separate different drainage classes and to examine the influence of site factors and lithology on vegetation. Landsat Thematic Mapper data have been classified into six forest classes of varying deciduous-coniferous cover through nPDF, a procedure based on probability density functions. It is shown that forests growing on mafic lithologies are enriched in deciduous species, compared to those growing on granites. Of the forest classes found on mafics, the highest coniferous component was on north facing slopes, and the highest deciduous component on south facing slopes. Granites showed no substantial variation between site classes. The digital elevation derived site data is considered to be an important tool in geobotanical investigations.
Warner, Timothy A.↗
Trends in ozone profile measurements
From an examination of the agreements and differences between different satellite instruments, it is difficult to believe that existing satellite instruments determine upper stratospheric ozone much better than 4 pct.; by extension, it probably would require at least a 4 pct. change to be reliably detected as a change. The best estimates of the vertical profiles of ozone change in the upper stratosphere between 1979 and 1986 are judged to be those given by the two SAGE satellite instruments. SAGE-2 minus SAGE-1 gives a much lower ozone reduction than that given by the archived Solar Backscatter UV data. The average SAGE profiles of ozone changes between 20 and 50 degs north and between 20 and 50 degs south are given. The SAGE-1 and SAGE-2 comparison gives an ozone reduction of about 4 pct. at 25 km over temperate latitudes. Five ground based Umkehr stations between 36 and 52 degs north, corrected for the effects of volcanic aerosols, report an ozone reduction between 1979 and 1987 at Umkehr layer 8 of 9 + or - 5 pct. The central estimate of upper stratospheric ozone reduction given by SAGE at 40 km is less than the central value estimated by the Umkehr method at layer 8.
Johnston, H.↗