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  • 1
    Publication Date: 2011-08-24
    Description: The Mayak Production Association was the first Russian site for the production and separation of plutonium. The extensive increase in plutonium production during 1948-1955, as well as the absence of reliable waste-management technology, resulted in significant releases of liquid radioactive effluent into the rather small Techa River. This resulted in chronic external and internal exposure of about 30,000 residents of riverside communities; these residents form the cohort of an epidemiologic investigation. Analysis of the available historical monitoring data indicates that the following reliable data sets can be used for reconstruction of doses received during the early periods of operation of the Mayak Production Association: Temporal pattern of specific beta activity of river water for several sites in the upper Techa region since July 1951; average annual values of specific beta activity of river water and bottom sediments as a function of downstream distance for the whole river since 1951; external gamma-exposure rates near the shoreline as a function of downstream distance for the whole Techa River since 1952; and external gamma-exposure rate as a function of distance from the shoreline for several sites in the upper and middle Techa since 1951.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Health physics (ISSN 0017-9078); Volume 76; 6; 605-18
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2011-08-24
    Description: Age and sex features of strontium metabolism have been analyzed on studies of the population residing on the banks of the Techa river which was contaminated by fission products during the years 1949-1956. Measurements of 90Sr body burden have been performed since 1974 using a whole-body counter, and these have made it possible to estimate age-specific long-term retention and elimination rates for men and women. Regarding the retention that correlated with the respective maturation ages, distinct sex differences have been observed for adolescents, whereas only postmenopausal women showed a sharp increase of their elimination rates. There were no differences concerning the reproductive ages. Our experimental findings have a clear physiological interpretation and can be used to develop metabolic models for bone-seeking radionuclides.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Radiation and environmental biophysics (ISSN 0301-634X); Volume 36; 1; 25-9
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2011-08-24
    Description: Recent advances in room-temperature, near-IR and visible diode laser sources for tele-communication, high-speed computer networks, and optical data storage applications are enabling a new generation of gas-dynamic and combustion-flow sensors based on laser absorption spectroscopy. In addition to conventional species concentration and density measurements, spectroscopic techniques for temperature, velocity, pressure and mass flux have been demonstrated in laboratory, industrial and technical flows. Combined with fibreoptic distribution networks and ultrasensitive detection strategies, compact and portable sensors are now appearing for a variety of applications. In many cases, the superior spectroscopic quality of the new laser sources compared with earlier cryogenic, mid-IR devices is allowing increased sensitivity of trace species measurements, high-precision spectroscopy of major gas constituents, and stable, autonomous measurement systems. The purpose of this article is to review recent progress in this field and suggest likely directions for future research and development. The various laser-source technologies are briefly reviewed as they relate to sensor applications. Basic theory for laser absorption measurements of gas-dynamic properties is reviewed and special detection strategies for the weak near-IR and visible absorption spectra are described. Typical sensor configurations are described and compared for various application scenarios, ranging from laboratory research to automated field and airborne packages. Recent applications of gas-dynamic sensors for air flows and fluxes of trace atmospheric species are presented. Applications of gas-dynamic and combustion sensors to research and development of high-speed flows aeropropulsion engines, and combustion emissions monitoring are presented in detail, along with emerging flow control systems based on these new sensors. Finally, technology in nonlinear frequency conversion, UV laser materials, room-temperature mid-IR materials and broadly tunable multisection devices is reviewed to suggest new sensor possibilities.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Measurement science & technology (ISSN 0957-0233); Volume 9; 4; 545-62
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2011-08-24
    Description: Polar stratospheric clouds (PSC's) provide surfaces for heterogeneous processes which can dramatically alter the normal partitioning of odd nitrogen and chlorine families in the winter polar stratospheres, setting up conditions for significant ozone depletion as manifested in the springtime Antarctic ozone hole. The spatial and temporal distribution of PSC's is important for parameterizing PSC occurrence in multidimensional photochemical models whose use is essential for fully understanding observed Antarctic ozone losses as well as for accessing the possibility of a similar phemonenon occurring in the future in the Arctic. The Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement (SAM) 2 sensor, a single-channel (1mu m) photometer launched into a Sun-synchronous orbit aboard the Nimbus 7 satellite in October 1978, provided a unique database to establish the climatology of PSC's. Poole and Pitts (1994) used the record of high-latitude aerosol extinction obtained by SAM II from 1979-1989 to establish the climatology of PSC occurrences in the Arctic and Antarctic. Unfortunately, little information about PSC composition or type was detectable from the single-wavelength SAM II data.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: ; 108-110
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2011-08-24
    Description: The Techa River (Southern Urals, Russia) was contaminated in 1949-1956 by liquid radioactive wastes from the Mayak complex, the first Russian facility for the production of plutonium. The measurements of environmental contamination were started in 1951. A simple model describing radionuclide transport along the free-flowing river and the accumulation of radionuclides by bottom sediments is presented. This model successfully correlates the rates of radionuclide releases as reconstructed by the Mayak experts, hydrological data, and available environmental monitoring data for the early period of contamination (1949-1951). The model was developed to reconstruct doses for people who lived in the riverside communities during the period of the releases and who were chronically exposed to external and internal irradiation. The model fills the data gaps and permits reconstruction of external gamma-exposure rates in air on the river bank and radionuclide concentrations in river water used for drinking and other household needs in 1949-1951.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Health physics (ISSN 0017-9078); Volume 77; 2; 142-9
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  • 6
    Publication Date: 2011-08-24
    Description: NASA personnel at Kennedy Space Center's Material Science Laboratory have developed new environmentally sound precision cleaning and verification techniques for systems and components found at the center. This technology is required to replace existing methods traditionally employing CFC-113. The new patent-pending technique of precision cleaning verification is for large components of cryogenic fluid systems. These are stainless steel, sand cast valve bodies with internal surface areas ranging from 0.2 to 0.9 m(exp 2). Extrapolation of this technique to components of even larger sizes (by orders of magnitude) is planned. Currently, the verification process is completely manual. In the new technique, a high velocity, low volume water stream impacts the part to be verified. This process is referred to as Breathing Air/Water Impingement and forms the basis for the Impingement Verification System (IVS). The system is unique in that a gas stream is used to accelerate the water droplets to high speeds. Water is injected into the gas stream in a small, continuous amount. The air/water mixture is then passed through a converging-diverging nozzle where the gas is accelerated to supersonic velocities. These droplets impart sufficient energy to the precision cleaned surface to place non-volatile residue (NVR) contaminants into suspension in the water. The sample water is collected and its NVR level is determined by total organic carbon (TOC) analysis at 880 C. The TOC, in ppm carbon, is used to establish the NVR level. A correlation between the present gravimetric CFC-113 NVR and the IVS NVR is found from experimental sensitivity factors measured for various contaminants. The sensitivity has the units of ppm of carbon per mg-ft(exp 2) of contaminant. In this paper, the equipment is described and data are presented showing the development of the sensitivity factors from a test set including four NVR's impinged from witness plates of 0.05 to 0.75 m(exp 2).
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Environmentally Sound Processing Technology: JANNAF Safety and Environmental Protection Subcommittee and Propellant Development and Characterization Subcommittee Joint Workshop; 219-222; CPIA-Publ-626
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  • 7
    Publication Date: 2011-08-24
    Description: The NASA White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) is developing cleaning and verification processes to replace currently used chlorofluorocarbon-113- (CFC-113-) based processes. The processes being evaluated include both aqueous- and solvent-based techniques. The presentation will include the findings of investigations of aqueous cleaning and verification processes that are based on a draft of a proposed NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) cleaning procedure. Verification testing with known contaminants, such as hydraulic fluid and commonly used oils, established correlations between nonvolatile residue and CFC-113. Recoveries ranged from 35 to 60 percent of theoretical. WSTF is also investigating enhancements to aqueous sampling for organics and particulates. Although aqueous alternatives have been identified for several processes, a need still exists for nonaqueous solvent cleaning, such as the cleaning and cleanliness verification of gauges used for oxygen service. The cleaning effectiveness of tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), ethanol, hydrochlorofluorocarbon-225 (HCFC-225), tert-butylmethylether, and n-Hexane was evaluated using aerospace gauges and precision instruments and then compared to the cleaning effectiveness of CFC-113. Solvents considered for use in oxygen systems were also tested for oxygen compatibility using high-pressure oxygen autoignition and liquid oxygen mechanical impact testing.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Environmentally Sound Processing Technology: JANNAF Safety and Environmental Protection Subcommittee and Propellant Development and Characterization Subcommittee Joint Workshop; 59-65; CPIA-Publ-626
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  • 8
    Publication Date: 2011-08-24
    Description: Drinking water and condensate samples collected from the US Space Shuttle and the Russian Mir Space Station are analyzed routinely at the NASA-Johnson Space Center as part of an ongoing effort to verify water quality and monitor the environment of the spacecraft. Water quality monitoring is particularly important for the Mir water supply because approximately half of the water consumed is recovered from humidity condensate. Drinking water on Shuttle is derived from the fuel cells. Because there is little equipment on board the spacecraft for monitoring the water quality, samples collected by the crew are transported to Earth on Shuttle or Soyuz vehicles, and analyzed exhaustively. As part of the test battery, anions and cations are measured by ion chromatography, and carboxylates and amines by capillary electrophoresis. Analytical data from Shuttle water samples collected before and after several missions, and Mir condensate and potable recovered water samples representing several recent missions are presented and discussed. Results show that Shuttle water is of distilled quality, and Mir recovered water contains various levels of minerals imparted during the recovery processes as designed. Organic ions are rarely detected in potable water samples, but were present in humidity condensate samples.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Journal of chromatography. A; Volume 804; 1-2; 295-304
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  • 9
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    In:  CASI
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: This presentation discusses the problem of local air quality as it is affected by modern aircraft engine exhaust and the objective of this workshop. It begins with a discussion on the nature and sources of particulates and aerosols. The problems, and the technical considerations of how to regulate the aircraft emissions, are reviewed. There is no local (i.e., state or county) regulations of the aircraft operations. Amongst the conclusions are: (1) there is an inadequate database of information regarding the emittants from aircrafts. (2) That data which does exist represents older engines and aircraft, it is not representative of the advanced and future fleet.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Workshop on Aerosols and Particulates from Aircraft Gas Turbine Engines; 21-44; NASA/CP-1999-208918
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  • 10
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The aerosol retrieval algorithms used by the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multi-Angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) sensors on the Earth Observing Satellite (EOS) AM-1 platform operate by comparing measured radiances with tabulated radiances that have been computed for specific aerosol models. These aerosol models are based almost entirely on surface and/or column averaged measurements and so may not accurately represent the ambient aerosol properties. Therefore, to validate these EOS algorithms and to determine the effects of aerosols on the clear-sky radiative flux, we have begun to evaluate the vertical variability of ambient aerosol properties using the aerosol backscattering and extinction profiles measured by the Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Raman Lidars. Using the procedures developed for the GSFC Scanning Raman Lidar (SRL), we have developed and have begun to implement algorithms for the CART Raman Lidar to routinely provide profiles of aerosol extinction and backscattering during both nighttime and ,daytime operations. Aerosol backscattering and extinction profiles are computed for both lidar systems using data acquired during the 1996 and 1997 Water Vapor Intensive Operating Periods (IOPs). By integrating these aerosol extinction profiles, we derive measurements of aerosol optical thickness and compare these with coincident sun photometer measurements. We also use these measurements to measure the aerosol extinction/backscatter ratio S(sub a) (i.e. 'lidar ratio'). Furthermore, we use the simultaneous water vapor measurements acquired by these Raman lidars to investigate the effects of water vapor on aerosol optical properties.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; 207-210; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT1
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  • 11
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: New technological advances have made possible new active remote sensing capabilities from space. Utilizing these technologies, the Ozone Research with Advanced Cooperative Lidar Experiment (ORACLE) will provide high spatial resolution measurements of ozone, clouds and aerosols in the stratosphere and lower troposphere. Simultaneous measurements of ozone, clouds and aerosols will assist in the understanding of global change, atmospheric chemistry and meteorology.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; Part 2; 945-947; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT2
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  • 12
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: This paper will describe the planned 3-year Pathfinder Instruments for Cloud and Aerosol Spaceborne Observations (PICASSO) mission, its instrumentation and implementation. It will use LITE and other data, plus analyses, to show the feasibility of such a mission. PICASSO is being proposed for NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program with launch predicted in 2003.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; Part 2; 943-944; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT2
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  • 13
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The progress, results and future plans for the following objectives are presented: (1) To compare the types, rates, and magnitudes of surficial modification processes that have operated in Northwest China and the Southwestern U.S.; (2) To quantify and understand the basis of the remote sensing signatures of these processes to allow extrapolation from field sites to regional maps and to allow comparisons between widely separated arid regions; (3) To use the resulting chronologies to help define the temporal and spatial distribution of continental climate changes; and (4) Determine the ages of movements on some of the active faults in Northwestern China.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Science Results from the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR): Progress Report; 48-51; NASA/CR-97-206707
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  • 14
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: In response to the elimination of production of several Ozone Depleting Chemicals (ODCs) which have been widely used in successful space flight mechanism cleaning and lubricating procedures, GSFC developed and implemented an overall philosophy of mitigating the risks to flight hardware during the transition phase to ODC-Free cleaning procedures. One leg of that philosophy is the initiation of a several tier testing program which will deliver increasing amounts of information over the next few years, starting with original surface analysis comparisons between ODC and various ODC-Free cleaning technologies. The other leg is the stockpiling of an appropriate amount of ODC solvents such that all short term GSFC missions will be able to stay with or revert to heritage cleaning and lubricating procedures in the face of life issues. While tribological testing, mechanism life testing and space-flight experience will ultimately bring us into the 21st century with environmentally friendly means of cleaning long-life precision mechanism components, many satellites will be launched over the next few years with a number of important tribological questions unanswered. In order to prepare for this challenge, the Materials Engineering Branch in cooperation with the Electromechanical Branch launched an intensive review of all ongoing missions. The failure risk was determined for each long-life mechanism based on a number of parameters, including a comparison of flight solvents used to clean the heritage/life test hardware. Also studied was the ability of the mechanism manufacturers to stockpile ODCs based on state laws and company policies. A stockpiling strategy was constructed based on this information and subsequently implemented. This paper provides an overview of the GSFC ODC elimination risk mitigation philosophy as well as a detailed examination of the development of the ODC stockpiling plan.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Second Aerospace Environmental Technology Conference; 693-701; NASA-CP-3349
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  • 15
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    In:  CASI
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The assignments and charges to the three workgroups are discussed. The three workgroups were: (1) Trace Chemistry, (2) Instrumentation, (3) Venues and procedures.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Workshop on Aerosols and Particulates from Aircraft Gas Turbine Engines; 163-176; NASA/CP-1999-208918
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  • 16
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: We presented results from the SASS Near-Field Interactions Flight (SNIF-III) Experiment which was conducted during May and June 1997 in collaboration with the Vermont and New Jersey Air National Guard Units. The project objectives were to quantify the fraction of fuel sulfur converted to S(VI) species by jet engines and to gain a better understanding of particle formation and growth processes within aircraft wakes. Size and volatility segregated aerosol measurements along with sulfur species measurements were recorded in the exhaust of F-16 aircraft equipped with F-100 engines burning fuels with a range of fuel S concentrations at different altitudes and engine power settings. A total of 10 missions were flown in which F-16 exhaust plumes were sampled by an instrumented T-39 Sabreliner aircraft. On six of the flights, measurements were obtained behind the same two aircraft, one burning standard JP-8 fuel and the other either approximately 28 ppm or 1100 ppm S fuel or an equal mixture of the two (approximately 560 ppm S). A pair of flights was conducted for each fuel mixture, one at 30,000 ft altitude and the other starting at 35,000 ft and climbing to higher altitudes if contrail conditions were not encountered at the initial flight level. In each flight, the F-16s were operated at two power settings, approx. 80% and full military power. Exhaust emissions were sampled behind both aircraft at each flight level, power setting, and fuel S concentration at an initial aircraft separation of 30 m, gradually widening to about 3 km. Analyses of the aerosol data in the cases where fuel S was varied suggest results were consistent with observations from project SUCCESS, i.e., a significant fraction of the fuel S was oxidized to form S(VI) species and volatile particle emission indices (EIs) in comparably aged plumes exhibited a nonlinear dependence upon the fuel S concentration. For the high sulfur fuel, volatile particle EIs in 10-second-old-plumes were 2 to 3 x 10 (exp 17) / kg of fuel burned and exhibited no obvious trend with engine power setting or flight altitude. In contrast, about 8-fold fewer particles were observed in similarly aged plumes from the same aircraft burning fuel with 560 ppm S content and EIs of 1 x 10(exp 15)/ kg of fuel burned were observed in the 28 ppm S fuel case. Moreover, data recorded as a function of plume age indicates that formation and growth of the volatile particles proceeds more slowly as the fuel S level is reduced. For example, ultrafine particle concentrations appear to stabilize within 5 seconds after emission in the 1100 ppm S cases but are still increasing in 20-second old plumes produced from burning the 560 ppm S fuel.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Workshop on Aerosols and Particulates from Aircraft Gas Turbine Engines; 83-100; NASA/CP-1999-208918
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  • 17
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The overall focus of our research is to document long-term elevation change of the Greenland ice sheet using satellite altimeter data. In addition, we are investigating seasonal and interannual variations in the ice-sheet elevations to place the long-term measurements in context. Specific objectives of this research include: 1) Developing new techniques to significantly improve the accuracy of elevation-change estimates derived from satellite altimetry. 2) Measuring the elevation change of the Greenland ice sheet over a 10-year time period using Seasat (1978) and Geosat GM (1985-86) and Geosat ERM (1986-88) altimeter data. 3) Quantifying seasonal/interannual variations in the elevation-change estimates using the continuous time series of surface elevations from the Geosat GM and ERM datasets. 4) Extending the long-term elevation change analysis to two decades by incorporating data from the ERS-1/2 missions (1991-99) and, if available, the Geosat-Follow On (GFO) mission (1998-??).
