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NASA NTRS2010

Radio-Loud Coronal Mass Ejections Without Shocks Near Earth

Type II radio bursts are produced by low energy electrons accelerated in shocks driven by corona) mass ejections (CMEs). One can infer shocks near the Sun, in the Interplanetary medium, and near Earth depending on the wavelength range in which the type II bursts are produced. In fact, type II bursts are good indicators of CMEs that produce solar energetic particles. If the type 11 burst occurs from a source on the Earth-facing side of the solar disk, it is highly likely that a shock arrives at Earth in 2-3 days and hence can be used to predict shock arrival at Earth. However, a significant fraction of CMEs producing type II bursts were not associated shocks at Earth, even though the CMEs originated close to the disk center. There are several reasons for the lack of shock at 1 AU. CMEs originating at large central meridian distances (CMDs) may be driving a shock, but the shock may not be extended sufficiently to reach to the Sun-Earth line. Another possibility is CME cannibalism because of which shocks merge and one observes a single shock at Earth. Finally, the CME-driven shock may become weak and dissipate before reaching 1 AU. We examined a set of 30 type II bursts observed by the Wind/WAVES experiment that had the solar sources very close to the disk center (within a CMD of 15 degrees), but did not have shock at Earth. We find that the near-Sun speeds of the associated CMEs average to approx.600 km/s, only slightly higher than the average speed of CMEs associated with radio-quiet shocks. However, the fraction of halo CMEs is only approx.28%, compared to 40% for radio-quiet shocks and 72% for all radio-loud shocks. We conclude that the disk-center radio loud CMEs with no shocks at 1 AU are generally of lower energy and they drive shocks only close to the Sun.

Gopalswamy, N.↗

NASA NTRS2008

CME Interaction with Coronal Holes and Their Interplanetary Consequences

A significant number of interplanetary (IP) shocks (-17%) during cycle 23 were not followed by drivers. The number of such "driverless" shocks steadily increased with the solar cycle with 15%, 33%, and 52% occurring in the rise, maximum, and declining phase of the solar cycle. The solar sources of 15% of the driverless shocks were very close the central meridian of the Sun (within approx.15deg), which is quite unexpected. More interestingly, all the driverless shocks with their solar sources near the solar disk center occurred during the declining phase of solar cycle 23. When we investigated the coronal environment of the source regions of driverless shocks, we found that in each case there was at least one coronal hole nearby suggesting that the coronal holes might have deflected the associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) away from the Sun-Earth line. The presence of abundant low-latitude coronal holes during the declining phase further explains why CMEs originating close to the disk center mimic the limb CMEs, which normally lead to driverless shocks due to purely geometrical reasons. We also examined the solar source regions of shocks with drivers. For these, the coronal holes were located such that they either had no influence on the CME trajectories. or they deflected the CMEs towards the Sun-Earth line. We also obtained the open magnetic field distribution on the Sun by performing a potential field source surface extrapolation to the corona. It was found that the CMEs generally move away from the open magnetic field regions. The CME-coronal hole interaction must be widespread in the declining phase, and may have a significant impact on the geoeffectiveness of CMEs.

Gopalswamy, N.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Formation and Reconnection of Three-Dimensional Current Sheets in the Solar Corona

Current-sheet formation and magnetic reconnection are believed to be the basic physical processes responsible for much of the activity observed in astrophysical plasmas, such as the Sun s corona. We investigate these processes for a magnetic configuration consisting of a uniform background field and an embedded line dipole, a topology that is expected to be ubiquitous in the corona. This magnetic system is driven by a uniform horizontal flow applied at the line-tied photosphere. Although both the initial field and the driver are translationally symmetric, the resulting evolution is calculated using a fully three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (3D MHD) simulation with adaptive mesh refinement that resolves the current sheet and reconnection dynamics in detail. The advantage of our approach is that it allows us to apply directly the vast body of knowledge gained from the many studies of 2D reconnection to the fully 3D case. We find that a current sheet forms in close analogy to the classic Syrovatskii 2D mechanism, but the resulting evolution is different than expected. The current sheet is globally stable, showing no evidence for a disruption or a secondary instability even for aspect ratios as high as 80:1. The global evolution generally follows the standard Sweet- Parker 2D reconnection model except for an accelerated reconnection rate at a very thin current sheet, due to the tearing instability and the formation of magnetic islands. An interesting conclusion is that despite the formation of fully 3D structures at small scales, the system remains close to 2D at global scales. We discuss the implications of our results for observations of the solar corona. Subject Headings: Sun: corona Sun: magnetic fields Sun: reconnection

