ALBERT

Description: In many structures the final stress states are dependent on the sequence of construction or the stress states at various stages of construction are of interest. Such problems can be analyzed using finite element programs that have the capability of adding (birthing) elements to simulate the progress of construction. However, the usual procedure of assembling elements may lead to numerical instabilities or stress states that are unrealistic. Both problems are demonstrated in the analysis of a structure using the program ADINA. A technique which combines application of a preload with element birthing to overcome these problems is described and illustrated.

Description: A technique utilizing finite element analysis, liquid impact kinematics, and momentum theory is described and compared to single-drop impact test data performed on various configurations of coated ceramic material. The method correlates well with test data and is useful in predicting the single-drop impact damage velocity threshold for low-density, coated ceramic materials.

Description: An algorithm is outlined for simulating the contact surface erosion for impact problems. The algorithm dynamically relocates the contact surface as projectile and target materials exceed their failure criterion. Example computations of axisymmetric and oblique impacts are compared with experimental data.

Description: A study of the dynamic characteristics of a coupled translational-rotational system is given. The formulation of the problem considers the soil-structure interaction effects by utilizing the impedance functions at the foundation of a structure. Due to the fact that the coefficient matrix in the characteristic equation is frequency dependent in nature, iterations have to be performed to find the nature frequencies of the system. Examples and discussions are presented. Comparisons of the analytical results from various approaches are also given.

Description: Two analytical techniques applicable to large deflection dynamic response calculations for pressure loaded composite sandwich panels are demonstrated. One technique utilizes finite element modeling with a single equivalent layer representing the face sheets and core. The other technique utilizes the modal analysis computer code DEPROP which was recently modified to include transverse shear deformation in a core layer. The example problem consists of a simply supported rectangular sandwich panel. Included are comparisons of linear and nonlinear static response calculations, in addition to dynamic response calculations.

Description: The design of thin shell structures with respect to elastoplastic buckling requires an extended analysis of the influence of initial imperfections. For conservative design, the most critical defect should be assumed with the maximum allowable magnitude. This defect is closely related to the initial postbuckling behavior. An algorithm is given for the quasi-static analysis of the postbuckling behavior of structures that exhibit multiple buckling points. the algorithm based upon an energy criterion allows the computation of the critical perturbation which will be employed for the definition of the critical defect. For computational efficiency, the algorithm uses the reduced basis technique with automatic update of the modal basis. The method is applied to the axisymmetric buckling of cylindrical shells under axial compression, and conclusions are given for future research.

Description: A general approach is required for describing matter of behavior when the failure is likely to involve growth and coalescence of a large number of fractures. Failures of this kind appear frequently in rapid dynamic processes, particularly in the formation of spall fragments. An approach to formulating constitutive relations that accounts for the opening, shear and growth of an ensemble of cracks is discussed. The approach accounts for plastic flow accompanying fragmentation. The resulting constitutive relations were incorporated into a Lagrangian computer program. A theoretical approach to coalescence is described. The simplest formulation uses a linear Liouville equation, with crack growth limited by the mean free path of cracks, assumed constant. This approach allows for an anisotropic distribution of cracks. An alternative approach in which the decrease of the mean free path with increasing crack size is accounted for, but the crack distribution is assumed isotropic is described. A reduction of the governing Liouville equation to an ordinary differential equation of third order is possible, and the result can be used to determine how mean free path decreases with increasing crack size.

Description: The design of a composite panel requires some way of finding the minimum thickness laminate which will withstand the load requirements without failure. The mathematical complexity of this problem dictates the use of nonlinear optimization techniques. Specialized laminate optimization programs were developed which are compact and efficient enough to run on microcomputers. Only stresses at a point and inplane loads and deflections are considered. The programs are simple to use and require no knowledge of optimization. Techniques are developed which find minimum thickness laminates with either ply ratios or ply angles as design variables. A method is presented for finding the optimum orientation for the axis of symmetry of an orthotropic laminate. The orthotropic laminate program uses an approximate failure theory, which speed up computations dramatically.

Description: The evaluation of the total probability of a plastic collapse failure P sub f for a highly redundant structure of random interdependent plastic moments acted on by random interdepedent loads is a difficult and computationally very costly process. The evaluation of reasonable bounds to this probability requires the use of second moment algebra which involves man statistical parameters. A computer program which selects the best strategy for minimizing the interval between upper and lower bounds of P sub f is now in its final stage of development. The relative importance of various uncertainties involved in the computational process on the resulting bounds of P sub f, sensitivity is analyzed. Response sensitivities for both mode and system reliability of an ideal plastic portal frame are shown.

Description: A finite element modeling technique which utilizes a triangular element called TSHEL with 45 degrees of freedom and seven point integration was tested for analysis of thin plate and shell structures. The element formulation is based on the degenerate solid shell concept and the mixed formulation with assumed independent inplane and transverse shear strains. The effectiveness of the present modeling technique which features combined use of elements with kinematic modes and those without kinematic modes to eliminate both locking and spurious kinematic modes at the global structural levels are shown.

Description: The stress derivative technique for control of keystoning deformation in under-integrated finte elements is based on expansion of the stress in a Taylor series about the element center and retention of additional terms beyond the constant stress term. It has the advantage over other control techniques that keystoning resistance is provided by actual rather than artificial material properties. Application of this technique to the quadrilateral ring elements used for modelling solids of revolution subjected to axisymmetric loads is described. In a cylindrical coordinate system additional terms appear in the formulation which must be dealt with in arriving at a workable keystoning control scheme.

Description: An existing program is currently being adapted to perform finite element analysis by distributing substructures over a network of four Apple IIe microcomputers connected to a shared disk. In this network, one microcomputer controls the entire process while the others perform the analysis on each substructure in parallel. This substructure analysis is used in an iterative, fully stressed, structural resizing procedure. This procedure allows experimentatation with resizing in which all analyses are not completed during a single iteration. This research gives some insight on how to configure multidiscriplinary analysis and optimization procedures for decomposable engineering systems using either high performance engineering workstations or a parallel processor supercomputer. In addition, the operational experience gained facilitates the implementation of analysis programs on these new computers when they become available in an engineering environment.

Description: Described are the experiences gained from solving for the dynamic response of two simple structures on an experimental Multiple Instruction Multiple Data (MIMD) computer called the finite element machine. Introduced are MIMD computing concepts, describing how the concurrent algorithmic techniques implemented and giving results for the two example problems. The results show computational speedups of up to 7.83 using eight of the finite element machine processors and indicate that significant computational speedups are possible for large order structural computations.

Description: The FLEX/32 Multicomputer is a generic environment for cooperating multiple processors. The FLEX/32 supports a number of different processors, making it heterogeneous in terms of the instruction sets it supports, and homogeneous in its ability to provide consistent storage and input/output facilities to its differing processors. These facilities are accessed through standard 32-bit VMEbus connections. The FLEX/32 supports the full UNIX System V Operating System and languages associated with it, plus the extended ConCurrent C and Concurrent FORTRAN 77 languages that allow programming of concurrent software at a high level. Direct programming support at all levels is provided by the environment hardware for concurrent software execution and optimization, including hardware support for shared resource access arbitration, conditional critical region arbitration, and interprocessor messages.

Description: Research aimed at faster, more cost effective parallel machines and algorithms for improving designer productivity with finite element computations is discussed. A set of 8 boards, containing 4 nearest neighbor connected arrays of commercially available floating point chips and substantial memory, are inserted into a commercially available machine. One-tenth Mflop (64 bit operation) processors provide an 89% efficiency when solving the equations arising in a finite element problem for a single variable regular grid of size 40 by 40 by 40. This is approximately 15 to 20 times faster than a much more expensive machine such as a VAX 11/780 used in double precision. The efficiency falls off as faster or more processors are envisaged because communication times become dominant. A novel successive overrelaxation algorithm which uses cyclic reduction in order to permit data transfer and computation to overlap in time is proposed.