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment (PARCA); 6-11; NASA/TM-1999-209205
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  • 18
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The effect of clouds and aerosol on the atmospheric energy balance is a key global change problem. Full knowledge of aerosol distributions is difficult to obtain by passive sensing alone. Aerosol and cloud retrievals in several important areas can be significantly improved with active remote sensing by lidar. Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) is an aerosol and cloud profilometer that provides a detailed picture of the vertical structure of boundary layer and elevated dust or smoke plume aerosols. MPL is a compact, fully eyesafe, ground-based, zenith pointing instrument capable of full-time, long-term unattended operation at 523 nm. In October of 1993, MPL began taking full-time measurements for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program at its Southern Great Plains (SGP) site and has since expanded to ARM sites in the Tropical West Pacific (TWP) and the North Slope of Alaska (NSA). Other MPL's are moving out to some of the 60 world-wide Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites which are already equipped with automatic sun-sky scanning spectral radiometers providing total column optical depth measurements. Twelve additional MPL's have been purchased by NASA to add to the aerosol and cloud database of the EOS ground validation network. The original MPL vertical resolution was 300 meters but the newer versions have a vertical resolution of 30 meters. These expanding data sets offer a significant new resource for atmospheric radiation analysis. Under the direction of Jim Spinhirne, the MPL analysis team at NASA/GSFC has developed instrument correction and backscatter analysis techniques for ARM to detect cloud boundaries and analyze vertical aerosol structures. A summary of MPL applications is found in Hlavka (1997). With the aid of independent total column optical depth instruments such as the Multifilter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR) at the ARM sites or sun photometers at the AERONET sites, the MPL data can be calibrated, and time-resolved vertical profiles of aerosol optical depth as well as aerosol extinction can be calculated. The techniques used to calibrate the lidar, calculate the aerosol extinction-to-backscatter ratio, and produce profiles of aerosol extinction and aerosol optical depths, will be described. Results using these techniques will be presented for case studies at the ARM site in the Tropical West Pacific and later in the Southern Great Plains.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; 155-158; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT1
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  • 19
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: An intercomparison campaign for Lidar measurements of stratospheric ozone and aerosol has been conducted at the Primary Station of the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change (NDSC) in Ny-Alesund/Spitsbergen during January-February 1998. In addition to local instrumentation, the NDSC mobile ozone lidar from NASA/GSFC and the mobile aerosol lidar from Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) participated. The aim is the validation of stratospheric ozone and aerosol profile measurements according to NDSC guidelines. This paper briefly presents the employed instruments and outlines the campaign. Results of the blind intercomparison of ozone profiles are given in a companion paper and temperature measurements are described in this issue.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; 517-520; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT1
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  • 20
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) is the first fully engineered, autonomous airborne DIAL (Differentials Absorption Lidar) system to measure water vapor, aerosols, and clouds throughout the troposphere. This system uses a double-pulsed Ti:sapphire laser, which is pumped by a frequency-doubled flashlamp-pumped Nd: YAG laser, to transmit light in the 815 mn absorption band of water vapor. LASE operates by locking to a strong water vapor line and electronically tuning to any spectral position on the absorption line to choose the suitable absorption cross-section for optimum measurements over a range of concentrations in the atmosphere. During the LASE Validation Experiment, which was conducted over Wallops Island during September, 1995, LASE operated on either the strong water line for measurements in middle to upper troposphere, or on the weak water line for measurements made in the middle to lower troposphere including the boundary layer. Comparisons with water vapor measurements made by airborne dew point and frost point hygrometers, NASA/GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) Raman Lidar, and radiosondes showed the LASE water vapor mixing ratio measurements to have an accuracy of better than 6% or 0.01 g/kg, whichever is larger, throughout the troposphere. In addition to measuring water vapor mixing ratio profiles, LASE simultaneously measures aerosol backscattering profiles at the off-line wavelength near 815 nm from which atmospheric scattering ratio (ASR) profiles are calculated. ASR is defined as the ratio of total (aerosol + molecular) atmospheric scattering to molecular scattering. Assuming a region with very low aerosol loading can be identified, such as that typically found just below the tropopause, then the ASR can be determined. The ASR profiles are calculated by normalizing the scattering in the region containing enhanced aerosols to the expected scattering by the "clean" atmosphere at that altitude. Images of the total ASR clearly depict cloud regions, including multiple cloud layers, thin upper level cirrus, etc., throughout the troposphere. New data products that are being derived from the LASE aerosol and water measurements include: 1) aerosol extinction coefficient, 2) aerosol optical thickness, 3) precipitable water vapor, and 4) relative humidity (RH). These products can be compared with airborne in-situ, and ground and satellite remote sensing measurements,. This paper presents a preliminary examination of RH profiles in the middle to upper troposphere that are generated from LASE measured water vapor mixing ratio profiles coupled with rawinsonde profiles of temperature and pressure.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; 465-468; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT1
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  • 21
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: During January and February, 1998, a measurements campaign was held at the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change (NDSC) Arctic site at Ny-Alesund (78.9N). Lidar measurements of ozone, temperature and aerosol parameters were made along with balloon sonde and microwave measurements of ozone. Atmospheric temperatures were measured between 10 and 70 km. During the time of the campaign an strong warming occurred at the stratopause, elevating the measured temperature by as much as 80 K. The height of the stratopause descended at this time to below 40 km.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; 343-345; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT1
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  • 22
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The temperature structure of the middle atmosphere has been studied for several decades using a variety of techniques. However, temperature profiles derived from lidar measurements can provide improved vertical resolution and accuracy. Lidars can also provide long-term data series relatively absent of instrumental drift, and integration of the measurements over several hours removes most of the gravity wave-like short-scale disturbances. This paper describes a seasonal climatology of the middle atmosphere temperature derived from lidar measurements obtained at several mid- and low-latitude locations. Results from the following lidars, which have all obtained a long-term measurement record, were used in this study: the two Rayleigh lidars of the Service d'Aeronomie du CNRS, France, located at the Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP, 44.0 deg N) and at the Centre d'Essais des Landes (CEL, 44.0 deg N), the two Rayleigh/Raman lidars of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA, located at Table Mountain, California (TMF, 34.4 deg N) and at Mauna Loa, Hawaii (MLO, 19.5 deg N), and the Colorado State University, USA, sodium lidar located at Fort Collins, Colorado (CSU, 40.6 deg N). The overall data set extends from 1978 to 1997 with different periods of measurements depending on the instrument. Three of the instruments are located at primary or complementary stations (OHP, TMF, MLO) within the Network for Detection of Stratospheric Change (NDSC). Several aspects of the temperature climatology obtained by lidar in the middle atmosphere are presented, including the climatological temperature average through the year; the annual and semi-annual components, and the differences compared to the CIRA-86 climatological model.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; 339-342; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT1
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  • 23
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: During early August 1997, the ozone column density measured over Lauder was unusually low, with a minimum value of 222 Dobson Units (DU) at August 10. These observations are striking since in August, during the Austral winter, the ozone column density should be heading towards its yearly maximum; The August mean ozone column density measured over Lauder between 1987 and 1996 was 348(+/-28) DU, the lowest monthly average in these ten years was 255 DU. Regular altitude profile measurements of ozone, performed at Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change (NDSC) station Lauder, make it possible to do a detailed, altitude-resolved, study of the low ozone observations. The measurements show ozone poor air in two altitude regions of the stratosphere: A 'high region', extending from the 600 K to the 1050 K isentrope (25 to 34 km), and a 'low region', below about 550 K (22 km). High resolution reverse trajectory maps of potential vorticity (PV) and ozone mixing ratio, based on the assumption of passive advection by the large-scale three-dimensional winds, show that in the 'high region' the ozone poor air was part of the polar vortex, which was centered off the pole and extended over Lauder for several days, while in the 'low region' the ozone poor air was mixed in from low latitudes. A rapid recovery of the ozone column density, by more than 110 DU within 24 hours, was observed when in the low region an ozone rich filament of the polar vortex moved over Lauder, while in the high region the (ozone poor) high part of the vortex moved away.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; 319-322; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT1
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  • 24
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: Airborne lidar measurements of aerosol and ozone distributions from the surface to above the tropopause over the South Pacific Ocean are presented. The measurements illustrate large-scale features of the region, and are used to quantify the relative contributions of different ozone sources to the tropospheric ozone budget in this remote region.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; 269-271; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT1
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  • 25
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: A Kalman filter for the assimilation of long-lived atmospheric chemical constituents has been developed for two-dimensional transport models on isentropic surfaces over the globe. An important attribute of the Kalman filter is that it calculates error covariances of the constituent fields using the tracer dynamics. Consequently, the current Kalman-filter assimilation is a five-dimensional problem (coordinates of two points and time), and it can only be handled on computers with large memory and high floating point speed. In this paper, an implementation of the Kalman filter for distributed-memory, message-passing parallel computers is discussed. Two approaches were studied: an operator decomposition and a covariance decomposition. The latter was found to be more scalable than the former, and it possesses the property that the dynamical model does not need to be parallelized, which is of considerable practical advantage. This code is currently used to assimilate constituent data retrieved by limb sounders on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. Tests of the code examined the variance transport and observability properties. Aspects of the parallel implementation, some timing results, and a brief discussion of the physical results will be presented.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Second International Workshop on Software Engineering and Code Design in Parallel Meteorological and Oceanographic Applications; 165-181; NASA/CP-1998-206860
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  • 26
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: One of the environmental issues affecting the development of a second-generation supersonic commercial transport is the impact of sonic booms on people. Aircraft designers are attempting to design the transport to produce sonic boom signatures that will have minimum impact on the public. Current supersonic commercial aircraft produce an 'N-wave' sonic boom pressure signature that is considered unacceptable by the public. This has resulted in first-generation supersonic transports being banned from flying supersonic over land in the United States, a severe economic constraint. By tailoring aircraft volume and lift distributions, designers hope to produce sonic boom signatures having specific shapes other than 'N-wave' that may be more acceptable to the public. As part of the effort to develop a second-generation supersonic commercial transport, Langley Research Center is conducting research to study people's subjective response to sonic booms. As part of that research, a system was developed for performing studies of the subjective response of people to the occurrence of simulated sonic booms in their homes. The In-Home Noise Generation/Response System (IHONORS) provides a degree of situational realism not available in the laboratory and a degree of control over the noise exposure not found in community surveys. The computer-controlled audio system generates the simulated sonic booms, measures the noise levels, and records the subjects' ratings and can be placed and operated in individual homes for extended periods of time. The system was used to conduct an in-home study of subjective response to simulated sonic booms. The primary objective of the study was to determine the effect on annoyance of the number of sonic boom occurrences in a realistic environment. The effects on annoyance of several other parameters were also examined. Initially, data analyses were based on all the data collected. However, further analyser found that test subjects adapted to the sonic booms during the first few days of exposure. The first eight days of each testing period consisted of eight introductory exposures that were repeated on randomly selected days later in the testing period. Comparison of the introductory exposures with their repeats indicated that the test subjects adapted to the new sonic boom noise environment during the first days of the testing period. Because of the adaptation occurring, the introductory days were deleted from the ds set and the analyses redone. This paper presents the updated analyses. Elimination of the introductory days did not significantly affect the results and conclusions of the initial analyses. This paper also presents analyses of the effects on annoyance of additional factors in the study not previously examined.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: The 1995 NASA High-Speed Research Program Sonic Boom Workshop; Volume 1; 278-297; NASA-CP-3335-Vol-1
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  • 27
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The latest CHABA Working Group to have reviewed published information about the effects of high energy impulsive sounds (such as sonic booms) on communities has recommended abandonment of the dosage-response relationship identified by its predecessor in favor of two alternate prediction method. Both of the new assessment methods continue to rely on C-weighted measurements of impulsive sounds One of the two assessment methods retains the standard assumptions of the 'equal energy hypothesis' (the notion that annoyance is governed simply by the product of level, duration, and number noise events), and further assumes that the rate of growth of the prevalence of annoyance is proportional to the rate of growth of loudness with level. The other assessment method, however, assumes a level dependent (non-equal energy) summation of the C-weighted sound exposure levels of individual impulsive events. Since predictions of the second method are distribution-dependent, they are not readily represents graphically in the form of a single dosage-response function. The effects on annoyance predictions of variance in distributions of CSEL values of impulsive sounds are explored in this presentation.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: The 1995 NASA High-Speed Research Program Sonic Boom Workshop; Volume 1; 298-310; NASA-CP-3335-Vol-1
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  • 28
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    In:  CASI
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: Work this summer in the Office of Safety, Environment, and Mission Assurance began with a review of current initiatives and environmental projects at the Langley Research Center (LaRC). This involved researching many of the documents on file which detail problems which have occurred as well as various approaches which have been used to address these problems. A large portion of the time was spent interviewing and working with each of the engineers, industrial hygienists and other professionals connected with the Office of Environmental Engineering. A few of the projects I worked on include: Researching environmental compliance, and pollution prevention efforts; touring many of the facilities at LaRC to observe the environmental efforts in the work place; researching equipment needs for the recycling/reclamation center; writing scripts for in-house training videos; working with the video production department to produce a training video; developing e-mail distribution list; developing environmental coordinator's database; and working with others to research logistics of recycling and waste minimization efforts.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: The 1995 NASA-ODU American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Summer Faculty Fellowship Program; 103; NASA-CR-198210
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  • 29
