WorldWideScience

Sample records for solar upper atmosphere

  1. Role of solar influences on geomagnetosphere and upper atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar Tripathi, Arvind

    The Earth's magnetosphere and upper atmosphere can be greatly perturbed by variations in the solar luminosity caused by disturbances on the solar surface. The state of near-Earth space environment is governed by the Sun and is very dynamic on all spatial and temporal scale. The geomagnetic field which protects the Earth from solar wind and cosmic rays is also essential to the evolution of life; its variations can have either direct or indirect effect on human physiology and health state even if the magnitude of the disturbance is small. Geomagnetic disturbances are seen at the surface of the Earth as perturbations in the components of the geomagnetic field, caused by electric currents flowing in the magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. Ionospheric and thermospheric storms also result from the redistribution of particles and fields. Global thermospheric storm winds and composition changes are driven by energy injection at high latitudes. These storm effects may penetrate downwards to the lower thermosphere and may even perturb the mesosphere. Many of the ionospheric changes at mid-latitude can be understood as a response to thermospheric perturbations. The transient bursts of solar energetic particles, often associated with large solar transients, have been observed to have effects on the Earth's middle and lower atmosphere, including the large-scale destruction of polar stratospheric and tropospheric ozone. In the present, we have discussed effect of solar influences on earth's magnetosphere and upper atmosphere that are useful to space weather and global warming, on the basis of various latest studies.

  2. Sensitivity of upper atmospheric emissions calculations to solar/stellar UV flux

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barthelemy Mathieu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The solar UV (UltraViolet flux, especially the EUV (Extreme UltraViolet and FUV (Far UltraViolet components, is one of the main energetic inputs for planetary upper atmospheres. It drives various processes such as ionization, or dissociation which give rise to upper atmospheric emissions, especially in the UV and visible. These emissions are one of the main ways to investigate the upper atmospheres of planets. However, the uncertainties in the flux measurement or modeling can lead to biased estimates of fundamental atmospheric parameters, such as concentrations or temperatures in the atmospheres. We explore the various problems that can be identified regarding the uncertainties in solar/stellar UV flux by considering three examples. The worst case appears when the solar reflection component is dominant in the recorded spectrum as is seen for outer solar system measurements from HST (Hubble Space Telescope. We also show that the estimation of some particular line parameters (intensity and shape, especially Lyman α, is crucial, and that both total intensity and line profile are useful. In the case of exoplanets, the problem is quite critical since the UV flux of their parent stars is often very poorly known.

  3. TITAN’S UPPER ATMOSPHERE FROM CASSINI/UVIS SOLAR OCCULTATIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Capalbo, Fernando J.; Bénilan, Yves [Laboratoire Inter-Universitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA), UMR 7583 du CNRS, Universités Paris Est Créteil (UPEC) and Paris Diderot - UPD, 61 avenue du Général de Gaulle, F-94010, Créteil Cédex (France); Yelle, Roger V.; Koskinen, Tommi T., E-mail: fernando.capalbo@lisa.u-pec.fr [Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1629 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)

    2015-12-01

    Titan’s atmosphere is composed mainly of molecular nitrogen, methane being the principal trace gas. From the analysis of 8 solar occultations measured by the Extreme Ultraviolet channel of the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) on board Cassini, we derived vertical profiles of N{sub 2} in the range 1100–1600 km and vertical profiles of CH{sub 4} in the range 850–1300 km. The correction of instrument effects and observational effects applied to the data are described. We present CH{sub 4} mole fractions, and average temperatures for the upper atmosphere obtained from the N{sub 2} profiles. The occultations correspond to different times and locations, and an analysis of variability of density and temperature is presented. The temperatures were analyzed as a function of geographical and temporal variables, without finding a clear correlation with any of them, although a trend of decreasing temperature toward the north pole was observed. The globally averaged temperature obtained is (150 ± 1) K. We compared our results from solar occultations with those derived from other UVIS observations, as well as studies performed with other instruments. The observational data we present confirm the atmospheric variability previously observed, add new information to the global picture of Titan’s upper atmosphere composition, variability, and dynamics, and provide new constraints to photochemical models.

  4. Solar magnetism eXplorer (SolmeX). Exploring the magnetic field in the upper atmosphere of our closest star

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter, Hardi; Abbo, L.; Andretta, V.; Auchère, F.; Bemporad, A.; Berrilli, F.; Bommier, V.; Braukhane, A.; Casini, R.; Curdt, W.; Davila, J.; Dittus, H.; Fineschi, S.; Fludra, A.; Gandorfer, A.; Griffin, D.; Inhester, B.; Lagg, A.; Landi Degl'Innocenti, E.; Maiwald, V.; Sainz, R. Manso; Martínez Pillet, V; Matthews, S.; Moses, D.; Parenti, S.; Pietarila, A.; Quantius, D.; Raouafi, N.-E.; Raymond, J.; Rochus, P.; Romberg, O.; Schlotterer, M.; Schühle, U.; Solanki, S.; Spadaro, D.; Teriaca, L.; Tomczyk, S.; Trujillo Bueno, J.; Vial, J.-C.

    2012-04-01

    The magnetic field plays a pivotal role in many fields of Astrophysics. This is especially true for the physics of the solar atmosphere. Measuring the magnetic field in the upper solar atmosphere is crucial to understand the nature of the underlying physical processes that drive the violent dynamics of the solar corona—that can also affect life on Earth. SolmeX, a fully equipped solar space observatory for remote-sensing observations, will provide the first comprehensive measurements of the strength and direction of the magnetic field in the upper solar atmosphere. The mission consists of two spacecraft, one carrying the instruments, and another one in formation flight at a distance of about 200 m carrying the occulter to provide an artificial total solar eclipse. This will ensure high-quality coronagraphic observations above the solar limb. SolmeX integrates two spectro-polarimetric coronagraphs for off-limb observations, one in the EUV and one in the IR, and three instruments for observations on the disk. The latter comprises one imaging polarimeter in the EUV for coronal studies, a spectro-polarimeter in the EUV to investigate the low corona, and an imaging spectro-polarimeter in the UV for chromospheric studies. SOHO and other existing missions have investigated the emission of the upper atmosphere in detail (not considering polarization), and as this will be the case also for missions planned for the near future. Therefore it is timely that SolmeX provides the final piece of the observational quest by measuring the magnetic field in the upper atmosphere through polarimetric observations.

  5. The upper atmosphere and solar-terrestrial relations - An introduction to the aerospace environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hargreaves, J.K.

    1979-01-01

    A theoretical and observational overview of earth's aerospace environment is presented in this book. Emphasis is placed on the principles and observed phenomena of the neutral upper atmosphere, particularly in relation to solar activity. Topics include the structure of the ionosphere and magnetosphere, waves in the magnetosphere, solar flares and solar protons, and storms and other disturbance phenomena, while applications to communications, navigation and space technology are also discussed

  6. ON THE COMBINATION OF IMAGING-POLARIMETRY WITH SPECTROPOLARIMETRY OF UPPER SOLAR ATMOSPHERES DURING SOLAR ECLIPSES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qu, Z. Q.; Deng, L. H.; Dun, G. T.; Chang, L.; Zhang, X. Y.; Cheng, X. M.; Qu, Z. N.; Xue, Z. K.; Ma, L.; Allington-Smith, J.; Murray, G.

    2013-01-01

    We present results from imaging polarimetry (IP) of upper solar atmospheres during a total solar eclipse on 2012 November 13 and spectropolarimetry of an annular solar eclipse on 2010 January 15. This combination of techniques provides both the synoptic spatial distribution of polarization above the solar limb and spectral information on the physical mechanism producing the polarization. Using these techniques together we demonstrate that even in the transition region, the linear polarization increases with height and can exceed 20%. IP shows a relatively smooth background distribution in terms of the amplitude and direction modified by solar structures above the limb. A map of a new quantity that reflects direction departure from the background polarization supplies an effective technique to improve the contrast of this fine structure. Spectral polarimetry shows that the relative contribution to the integrated polarization over the observed passband from the spectral lines decreases with height while the contribution from the continuum increases as a general trend. We conclude that both imaging and spectral polarimetry obtained simultaneously over matched spatial and spectral domains will be fruitful for future eclipse observations

  7. The solar-terrestrial environment. An introduction to geospace - the science of the terrestrial upper atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hargreaves, J. K.

    This textbook is a successor to "The upper atmosphere and solar-terrestrial relations" first published in 1979. It describes physical conditions in the upper atmosphere and magnetosphere of the Earth. This geospace environment begins 70 kilometres above the surface of the Earth and extends in near space to many times the Earth's radius. It is the region of near-Earth environment where the Space Shuttle flies, the aurora is generated, and the outer atmosphere meets particles streaming out of the sun. The account is introductory. The intent is to present basic concepts, and for that reason the mathematical treatment is not complex. There are three introductory chapters that give basic physics and explain the principles of physical investigation. The principal material contained in the main part of the book covers the neutral and ionized upper atmosphere, the magetosphere, and structures, dynamics, disturbances and irregularities. The concluding chapter deals with technological applications.

  8. Response of the upper atmosphere to variations in the solar soft x-ray irradiance. Ph.D. Thesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Scott Martin

    1995-01-01

    Terrestrial far ultraviolet (FUV) airglow emissions have been suggested as a means for remote sensing the structure of the upper atmosphere. The energy which leads to the excitation of FUV airglow emissions is solar irradiance at extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft x-ray wavelengths. Solar irradiance at these wavelengths is known to be highly variable; studies of nitric oxide (NO) in the lower thermosphere have suggested a variability of more than an order of magnitude in the solar soft x-ray irradiance. To properly interpret the FUV airflow, the magnitude of the solar energy deposition must be known. Previous analyses have used the electron impact excited Lyman-Birge-Hopfield (LBH) bands of N2 to infer the flux of photoelectrons in the atmosphere and thus to infer the magnitude of the solar irradiance. This dissertation presents the first simultaneous measurements of the FUV airglow, the major atmospheric constituent densities, and the solar EUV and soft x-ray irradiances. The measurements were made on three flights of an identical sounding rocket payload at different levels of solar activity. The linear response in brightness of the LBH bands to variations in solar irradiance is demonstrated. In addition to the N2 LBH bands, atomic oxygen lines at 135.6 and 130.4 nm are also studied. Unlike the LBH bands, these emissions undergo radiative transfer effects in the atmosphere. The OI emission at 135.6 nm is found to be well modeled using a radiative transfer calculation and the known excitation processes. Unfortunately, the assumed processes leading to OI 130.4 nm excitation are found to be insufficient to reproduce the observed variability of this emission. Production of NO in the atmosphere is examined; it is shown that a lower than previously reported variability in the solar soft x-ray irradiance is required to explain the variability of NO.

  9. Improved Mars Upper Atmosphere Climatology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bougher, S. W.

    2004-01-01

    The detailed characterization of the Mars upper atmosphere is important for future Mars aerobraking activities. Solar cycle, seasonal, and dust trends (climate) as well as planetary wave activity (weather) are crucial to quantify in order to improve our ability to reasonably depict the state of the Mars upper atmosphere over time. To date, our best information is found in the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Accelerometer (ACC) database collected during Phase 1 (Ls = 184 - 300; F10.7 = 70 - 90) and Phase 2 (Ls = 30 - 90; F10.7 = 90 - 150) of aerobraking. This database (100 - 170 km) consists of thermospheric densities, temperatures, and scale heights, providing our best constraints for exercising the coupled Mars General Circulation Model (MGCM) and the Mars Thermospheric General Circulation Model (MTGCM). The Planetary Data System (PDS) contains level 0 and 2 MGS Accelerometer data, corresponding to atmospheric densities along the orbit track. Level 3 products (densities, temperatures, and scale heights at constant altitudes) are also available in the PDS. These datasets provide the primary model constraints for the new MGCM-MTGCM simulations summarized in this report. Our strategy for improving the characterization of the Mars upper atmospheres using these models has been three-fold : (a) to conduct data-model comparisons using the latest MGS data covering limited climatic and weather conditions at Mars, (b) to upgrade the 15-micron cooling and near-IR heating rates in the MGCM and MTGCM codes for ad- dressing climatic variations (solar cycle and seasonal) important in linking the lower and upper atmospheres (including migrating tides), and (c) to exercise the detailed coupled MGCM and MTGCM codes to capture and diagnose the planetary wave (migrating plus non-migrating tidal) features throughout the Mars year. Products from this new suite of MGCM-MTGCM coupled simulations are being used to improve our predictions of the structure of the Mars upper atmosphere for the

  10. Energy loss of solar p modes due to the excitation of magnetic sausage tube waves: Importance of coupling the upper atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gascoyne, A.; Jain, R.; Hindman, B. W.

