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At least 1,405 records · Page 78

Phosphine photochemistry in Saturn's atmosphere

The phosphine photochemistry on Saturn is studied with a 1D photochemical model. The PH3 concentration is rapidly depleted with height (scale height 3.5 km) in the upper troposphere. Formation of P, a probable precursor of P4, (a potential red chromophore in the atmosphere), is highly improbable unless the rate constant for the recombination reaction PH + H2 + M yields PH3 + M is less than 10 to the -41st cm exp 6/molecule-squared sec. Coupling of PH3 and hydrocarbon photochemistry, specifically the C2H2 catalyzed photodissociation of CH, is important. Column production rates of the organophosphorus compounds CH3PH2 and HCP of 3 x 10 to the 8th/sq cm sec are predicted, with potentially observable column densities of greater than 1 x 10 to the 17th/sq cm.

Kaye, J. A.↗

Phase Averaged Measurements of the Coherent Structure of a Mach Number 0.6 Jet

The existence of a large scale structure in a Mach number 0.6, axisymmetric jet of cold air was proven. In order to further characterize the coherent structure, phase averaged measurements of the axial mass velocity, radial velocity, and the product of the two were made. These measurements yield information about the percent of the total fluctuations contained in the coherent structure. These measured values were compared to the total fluctuation levels for each quantity and the result expressed as a percent of the total fluctuation level contained in the organized structure at a given frequency. These measurements were performed for five frequencies (St=0.16, 0.32, 0.474, 0.95, and 1.26). All of the phase averaged measurements required that the jet be artificially excited.

Emami, S.↗

Comparisons of rational engineering correlations of thermophoretically-augmented particle mass transfer with STAN5-predictions for developing boundary layers

Modification of the code STAN5 to properly include thermophoretic mass transport, and examination of selected test cases developing boundary layers which include variable properties, viscous dissipation, transition to turbulence and transpiration cooling. Under conditions representative of current and projected GT operation, local application of St(M)/St(M),o correlations evidently provides accurate and economical engineering design predictions, especially for suspended particles characterized by Schmidt numbers outside of the heavy vapor range.

Gokoglu, S. A.↗

Investigation of forestry resources and other remote sensing data. 1: LANDSAT. 2: Remote sensing of volcanic emissions

Computer classification of LANDSAT data was used for forest type mapping in New England. The ability to classify areas of hardwood, softwood, and mixed tree types was assessed along with determining clearcut regions and gypsy moth defoliation. Applications of the information to forest management and locating potential deer yards were investigated. The principal activities concerned with remote sensing of volcanic emissions centered around the development of remote sensors for SO2 and HCl gas, and their use at appropriate volcanic sites. Two major areas were investigated (Masaya, Nicaragua, and St. Helens, Washington) along with several minor ones.

Birnie, R. W.↗

Drainage Evolution in the Debris Avalanche Deposits Near Mount Saint Helens, Washington

The 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens was initiated by a massive rockslide-debris avalanche which completely transformed the upper 25 km of the North Fork Toutle River valley. The debris was generated by one of the largest gravitational mass movements ever recorded on Earth. Moving at an average velocity of 35 m/s, the debris avalanche buried approximately 60 sq km of terrain to an average depth of 45 m with unconsolidated, poorly sorted volcaniclastic material, all within a period of 10 minutes. Where exposed and unaltered by subsequent lahars and pyroclastic flows, the new terrain surface was characterized predominantly by hummocks, closed depressions, and the absence of an identifiable channel network. Following emplacement of the debris avalanche, a complex interrelationship of fluvial and mass wasting processes immediately began operating to return the impacted area to an equilibrium status through the removal of material (potential energy) and re-establishment of graded conditions. In an attempt to chronicle the morphologic evolution of this unique environmental setting, a systematic series of interpretative maps of several selected areas was produced. These maps, which document the rate and character of active geomorphic processes, are discussed.

Gary L Beach↗

Planetary geomorphology field studies: Washington and Alaska

Field studies of terrestrial landforms and the processes that shape them provide new directions to the study of planetary features. Investigations discussed address principally mudflow phenomena and drainage development. At the Valley of 10,000 Smokes (Katmai, AK) and Mount St. Helens, WA, studies of the development of erosional landforms (in particular, drainage) on fresh, new surfaces permitted analysis of the result of competition between geomorphic processes. Of specific interest is the development of stream pattern as a function of the competition between perennial seepage overland flow (from glacial or groundwater sources), ephemeral overland flow (from pluvial or seasonal melt sources), and ephemeral/perennial groundwater sapping, as a function of time since initial resurfacing, material properties, and seasonal/annual environmental conditions.