Edmondson, J. K.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Interchange Reconnection and Coronal Hole Dynamics

We investigate the effect of magnetic reconnection between open and closed field, (often referred to as "interchange" reconnection), on the dynamics and topology of coronal hole boundaries. The most important and most prevalent 3D topology of the interchange process is that of a small-scale bipolar magnetic field interacting with a large-scale background field. We determine the evolution of such a magnetic topology by numerical solution of the fully 3D MHD equations in spherical coordinates. First, we calculate the evolution of a small-scale bipole that initially is completely inside an open field region and then is driven across a coronal hole boundary by photospheric motions. Next the reverse situation is calculated in which the bipole is initially inside the closed region and driven toward the coronal hole boundary. In both cases we find that the stress imparted by the photospheric motions results in deformation of the separatrix surface between the closed field of the bipole and the background field, leading to rapid current sheet formation and to efficient reconnection. When the bipole is inside the open field region, the reconnection is of the interchange type in that it exchanges open and closed field. We examine, in detail, the topology of the field as the bipole moves across the coronal hole boundary, and find that the field remains well-connected throughout this process. Our results imply that open flux cannot penetrate deeply into the closed field region below a helmet streamer and, hence, support the quasi-steady models in which open and closed flux remain topologically distinct. Our results also support the uniqueness hypothesis for open field regions as postulated by Antiochos et al. We discuss the implications of this work for coronal observations. Subject Headings: Sun: corona Sun: magnetic fields Sun: reconnection Sun: coronal hole

Edmondson, J. K.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Aquarius Instrument and Salinity Retrieval

Aquarius has been designed to map the surface salinity field of the global ocean from space a parameter important for understanding ocean circulation and its relationship to climate and the global water cycle. Salinity is measured remotely from space by measuring the thermal emission from the ocean surface. This is done at the low frequency end of the microwave spectrum (e.g. 1.4 GHz) where the emission is sufficiently sensitive to changes in salinity to be detected with sophisticated radiometers. The goal is to monitor the seasonal and interannual variation of the large scale features of the surface salinity field in the open ocean by providing maps on a monthly basis with a spatial resolution of 150 km and an accuracy of 0.2 psu. These are challenging requirements that have led to some unique features of the instrument. These include: a) The addition of a co-located scatterometer to help provide a correction for roughness; b) The addition of a polarimetric channel (third Stokes parameter) to the radiometer to help correct for Faraday rotation; c) Asun-synchronous orbit with a 6 pm ascending equatorial crossing to minimize Faraday rotation and with the antennas looking away from the sun toward the nighttime side to minimize contamination by radiation from the sun; and d) An antenna designed to limit side lobes in the direction of rays from the sun. In addition, achieving the accuracy goal of 0.2 psu requires averaging over one month and to do this requires a highly stable radiometer. Aquarius has three separate radiometers that image in pushbroom fashion with the three antenna beams looking across track. The antenna is a 2.5-m diameter, offset parabolic reflector with three feed horns and the three beams are arranged to image with the boresight aligned to look across track, roughly perpendicular to the spacecraft heading and pointing away from the Sun. The three beams point at angles of theta = 25.8 deg., 33.8 deg. and 40.3 deg. with respect to the spacecraft nadir which correspond to local incidence angles at the surface of 28.7 deg., 37.8 deg. and 45.6 deg., respectively. The resolution of the three radiometer beams (axes of the 3dB ellipse) is: 76 x 94 km for the inner beam, 84 x 120 km for the middle beam to 96 x 156 km for the outer beam. Together they cover a swath of about 390 km. Aquarius will map the global ice-free ocean every 7-days from which monthly average composites will be derived. This will provide a snapshot of the mean field, as well as resolving the seasonal to interannual variations over the three-year baseline of the mission.