    2014-01-01

    We consider damping and absorption of solar p modes due to their energy loss to magnetic tube waves that can freely carry energy out of the acoustic cavity. The coupling of p modes and sausage tube waves is studied in a model atmosphere composed of a polytropic interior above which lies an isothermal upper atmosphere. The sausage tube waves, excited by p modes, propagate along a magnetic fibril which is assumed to be a vertically aligned, stratified, thin magnetic flux tube. The deficit of p-mode energy is quantified through the damping rate, Γ, and absorption coefficient, α. The variation of Γ and α as a function of frequency and the tube's plasma properties is studied in detail. Previous similar studies have considered only a subphotospheric layer, modeled as a polytrope that has been truncated at the photosphere. Such studies have found that the resulting energy loss by the p modes is very sensitive to the upper boundary condition, which, due to the lack of an upper atmosphere, have been imposed in a somewhat ad hoc manner. The model presented here avoids such problems by using an isothermal layer to model the overlying atmosphere (chromosphere, and, consequently, allows us to analyze the propagation of p-mode-driven sausage waves above the photosphere. In this paper, we restrict our attention to frequencies below the acoustic cut off frequency. We demonstrate the importance of coupling all waves (acoustic, magnetic) in the subsurface solar atmosphere with the overlying atmosphere in order to accurately model the interaction of solar f and p modes with sausage tube waves. In calculating the absorption and damping of p modes, we find that for low frequencies, below ≈3.5 mHz, the isothermal atmosphere, for the two-region model, behaves like a stress-free boundary condition applied at the interface (z = –z 0 ).

  11. Energy loss of solar p modes due to the excitation of magnetic sausage tube waves: Importance of coupling the upper atmosphere

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gascoyne, A.; Jain, R. [Applied Mathematics Department, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH (United Kingdom); Hindman, B. W., E-mail: a.d.gascoyne@sheffield.ac.uk, E-mail: r.jain@sheffield.ac.uk [JILA and Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0440 (United States)

    2014-07-10

    We consider damping and absorption of solar p modes due to their energy loss to magnetic tube waves that can freely carry energy out of the acoustic cavity. The coupling of p modes and sausage tube waves is studied in a model atmosphere composed of a polytropic interior above which lies an isothermal upper atmosphere. The sausage tube waves, excited by p modes, propagate along a magnetic fibril which is assumed to be a vertically aligned, stratified, thin magnetic flux tube. The deficit of p-mode energy is quantified through the damping rate, Γ, and absorption coefficient, α. The variation of Γ and α as a function of frequency and the tube's plasma properties is studied in detail. Previous similar studies have considered only a subphotospheric layer, modeled as a polytrope that has been truncated at the photosphere. Such studies have found that the resulting energy loss by the p modes is very sensitive to the upper boundary condition, which, due to the lack of an upper atmosphere, have been imposed in a somewhat ad hoc manner. The model presented here avoids such problems by using an isothermal layer to model the overlying atmosphere (chromosphere, and, consequently, allows us to analyze the propagation of p-mode-driven sausage waves above the photosphere. In this paper, we restrict our attention to frequencies below the acoustic cut off frequency. We demonstrate the importance of coupling all waves (acoustic, magnetic) in the subsurface solar atmosphere with the overlying atmosphere in order to accurately model the interaction of solar f and p modes with sausage tube waves. In calculating the absorption and damping of p modes, we find that for low frequencies, below ≈3.5 mHz, the isothermal atmosphere, for the two-region model, behaves like a stress-free boundary condition applied at the interface (z = –z{sub 0}).

  12. Ionization Efficiency in the Dayside Martian Upper Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, J.; Wu, X.-S.; Xu, S.-S.; Wang, X.-D.; Wellbrock, A.; Nordheim, T. A.; Cao, Y.-T.; Wang, W.-R.; Sun, W.-Q.; Wu, S.-Q.; Wei, Y.

    2018-04-01

    Combining the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution measurements of neutral atmospheric density, solar EUV/X-ray flux, and differential photoelectron intensity made during 240 nominal orbits, we calculate the ionization efficiency, defined as the ratio of the secondary (photoelectron impact) ionization rate to the primary (photon impact) ionization rate, in the dayside Martian upper atmosphere under a range of solar illumination conditions. Both the CO2 and O ionization efficiencies tend to be constant from 160 km up to 250 km, with respective median values of 0.19 ± 0.03 and 0.27 ± 0.04. These values are useful for fast calculation of the ionization rate in the dayside Martian upper atmosphere, without the need to construct photoelectron transport models. No substantial diurnal and solar cycle variations can be identified, except for a marginal trend of reduced ionization efficiency approaching the terminator. These observations are favorably interpreted by a simple scenario with ionization efficiencies, as a first approximation, determined by a comparison between relevant cross sections. Our analysis further reveals a connection between regions with strong crustal magnetic fields and regions with high ionization efficiencies, which are likely indicative of more efficient vertical transport of photoelectrons near magnetic anomalies.

  13. Deviation from local thermodynamical equilibrium in the solar atmosphere. Metodology. The line source function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shchukina, N.G.

    1980-01-01

    The methodology of the problem of deviation from local thermodynamical equilibrium in the solar atmosphere is presented. The difficulties of solution and methods of realization are systematized. The processes of line formation are considered which take into account velocity fields, structural inhomogeneity, radiation non-coherence etc. as applied to a quiet solar atmosphere. The conclusion is made on the regularity of deviation of the local thermodynamic equilibrium in upper layers of the solar atmosphere

  14. Deorbiting Upper-Stages in LEO at EOM using Solar Sails

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandru IONEL

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the possibility of deorbiting a launch vehicle upper-stage at end-of-mission from low Earth orbit through the use of a solar sail. Different solar sail sizes are taken into account. The analysis is made via a MATLAB numerical simulation, integrating with the ode45 solver the accelerations arising from geopotential, atmospheric drag and solar radiation pressure. Direct solar pressure and drag augmentation effect are analyzed and a state of the art study in the solar sail research field is performed for a better grasp of the feasibility of the device implementation.

  15. The solar-flare infrared continuum: observational techniques and upper limits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hudson, H.S.

    1975-01-01

    Exploratory observations at 20μ and 350 μ have determined detection thresholds for solar flares in these wavelengths. In the 20μ range solar atmospheric fluctuations (the 'temperature field') set the basic limits on flare detectability at approximately 5K; at 350μ the extinction in the Earth's atmosphere provides the basic limitation of approximately 30 K. These thresholds are low enough for the successful detection of several infrared-emitting components of large flares. Limited observing time and lack of solar activity have prevented observations of large flares up to the present, but the techniques promise to be extremely useful in the future. The upper limits obtained thus far, for subflares, indicate that the thickness of the Hα flare region does not exceed approximately 10 km. This result confirms the conclusion of Suemoto and Hiei (1959) regarding the small effective thickness of the Hα-emitting regions in solar flares. (Auth.)

  16. Large Abundances of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Titan's Upper Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez-Puertas, M.; Dinelli, B. M.; Adriani, A.; Funke, B.; Garcia-Comas, M.; Moriconi, M. L.; D'Aversa, E.; Boersma, C.; Allamandola, L. J.

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we analyze the strong unidentified emission near 3.28 micron in Titan's upper daytime atmosphere recently discovered by Dinelli et al.We have studied it by using the NASA Ames PAH IR Spectroscopic Database. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), after absorbing UV solar radiation, are able to emit strongly near 3.3 micron. By using current models for the redistribution of the absorbed UV energy, we have explained the observed spectral feature and have derived the vertical distribution of PAH abundances in Titan's upper atmosphere. PAHs have been found to be present in large concentrations, about (2-3) × 10(exp 4) particles / cubic cm. The identified PAHs have 9-96 carbons, with a concentration-weighted average of 34 carbons. The mean mass is approx 430 u; the mean area is about 0.53 sq. nm; they are formed by 10-11 rings on average, and about one-third of them contain nitrogen atoms. Recently, benzene together with light aromatic species as well as small concentrations of heavy positive and negative ions have been detected in Titan's upper atmosphere. We suggest that the large concentrations of PAHs found here are the neutral counterpart of those positive and negative ions, which hence supports the theory that the origin of Titan main haze layer is located in the upper atmosphere.

  17. Estimating surface solar radiation from upper-air humidity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kun Yang [Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan, Tokyo (Japan); Koike, Toshio [University of Tokyo (Japan). Dept. of Civil Engineering

    2002-07-01

    A numerical model is developed to estimate global solar irradiance from upper-air humidity. In this model, solar radiation under clear skies is calculated through a simple model with radiation-damping processes under consideration. A sky clearness indicator is parameterized from relative humidity profiles within three atmospheric sublayers, and the indicator is used to connect global solar radiation under clear skies and that under cloudy skies. Model inter-comparisons at 18 sites in Japan suggest (1) global solar radiation strongly depends on the sky clearness indicator, (2) the new model generally gives better estimation to hourly-mean solar irradiance than the other three methods used in numerical weather predictions, and (3) the new model may be applied to estimate long-term solar radiation. In addition, a study at one site in the Tibetan Plateau shows vigorous convective activities in the region may cause some uncertainties to radiation estimations due to the small-scale and short life of convective systems. (author)

  18. THE ROLE OF NITROGEN IN TITAN’S UPPER ATMOSPHERIC HYDROCARBON CHEMISTRY OVER THE SOLAR CYCLE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Luspay-Kuti, A.; Mandt, K. E.; Greathouse, T. K. [Department of Space Research, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78228 (United States); Westlake, J. H. [Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723 (United States); Plessis, S., E-mail: aluspaykuti@swri.edu [Fund Kis, F-92160 Antony (France)

    2016-06-01

    Titan’s thermospheric photochemistry is primarily driven by solar radiation. Similarly to other planetary atmospheres, such as Mars’, Titan’s atmospheric structure is also directly affected by variations in the solar extreme-UV/UV output in response to the 11-year-long solar cycle. Here, we investigate the influence of nitrogen on the vertical production, loss, and abundance profiles of hydrocarbons as a function of the solar cycle. Our results show that changes in the atmospheric nitrogen atomic density (primarily in its ground state N({sup 4}S)) as a result of photon flux variations have important implications for the production of several minor hydrocarbons. The solar minimum enhancement of CH{sub 3}, C{sub 2}H{sub 6}, and C{sub 3}H{sub 8}, despite the lower CH{sub 4} photodissociation rates compared with solar maximum conditions, is explained by the role of N({sup 4}S). N({sup 4}S) indirectly controls the altitude of termolecular versus bimolecular chemical regimes through its relationship with CH{sub 3}. When in higher abundance during solar maximum at lower altitudes, N({sup 4}S) increases the importance of bimolecular CH{sub 3} + N({sup 4}S) reactions producing HCN and H{sub 2}CN. The subsequent remarkable CH{sub 3} loss and decrease in the CH{sub 3} abundance at lower altitudes during solar maximum affects the overall hydrocarbon chemistry.

  19. Response of the middle atmosphere to solar UV and dynamical perturbations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chandra, S.