Description: Voyager 1 images show 14 volcanic centers wholly or partly within the Kane Patera quadrangle of Io, which are divided into four major classes: (1) shield with parallel flows; (2) shield with early radial fan shapd flows; (3) shield with radial fan shaped flows, surfaces of flows textured with longitudinal ridges; and (4) depression surrounded by plateau-forming scarp-bounded, untextured deposits. The interpretation attempted here hinges largely on the ability to distinguish lava flows from pyroclastic flows by remote sensing.

Description: Structural and tectonic interpretations of planetary surfaces rely strongly on visual determination of regional structural grain. This grain can be very complex and confusing, and sorting out of discrete trends in time and space is of utmost importance. This study is a test of these techniques applied to a well known area having several discrete structural grains. In the Bighorn Basin region of Wyoming, a largely overlooked N10E structural grain has been verified with detailed structural analysis and indicates a significant change in stress orientation at the end of the Laramide orogeny.

Description: Isolated knobs that are erosional remnants of central volcanoes or of folded rocks occur in several areas of the Altiplano are visible on both optical and images. The optically visible streaks occur in the immediate lee of the knobs, whereas the radar visible streaks occur in the zone downwind between the knobs. Aerial reconnaissance and field studies showed that the optically visible streaks consist of a series of small ( 100 m wide) barchan and barchanoid dunes, intradune sand sheets, and sand hummocks (large shrub coppice dunes) up to 15 m across and 5 m high. On LANDSAT images these features are poorly resolved but combine to form a bright streak. On the radar image, this area also appears brighter than the zone of the radar dark streak; evidently, the dunes and hummocks serve as radar reflectors. The radar dark streak consists of a relatively flat, smooth sand sheet which lacks organized aerolian bedforms, other than occasional ripples. Wind velocity profiles show a greater U value in the optically bright streak zone than in the radar dark streak.

Description: The diversity of proposed origins for large Martian outflow channels results from the differing interpretations given to the landforms associated with the outflow channels. In an attempt to help limit the possible mechanisms of channel erosion, detailed studies of three of the channel features were done; the streamlined islands, longitudinal grooves and scour marks. This examination involved a comparison of the martian streamlined islands with various streamlined landforms on Earth including those found in the Channel Scabland in large rivers, glacial drumlins, and desert yardangs. The comparisons included statistical analyses of the landform lengths versus widths and positions of maximum width, and an examination of the degree of shape agreement with the geometric lemniscate which was in turn demonstrated to correspond closely with true airfoil shapes. The analyses showed that the shapes of the martian islands correspond closely to the streamlined islands in rivers and the Channel Scabland land. Drumlins show a much smaller correlation. Erosional rock islands formed by glaciers are very much different in shape.

Description: Tectoism in the Valles Marineris appears to have been accompanied by volcanism. The proposed volcanic features, though probably contemporaneous with the gigantic ones in the Tharsis area, are composed of small, mafic and, possibly, somewhat larger felsic flows. The size of these features is similar to that of volcanic flows on the Earth.

Description: Experiments were carried out in a steel pressure device using controlled amounts of water and thermite melt to examine the mechanical energy released on explosive mixing following the initial contact of the two materials. An experimental design was used to allow the direct calculation of the mechanical energy by the dynamic lift of the device as recorded both optically and physically. A large number of experiments were run to accurately determine the optimum mixture of water and melt for the conversion of thermal to mechanical energy. The maximum efficiency observed was about 12% at a water/thermite mass ratio of 0.50. These experiments are the basis for the development of models of hydroexplosions and melt fragmentation. Particles collected from the experimental products are similar in size and shape to pyroclasts produced by much larger hydrovolcanic explosions. Melt rupture at optimum ratios produces very fine particles whereas rupture at high or low water/melt ratios produces large melt fragments. Grain surface textures in the experimental products are also related to the water/melt ratio and the mechanism of explosive mixing. It is thus possible to have qualitative information about the nature of the explosion from the sizes and shapes of the fragments produced.

Description: The design, manufacture, and testing of an isolation system placed under a bench which simulates a space platform during testing in a hard vacuum are described. A low natural frequency isolation system is used to decouple ground vibrations from the bench. The materials used are vacuum compatible and do not introduce unwanted matter which would contaminate the payload optics and/or the testing environment. The system accommodates payloads of varying weights and envelopes.

Description: The potential cost and performance advantages of welding was understood but ignored by solar panel manufacturers in the U.S. Although NASA, DOD and COMSAT have supported welding development efforts, soldering remains the only U.S. space qualified method for interconnecting solar cells. The reason is that no U.S. satellite prime contractor found it necessary, due to mission requirements, to abandon the space proven soldering process. It appears that the proposed NASA space station program will provide an array requirement, a 10 year operation in a low Earth orbital environment, that mandates welding. The status of welding technology in the U.S. is assessed.

Description: The objective of this experiment is to measure the flux and energy spectrum of protons with energies of 1 to MeV. These protons are trapped on the Earth's magnetic field lines as part of the inner radiation belt, or Van Allen zone. The proton will be encountered predominantly in the South Atlantic anomaly at a 90 deg pitch angle.

Description: The main objective of the experiment is a detailed study of the charge spectra of ultraheavy cosmic-ray nuclei from zinc (Z = 30) to uranium (Z = 92) and beyond using solid-state track detectors. Special emphasis will be placed on the relative abundances in the region Z or - 65, which is thought to be dominated by r-process nucleosynthesis. Subsidiary objectives include the study of the cosmic-ray transiron spectrum a search for the postulated long-lived superheavy (SH) nuclei (Z or = 110), such as (110) SH294, in the contemporary cosmic radiation. The motivation behind the search for super-heavy nuclei is based on predicted half-lives that are short compared to the age of the Earth but long compared to the age of cosmic rays. The detection of such nuclei would have far-reaching consequences for nuclear structure theory. The sample of ultraheavy nuclei obtained in this experiment will provide unique opportunities for many tests concerning element nucleosynthesis, cosmic-ray acceleration, and cosmic-ray propagation.

Description: The linear energy transfer (LET) is the energy deposited per unit path length of charged particle traversing matter. For estimating the rate of damage from single-hit phenomena, the quantity that best combines the radiation environment, orbital situation, and spacecraft shielding is the linear energy transfer (LET) spectrum at the device location. This experiment will measure the LET spectrum behind different shielding configurations for approximately 1 year. The shielding will be increased in increments of approximately 1 G/sq cm up to a maximum shieldng of 16 G/sq cm. In addition to providing critical information to future spacecraft designers, these measurements will also provide data that will be extremely valuable to other experiments on LDEF.

Description: The ojectives are to investigate three components of heavy nuclei in space: (1) a recently observed anomalous component of low-energy nuclei of N, O, and Ne; (2) the heavy nuclei in the Van Allen radiation belts; and (3) the UH nuclei (Z 30) of the galactic radiation. The study of the anomalous flux of N, O, and Ne nuclei in the unexplored energy region above 100 MeV/u is expected to provide new insights into the source of this component. Its observation in this experiment will confirm that these ions are singly charged. Knowledge of the energy spectra of the heavy nuclei observed in the Van Allen belts is expected to enhance the understanding of the origin of the belts (e.g., injection and local acceleration pocesses). The observation of these heavy ions could show, for the first time, that low-energy particles of extraterrestrial origin can diffuse to the innermost parts of the magnetosphere. Measurements of the UH component are expected to contribute information concerning its source, interstellar propagation, and the galactic storage time.

Description: Significant new geologic information has been revealed by comparing 1:5 million scale geologic maps of the equatorial zone quadrangles of Mercury (H-6, H-7 and H-8) to Earth-based elevation profiles and surface reflectivity maps of Mercury obtained in the early 1970's at the Arecibo (PR) and Goldstone (CA) radar facilities. These data consist of 23 Goldstone images and profiles of polarized return data at 12.5-cm wavelength and one Arecibo profile. Radar data with 150-m vertical accuracy and 10- to 20-km horizontal resolution are available for areas between latitudes 13 N. and 11 S. In general, these data sets show excellent correlation between: (1) relative elevation and roughness differences that are reflected by mapped geologic contacts; (2) mapped ridges and scarps that display distinctive radar signatures; and (3) position and morphology of crater-and-basin topographic elements. Inferences can also be drawn about topographic and geologic terrain beyond the area imaged by Mariner 10 cameras.