Le Vine, D. M.↗

NASA NTRS2011

From SOHO to STEREO: Understanding Propagation of Coronal Mass Ejections

Direct comparison between coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from near the Sun and their solar wind counterparts became possible roughly a decade after the discovery of CMEs (Lindsay et aL 1999). This comparison revealed that fast CMEs decelerate and slow CMEs accelerate due to the interaction with the solar wind. Gopalswamy et al (2000) quantified this interaction as an interplanetary acceleration which is useful in predicting the arrival time and speed of CMEs at 1 AU. The interplanetary acceleration is essentially due to the aerodynamic drag between the CME and the solar wind because the propelling force and the solar gravity are effective only near the Sun. Combined remote-sensing and in situ observations from SOHO and Wind/ACE have helped us estimate the influence of the solar wind on the propagation of CMEs. However, these measurements have severe limitations because the remote sensed and in-situ observations correspond to different portions of the CME. Furthermore, the true speeds of Earth-directed CMEs cannot be measured accurately from a spacecraft located along the Sun-Earth line. There have been attempts to model the CME as a cone and get the space speed of the CME, which did improve the travel time predictions. Instruments on board the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission were able to provide observations of Earth-arriving CMEs without projection effects, while the same CMEs were observed at Sun-Earth L1 by Wind and ACE spacecraft. The quadrature between STEREO and L1 spacecraft presented an ideal situation to study the interplanetary evolution of CMEs and test earlier model results. The quadrature observations did improve the CME travel time predictions, but additional factors such as the unusually slow solar wind, CME cannibalism, and coronal-hole deflection need to be considered to reconcile the difference between observed and predicted travel times. This point is illustrated using the 2011 February 15 CME

Gopalswamy, Natchimuthuk↗

NASA NTRS2011

Electron Temperatures and Flow Speeds of the Low Solar Corona: MACS Results from the Total Solar Eclipse of 29 March 2006 in Libya

An experiment was conducted in conjunction with the total solar eclipse on 29 March 2006 in Libya to measure both the electron temperature and its flow speed simultaneously at multiple locations in the low solar corona by measuring the visible K-coronal spectrum. Coronal model spectra incorporating the effects of electron temperature and its flow speed were matched with the measured K-coronal spectra to interpret the observations. Results show electron temperatures of (1.10 +/- 0.05) MK, (0.70 +/- 0.08) MK, and (0.98 +/- 0.12) MK, at 1.1 Solar Radius from Sun center in the solar north, east and west, respectively, and (0.93 +/- 0.12) MK, at 1.2 Solar Radius from Sun center in the solar west. The corresponding outflow speeds obtained from the spectral fit are (103 +/- 92) km/s, (0 + 10) km/s, (0+10) km/s, and (0+10) km/s. Since the observations were taken only at 1.1 Solar Radius and 1.2 Solar Radius from Sun center, these speeds, consistent with zero outflow, are in agreement with expectations and provide additional confirmation that the spectral fitting method is working. The electron temperature at 1.1 Solar Radius from Sun center is larger at the north (polar region) than the east and west (equatorial region).

Reginald, Nelson L.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Solar Sources of Severe Space Weather

Severe space weather is characterized by intense particle radiation from the Sun and severe geomagnetic storm caused by magnetized solar plasma arriving at Earth. Intense particle radiation is almost always caused by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) traveling from the Sun at super-Alfvenic speeds leading to fast-mode MHD shocks and particle acceleration by the shocks. When a CME arrives at Earth, it can interact with Earth's magnetopause resulting in solar plasma entry into the magnetosphere and a geomagnetic storm depending on the magnetic structure of the CME. Particle radiation starts affecting geospace as soon as the CMEs leave the Sun and the geospace may be immersed in the radiation for several days. On the other hand, the geomagnetic storm happens only upon arrival of the CME at Earth. The requirements for the production of particles and magnetic storms by CMEs are different in a number of respects: solar source location, CME magnetic structure, conditions in the ambient solar wind, and shock-driving ability of CMEs. Occasionally, intense geomagnetic storms are caused by corotating interaction regions (CIRs) that form in the interplanetary space when the fast solar wind from coronal holes overtakes the slow wind from the quiet regions. CIRs also accelerate particles, but when they reach several AU from the Sun, so their impact on Earth's space environment is not significant. In addition to these plasma effects, solar flares that accompany CMEs also produce excess ionization in the ionosphere causing sudden ionospheric disturbances. This paper highlights these space weather effects using space weather events observed by space and ground based instruments during of solar cycles 23 and 24.