    1989-01-01

    Recent studies of solar UV related changes of ozone and temperature have considerably improved the understanding of the solar UV and ozone relationship in the middle atmosphere on time scales of a solar rotation. These studies have shown that during periods of high solar activity, ozone in the upper stratosphere has a measurable response to changes in the solar UV flux in accordance with theoretical predictions. The problem of measuring solar response of the stratospheric ozone and temperature on time scales of a solar cycle is more difficult. In the altitude range of 2 mb, the model based calculations, based on plausible scenarios of solar UV variation, suggest a change of less than 4 percent in ozone mixing ratio and 1 to 2 K in temperature. The relative response was studied of the middle atmosphere to solar forcing at 155 and 27 day periods as indicated from the spectral analyses of a number of solar indices

  20. Solar signals detected within neutral atmospheric and ionospheric parameters

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Koucká Knížová, Petra; Georgieva, K.; Mošna, Zbyšek; Kozubek, Michal; Kouba, Daniel; Kirov, B.; Potužníková, Kateřina; Boška, Josef

    2018-01-01

    Roč. 171, June (2018), s. 147-156 ISSN 1364-6826 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA15-24688S Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) BAS-17-06 Program:Bilaterální spolupráce Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : solar energy * upper atmosphere Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology OBOR OECD: Meteorology and atmospheric sciences Impact factor: 1.326, year: 2016 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364682617302365

  1. The dynamics in the upper atmospheres of Mars and Titan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Jared M.

    2008-06-01

    This thesis explores the dynamics of two terrestrial bodies: Mars and Titan. At Mars, the coupled Mars General Circulation Model - Mars Thermospheric General Circulation Model (MGCM-MTGCM) is employed to investigate the phenomenon known as Mars winter polar warming. At Titan, a new theoretical model, the Titan Global Ionosphere - Thermosphere Model (T-GITM), is developed, based upon previous work by Ridley et al. [2006]. Using this new model, three separate numerical studies quantify the impacts of solar cycle, seasons, and lower boundary zonal winds on the Titan thermosphere structure and dynamics. At Mars, this thesis investigates thermospheric winter polar warming through three major studies: (1) a systematic analysis of vertical dust mixing in the lower atmosphere and its impact upon the dynamics of the lower thermosphere (100-130 km), (2) an interannual investigation utilizing three years of lower atmosphere infrared (IR) dust optical depth data acquired by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on board Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), and finally (3) a brief study of the MTGCM's response to variations in upward propagating waves and tides from the lower atmosphere. Ultimately, this investigation suggests that an interhemispheric summer-to-winter Hadley circulation, originating in the lower atmosphere and extending into the upper atmosphere, is responsible for thermospheric winter polar warming [ Bell etal. , 2007]. A major branch of this thesis builds upon the previous work of Müller-Wodarg et al. [2000], Müller-Wodarg et al. [2003], M7uuml;ller-Wodarg et al. [2006], and Yelle et al. [2006] as it attempts to explain the structures in Titan's upper atmosphere, between 500-1500 km. Building also upon the recent development of GITM by Ridley et al. [2006], this thesis presents a new theoretical framework, T-GITM. This model is then employed to conduct a series of numerical experiments to quantify the impacts of the solar cycle, the season, and the

  2. Diagnosing transient plasma status: from solar atmosphere to tokamak divertor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giunta, A.S.; Henderson, S.; O'Mullane, M.; Summers, H.P.; Harrison, J.; Doyle, J.G.

    2016-01-01

    This work strongly exploits the interdisciplinary links between astrophysical (such as the solar upper atmosphere) and laboratory plasmas (such as tokamak devices) by sharing the development of a common modelling for time-dependent ionisation. This is applied to the interpretation of solar flare data observed by the UVSP (Ultraviolet Spectrometer and Polarimeter), on-board the Solar Maximum Mission and the IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph), and also to data from B2-SOLPS (Scrape Off Layer Plasma Simulations) for MAST (Mega Ampère Spherical Tokamak) Super-X divertor upgrade. The derived atomic data, calculated in the framework of the ADAS (Atomic Data and Analysis Structure) project, allow equivalent prediction in non-stationary transport regimes and transients of both the solar atmosphere and tokamak divertors, except that the tokamak evolution is about one thousand times faster.

  3. The Upper Atmosphere; Threshold of Space.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bird, John

    This booklet contains illustrations of the upper atmosphere, describes some recent discoveries, and suggests future research questions. It contains many color photographs. Sections include: (1) "Where Does Space Begin?"; (2) "Importance of the Upper Atmosphere" (including neutral atmosphere, ionized regions, and balloon and investigations); (3)…

  4. Solar and terrestrial physics. [effects of solar activities on earth environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    1975-01-01

    The effects of solar radiation on the near space and biomental earth, the upper atmosphere, and the magnetosphere are discussed. Data obtained from the OSO satellites pertaining to the solar cycle variation of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation are analyzed. The effects of solar cycle variation of the characteristics of the solar wind are examined. The fluid mechanics of shock waves and the specific relationship to the characteristics of solar shock waves are investigated. The solar and corpuscular heating of the upper atmosphere is reported based on the findings of the AEROS and NATE experiments. Seasonal variations of the upper atmosphere composition are plotted based on OGO-6 mass spectrometer data.

  5. Upper atmosphere research at INPE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clemesha, B.R.

    1984-01-01

    Upper atmosphere research at INPE is mainly concerned with the chemistry and dynamics of the stratosphere, upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere, and the middle thermosphere. Experimental work includes lidar observations of the stratospheric aerosol, measurements of stratospheric ozone by Dobson spectrophotometers and by balloon and rocket-borne sondes, lidar measurements of atmospheric sodium, and photometric observations of O, O 2 , OH and Na emissions, including interferrometric measurements of the OI6300 emission for the purpose of determing thermospheric winds and temperature. The airglow observations also include measurements of a number of emissions produced by the precipitation of energetic neutral particles generated by charge exchange in the ring current. Some recent results of INPE's upper atmosphere program are presented. (Author) [pt

  6. Thermal structure and dynamics of the Martian upper atmosphere at solar minimum from global circulation model simulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Moffat-Griffin

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available Simulations of the Martian upper atmosphere have been produced from a self-consistent three-dimensional numerical model of the Martian thermosphere and ionosphere, called MarTIM. It covers an altitude range of 60 km to the upper thermosphere, usually at least 250 km altitude. A radiation scheme is included that allows the main sources of energy input, EUV/UV and IR absorption by CO2 and CO, to be calculated. CO2, N2 and O are treated as the major gases in MarTIM, and are mutually diffused (though neutral chemistry is ignored. The densities of other species (the minor gases, CO, Ar, O2 and NO, are based on diffusive equilibrium above the turbopause. The ionosphere is calculated from a simple photoionisation and charge exchange routine though in this paper we will only consider the thermal and dynamic structure of the neutral atmosphere at solar minimum conditions. The semi-diurnal (2,2 migrating tide, introduced at MarTIM's lower boundary, affects the dynamics up to 130 km. The Mars Climate Database (Lewis et al., 2001 can be used as a lower boundary in MarTIM. The effect of this is to increase wind speeds in the thermosphere and to produce small-scale structures throughout the thermosphere. Temperature profiles are in good agreement with Pathfinder results. Wind velocities are slightly lower compared to analysis of MGS accelerometer data (Withers, 2003. The novel step-by-step approach of adding in new features to MarTIM has resulted in further understanding of the drivers of the Martian thermosphere.

  7. LARGE ABUNDANCES OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN TITAN'S UPPER ATMOSPHERE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lopez-Puertas, M.; Funke, B.; Garcia-Comas, M. [Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (CSIC), E-18080 Granada (Spain); Dinelli, B. M. [ISAC-CNR, I-40129 Bologna (Italy); Adriani, A.; D' Aversa, E. [IAPS-INAF, I-00133 Rome (Italy); Moriconi, M. L. [ISAC-CNR, I-00133 Rome (Italy); Boersma, C.; Allamandola, L. J., E-mail: puertas@iaa.es [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 (United States)

    2013-06-20

    In this paper, we analyze the strong unidentified emission near 3.28 {mu}m in Titan's upper daytime atmosphere recently discovered by Dinelli et al. We have studied it by using the NASA Ames PAH IR Spectroscopic Database. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), after absorbing UV solar radiation, are able to emit strongly near 3.3 {mu}m. By using current models for the redistribution of the absorbed UV energy, we have explained the observed spectral feature and have derived the vertical distribution of PAH abundances in Titan's upper atmosphere. PAHs have been found to be present in large concentrations, about (2-3) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 4} particles cm{sup -3}. The identified PAHs have 9-96 carbons, with a concentration-weighted average of 34 carbons. The mean mass is {approx}430 u; the mean area is about 0.53 nm{sup 2}; they are formed by 10-11 rings on average, and about one-third of them contain nitrogen atoms. Recently, benzene together with light aromatic species as well as small concentrations of heavy positive and negative ions have been detected in Titan's upper atmosphere. We suggest that the large concentrations of PAHs found here are the neutral counterpart of those positive and negative ions, which hence supports the theory that the origin of Titan main haze layer is located in the upper atmosphere.

  8. Solar variations and their influence on trends in upper stratospheric ozone and temperature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wuebbles, D.J.; Kinnison, D.E.; Lean, J.L.

    1990-10-01

    Over the past decade, knowledge of the magnitude and temporal structure of the variations in the sun's ultraviolet irradiance has increased steadily. A number of theoretical modeling studies have shown that changes in the solar ultraviolet flux during the 11-year solar cycle can have a significant effect on stratospheric ozone concentrations. With the exception of Brasseur et al., who examined a very broad range of solar flux variations, all of these studies assumed much larger changes in the ultraviolet flux than measurements now indicate. These studies either calculated the steady-state effect at solar maximum and solar minimum or assumed sinusoidal variations in the solar flux changes with time. It is now possible to narrow the uncertainty range of the expected effects on upper stratospheric ozone and temperature resulting from the 11-year solar cycle. A more accurate representation of the solar flux changes with time is used in this analysis, as compared to previous published studies. This study also evaluates the relative roles of solar flux variations and increasing concentrations of long-lived trace gases in determining the observed trends in upper stratospheric ozone and temperature. The LLNL two-dimensional chemical-radiative-transport model of the global atmosphere is used to evaluate the combined effects on the stratosphere from changes in solar ultraviolet irradiances and trace gas concentrations over the last several decades. Derived trends in upper stratospheric ozone concentrations and temperature are then compared with available analyses of ground-based and satellite measurements over this time period

  9. Is tropospheric weather influenced by solar wind through atmospheric vertical coupling downward control?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prikryl, Paul; Tsukijihara, Takumi; Iwao, Koki; Muldrew, Donald B.; Bruntz, Robert; Rušin, Vojto; Rybanský, Milan; Turňa, Maroš; Šťastný, Pavel; Pastirčák, Vladimír

    2017-04-01

    More than four decades have passed since a link between solar wind magnetic sector boundary structure and mid-latitude upper tropospheric vorticity was discovered (Wilcox et al., Science, 180, 185-186, 1973). The link has been later confirmed and various physical mechanisms proposed but apart from controversy, little attention has been drawn to these results. To further emphasize their importance we investigate the occurrence of mid-latitude severe weather in the context of solar wind coupling to the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere (MIA) system. It is observed that significant snowstorms, windstorms and heavy rain, particularly if caused by low pressure systems in winter, tend to follow arrivals of high-speed solar wind. Previously published statistical evidence that explosive extratropical cyclones in the northern hemisphere tend to occur after arrivals of high-speed solar wind streams from coronal holes (Prikryl et al., Ann. Geophys., 27, 1-30, 2009; Prikryl et al., J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys., 149, 219-231, 2016) is corroborated for the southern hemisphere. A physical mechanism to explain these observations is proposed. The leading edge of high-speed solar wind streams is a locus of large-amplitude magneto-hydrodynamic waves that modulate Joule heating and/or Lorentz forcing of the high-latitude lower thermosphere generating medium-scale atmospheric gravity waves that propagate upward and downward through the atmosphere. Simulations of gravity wave propagation in a model atmosphere using the Transfer Function Model (Mayr et al., Space Sci. Rev., 54, 297-375, 1990) show that propagating waves originating in the thermosphere can excite a spectrum of gravity waves in the lower atmosphere. In spite of significantly reduced amplitudes but subject to amplification upon reflection in the upper troposphere, these gravity waves can provide a lift of unstable air to release instabilities in the troposphere thus initiating convection to form cloud/precipitation bands

  10. Solar atmosphere wave dynamics generated by solar global oscillating eigenmodes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, M. K.; Fedun, V.; Erdélyi, R.; Zheng, R.

    2018-01-01

    The solar atmosphere exhibits a diverse range of wave phenomena, where one of the earliest discovered was the five-minute global acoustic oscillation, also referred to as the p-mode. The analysis of wave propagation in the solar atmosphere may be used as a diagnostic tool to estimate accurately the physical characteristics of the Sun's atmospheric layers. In this paper, we investigate the dynamics and upward propagation of waves which are generated by the solar global eigenmodes. We report on a series of hydrodynamic simulations of a realistically stratified model of the solar atmosphere representing its lower region from the photosphere to low corona. With the objective of modelling atmospheric perturbations, propagating from the photosphere into the chromosphere, transition region and low corona, generated by the photospheric global oscillations the simulations use photospheric drivers mimicking the solar p-modes. The drivers are spatially structured harmonics across the computational box parallel to the solar surface. The drivers perturb the atmosphere at 0.5 Mm above the bottom boundary of the model and are placed coincident with the location of the temperature minimum. A combination of the VALIIIC and McWhirter solar atmospheres are used as the background equilibrium model. We report how synthetic photospheric oscillations may manifest in a magnetic field free model of the quiet Sun. To carry out the simulations, we employed the magnetohydrodynamics code, SMAUG (Sheffield MHD Accelerated Using GPUs). Our results show that the amount of energy propagating into the solar atmosphere is consistent with a model of solar global oscillations described by Taroyan and Erdélyi (2008) using the Klein-Gordon equation. The computed results indicate a power law which is compared to observations reported by Ireland et al. (2015) using data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly.