Description: On Mars, the association of gullied escarpments and chaotic terrain is evidence for failure and scarp retreat of poorly consolidated materials. Some martian gullies have no surface outlets and may have drained through subterranean channels. Similar features, though on a much smaller scale, can be seen in alluvium along terrestrial river banks in semiarid regions, such as the Rio Puerco Valley of central New Mexico. Many of the escarpments along the Rio Puerco are developing through formation of collapse gullies, which drain through soil pipes. Gully development can be monitored on aerial photographs taken in 1935, 1962, and 1980. A regression model was developed to quantify gully evolution over a known time span. Soil pipes and their associated collapse gullies make recognizable signatures on the air photos. The areal extent of this signature can be normalized to the scarp length of each pipe-gully system, which makes comparisons between systems possible.

Description: Geomorphic studies of impact structures in central Australia are being used to understand the complexities of fluvial dissection in the heavily cratered terrains of Mars. At Henbury, Northern Territory, approximately 12 small meteorite craters have interacted with a semiarid drainage system. The detailed mapping of the geologic and structural features at Henbury allowed this study to concentrate on degradational landforms. The breaching of crater rims by gullies was facilitated by the northward movement of sheetwash along an extensive pediment surface extending from the Bacon Range. South-facing crater rims have been preferentially breached because gullies on those sides were able to tap the largest amounts of runoff. At crater 6 a probable rim-gully system has captured the headward reaches of a pre-impact stream channel. The interactive history of impacts and drainage development is critical to understanding the relationships in the heavily cratered uplands of Mars. Whereas Henbury craters are younger than 4700 yrs. B.P., the Gosses Bluff structure formed about 130 million years ago. The bluff is essentially an etched central peak composed of resistant sandstone units. Fluvial erosion of this structure is also discussed.

Description: Eastern Acidalia Planitia contains a wide variety of terrain types on which are thousands of subkilometer volcanoes. Apparent morphometric variations were previously reported as a function of terrain type for the cones in the Cydonia area and extended to the rest of Acidalia for which high resolution Viking imagery exist. Crater counts are included for the six types of plains identified, density distributions of subkilometer cones found on each type of terrain, and orphometric data by morphological subclass as a function of terrain for more than 1400 cones.

Description: Preliminary mapping shows East Butte to be a single, large cumulo-dome composed dominantly of rhyolite which can be classified into three main groups based on color and structure. The rhyolite of East Butte is aphanitic with phenocrysts of sanidine and quartz which vary from 1 to 5 mm in length. Vesicular reddish black inclusions of basalt up to 10 cm in length, found in all varieties of the East Butte rhyolites are believed to have originated from fragmentation of the basalt walls of the conduit by rhyolitic magma as it was emplaced. Most of the inclusions contain plagioclase phenocrysts. These phenocrysts measure up to 1 to 2 cm in length and have a typical euhedral, tabular habit. A 250-m diameter depression which has the appearance of a crater is located at the top of East Butte. Evidence supporting the fact that the depression is a crater is displayed by three small (3 to 5 m in height) mounds of massive rhyolite which border the depression.

Description: Some of the geological relationships observed in the Mauna Loa sulfur flow may apply in considering volcanic processes on Io. Given the presence of sulfur/sulfur compounds in the eruption plumes and on the surface of Io, it is likely that extensive secondary deposits of sulfur exist, some of which may be of fumarolic origin and analogous to the Mauna Loa deposit. Given the likelihood of silicate volcanism of Io based on the inferred material properties of some flows, and the attendant high temperatures for silicate volcanism, it is likely that the secondary surface deposits of sulfur would have been mobilized without being heated to the high viscosity stage. Mobilized sulfur flows on Io may flow long distances as a result of: (1) low viscosities in the melting range; (2) sustained effusion resulting from continued heating source area; (3) continued remobilization within the flow as a consequence of surges from the source; and (4) extension via lava tubes, or similar conduits through which there is little heat loss. Sulfur flows may form a relatively thin veneer over silicate flows and other surface units, given their fluidity and low mobilization temperature. Active splashing and splattering may spread sulfur over a wider area contributing the bright blooms observed in association with some Ionian flows.

Description: Researchers define damage-tolerant structural systems as those systems which not only have adeqate intact strength to withstand initial failure but also adequate residual strength to minimize the possibility of, and hence the consequences of, further failure. The incorporation of damage tolerance cannot be done in total isolation of the function being required of the system and the costs associated with obtaining improved damage tolerance. The approach, therefore, is to formulate multiple-objective, multi-level decision support problems (DSP), the solutions of which represent a compromise between higher costs and higher damage tolerance. Mulitple-objective decision support problems are easily solved in the linear domain. These formulations, however, include both linear and nonlinear constraints and goals, which in the past, have not been considered due to the resulting complexity. Here, researchers: (1) present a complete discussion and description of decision support problems; (2) identify what further research needs to be done in order to obtain information that is required but not known for solving problems using these models; and (3) identify what needs to be done to implement this prototype method in practice.

Description: Ocean-going vehicles and platforms are among the largest structures in the world and are subjected to relatively harsh conditions of motions and loads. Some of them, such as semi-submersible platforms, are a relatively new type of structure and hence there is no formal, well evolved and established structural design code as there is for more traditional structures. More recently, efforts have also been made to develop a design method of this type for ships and other ocean structures. One of the many advantages of a rationally based design method is versatility; it can be used for structures that have widely differing purposes, measures of merit, shapes and sizes. The purpose is to describe a rationally based design method that has been developed within the field of ocean structures, in order that persons dealing with other types of structure can judge whether and to what extent its various features may be useful for those other types. Also, even though some features may not be applicable they might stimulate some useful ideas.

Description: Perhaps the greatest chance for exhumation, or burial, of a landscape by terrestrial processes exists near the boundaries of the climatic belts. In the Southern Hemisphere, there is comparatively little land area within Budel's zone of extra-tropical valley formation, which contains most of the examples of exhumed topography in the Northern Hemisphere. The only examples of resurrected landforms that occur within Budel's tropical zone are located near the boundary of this zone, where climate may have changed during the Pleistocene. The ages of exhumed landforms sampled are not equally distributed through geologic time. Most of the exhumed features were created either during the Precambrian or the Tertiary periods which are commonly cited as episodes of significant landform development.

Description: The Dry Valleys of Antarctica are examples of polar deserts which are rare geological features on the Earth. Such deserts typically have high salinities associated with their closed-basin waters and on many surficial materials throughout them. In order to examine the possible sources for the salts observed in association with the soils in the Dry Valleys. The chloride and bromide concentrations of the water leachates from 58 soils and core samples were measured. The Cl/Br ratio for seawater is 289 and ratios measured for most of the 58 soils studied (greater than 85% of the soils studied) was larger than the seawater ratio (ratios typically were greater than 1000 and ranged up to 50,000). The enrichment in Cl relative to Br is strong evidence that the alts present within the soils were derived from seawater during ordinary evaporation processes, and not from the deposition of Cl and Br from aerosols or from rock weathering as has often been suggested.

Description: In order to understand better the polygenetic evolution of landforms on the martian surface, field studies were conducted in and around the Kharga Depression, Egypt. The Kharga region, on the eastern edge of Egypt's Western Desert, was subject to erosion under mostly hyperarid climatic conditions, punctuated by brief pluvial episodes of lesser aridity, since early Pleistocene time. The region contains numerous landforms analogous to features on the martian surface: yardangs carved in layered surficial deposits and in bedrock, invasive dune trains, wind-modified channels and interfluves, and depressions bounded by steep scarps. Like many of the topographic depresions on Mars, the Kharga Depression was invaded by crescentic dunes. In Egypt, stratigraphic relations between dunes, yardangs, mass-wasting debris, and wind-eroded flash-flood deposits record shifts in the relative effectiveness of wind, water, and mass-wasting processes as a function of climate change.

Description: 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.