Malin, M. C.↗

Stress decay in an orthotropic half-plane under self-equilibrating sinusoidal loading

An elastic orthotropic half-plane subjected to sinusoidal normal loading along an entire straight edge is analyzed. Stresses are calculated for material property combinations which are representative of some unidirectional fiber reinforced composites and of (+ or - 45) (subs) laminates made from the same unidirectional materials. Plots of the stresses as functions of the distance from the loaded boundary show that they can differ greatly from their counterparts in the isotropic half-plane under the same loading. How the results impact the question of the applicability of St. Venant's principle to orthotropic materials is briefly discussed.

Fichter, W. B.↗

Jet stream related observations by MST radars

An overview of the jet stream and its observation by MST radar is presented. The climatology and synoptic and mesoscale structure of jet streams is briefly reviewed. MST radar observations of jet stream winds, and associated waves and turbulence are then considered. The possibility of using a network of ST radars to track jet stream winds in near real time is explored.

Gage, K. S.↗

Range gate dependence of specular echoes

Some controversy has surrounded the interpretation of the enhancement of VHF radar echoes at vertical incidence (also known as partial reflections, specular reflections and Fresnel scattering) since they were reported by the Sunset and the SOUSY radars. There is little doubt as to the observational fact of this enhancement since it was observed by experimenters using at least eleven MST or ST radars. In addition to the Sunset and SOUSY radars, this result was obtained in the lower atmosphere at the Platteville, Poker Flat, Jicamarca Arecibo radars as well as the three radars of the ALPEX experiments. In the upper atmosphere, specular or partial reflections were observed. These vertical enhancements were associated with increases in the static stability of the atmosphere, with a temperature gradient in the stratosphere, were used to monitor the height of the tropopause, and were associated with the passage of fronts.

Green, J. L.↗

Estimating unbiased horizontal velocity components from ST/MST radar measurements: A case study

In this paper a self-editing quick look procedure is presented for use at the Sunset radar. It is used for determining relatively unbiased hourly estimates of the u and v components of the wind. The technique presented here should be applicable to all height ranges, though only ST results are presented here. The vertical wind component, w, may be measured directly by pointing the radar beam straight up. The east and west components of the wind, u and v, however, must be estimated by projecting to the horizontal plane the radial velocity, vr, actually observed by pointing the radar suitably off zenith.

Clark, W. L.↗

Characteristics of Sunset radar

Located in a narrow canyon 15 km west of Boulder, Colorado, the Sunset pulsed Doppler radar was the first radar designed and constructed specifically as a VHF ST radar. The antenna system is a phased array of coaxial-colinear dopoles with computer-controlled phase shifters for each line of dipoles. It operates at a frequency of 40.475 MHz and a wavelength of 7.41M. Peak transmitter power is 100 kW. Aperture efficiency is 0.58 and resistive loss is 0.30 for its 3600 sq m area. The practical steering rate is 1 record/minute/position to any arbitrary antenna beam position. The first clear-air turbulence echoes and wind velocity measurements were obtained in 1974. Significant accomplishments are listed.

Green, J. L.↗

The PDS for space telescope guide star selection system: Status and improvements

Pointing the ST (Space Telescope) requires that the onboard guidance system be provided with the coordinates and magnitudes of at least two guide stars for each observation region. The accuracy and limitations of the model 2020G PDS microdensitometer are assessed in view of the guide star requirements of the space telescope. Modifications of the PDS to correct for measuring errors are reviewed.

Kinsey, J. H.↗

Proceedings of the Flat-plate Solar Array Project Research Forum on the High-speed Growth and Characterization of Crystals for Solar Cells

The High-Speed Growth and Characterization of Crystals for Solar Cells Research Forum was held on July 25-27, 1983, at the Sandpiper Bay Hotel in ort St. Lucie, Florida. The Research Forum was arranged into eight interactive sessions and addressed theoretical and experimental phenomena, applications, and characterization including stress/strain and other problem areas that limit the rate of growth of crystals suitable for processing into efficient, cost-effective solar cells. The Flat-Plate Solar Array Project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory sponsored the meeting: Thirty-five invited papers were presented. Discussion periods followed each presentation. These Proceedings are a record of the papers and the discussions.