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: Ozone is a relatively unstable molecule found in Earth's atmosphere. An ozone molecule is made up of three atoms of oxygen. Depending on where ozone resides, it can protect or harm life on Earth. High in the atmosphere, about 15 miles up, ozone acts as a shield to protect Earth's surface from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. Without this shield, we would be more susceptible to skin cancer, cataracts, and impaired immune systems. Closer to Earth, in the air we breathe, ozone is a harmful pollutant that causes damage to lung tissue and plants. Since the early 1980's, airborne lidar systems have been used for making measurements of ozone. The differential absorption lidar (DIAL) technique is used in the remote measurement of O3. This system allows the O3 to be measured as function of the range in the atmosphere. Two frequency-doubled Nd:YAG lasers are used to pump tunable dye lasers. The lasers are operating at 289 nm for the DIAL on-line wavelength of O3, and the other one is operated at 300 nm for the off-line wavelength. The DIAL wavelengths are produced in sequential laser pulses with a time separation of 300 micro s. The backscattered laser energy is collected by telescopes and measured using photon counting systems. The photon counting system measures the light signal by making use of the photon nature of light. The output pulse from the Photo-Multiplier Tube (PE), caused by a photon striking the PMT photo-cathode, is amplified and passed to a pulse height discriminator. The peak value of the pulse is compared to a reference voltage (discrimination level). If the pulse amplitude exceeds the discrimination level, the discriminator generates a standard pulse which is counted by the digital counter. Non-linearity in the system is caused by the overlapping of pulses and the finite response time of the electronics. At low count rates one expects the system to register one event for each output pulse from the PMT corresponding to a photon incident upon the photocathode, however, at higher rates the limitations of the discrimination/counting system will cause the observed count rate to be non-linear with respect to the true count rate. Depending on the pulse height distribution and the discriminator level, the overlapping of pulses (pulse pile-up) can cause count loss or even an additional apparent count gain as the signal levels increase. Characterization of the system, including the pulse height distribution, the signal to noise ratio, and the effect of the discriminator threshold level, is critical in maximizing the linear operating region of the system, thus greatly increasing the useful dynamic range of the system.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: The 1995 NASA-ODU American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Summer Faculty Fellowship Program; 59; NASA-CR-198210
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  • 30
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The Second Workshop on Stratospheric Models and Measurements Workshop (M&M II) is the continuation of the effort previously started in the first Workshop (M&M I, Prather and Remsberg [1993]) held in 1992. As originally stated, the aim of M&M is to provide a foundation for establishing the credibility of stratospheric models used in environmental assessments of the ozone response to chlorofluorocarbons, aircraft emissions, and other climate-chemistry interactions. To accomplish this, a set of measurements of the present day atmosphere was selected. The intent was that successful simulations of the set of measurements should become the prerequisite for the acceptance of these models as having a reliable prediction for future ozone behavior. This section is divided into two: model experiment and model descriptions. In the model experiment, participant were given the charge to design a number of experiments that would use observations to test whether models are using the correct mechanisms to simulate the distributions of ozone and other trace gases in the atmosphere. The purpose is closely tied to the needs to reduce the uncertainties in the model predicted responses of stratospheric ozone to perturbations. The specifications for the experiments were sent out to the modeling community in June 1997. Twenty eight modeling groups responded to the requests for input. The first part of this section discusses the different modeling group, along with the experiments performed. Part two of this section, gives brief descriptions of each model as provided by the individual modeling groups.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Models and Measurements Intercomparison 2; 10-109; NASA/TM-1999-209554
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  • 31
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: Solid (soot) and liquid (presumed sulfate) particle emissions from aircraft engines may have serious impacts on the atmosphere. While the direct radiative impact of these particles is expected to be small relative to those from natural sources (Atmospheric Effects of Subsonic Aircraft: Interim Assessment of the Advanced Subsonic Technology Program, NASA Ref. Pub. 1400, 1997), their indirect effects on atmospheric chemistry and cloud formation may have a significant impact. The potential impacts of primary concern are the increase of sulfate surface area and accelerated heterogeneous chemical reactions, and the potential for either modified soot or sulfate particles to serve as cloud nuclei which would change the frequency or radiative characteristics of clouds. Volatile (sulfate) particle concentrations measured behind the Concorde aircraft in flight in the stratosphere were much higher than expected from near-field model calculations of particle formation and growth. Global model calculations constrained by these data calculate a greater level of stratospheric ozone depletion from the proposed High speed Civil Transport (HSCT) fleet than those without particle emission. Soot particles have also been proposed as important in heterogeneous chemistry but this remains to be substantiated. Aircraft volatile particle production in the troposphere has been shown by measurements to depend strongly on fuel sulfur content. Sulfate particles of sufficient size are known to provide a good nucleating surface for cloud growth. Although pure carbon soot is hydrophobic, the solid particle surface may incorporate more suitable nucleating sites. The non-volatile (soot) particles also tend to occupy the large end of aircraft particle size spectra. Quantitative connection between aircraft particle emissions and cloud modification has not been established yet, however, even small changes in cloud amount or properties could have a significant effect on the radiative balance of the atmosphere.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Workshop on Aerosols and Particulates from Aircraft Gas Turbine Engines; 55-60; NASA/CP-1999-208918
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  • 32
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    In:  CASI
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The objectives of this work are to measure the ice discharge of the Greenland Ice Sheet close to the grounding line and/or calving front, and compare the results with mass accumulation and ablation in the interior to estimate the ice sheet mass balance.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment (PARCA); 12-15; NASA/TM-1999-209205
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  • 33
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    In:  CASI
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The Urban Environment Initiative (UEI), has been established as part of a Cooperative Agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The UEI is part of NASA's overall High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) and the Information Infrastructure Technology Applications (IITA) programs. The goal of the UEI is to provide public access to Earth Science information and promote its use with a focus on the environment of urban areas. This goal will be accomplished through collaborative efforts of the UEI team with both community-based and local/regional governmental organizations. The UEI team is comprised of four organizations representing private industry, NASA, and universities: Prime Technologies Service Corporation, NASA's Minority University Space Interdisciplinary Network (MU-SPIN) California State University, at Los Angeles, and Central State University (Wilberforce, OH). "Urban Environment" refers to the web of environmental, economic, and social factors that combine to create the urban world in which we live. Examples of these factors are population distribution, neighborhood demographic profiles, economic resources, business activities, location and concentration of environmental hazards and various pollutants, proximity and level of urban services, which form the basis of the urban environment and ultimately affect our lives and experiences. The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing allows data to be visualized in the forms of maps and spatial images. The use of these tools allow analysis of information about urban environments. Also included are descriptions of the four query types which will assist in understanding the maps.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Minority University-Space Interdisciplinary Network Conference Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Users' Conference; 233-238; NASA/CP-1998-206859
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  • 34
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The Smoke, Clouds, Aerosol, and Radiation Brazil(SCAR-B) field campaign was conducted to study the effects that widespread and persistent biomass burning have upon radiative and chemical processes in the atmosphere. The radiative transfer characteristics of the atmosphere are altered by the introduction of particulate and gaseous materials which are the products of the combustion of vegetative material at ground level. These substances are transported and distributed horizontally and vertically by atmospheric dynamical processes which may be perturbed by the heat energy from the fires. As the pollutants disperse, their physical and chemical properties change substantially. A complete description of the effects of smoke requires that the evolution back to the natural situation be fully examined. A most important component of smoke haze investigation is finding its vertical and horizontal distribution in relation to the driving factors of dynamics and the related horizontal transport. In this presentation, we employ data from the Cloud Lidar System(CLS), carried aboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft, to provide a unique view of the particulate or aerosol loading produced by fires, especially with regard to the geometrical distribution of the aerosols in the vertical plane. The lidar has the ability to measure aerosol optical properties in a continuous fashion at quite fine vertical and horizontal resolution. The results from the lidar provide measurements that are largely independent of influences that corrupt passive instruments and thus it can serve to corroborate their results. The extended horizontal and vertical range of lidar results can also augment ground based and airborne in situ measurements which have limited horizontal and vertical scope. We present the results of our analysis of CLS observations taken during the SCAR-B field campaign. Observations of the the aerosol optical thickness from the Aerosol Robotic Network(AERONET) of solar photometers are employed in conjunction with CLS data to derive extinction to backscatter ratio values which are used to convert the lidar backscatter coefficient into extinction coefficient. The extinction coefficient is integrated vertically to find aerosol optical thickness along ER-2 flight tracks. We use images of the CLS derived extinction coefficient to depict its horizontal and vertical distribution. Multispectral photometer optical thickness is used to compute the Angstrom exponent. With these, we examine the hypothesis that the values of extinction to backscatter ratio can be related to the Anstrom coefficient since both of these would be a function of the refractive index and size distribution of the aerosols.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; 87-90; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT1
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  • 35
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: Signal-induced noise (SIN) is a common effect resulting when a photomultiplier tube (PMT) is saturated, for a brief moment, with a high intensity light pulse. After the laser pulse is sent into the atmosphere a very large light return, from either the near-field or a cloud, causes the PMT to momentarily saturate. The PMT is gated off at this time so no signal is seen at the anode. When the PMT gate is turned on, the far-field light return from the atmosphere is observed. This signal is distorted, however because of the addition of SIN to the received light signal causing a slower than expected decay of the atmospheric signal return. We have characterized SIN responses to varying parameters of the incident light on the PMT. These varied parameters included incident wavelength, PMT voltage, incident intensity, and tube type. We found that only the amplitude of the SIN was effected by varying PMT voltages and light intensities. The amplitude increased linearly as input light intensity increased. Different incident wavelengths at the same intensity did not effect the amplitude or the temporal behavior of the SIN response. Finally, different PMT tubes with similar physical structures exhibited similar SIN responses although with different amplitudes. The different amplitudes can be attributed to the different gains and operating voltages of each tube. These results suggest that SIN is caused by photocathode electron dynamics such as charge accumulation on internal PMT surfaces. These surfaces then emit the electrons slowly resulting in a long decay noise signal. With the SIN responses characterized we can now try to develop a method to reduce or eliminate SIN in DIAL systems.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; Part 2; 849-852; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT2
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  • 36
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The overall goal of NASA's SCAR (Smoke, Cloud and Radiation) Program is to obtain physical and chemical properties of the smoke produced by biomass burning and the effects of the smoke on the earth's radiation balance and climate. It is a joint project with the Brazilian government and their organizations, including INPE (Instituto Nacional Pesquisas Espaciais) who actively participate in all activities. Appropriate estimates of the biomass buming in the tropics is therefore essential to determine its effect on the atmosphere and on climate. The SCAR series of experiments is designed with that purpose. The present study of evaluating the burnt-out areas is to augment the data collected to date to help evaluate the effect of biomass burning.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 37
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: Spectroscopy, the study of the interaction of radiation and matter, provides most of the information we have gleaned about the composition, structure, and evolution of the universe. As is well known, by measuring the frequencies of spectral lines in absorption or emission, one can uniquely infer the presence of atoms or molecules as well as their physical state and environment (e.g., solid or gaseous, neutral or ionized, moving or stationary, etc.). Furthermore, by studying the intensities of these lines, one can determine the abundance (i.e., number of a particular species per unit volume). Although less well known, the shape of the spectral lines, in particular, the structure of the far wings, plays a very important role in many important atmospheric phenomena such as the greenhouse effect or the absorption of harmful ultraviolet radiation. Although first measured more than 50 years ago, the anomalous absorption of radiation by water vapor in the earth's atmosphere was postulated to be due to far wings of allowed lines. However, only within the past few years has a quantitative verification of this hypothesis been possible through the development of an accurate theoretical description of the shape of self-broadened water lines. During the summer, work has been done on improving this theory and in comparing the results to other theories valid near the center of the lines. The relevance of this work to measurements of greenhouse gases, of earth-based measurements of the 3 K cosmic background radiation, of satellite-based measurements of the atmospheres of the earth and other planets, and other similar problems will be discussed briefly.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: The 1995 NASA-ODU American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Summer Faculty Fellowship Program; 107; NASA-CR-198210
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  • 38
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    In:  CASI
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The primary role of models in the assessment process is to predict changes to ozone. It is crucial therefore that the ability of the models to reproduce the actual distribution of ozone be tested. Historically, maps of the ozone column (latitude by month) have been used for this purpose. In MM I a climatology was developed for the vertical distribution of ozone for 15-60 km, based on SBUV data for 1979-80. SBUV profiles are reported with vertical resolution of approx. 5 km, but the true resolution is lower, approx. 8 km above the ozone maximum and approx. 15 km for 10-25 km. The climatology was considered valid to about 20-30% at 20 km and to 50% at 15 km. Comparisons were made with models in mixing ratio (ppm), which emphasizes the middle and upper stratosphere. A new ozone climatology was developed for the vertical distribution of ozone for MM II. Our goal was to develop a product that could be used to evaluate models in the lower stratosphere, the region where most of the ozone column resides and where most of the ozone loss is occurring, as well as the middle and upper stratosphere.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Models and Measurements Intercomparison 2; 307-362; NASA/TM-1999-209554
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  • 39
