ALBERT

Description: We used Hinode X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) filtergraph (FG) Stokes-V magnetogram observations, to study the early onset of a solar eruption that includes an erupting filament that we observe in TRACE EUV images. The filament undergoes a slow rise for at least 20min prior to its fast eruption and strong soft X-ray (SXR) flaring; such slow rises have been previously reported, and the new Hinode data elucidate the physical processes occurring during this period. XRT images show that during the slow-rise phase, an SXR sigmoid forms from apparent reconnection low in the sheared core field traced by the filament, and there is a low-level intensity peak in both EUV and SXRs during the slow rise. MDI and SOT FG Stokes-V magnetograms show that the pre-emption filament is along a neutral line between opposing-polarity enhanced network cells, and the SOT magnetograms show that these opposing fields are flowing together and canceling for at least six hours prior to eruption. From the MDI data we measured the canceling network fields to be approx. 40 G, and we estimated that approx. 10(exp 19)Mx of flux canceled during the five hours prior to eruption; this is only approx.5% of the total flux spanned by the eruption and flare, but apparently its tether-cutting cancellation was enough to destabilize the sigmoid field holding the filament and resulted in that field's eruption.

Description: Images and the radial profiles of the temperature, abundance, and brightness for 70 clusters of galaxies observed by XMM-Newton are presented along with a detailed discussion of the data reduction and analysis methods, including background modeling, which were used in the processing. Proper consideration of the various background components is vital to extend the reliable determination of cluster parameters to the largest possible cluster radii. The various components of the background including the quiescent particle background, cosmic diffuse emission, soft proton contamination, and solar wind charge exchange emission are discussed along with suggested means of their identification, filtering, and/or their modeling and subtraction. Every component is spectrally variable, sometimes significantly so, and all components except the cosmic background are temporally variable as well. The distributions of the events over the FOV vary between the components, and some distributions vary with energy. The scientific results from observations of low surface brightness objects and the diffuse background itself can be strongly affected by these background components and therefore great care should be taken in their consideration.

Description: The Hinode satellite (formerly Solar-B) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS/JAXA) was successfully launched in September 2006. As the successor to the Yohkoh mission, it aims to understand how magnetic energy is transferred from the photosphere to the upper atmospheres and resulting in explosive energy releases. Hinode is an observatory style mission, with all the instruments being designed and built to work together to address the science aims. There are three instruments onboard: the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), the EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS), and the X-ray Telescope (XRT). This paper overviews the mission, including the satellite, the scientific payload and operations. It will conclude with discussions on how the international science community can participate in the analysis of the mission data.

Description: The Parametric Inlet is an innovative concept for the inlet of a gas-turbine propulsion system for supersonic aircraft. The concept approaches the performance of past inlet concepts, but with less mechanical complexity, lower weight, and greater aerodynamic stability and safety. Potential applications include supersonic cruise aircraft and missiles. The Parametric Inlet uses tailored surfaces to turn the incoming supersonic flow inward toward an axis of symmetry. The terminal shock spans the opening of the subsonic diffuser leading to the engine. The external cowl area is smaller, which reduces cowl drag. The use of only external supersonic compression avoids inlet unstart--an unsafe shock instability present in previous inlet designs that use internal supersonic compression. This eliminates the need for complex mechanical systems to control unstart, which reduces weight. The conceptual design was conceived by TechLand Research, Inc. (North Olmsted, OH), which received funding through NASA s Small-Business Innovation Research program. The Boeing Company (Seattle, WA) also participated in the conceptual design. The NASA Glenn Research Center became involved starting with the preliminary design of a model for testing in Glenn s 10- by 10-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel (10 10 SWT). The inlet was sized for a speed of Mach 2.35 while matching requirements of an existing cold pipe used in previous inlet tests. The parametric aspects of the model included interchangeable components for different cowl lip, throat slot, and sidewall leading-edge shapes and different vortex generator configurations. Glenn researchers used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools for three-dimensional, turbulent flow analysis to further refine the aerodynamic design.

Description: We use Hinode X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) filtergraph (FG) Stokes-V magnetogram observations, to study the early onset of a solar eruption that includes an erupting filament that we observe in TRACE EUV images. The filament undergoes a slow rise for at least 20 min prior to its fast eruption and strong soft X-ray flaring; such slow rises have been previously reported, and the new Hinode data elucidate the physical processes occurring during this period. XRT images show that during the slow-rise phase, a soft X-ray (SXR) sigmoid forms from apparent reconnection low in the sheared core field traced by the filament, and there is a low-level intensity peak in both EUV and SXRs during the slow rise. MDI and SOT FG/V magnetograms show that the pre-eruption filament is along a neutral line between opposing-polarity enhanced network cells, and the SOT magnetograms show that these opposing fields are flowing together and canceling for at least six hours prior to eruption. From the MDI data we measure the canceling network fields to be approx. 40 G, and we estimate that approx. 10(exp 19) Mx of flux canceled during the five hours prior to eruption; this is only approx. 5% of the total flux spanned by the eruption and flare, but apparently its tether-cutting cancellation was enough to destabilize the sigmoid field holding the filament and resulted in that field's eruption.