Katherine A. Dumas↗

Development of robotics facility docking test hardware

Design and fabricate test hardware for NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) are reported. A docking device conceptually developed was fabricated, and two docking targets which provide high and low mass docking loads were required and were represented by an aft 61.0 cm section of a Hubble space telescope (ST) mockup and an upgrading of an existing multimission modular spacecraft (MSS) mockup respectively. A test plan is developed for testing the hardware.

Loughead, T. E.↗

A modeling study of SO(x)-NO(x)-hydrocarbon plumes and their transport to the background troposphere

The behavior of a complex urban plume and its transport to the background troposphere are analyzed in terms of a model including sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbon (HC) photochemistry. A reaction mechanism consisting of 73 NO(x), SO(x) and HC reactions is employed in a model taking account of plume dilution, entrainment, deposition and the development of a diurnal mixing layer from a ground-based nocturnal inversion. When simulation results are compared with field measurements of the urban plumes leaving St. Louis and Milwaukee, and a power plant within the Milwaukee plume, the predicted concentration profiles of NO(x), SO2 and O3 are found to be in close agreement with the measurement, although agreement with the rate of transformation of SO2 to SO4(2-) is less good. Simulations made for a hypothetical urban location under a range of background concentrations and initial HC concentrations show particulate sulfate concentrations to depend strongly on the HC/NO(x) ratio, indicating that the homogeneous gas-phase transformation may occur at night.

Balko, J. A.↗

Digital image processing applied to analysis of geophysical and geochemical data for southern Missouri

Digital image-processing techniques have been used to analyze a variety of geophysical and geochemical map data covering southern Missouri, a region with important basement and strata-bound mineral deposits. Gravity and magnetic anomaly patterns, which have been reformatted to image displays, indicate a deep crustal structure cutting northwest-southeast through southern Missouri. In addition, geologic map data, topography, and Landsat multispectral scanner images have been used as base maps for the digital overlay of aerial gamma-ray and stream sediment chemical data for the 1 x 2-deg Rolla quadrangle. Results indicate enrichment of a variety of elements within the clay-rich alluvium covering many of the interfluvial plains, as well as a complicated pattern of enrichment for the sedimentary units close to the Precambrian rhyolites and granites of the St. Francois Mountains.

Guinness, E. A.↗

Phase average measurements of the coherent structure in a Mach number 0.6 jet

Phase averaged measurements of the axial mass velocity, radial velocity, and the product of the two have been made in an artificially excited cold air jet. The radial velocity fluctuations had a lower amplitude for both the full wave and phase averaged fluctuations compared to the axial mass velocity fluctuations. The Reynolds stress tended to decay faster in amplitude than the axial mass velocity and radial velocity fluctuations for both the full wave and phase averaged components. The radial velocity fluctuations possessed higher levels of coherence than the axial mass velocity fluctuation and the Reynolds stress. When the jet was excited at the frequency of St = 0.474, a high amplitude component at that frequency dominated the entire phase averaged flowfield from X/D = 1 to 10. This fundamental frequency was accompanied by several relatively high amplitude harmonics. These harmonics were more pronounced in the radial velocity fluctuations than for the axial fluctuations or the Reynolds stress.

Emami, S.↗

Chemical and physical studies of type 3 chondrites. II Thermoluminescence of sixteen type 3 ordinary chondrites and relationships with oxygen isotopes

Thermoluminescence (TL) sensitivity values for sixteen type 3 ordinary chondrites, fourteen of them from Antarctica, have been measured. The values obtained (normalized to the TL sensitivity of the Dhajala meteorite) range from 1.6 (Allan Hills A77216) to 0.010 (Allan Hills A77176), and include two (Reckling Peak A80207 and Allan Hills A77176) that are particularly low. They fill a hiatus in the TL distribution that previously existed between St. Mary's County and Bishunpur, the latter being a meteorite with one of the lowest TL sensitivities known. The histogram of TL sensitivity values now shows a single distribution with higher values preferred; it resembles the histogram for L chondrites occupying the petrologic types 3, 4, 5, and 6. There is a tendency for the TL sensitivity of meteorites to decrease as delta O-18 increases. Theoretically, it is possible that the range of delta O-18 values observed may reflect progressive loss of O in the form of CO at very low temperatures, but very restrictive physical conditions and a complex history seem to be required.

Sears, D. W. G.↗