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At least 1,585 records · Page 88

Computed linewidths of SO2

Self-broadened and foreign-gas (N2 and O2) broadened linewidths of sulfur dioxide, for both type A and type B bands, have been calculated using the Anderson-Tsao-Curnutte theory of line broadening. Computed values of these linewidths at 300 K are given for all the transitions with J or = 20 and K sub minus 1 or = 15. Air-broadened linewidths have also been calculated for SO2 at 250 K and 200 K for these transitions.

Tejwani, G. D. T.↗

Recombination in radar meteors

Recombinations in the ionized columns generated by faint radar meteors are observed as: (1) A rapid loss of returned signal in the first few milliseconds after formation of the column; (2) an apparent absence of bright, low meteors; and (3) anomalies in apparent diffusion rates. Recombination at rates characteristic of dissociative recombination of ionized atmospheric molecules N2(+) and O2(+) is completely consistent with the observations. It appears either that the molecules are ionized in the initial formation of the ionized column or that there is rapid charge exchange. Recombination is a sufficient cause for the differences between diffusion measures and other atmospheric studies.

Southworth, R. B.↗

Laboratory determination of the luminous efficiency of meteor constituents

A crossed beam apparatus has been used to measure the emission and ionization cross sections for the prominent spectral features of Na, Ca, Mg, and Fe in collisions with N2 and O2 over the velocity range of 30 to 120 km/s. From the emission and ionization cross sections, the absolute luminous efficiencies in air were determined over the range of meteor velocities. The maximum luminous efficiencies for the brightest features were: greater than 1 percent for the Na D-lines, 0.2 percent for the Ca I(2) singlet, 0.06 percent for the Mg I(2) and Mg I(3) triplets, and 0.4 percent for Fe over the visible spectral range. These luminous efficiencies are valid for free molecular flow conditions for velocities above about 30 km/s and are directly applicable to spectroscopic observations of faint meteors. In contrast to previous work, the luminous efficiency found for stone in the present investigation decreased with velocity above about 50 km/s.

Savage, H. F.↗

Blowoff and escape of H2

It is shown that a pure hydrogen atmosphere cannot be retained by Titan, but will blow off in a few hours. Addition of a heavier gas, such as CH4 or N2, in comparable abundance gives a great improvement, although the escape rate can still be large. Moreover, the actual flux can be predicted with confidence from the mixing ratio of H2 to heavy gas.

Hunten, D. M.↗

Time-resolved spectroscopic measurements behind incident and reflected shock waves in air and xenon

Time-resolved spectra have been obtained behind incident and reflected shock waves in air and xenon at initial pressures of 0.1 and 1.0 torr using a rotating drum spectrograph and the OSU (The Ohio State University) arc-driven shock tube. These spectra were used to determine the qualitative nature of the flow as well as for making estimates of the available test time. The (n+1,n) and (n,n) band spectra of N2(+) (1st negative) were observed in the test gas behind incident shock waves in air at p1=1.0 torr and Us=9-10 km/sec. Behind reflected shock waves in air, the continuum of spectra appeared to cover almost the entire wavelength of 2,500-7,000 A for the shock-heated test gas. For xenon, the spectra for the incident shock wave cases for p1=0.1 torr show an interesting structure in which two intensely bright regions are witnessed in the time direction. The spectra obtained behind reflected shock waves in xenon were also dominated by continuum radiation but included strong absorption spectra due to FeI and FeII from the moment the reflected shock passed and on.

Yoshinaga, T.↗

Optimal space communications techniques

Digital multiplication of two waveforms using delta modulation (DM) is discussed. It is shown that while conventional multiplication of two N bit words requires N2 complexity, multiplication using DM requires complexity which increases linearly with N. Bounds on the signal-to-quantization noise ratio (SNR) resulting from this multiplication are determined and compared with the SNR obtained using standard multiplication techniques. The phase locked loop (PLL) system, consisting of a phase detector, voltage controlled oscillator, and a linear loop filter, is discussed in terms of its design and system advantages. Areas requiring further research are identified.