Description: The International X-ray Observatory requires mirror assemblies with unprecedented characteristics that cannot be provided by existing optical technologies. In the past several years, the project has supported a vigorous mirror technology development program. This program includes the fabrication of lightweight mirror segments by slumping commercially available thin glass sheets, the support and mounting of these thin mirror segments for accurate metrology, the mounting and attachment of these mirror segments for the purpose of X-ray tests, and development of methods for aligning and integrating these mirror segments into mirror assemblies. This paper describes our efforts and developments in these areas.

Description: To accurately model radiative fluxes at the surface and within the atmosphere, we need to know both vertical and horizontal structures of cloudiness. While MODIS provides accurate information on cloud horizontal structure, it has limited ability to estimate cloud vertical structure. ICESat/GLAS on the other hand, provides the vertical distribution and internal structure of clouds as deep as the laser beam can penetrate and return a signal. Having different orbits, MODIS and GLAS provide few collocated measurements; hence a statistical approach is needed to learn about 3D cloud structures from the two instruments. In the presentation, we show the results of the statistical analysis of vertical and horizontal structure of cloudiness using GLAS and MODIS cloud top(s) data acquired in October-November 2003. We revisit the (H1, C1) plot, previously used for analyzing cloud liquid water data, and illustrate cloud structure for single and multiple-layer clouds.

Description: Lightning is responsible for an estimated 15 percent of total NO emissions, and is one of the most prominent sources in the upper troposphere. In this study, we present evidence of lightning-generated NO2 (LNO2) using data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), which has observed tropospheric NO2 since its launch in 2004. Although LNO2 has been also reported in previous satellite studies from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) and SCIAMACHY, OMI is better suited for such measurements by virtue of its higher spatial resolution and daily global coverage. We will present data clearly showing the LNO2 signal in the OMI tropospheric NO2 product on two days over and downwind of specific convective systems in the US Midwest. Gridded monthly mean tropospheric NO 2 data are subtracted from the daily gridded data to obtain the presumed LNO2 signal. Observed cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flashes from the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) were counted along middle and upper tropospheric back trajectories that were run from the regions containing the LNO2 signal. A vertically-weighted average number of upwind CG flashes was obtained using a profile of LNO(x) mass obtained from a series of midlatitude cloud-resolved storm chemistry simulations. The number of CG flashes was scaled up to total flashes (intracloud (IC) flashes plus CG) using a climatological IC/CG ratio. The number of moles of LNO(x) in the region considered was estimated by assuming that LNO2 is 30 percent of LNO(x). This value was divided by the number of upwind flashes to obtain an average estimate of the number of moles produced per flash. Results yield values in the range obtained through other estimation techniques (e.g., aircraft measurements, models). We will also present a similar analysis over northern Australia during the SCOUT-O3/ACTIVE field campaigns in November and December 2005, in which we will compare the OMI LNOx signals with aircraft observations from the storm anvils.

Description: Testing of the HSCT Generation 2.0 nozzle model hardware was conducted at the Boeing Low Speed Aeroacoustic Facility, LSAF. Concurrent measurements of noise and thrust were made at critical takeoff design conditions for a variety of mixer/ejector model hardware. Design variables such as suppressor area ratio, mixer area ratio, liner type and thickness, ejector length, lobe penetration, and mixer chute shape were tested. Parallel testing was conducted at G.E.'s Cell 41 acoustic free jet facility to augment the LSAF test. The results from the Gen 2.0 testing are being used to help shape the current nozzle baseline configuration and guide the efforts in the upcoming Generation 2.5 and 3.0 nozzle tests. The Gen 2.0 results have been included in the total airplane system studies conducted at MDC and Boeing to provide updated noise and thrust performance estimates.

Description: We describe and analyze a statistical filtering approach for GRACE data that uses a parametrized model for the temporal evolution of the GRACE coefficients. After least-squares adjustment, a statistical test is performed to assess the significance of the estimated parameters. If the test is passed, the parameters are used by the filter in the reconstruction of the field; otherwise they are rejected. The test is performed, and the filter is formed, separately for annual components of the model and the trend. This new approach is distinct from Gaussian smoothing since it uses the data themselves to test for specific components of the time-varying gravity field. The statistical filter appears inherently to remove most of the "stripes" present in the GRACE fields, although destriping the fields prior to filtering seems to help the trend recovery. We demonstrate that the statistical filter produces reasonable maps for the annual components and trend. We furthermore assess the statistical filter for the annual components using ground-based GPS data in South America by assuming that the annual component of the gravity signal is associated only with groundwater storage. The un-destriped, statistically filtered field has a X2 value relative to the GPS data consistent with the best result from smoothing. In the space domain, the statistical filters are qualitatively similar to Gaussian smoothing. Unlike Gaussian smoothing, however, the statistical filter has significant sidelobes, including large negative sidelobes on the north-south axis, potentially revealing information on the errors, and the correlations among the errors, for the GRACE coefficients.