Description: Desert pavement is a general term describing a surface that typically consists of a thin layer of cm-sized rock fragments set on top of a layer of finer material in which no fragments are found. An understanding of desert pavement is important to planetary geology because they may play a major role in the formation and visibility of various aeolian features such as wind streaks, which are important on Mars and may be important on Venus. A field study was conducted in Amboy, California to determine the formation mechanism of desert pavements. The probable sequence of events for the formation and evolution of a typical desert pavement surface, based on this experiment and the work of others, is as follows. Starting with a layer of surface material consisting of both fine particles and rock fragments, aeolian deflation will rapidly erode the surface until an armored lag is developed, after which aeolian processes become less important. The concentration of fragments then slowly increases as new fragments are brought to the surface from the subsurface and as fragments move downslope by sheet wash. Sheet wash would be responsible for removing very fine particles from the surface and for moving the fragments relative to one another, forming interlocks.

Description: The use of microcomputers in the design of a cable catenary large space antenna system is discussed. The development of a system design capability, data base utilization, systems integration, program structure and logic, and integrated graphics output are discussed.

Description: An exceptionally elegant method for structural optimization with constraints on the static response presented by Shield and Prager is discussed. Their derivation of the optimality condition was facilitated by a reformulation of the structural elasticity equations in terms of what was then a new variational principle, the principle of stationary mutual potential energy. Their optimality condition relates the design variable to an appropriately defined mutual strain energy. An alternative but related approach, based upon the principle of stationary mutual complementary energy, presented by N. C. Haung, is also discussed. The simplicity of these principles lies in the facts that the energy functionals are stationary at the solution to the field equations and that their stationary value is proportional to the quantity to be optimized.

Description: Field studies of terrestrial landforms and the processes that shape them provide new directions to the study of planetary features. These studies, conducted in Iceland and in Antarctica, investigated physical and chemical weathering mechanisms and rates, eolitan processes, mudflow phenomena, drainage development, and catastrophic fluvial and volcanic phenomena. Continuing investigations in Iceland fall in three main catagories: (1) catastrophic floods of the Jokulsa a Fjollum, (2) lahars associated with explosive volcanic eruptions of Askja caldera, and (3) rates of eolian abrasion in cold, volcanic deserts. The ice-free valleys of Antarctica, in particular those in South Victoria Land, have much is common with the surface of Mars. In addition to providing independent support for the application of the Iceland findings to consideration of the martian erosional system, the Antarctic observations also provide analogies to other martian phenomena. For example, a family of sand dunes in Victoria Valley are stabilized by the incorporation of snow as beds.

Description: Sand bars and islands within braided rivers have characteristic rhomboid or diamond shapes, often becoming very complex in form as the density of islands increases. Similar forms are observed in the martian outflow channels where the islands occur in groups. This contrasts with the more isolated martian islands which have airfoil shapes, as do isolated streamlined islands in rivers and in the Channeled Scabland. These observations indicate that the bar and island forms are controlled by the density of the islands, with increasing island interaction and flow modification as the density increases. As a continuation of previous flume experiments on the shapes of isolated islands, a new series of experiments investigate the modifications produced by a progressive increase in island density, finally leading to a true braided system.

Description: Development of drainage networks by erosion by emergent groundwater (sapping) is being modelled by a combination of laboratory experiments and theoretical modelling. Miniature drainage networks formed in fine-grained sediments share many morphologic characteristics of Martian and terrestrial networks suspected to be formed by sapping processes. A larger and better instrumented sapping box was constructed to further explore the processes of sapping and the morphology of resulting networks. The experiments to be conducted in the sapping box will investigate the roles of several factors in controlling network morphology. The mechanics of sapping of fine-grained sediments were investigated in experiments in a two-dimensional sapping chamber and through development of a theoretical model. Results of extensive tests on sapping erosion of fine-grained, cohesionless sediment were analyzed with a theoretical model of the mechanics of sapping erosion and transport.

Description: 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.

Description: Pressure ridges are surface features on basaltic lava flows and, as with other surface features, they may be related to the emplacement of a flow and the rheological properties of the lava. Since many ridges are of sufficient size to be detected on high resolution orbital images, an understanding of pressure ridges could provide a means for interpreting volcanic flows on other terrestrial planets. Some proposed formation mechanisms are reviewed and three different types of pressure ridges are identified on the basis of morphology. Type 1 ridges are the most common and are associated with multiple flow unit pahoehoe in which the ridges are embayed by secondary toe fed lava. They tend to be restricted to wider sections or margins of the flow and to be oriented longitudinal to flow direction; however, oblique or transverse orientation is not uncommon. Bulbous squeeze ups are common within cracks and may reflect relative timing of crack formation. The interior structure of type 1 ridges consists of an upper slab section which generally contains columnar joints and a lower massive section with an irregular surface. This basic distinction may mark the thickness of the surface crust when ridge formation was initiated. Type 2 ridges occur in association with type 1 and are very similar with the exception of the secondary squeeze out material. Instead of only filling cracks, the secondary material on these ridges originated from underneath a thin crust and flowed as toes or channels from the top and sides of the ridge. Type 3 ridges have much steeper sides (almost vertical at the top) than the other types. Medial cracks are very wide and the crack walls are convex upward. No squeeze ups are present. The main difference between type 3 and the others may be reflection of viscosity.

Description: A model for the radiative cooling of thermally well mixed lava flows is presented and the relationship between effusion rate and length and area is analyzed. If radiative cooling is the prime mode of heat loss for a lava flow, one should expect to see a stronger correlation between the effusion rate and the plan area of the flow, than between effusion rate and just flow length. Different flows on a single volcano with differing initial temperatures, volatile content, and gross compositions should yield different areas for a given effusion rate. Likewise, a range of slopes for the relationship between effusion rate and flow area should result from comparisons between different volcanoes. As a test of these ideas, available data on the effusion rates, lengths, and areas of Hawaiian and Etnean flow is studied. It was found that: (1) the effusion rate/area correlation was statistically more significant than the correlation between effusion rate and length for four out of the five eruption episodes which met the necessary criteria of more than three individual flows with area, length, and effusion rate independently measured; (2) that there exists a minimum length and area for a given effusion rate, reflecting competition between overall characteristic proportionality between effusion rate and flow length, width, and area.

Description: Between 1217 and 1620 hours (PDT), on May 18, 1980, the magmatic eruption column of Mount St. Helens formed an ash fountain and pyroclastic flows dominated the eruption process over tephra ejection. Eurption-rate pulsations generally increased to a maximum at 1600 to 1700 hrs. After 1620 hrs, the eruption assumed an open-vent discharge with strong, vertical ejection of tephra. Relative eruption rates (relative mass flux rates) of the pyroclastic flows were determined by correlating sequential photographs and SLAR images, obtained during the eruption, with stratigraphy and surface morphology of the deposits.

Description: Reexamination of Upheaval Dome in the Canyonlands National Park, Utah, shows that the structure of this remarkable feature conforms with that expected for a deeply eroded astrobleme. The structure is definitely not compatible with an origin due simply to plastic flowage of salt and other rocks in the underlying Paradox Formation. The most strongly deformed rocks are bounded by a series of circumferential listric faults. The convergent displacement of the rocks corresponds to the deformation that results from collapse of a transient cavity produced by high speed impact. From considerations of the probable depth of exposure of the impact structure and upward extrapolation of the listric faults, the final collapsed crater is estimated to be about 8 to 10 km in diameter; the impacting body was on the order of 0.5 km in diameter.

Description: The effects of space environments on damping materials and damping designs on flexible structures were investigated. The following items were examined: damping of flexible spacecraft appendages; composite loss factor (n sub s) vs. time in high vacuum for damped test beams and damping of flexible structures. The STEP experiments show inherent damping of flexible structures in space effective possible damping design configurations for space structures, effects of passively damped components on the system loss factor of flexible structures and the effect of space environment on properties of damping materials.