  11. Report from upper atmospheric science

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carignan, G.R.; Roble, R.G.; Mende, S.B.; Nagy, A.F.; Hudson, R.D.

    1989-01-01

    Most of the understanding of the thermosphere resulted from the analysis of data accrued through the Atmosphere Explorer satellites, the Dynamics Explorer 2 satellite, and observations from rockets, balloons, and ground based instruments. However, new questions were posed by the data that have not yet been answered. The mesosphere and lower thermosphere have been less thoroughly studied because of the difficulty of accessibility on a global scale, and many rather fundamental characteristics of these regions are not well understood. A wide variety of measurement platforms can be used to implement various parts of a measurement strategy, but the major thrusts of the International Solar Terrestrial Physics Program would require Explorer-class missions. A remote sensing mission to explore the mesosphere and lower thermosphere and one and two Explorer-type spacecraft to enable a mission into the thermosphere itself would provide the essential components of a productive program of exploration of this important region of the upper atomsphere. Theoretical mission options are explored

  12. Tropospheric weather influenced by solar wind through atmospheric vertical coupling downward control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prikryl, Paul; Bruntz, Robert; Tsukijihara, Takumi; Iwao, Koki; Muldrew, Donald B.; Rušin, Vojto; Rybanský, Milan; Turňa, Maroš; Šťastný, Pavel

    2018-06-01

    Occurrence of severe weather in the context of solar wind coupling to the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere (MIA) system is investigated. It is observed that significant snowfall, wind and heavy rain, particularly if caused by low pressure systems in winter, tend to follow arrivals of high-speed solar wind. Previously published statistical evidence that explosive extratropical cyclones in the northern hemisphere tend to occur within a few days after arrivals of high-speed solar wind streams from coronal holes (Prikryl et al., 2009, 2016) is corroborated for the southern hemisphere. Cases of severe weather events are examined in the context of the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere (MIA) coupling. Physical mechanism to explain these observations is proposed. The leading edge of high-speed solar wind streams is a locus of large-amplitude magneto-hydrodynamic waves that modulate Joule heating and/or Lorentz forcing of the high-latitude lower thermosphere generating medium-scale atmospheric gravity waves that propagate upward and downward through the atmosphere. Simulations of gravity wave propagation in a model atmosphere using the Transfer Function Model (Mayr et al., 1990) reveal that propagating waves originating in the lower thermosphere can excite a spectrum of gravity waves in the lower atmosphere. In spite of significantly reduced amplitudes but subject to amplification upon reflection in the upper troposphere, these gravity waves can provide a lift of unstable air to release instabilities in the troposphere and initiate convection to form cloud/precipitation bands. It is primarily the energy provided by release of latent heat that leads to intensification of storms. These results indicate that vertical coupling in the atmosphere exerts downward control from solar wind to the lower atmospheric levels influencing tropospheric weather development.

  13. Non-LTE models of Titan's upper atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yelle, Roger V.

    1991-01-01

    Models for the thermal structure of Titan's upper atmosphere, between 0.1 mbar and 0.01 nbar are presented. The calculations include non-LTE heating/cooling in the rotation-vibration bands of CH4, C2H2, and C2H6, absorption of solar IR radiation in the near-IR bands of CH4 and subsequent cascading to the nu-4 band of CH4, absorption of solar EUV and UV radiation, thermal conduction and cooling by HCN rotational lines. Unlike earlier models, the calculated exospheric temperature agrees well with observations, because of the importance of HCN cooling. The calculations predict a well-developed mesopause with a temperature of 135-140 K at an altitude of approximately 600 km and pressure of about 0.1 microbar. The mesopause is at a higher pressure than predicted by earlier calculations because non-LTE radiative transfer in the rotation-vibration bands of CH4, C2H2, and C2H6 is treated in an accurate manner. The accuracy of the LTE approximation for source functions and heating rates is discussed.

  14. Thermal structure and dynamics of the Martian upper atmosphere at solar minimum from global circulation model simulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Moffat-Griffin

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available Simulations of the Martian upper atmosphere have been produced from a self-consistent three-dimensional numerical model of the Martian thermosphere and ionosphere, called MarTIM. It covers an altitude range of 60 km to the upper thermosphere, usually at least 250 km altitude. A radiation scheme is included that allows the main sources of energy input, EUV/UV and IR absorption by CO2 and CO, to be calculated. CO2, N2 and O are treated as the major gases in MarTIM, and are mutually diffused (though neutral chemistry is ignored. The densities of other species (the minor gases, CO, Ar, O2 and NO, are based on diffusive equilibrium above the turbopause. The ionosphere is calculated from a simple photoionisation and charge exchange routine though in this paper we will only consider the thermal and dynamic structure of the neutral atmosphere at solar minimum conditions. The semi-diurnal (2,2 migrating tide, introduced at MarTIM's lower boundary, affects the dynamics up to 130 km. The Mars Climate Database (Lewis et al., 2001 can be used as a lower boundary in MarTIM. The effect of this is to increase wind speeds in the thermosphere and to produce small-scale structures throughout the thermosphere. Temperature profiles are in good agreement with Pathfinder results. Wind velocities are slightly lower compared to analysis of MGS accelerometer data (Withers, 2003. The novel step-by-step approach of adding in new features to MarTIM has resulted in further understanding of the drivers of the Martian thermosphere.

  15. The induced electric field distribution in the solar atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Rong; Yang Zhi-Liang; Deng Yuan-Yong

    2013-01-01

    A method of calculating the induced electric field is presented. The induced electric field in the solar atmosphere is derived by the time variation of the magnetic field when the accumulation of charged particles is neglected. In order to derive the spatial distribution of the magnetic field, several extrapolation methods are introduced. With observational data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager aboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory taken on 2010 May 20, we extrapolate the magnetic field from the photosphere to the upper atmosphere. By calculating the time variation of the magnetic field, we can get the induced electric field. The derived induced electric field can reach a value of 10 2 V cm −1 and the average electric field has a maximum point at the layer 360 km above the photosphere. The Monte Carlo method is used to compute the triple integration of the induced electric field.

  16. Sensing the upper and lower levels of the atmosphere during the 2009 equinoxes using GPS measurements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wayan Suparta

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This short-term work characterized the upper and lower levels of the atmosphere through Global Positioning System (GPS measurements. The observations were conducted during the 2009 equinoxes from two pairs of conjugate polar observing stations: Husafell, Iceland (HUSA and Resolute in Nunavut, Canada (RESO and their conjugate pairs at Scott Base (SBA and Syowa (SYOG in Antarctica, respectively. The total electron content (TEC, an indicator of the upper atmosphere, and the precipitable water vapor (PWV, which served as the lower atmospheric response, were retrieved and analyzed. The results reveal a good relationship between TEC and PWV at each station during the onset day of the equinoxes, whereas an asymmetrical response was observed in the beginning of and after the equinoxes. In addition, the conjugate pairs were only consistent during the autumnal equinox. Thus, the high correlation was observed following the seasonal pattern for the onset day, while strong and moderate correlations were found only for the vernal equinox in Antarctica and the Arctic, respectively. This relationship reflects the fact that the intensity of solar activity during the solar minimum incident on the lower atmosphere through the conjugate points is associated with the variation of the Sun’s seasonal cycle, whereas the TEC and PWV showed an opposite relationship.

  17. Validation of Earth atmosphere models using solar EUV observations from the CORONAS and PROBA2 satellites in occultation mode

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slemzin, Vladimir; Ulyanov, Artyom; Gaikovich, Konstantin; Kuzin, Sergey; Pertsov, Andrey; Berghmans, David; Dominique, Marie

    2016-02-01

    Aims: Knowledge of properties of the Earth's upper atmosphere is important for predicting the lifetime of low-orbit spacecraft as well as for planning operation of space instruments whose data may be distorted by atmospheric effects. The accuracy of the models commonly used for simulating the structure of the atmosphere is limited by the scarcity of the observations they are based on, so improvement of these models requires validation under different atmospheric conditions. Measurements of the absorption of the solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation in the upper atmosphere below 500 km by instruments operating on low-Earth orbits (LEO) satellites provide efficient means for such validation as well as for continuous monitoring of the upper atmosphere and for studying its response to the solar and geomagnetic activity. Method: This paper presents results of measurements of the solar EUV radiation in the 17 nm wavelength band made with the SPIRIT and TESIS telescopes on board the CORONAS satellites and the SWAP telescope on board the PROBA2 satellite in the occulted parts of the satellite orbits. The transmittance profiles of the atmosphere at altitudes between 150 and 500 km were derived from different phases of solar activity during solar cycles 23 and 24 in the quiet state of the magnetosphere and during the development of a geomagnetic storm. We developed a mathematical procedure based on the Tikhonov regularization method for solution of ill-posed problems in order to retrieve extinction coefficients from the transmittance profiles. The transmittance profiles derived from the data and the retrieved extinction coefficients are compared with simulations carried out with the NRLMSISE-00 atmosphere model maintained by Naval Research Laboratory (USA) and the DTM-2013 model developed at CNES in the framework of the FP7 project ATMOP. Results: Under quiet and slightly disturbed magnetospheric conditions during high and low solar activity the extinction coefficients

  18. Wavelength Dependence of Solar Irradiance Enhancement During X-Class Flares and Its Influence on the Upper Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Yanshi; Richmond, Arthur D.; Deng, Yue; Chamberlin, Phillip C.; Qian, Liying; Solomon, Stanley C.; Roble, Raymond G.; Xiao, Zuo

    2013-01-01

    The wavelength dependence of solar irradiance enhancement during flare events is one of the important factors in determining how the Thermosphere-Ionosphere (T-I) system responds to flares. To investigate the wavelength dependence of flare enhancement, the Flare Irradiance Spectral Model (FISM) was run for 61 X-class flares. The absolute and the percentage increases of solar irradiance at flare peaks, compared to pre-flare conditions, have clear wavelength dependences. The 0-14 nm irradiance increases much more (approx. 680% on average) than that in the 14-25 nm waveband (approx. 65% on average), except at 24 nm (approx. 220%). The average percentage increases for the 25-105 nm and 122-190 nm wavebands are approx. 120% and approx. 35%, respectively. The influence of 6 different wavebands (0-14 nm, 14-25 nm, 25-105 nm, 105- 120 nm, 121.56 nm, and 122-175 nm) on the thermosphere was examined for the October 28th, 2003 flare (X17-class) event by coupling FISM with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIE-GCM) under geomagnetically quiet conditions (Kp=1). While the enhancement in the 0-14 nm waveband caused the largest enhancement of the globally integrated solar heating, the impact of solar irradiance enhancement on the thermosphere at 400 km is largest for the 25-105 nm waveband (EUV), which accounts for about 33 K of the total 45 K temperature enhancement, and approx. 7.4% of the total approx. 11.5% neutral density enhancement. The effect of 122-175 nm flare radiation on the thermosphere is rather small. The study also illustrates that the high-altitude thermospheric response to the flare radiation at 0-175 nm is almost a linear combination of the responses to the individual wavebands. The upper thermospheric temperature and density enhancements peaked 3-5 h after the maximum flare radiation.

  19. Active Upper-atmosphere Chemistry and Dynamics from Polar Circulation Reversal on Titan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teanby, Nicholas A.; Irwin, Patrick Gerard Joseph; Nixon, Conor A.; DeKok, Remco; Vinatier, Sandrine; Coustenis, Athena; Sefton-Nash, Elliot; Calcutt, Simon B.; Flasar, Michael F.

    2012-01-01

    Saturn's moon Titan has a nitrogen atmosphere comparable to Earth's, with a surface pressure of 1.4 bar. Numerical models reproduce the tropospheric conditions very well but have trouble explaining the observed middle-atmosphere temperatures, composition and winds. The top of the middle-atmosphere circulation has been thought to lie at an altitude of 450 to 500 kilometres, where there is a layer of haze that appears to be separated from the main haze deck. This 'detached' haze was previously explained as being due to the colocation of peak haze production and the limit of dynamical transport by the circulation's upper branch. Herewe report a build-up of trace gases over the south pole approximately two years after observing the 2009 post-equinox circulation reversal, from which we conclude that middle-atmosphere circulation must extend to an altitude of at least 600 kilometres. The primary drivers of this circulation are summer-hemisphere heating of haze by absorption of solar radiation and winter-hemisphere cooling due to infrared emission by haze and trace gases; our results therefore imply that these effects are important well into the thermosphere (altitudes higher than 500 kilometres). This requires both active upper-atmosphere chemistry, consistent with the detection of high-complexity molecules and ions at altitudes greater than 950 kilometres, and an alternative explanation for the detached haze, such as a transition in haze particle growth from monomers to fractal structures.