Gopalswamy, N.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society

From the interior of the Sun, to the upper atmosphere and near-space environment of Earth, and outward to a region far beyond Pluto where the Sun's influence wanes, advances during the past decade in space physics and solar physics the disciplines NASA refers to as heliophysics have yielded spectacular insights into the phenomena that affect our home in space. This report, from the National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee for a Decadal Strategy in Solar and Space Physics, is the second NRC decadal survey in heliophysics. Building on the research accomplishments realized over the past decade, the report presents a program of basic and applied research for the period 2013-2022 that will improve scientific understanding of the mechanisms that drive the Sun's activity and the fundamental physical processes underlying near-Earth plasma dynamics, determine the physical interactions of Earth's atmospheric layers in the context of the connected Sun-Earth system, and enhance greatly the capability to provide realistic and specific forecasts of Earth's space environment that will better serve the needs of society. Although the recommended program is directed primarily to NASA (Science Mission Directorate -- Heliophysics Division) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Directorate for Geosciences -- Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences) for action, the report also recommends actions by other federal agencies, especially the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) those parts of NOAA charged with the day-to-day (operational) forecast of space weather. In addition to the recommendations included in this summary, related recommendations are presented in the main text of the report.

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NASA NTRS2012

Dust Production of Comet 21P/Giacobini Zinner Using Broadband Photometry

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner is a Jupiter family comet that was discovered in December of 1900 by the French astronomer Michel Giacobini, and rediscovered two orbits later by German astronomer Ernst Zinner in 1913. 21P is approximately 2 km in diameter, and is the parent of the Draconids, a meteor shower known to undergo dramatic outbursts. In 1933 and 1946, up to 10,000 meteors per hour were reported for the Draconids; and 2011 saw a minor Draconid outburst. As meteor stream modeling/ forecasting is a primary focus for the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office, it was decided to monitor 21P for three purposes: firstly to find the apparent and absolute magnitude with respect to heliocentric distance; second to calculate Af(rho), a quantity that describes the dust production rate and is used in models to predict the activity of the Draconids; thirdly to detect possible increases in cometary activity, which could correspond to future Draconid meteor outbursts. Giacobini-Zinner is unique in several ways. It was the first comet to have measurements made in situ. Comet 21P was visited by ICE (International Cometary Explorer) in 1985 to study the interaction of the cometary atmosphere with the flowing solar-wind plasma. It is a carbon-depleted comet, and most studies show that it peaks in gas and dust production pre-perihelion, specifically in two very studied passages; 1985 and 1998. A prior study was conducted by Pittichova et al (2008) for 21P during its 2004-2006 close approach to the Sun. Apparent and absolute magnitudes were measured at various heliocentric distances as well as the dust production. At 2.32 AU from the Sun, 21P exhibited an apparent magnitude of 17.05 and Af of 83 cm, and an apparent magnitude of 15.91/Af(rho) of 130.66 cm at 1.76 AU. Another such study performed by Lara et al.on 21P s 1998 apparition found values of Af(rho) of 1010 cm when 1.05 AU from the Sun, two weeks before perihelion, and 669 cm at perihelion, when 1.03 AU from the Sun