Description: A brief synopsis of the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite environment is presented including neutral and ionic species. Two ground based atomic and molecular beam instruments are described which are capable of simulating the interaction of spacecraft surfaces with the LEO environment and detecting the results of these interactions. The first detects mass spectrometrically low level fluxes of reactively and nonreactively surface scattered species as a function of scattering angle and velocity while the second ultrahigh velocity (UHV) molecular beam, laser induced fluorescence apparatus is capable of measuring chemiluminescence produced by either gas phase or gas-surface interactions. A number of proposed experiments are described.

Description: A brief review of atmospheric composition in low Earth orbit is presented. The flux of ambient atomic oxygen incident on a surface orbiting in this environment is described. Estimates are presented of the fluence of atomic oxygen to which satellite surfaces in various orbits are exposed.

Description: Interplanetary dust particles (micrometeoroids) are expected to form well-defined craters upon impacting exposed material in space. Studying the frequency and features of these craters will provide data on the mass-flux distribution of micrometeoroids and, to a lesser extent, on the velocity magnitude and direction. This experiment will study impact craters produced by micrometeoroids on selected materials (metals and glasses in the form of thick targets) to obtain valuable technological and scientific data. Specifically, the studies will focus on determining micrometeoroid composition and mass-flux distribution. Analyses will also be made on the distribution of impact velocity vectors.

Description: The objective of this experiment is to measure the elemental and isotopic abundamces of heavy cosmic-ray nuclei with nuclear charge Z equal to or greater than 3. The chemical and energy spectra will be measured for particles that have energies in the range from 20 to 1000 MeV per atomic mass unit. Two points of great interest are geomagneticaly forbidden cosmic-ray particles and heavy ions of the trapped radiation.

Description: Sample images obtained with the Shuttle Imaging Radar A (SIR-A) are presented, along with design and performance features of the SIR-A, Seasat and Landsat images of the same scenes for comparison purposes. The SIR-A functions at the L-band 25 cm at a frequency of 1278 GHz with a spectral bandwidth of 6 MHz. The images were taken at an angle of 47 deg and furnished a resolution of 40 m from an altitude of 259 km. The images covered a ground swath 50 km wide. The images are provided to assist in the development of effective techniques for interpreting radar imagery. The SIR-A instrument is a precursor of another imaging device which will be flown around Venus. The images provided include sections of France, Sardinia and Algeria.

Description: Three-dimensional finite element modeling techniques are used to synthesize geodetic and seismological results for 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake. The strategy pursued consists of two principal steps. In the first step, the seismologically-derived coseismic fault slip is taken as a function of position in the fault plane and is applied directly to the three-dimensional dislocation model. In the second step, a physical model of stresses and constitutive parameters is perturbed so as to reproduce the observed fault slip. Hence, the principal features of the coseismic slip pattern are explained by a stress-driven fault model in which: (1) a spatially unresolved asperity is found equivalent to a stress drop of 18 MPa averaged over an area of 15 sq km, and (2) driving stress is essentially absent on the fault segment overlapping the 1940 earthquake rupture zone.

Description: Atmospheric interactions involving the nitrogen species are varied and complex. These interactions include photochemical reactions, initiated by the absorption of solar photons and chemical kinetic reactions, which involve both homogeneous (gas-to-gas reactions) and heterogeneous (gas-to-particle) reactions. Another important atmospheric interaction is the production of nitrogen oxides by atmospheric lightning. The nitrogen cycle strongly couples the biosphere and atmosphere. Many nitrogen species are produced by biogenic processes. Once in the atmosphere nitrogen oxides are photochemically and chemically transformed to nitrates, which are returned to the biosphere via precipitation, dry deposition and aerosols to close the biosphere-atmosphere nitrogen cycle. The sources, sinks and photochemistry/chemistry of the nitrogen species; atmospheric nitrogen species; souces and sinks of nitrous oxide; sources; sinks and photochemistry/chemistry of ammonia; seasonal variation of the vertical distribution of ammonia in the troposphere; surface and atmospheric sources of the nitrogen species, and seasonal variation of ground level ammonia are summarized.

Description: If all biotic sinks of atmospheric CO2 reported were added a value of about 0.4 Gt C/yr would be found. For each category, a very high (non-conservative) estimate was used. This still does not provide a sufficient basis for achieving a balance between the sources and sinks of atmospheric CO2. The bulk of the discrepancy lies in a combination of errors in the major terms, the greatest being in a combination of errors in the major terms, the greatest being in the net biotic release and ocean uptake segments, but smaller errors or biases may exist in calculations of the rate of atmospheric CO2 increase and total fossil fuel use as well. The reason why biotic sinks are not capable of balancing the CO2 increase via nutrient-matching in the short-term is apparent from a comparison of the stoichiometry of the sources and sinks. The burning of fossil fuels and forest biomass releases much more CO2-carbon than is sequestered as organic carbon.

Description: The initial attempts to model the atmospheric CO2 distribution, including couplings to the ocean and biosphere as sources and sinks of atmospheric CO2, encourage the notion that this approach will lead to useful quantitative constraints on CO2 fluxes. Realization of this objective will require: (1) continued improvement in the realism of the global transport modeling; (2) extended timeline of atmospheric CO2 monitoring, which improved precision and improved definition of the uncertainties in the measured CO2 amounts; and (3) given an accurate knowledge of model capabilities and limitations and given a good understanding of CO2 observations and their limitations, there is a need for good ideas concerning what quantitative information on the carbon cycle can be inferred from global modeling.

Description: A science that chooses the globe as it fundamental biogeophysical unit forces extraordinary conceptual difficulties. The roles of energy flow, matter cycles, carbon cycle, air pollution, global effects, air water interactions are discussed.

Description: A computer-implemented classification has been derived from Landsat-4 Thematic Mapper data acquired over Baldwin County, Alabama on January 15, 1983. One set of spectral signatures was developed from the data by utilizing a 3x3 pixel sliding window approach. An analysis of the classification produced from this technique identified forested areas. Additional information regarding only the forested areas. Additional information regarding only the forested areas was extracted by employing a pixel-by-pixel signature development program which derived spectral statistics only for pixels within the forested land covers. The spectral statistics from both approaches were integrated and the data classified. This classification was evaluated by comparing the spectral classes produced from the data against corresponding ground verification polygons. This iterative data analysis technique resulted in an overall classification accuracy of 88.4 percent correct for slash pine, young pine, loblolly pine, natural pine, and mixed hardwood-pine. An accuracy assessment matrix has been produced for the classification.

Description: Among the topics discussed are NASA's land remote sensing plans for the 1980s, the evolution of Landsat 4 and the performance of its sensors, the Landsat 4 thematic mapper image processing system radiometric and geometric characteristics, data quality, image data radiometric analysis and spectral/stratigraphic analysis, and thematic mapper agricultural, forest resource and geological applications. Also covered are geologic applications of side-looking airborne radar, digital image processing, the large format camera, the RADARSAT program, the SPOT 1 system's program status, distribution plans, and simulation program, Space Shuttle multispectral linear array studies of the optical and biological properties of terrestrial land cover, orbital surveys of solar-stimulated luminescence, the Space Shuttle imaging radar research facility, and Space Shuttle-based polar ice sounding altimetry.

Description: Measurements of atmospheric aerosol backscatter coefficients, using a coherent CO2 lidar at 9.25- and 10.6-micron wavelengths, are described. Vertical profiles of the volume backscatter coefficient beta have been measured to a 10-km altitude over the Pasadena, CA, region. These measurements indicate a wide range of variability in beta both in and above the local boundary layer. Certain profiles also indicate a significant enhancement in beta at the 9.25-micron wavelength compared with beta at the 10.6-micron wavelength, which possibly indicates a major contribution to the volume backscatter from ammonium sulfate aerosol particles.

Description: Oil and gas deposits in the Alaskan Arctic are estimated to contain up to 40 percent of the remaining undiscovered crude oil and oil-equivalent natural gas within U.S. jurisdiction. Most (65 to 70 percent) of these estimated reserves are believed to occuur offshore beneath the shallow, ice-covered seas of the Alaskan continental shelf. Offshore recovery operations for such areas are far from routine, with the primary problems associated with the presence of ice. Some problems that must be resolved if efficient, cost-effective, environmentally safe, year-round offshore production is to be achieved include the accurate estimation of ice forces on offshore structures, the proper placement of pipelines beneath ice-produced gouges in the sea floor, and the cleanup of oil spills in pack ice areas.

