ALBERT

Description: MapTool is an interactive computer program for the display of common marine geophysical data. At present, the program displays isolines, color-filled contours, navigation tracklines, and navigated scalar values in a variety of styles. A variety of map projections are supported. This document describes the basic requirements for running the MapTool program, for creating various displays, and generating hard copy output. The supported data file formats are described. All of the options, displays, menus, and windows are documented.

Description: Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research under Grant N00014-90-J-1621.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August, 1971

Description: An experimental investigation of the different flow regimes in a rotating source-sink annulus is described. Both the steady and transient velocities are measured over a large range of Ekman Reynolds number and Rossby number. Differing probe configurations are used to investigate the corresponding motions in spatially separated regions of the annulus. The steady interior circulation field exhibits a strong dependence on the imposed flux values. The non-dimensional circulation increases with radius over a certain radial range for higher system Rossby number. The observed profile changes are related to the existence of an unstable Ekman layer at some inner radial position. The thickness of the observed Ekman layers is typically 85% of the theoretical scale height. For higher local Reynolds number (ReL), the thickness is generally much smaller. The width of the sidewall boundary layer adjacent to the sink increases with larger system Rossby number. Adjacent to the source, the radial boundary layer is wider than that at the sink wall. Observed oscillations are separable into three types. For ReL 〉 50, instability waves are observed in the Ekman layer flow. In the same Re range, inertial oscillations are detected in the interior region of the annulus. The observed inertial wave frequency at differing radial positions is explained by incorporating Doppler shift corrections and taking account of the steady circulation profiles. The radial wavelength of the inertial waves corresponds to the length of the Class A Ekman layer instabi1ity. For small values of Re and local Rossby number, an axisymmetric disturbance, with a characteristic frequency slightly greater than therotation rate, is observed at the outer radial positions.

Description: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September, 1975

Description: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is one of the most well known and yet poorly understood spreading centers in the world. A detailed investigation of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge crest near 37°N (FAMOUS) was conducted using a deeply towed instrument package. The objective was to study the detailed structure and spreading history of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge median valley, to explore the roles of volcanism and faulting in the evolution of oceanic crust, and to study the morphologic expression and structural history of the zone of crustal accretion. In addition, microearthquake surveys were conducted using arrays of free-floating hydrophones. The most recent expression of the accreting plate boundary in the Famous Rift is an alternating series of linear central volcanoes and depressions 1.5 km wide which lie within the inner floor. This lineament is marked by a sharp maximum in crustal magnetization only 2-3 km wide. Magnetic studies indicate that over 90% of the extrusive volcanism occurs within the rift inner floor, a zone 1 to 12 km wide, while volcanism is extremely rare in the rift mountains. Volcanoes created in the inner floor are transported out on, block faults, becoming a lasting part of the topography. Magnetic anomaly transition widths vary from 1 km to 8 km with time and appear to reflect a bi-stable median valley structure. The valley has either a wide inner floor and narrow terraces, in which case the volcanic zone is wide and magnetic anomalies are poorly recorded (wide transition widths); or it has a narrow inner floor and wide terraces, the volcanic zone is then narrow and anomalies are clearly recorded (narrow transition widths). The median valley of any ridge segment varies between these two structures with time. At present the. Famous Rift has a narrow inner floor and volcanic zone (1-3 km) while the south Famous Rift is at the opposite end of the cycle with a wide inner floor and volcanic zone (10-12 km). Over 95% of the large scale (〉2 km) relief of the median valley is accounted for by normal faults dipping toward the valley axis. Normal faulting along fault planes dipping away from the valley begins just past the outer walls of the valley. Outward facing normal faulting accounts for most of the decay of median valley relief in the rift mountains while crustal tilting accounts for less than 20%. The pattern of normal faulting creates a broad, undulating horst and graben relief. Volcanic features contribute little to the large scale relief, but contribute to the short wavelength (〈2km) roughness of the topography. Spreading in the Famous area is highly asymmetric with rates twice as high to the east as to the west. At 1.7 m.y.b.p. the sense of asymmetry reverses in direction with spreading faster to the west, resulting in a gross symmetry when averaged through time. The change in spreading asymmetry occurred in less than 0.15 m.y. Structural studies indicate that the asymmetric spreading is accomplished through asymmetric crustal extension as well as asymmetric crustal accretion. Spreading in the Famous area is 17° oblique. Even on a fine scale there is no indication of readjustment to an orthogonal plate boundary system. Spreading has been stably oblique for at least 6 m.y., even through a change in spreading direction. Magnetic studies reveal that the deep DSDP hole at site 332 was drilled into a magnetic polarity transition, and may have sampled rocks which recorded the earth i s field behavior during a reversal. The presence of negative polarity crust within the Brunhes normal epoch in the inner floor has been determined, and may be due to old crust left behind or recording of a geomagnetic field event. Crustal magnetization decays to lie of its initial value in less than 0.6 m.y. The rapid decay may be facillitated by very intense crustal fracturing observed in the inner floor. Microearthquake, magnetic and structural studies indicate that both the spreading and transform plate boundaries are very narrow (1-2 km) and well-defined for short periods, but migrate over zones 10-20 km wide through time.