Blaauw, Rhiannon↗

NASA NTRS2009

Case Studies of Aerosol Remote Sensing in the Vicinity of Clouds

Studying the spatial variability of aerosol properties in the vicinity of clouds is essential to our ability to determine aerosol direct and indirect effects on climate. In this paper, we describe aerosol observations collected near cloud edges by an airborne Sun photometer over dark ocean waters. Focusing on case studies of aerosol measurements near eight cloud edges within a dissipating stratiform cloud deck, we compare the airborne Sun photometer observations to retrievals of aerosol properties using the standard Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol algorithm applied to 500-m-resolution MODIS spectral reflectances. We find a persistent, spectrally neutral increase in the Sun photometer-derived aerosol optical depth (AOD) of up to 10% (0.015) in the 2-km distances closest to the edges of several distinct clouds. At midvisible wavelengths, the MODIS AOD retrievals show similar increases toward cloud edges, although a larger increase in AOD is found in the MODIS along-scan direction. At shortwave infrared (SWIR) wavelengths (1240-2130 nm), the MODIS-derived AOD increases near cloud edges are of the order of 0.03 and as such three times as large as the Sun photometer-derived values. Hence, in contrast to recently discussed bluing of aerosols near cloud edges, i.e., a preferential apparent increase in the visible reflectances of clear-sky pixels due to 3-D radiative transfer effects in the vicinity of clouds, we find a reddening of aerosols in the MODIS 500-m-resolution aerosol retrievals near clouds. This reddening in our study can be traced to larger absolute increases in SWIR reflectances when compared to visible reflectances near clouds, which in turn seem to stem from larger electronic cross talk in the MODIS SWIR bands (5-7). We note that the lack of bluing in our MODIS observations is likely due to the small geometric and optical thicknesses of the clouds considered.

Redemann, Jens↗

NASA NTRS2012

The Effects of Solar Variability on Earth's Climate: A Workshop Report

Solar irradiance, the flux of the Sun s output directed toward Earth, is Earth s main energy source.1 The Sun itself varies on several timescales over billions of years its luminosity increases as it evolves on the main sequence toward becoming a red giant; about every 11 years its sunspot activity cycles; and within just minutes flares can erupt and release massive amounts of energy. Most of the fluctuations from tens to thousands of years are associated with changes in the solar magnetic field. The focus of the National Research Council's September 2011 workshop on solar variability and Earth's climate, and of this summary report, is mainly magnetically driven variability and its possible connection with Earth's climate variations in the past 10,000 years. Even small variations in the amount or distribution of energy received at Earth can have a major influence on Earth's climate when they persist for decades. However, no satellite measurements have indicated that solar output and variability have contributed in a significant way to the increase in global mean temperature in the last 50 years. Locally, however, correlations between solar activity and variations in average weather may stand out beyond the global trend; such has been argued to be the case for the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, even in the present day. A key area of inquiry deals with establishing a unified record of the solar output and solar-modified particles that extends from the present to the prescientific past. The workshop focused attention on the need for a better understanding of the links between indices of solar activity such as cosmogenic isotopes and solar irradiance. A number of presentations focused on the timescale of the solar cycle and of the satellite record, and on the problem of extending this record back in time. Highlights included a report of progress on pyroheliometer calibration, leading to greater confidence in the time history and future stability of total solar irradiance (TSI), and surprising results on changes in spectral irradiance over the last solar cycle, which elicited spirited discussion. New perspectives on connections between features of the quiet and active areas of the photosphere and variations in TSI were also presented, emphasizing the importance of developing better understanding in order to extrapolate back in time using activity indices. Workshop participants reviews highlighted difficulties as well as causes for optimism in current understanding of the cosmogenic isotope record and the use of observed variability in Sun-like stars in reconstructing variations in TSI occurring on lower frequencies than the sunspot cycle. The workshop succeeded in bringing together informed, focused presentations on major drivers of the Sun-climate connection. The importance of the solar cycle as a unique quasi-periodic probe of climate responses on a timescale between the seasonal and Milankovitch cycles was recognized in several presentations. The signal need only be detectable, not dominant, for it to play this role of a useful probe. Some workshop participants also found encouraging progress in the top-down perspective, according to which solar variability affects surface climate by first perturbing the stratosphere, which then forces the troposphere and surface. This work is now informing and being informed by research on tropospheric responses to the Antarctic ozone hole and volcanic aerosols. In contrast to the top-down perspective is the bottom-up view that the interaction of solar energy with the ocean and surface leads to changes in dynamics and temperature. During the discussion of how dynamical air-sea coupling in the tropical Pacific and solar variability interact from a bottom-up perspective, several participants remarked on the wealth of open research questions in the dynamics of the climatic response to TSI and spectral variability. The discussion of the paleoclimate record emphasized that the link between solar varbility and Earth s climate is multifaceted and that some components are understood better than others. According to two presenters on paleoclimate, there is a need to study the idiosyncrasies of each key proxy record. Yet they also emphasized that there may be an emerging pattern of paleoclimate change coincident with periods of solar activity and inactivity, but only on long timescales of multiple decades to millennia. Several speakers discussed the effects of particle events and cosmic-ray variability. These are all areas of exciting fundamental research; however, they have not yet led to conclusive evidence for significant related climate effects. The key problem of attribution of climate variability on the timescales of the Little Ice Age and the Maunder Minimum were directly addressed in several presentations. Several workshop participants remarked that the combination of solar, paleoclimatic, and climate modeling research has the potential to dramatically improve the credibility of these attribution studies.