Description: While in the lobes of the distant magnetotail, ISEE-3 encountered regions of compressed magnetic field at a rate of several per day. The duration of these events was 5 to 20 minutes and they were observed 10 to 30 minutes following the onset of substorm activity near the earth. During each event, the lobe magnetic field tilted first northward and then southward with the inflection point near the time of peak field strength. Following the compression events, the lobe field weakened and retained a southward component for 20 to 40 minutes. It is suggested that these traveling compression regions are the lobe signatures of plasmoids moving rapidly down the tail in the plasma sheet. Comparison of ISEE-3 compression event times with substorm onset times yielded propagation speeds of 350 to 750 km/s.

Description: Ionospheric rocket sounding data for eight nighttime auroral events are used to characterize relativistic electron showers and their effects on atmospheric ozone. The rockets were launched from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska and from Andoya, Norway over the period 1976-82. Energetic fluxes were always detected but were of insufficient magnitude to produce significant changes in stratospheric ozone. However, middle atmospheric energy sources were found to be dominated by relativistic electrons and X-ray bremmstrahlung, the latter from 40-55 km and the former from 55-60 km altitudes. The ionizing radiation is concluded to be a significant factor in mesospheric ion conductivity, mobility, electric field structure and analytical models for the ion-neutral chemistry.

Description: The dynamics of the polar thermosphere are examined by using observations made from the Dynamics Explorer 2 satellite. The results used in this study were obtained primarily from the Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) and the wind and temperature spectrometer (WATS) during the time period from September 1981 through January 1982. Two primary geophysical conditions were examined: these were the southern summer and the northern winter polar regions. The results support the conclusion that above 60 degrees of latitude the neutral winds are strongly controlled by ion/neutral frictional momentum transfer resulting from magnetospheric convection. This implies that the natural coordinate system within which to display the neutral winds in the high polar thermosphere is magnetic. The collected observations of this study were used to assess the validity of two of the large thermospheric general circulation models. The result of this assessment was that the models reasonably represent the vector winds at high altitudes but do not, at present, accurately simulate the thermodynamics of that regime.

Description: A geometrically nonlinear finite element analysis of cohesive failure in typical joints is presented. Cracked-lap-shear joints were chosen for analysis. Results obtained from linear and nonlinear analysis show that nonlinear effects, due to large rotations, significantly affect the calculated mode 1, crack opening, and mode 2, inplane shear, strain-energy-release rates. The ratio of the mode 1 to mode 2 strain-energy-release rates (G1/G2) was found to be strongly affected by the adhesive modulus and the adherend thickness. The ratios between 0.2 and 0.8 can be obtained by varying adherend thickness and using either a single or double cracked-lap-shear specimen configuration. Debond growth rate data, together with the analysis, indicate that mode 1 strain-energy-release rate governs debond growth. Results from the present analysis agree well with experimentally measured joint opening displacements. Previously announced in STAR as N83-13497

Description: Line strengths of N2O and its isotopic derivatives in the 1120-1440/cm region were measured at low pressure and high resolution (0.0054/cm). The band strength, rotationless dipole moment matrix elements, and F factor coefficients were considered. First-order nondegenerate perturbation theory was employed to derive explicit expressions for the rotationless dipole moment matrix elements and F factor coefficients. This made it possible to obtain general expressions for the F factor. The derived expressions were also applicable to CO2 bands.

Description: The atmospheric and oceanic mass transport associated with the southern oscillation/El Nino will inevitably induce an interannual variation in the length of day. An empirical correlation study is conducted by comparing the Southern Oscillation Index time series and the interannual length-of-day variation (obtained by removing the long-period and short-period variations from a BIH length-of-day series) for the period 1957-1983. The two series have an encouraging qualitative correlation, in particular with respect to El Nino events; and the linear correlation coefficient is found to be 0.55. It is believed that much, if not most, interannual length-of-day variation is caused by the southern oscillation, and the true correlation is considerably higher than its apparent value considering the fact that the Southern Oscillation Index is merely an indicator derived from two local atmospheric measurements.

Description: The present investigation has the objective to develop a simple 'user's' model for simulating the measured radar backscattering coefficients from vegetation-covered fields in conjunction with the data obtained by Jackson et al. (1980, 1982). The theoretical work reported by Fung and Eom (1981) provides the basis for the model. Certain modifications are related to a consideration of the effect of a vegetation canopy. The first part of the model is concerned with a description of scatter from rough bare soil, while the second part takes into account the effect of a vegetation cover. It is shown that the measured angular distribution of the backscattering coefficient of vegetation-covered fields can be satisfactory reproduced by using the developed model.

Description: The atmospheric effect on the upward radiance of sunlight scattered from the earth-atmosphere system is strongly influenced by the contrasts between fields and their sizes. In this paper, the radiances above finite fields are computed to simulate radiances measured by a satellite. A simulation case including 11 agricultural fields and four natural fields (water, soil, savanah, and forest) is used to test the effect of field size, background reflectance, and optical thickness of the atmosphere on the classification accuracy. For a given atmospheric turbidity, the atmospheric effect on classification of surface features may be much stronger for nonuniform surfaces than for uniform surfaces. Therefore, the classification accuracy of agricultural fields and urban areas is dependent not only on the optical characteristics of the atmosphere, but also on the size of the surface elements to be classified and their contrasts. It is concluded that new atmospheric correction methods, which take into account the finite size of the fields, are needed.

Description: Infrared solar absorption spectra recorded at 0.02-per cm resolution during a balloon flight from Alamogordo, NM (33 deg N), on March 23, 1981, have been analyzed for the possible presence of absorption by formic acid (HCOOH). An absorption feature at 1105 per cm has been tentatively identified in upper tropospheric spectra as due to the nu-6 band Q branch. A preliminary analysis indicates a concentration of about 0.6 ppbv and 0.4 ppbv near 8 and 10 km, respectively.

Description: The UV spectrometer polarimeter on the Solar Maximum Mission has been utilized to measure mesospheric O3 altitude profiles by the technique of solar occultation. Sunset data are presented for 1980, during the fall equinoctal period within + or - 20 deg of the geographic equator. Mean O3 concentrations are (40, 16, 5.5, and 1.5) x 10 to the 9th/cu cm at 50, 55, 60, and 65 km, respectively. Some profiles exhibit altitude structure which is wavelike. The mean O3 profile is fit best with the results of a time-dependent model if the assumed water-vapor mixing ratio employed varies from 6 ppm at 65 km.

Description: A comprehensive formula is worked out for the photochemical time constant of minor constituents in the middle atmosphere. The formula is particularly useful for evaluating the time constants for families of some chemical species that are strongly coupled by rapid exchange reactions. Height profiles of photochemical time constants are calculated for individual species and their families based on the chemical reaction rate constants recommended in the recent WMO and JPL reports. Potential exchange reactions among various family members are discussed, and the effects of the choice of family membership on the time constant are evaluated.

Description: The presence of positive serial correlation (autocorrelation) in remotely sensed data results in an underestimate of the variance-covariance matrix when calculated using contiguous pixels. This underestimate produces an inflation in F statistics. For a set of Thematic Mapper Simulator data (TMS), used to test the ability to discriminate a known geobotanical anomaly from its background, the inflation in F statistics related to serial correlation is between 7 and 70 times. This means that significance tests of means of the spectal bands initially appear to suggest that the anomalous site is very different in spectral reflectance and emittance from its background sites. However, this difference often disappears and is always dramatically reduced when compared to frequency distributions of test statistics produced by the comparison of simulated training sets possessing equal means, but which are composed of autocorrelated observations.