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The Sampling Procedures and Venues Workgroup discussed the potential venues available and issues associated with obtaining measurements. Some of the issues included Incoming Air Quality, Sampling Locations, Probes and Sample Systems. The following is a summary of the discussion of the issues and venues. The influence of inlet air to the measurement of exhaust species, especially trace chemical species, must be considered. Analysis procedures for current engine exhaust emissions regulatory measurements require adjustments for air inlet humidity. As a matter of course in scientific investigations, it is recommended that "background" measurements for any species, particulate or chemical, be performed during inlet air flow before initiation of combustion, if possible, and during the engine test period as feasible and practical. For current regulatory measurements, this would be equivalent to setting the "zero" level for conventional gas analyzers. As a minimum, it is recommended that measurements of the humidity and particulates in the incoming air be taken at the start and end of each test run. Additional measurement points taken during the run are desirable if they can be practically obtained. It was felt that the presence of trace gases in the incoming air is not a significant problem. However, investigators should consider the ambient levels and influences of local air pollution for species of interest. Desired measurement locations depend upon the investigation requirements. A complete investigation of phenomenology of particulate formation and growth requires measurements at a number of locations both within the engine and in the exhaust field downstream of the nozzle exit plane. Desirable locations for both extractive and in situ measurements include: (1) Combustion Zone (Multiple axial locations); (2) Combustor Exit (Multiple radial locations for annular combustors); (3) Turbine Stage (Inlet and exit of the stage); (4) Exit Nozzle (Multiple axial locations downstream of the nozzle). Actual locations with potential for extractive or non-intrusive measurements depend upon the test article and test configuration. Committee members expressed the importance of making investigators aware of various ports that could allow access to various stages of the existing engines. Port locations are engine si)ecific and might allow extractive sampling or innovative hybrid optical-probe access. The turbine stage region was one the most desirable locations for obtaining samples and might be accessed through boroscope ports available in some engine designs. Discussions of probes and sampling systems quickly identified issues dependent on particular measurement quantities. With general consensus, the group recommends SAE procedures for measurements and data analyses of currently regulated exhaust species (CO2, CO, THC, NO(x),) using conventional gas sampling techniques. Special procedures following sound scientific practices must be developed as required for species and/or measurement conditions not covered by SAE standards. Several issues arose concerning short lived radicals and highly reactive species. For conventional sampling, there are concerns of perturbing the sample during extraction, line losses, line-wall reactions, and chemical reactions during the sample transport to the analyzers. Sample lines coated with quartz.or other materials should be investigated for minimization of such effects. The group advocates the development of innovative probe techniques and non-intrusive optical techniques for measurement of short lived radicals and highly reactive species that cannot be sampled accurately otherwise. Two innovative probe concepts were discussed. One concept uses specially designed probes to transfer optical beams to and from a region of flow inaccessible by traditional ports or windows. The probe can perturb the flow field but must have a negligible impact on the region to be optically sampled. Such probes are referred to as hybrid probes and are under development at AEDC for measurement in the high pressure, high temperature of a combustor under development for power generation. The other concept consists of coupling an instrument directly to the probe. The probe would isolate a representative sample stream, freeze chemical reactions and direct the sample into the analyzer portion of the probe. Thus, the measurement would be performed in situ without sample line losses due either to reactions or binding at the wall surfaces. This concept was used to develop a fast, in situ, time-of-flight mass spectrometer measurement system for temporal quantification of NO in the IMPULSE facility at AEDC. Additional work is required in this area to determine the best probe and sampling technique for each species measurement requirement identified by the Trace Chemistry Working Group. A partial list of Venues was used as a baseline for discussion. Additional venues were added to the list and the list was broken out into the following categories: (1)Engines (a) Sea Level Test Stands (b) Altitude Chambers; (2) Annular Combustor Test Stands, (3) Sector Flametube Test Stands, (4) Fundamentals Rigs/Experiments.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Workshop on Aerosols and Particulates from Aircraft Gas Turbine Engines; 187-237; NASA/CP-1999-208918
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  • 40
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    In:  CASI
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: Although the importance of aerosols and their precursors are now well recognized, the characterization of current subsonic engines for these emissions is far from complete. Furthermore, since the relationship of engine operating parameters to aerosol emissions is not known, extrapolation to untested and unbuilt engines necessarily remains highly uncertain. 1997 NASA LaRC engine test, as well as the parallel 1997 NASA LaRC flight measurement, attempts to address both issues by expanding measurements of aerosols and aerosol precursors with fuels containing different levels of fuel sulfur content. The specific objective of the 1997 engine test is to obtain a database of sulfur oxides emissions as well as the non-volatile particulate emission properties as a function of fuel sulfur and engine operating conditions. Four diagnostic systems, extractive and non-intrusive (optical), will be assembled for the gaseous and particulate emissions characterization measurements study. NASA is responsible for the extractive gaseous emissions measurement system which contains an array of analyzers dedicated to examining the concentrations of specific gases (NO, NO(x), CO, CO2, O2, THC, SO2) and the smoke number. University of Missouri-Rolla uses the Mobile Aerosol Sampling System to measure aerosol/particulate total concentration, size distribution, volatility and hydration property. Air Force Research Laboratory uses the Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer to measure SO2, SO3/H2SO4, and HN03 Aerodyne Research, Inc. uses Infrared Tunable Diode Laser system to measure SO2, SO3, NO, H2O, and CO2.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Workshop on Aerosols and Particulates from Aircraft Gas Turbine Engines; 123-134; NASA/CP-1999-208918
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  • 41
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    In:  CASI
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: The goals of the trace chemistry group were to identify the processes relevant to aerosol and aerosol precursor formation occurring within aircraft gas turbine engines; that is, within the combustor, turbine, and nozzle. The topics of discussion focused on whether the chemistry of aerosol formation is homogeneous or heterogeneous; what species are important for aerosol and aerosol precursor formation; what modeling/theoretical activities to pursue; what experiments to carry out that both support modeling activities and elucidate fundamental processes; and the role of particulates in aerosol and aerosol precursor formation. The consensus of the group was that attention should be focused on SO2, SO3, and aerosols. Of immediate concern is the measurement of the concentration of the species SO3, SO2, H2SO4 OH, HO2, H2O2, O, NO, NO2, HONO, HNO3, CO, and CO2 and particulates in various engines, both those currently in use and those in development. The recommendation was that concentration measurements should be made at both the combustor exit and the engine exit. At each location the above species were classified into one of four categories of decreasing importance, Priority I through IV, as follows: Combustor exit: Priority I species - SO3:SO2 ratio, SO3, SO2, and particulates; Priority II species: OH and O; Priority III species - NO and NO2; and Priority IV species - CO and CO2. For the Engine exit: Priority I species - SO3:SO2 ratio, SO3, SO2,H2SO4, and particulates; Priority II species: OH,HO2, H2O2, and O; Priority III species - NO, NO2, HONO, and HNO3; and Priority IV species - CO and CO2. Table I summarizes the anticipated concentration range of each of these species. For particulate matter, the quantities of interest are the number density, size distribution, and composition. In order to provide data for validating multidimensional reacting flow models, it would be desirable to make 2-D, time-resolved measurements of the concentrations of the above species and, in addition, of the pressure, temperature, and velocity. A near term goal of the experimental program should be to confirm the nonlinear effects of sulfur speciation, and if present, to provide an explanation for them. It is also desirable to examine if the particulate matter retains any sulfur. The recommendation is to examine the effects on SOx production of variations in fuel-bound sulfur and aromatic content (which may affect the amount of particulates formed). These experiments should help us to understand if there is a coupling between particulate formation and SO, concentration. Similarly, any coupling with NOx can be examined either by introducing NOx into the combustion air or by using fuel-bound nitrogen. Also of immediate urgency is the need to establish and validate a detailed mechanism for sulfur oxidation/aerosol formation, whose chemistry is concluded to be homogeneous, because there is not enough surface area for heterogeneous effects. It is envisaged that this work will involve both experimental and theoretical programs. The experimental work will require, in addition to the measurements described above, fundamental studies in devices such as flow reactors and shock tubes. Complementing this effort should be modeling and theoretical activities. One impediment to the successful modeling of sulfur oxidation is the lack of reliable data for thermodynamic and transport properties for several species, such as aqueous nitric acid, sulfur oxides, and sulfuric acid. Quantum mechanical calculations are recommended as a convenient means of deriving values for these properties. Such calculations would also help establish rate constants for several important reactions for which experimental measurements are inherently fraught with uncertainty. Efforts to implement sufficiently detailed chemistry into computational fluid dynamic codes should be continued. Zero- and one-dimensional flow models are also useful vehicles for elucidating the minimal set of species and reactions that must be included in two- and three-dimensional modeling studies.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Workshop on Aerosols and Particulates from Aircraft Gas Turbine Engines; 177-178; NASA/CP-1999-208918
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  • 42
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: This paper reviews the relationships of the programs and projects and reviews the purpose of the Engine Exhaust Trace Chemistry (EETC) Committee. The charges of the Committee are: (1) to prioritize the engine trace constituents for assessing impacts of aircraft; (2) Assess both extractive and insitu measurement techniques; and (3) Determine the best venues for performing the necessary measurements. A synopsis of evidence supporting and questions concerning the role(s) of aerosol/particulates was presented. The presentation also reviewed how sulfur oxidation kinetics interactions in the hot-section and nozzle play a role in the formation of aerosol precursors. The objective of the workshop, and its organization is reviewed.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Workshop on Aerosols and Particulates from Aircraft Gas Turbine Engines; 5-19; NASA/CP-1999-208918
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  • 43
    facet.materialart.
    Unknown
    In:  CASI
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: Ozone (O3) is one of the most important trace gases in the troposphere, and it is responsible for influencing many critical chemical and radiative processes. Ozone contributes to the formation of the hydroxyl radical (OH), which is central to most chemical reactions in the lower atmosphere, and it absorbs UV, visible, and infrared radiation which affects the energy budget and atmospheric temperatures. In addition, O3 can be used as a tracer of atmospheric pollution and stratosphere troposphere exchange. At elevated concentrations, O3 can also produce detrimental biological and human health effects. The US National Research Council (NRC) Board on Sustainable Development reviewed the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) [NRC, 1995], and it identified tropospheric chemistry as one of the high priority areas for the USGCRP in the next decade. The NRC identified the following specific challenges in tropospheric chemistry. Although we understand the reason for the high levels of 03 over several regions of the world, we need to better establish the distribution of O3 in the troposphere in order to document and understand the changes in the abundance of global tropospheric O3. This information is needed to quantify the contribution of O3 to the Earth' s radiative balance and to understand potential impacts on the health of the biosphere. Having recognized the importance of particles in the chemistry of the stratosphere, we must determine how aerosols and clouds affect the chemical processes in the troposphere. This understanding is essential to predict the chemical composition of the atmosphere and to assess the resulting forcing effects in the climate system. We must determine if the self-cleansing chemistry of the atmosphere is changing as a result of human activities. This information is required to predict the rate at which pollutants are removed from the atmosphere. Over nearly two decades, airborne Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) systems have been used in over fifteen major field experiments conducted all over the world to address important atmospheric processes affecting the amount and distribution of 03 and aerosols across the troposphere. This paper discusses some of these wide-ranging field experiments and their results and presents a direction for future global studies of O3 and aerosols from space.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Nineteenth International Laser Radar Conference; 257-260; NASA/CP-1998-207671/PT1
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  • 44
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: In response to the elimination of production of several Ozone Depleting Chemicals (ODC's) which have been widely used in successful space flight mechanism cleaning and lubricating procedures, GSFC developed and implemented an overall philosophy of mitigating the risks to flight hardware during the transition phase to ODC-free cleaning procedures. The short term leg of the philosophy was the stockpiling of an appropriate amount of ODC solvents such that all short term GSFC missions will be able to stay with or revert to heritage cleaning and lubricating procedures in the face of life issues. The long-term leg of that philosophy was the initiation of a several tier testing program that will deliver increasing amounts of information over the next few years, starting with accelerated lubricant life tests that compare lubricant life on surfaces cleaned with ODC solvents with lubricant life on surfaces cleaned with ODC-free solvents. While tribological testing, mechanism life testing and space-flight experience will ultimately bring us into the 21st century with environmentally friendly means of cleaning long-life precision mechanism components, many satellites will be launched over the next few years before a number of important tribological questions can be answered. In order to prepare for this challenge, the Materials Engineering Branch in cooperation with the Electromechanical Branch launched an intensive review of all ongoing missions. The failure risk was determined for each long-life lubricated mechanism based on a number of parameters, including 4 comparison of flight solvents used to clean the heritage/life test hardware. Also studied was the ability of the mechanism manufacturers to stockpile ODC's based on state laws and company policies. A stockpiling strategy was constructed based on this information and subsequently implemented. This paper provides an overview of the GSFC ODC elimination risk mitigation philosophy as well as a detailed examination of the development of the ODC stockpiling plan.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Thirty-first Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium; 85-97; NASA-CP-3350
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  • 45
    Publication Date: 2004-12-03
    Description: Carbonyl Sulfide(OCS) is considered to be one of the major sources of sulfur appearing in the stratosphere due to its relative inertness, about I to 10 yearsl. However, the roles of OCS as well as other reduced sulfur compounds such as carbon disulfide (CS2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and dimethyl disulfide(CH3)2S2, are not completely understood in the atmosphenc sulfur cycle. Consequently vely little information is available about the effect of sulfur compounds in the stratosphere. The ability of OCS to penetrate into the stratosphere makes it an excellent tracer for study of the role of the sulfi r cycle in stratospheric chemistry. Previously techniques such as gas chromatography and whole air sampling have been used to measure OCS analytically. Each technique had its drawbacks however, with both being quite slow, and whole air sampling being somewhat unreliable. With molecular spectroscopy, however, it has been found in recent years that the tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer (TDL) provides a very rapid and accurate method of measuring OCS and other trace gases
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 46
    Publication Date: 2011-08-24
    Description: The potential of thermoluminescence measurements of bricks from the contaminated area of the Techa river valley, Southern Urals, Russia, for reconstructing external exposures of affected population groups has been studied. Thermoluminescence dating of background samples was used to evaluate the age of old buildings available on the river banks. The anthropogenic gamma dose accrued in exposed samples is determined by subtracting the natural radiation background dose for the corresponding age from the accumulated dose measured by thermoluminescence. For a site in the upper Techa river region, where the levels of external exposures were extremely high, the depth-dose distribution in bricks and the dependence of accidental dose on the height of the sampling position were determined. For the same site, Monte Carlo simulations of radiation transport were performed for different source configurations corresponding to the situation before and after the construction of a reservoir on the river and evacuation of the population in 1956. A comparison of the results provides an understanding of the features of the measured depth-dose distributions and height dependencies in terms of the source configurations and shows that bricks from the higher sampling positions are likely to have accrued a larger fraction of anthropogenic dose from the time before the construction of the reservoir. The applicability of the thermoluminescent dosimetry method to environmental dose reconstruction in the middle Techa region, where the external exposure was relatively low, was also investigated.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Health physics (ISSN 0017-9078); Volume 75; 6; 574-83
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  • 47