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NASA NTRS2013

Estimating the Mean Annual Surface Air Temperature at Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland, and the Global Land-Ocean Temperature Index for Sunspot Cycle 24, the Current Ongoing Sunspot Cycle

As noted by Gray et al., Sir William Herschel was the first to suggest a possible close connection between the Sun and the Earth’s climate. The Sun, being the source of energy that impacts and drives the Earth’s climate system, displays a variety of changes over both short and long term time scales, the most obvious examples being the somewhat regular waxing and waning of sunspots with time (i.e., the sunspot cycle (SC)), first described by Samuel Heinrich Schwabe, a German apothecary and amateur astronomer who observed the Sun from Dessau, Germany, and the now well established variation of the Sun’s irradiance over the SC. Other factors related to the SC have been linked to changes in climate as well. Some of these other factors include the role of cosmic rays and the solar wind (i.e., the geomagnetic cycle) on climate, as well as the apparent close association between trends in global and northern hemispheric temperature and the length of the SC, although some investigators have described the inferred association between climate and, in particular, SC length as now being weak. More recently, Solheim et al. have reported on the relation between SC length and the average temperature in the same and immediately following SC for a number of meteorological stations in Norway and in the North Atlantic region. They noted that while they found no significant trend (correlation) between SC length and the average temperature when measured for the same cycle, in contrast, they found a significant negative trend when SC length was compared with the following cycle’s average temperature. From this observation, they suggested that average northern hemispheric temperature during the present ongoing SC (SC24) will be lower by about 0.9 °C than was seen in SC23 (spanning 1996–2007, based on yearly averages of sunspot number (SSN), and onset for SC24 occurring in 2008). The purpose of this Technical Publication (TP) is to examine the annual variations of the Armagh surface air temperature (ASAT) and the Global Land-Ocean Temperature Index (GLOTI) in relation to SSN and the SC in order to determine their likely values during SC24. Hence, it may provide insight as to whether solar forcing of global temperature is now lessening as a contributor to global warming, thereby indicating a possible cooling in the near term immediate future that potentially could ameliorate the effect of increased anthropogenic warming.

Wilson, Robert M.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Renewable Energy at NASA's Johnson Space Center