Description: The validity of using data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) of the satellites NOAA-6 and NOAA-7 for land cover mapping is assessed by making comparisons with much higher resolution LANDSAT multi-spectral scanner (MSS) data. Near synchronous data for both systems are analysed for test sites in the Imperial Valley, California, the Nile Delta, and southern Italy. The results strongly indicate that despite the very coarse resolution of the AVHRR data compared with conventional MSS data they are sufficiently strongly correlated to suggest that the former have significant potential for land cover mapping, especially at small scales and for large areas. Hence the outstanding benefits of AVHRR data, namely their high temporal frequency, relative cheapness and low data volumes for image processing, may readily be taken advantage of for such tasks.

Description: Sixty-four observations of the orbital node made by the Lageos satellite over a five year time interval reveal an acceleration of (-8.1 + or - 1.8) x 10 to the -8 power arcseconds day/2 due to a source which is not presently modeled in the GEODYN orbit determination computer program. This acceleration cannot be explained by the ocean tide with 18.6 year period, assuming it to be an equilibrium tide. Instead it seems to be due to postglacial rebound, which changes the J(2) coefficient in the spherical harmonic expansion of the earth's gravitational field at the rate of (-8.2 + or - 18) x 10 to the -19th power/s; this in turn accelerates the node. This rate does not agree with the -32 x 10 to the -19th power/s predicted by Wu and Peltier's (1982) L2 model, which has upper and lower mantle effective viscosities of 10 to the 21st and 22nd powers Pa's, respectively. It does agree well with their L1 model, which gives about 10 x 10 to the 19th power/s. Since the effective viscosity is 10 to the 21st power Pa s throughout the entire mantle in the L1 model, the results support the contentions that the efective viscosity is near 10 to the 21st power Pa s everyhere in the mantle, and this relatively low value for the effective viscosity may have permitted several degrees of polar wander due to glaciation during the Quaternary Ice Age. Previously announced in STAR as N84-13705

Description: The radiometric measurements over bare field and fields covered with grass, soybean, corn, and alfalfa were made with 1.4- and 5-GHz microwave radiometers during August-October 1978. The measured results are compared with radiative transfer theory treating the vegetated fields as a two-layer random medium. It is found that the presence of a vegetation cover generally gives a higher brightness temperature T sub B than that expected from a bare soil. The amount of this T sub B excess increases with increase in the vegetation biomass and in the frequency of the observed radiation. The results of radiative transfer calculations, which include a parameter characterizing ground surface roughness, generally match well with the experimental data.

Description: ISEE-3 magnetic-field measurements in the region of the geomagnetic tail from -80 to -220 earth radii are reported and discussed. A well-ordered field structure is found, comprising two 7-8-nT lobes separated by a plasma sheet, an embedded neutral sheet with significant By fields, and an intermittent plasma-sheet boundary layer with 5-nT-amplitude (peak-to-peak) electromagnetic waves. The plasma-sheet Bz distribution changes from principally northern orientation near the earth to an approximately equal north-south distribution at 200-220 earth radii. These findings are considered to be in general agreement with magnetic-reconnection models of the magnetosphere, with reconnection either throughout the region observed (in tearing-mode or plasmoid-formation models) or at a constant (about 220-earth-radii) or variable (40-80 to 220-earth-radii) X line (in X-line models).

Description: Using plasma electron and magnetic field measurements from ISEE 3, 220 earth radii from earth, it is found that the magnetotail at that distance is a coherent structure that evidently waves about through distances comparable to its own lateral scale size. For about one-third of the time it was inside the magnetotail, ISEE 3 was in the plasma sheet. During quiet times the plasma sheet is apparently quite thin, but in response to geomagnetic activity it expands, becoming filled with hot plasma flowing tailward at speeds sometimes exceeding 1000 km/sec, and forces the magnetotail cross-section itself to expand. The plasma sheet's expansion is delayed typically by about 30 minutes from the onset of the associated geomagnetic activity (often a clearly identified isolated substorm). The magnetic field in the newly-expanded plasma sheet usually exhibits a few-minute steep northward excursion followed by a more prolonged (and often steep) southward excursion. These are believed to be the signatures of arrival of a plasmoid formed and released near the earth at the onset of the corresponding geomagnetic activity. The discreteness of these plasma releases through the magnetotail and their close association with onsets of geomagnetic activity at earth suggest that they are consequences of spontaneous release, probably by magnetic reconnection, of energy and plasma earlier stored in the magnetotail.

Description: The effects of solar activity on stratospheric ozone were studied between 1970 and 1976 by the NIMBUS 4 backscattered ultraviolet experiment. Results show that, after correcting for instrument sensitivity, globally averaged ozone decreased by 3-4 percent above 2 mbar to less than 1 percent at 10 mbar, as solar activity decreased from solar maximum to solar minimum. This systematic ozone decrease (at all pressure levels) and the seemingly periodic oscillation (generally a 2 year period) seem to be associated with conventional indices of solar activity, which suggests a solar UV-ozone relationship. However, since the ozone depletion, especially at 40 km, is characteristic of atmospheric fluorocarbon injection effects, the solar cycle ozone relationship should be qualified: it may exist if the solar UV flux varies by 15-20 percent in the shorter-wavelength region (less than 200 nm).

Description: The technique for inverting a vegetation canopy reflectance model described earlier (Goel and Strebel, 1983) is investigated further. The novel concept of an 'angle transform' is introduced. This concept allows the formation of functions of reflectances at different view zenith and azimuth angles, which are either sensitive or insensitive to a certain agronomic parameter. A proper combination of these functions can allow determination of all the important agronomic and spectral parameters from measured canopy reflectance data. The technique is demonstrated using Suits' (1972) model for homogeneous canopies. It is shown that leaf area index, leaf reflectance and transmittance, and average leaf angle all can be determined from the canopy reflectance at a set of selected view zenith and azimuth angles. A sensitivity analysis of the calculated values to the errors in the data is also carried out. Guidelines are formulated for the number and types of observations required to obtain the values of a particular canopy variable to within a given degree of accuracy for a given level of error in the measurement of canopy reflectance.

Description: Glacial landforms in the drumlin drift belt of Ireland and the Alaska Range can be identified and mapped from Seasat synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) images. Drumlins cover 60 percent of the Ireland scene. The width/length ratio of individual drumlins can be measured on the SAR images, allowing regional differences in drumlin shape to be mapped. This cannot be done with corresponding Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS) images because of lower spatial resolution and because of shadowing effects that vary seasonally. The Alaska scene shows the extent and nature of morphological features such as medial and lateral moraines, stagnant ice, and fluted ground moraine in glaciated valleys. Perception of these features on corresponding Landsat MSS images is limited by seasonal diffrences in solar illumination. Because SAR is not affected by such differences or by cloud cover, it is particularly well suited for monitoring glacial movement. The disadvantage of distorted high-relief features on Seasat SAR images can be reduced in future SAR systems by modifying the radar illumination geometry.

Description: The Cold Arctic Mesopause Program (CAMP) was conducted at ESRANGE, Sweden, in July/August 1982. During the time period of several weeks, the temperature was monitored by ground-based OH emission spectrometers and by satellite radiance measurements. Rocket launchings occurred on the nights of 3/4 and 11/12 August. On 3/4 August, seven rocket payloads were launched during a period of noctilucent cloud sighting over ESRANGE. The presence of the NLC was confirmed by several rocket-borne photometer profiles. The temperature measurements showed that the temperature profiles in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere were near the expected values of high latitude summer models. A large amplitude wave structure with three temperature minima of 139K, 114K and 111K were observed at altitudes between 83 and 94 km. The temperature minimum at 83 km was the location of the observed NLC. The temperature minima caused by the growth of the gravity wave amplitude in the highly stable mesosphere provide the regions for the growth of particles by nucleation to optical scattering size, as well as regions where the nuclei for condensation can be formed through ion chemistry paths.

Description: Ocean floor basalts studied from the Galapagos Ridge, FAMOUS area, Cayman Trough and Kilauea east rift contain 20-200 ppm carbon and 0.3-2.8 ppn nitrogen as sums of the vesicle-filling gases CO2 and N2 and dissolved species. The wide range of carbon contents found is due partly to the different extent of outgassing of vesicle-filling gases and partly to depth dependency of dissolved CO2 in the basalts. Sulfate commonly exists with sulfide in these basalts, and the sulfate/sulfide ratio increases with increasing water content, perhaps reflecting the higher oxidation potential in basalt melt of the higher water content.