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: In this paper we consider microphysical processes which affect the formation of sulfate particles and their size distribution in a dispersing cloud. A model for the dispersion of the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic cloud is described. We then consider a single point in the dispersing cloud and study the effects of nucleation, condensation and coagulation on the time evolution of the particle size distribution at that point.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: NATO ASI Series: The Mount Pinatubo Eruption Effects on the Atmosphere and Climate; Volume 142; 49-59
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  • 48
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: Analyses of satellite, ground-based, and balloon measurements allow updated estimates of trends in the vertical profile of ozone since 1979. The results show overall consistency among several independent measurement systems, particularly for northern hemisphere midlatitudes where most balloon and ground-based measurements are made. Combined trend estimates over these latitudes for the period 1979-96 show statistically significant negative trends at ail attitudes between 10 and 45 km, with two local extremes: -7.4 +/- 2.0% per decade at 40 km and -7.3 +/- 4.6% per decade at 15 km attitude. There is a strong seasonal variation in trends over northern midlatitudes in the altitude range of 10 to 18 km, with the largest ozone loss during winter and spring. The profile trends are in quantitative agreement with independently measured trends in column ozone, the amount of ozone in a column above the surface. The vertical profiles of ozone trends provide a fingerprint for the mechanisms of ozone depletion over the last two decades.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Science; Volume 285; 1689-1692
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  • 49
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: The concentrations of the hydrogen radicals OH and HO2 in the middle and upper troposphere were measured simultaneously with those of NO, O3, CO, H2O, CH4, non-methane hydrocarbons, and with the ultraviolet and visible radiation field. The data allow a direct examination of the processes that produce O3 in this region of the atmosphere. Comparison of the measured concentrations of OH and HO2 with calculations based on their production from water vapor, ozone, and methane demonstrate that these sources are insufficient to explain the observed radical concentrations in the upper troposphere. The photolysis of carbonyl and peroxide compounds transported to this region from the lower troposphere may provide the source of HO(sub x) required to sustain the measured abundances of these radical species. The mechanism by which NO affects the production of O3 is also illustrated by the measurements. In the upper tropospheric air masses sampled, the production rate for ozone (determined from the measured concentrations of HO2 and NO) is calculated to be about 1 part per billion by volume each day. This production rate is faster than previously thought and implies that anthropogenic activities that add NO to the upper troposphere, such as biomass burning and aviation, will lead to production of more O3 than expected.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Science; Volume 279; 49-53
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  • 50
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: This paper describes the life cycle of the background (nonvolcanic) stratospheric sulfate aerosol. The authors assume the particles are formed by homogeneous nucleation near the tropical tropopause and are carried aloft into the stratosphere. The particles remain in the Tropics for most of their life, and during this period of time a size distribution is developed by a combination of coagulation, growth by heteromolecular condensation, and mixing with air parcels containing preexisting sulfate particles. The aerosol eventually migrates to higher latitudes and descends across isentropic surfaces to the lower stratosphere. The aerosol is removed from the stratosphere primarily at mid- and high latitudes through various processes, mainly by isentropic transport across the tropopause from the stratosphere into the troposphere.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society; Volume 78; No. 7; 1395-1410
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  • 51
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: Earth's 4.5 billion year history is a study in change. Natural geological forces have been rearranging the surface features and climatic conditions of our planet since its beginning. There is scientific evidence that some of these natural changes have not only led to mass extinctions of species (e.g., dinosaurs), but have also severely impacted human civilizations. For instance, there is evidence that a relatively sudden climate change caused a 300-year drought that contributed to the downfall of Akkadia, one of the most powerful empires in the Middle-East region around 2200 BC. More recently, the "little ice age" from 1200-1400 AD forced the Vikings to abandon Greenland when temperatures there dropped by about 1.5 C, rendering it too difficult to grow enough crops to sustain the population. Today, there is compelling scientific evidence that human activities have attained the magnitude of a geological force and are speeding up the rate of global change. For example, carbon dioxide levels have risen 30 percent since the industrial revolution and about 40 percent of the world's land surface has been transformed by humans. We don't understand the cause-and-effect relationships among Earth's land, ocean, and atmosphere well enough to predict what, if any, impacts these rapid changes will have on future climate conditions. We need to make many measurements all over the world, over a long period of time, in order to assemble the information needed to construct accurate computer models that will enable us to forecast climate change. In 1988, the Earth System Sciences Committee, sponsored by NASA, issued a report calling for an integrated, long-term strategy for measuring the vital signs of Earth's climate system. The report urged that the measurements must all be intimately coupled with focused process studies, they must facilitate development of Earth system models, and they must be stored in an information system that ensures open access to consistent, long-term data. This committee emphasized that the only feasible way to collect these consistent, long-term data is through the use of space-based Earth "remote sensors" (instruments that can measure from a distance things like temperature).
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 52
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: We take advantage of the May 1998 biomass burning event in Southern Mexico to test the global applicability of a smoke aerosol size model developed from data observed in South America. The Mexican event is an unique opportunity to observe well-aged, residual smoke. Observations of smoke aerosol size distribution made from vertical profiles of airborne in situ measurements show an inverse relationship between concentration and particle size that suggests the aging process continues more than a week after the smoke is separated from its fire sources. The ground-based radiometer retrievals show that the column-averaged, aged, Mexican smoke particles are larger (diameter = 0.28 - 0.33 micrometers) than the mean smoke particles in South America (diameter = 0.22 - 0.30 micrometers). However, the difference (delta - 0.06 micrometer) translates into differences in backscattering coefficient of only 4-7% and an increase of direct radiative forcing of only 10%.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 53
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: Seven days of global high resolution middle atmosphere ozone profiles have been measured by the CRyogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere (CRISTA) in November 1994. Measurements cover the altitude range from 10 to 80 km and latitudes from 59 deg S to 64 deg N. An example of a global ozone map is presented and demonstrates the ability of the instrument to detect medium and even small scale structures. Comparisons with ECC- and Brewer Mast balloon-sonde underflights are discussed. Reasonable agreement between CRISTA and balloon-sondes is found especially in the altitude interval between about 19 km and 27 km.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes Research Publications; 109-110
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  • 54
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: After the last extreme El Nino in 1982-1983, an extensive in situ observing system was deployed in the tropical Pacific Ocean in support of monitoring and predicting El Nino. Within the past ten years a series of ocean and atmosphere remote sensing satellites have been launched that serve to supplement and enhance the observations being taken at the surface, and at depth, in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The 1997-1998 "El Nino Event of the Century" has been the best monitored El Nino on record. The 1997-1998 El Nino will be the first time a major El Nino event and subsequent La Nina will have been observed from start to finish from a combination of remotely-sensed measurements of sea surface temperature, sea surface topography, sea surface winds, ocean color, and precipitation. Among some of the lessons learned to date from the 1997-1998 event have been the need for global observations in addition to just those in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. In this presentation the evolution of the 1997-1998 El Nino will be depicted from the unique vantage point provided by these space-based observations as analyzed separately, and together as a representation of the coupled system. Comparisons and contrasts with the evolution 1982-1983 El Nino and how the in situ and space-based observations complement each other will be discussed.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 55
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: The SASS (Subsonic Assessment) Ozone and NO(x) Experiment (SONEX) was an airborne field campaign conducted in October-November 1997 in the vicinity of the North Atlantic Flight Corridor Lo study the impact of aircraft emissions on NOx and ozone (03). A fully instrumented NASA DC-8 aircraft was used as the primary SONEX platform. SONEX activities were closely coordinated with the European POLINAT-2 (Pollution from Aircraft Emissions in the North Atlantic Flight Corridor) program, which used a Falcon-20 aircraft and an instrumented in-service Swissair B-747. Both campaigns focused on the upper troposphere/"lowermost" stratosphere (UT/LS) as the region of greatest interest. Specific sampling goals were achieved with the aid of a state-of-the art modeling and meteorological support system, which allowed targeted sampling of air parcels with desired characteristics. A substantial impact of aircraft emissions on NO(x) and O3 in the UT/LS of the study region is shown to be present. It is further shown that the NO(x)- HO(x)-O3 relationships are highly nonlinear and must be accurately simulated to make meaningful future predictions with global models. SONEXIPOLINAT-2 results are being published in Special Sections of GRL and JGR. Here we provide a brief overview of SONEX design, implementation, and expected results to provide a context within which these publications can be understood.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 56
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: To estimate the effect of subsonic and supersonic aircraft exhaust on the stratospheric concentration of NO(y), we employ a trajectory model initialized with air parcels based on the standard release scenarios. The supersonic exhaust simulations are in good agreement with 2D and 3D model results and show a perturbation of about 1-2 ppbv of NO(y) in the stratosphere. The subsonic simulations show that subsonic emissions are almost entirely trapped below the 380 K potential temperature surface. Our subsonic results contradict results from most other models, which show exhaust products penetrating above 380 K, as summarized. The disagreement can likely be attributed to an excessive vertical diffusion in most models of the strong vertical gradient in NO(y) that forms at the boundary between the emission zone and the stratosphere above 380 K. Our results suggest that previous assessments of the impact of subsonic exhaust emission on the stratospheric region above 380 K should be considered to be an upper bound.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 57
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) spacecraft sensors are designed to measure broadband earth-reflected solar shortwave (0.3-5 microns) and earth-emitted longwave (5- 〉 100 microns) radiances at the top of the atmosphere as part of the Mission to Planet Earth program. The scanning thermistor bolometer sensors respond to radiances in the broadband shortwave (0.3-5 microns) and total-wave (0.3- 〉 100 microns) spectral regions, as well as to radiances in the narrowband water vapor window (8-12 microns) region. 'ne sensors are designed to operate for a minimum of 5 years aboard the NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and Earth Observing System AM-1 spacecraft platforms that are scheduled for launches in 1997 and 1998, respectively. The flight sensors and the in-flight calibration systems will be calibrated in a vacuum ground facility using reference radiance sources, tied to the international temperature scale of 1990. The calibrations will be used to derive sensor gains, offsets, spectral responses, and point spread functions within and outside of the field of view. The shortwave, total-wave, and window ground calibration accuracy requirements (1 sigma) are +/-0.8, +/-0.6, and +/-0.3 W /sq m/sr, respectively, while the corresponding measurement precisions are +/-O.5% and +/-1.0% for the broadband longwave and shortwave radiances, respectively. The CERES sensors, in-flight calibration systems, and ground calibration instrumentation are described along with outlines of the preflight and in-flight calibration approaches.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology; Volume 13; 300-313
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  • 58
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: The distribution of many chemical constituents of the atmosphere (e.g., ozone) is at least partially determined by the. distribution of net radiative heating in the atmosphere. In this paper, we demonstrate the significant effect of high cirrus clouds on the net radiative heating of the tropical lower stratosphere. A model of tropical lower stratospheric ozone is then used to demonstrate the sensitivity of calculated ozone to the varying cloud cover used in the model. We conclude that calculated ozone is sensitive to the inclusion of clouds In models and that models of the atmosphere should include a realistic description of tropical cirrus clouds in order to accurately simulate the chemical composition of the atmosphere.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry; Volume 23; 209-220
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  • 59
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: The concentrations of the hydrogen radicals OH and HO2 in the middle and upper troposphere were measured simultaneously with those of NO, O3, CO, H2O, CH4, non-methane hydrocarbons, and with the ultraviolet and visible radiation field. The data allow a direct examination of the processes that produce O3, in this region of the atmosphere. Comparison of the measured concentrations of OH and HO2 with calculations based on their production from water vapor, ozone, and methane demonstrate that these sources are insufficient to explain the observed radical concentrations in the upper troposphere. The photolysis of carbonyl and peroxide compounds transported to this region from the lower troposphere may provide the source of HO(x) required to sustain the measured abundances of these radical species. The mechanism by which NO affects the production of 03 is also illustrated by the measurements. In the upper tropospheric air masses sampled, the production rate for ozone (determined from the measured concentrations of HO2 and NO) is calculated to be about 1 part per billion by volume each day.This production rate is faster than previously thought and implies that anthropogenic activities that add NO to the upper troposphere, such as biomass burning and aviation, will lead to production of more 03 than expected.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Science; Volume 279; 49-53
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  • 60
    Publication Date: 2013-08-31
    Description: To retrieve temperature and humidity profiles from SSM/T and AMSU, it is important to quantify the contribution of the Earth surface emission. So far, no global estimates of the land surface emissivities are available at SSM/T and AMSU frequencies and scanning conditions. The land surface emissivities have been previously calculated for the globe from the SSM/I conical scanner between 19 and 85 GHz. To analyze the feasibility of deriving SSM/T and AMSU land surface emissivities from SSM/I emissivities, the spectral and angular variations of the emissivities are studied, with the help of ground-based measurements, models and satellite estimates. Up to 100 GHz, for snow and ice free areas, the SSM/T and AMSU emissivities can be derived with useful accuracy from the SSM/I emissivities- The emissivities can be linearly interpolated in frequency. Based on ground-based emissivity measurements of various surface types, a simple model is proposed to estimate SSM/T and AMSU emissivities for all zenith angles knowing only the emissivities for the vertical and horizontal polarizations at 53 deg zenith angle. The method is tested on the SSM/T-2 91.655 GHz channels. The mean difference between the SSM/T-2 and SSM/I-derived emissivities is less than or equal to 0.01 for all zenith angles with an r.m.s. difference of approx. = 0.02. Above 100 GHz, preliminary results are presented at 150 GHz, based on SSM/T-2 observations and are compared with the very few estimations available in the literature.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing; Volume 20
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  • 61
    Publication Date: 2013-08-31
    Description: This century, especially in the last few decades, Earth's history was marked by intense study and concern about our environment and how we affect it. Scientific studies show that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising, the ocean's productivity is changing, and the average global temperatures have risen by 0.511. What we do not completely understand is: What fraction of this variation is due to human interference with the environment? What fraction is due to natural phenomena? How do these changes correlate with each other? In order to obtain a better understanding of how land, atmosphere and ocean interact to produce changes on Earth's climate and how human intervention affects these changes, NASA started planning for the Earth Observing System (EOS) in the early 1980's. As a result, a series of satellites will be sent into orbit to monitor the Earth for the next 18 years, providing scientists with necessary data to help them answer these questions.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 62
    Publication Date: 2016-06-07