NASA's Johnson Space Center has implemented a great number of renewable energy systems. Renewable energy systems are necessary to research and implement if we humans are expected to continue to grow and thrive on this planet. These systems generate energy using renewable sources - water, wind, sun - things that we will not run out of. Johnson Space Center is helping to pave the way by installing and studying various renewable energy systems. The objective of this report will be to examine the completed renewable energy projects at NASA's Johnson Space Center for a time span of ten years, beginning in 2003 and ending in early 2014. This report will analyze the success of each project based on actual vs. projected savings and actual vs. projected efficiency. Additionally, both positive and negative experiences are documented so that lessons may be learned from past experiences. NASA is incorporating renewable energy wherever it can, including into buildings. According to the 2012 JSC Annual Sustainability Report, there are 321,660 square feet of green building space on JSC's campus. The two projects discussed here are major contributors to that statistic. These buildings were designed to meet various Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification criteria. LEED Certified buildings use 30 to 50 percent less energy and water compared to non-LEED buildings. The objectives of this project were to examine data from the renewable energy systems in two of the green buildings onsite - Building 12 and Building 20. In Building 12, data was examined from the solar photovoltaic arrays. In Building 20, data was examined from the solar water heater system. By examining the data from the two buildings, it could be determined if the renewable energy systems are operating efficiently. Objectives In Building 12, the data from the solar photovoltaic arrays shows that the system is continuously collecting energy from the sun, as shown by the graph below. Building 12 has two solar inverters, located on the second floor, that collected the data from the solar photovoltaic arrays. The data displayed here is the total energy produced by the system. These are cumulative amounts, so the last point on the graph shows all of the energy collected from the system since the start of its operation. The data shown here was manually collected from the solar inverters. However, the data is also automatically recorded through EBI. Through analysis of both sets of data it was determined that the EBI data was faulty. For example, from the manually collected data it can be determined that a total of 73 kWh of energy was collected between the dates of 1/16/2014 – 1/22/2014. The EBI data reports that approximately 17800 kWh of energy was collected during the same time frame. Not only does this exceed the time frame examined, but it also exceeds the total energy collected from the start of collection as recorded from the inverters. This leads to the belief that there is a malfunction with the automatic recording of the energy. In Building 20, data was examined from the solar water heater dating back many months and found that the pump for the solar water heater system was not operating properly, as exhibited in the graph shown below. The pump operates on a solar energy system, meaning that it collects energy throughout the day from the sun. Because of this, the system would stop operating shortly after the sun set because of a lack of sunlight. At that point, the graph should show a zero flow rate, but as exhibited in the graph below, that is not the case. It is clearly shown that the pump is continuously operating, even during the night. It was also observed that the majority of the time the pump would not turn on at all, despite good weather conditions. This led to the conclusion that the pump is malfunctioning, and needs to be examined and fixed.

McDowall, Lindsay↗

NASA NTRS2014

Vision Algorithm for the Solar Aspect System of the HEROES Mission

This work covers the design and test of a machine vision algorithm for generating high-accuracy pitch and yaw pointing solutions relative to the sun for the High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun (HEROES) mission. It describes how images were constructed by focusing an image of the sun onto a plate printed with a pattern of small fiducial markers. Images of this plate were processed in real time to determine relative position of the balloon payload to the sun. The algorithm is broken into four problems: circle detection, fiducial detection, fiducial identification, and image registration. Circle detection is handled by an "Average Intersection" method, fiducial detection by a matched filter approach, identification with an ad-hoc method based on the spacing between fiducials, and image registration with a simple least squares fit. Performance is verified on a combination of artificially generated images, test data recorded on the ground, and images from the 2013 flight

Solar Aspect↗

NASA NTRS2014

Vision Algorithm for the Solar Aspect System of the HEROES Mission

This work covers the design and test of a machine vision algorithm for generating high-accuracy pitch and yaw pointing solutions relative to the sun for the High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun (HEROES) mission. It describes how images were constructed by focusing an image of the sun onto a plate printed with a pattern of small fiducial markers. Images of this plate were processed in real time to determine relative position of the balloon payload to the sun. The algorithm is broken into four problems: circle detection, fiducial detection, fiducial identification, and image registration. Circle detection is handled by an Average Intersection method, fiducial detection by a matched filter approach, identification with an ad-hoc method based on the spacing between fiducials, and image registration with a simple least squares fit. Performance is verified on a combination of artificially generated images, test data recorded on the ground, and images from the 2013 flight.