  20. Do vibrationally excited OH molecules affect middle and upper atmospheric chemistry?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. von Clarmann

    2010-10-01

    oxygen sink. The OH sink is overestimated by up to 10%. After a solar proton event, when upper atmospheric OH can be enhanced by an order of magnitude, the excess relative odd oxygen sink by consideration of vibrational excitation in the reaction of OH(v=0...9+O3 is estimated at up to 0.2%, and the OH sink by OH(v=0...9+O can be reduced by 12% in the thermosphere by vibrational excitation.

  1. Solar system astrophysics planetary atmospheres and the outer solar system

    CERN Document Server

    Milone, Eugene F

    2014-01-01

    The second edition of Solar System Astrophysics: Planetary Atmospheres and the Outer Solar System provides a timely update of our knowledge of planetary atmospheres and the bodies of the outer solar system and their analogs in other planetary systems. This volume begins with an expanded treatment of the physics, chemistry, and meteorology of the atmospheres of the Earth, Venus, and Mars, moving on to their magnetospheres and then to a full discussion of the gas and ice giants and their properties. From here, attention switches to the small bodies of the solar system, beginning with the natural satellites. Then comets, meteors, meteorites, and asteroids are discussed in order, and the volume concludes with the origin and evolution of our solar system. Finally, a fully revised section on extrasolar planetary systems puts the development of our system in a wider and increasingly well understood galactic context. All of the material is presented within a framework of historical importance. This book and its sist...

  2. Short- and Medium-term Atmospheric Effects of Very Large Solar Proton Events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackman, Charles H.; Marsh, Daniel R.; Vitt, Francis M.; Garcia, Rolando R.; Fleming, Eric L.; Labow, Gordon J.; Randall, Cora E.; Lopez-Puertas, Manuel; Funke, Bernd

    2007-01-01

    Long-term variations in ozone have been caused by both natural and humankind related processes. In particular, the humankind or anthropogenic influence on ozone from chlorofluorocarbons and halons (chlorine and bromine) has led to international regulations greatly limiting the release of these substances. These anthropogenic effects on ozone are most important in polar regions and have been significant since the 1970s. Certain natural ozone influences are also important in polar regions and are caused by the impact of solar charged particles on the atmosphere. Such natural variations have been studied in order to better quantify the human influence on polar ozone. Large-scale explosions on the Sun near solar maximum lead to emissions of charged particles (mainly protons and electrons), some of which enter the Earth's magnetosphere and rain down on the polar regions. "Solar proton events" have been used to describe these phenomena since the protons associated with these solar events sometimes create a significant atmospheric disturbance. We have used the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) to study the short- and medium-term (days to a few months) influences of solar proton events between 1963 and 2005 on stratospheric ozone. The four largest events in the past 45 years (August 1972; October 1989; July 2000; and October-November 2003) caused very distinctive polar changes in layers of the Earth's atmosphere known as the stratosphere (12-50 km; -7-30 miles) and mesosphere (50-90 km; 30-55 miles). The solar protons connected with these events created hydrogen- and nitrogen- containing compounds, which led to the polar ozone destruction. The hydrogen-containing compounds have very short lifetimes and lasted for only a few days (typically the duration of the solar proton event). On the other hand, the nitrogen-containing compounds lasted much longer, especially in the Winter. The nitrogen oxides were predicted

  3. Solar Flux Deposition And Heating Rates In Jupiter's Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez-Hoyos, Santiago; Sánchez-Lavega, A.

    2009-09-01

    We discuss here the solar downward net flux in the 0.25 - 2.5 µm range in the atmosphere of Jupiter and the associated heating rates under a number of vertical cloud structure scenarios focusing in the effect of clouds and hazes. Our numerical model is based in the doubling-adding technique to solve the radiative transfer equation and it includes gas absorption by CH4, NH3 and H2, in addition to Rayleigh scattering by a mixture of H2 plus He. Four paradigmatic Jovian regions have been considered (hot-spots, belts, zones and Polar Regions). The hot-spots are the most transparent regions with downward net fluxes of 2.5±0.5 Wm-2 at the 6 bar level. The maximum solar heating is 0.04±0.01 K/day and occurs above 1 bar. Belts and zones characterization result in a maximum net downward flux of 0.5 Wm-2 at 2 bar and 0.015 Wm-2 at 6 bar. Heating is concentrated in the stratospheric and tropospheric hazes. Finally, Polar Regions are also explored and the results point to a considerable stratospheric heating of 0.04±0.02 K/day. In all, these calculations suggest that the role of the direct solar forcing in the Jovian atmospheric dynamics is limited to the upper 1 - 2 bar of the atmosphere except in the hot-spot areas. Acknowledgments: This work has been funded by Spanish MEC AYA2006-07735 with FEDER support and Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT-464-07.

  4. Solar atmospheric neutrinos and the sensitivity floor for solar dark matter annihilation searches

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Argüelles, C.A. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge MA (United States); De Wasseige, G. [Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Elsene, Brussels (Belgium); Fedynitch, A. [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76021 Karlsruhe (Germany); Jones, B.J.P., E-mail: caad@mit.edu, E-mail: gdewasse@vub.ac.be, E-mail: anatoli.fedynitch@desy.de, E-mail: ben.jones@uta.edu [University of Texas at Arlington, 108 Science Hall, 502 Yates St, Arlington TX (United States)

    2017-07-01

    Cosmic rays interacting in the solar atmosphere produce showers that result in a flux of high-energy neutrinos from the Sun. These form an irreducible background to indirect solar WIMP self-annihilation searches, which look for heavy dark matter particles annihilating into final states containing neutrinos in the Solar core. This background will eventually create a sensitivity floor for indirect WIMP self-annihilation searches analogous to that imposed by low-energy solar neutrino interactions for direct dark matter detection experiments. We present a new calculation of the flux of solar atmospheric neutrinos with a detailed treatment of systematic uncertainties inherent in solar atmospheric shower evolution, and we use this to derive the sensitivity floor for indirect solar WIMP annihilation analyses. We find that the floor lies less than one order of magnitude beyond the present experimental limits on spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross sections for some mass points, and that the high-energy solar atmospheric neutrino flux may be observable with running and future neutrino telescopes.

  5. Microbes in the upper atmosphere and unique opportunities for astrobiology research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, David J

    2013-10-01

    Microbial taxa from every major biological lineage have been detected in Earth's upper atmosphere. The goal of this review is to communicate (1) relevant astrobiology questions that can be addressed with upper atmosphere microbiology studies and (2) available sampling methods for collecting microbes at extreme altitudes. Precipitation, mountain stations, airplanes, balloons, rockets, and satellites are all feasible routes for conducting aerobiology research. However, more efficient air samplers are needed, and contamination is also a pervasive problem in the field. Measuring microbial signatures without false positives in the upper atmosphere might contribute to sterilization and bioburden reduction methods for proposed astrobiology missions. Intriguingly, environmental conditions in the upper atmosphere resemble the surface conditions of Mars (extreme cold, hypobaria, desiccation, and irradiation). Whether terrestrial microbes are active in the upper atmosphere is an area of intense research interest. If, in fact, microbial metabolism, growth, or replication is achievable independent of Earth's surface, then the search for habitable zones on other worlds should be broadened to include atmospheres (e.g., the high-altitude clouds of Venus). Furthermore, viable cells in the heavily irradiated upper atmosphere of Earth could help identify microbial genes or enzymes that bestow radiation resistance. Compelling astrobiology questions on the origin of life (if the atmosphere synthesized organic aerosols), evolution (if airborne transport influenced microbial mutation rates and speciation), and panspermia (outbound or inbound) are also testable in Earth's upper atmosphere.

  6. Solar Magnetism eXplorer (Solme X)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter, Hardi; Abbo, L.; Andretta, V.; Auchere, F.; Bemporad, A.; Berrilli, F.; Bommier, V.; Cassini, R.; Curdt, W.; Davila, J.; hide

    2011-01-01

    The magnetic field plays a pivotal role in many fields of Astrophysics. This is especially true for the physics of the solar atmosphere. Measuring the magnetic field in the upper solar atmosphere is crucial to understand the nature of the underlying physical processes that drive the violent dynamics of the solar corona-that can also affect life on Earth. SolmeX, a fully equipped solar space observatory for remote-sensing observations, will provide the first comprehensive measurements of the strength and direction of the magnetic field in the upper solar atmosphere. The mission consists of two spacecraft, one carrying the instruments, and another one in formation flight at a distance of about 200 m carrying the occulter to provide an artificial total solar eclipse. This will ensure high-quality coronagraphic observations above the solar limb. SolmeX integrates two spectro-polarimetric coronagraphs for off-limb observations, one in the EUV and one in the IR, and three instruments for observations on the disk. The latter comprises one imaging polarimeter in the EUV for coronal studies, a spectro-polarimeter in the EUV to investigate the low corona, and an imaging spectro-polarimeter in the UV for chromospheric studies. SOHO and other existing missions have investigated the emission of the upper atmosphere in detail (not considering polarization), and as this will be the case also for missions planned for the near future. Therefore it is timely that SolmeX provides the final piece of the observational quest by measuring the magnetic field in the upper atmosphere through polarimetric observations

  7. Solar tides in the equatorial upper thermosphere: A comparison between AE-E data and the TIGCM for solstice, solar minimum conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burrage, M.D.; Storz, M.F.; Abreu, V.J.; Fesen, C.G.; Roble, R.G.

    1991-01-01

    Equatorial thermospheric tidal temperatures and densities inferred from Atmosphere Explorer E (AE-E) mass spectrometer data are compared with theoretical predictions from the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere/Ionisphere General Circulation Model (TIGCM) for solar minimum, solstice conditions. The thermospheric diurnal and semidiurnal tides are excited in situ by solar heating and by ion-neutral momentum coupling. Semidiurnal tides are also generated by upward propagating waves excited by heating in the lower atmosphere. The model calculations include all of these sources. The TIGCM reproduces the gross tidal features observed by the satellite, including the midnight temperature anomaly, and the diurnal phases are in good agreement for the densities of atomic oxygen and molecular nitrogen. However, for the neutral temperature, the predicted phases are 1-2 hours earlier than observed. In addition, the diurnal temperature and density amplitudes predicted by the model are considerably weaker than indicated by the AE-E measurements. The semidiurnal variations found in the observations agree well with the model for December solstice but not for June. The present results indicate that upward propagating tides from the lower atmosphere are responsible for at least half of the amplitude of the semidiurnal tide in the upper thermosphere

  8. Internal Gravity Waves in the Magnetized Solar Atmosphere. I. Magnetic Field Effects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vigeesh, G.; Steiner, O. [Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik, Schöneckstrasse 6, D-79104 Freiburg (Germany); Jackiewicz, J., E-mail: vigeesh@leibniz-kis.de [New Mexico State University, Department of Astronomy, P.O. Box 30001, MSC 4500, Las Cruces, NM 88003 (United States)

    2017-02-01

    Observations of the solar atmosphere show that internal gravity waves are generated by overshooting convection, but are suppressed at locations of magnetic flux, which is thought to be the result of mode conversion into magnetoacoustic waves. Here, we present a study of the acoustic-gravity wave spectrum emerging from a realistic, self-consistent simulation of solar (magneto)convection. A magnetic field free, hydrodynamic simulation and a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation with an initial, vertical, homogeneous field of 50 G flux density were carried out and compared with each other to highlight the effect of magnetic fields on the internal gravity wave propagation in the Sun’s atmosphere. We find that the internal gravity waves are absent or partially reflected back into the lower layers in the presence of magnetic fields and argue that the suppression is due to the coupling of internal gravity waves to slow magnetoacoustic waves still within the high- β region of the upper photosphere. The conversion to Alfvén waves is highly unlikely in our model because there is no strongly inclined magnetic field present. We argue that the suppression of internal waves observed within magnetic flux concentrations may also be due to nonlinear breaking of internal waves due to vortex flows that are ubiquitously present in the upper photosphere and the chromosphere.

  9. DYNAMO: a Mars upper atmosphere package for investigating solar wind interaction and escape processes, and mapping Martian fields

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chassefiere, E.; Nagy, A.; Mandea, M.