Schilling, D. L.↗

Proposed geomagnetic control of semiannual waves in the mesospheric zonal wind

The polar semiannual oscillation in zonal wind can explain midwinter weakening of the polar vortex and the relatively short stratospheric and mesospheric summar easterlies. The phase of the wind oscillation is equinoctial, as is the phase of the semiannual component in magnetic storm activity. For a given altitude, the contours of amplitude of the semiannual wind oscillation have less variability in geomagnetic than in geographic coordinates. It is suggested that polar wind oscillations are caused by the semiannual maxima in magnetic storm activity which lead to electron dissociation of O2 into O, in turn increasing ozone more rapidly than the dissociation of N2 destroys ozone, and thereby inducing a semiannual variation in the thermal and wind fields. This implies that geomagnetic processes may cause or affect the development of sudden warmings. As the tropical semiannual wind oscillation is symmetric about the geomagnetic equator, the same processes may also influence the location of the tropical wind wave.

Belmont, A. D.↗

The specification of distributed boundary conditions in numerical simulation of the ionosphere

The approach described makes it possible to use boundary conditions which do not have to be associated with any particular point of the solution interval. The approach was applied in a program which solves simultaneously the coupled differential equations describing the concentrations of the O(+) ions, their temperature, the electron temperature and the concentrations of O2(+), NO(+) and N2(+) ions. Several versions of the proposed scheme are described for various kinds of boundary conditions. Attention is given to a given columnar ionic content, a given incoming or outgoing flux, or a given height of the peak concentration.

Waldman, H.↗

A shock-tube determination of the CN ground state dissociation energy and electronic transition moments for the CN violet and red band systems

The CN ground state dissociation energy and the sum of squares of the electronic transition moments of the CN violet bands have been simultaneously determined from spectral emission measurements behind incident shock waves. The unshocked test gases were composed of various CO2-CO-N2-Ar mixtures, and the temperatures behind the incident shocks ranged from 3500 to 8000 K. The variation of the electronic transition moment with internuclear separation was found to be small for both the CN violet and red band systems.

Arnold, J. O.↗

Luminous efficiency measurements for silicon and aluminum simulated micrometeors

Laboratory measurements on simulated silicon and aluminum micrometeors in an air atmosphere have produced values for the elemental photographic luminous efficiencies of silicon over a velocity range 13-48 km/sec and of aluminum over a range 12-42 km/sec. The photographic luminous efficiency of both elements first increases with increasing velocity, then reaches a peak and declines. Supplementary measurements on Si and Al in atmospheres of O2 and N2 support the air results.

Becker, D. G.↗

Vibrational deactivation of O3/101/ molecules in gas mixtures

The laser excited fluorescence method has been employed to determine rate constants for vibrational relaxation of O3(101) molecules by O3, O2, CO2, H2, D2, CH4, N2, He, and Ar collision partners at 298 K. Excitation of the O3(001) level by absorption of laser transitions on the CO2 9.5-micron band have permitted the first measurements of vibrational relaxation on O3.

Rosen, D. I.↗

Rapid estimation of characteristics of gas dynamic lasers

Sudden-freeze approximation is applied to the flow of a CO2-N2-He mixture in wedge-type nozzles. This approximation permits rapid estimation of the freezing temperature of the upper laser level as a function of the stagnation pressure and the nozzle geometry. The stagnation temperature and the composition of the mixture appear as parameters. Gain and power output may then be estimated and calculations are presented for two cases.

Murty, S. S. R.↗

Absolute flux measurements in the rocket ultraviolet

A two-channel spectrometer was calibrated in the wavelength region 1200-3400 A and flown on an Aerobee rocket to observe the stars alpha Lyr, eta UMa, and zeta Oph. Standard tungsten lamps provided the absolute calibration down to 2250 A, and a photodiode calibrated by the National Bureau of Standards was the reference at shorter wavelengths. The molecular branching-ratio technique of relative calibration using the gases CO, NO, and N2 was a check on the absolute calibration. The flux from eta UMa agrees with the prediction of a hydrogen line blanketed model atmosphere within 10% between 1700 and 3400 A and within 4% over most of this wavelength region.