HEROES↗

NASA NTRS2015

The Earth's Plasmasphere

The Earth's plasmasphere is an inner part of the magneteosphere. It is located just outside the upper ionosphere located in Earth's atmosphere. It is a region of dense, cold plasma that surrounds the Earth. Although plasma is found throughout the magnetosphere, the plasmasphere usually contains the coldest plasma. Here's how it works: The upper reaches of our planet's atmosphere are exposed to ultraviolet light from the Sun, and they are ionized with electrons that are freed from neutral atmospheric particles. The results are electrically charged negative and positive particles. The negative particles are electrons, and the positive particles are now called ions (formerly atoms and molecules). If the density of these particles is low enough, this electrically charged gas behaves differently than it would if it were neutral. Now this gas is called plasma. The atmospheric gas density becomes low enough to support the conditions for a plasma around earth at about 90 kilometers above Earth's surface. The electrons in plasma gain more energy, and they are very low in mass. They move along Earth's magnetic field lines and their increased energy is enough to escape Earth's gravity. Because electrons are very light, they don't have to gain too much kinetic energy from the Sun's ultraviolet light before gravity loses its grip on them. Gravity is not all that holds them back, however. As more and more electrons begin to escape outward, they leave behind a growing net positive electric charge in the ionosphere and create a growing net negative electric charge above the ionosphere; an electric field begins to develop (the Pannekoek-Rosseland E-field). Thus, these different interacting charges result in a positively charged ionosphere and negatively charged region of space above it. Very quickly this resulting electric field opposed upward movement of the electrons out of the ionosphere. The electrons still have this increased energy, however, so the electric field doesn't just go away. Instead the ions react to the electric field and are attracted to it. They begin to move upward out of the ionosphere too. Since all this happens on a small scale, it simply looks like the electrons and ions move out of the ionosphere together. Ultimately the effect is that the lighter ions of hydrogen, helium and oxygen are able to escape from the ionosphere. For a planet like Earth with a strong planetary magnetic field, these outward moving particles remain trapped near the planet unless other processes further draw them away and into interplanetary space. As is always the case with nature, there is much more story to tell about this "upwardly mobile" plasma and these other processes. Over only a short time period of hours and days this escaping plasma can, in some places, build up in concentration until an equilibrium is reached where as much plasma flows inward into the ionosphere as flows outward. This "donut shaped" region of cold (about 1 electron volt in energy) plasma encircling the planet is called the plasmasphere. Because of space weather storms (kind of a generic phrase for those other processes) this cold and dense plasmaspheric plasma can actually end up all over the place. Generally, that region of space where plasma from the ionosphere has the time to build up to become identified as the plasmasphere rotates or nearly rotates with the Earth. That region shrinks in size with increased space weather activity and expands or refills during times of inactivity. As it shrinks with increasing activity, some of the plasmasphere is drawn away from its main body (plasmaspheric erosion) in the sunward direction toward the boundary in space between that region dominated by Earth's magnetic field and the much larger region dominated by the Sun's magnetic field. The region dominated by Earth's magnetic field is called the magnetosphere. The larger Sun dominated region is called the heliosphere.

plasmasphere↗

NASA NTRS2016

Highlights from 4STAR Sky-Scanning Retrievals of Aerosol Intensive Optical Properties from Multiple Field Campaigns with Detailed Comparisons of SSA Reported During SEAC4RS

The 4STAR (Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research) instrument combines airborne sun tracking capabilities of the Ames Airborne Tracking Sun Photometer (AATS-14) with AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network)-like sky-scanning capability and adds state-of-the-art fiber-coupled grating spectrometry to yield hyperspectral measurements of direct solar irradiance and angularly resolved sky radiance. The combination of sun-tracking and sky-scanning capability enables retrievals of wavelength-dependent aerosol optical depth (AOD), mode-resolved aerosol size distribution (SD), asphericity, and complex refractive index, and thus also the scattering phase function, asymmetry parameter, single-scattering albedo (SSA), and absorption aerosol optical thickness (AAOT). From 2012 to 2014 4STAR participated in four major field campaigns: the U.S. Dept. of Energy's TCAP (Two-Column Aerosol Project) I & II campaigns, and NASA's SEAC4RS (Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys) and ARISE (Arctic Radiation - IceBridge Sea & Ice Experiment) campaigns. Establishing a strong performance record, 4STAR operated successfully on all flights conducted during each of these campaigns. Sky radiance spectra from scans in either constant azimuth (principal plane) or constant zenith angle (almucantar) were interspersed with direct beam measurements during level legs. During SEAC4RS and ARISE, 4STAR airborne measurements were augmented with flight-level albedo from the collocated Shortwave Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR) providing improved specification of below-aircraft radiative conditions for the retrieval. Calibrated radiances and retrieved products will be presented with particular emphasis on detailed comparisons of ambient SSA retrievals and measurements during SEAC4RS from 4STAR, AERONET, HSRL2 (High Spectral Resolution Lidar), and from in situ measurements.

Radiance↗