    Description: Methane is an important trace gas because it is a greenhouse gas that affects the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere. It is produced from biological and anthropogenic sources, and is increasing globally at a rate of approximately 0.6% per year [Climate Change 1992, IPCC]. By using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (NOAA/CMDL) ground station data, a global climatology of methane values was produced. Unfortunately, because the NOAA/CMDL ground stations are so sparse, the global climatology is low resolution. In order to compensate for this low resolution data, it was compared to in-situ flight data obtained from the NASA Global Tropospheric Experiment (GTE). The smoothed ground station data correlated well with the flight data. Thus, for the first time it is shown that the smoothing process used to make global contours of methane using the ground stations is a plausible way to approximate global atmospheric concentrations of the gas. These verified climatologies can be used for testing large-scale models of chemical production, destruction, and transport. This project develops the groundwork for further research in building global climatologies from sparse ground station data and studying the transport and distribution of trace gases.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Technical Reports: Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars; Part 1; 107-132; NASA-CR-202463
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  • 63
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Measurements of NO(x) and ozone performed during the NOXAR project are compared with results from the coupled chemistry-climate models ECHAM4.L39(DLR)/CHEM and GISS-model. The measurements are based on flights between Europe and the East coast of America and between Europe and the Far East in the latitude range 40 deg N to 65 deg N. The comparison concentrates on tropopause altitudes and reveals strong longitudinal variations of seasonal mean NO,, of 200 pptv. Either model reproduced strong variations 3 km below but not at the tropopause, indicating a strong missing NO(x) or NO(y) sink over remote areas, e.g. NO(x) to HNO3 conversion by OH from additional OH sources or HNO3 wash-out. Vertical profiles show maximum NO(x) values 2-3 km below the tropopause with a strong seasonal cycle. ECHAM4.L39(DLR)/CHEM reproduces a maximum, although located at the tropopause with a less pronounced seasonal cycle, whereas the GISS model reproduces the seasonal cycle but not the profile's shape due to its coarser vertical resolution. A comparison of NO(x) frequency distributions reveals that both models are capable of reproducing the observed variability, except that ECHAM4.L39(DLR)/CHEM shows no very high NO(x) mixing ratios. Ozone mean values, vertical profiles and frequency distributions are much better reproduced in either model, indicating that the NO(x) frequency distribution, namely the most frequent NO(x) mixing ratio, is more important for the tropospheric photochemical ozone production than its mean value. Both models show that among all sources, NO(x) from lightning contributes most to the seasonal cycle of NO(x) at tropopause altitudes. The impact of lightning in the upper troposphere on NO(x) does not vary strongly with altitude, whereas the impact of surface emissions decreases with altitude. However, the models show significant differences in lightning induced NO(x) concentrations, especially in winter, which may be related to the different treatment of the lower stratospheric coupling between dynamics and chemistry.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 64
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Annual zonal averages of ozone amounts from Nimbus-7/TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) (1979 to 1992) are used to estimate the interannual variability of ozone and UVB (290 - 315 nm) irradiance between plus or minus 60 deg. latitude. Clear-sky interannual ozone and UVB changes are mainly caused by the Quasi Biennial Oscillation (QBO) of stratospheric winds, and can amount to plus or minus 15% at 300 nm and plus or minus 5% at 310 nm (or erythemal irradiance) at the equator and at middle latitudes. Near the equator, the interannual variability of ozone amounts and UV irradiance caused by the combination of the 2.3 year QBO and annual cycles implies that there is about a 5-year periodicity in UVB variability. At higher latitudes, the appearance of the interannual UVB maximum is predicted by the QBO, but without the regular periodicity. The 5-year periodic QBO effects on UVB irradiance are larger than the currently evaluated long-term changes caused by the decrease in ozone amounts.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 65
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Sea level has been rising for the past century, and inhabitants of the Earth's coastal regions will want to understand and predict future sea level changes. In this study we present results from new simulations of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) global atmosphere-ocean model from 1950 to 2099. Model results are compared with observed sea level changes during the past 40 years at 17 coastal stations around the world. Using observed levels of greenhouse gases between 1950 and 1990 and a compounded 0.5% annual increase in Co2 after 1990, model projections show that global sea level measured from 1950 will rise by 61 mm in the year 2000, by 212 mm in 2050, and by 408 mm in 2089. By 2089, two thirds of the global sea level rise will be due to thermal expansion and one third will be due to ocean mass changes. The spatial distribution of sea level rise is different than that projected by rigid lid ocean models.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 66
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: An algorithm is presented for retrieving vertical profiles of O3 concentration using measurements of UV and visible light scattered from the limb of the atmosphere. The UV measurements provide information about the O3 profile in the upper and middle stratosphere, while only visible wavelengths are capable of probing the lower stratospheric O3 profile. Sensitivity to the underlying scene reflectance is greatly reduced by normalizing measurements at a tangent height high in the atmosphere (approximately 55 km), and relating measurements taken at lower altitudes to this normalization point. To decrease the effect of scattering by thin aerosols/clouds that may be present in the field of view, these normalized measurements are then combined by pairing wavelengths with strong and weak O3 absorption. We conclude that limb scatter can be used to measure O3 between 15 km and 50 km with 2-3 km vertical resolution and better than 10% accuracy.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 67
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: The stretched-grid approach provides an efficient down-scaling and consistent interactions between global and regional scales due to using one variable-resolution model for integrations. It is a workable alternative to the widely used nested-grid approach introduced over a decade ago as a pioneering step in regional climate modeling. A variable-resolution General Circulation Model (GCM) employing a stretched grid, with enhanced resolution over the US as the area of interest, is used for simulating two anomalous regional climate events, the US summer drought of 1988 and flood of 1993. The special mode of integration using a stretched-grid GCM and data assimilation system is developed that allows for imitating the nested-grid framework. The mode is useful for inter-comparison purposes and for underlining the differences between these two approaches. The 1988 and 1993 integrations are performed for the two month period starting from mid May. Regional resolutions used in most of the experiments is 60 km. The major goal and the result of the study is obtaining the efficient down-scaling over the area of interest. The monthly mean prognostic regional fields for the stretched-grid integrations are remarkably close to those of the verifying analyses. Simulated precipitation patterns are successfully verified against gauge precipitation observations. The impact of finer 40 km regional resolution is investigated for the 1993 integration and an example of recovering subregional precipitation is presented. The obtained results show that the global variable-resolution stretched-grid approach is a viable candidate for regional and subregional climate studies and applications.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 68
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Two instruments were flown on shuttle flight STS-87 to test a new technique for inferring the ozone vertical profile using measurements of scattered sunlight from the Earth's limb. The instruments were an ultraviolet imaging spectrometer designed to measure ozone between 30 and 50 km, and a multi-filter imaging photometer that uses 600 nm radiances to measure ozone between 15 km and 35 km. Two orbits of limb data were obtained on December 2, 1997. For the scans analyzed the ozone profile was measured from 15 km to 50 km with approximately 3 km vertical resolution. Comparisons with a profile from an ozonesonde launched from Ascension Island showed agreement mostly within +/- 5%. The tropopause at 15 km was clearly detected.
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  • 69
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: During the Aerosols99 trans-Atlantic cruise from Norfolk, VA, to Cape Town, South Africa, daily ozonesondes were launched from the NOAA R/V Ronald H Brown between 17 January and 6 February l999. A composite of tropospheric ozone profiles along the latitudinal transect shows 4 zones, which are interpreted using correlative shipboard ozone, CO, water vapor, and overhead aerosol optical thickness measurements. Elevated ozone associated with biomass burning north of the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) is prominent at 3-5 km from 10-0N, but even higher ozone (100 ppbv, 7-10 km) occurred south of the ITCZ, where it was not burning. Column-integrated tropospheric ozone was 44 Dobson Units (DU) in one sounding, 10 DU lower than the maximum in a January-February 1993 Atlantic cruise with ozonesondes [Weller et al., 1996]. TOMS tropospheric ozone shows elevated ozone extending throughout the tropical Atlantic in January 1999. Several explanations are considered. Back trajectories, satellite aerosol observations and shipboard tracers suggest a combination of convection and interhemispheric transport of ozone and/or ozone precursors, probably amplified by a lightning NO source over Africa.
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  • 70
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: The Goddard trajectory chemistry model was used with ER-2 aircraft data to test our current knowledge of radical photochemistry during the POLARIS (Polar Ozone Loss in the Arctic Region In Summer) campaign. The results of the trajectory chemistry model with and without trajectories are used to identify cases where steady state does not accurately describe the measurements. Over the entire mission, using trajectory chemistry reduces the variability in the modeled NO(x) comparisons to data by 25% with respect to the same model simulating steady state. Although the variability is reduced, NO(x)/NO(y) trajectory model results were found to be systematically low relative to the observations by 20-30% as seen in previous studies. Using new rate constants for reactions important in NO(y) partitioning improves the agreement of NO(x)/NO(y) with the observations but a 5-10% bias still exists. OH and HO2 individually are underpredicted by 15% of the standard steady state model and worsen with the new rate constants. Trajectory chemistry model results of OH/HO2 were systematically low by 10-20% but improve using the new rates constants because of the explicit dependence on NO. This suggests that our understanding of NO(x) is accurate to the 20% level and HO(x) chemistry is accurate to the 30% level in the lower stratosphere or better for the POLARIS regime. The behavior of the NO(x) and HO(x) comparisons to data using steady state versus trajectory chemistry and with updated rate coefficients is discussed in ten-ns of known chemical mechanisms and lifetimes.
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  • 71
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Using state-of-the-art satellite-gauge monthly rainfall estimate and optimally interpolated sea surface temperature (SST) data, we have assessed the 1997-98 AA-monsoon anomalies in terms of three basic causal factors: basin-scale SST, regional coupling, and internal variability. Singular Value Decomposition analyses of rainfall and SST are carried out globally over the entire tropics and regionally over the AA-monsoon domain. Contributions to monsoon rainfall predictability by various factors are evaluated from cumulative anomaly correlation with dominant regional SVD modes. Results reveal a dominant, large-scale monsoon-El Nino coupled mode with well-defined centers of action in the near-equatorial monsoon regions during the boreal summer and winter respectively. The observed 1997-98 AA-monsoon anomalies are found to be very complex with approximately 34% of the anomalies of the Asian (boreal) summer monsoon and 74% of the Australia (austral) monsoon attributable to basin-scale SST influence associated with El Nino. Regional coupled processes contribute an additional 19% and 10%, leaving about 47% and 16% due to internal dynamics for the boreal and austral monsoon respectively. For the boreal summer monsoon, it is noted that the highest monsoon predictability is not necessary associated with major El Nino events (e.g. 1997, 1982) but rather in non-El Nino years (e.g. 1980, 1988) when contributions from the regional coupled modes far exceed those from the basin-scale SST. The results suggest that in order to improve monsoon seasonal-to-interannual predictability, there is a need to exploit not only monsoon-El Nino relationship, but also intrinsic monsoon regional coupled processes.
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  • 72
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Recent reanalyses of satellite, ground-based and balloon measurements allow updated estimates of trends in the vertical profile of ozone during 1980-96. The results show overall consistency between several independent measurement systems, particularly for northern hemisphere mid-latitudes where most ground-based measurements are made. Combined trend estimates over these latitudes show statistically significant negative trends at all altitudes between 10 and 45 km, with two local maxima: -7.4 +/- 2.0%/decade at 40 km and -7.6 +/- 4.6%/decade at 15 km altitude. There is a strong seasonal variation in trends over northern mid-latitudes in the altitude range of 10- 18 km. The profile trends are in quantitative agreement with independently measured trends in column ozone.
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  • 73
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: The book being reviewed, Regional Hydrological Response to Climate Change, addresses the effects of global climate change, particularly global warming induced by greenhouse gas emissions, on hydrological budgets at the regional scale. As noted in its preface, the book consists of peer-reviewed papers delivered at scientific meetings held by the International Geographical Union Working Group on Regional Hydrological Response to Climate Change and Global Warming, supplemented with some additional chapters that round out coverage of the topic. The editors hope that this book will serve as "not only a record of current achievements, but also a stimulus to further hydrological research as the detail and spatial resolution of Global Climate Models improves". The reviewer found the background material on regional climatology to be valuable and the methodologies presented to be of interest. The value of the book is significantly diminished, however by the dated nature of some of the material and by large uncertainties in the predictions of regional precipitation change. The book would have been improved by a much more extensive documentation of the uncertainty associated with each step of the prediction process.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
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  • 74
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: The impact of aircraft emissions on reactive nitrogen in the upper troposphere (UT) and lowermost stratosphere (LS) was estimated using the NO(y)-O3 correlation obtained during the SASS Ozone and NO(x) Experiment (SONEX) carried out over the US continent and North Atlantic Flight Corridor (NAFC) region in October and November 1997. To evaluate the large scale impact, we made a reference NO(y)-O3 relationship in air masses, upon which aircraft emissions were considered to have little impact. For this purpose, the integrated input of NO(x) from aircraft into an air mass along a 10-d back trajectory (DELTA-NO(y)) was calculated based on the ANCAT/EC2 emission inventory. The excess NO(y) (dNO(y)) was calculated from the observed NO(y) and the reference NO(y)-O3 relationship. As a result, a weak positive correlation was found between the dNO(y) and DELTA-NO(y), and dNO(y) and NO(x)/NO(y) values, while no positive correlation between the dNO(y) and CO values was found, suggesting that dNO(y) values can be used as a measure of the NO(x) input from aircraft emissions. The excess NO(y) values calculated from another NO(y)-O3 reference relationship made using in-situ CN data also agreed with these dNO(y) values, within the uncertainties. At the NAFC region (45 N - 60 N), the median value of dNO(y) in the troposphere increased with altitude above 9 km and reached 70 pptv (20% of NO(y)) at 11 km. The excess NO(x) was estimated to be about half of the dNO(y) values, corresponding to 30% of the observed NO(x) level. Higher dNO(y) values were generally found in air masses where O3 = 75 - 125 ppbv, suggesting a more pronounced effect around the tropopause. The median value of dNO(y) in the stratosphere at the NAFC region at 8.5 - 11.5 km was about 120 pptv. The higher dNO(y) values in the LS were probably due to the accumulated effect of aircraft emissions, given the long residence time of affected air in the LS. Similar dNO(y) values were also obtained in air masses sampled over the US continent.
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  • 75
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: For the past decade, the NASA Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Project (AEAP) has been the U.S. focal point for research on aircraft effects. In conjunction with U.S. basic research programs, AEAP and concurrent European research programs have driven remarkable progress reports released in 1999 [IPCC, 1999; Kawa et al., 1999]. The former report primarily focuses on aircraft effects in the upper troposphere, with some discussion on stratospheric impacts. The latter report focuses entirely on the stratosphere. The current status of research regarding aviation effects on stratospheric ozone and climate, as embodied by the findings of these reports, is reviewed. The following topics are addressed: Aircraft Emissions, Pollution Transport, Atmospheric Chemistry, Polar Processes, Climate Impacts of Supersonic Aircraft, Subsonic Aircraft Effect on the Stratosphere, Calculations of the Supersonic Impact on Ozone and Sensitivity to Input Conditions.