    2004-01-01

    DYNAMO is a small multi-instrument payload aimed at characterizing current atmospheric escape, which is still poorly constrained, and improving gravity and magnetic field representations, in order to better understand the magnetic, geologic and thermal history of Mars. The internal structure...... of periapsis 170 km), and in a lesser extent 2a, offers an unprecedented opportunity to investigate by in situ probing the chemical and dynamical properties of the deep ionosphere, thermosphere, and the interaction between the atmosphere and the solar wind, and therefore the present atmospheric escape rate...

  10. Impact of atmospheric components on solar clear-sky models at different elevation: Case study Canary Islands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Antonanzas-Torres, F.; Antonanzas, J.; Urraca, R.; Alia-Martinez, M.; Martinez-de-Pison, F.J.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Assessment on the performance of solar clear-sky models at different altitude. • SOLIS and REST2 clear-sky models were superior with fine atmospheric inputs. • ESRA proved more robust with low spatial resolution atmospheric inputs. • Over-estimation occurred at the lower site when using inputs from the upper site. - Abstract: The estimation of clear-sky solar irradiance via clear-sky models depends on reliable values of aerosol optical depth, water vapor and ozone content. These atmospheric variables are rarely on-site measured and are generally provided as gridded estimates in very low spatial resolution (1°). The high spatial variability of atmospheric variables within the grid resolution (pixel) leads to important errors in those areas with great atmospheric variability, such as in mountainous regions. In this paper, the performance of three clear-sky solar irradiance models was evaluated in a site with especially great elevation range, the Izana station from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (Tenerife, Canary Islands) located at a high elevation (2373 m) and just 14 km from the ocean. Aerosols data were obtained from measurements from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) at the same site. The evaluation was also compared with global horizontal irradiance estimations with clear-sky models in the Guimar station, located at a lower elevation (156 m) and only 11.5 km away from Izana. Results showed a strong influence of elevation on solar radiation estimation under clear-sky conditions.

  11. Atmospheric Responses from Radiosonde Observations of the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fowler, J.

    2017-12-01

    The Atmospheric Responses from Radiosonde Observations project during the August 21st, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse was to observe the atmospheric response under the shadow of the Moon using both research and operational earth science instruments run primarily by undergraduate students not formally trained in atmospheric science. During the eclipse, approximately 15 teams across the path of totality launched radiosonde balloon platforms in very rapid, serial sonde deployment. Our strategy was to combine a dense ground observation network with multiple radiosonde sites, located within and along the margins of the path of totality. This can demonstrate how dense observation networks leveraged among various programs can "fill the gaps" in data sparse regions allowing research ideas and questions that previously could not be approached with courser resolution data and improving the scientific understanding and prediction of geophysical and hazardous phenomenon. The core scientific objectives are (1) to make high-resolution surface and upper air observations in several sites along the eclipse path (2) to quantitatively study atmospheric responses to the rapid disappearance of the Sun across the United States, and (3) to assess the performance of high-resolution weather forecasting models in simulating the observed response. Such a scientific campaign, especially unique during a total solar eclipse, provides a rare but life-altering opportunity to attract and enable next-generation of observational scientists. It was an ideal "laboratory" for graduate, undergraduate, citizen scientists and k-12 students and staff to learn, explore and research in STEM.

  12. Climate of the upper atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christoph Jacobi

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available

    In the frame of the European COST 296 project (Mitigation of Ionospheric Effects on Radio Systems, MIERS

    investigations of the climate of the upper atmosphere have been carried out during the last four years to obtain

    new information on the upper atmosphere. Mainly its ionospheric part has been analysed as the ionosphere

    most essential for the propagation of radio waves. Due to collaboration between different European partners

    many new results have been derived in the fields of long-term trends of different ionospheric and related atmospheric

    parameters, the investigations of different types of atmospheric waves and their impact on the ionosphere,

    the variability of the ionosphere, and the investigation of some space weather effects on the ionosphere.


  13. Upper limits to trace constituents in Jupiter's atmosphere from an analysis of its 5 micrometer spectrum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Treffers, R. R.; Larson, H. P.; Fink, U.; Gautier, T. N.

    1978-01-01

    A high-resolution spectrum of Jupiter at 5 micrometers recorded at the Kuiper Airborne Observatory is used to determine upper limits to the column density of 19 molecules. The upper limits to the mixing ratios of SiH4, H2S, HCN, and simple hydrocarbons are discussed with respect to current models of Jupiter's atmosphere. These upper limits are compared to expectations based upon the solar abundance of the elements. This analysis permits upper limit measurements (SiH4), or actual detections (GeH4) of molecules with mixing ratios with hydrogen as low as 10 to the minus 9th power. In future observations at 5 micrometers the sensitivity of remote spectroscopic analyses should permit the study of constituents with mixing ratios as low as 10 to the minus 10th power, which would include the hydrides of such elements as Sn and As as well as numerous organic molecules.

  14. Local time variations of the middle atmosphere of Venus: Solar-related structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zasova, L.; Khatountsev, I. V.; Ignatiev, N. I.; Moroz, V. I.

    Three-dimensional fields (latitude — altitude — local time) of temperature and aerosol in the upper clouds, obtained from the Venera-15 IR spectrometry data, were studied to search for the solar-related structures. The temperature variation at the isobaric levels vs. solar longitude was presented as a superposition of the cosines with periods of 1, 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 Venusian days. At low latitudes the diurnal tidal component reaches a maximum above 0.2 mb (92km) level. At high latitudes it dominates at P> 50 mb (68 km) in the cold collar, being roughly twice as much as the semidiurnal one and passing through the maximum of 13 K at 400 mb (57 km). The semidiurnal tidal amplitude exceeds the diurnal one below 90 km (where its maximum locates near 83 km), and also in the upper clouds, above 58 km. At low latitudes the 1/3 days component predominates at 10 - 50 mb (68-76 km). In the upper clouds, where most of the solar energy, absorbed in the middle atmosphere, deposits, all four tidal components, including wavenumbers 3 and 4, have significant amplitudes. A position of the upper boundary of the clouds depends on local time in such a way that the lowest height of the clouds is observed in the morning at all selected latitude ranges. At low latitudes the highest position of the upper boundary of the clouds (at 1218 cm -1) is found at 8 - 9 PM, whereas the lowest one is near the morning terminator. At high latitudes the lowest position of the upper boundary of the clouds shifts towards the dayside being at 10:30 AM at 75° in the cold collar and the highest one shifts to 4 PM. The zonal mean altitude of the upper boundary of the clouds decreases from 69 km at 15° to 59 km at 75°. The diurnal tidal component has the highest amplitude in the cold collar (1.5 km). At low latitudes both amplitudes, diurnal and semidiurnal, reach the values 0.8 - 1 km.

  15. Emerging pattern of global change in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Laštovička

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available In the upper atmosphere, greenhouse gases produce a cooling effect, instead of a warming effect. Increases in greenhouse gas concentrations are expected to induce substantial changes in the mesosphere, thermosphere, and ionosphere, including a thermal contraction of these layers. In this article we construct for the first time a pattern of the observed long-term global change in the upper atmosphere, based on trend studies of various parameters. The picture we obtain is qualitative, and contains several gaps and a few discrepancies, but the overall pattern of observed long-term changes throughout the upper atmosphere is consistent with model predictions of the effect of greenhouse gas increases. Together with the large body of lower atmospheric trend research, our synthesis indicates that anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are affecting the atmosphere at nearly all altitudes between ground and space.

  16. Global Change in the Upper Atmosphere

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Laštovička, Jan; Akmaev, R. A.; Beig, G.; Bremer, J.; Emmert, J. T.

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 314, č. 5803 (2006), s. 1253-1254 ISSN 0036-8075 R&D Projects: GA MŠk OC 091 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517 Keywords : Global change * Upper Atmosphere * Ionosphere Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 30.028, year: 2006

  17. NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Program (UARP) and Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP): Research Summaries 1997-1999

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurylo, M. J.; DeCola, P. L.; Kaye, J. A.

    2000-01-01

    Under the mandate contained in the FY 1976 NASA Authorization Act, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed and is implementing a comprehensive program of research, technology development, and monitoring of the Earth's upper atmosphere, with emphasis on the upper troposphere and stratosphere. This program aims at expanding our chemical and physical understanding to permit both the quantitative analysis of current perturbations as well as the assessment of possible future changes in this important region of our environment. It is carried out jointly by the Upper Atmosphere Research Program (UARP) and the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP), both managed within the Research Division in the Office of Earth Science at NASA. Significant contributions to this effort have also been provided by the Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Project (AEAP) of NASA's Office of Aero-Space Technology. The long-term objectives of the present program are to perform research to: understand the physics, chemistry, and transport processes of the upper troposphere and the stratosphere and their control on the distribution of atmospheric chemical species such as ozone; assess possible perturbations to the composition of the atmosphere caused by human activities and natural phenomena (with a specific emphasis on trace gas geographical distributions, sources, and sinks and the role of trace gases in defining the chemical composition of the upper atmosphere); understand the processes affecting the distributions of radiatively active species in the atmosphere, and the importance of chemical-radiative-dynamical feedbacks on the meteorology and climatology of the stratosphere and troposphere; and understand ozone production, loss, and recovery in an atmosphere with increasing abundances of greenhouse gases. The current report is composed of two parts. Part 1 summarizes the objectives, status, and accomplishments of the research tasks supported

  18. Validation of the Earth atmosphere models using the EUV solar occultation data from the CORONAS and PROBA 2 instruments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slemzin, Vladimir; Kuzin, Sergey; Berghmans, David; Pertsov, Andrey; Dominique, Marie; Ulyanov, Artyom; Gaikovich, Konstantin

    Absorption in the atmosphere below 500 km results in attenuation of the solar EUV flux, variation of its spectra and distortion of solar images acquired by solar EUV instruments operating on LEO satellites even on solar synchronous orbits. Occultation measurements are important for planning of solar observations from these satellites, and can be used for monitoring the upper atmosphere as well as for studying its response to the solar activity. We present the results of the occultation measurements of the solar EUV radiation obtained by the CORONAS-F/SPIRIT telescope at high solar activity (2002), by the CORONAS-Photon/TESIS telescope at low activity (2009), and by the SWAP telescope and LYRA radiometer onboard the PROBA 2 satellite at moderate activity (2010). The measured attenuation profiles and the retrieved linear extinction coefficients at the heights 200-500 km are compared with simulations by the NRLMSIS-00 and DTM2013 atmospheric models. It was shown that the results of simulations by the DTM2013 model are well agreed with the data of measurements at all stages of solar activity and in presence of the geomagnetic storm, whereas the results of the NRLMSISE-00 model significantly diverge from the measurements, in particular, at high and low activity. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration under Grant Agreement “eHeroes” (project No.284461, www.eheroes.eu).

  19. Understanding and Forecasting Upper Atmosphere Nitric Oxide Through Data Mining Analysis of TIMED/SABER Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flynn, S.; Knipp, D. J.; Matsuo, T.; Mlynczak, M. G.; Hunt, L. A.

    2017-12-01

    Storm time energy input to the upper atmosphere is countered by infrared radiative emissions from nitric oxide (NO). The temporal profile of these energy sources and losses strongly control thermospheric density profiles, which in turn affect the drag experienced by low Earth orbiting satellites. Storm time processes create NO. In some extreme cases an overabundance of NO emissions unexpectedly decreases atmospheric temperature and density to lower than pre-storm values. Quantifying the spatial and temporal variability of the NO emissions using eigenmodes will increase the understanding of how upper atmospheric NO behaves, and could be used to increase the accuracy of future space weather and climate models. Thirteen years of NO flux data, observed at 100-250 km altitude by the SABER instrument onboard the TIMED satellite, is decomposed into five empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) and their amplitudes to: 1) determine the strongest modes of variability in the data set, and 2) develop a compact model of NO flux. The first five EOFs account for 85% of the variability in the data, and their uncertainty is verified using cross-validation analysis. Although these linearly independent EOFs are not necessarily independent in a geophysical sense, the first three EOFs correlate strongly with different geophysical processes. The first EOF correlates strongly with Kp and F10.7, suggesting that geomagnetic storms and solar weather account for a large portion of NO flux variability. EOF 2 shows annual variations, and EOF 3 correlates with solar wind parameters. Using these relations, an empirical model of the EOF amplitudes can be derived, which could be used as a predictive tool for future NO emissions. We illustrate the NO model, highlight some of the hemispheric asymmetries, and discuss the geophysical associations of the EOFs.

  20. Atmospheric helium and geomagnetic field reversals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheldon, W. R.; Kern, J. W.