Description: The LGP successfully demonstrated that grid technology could be used to create a collaboration among research scientists, their science development machines, and distributed data to create a science production system in a nationally distributed environment. Grid technology provides a low cost and effective method of enabling production of science products by the science community. To demonstrate this, the LGP partnered with NASA GSFC scientists and used their existing science algorithms to generate virtual Landsat-like data products using distributed data resources. LGP created 48 output composite scenes with 4 input scenes each for a total of 192 scienes processed in parallel. The demonstration took 12 hours, which beat the requirement by almost 50 percent, well within the LDCM requirement to process 250 scenes per day. The LGP project also showed the successful use of workflow tools to automate the processing. Investing in this technology has led to funding for a ROSES ACCESS proposal. The proposal intends to enable an expert science user to produce products from a number of similar distributed instrument data sets using the Land Cover Change Community-based Processing and Analysis System (LC-ComPS) Toolbox. The LC-ComPS Toolbox is a collection of science algorithms that enable the generation of data with ground resolution on the order of Landsat-class instruments.

Description: Teams participating in the 2006 ROV competition organized by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center and the Marine Technology Society's (MTS) ROV Committee experienced first-hand the scientific and technical challenges that many ocean scientists, technicians, and engineers face every day. The competition tasked more than 1,000 middle and high school, college, and university students from Newfoundland to Hong Kong with designing and building ROVs to support the next generation of ocean observing systems. Teaming up with the National Office for Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observations, Ocean. US, and the Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION) Program, the competition highlighted ocean observing systems and the careers, organizations, and technologies associated with ocean observatories. The student teams were challenged to develop vehicles that can deploy, install, and maintain networks of instruments as well as to explore the practical applications and the research questions made possible by observing systems.

Description: CloudSat is a joint US/Canadian spaceborne science mission for global measurements of atmospheric cloud structures. Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) has already captured many stunning profiles of cloud/precipitation structures, some have not been seen before. Observation of storms' cloud formation, in conjunction with data from other remote sensors, will hopefully improve quality of natural hazards' forecasts.

Description: The purpose of this study is to seek observational evidence for diurnal, vertically propagating inertia-gravity waves (IGWs) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). Numerical modeling studies indicate that vertically propagating IGWs excited by tropical heating provide a significant source of momentum for the semiannual oscillation (SAO) in the equatorial zonal mean winds. The power spectrum of these waves has a strong diurnal component. We analyze global patterns of ascending and descending node differences in MLT satellite temperatures, which are assumed in this study to be proxies for waves of diurnal period. Juxtaposed upon the planetary-scale features are localized variations with longitudinal wavelengths ranging from 25 deg to 50 deg, and with vertical wavelengths between 13 and 25 km. These intermediate-scale variations are spatially coherent, and persist for several weeks. Their amplitudes generally increase with altitude, while their phase structures suggest both eastward and westward propagation. The variance of wave numbers 9-17 in the MLT is examined in relation to the underlying stratospheric zonal mean zonal gradient winds. Stronger variances generally coincide with periods where the underlying zonal mean winds are relatively light, or unidirectional. The weak inverse association between variance strength and zonal wind magnitude is suggestive of a wave filtering mechanism.

Description: Previous studies have shown that observed large O3 loss rates in cold Arctic Januaries cannot be explained with current understanding of the loss processes, recommended reaction kinetics, and standard assumptions about total stratospheric chlorine and bromine. Studies based on data collected during recent field campaigns suggest faster rates of photolysis and thermal decomposition of ClOOCl and higher stratospheric bromine concentrations than previously assumed. We show that a model accounting for these kinetic changes and higher levels of BrO can largely resolve the January Arctic O3 loss problem and closely reproduces observed Arctic O3 loss while being consistent with observed levels of ClO and ClOOCl. The model also suggests that bromine catalyzed O3 loss is more important relative to chlorine catalyzed loss than previously thought.

Description: A zero-valent metal emulsion containing zero-valent metal particles is used to remediate contaminated natural resources, such as groundwater and soil. In a preferred embodiment, the zero-valent metal emulsion removes heavy metals, such as lead (pb), from contaminated natural resources. In another preferred embodiment, the zero-valent metal emulsion is a bimetallic emulsion containing zero-valent metal particles doped with a catalytic metal to remediate halogenated aromatic compounds, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), from natural resources.

Description: USAID/E-CAM and EGAT's Global Climate Change Team, in partnership with EPA, NASA, Oak Ridge National Lab, and the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD), have had a significant impact on the region's ability to monitor, mitigate, and adapt to environmental threats. Environmental decision-making tools and data are posted on a website (SERVIR: http://servir.nsstc.nasa.pov/home.html)that provides satellite and geographic data and maps to anybody with an Internet connection. The SERVIR program has been identified as the model for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) - a major international effort to develop a 21st century system for environmental management and disaster response. In coordination with the USAID/EPA program, NASA has developed a GIs tool that enables countries to examine their forest cover and document changes on an annual basis. This information is used in calculating carbon emissions as part of greenhouse gas inventories, but also serves a valuable monitoring function. In addition, USAID/E-CAM and EGAT's Global Climate Change Team in collaboration with EPA are helping countries meet their obligations as signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). EPA is assisting Central American governments to improve the quality of their greenhouse gas emission inventories reported to the UNFCCC through the development of tools and improvements in data quality. New EPA tools developed include software to automatically calculate greenhouse gas emissions for the agricultural and forestry sector inventories, determine key sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and document institutional arrangements. Several of these tools are state of the art and are comparable to tools currently used in the U.S.