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  • 76
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Spectral remote observations of dust properties from space and from the ground creates a powerful tool for determination of dust absorption of solar radiation with an unprecedented accuracy. Absorption is a key component in understanding dust impact on climate. We use Landsat spaceborne measurements at 0.47 to 2.2 microns over Senegal with ground based sunphotometers to find that Saharan dust absorption of solar radiation is two to four times smaller than in models. Though dust absorbs in the blue, almost no absorption was found for wavelengths greater 0.6 microns. The new finding increases by 50% recent estimated solar radiative forcing by dust and decreases the estimated dust heating of the lower troposphere. Dust transported from Asia shows slightly higher absorption probably due to the presence of black carbon from populated regions. Large scale application of this method to satellite data from the Earth Observing System can reduce significantly the uncertainty in the dust radiative effects.
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  • 77
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: The well-known wave-one pattern seen in tropical total ozone [Shiotani, 1992; Ziemke et al., 1996, 1998] has been used to develop a modified-residual (MR) method for retrieving time-averaged stratospheric ozone and tropospheric ozone column amount from TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) over the 14 complete calendar years of Nimbus 7 observations (1979-1992) and from TOMS on the Earth-Probe (1996-present) and ADEOS platforms (1996- 1997). Nine- to sixteen-day averaged tropical tropospheric ozone (TTO) maps, validated with ozonesondes, show a seasonality expected from dynamical and chemical influences. The maps may be viewed on a homepage: http://metosrv2.umd.edu/~tropo. Stratospheric column ozone, which is also derived by the modified-residual method, compares well with sondes (to within 6-7 DU) and with stratospheric ozone column derived from other satellites (within 8-10 DU). Validation of the TTO time-series is presently limited to ozonesonde comparisons with Atlantic stations and sites on the adjacent continents (Ascension Island, Natal, Brazil; Brazzaville); for the sounding periods, TTO at all locations agrees with the sonde record to +/-7 DU. TTO time-series and the magnitude of the wave-one pattern show ENSO signals in the strongest El Nifio periods from 1979-1998. From 12degN and 12degS, zonally averaged tropospheric ozone shows no significant trend from 1980-1990. Trends are also not significant during this period in localized regions, e.g. from just west of South America across to southern Africa. This is consistent with the ozonesonde record at Natal, Brazil (the only tropical ozone data publicly available for the 1980's), which shows a not statistically significant increase. The lack of trend in tropospheric ozone agrees with a statistical analysis based on another method for deriving TTO from TOMS, the so-called Convective-Cloud-Differential approach of Ziemke et al. [1998].
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  • 78
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: The annual flux of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean by the atmosphere and rivers is balanced by the export of sea ice and oceanic freshwater. Two 150-year simulations of a global climate model are used to examine how this balance might change if atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) increase. Relative to the control, the last 50-year period of the GHG experiment indicates that the total inflow of water from the atmosphere and rivers increases by 10% primarily due to an increase in river discharge, the annual sea-ice export decreases by about half, the oceanic liquid water export increases, salinity decreases, sea-ice cover decreases, and the total mass and sea-surface height of the Arctic Ocean increase. The closed, compact, and multi-phased nature of the hydrologic cycle in the Arctic Ocean makes it an ideal test of water budgets that could be included in model intercomparisons.
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  • 79
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Chemical data from flight 8 of NASA's Subsonic Assessment (SASS) Ozone and Nitrogen Oxide Experiment (SONEX) exhibited signatures consistent with aircraft emissions, stratospheric air, and surface-based pollution. These signatures are examined in detail, focussing on the broad aircraft emission signatures that are several hundred kilometers in length. A mesoscale meteorological model provides high resolution wind data that are used to calculate backward trajectories arriving at locations along the flight track. These trajectories are compared to aircraft locations in the North Atlantic Flight Corridor over a 27-33 hour period. Time series of flight level NO and the number of trajectory/aircraft encounters within the NAFC show excellent agreement. Trajectories arriving within the stratospheric and surface-based pollution regions are found to experience very few aircraft encounters. Conversely, there are many trajectory/aircraft encounters within the two chemical signatures corresponding to aircraft emissions. Even many detailed fluctuations of NO within the two aircraft signature regions correspond to similar fluctuations in aircraft encountered during the previous 27-33 hours. Results indicate that high resolution meteorological modeling, when coupled with detailed aircraft location data, is useful for understanding chemical signatures from aircraft emissions at scales of several hundred kilometers.
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  • 80
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Flight 10 of NASA's Subsonic Assessment (SASS) Ozone and Nitrogen Oxide Experiment (SONEX) extended southwest of Lajes, Azores. A variety of chemical signatures were encountered. These signatures are examined in detail, relating them to meteorological data from a high resolution numerical model having horizontal grid spacing of 30 and 90 km and 26 vertical levels. The meteorological output at hourly intervals is used to create backward trajectories from the locations of the chemical signatures. Four major categories of chemical signatures are discussed-stratospheric, lightning, continental pollution, and a transition layer. The strong stratospheric signal is encountered just south of the Azores in a region of depressed tropopause height. Three chemical signatures at different altitudes in the upper troposphere are attributed to lightning. Backward trajectories arriving at locations of these signatures are related to locations of cloud-to-ground lightning. Results show that the trajectories pass through regions of lightning 1-2 days earlier over the eastern Gulf of Mexico and off the southeast coast of the United States. The lowest leg of the flight exhibits a chemical signature consistent with continental pollution. Trajectories arriving at this signature are found to pass over the highly populated Northeast Corridor of the United States. Surface based pollution apparently is lofted to the altitudes of the trajectories by convective clouds along the East Coast that did not contain lightning. Finally, a chemical transition layer is described. Its chemical signature is intermediate to those of lightning and continental pollution. Trajectories arriving in this layer pass between the trajectories of the lightning and pollution signatures. Thus, they probably are impacted by both sources.
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  • 81
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Stratigraphic analyses of peat composition, LOI, pollen, spores, macrofossils, charcoal, and AMS ages are used to reconstruct the peatland, vegetation and climatic dynamics in the Pur-Taz region of western Siberia over 5000 years (9300 - 4500 BP). Section stratigraphy shows many changes from shallow lake sediment to different combinations of forested or open sedge, moss, and Equisetum fen and peatland environments. Macrofossil and pollen data indicate that Larix sibirica and Betula pubescens trees were first to arrive, followed by Picea obovata. The dominance of Picea macrofossils 6000-5000 BP in the Pur-Taz peatland along with regional Picea pollen maxima indicate warmer conditions and movement of the spruce treeline northward at this time. The decline of pollen and macrofossils from all of these tree species in uppermost peats suggests a change in the environment less favorable for their growth, perhaps cooler temperatures and/or less moisture. Of major significance is the evidence for old ages of the uppermost peats in this area of Siberia, suggesting a real lack of peat accumulation in recent millennia or recent oxidation of uppermost peat.
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  • 82
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: We present a study of the distribution of ozone in the lowermost stratosphere with the goal of characterizing the observed variability. The air in the lowermost stratosphere is divided into two population groups based on Ertel's potential vorticity at 300 hPa. High (low) potential vorticity at 300 hPa indicates that the tropopause is low (high), and the identification of these two groups is made to account for the dynamic variability. Conditional probability distribution functions are used to define the statistics of the ozone distribution from both observations and a three-dimensional model simulation using winds from the Goddard Earth Observing System Data Assimilation System for transport. Ozone data sets include ozonesonde observations from northern midlatitude stations (1991-96) and midlatitude observations made by the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) (1994- 1998). The conditional probability distribution functions are calculated at a series of potential temperature surfaces spanning the domain from the midlatitude tropopause to surfaces higher than the mean tropical tropopause (approximately 380K). The probability distribution functions are similar for the two data sources, despite differences in horizontal and vertical resolution and spatial and temporal sampling. Comparisons with the model demonstrate that the model maintains a mix of air in the lowermost stratosphere similar to the observations. The model also simulates a realistic annual cycle. Results show that during summer, much of the observed variability is explained by the height of the tropopause. During the winter and spring, when the tropopause fluctuations are larger, less of the variability is explained by tropopause height. This suggests that more mixing occurs during these seasons. During all seasons, there is a transition zone near the tropopause that contains air characteristic of both the troposphere and the stratosphere. The relevance of the results to the assessment of the environmental impact of aircraft effluence is also discussed.
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  • 83
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: The impact of tropospheric aerosols on the retrieval of column ozone amounts using spaceborne measurements of backscattered ultraviolet radiation is examined. Using radiative transfer calculations, we show that uv-absorbing desert dust may introduce errors as large as 10% in ozone column amount, depending on the aerosol layer height and optical depth. Smaller errors are produced by carbonaceous aerosols that result from biomass burning. Though the error is produced by complex interactions between ozone absorption (both stratospheric and tropospheric), aerosol scattering, and aerosol absorption, a surprisingly simple correction procedure reduces the error to about 1%, for a variety of aerosols and for a wide range of aerosol loading. Comparison of the corrected TOMS data with operational data indicates that though the zonal mean total ozone derived from TOMS are not significantly affected by these errors, localized affects in the tropics can be large enough to seriously affect the studies of tropospheric ozone that are currently undergoing using the TOMS data.
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  • 84
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: We have developed a new empirically-based transport algorithm for use in our GSFC two-dimensional transport and chemistry model. The new algorithm contains planetary wave statistics, and parameterizations to account for the effects due to gravity waves and equatorial Kelvin waves. As such, this scheme utilizes significantly more information compared to our previous algorithm which was based only on zonal mean temperatures and heating rates. The new model transport captures much of the qualitative structure and seasonal variability observed in long lived tracers, such as: isolation of the tropics and the southern hemisphere winter polar vortex; the well mixed surf-zone region of the winter sub-tropics and mid-latitudes; the latitudinal and seasonal variations of total ozone; and the seasonal variations of mesospheric H2O. The model also indicates a double peaked structure in methane associated with the semiannual oscillation in the tropical upper stratosphere. This feature is similar in phase but is significantly weaker in amplitude compared to the observations. The model simulations of carbon-14 and strontium-90 are in good agreement with observations, both in simulating the peak in mixing ratio at 20-25 km, and the decrease with altitude in mixing ratio above 25 km. We also find mostly good agreement between modeled and observed age of air determined from SF6 outside of the northern hemisphere polar vortex. However, observations inside the vortex reveal significantly older air compared to the model. This is consistent with the model deficiencies in simulating CH4 in the northern hemisphere winter high latitudes and illustrates the limitations of the current climatological zonal mean model formulation. The propagation of seasonal signals in water vapor and CO2 in the lower stratosphere showed general agreement in phase, and the model qualitatively captured the observed amplitude decrease in CO2 from the tropics to midlatitudes. However, the simulated seasonal amplitudes were attenuated too rapidly with altitude in the tropics. Overall, the simulations with the new transport formulation are in substantially better agreement with observations compared with our previous model transport.
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  • 85
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: We use Monte Carlo analysis to estimate the uncertainty in predictions of total O3 trends between 1979 and 1995 made by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) two-dimensional (2D) model of stratospheric photochemistry and dynamics. The uncertainty is caused by gas-phase chemical reaction rates, photolysis coefficients, and heterogeneous reaction parameters which are model inputs. The uncertainty represents a lower bound to the total model uncertainty assuming the input parameter uncertainties are characterized correctly. Each of the Monte Carlo runs was initialized in 1970 and integrated for 26 model years through the end of 1995. This was repeated 419 times using input parameter sets generated by Latin Hypercube Sampling. The standard deviation (a) of the Monte Carlo ensemble of total 03 trend predictions is used to quantify the model uncertainty. The 34% difference between the model trend in globally and annually averaged total O3 using nominal inputs and atmospheric trends calculated from Nimbus 7 and Meteor 3 total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS) version 7 data is less than the 46% calculated 1 (sigma), model uncertainty, so there is no significant difference between the modeled and observed trends. In the northern hemisphere midlatitude spring the modeled and observed total 03 trends differ by more than 1(sigma) but less than 2(sigma), which we refer to as marginal significance. We perform a multiple linear regression analysis of the runs which suggests that only a few of the model reactions contribute significantly to the variance in the model predictions. The lack of significance in these comparisons suggests that they are of questionable use as guides for continuing model development. Large model/measurement differences which are many multiples of the input parameter uncertainty are seen in the meridional gradients of the trend and the peak-to-peak variations in the trends over an annual cycle. These discrepancies unambiguously indicate model formulation problems and provide a measure of model performance which can be used in attempts to improve such models.
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  • 86
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: We describe the current GISS analysis of surface temperature change based primarily on meteorological station measurements. The global surface temperature in 1998 was the warmest in the period of instrumental data. The rate of temperature change is higher in the past 25 years than at any previous time in the period of instrumental data. The warmth of 1998 is too large and pervasive to be fully accounted for by the recent El Nino, suggesting that global temperature may have moved to a higher level, analogous to the increase that occurred in the late 1970s. The warming in the United States over the past 50 years is smaller than in most of the world, and over that period there is a slight cooling trend in the Eastern United States and the neighboring Atlantic ocean. The spatial and temporal patterns of the temperature change suggest that more than one mechanism is involved in this regional cooling.
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  • 87
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: In the framework of the project POLINAT 2 (Pollution in the North Atlantic Flight Corridor) we measured NO(x) (NO and NO2) and ozone on 98 flights through the North Atlantic Flight Corridor (NAFC) with a fully automated system permanently installed aboard an in-service Swissair B-747 airliner in the period of August to November 1997. The averaged NO, concentrations both in the NAFC and at the U.S. east coast were similar to that measured in autumn 1995 with the same system. The patchy occurrence of NO(x), enhancements up to 3000 pptv over several hundred kilometers (plumes), predominately found over the U.S. east coast lead to a log-normal NO(x) probability density function. In three case-studies we examine the origins of such plumes by combining back-trajectories with brightness temperature enhanced (IR) satellite imagery, with lightning observations from the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) or with the Optical Transient Detector (OTD) satellite. For frontal activity above the continental U.S., we demonstrate that the location of NO(x) plumes can be well explained with maps of convective influence. For another case we show that the number of lightning flashes in a cluster of marine thunderstorms is proportional to the NO(x) concentrations observed several hundred kilometers downwind of the anvil outflows and suggest that lightning was the dominant source. From the fact that in autumn the NO, maximum was found several hundred kilometers off the U.S. east coast, it can be inferred that thunderstorms triggered over the warm Gulf Stream current are an important source for the regional upper tropospheric NO(x) budget in autumn.