Bohlin, R. C.↗

The O I 1304 and 1356 emissions in aurorae

An altitude profile of the 3914 emission of N2+ measured in an aurora by two rocket-borne spectrometers has been used to compute height-intensity profiles of the O I radiations at 1304 and 1356. Comparison of predictions with observations shows that the shape of the altitude profiles can better be reproduced by assuming a Doppler frequency profile rather than a Voigt profile in the radiative transfer computations. There are serious discrepancies between the observed and predicted intensity maxima for both oxygen features that could be due to the particular value for the cross sections we have adopted for excitation of oxygen by electron impact.

Strickland, D. J.↗

Decompression sickness in simulated Apollo-Soyuz space missions

Apollo-Soyuz docking module atmospheres were evaluated for incidence of decompression sickness in men simulating passage from the Russian spacecraft atmosphere, to the U.S. spacecraft atmosphere, and then to the American space suit pressure. Following 8 hr of 'shirtsleeve' exposure to 31:69::O2:N2 gas breathing mixture, at 10 psia, subjects were 'denitrogenated' for either 30 or 60 min with 100% O2 prior to decompression directly to 3.7 psia suit equivalent while performing exercise at fixed intervals. Five of 21 subjects experienced symptoms of decompression sickness after 60 min of denitrogenation compared to 6 among 20 subjects after 30 min of denitrogenation. A condition of Grade I bends was reported after 60 min of denitrogenation, and 3 of these 5 subjects noted the disappearance of all symptoms of bends at 3.7 psia. After 30 min of denitrogenation, 2 out of 6 subjects developed Grade II bends at 3.7 psia.

Cooke, J. P.↗

Cross sections and band strengths for the N2O/+/ /A 2Sigma+ to X 2Pi/ system produced by vacuum ultraviolet radiation

Analysis of cross sections that have been obtained for the production of the N2O(+) (A 2Sigma+ to X 2Pi) fluorescence, using vacuum ultraviolet radiation between 462 and 755 A. The fluorescence spectra produced using incident photons of 715.6- and 754.9-A wavelengths are presented, as well as the relative fluorescence cross sections for the individual observed bands of the above-mentioned N2O(+) system. Finally, absolute cross sections for the production of the N2O(+) (A 2Sigma+ to X 2Pi) system are presented, as well as band strengths for the A 2Sigma+(0,0,0) to X 2Pi(n1,n2,0) fluorescence.

Lee, L. C.↗

A field-ionization neutral-particle mass spectrometer

Description of laboratory model of a neutral-particle mass spectrometer that could make localized direct measurements of the neutral densities at 1 AU. Using a magnet that has a circular pole face 2.54 cm in diameter and a gap flux density of 8.0 kG, the following sensitivities were obtained for the various species: 10 to the 10th power counts per second per Torr for H2, 3 times 10 to the eighth power counts per second per Torr for He, and 2 times 10 to the 9th power counts per second per Torr for N2. Overall sensitivity may be increased through the use of electrostatic focusing elements between the ion source and the magnetic analyzer.

Curtis, C. C.↗

Heating of the high-latitude thermosphere during magnetically quiet periods

A persistent mid- to high-latitude heating phenomenon is observed in both hemispheres in data from the Ogo 6 quadrupole mass spectrometer. The phenomenon is evidenced by an increase in N2 density (indicative of a thermospheric temperature rise) and a depletion in helium (indicating an upwelling of air). The composition changes maximize near 0900 and 2100 UT, appear to corotate with the local magnetic pole, and are larger near equinox than near the summer solstice. The variation in latitude of the peak in the winter helium density (as a function of UT) is a specific manifestation of this general heating phenomenon.

Reber, C. A.↗