    1972-01-01

    The problem of the earth's helium budget is examined in the light of recent work on the interaction of the solar wind with nonmagnetic planets. It is proposed that the dominant mode of helium (He4) loss is ion pumping by the solar wind during geomagnetic field reversals, when the earth's magnetic field is very small. The interaction of the solar wind with the earth's upper atmosphere during such a period is found to involve the formation of a bow shock. The penetration altitude of the shock-heated solar plasma is calculated to be about 700 km, and ionization rates above this level are estimated for a cascade ionization (electron avalanche) process to average 10 to the 9th power ions/sq cm/sec. The calculated ionization rates and the capacity of the solar wind to remove ionized helium (He4) from the upper atmosphere during geomagnetic dipole reversals are sufficient to yield a secular equilibrium over geologic time scales. The upward transport of helium from the lower atmosphere under these conditions is found to be adequate to sustain the proposed loss rate.

  1. DIAS Project: The establishment of a European digital upper atmosphere server

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belehaki, A.; Cander, Lj.; Zolesi, B.; Bremer, J.; Juren, C.; Stanislawska, I.; Dialetis, D.; Hatzopoulos, M.

    2005-08-01

    The main objective of DIAS (European Digital Upper Atmosphere Server) project is to develop a pan-European digital data collection on the state of the upper atmosphere, based on real-time information and historical data collections provided by most operating ionospheric stations in Europe. A DIAS system will distribute information required by various groups of users for the specification of upper atmospheric conditions over Europe suitable for nowcasting and forecasting purposes. The successful operation of the DIAS system will lead to the development of new European added-value products and services, to the effective use of observational data in operational applications and consequently to the expansion of the relevant European market.

  2. New Horizons Upper Limits on O{sub 2} in Pluto’s Present Day Atmosphere

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kammer, J. A.; Gladstone, G. R. [Southwest Research Institute San Antonio, TX 78238 (United States); Stern, S. A.; Young, L. A.; Steffl, A. J.; Olkin, C. B. [Southwest Research Institute Boulder, CO 80302 (United States); Weaver, H. A. [Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel, MD 20723 (United States); Ennico, K., E-mail: jkammer@swri.edu [NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Collaboration: New Horizons Atmospheres and Alice UV Spectrograph Teams

    2017-08-01

    The surprising discovery by the Rosetta spacecraft of molecular oxygen (O{sub 2}) in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko challenged our understanding of the inventory of this volatile species on and inside bodies from the Kuiper Belt. That discovery motivated our search for oxygen in the atmosphere of Kuiper Belt planet Pluto, because O{sub 2} is volatile even at Pluto’s surface temperatures. During the New Horizons flyby of Pluto in 2015 July, the spacecraft probed the composition of Pluto’s atmosphere using a variety of observations, including an ultraviolet solar occultation observed by the Alice UV spectrograph. As described in these reports, absorption by molecular species in Pluto’s atmosphere yielded detections of N{sub 2}, as well as hydrocarbon species such as CH{sub 4}, C{sub 2}H{sub 2}, C{sub 2}H{sub 4}, and C{sub 2}H{sub 6}. Our work here further examines this data to search for UV absorption from molecular oxygen (O{sub 2}), which has a significant cross-section in the Alice spectrograph bandpass. We find no evidence for O{sub 2} absorption and place an upper limit on the total amount of O{sub 2} in Pluto’s atmosphere as a function of tangent height up to 700 km. In most of the atmosphere, this upper limit in line-of-sight abundance units is ∼3 × 10{sup 15} cm{sup −2}, which, depending on tangent height, corresponds to a mixing ratio of 10{sup −6} to 10{sup −4}, far lower than in comet 67P/CG.

  3. Long-term trends in the ionosphere and upper atmosphere parameters

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Bremer, J.; Alfonsi, L.; Pal, B.; Laštovička, Jan; Mikhailov, A. V.; Rogers, N.

    47 /suppl./, 2/3 (2004), s. 1009-1029 ISSN 1593-5213. [Final Meeting COST271 Action. Effects of the upper atmosphere on terrestrial and Earth-space communications (EACOS). Abingdon, 26.08.2004-27.08.2004] R&D Projects: GA MŠk OC 271.10 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z3042911 Keywords : long-term trends * ionosphere * upper atmosphere Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 0.413, year: 2004

  4. The Heating of the Solar Atmosphere: from the Bottom Up?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winebarger, Amy

    2014-01-01

    The heating of the solar atmosphere remains a mystery. Over the past several decades, scientists have examined the observational properties of structures in the solar atmosphere, notably their temperature, density, lifetime, and geometry, to determine the location, frequency, and duration of heating. In this talk, I will review these observational results, focusing on the wealth of information stored in the light curve of structures in different spectral lines or channels available in the Solar Dynamic Observatory's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, Hinode's X-ray Telescope and Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer, and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. I will discuss some recent results from combined data sets that support the heating of the solar atmosphere may be dominated by low, near-constant heating events.

  5. Solar energy and the abatement of atmospheric emissions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mirasgedis, S.; Diakoulaki, D.; Assimacopoulos, D.

    1996-01-01

    In spite of the fact that solar energy is a ''clean'' energy form, gaseous pollutants are emitted during the manufacturing of the systems necessary for its utilisation. An attempt is made in this paper to estimate the level of atmospheric pollutants emitted during the successive stages which make up the manufacture process for solar water heating (SWH) systems, and to evaluate these results in comparison with the respective pollutant emission levels attributed to the generation of electricity in Greece's conventional power plants. As energy consumption is recognised as the main source of atmospheric pollution, a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) method was applied, focusing on the most energy-consuming stages of the SWH system production process. The conclusions of the analysis indicate that the emissions of gaseous pollutants associated with the utilisation of solar energy are considerably lower than those caused by the production of electricity in conventional systems, thereby substantiating that solar energy utilisation can make a notable contribution to the abatement of atmospheric pollution. (author)

  6. Solar dynamics influence on the atmospheric ozone

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gogosheva, T.; Grigorieva, V.; Mendeva, B.; Krastev, D.; Petkov, B.

    2007-01-01

    A response of the atmospheric ozone to the solar dynamics has been studied using the total ozone content data, taken from the satellite experiments GOME on ERS-2 and TOMS-EP together with data obtained from the ground-based spectrophotometer Photon operating in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria during the period 1999-2005. We also use data from surface ozone observations performed in Sofia, Bulgaria. The solar activity was characterized by the sunspot daily numbers W, the solar radio flux at 10.7 cm (F10.7) and the MgII wing-to-core ratio solar index. The impact of the solar activity on the total ozone has been investigated analysing the ozone response to sharp changes of these parameters. Some of the examined cases showed a positive correlation between the ozone and the solar parameters, however, a negative correlation in other cases was found. There were some cases when the sharp increases of the solar activity did not provoke any ozone changes. The solar radiation changes during an eclipse can be considered a particular case of the solar dynamics as this event causes a sharp change of irradiance within a comparatively short time interval. The results of both - the total and surface ozone measurements carried out during the eclipses on 11 August 1999, 31 May 2003 and 29 March 2006 are presented. It was found that the atmospheric ozone behavior shows strong response to the fast solar radiation changes which take place during solar eclipse. (authors)

  7. Ionization rates and profiles of electron concentration in Martian atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Komitov, B.; Spasov, S.; Gogoshev, M.

    1981-01-01

    The ionization and vertical profiles of electron concentration in the Martian atmosphere are calculated as functions of the solar zenith angles varying from O deg to 90 deg. A neutral atmospheric model based on direct mass-spectometric measurements from the Viking-1 landing modul is employed in the calculation. The Earth data of the ionization solar flux at the same level of the solar activity and for the month of the Viking-1 measurements reduced for the Mars orbit are used. The numerical result for the photoionization rates and quasi-equilibrium electron-concentration profiles in the upper Martian atmosphere at different solar zenith angles from 0 deg to 100 deg are presented. It is shown that the maxima of both quantities decrease and move towards the upper atmosphere regions. The calculated electron density at the zenith solar angle of 40 deg are compared to Viking-1 experimental data and a good agreement is achieved

  8. Upper Atmosphere Research Report Number 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    1946-12-30

    as a whol,. The history of the program was given in some detail in the first report*. The part of the Naval Research Laboratory in upper atmosphere...5B and 6. The third gage was installed as a service to the spectroscopy program. The gago elements were simply 6 watt, 110 volt Mazda pilot *1 lamps

  9. Space fireworks for upper atmospheric wind measurements by sounding rocket experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, M.

    2016-01-01

    Artificial meteor trains generated by chemical releases by using sounding rockets flown in upper atmosphere were successfully observed by multiple sites on ground and from an aircraft. We have started the rocket experiment campaign since 2007 and call it "Space fireworks" as it illuminates resonance scattering light from the released gas under sunlit/moonlit condition. By using this method, we have acquired a new technique to derive upper atmospheric wind profiles in twilight condition as well as in moonlit night and even in daytime. Magnificent artificial meteor train images with the surrounding physics and dynamics in the upper atmosphere where the meteors usually appear will be introduced by using fruitful results by the "Space firework" sounding rocket experiments in this decade.

  10. Report of the Solar and Atmospheric Neutrino Working Group

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Back, H.; Bahcall, J.N.; Bernabeu, J.; Boulay, M.G.; Bowles, T.; Calaprice, F.; Champagne, A.; Freedman, S.; Gai, M.; Galbiati, C.; Gallagher, H.; Gonzalez-Garcia, C.; Hahn, R.L.; Heeger, K.M.; Hime, A.; Jung, C.K.; Klein, J.R.; Koike, M.; Lanou, R.; Learned, J.G.; Lesko, K.T.; Losecco, J.; Maltoni, M.; Mann, A.; McKinsey, D.; Palomares-Ruiz, S.; Pena-Garay, C.; Petcov, S.T.; Piepke, A.; Pitt, M.; Raghavan, R.; Robertson, R.G.H.; Scholberg, K.; Sobel, H.W.; Takeuchi, T.; Vogelaar, R.; Wolfenstein, L.

    2004-01-01

    The highest priority of the Solar and Atmospheric Neutrino Experiment Working Group is the development of a real-time, precision experiment that measures the pp solar neutrino flux. A measurement of the pp solar neutrino flux, in comparison with the existing precision measurements of the high energy 8 B neutrino flux, will demonstrate the transition between vacuum and matter-dominated oscillations, thereby quantitatively testing a fundamental prediction of the standard scenario of neutrino flavor transformation. The initial solar neutrino beam is pure ν e , which also permits sensitive tests for sterile neutrinos. The pp experiment will also permit a significantly improved determination of θ 12 and, together with other solar neutrino measurements, either a measurement of θ 13 or a constraint a factor of two lower than existing bounds. In combination with the essential pre-requisite experiments that will measure the 7 Be solar neutrino flux with a precision of 5%, a measurement of the pp solar neutrino flux will constitute a sensitive test for non-standard energy generation mechanisms within the Sun. The Standard Solar Model predicts that the pp and 7 Be neutrinos together constitute more than 98% of the solar neutrino flux. The comparison of the solar luminosity measured via neutrinos to that measured via photons will test for any unknown energy generation mechanisms within the nearest star. A precise measurement of the pp neutrino flux (predicted to be 92% of the total flux) will also test stringently the theory of stellar evolution since the Standard Solar Model predicts the pp flux with a theoretical uncertainty of 1%. We also find that an atmospheric neutrino experiment capable of resolving the mass hierarchy is a high priority. Atmospheric neutrino experiments may be the only alternative to very long baseline accelerator experiments as a way of resolving this fundamental question. Such an experiment could be a very large scale water Cerenkov detector, or a

  11. Spatial and Temporal Variations of Infrared Emissions in the Upper Atmosphere. 3. 5.3-μm Nitric Oxide Emission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semenov, A. I.; Medvedeva, I. V.; Perminov, V. I.

    2018-03-01

    The results of rocket and satellite measurements available in the literature of 5.3-μm nitric oxide emission in the upper atmosphere have been systematized and analyzed. Analytical dependences describing the height distribution of volumetric intensity of 5.3-μm emission of the NO molecule and its variations in a range of heights from 100 to 130 km as a function of the time of year, day, latitude, and solar activity have been obtained.