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  • 88
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Key questions to which SONEX was directed were the following: Can aircraft corridors be detected? Is there a unique tracer for aircraft NO(x)? Can a "background" NO(x) (or NO(y) be defined? What fraction of NO(x) measured during SONEX was from aircraft? How representative was SONEX of the North Atlantic in 1997 and how typical of other years? We attempt to answer these questions through species-species correlations, probability distribution functions (PDFs), and meteorological history. There is not a unique aircraft tracer, largely due to the high variability of air mass origins and tracer ratios, which render "average" quantities meaningless. The greatest NO and NO(y) signals were associated with lightning and convective NO sources. Well-defined background CO, NO(y) and NO(y)/ozone ratio appear in subsets of two cross-track flights with subtropical origins and five flights with predominantly mid-latitude air. Forty percent of the observations on these 7 flights showed NO(y)/ozone to be above background, evidently due to unreacted NO(x). This NO(x) is a combination of aircraft, lightning and surface pollution injected by convection. The strongly subtropical signatures in SONEX observations, confirmed by pv (potential vorticity) values along flight tracks, argues for most of the unreacted NO(x) originating from lightning. Potential vorticity statistics along SONEX flight tracks in 1992-1998, and for the North Atlantic as a whole, show the SONEX meteorological environment to be representative of the North Atlantic flight corridor in the October-November period.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 89
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: Airborne measurements of NO(x) total reactive nitrogen (NO(y)), O3 and condensation nuclei (CN) were made within air traffic corridors over the U.S. and North Atlantic regions (35-60 deg N) in the fall of 1997. NO(x) and NO(y) data obtained in the lowermost stratosphere (LS) were examined using the calculated increase in NO(y) ((delta)NO(y)) along five-day back trajectories as a parameter to identify possible effects of aircraft on reactive nitrogen. It is very likely that aircraft emissions had a significant impact on the NO(x) levels in the LS inasmuch as the NO(s), mixing ratios at 8.5-12 km were significantly correlated with the independent parameters of aircraft emissions, i.e., (delta)NO(y) levels and CN values. In order to estimate quantitatively the impact of aircraft emissions on NO(x), and CN, the background levels of CN and NO(x) at O3 = 100-200 ppbv were derived from the correlations of these quantities with (delta)NO(y)). On average, the aircraft emissions are estimated to have increased the NO(x) and CN values by 130 pptv and 400 STP,cc, respectively, which corresponds to 70 -/+ 30 % and 30 -/+ 20 % of the observed median values.
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  • 90
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: The American Geophysical Union (AGU), as a scientific organization devoted to research on the Earth and space sciences, provides current scientific information to the public on issues pertinent to geophysics. The Council of the AGU approved a position statement on Climate Change and Greenhouse Gases in December 1998. The statement, together with a short summary of the procedures that were followed in its preparation, review, and adoption were published in the February 2, 1999 issue of Eos ([AGU, 1999]. The present article reviews scientific understanding of this issue as presented in peer-reviewed publications that serves as the underlying basis of the position statement.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 91
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: The role of naturally varying vegetation in influencing the climate variability in the Sahel is explored in a coupled atmosphere-land-vegetation model. The Sahel rainfall variability is influenced by sea surface temperature (SST) variations in the oceans. Land-surface feedback is found to increase this variability both on interannual and interdecadal time scales. Interactive vegetation enhances the interdecadal variation significantly, but can reduce year to year variability due to a phase lag introduced by the relatively slow vegetation adjustment time. Variations in vegetation accompany the changes in rainfall, in particular, the multi-decadal drying trend from the 1950s to the 80s.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 92
    Publication Date: 2013-08-29
    Description: An upper limit for aircraft-produced perturbations to aerosols and gaseous exhaust products in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) is derived using the 1992 aviation fuel tracer simulation performed by eleven global atmospheric models. Key Endings are that subsonic aircraft emissions: (1) have not be responsible for the observed water vapor trends at 40 deg N; (2) could be a significant source of soot mass near 12 km, but not at 20 km; (3) might cause a noticeable increase in the background sulfate aerosol surface area and number densities (but not mass density) near the northern mid-latitude tropopause; and (4) could provide a global, annual mean top of the atmosphere radiative forcing up to +0.006 W/sq m and -0.013 W/sq m due to emitted soot and sulfur, respectively.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Geophysical Research Letters
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  • 93
    Publication Date: 2013-08-31
    Description: There is considerable uncertainty as to whether interannual variability in climate and terrestrial ecosystem production is sufficient to explain observed variation in atmospheric carbon content over the past 20-30 years. In this paper, we investigated the response of net CO2 exchange in terrestrial ecosystems to interannual climate variability (1983 to 1988) using global satellite observations as drivers for the NASA-CASA (Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach) simulation model. This computer model of net ecosystem production (NEP) is calibrated for interannual simulations driven by monthly satellite vegetation index data (NDVI) from the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) at 1 degree spatial resolution. Major results from NASA-CASA simulations suggest that from 1985 to 1988, the northern middle-latitude zone (between 30 and 60 degrees N) was the principal region driving progressive annual increases in global net primary production (NPP; i.e., the terrestrial biosphere sink for carbon). The average annual increase in NPP over this predominantly northern forest zone was on the order of +0.4 Pg (10 (exp 15) g) C per year. This increase resulted mainly from notable expansion of the growing season for plant carbon fixation toward the zonal latitude extremes, a pattern uniquely demonstrated in our regional visualization results. A net biosphere source flux of CO2 in 1983-1984, coinciding with an El Nino event, was followed by a major recovery of global NEP in 1985 which lasted through 1987 as a net carbon sink of between 0.4 and 2.6 Avg C per year. Analysis of model controls on NPP and soil heterotrophic CO2 fluxes (Rh) suggests that regional warming in northern forests can enhance ecosystem production significantly. In seasonally dry tropical zones, periodic drought and temperature drying effects may carry over with at least a two-year lag time to adversely impact ecosystem production. These yearly patterns in our model-predicted NEP are consistent in magnitude with the estimated exchange of CO2 by the terrestrial biosphere with the atmosphere, as determined by previous isotopic (delta (sup 13 C) convolution analysis. Ecosystem simulation results can help further target locations where net carbon sink fluxes have occurred in the past or may be verified in subsequent field studies.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 94
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: Analyses of satellite, ground-based, and balloon measurements allow updated estimates of trends in the vertical profile of ozone since 1979. The results show overall consistency among several independent measurement systems, particularly for northern hemisphere midlatitudes where most balloon and ground-based measurements are made. Combined trend estimates over these latitudes for the period 1979-96 show statistically significant negative trends at all altitudes between 10 and 45 km, with two local extremes: -7.4 plus or minus 2.0% per decade at 40 km and -7.3 plus or minus -4.6% per decade at 15 km altitude. There is a strong seasonal variation in trends over northern midlatitudes in the attitude range of 10 to 18 km, with the largest ozone loss during winter and spring. The profile trends are in quantitative agreement with independently measured trends in column ozone, the amount of ozone in a column above the surface. The vertical profiles of ozone trends provide a fingerprint for the mechanisms of ozone depletion over the last two decades.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Science; Volume 285; 1689-1692
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  • 95
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: A climatology of air transport to and from Kenya has been developed using kinematic trajectory modeling. Significant months for trajectory analysis have been determined from a classification of synoptic circulation fields. Five-point back and forward trajectory clusters to and from Kenya reveal that the transport corridors to Kenya are clearly bounded and well defined. Air reaching the country originates mainly from the Saharan region and northwestern Indian Ocean of the Arabian Sea in the northern hemisphere and from the Madagascan region of the Indian Ocean in the southern hemisphere. Transport from each of these source regions show distinctive annual cycles related to the northeasterly Asian monsoon and the southeasterly trade wind maximum over Kenya in May. The Saharan transport in the lower troposphere is at a maximum when the subtropical high over northern Africa is strongly developed in the boreal winter. Air reaching Kenya between 700 and 500 hPa is mainly from Sahara and northwest India Ocean flows in the months of January and March, which gives way to southwest Indian Ocean flow in May and November. In contrast, air reaching Kenya at 400 hPa is mainly from southwest Indian Ocean in January and March, which is replaced by Saharan transport in May and November. Transport of air from Kenya is invariant, both spatially and temporally, in the tropical easterlies to the Congo Basin and Atlantic Ocean in comparison to the transport to the country. Recirculation of air has also been observed, but on a limited and often local scale and not to the extent reported in southern Africa.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 96
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: Surface heat fluxes were examined as a function of surface properties and meteorological conditions in a 100 km x 100 km grid square at 1-km spatial resolution centered at the location of the First ISLSCP (International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project) Field Experiment (FIFE), the Forest Ecosystem Dynamics site in central Maine, and a semiarid rangeland site around Walnut Gulch, Arizona. This investigation treats the surface heat flux variability within a GCM grid box to provide insight into methods for treating that variability in climate models. The heat fluxes were calculated using NOAA AVHRR and available meteorological data. The average heat fluxes that were estimated using the various area ground-cover representations were compared with the ensemble average heat fluxes for the entire area, which were assumed to be the best representation of the heat fluxes for the areas. Average beat fluxes were estimated for the entire 100 km x 100 km area based on a single ground-cover representation, and the mean error for the area sensible heat flux was about 10% and for the area latent heat flux, 21%. The estimation error was reduced, and in some cases significantly reduced, when the area heat fluxes were estimated by partitioning the area according to significant ground cover. The most significant effect of the partitioning was on the latent heat flux estimates.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes Research Publications; 69-70
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  • 97
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: How sensitive are doubled CO2 simulations to GCM control-run sea ice thickness and extent? This issue is examined in a series of 10 control-run simulations with different sea ice and corresponding doubled CO2 simulations. Results show that with increased control-run sea ice coverage in the Southern Hemisphere, temperature sensitivity with climate change is enhanced, while there is little effect on temperature sensitivity of (reasonable) variations in control-run sea ice thickness. In the Northern Hemisphere the situation is reversed: sea ice thickness is the key parameter, while (reasonable) variations in control-run sea ice coverage are of less importance. In both cases, the quantity of sea ice that can be removed in the warmer climate is the determining factor. Overall, the Southern Hemisphere sea ice coverage change had a larger impact on global temperature, because Northern Hemisphere sea ice was sufficiently thick to limit its response to doubled CO2, and sea ice changes generally occurred at higher latitudes, reducing the sea ice-albedo feedback. In both these experiments and earlier ones in which sea ice was not allowed to change, the model displayed a sensitivity of -0.02 C global warming per percent change in Southern Hemisphere sea ice coverage.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
    Type: Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes Research Publications; 95-96
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  • 98
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: A new approach is presented to quantify upper-level moisture transport from geostationary satellite data. Daily time sequences of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GOES-7 water vapor imagery were used to produce estimates of winds and water vapor mixing ratio in the cloud-free region of the upper troposphere sensed by the 6.7- microns water vapor channel. The winds and mixing ratio values were gridded and then combined to produce a parameter called the water vapor transport index (WVTI), which represents the magnitude of the two-dimensional transport of water vapor in the upper troposphere. Daily grids of WVTI, meridional moisture transport, mixing ratio, pressure, and other associated parameters were averaged to produce monthly fields for June, July, and August (JJA) of 1987 and 1988 over the Americas and surrounding oceanic regions, The WVTI was used to compare upper-tropospheric moisture transport between the summers of 1987 and 1988, contrasting the latter part of the 1986/87 El Nino event and the La Nina period of 1988. A similar product derived from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)-National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) 40-Year Reanalysis Project was used to help to validate the index. Although the goal of this research was to describe the formulation and utility of the WVTI, considerable insight was obtained into the interannual variability of upper-level water vapor transport. Both datasets showed large upper-level water vapor transport associated with synoptic features over the Americas and with outflow from tropical convective systems. Minimal transport occurred over tropical and subtropical high pressure regions where winds were light. Index values from NCEP-NCAR were 2-3 times larger than that determined from GOES. This difference resulted from large zonal wind differences and an apparent overestimate of upper-tropospheric moisture in the reanalysis model. A comparison of the satellite-derived monthly values between the summers of 1987 and 1988 provided some insight into the impact of the ENSO event on upper-level moisture and its transport during the period. During July 1987, a large portion of the Tropics in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea was dominated by strong vapor transport in excess of 4.0 g/kg m/s, with relatively small amounts in the other months. JJA 1988 transport values reached similar magnitude and showed similar patterns for all three months. The meridional transport of upper-level water vapor indicated large poleward transport from the Tropics to the higher latitudes. This transport favored the Southern Hemisphere, with large transport occurring south of the ITCZ, which extended across the eastern Pacific and northern South America. Zonally averaged monthly transport values were shown to provide a simple way to quantify the monthly and interannual changes in water vapor transport. Zonally averaged WVTI values peaked in the Southern Hemisphere subtropics during both austral winters. In the Tropics, a single, more- pronounced peak located over the equator and south latitudes occurred in 1988 as opposed to a dual peak in 1987. The second peak around 20'N latitude is consistent with findings of others in which upper-tropospheric winds were noted to be stronger in this region during warm ENSO events. Zonally averaged meridional transport was southward for all summer months and was stronger in 1988. The asymmetric nature of the zonally averaged meridional transport (more southerly water vapor transport) was enhanced during JJA 1988, thus indicating a stronger upper- level branch of the Hadley circulation during this notably strong La Nina period.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 99
    Publication Date: 2016-02-04
    Description: Results are presented for six simulations of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) global atmosphere-ocean model for the years 1950 to 2099. There are two control simulations with constant 1950 atmospheric composition from different initial states, two GHG experiments with observed greenhouse gases up to 1990 and compounded .5% CO2 annual increases thereafter, and two GHG+SO4 experiments with the same varying greenhouse gases plus varying tropospheric sulfate aerosols. Surface air temperature trends in the two GHG experiments are compared between themselves and with the observed temperature record from 1960 and 1998. All comparisons show high positive spatial correlation in the northern hemisphere except in summer when the greenhouse signal is weakest. The GHG+SO4 experiments show weaker correlations. In the southern hemisphere, correlations are either weak or negative which in part are due to the model's unrealistic interannual variability of southern sea ice cover. The model results imply that temperature changes due to forcing by increased greenhouse gases have risen above the level of regional interannual temperature variability in the northern hemisphere over the past 40 years. This period is thus an important test of reliability of coupled climate models.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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  • 100
    Publication Date: 2011-08-23
    Description: We discuss the methodology of interpreting channel 1 and 2 AVHRR radiance data to retrieve tropospheric aerosol properties over the ocean and describe a detailed analysis of the sensitivity of monthly average retrievals to the assumed aerosol models. We use real AVHRR data and accurate numerical techniques for computing single and multiple scattering and spectral absorption of light in the vertically inhomogeneous atmosphere-ocean system. Our analysis shows that two-channel algorithms can provide significantly more accurate retrievals of the aerosol optical thickness than one-channel algorithms and that imperfect cloud screening is the largest source of errors in the retrieved optical thickness. Both underestimating and overestimating aerosol absorption as well as strong variability of the aerosol refractive index may lead to regional and/or seasonal biases in optical thickness retrievals. The Angstrom exponent appears to be the most invariant aerosol size characteristic and should be retrieved along with optical thickness as the second aerosol parameter.
    Keywords: Environment Pollution
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