Description: Studies have been conducted to develop efficient techniques to simulate crack extension and to examine various local and global fracture criteria. Of the considered criteria, the crack-tip-opening angle (CTOA) or displacement (CTOD) at a specified distance from the crack tip was shown to be most suited for modeling stable crack growth and instability during the fracture process. The results obtained in a number of studies show the necessity for studying different crack configurations when assessing the validity of any fracture criteria. One of the objectives of the present investigation is related to a critical evaluation of the CTOD growth criterion using an elastic-plastic finite element analysis under monotonic loading to failure. The analysis was found to predict three stages of crack growth behavior under monotonic loading to failure. Calculated CTOD values agreed well with experimental values for crack growth initiation.

Description: ISEE-3 measurements indicate that a broad mantle-like boundary layer plasma often exists within the distant geomagnetic tail lobes at all latitudes, directly adjacent to the tail magnetopause. The presence of this boundary layer at large tail distances indicates that plasma from the magnetosheath often crosses the magnetopause locally along much of the length of the tail, and is evidence that the tail is 'open'.

Description: An evaluation of Thematic Mapper Simulator (TMS) data for the geobotanical discrimination of rock types based on vegetative cover characteristics is addressed in this research. A methodology for accomplishing this evaluation utilizing univariate and multivariate techniques is presented. TMS data acquired with a Daedalus DEI-1260 multispectral scanner were integrated with vegetation and geologic information for subsequent statistical analyses, which included a chi-square test, an analysis of variance, stepwise discriminant analysis, and Duncan's multiple range test. Results indicate that ultramafic rock types are spectrally separable from nonultramafics based on vegetative cover through the use of statistical analyses.

Description: An assessment is made of the information content of Thematic Mapper Simulator (TMS) data for the case of a forested region, in order to determine the sensitivity of such data to forest crown closure and tree size class. Principal components analysis and Monte Carlo simulation indicated that channels 4, 7, 5 and 3 were optimal for four-channel forest structure analysis. As the number of channels supplied to the Monte Carlo feature selection routine increased, classification accuracy increased. The greatest sensitivity to the forest structural parameters, which included succession within clearcuts as well as crown closure and size class, was obtained from the 7-channel TMS data.

Description: An historical account is given of the development of technology for the processing of satellite-acquired multispectral data aimed at the identification of the type, condition, and ontogenic stages of agricultural areas. During 1972 and 1973, research established the feasibility of automating digital classification for the processing of large volumes of Landsat MSS data. This capability was successfully demonstrated during the Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment, which estimated wheat crop production on a global basis. This achievement in turn led to the Agriculture and Resources Inventory Surveys Through Aerospace Remote Sensing, which investigated other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum and expanded the study of key commercial crops in important agricultural areas.

Description: Line parameters for the nu(5) and 2nu(9) bands and associated hot bands of HNO3 have been calculated and compared with laboratory spectra, and the results are presented. Spectral intervals near 870/cm for which best agreement was obtained are used to quantitatively analyze HNO3 absorption features in 0.02/cm resolution stratospheric solar absorption spectra.

Description: Ozone data were obtained in the free troposphere at altitudes of 5 to 7.5 km and at latitudes from 44 degrees N to 46 degrees S during a 3-week period from October 19 to November 4, 1982. Flight trajectories included the continental U.S., Central America, and the western coast of South America. Maximum observed ozone was 110 ppb at about 41 degrees S latitude and at an altitude of 7.3 km (msl). Analysis of the data as a function of latitude showed a region of elevated ozone in the southern latitudes extending from about 2 degrees to 30 degrees in which latitudinal ozone averages (2 degree bands) peaked at about 80 ppb. Ozone concentrations, measured at northern latitudes, were lower, averaging about 35 ppb. A discussion of the data, including comparison with other ozone data sets, is presented.

Description: Total vertical column amounts of NO have been derived from infrared solar absorption spectra recorded near sunrise and sunset with the 0.01 per cm resolution Fourier transform interferometer at the national Solar Observatory on Kitt peak (elevation 2095 m, latitude 31.9 degrees N) on February 23, 1981. The results show an increase in NO concentration in the morning, late afternoon values about 40 percent higher than in the morning, and a decrease in NO concentration prior to sunset. The measured diurnal changes in the total vertical column amount are compared with values obtained from time-dependent photochemical calculations.

Description: Measurements of SO2 emission rates and concentrations and of particle distribution, size, shape, and composition were made in quiescent volcanic plumes emitted into the troposphere from Poas and Arenal volcanos, Costa Rica, and Colima volcano, Mexico. SO2 emission rates were 700 + or - 180 metric tons per day (t/d) for Poas, 210 + or - 30 t/d for Arenal, and 320 + or - 50 t/d for Colima. The concentrations of SO2 calculated from the COSPEC/lidar data were 5-380 ppb. Concentrations of SO2 measured directly by flame photometry were 10-250 ppb. Particles collected in the plumes with a quartz crystal microbalance impactor were mostly less than 3 microns in diameter and consisted of droplets of dilute sulfur-bearing solutions and minor amounts of layer silicate particles coated with a sulfur-bearing film or crust. Total particle concentrations were 4.7 micrograms per cu.m for Poas and 18.8 micrograms per cu.m for Colima. Comparison of concentrations of SO2 in the plumes with gas samples collected at fumaroles on the ground suggests that the plumes are diluted by the atmosphere by factors of up to 100,000.

Description: A two-dimensional photochemical model based on diabatic circulation has been used to simulate the behavior of N2O, CFCl3(F-11) and CF2Cl2(F-12) The circulation is based on estimates of net heating from the ground to 60 km. Eddy diffusion has been reduced with respect to other model studies with Kzz = 2000 sq cm/s everywhere bove 100 mbar. Resulting tracer profiles show reasonable agreement with measured profiles in the tropics and fall off much more sharply with altitude than those produced by models using larger values of Kzz. The agreement obtained is at least as good as that obtained with adjustable, eddy diffusion parameters. The diabatic circulation treatment is more closely related to related to real physical processes and thus more easily interpreted. Diffusive mixing appears to be more important in determining the details of the tracer distributions than the basic morphology.

Description: The mid-latitude upper stratospheric ozone profiles obtained by the solar backscatter ultraviolet instrument on the Nimbus 7 satellite show a clear annual cycle both in the absolute ozone amounts between 0.98 and 15.6 mbar and in the magnitude of disturbances that reveal themselves as longitudinal structure. At the lowest pressure analyzed a winter maximum in ozone exists, but as one progresses downward in altitude a shift in the temporal phase of the annual cycle occurs in the vicinity of 3 to 4 mbar. Comparison of the observed behavior with the predictions of a one-dimensional photochemical model shows a systematic tendency for calculated ozone amount to be 20-27 percent below the data for pressures less than 7.8 mbar. The chemical model successfully predicts the change in phase of the annual cycle, although at a pressure greater than observed. Diagnosis of model results shows the observed shift to be closely coupled to the magnitude of the ozone column density near 3-4 mbar. The wavelength-dependent attenuation of the solar radiation field by ozone alters the relative magnitude of the molecular oxygen and ozone dissociation rates, leading to a change in the temporal phase of the annual cycle.

Description: One-dimensional radiative and photochemical models are used to determine how much CO2 must have been present to maintain a temperate early climate and to examine the consequences that are implied for the controls on atmospheric oxidation state. It is shown that CO2 concentrations of the order of 1000 PAL are required to keep the average surface temperature close to the present value, if albedo changes and heating by reduced greenhouse gases were relatively unimportant. The oxidation state of such a high-CO2, prebiotic atmosphere should have been largely determined by the balance between the H2O2 rainout rate and the rate at which hydrogen escaped to space, with only a weak dependence on the volcanic outgassing rate or on other speculative sources of H2. The implied upper limit on the ground-level O2 mixing ratio is approximately 10 to the -11th and is subject to less uncertainty than the results of previous models.