  12. Magnetic tornadoes as energy channels into the solar corona.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wedemeyer-Böhm, Sven; Scullion, Eamon; Steiner, Oskar; van der Voort, Luc Rouppe; de la Cruz Rodriguez, Jaime; Fedun, Viktor; Erdélyi, Robert

    2012-06-27

    Heating the outer layers of the magnetically quiet solar atmosphere to more than one million kelvin and accelerating the solar wind requires an energy flux of approximately 100 to 300 watts per square metre, but how this energy is transferred and dissipated there is a puzzle and several alternative solutions have been proposed. Braiding and twisting of magnetic field structures, which is caused by the convective flows at the solar surface, was suggested as an efficient mechanism for atmospheric heating. Convectively driven vortex flows that harbour magnetic fields are observed to be abundant in the photosphere (the visible surface of the Sun). Recently, corresponding swirling motions have been discovered in the chromosphere, the atmospheric layer sandwiched between the photosphere and the corona. Here we report the imprints of these chromospheric swirls in the transition region and low corona, and identify them as observational signatures of rapidly rotating magnetic structures. These ubiquitous structures, which resemble super-tornadoes under solar conditions, reach from the convection zone into the upper solar atmosphere and provide an alternative mechanism for channelling energy from the lower into the upper solar atmosphere.

  13. Whole Atmosphere Simulation of Anthropogenic Climate Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solomon, Stanley C.; Liu, Han-Li; Marsh, Daniel R.; McInerney, Joseph M.; Qian, Liying; Vitt, Francis M.

    2018-02-01

    We simulated anthropogenic global change through the entire atmosphere, including the thermosphere and ionosphere, using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model-eXtended. The basic result was that even as the lower atmosphere gradually warms, the upper atmosphere rapidly cools. The simulations employed constant low solar activity conditions, to remove the effects of variable solar and geomagnetic activity. Global mean annual mean temperature increased at a rate of +0.2 K/decade at the surface and +0.4 K/decade in the upper troposphere but decreased by about -1 K/decade in the stratosphere-mesosphere and -2.8 K/decade in the thermosphere. Near the mesopause, temperature decreases were small compared to the interannual variation, so trends in that region are uncertain. Results were similar to previous modeling confined to specific atmospheric levels and compared favorably with available measurements. These simulations demonstrate the ability of a single comprehensive numerical model to characterize global change throughout the atmosphere.

  14. MAVEN Observations of Atmospheric Loss at Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curry, Shannon; Luhmann, Janet; Jakosky, Bruce M.; Brain, David; LeBlanc, Francis; Modolo, Ronan; Halekas, Jasper S.; Schneider, Nicholas M.; Deighan, Justin; McFadden, James; Espley, Jared R.; Mitchell, David L.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Dong, Yaxue; Dong, Chuanfei; Ma, Yingjuan; Cohen, Ofer; Fränz, Markus; Holmström, Mats; Ramstad, Robin; Hara, Takuya; Lillis, Robert J.

    2016-06-01

    The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission has been making observations of the Martian upper atmosphere and its escape to space since November 2014. The subject of atmospheric loss at terrestrial planets is a subject of intense interest not only because of the implications for past and present water reservoirs, but also for its impacts on the habitability of a planet. Atmospheric escape may have been especially effective at Mars, relative to Earth or Venus, due to its smaller size as well as the lack of a global dynamo magnetic field. Not only is the atmosphere less gravitationally bound, but also the lack of global magnetic field allows the impinging solar wind to interact directly with the Martian atmosphere. When the upper atmosphere is exposed to the solar wind, planetary neutrals can be ionized and 'picked up' by the solar wind and swept away.Both neutral and ion escape have played significant roles the long term climate change of Mars, and the MAVEN mission was designed to directly measure both escaping planetary neutrals and ions with high energy, mass, and time resolution. We will present 1.5 years of observations of atmospheric loss at Mars over a variety of solar and solar wind conditions, including extreme space weather events. We will report the average ion escape rate and the spatial distribution of escaping ions as measured by MAVEN and place them in context both with previous measurements of ion loss by other spacecraft (e.g. Phobos 2 and Mars Express) and with estimates of neutral escape rates by MAVEN. We will then report on the measured variability in ion escape rates with different drivers (e.g. solar EUV, solar wind pressure, etc.) and the implications for the total ion escape from Mars over time. Additionally, we will also discuss the implications for atmospheric escape at exoplanets, particularly weakly magnetized planetary bodies orbiting M-dwarfs, and the dominant escape mechanisms that may drive atmospheric erosion in other

  15. A view of the upper atmosphere from Antarctica

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rycroft, M.

    1985-01-01

    The paper reviews the phenomena associated with the earth's upper atmosphere, as detected from field stations on the Antarctic continent. A description is given of the earth's atmosphere, including the auroral regions, the ionosphere and magnetosphere. Geospace phenomena investigated from the Antarctic are described, and include whistlers, chorus and trimpi events. The earth's geomagnetic field is measured at several Antarctic stations. Possibilities for future projects in Antarctica are also discussed. (U.K.)

  16. Solar storms; Tormentas solares

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Collaboration: Pereira Cuesta, S.; Pereira Pagan, B.

    2016-08-01

    Solar storms begin with an explosion, or solar flare, on the surface of the sun. The X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation from the flare reach the Earths orbit minutes later-travelling at light speed. The ionization of upper layers of our atmosphere could cause radio blackouts and satellite navigation errors (GPS). Soon after, a wave of energetic particles, electrons and protons accelerated by the explosion crosses the orbit of the Earth, and can cause real and significant damage. (Author)

  17. Ayres' bifurcated solar model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kalkofen, W.

    1985-01-01

    The assumptions of Ayres' model of the upper solar atmosphere are examined. It is found that the bistable character of his model is postulated - through the assumptions concerning the opacity sources and the effect of mechanical waves, which are allowed to destroy the CO molecules but not to heat the gas. The neglect of cooling by metal lines is based on their reduced local cooling rate, but it ignores the increased depth over which this cooling occurs. Thus, the bifurcated model of the upper solar atmosphere consists of two models, one cold at the temperature minimum, with a kinetic temperature of 2900 K, and the other hot, with a temperature of 4900 K. 8 references

  18. Temporal Variability of Atomic Hydrogen From the Mesopause to the Upper Thermosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qian, Liying; Burns, Alan G.; Solomon, Stan S.; Smith, Anne K.; McInerney, Joseph M.; Hunt, Linda A.; Marsh, Daniel R.; Liu, Hanli; Mlynczak, Martin G.; Vitt, Francis M.

    2018-01-01

    We investigate atomic hydrogen (H) variability from the mesopause to the upper thermosphere, on time scales of solar cycle, seasonal, and diurnal, using measurements made by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics Dynamics satellite, and simulations by the National Center for Atmospheric Research Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model-eXtended (WACCM-X). In the mesopause region (85 to 95 km), the seasonal and solar cycle variations of H simulated by WACCM-X are consistent with those from SABER observations: H density is higher in summer than in winter, and slightly higher at solar minimum than at solar maximum. However, mesopause region H density from the Mass-Spectrometer-Incoherent-Scatter (National Research Laboratory Mass-Spectrometer-Incoherent-Scatter 00 (NRLMSISE-00)) empirical model has reversed seasonal variation compared to WACCM-X and SABER. From the mesopause to the upper thermosphere, H density simulated by WACCM-X switches its solar cycle variation twice, and seasonal dependence once, and these changes of solar cycle and seasonal variability occur in the lower thermosphere ( 95 to 130 km), whereas H from NRLMSISE-00 does not change solar cycle and seasonal dependence from the mesopause through the thermosphere. In the upper thermosphere (above 150 km), H density simulated by WACCM-X is higher at solar minimum than at solar maximum, higher in winter than in summer, and also higher during nighttime than daytime. The amplitudes of these variations are on the order of factors of 10, 2, and 2, respectively. This is consistent with NRLMSISE-00.

  19. Temperature variations in Titan's upper atmosphere: Impact on Cassini/Huygens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Kazeminejad

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available Temperature variations of Titan's upper atmosphere due to the plasma interaction of the satellite with Saturn's magnetosphere and Titan's high altitude monomer haze particles can imply an offset of up to ±30K from currently estimated model profiles. We incorporated these temperature uncertainties as an offset into the recently published Vervack et al. (2004 (Icarus, Vol. 170, 91-112 engineering model and derive extreme case (i.e. minimum and maximum profiles temperature, pressure, and density profiles. We simulated the Huygens probe hypersonic entry trajectory and obtain, as expected, deviations of the probe trajectory for the extreme atmosphere models compared to the simulation based on the nominal one. These deviations are very similar to the ones obtained with the standard Yelle et al. (1997 (ESA SP-1177 profiles. We could confirm that the difference in aerodynamic drag is of an order of magnitude that can be measured by the probe science accelerometer. They represent an important means for the reconstruction of Titan's upper atmospheric properties. Furthermore, we simulated a Cassini low Titan flyby trajectory. No major trajectory deviations were found. The atmospheric torques due to aerodynamic drag, however, are twice as high for our high temperature profile as the ones obtained with the Yelle maximum profile and more than 5 times higher than the worst case estimations from the Cassini project. We propose to use the Cassini atmospheric torque measurements during its low flybys to derive the atmospheric drag and to reconstruct Titan's upper atmosphere density, pressure, and temperature. The results could then be compared to the reconstructed profiles obtained from Huygens probe measurements. This would help to validate the probe measurements and decrease the error bars.

  20. Organic chemistry in Titan's upper atmosphere and its astrobiological consequences: I. Views towards Cassini plasma spectrometer (CAPS) and ion neutral mass spectrometer (INMS) experiments in space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, A.; Sittler, E. C.; Chornay, D.; Rowe, B. R.; Puzzarini, C.

    2015-05-01

    radicals. These radical species subsequently might form carbanions via radiative electron attachment at low temperatures with thermal electrons. The classic example is the perinaphthenyl anion in Titan's upper atmosphere. Therefore, future astronomical observations of selected carbocations and corresponding carbanions are required to settle the key issue of molecular anion chemistry on Titan. Other than earth, Titan is the only planetary body in our solar system that is known to have reservoirs of permanent liquids on its surface. The synthesis of complex biomolecules either by organic catalysis of precipitated solutes “on hydrocarbon solvent” on Titan or through the solvation process indeed started in its upper atmosphere. The most notable examples in Titan's prebiotic atmospheric chemistry are conjugated and aromatic polycyclic molecules, N-heterocycles including the presence of imino >Cdbnd N-H functional group in the carbonium chemistry. Our major conclusion in this paper is that the synthesis of organic compounds in Titan's upper atmosphere is a direct consequence of the chemistry of carbocations involving the ion-molecule reactions. The observations of complexity in the organic chemistry on Titan from the Cassini-Huygens mission clearly indicate that Titan is so far the only planetary object in our solar system that will most likely provide an answer to the question of the synthesis of complex biomolecules on the primitive earth and the origin of life.

  1. Solar Physics at Evergreen: Solar Dynamo and Chromospheric MHD

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zita, E. J.; Maxwell, J.; Song, N.; Dikpati, M.

    2006-12-01

    We describe our five year old solar physics research program at The Evergreen State College. Famed for its cloudy skies, the Pacific Northwest is an ideal location for theoretical and remote solar physics research activities. Why does the Sun's magnetic field flip polarity every 11 years or so? How does this contribute to the magnetic storms Earth experiences when the Sun's field reverses? Why is the temperature in the Sun's upper atmosphere millions of degrees higher than the Sun's surface temperature? How do magnetic waves transport energy in the Sun’s chromosphere and the Earth’s atmosphere? How does solar variability affect climate change? Faculty and undergraduates investigate questions such as these in collaboration with the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. We will describe successful student research projects, logistics of remote computing, and our current physics investigations into (1) the solar dynamo and (2) chromospheric magnetohydrodynamics.

  2. PROBING THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE USING OSCILLATIONS OF INFRARED CO SPECTRAL LINES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Penn, M. J.; Schad, T.; Cox, E.

    2011-01-01

    Oscillations were observed across the whole solar disk using the Doppler shift and line center intensity of spectral lines from the CO molecule near 4666 nm with the National Solar Observatory's McMath/Pierce solar telescope. Power, coherence, and phase spectra were examined, and diagnostic diagrams reveal power ridges at the solar global mode frequencies to show that these oscillations are solar p-modes. The phase was used to determine the height of formation of the CO lines by comparison with the IR continuum intensity phase shifts as measured in Kopp et al.; we find that the CO line formation height varies from 425 km μ > 0.5. The velocity power spectra show that while the sum of the background and p-mode power increases with height in the solar atmosphere as seen in previous work, the power in the p-modes only (background subtracted) decreases with height. The CO line center intensity weakens in regions of stronger magnetic fields, as does the p-mode oscillation power. Across most of the solar surface the phase shift is larger than the expected value of 90 0 for an adiabatic atmosphere. We fit the phase spectra at different disk positions with a simple atmospheric model to determine that the acoustic cutoff frequency is about 4.5 mHz with only small variations, but that the thermal relaxation frequency drops significantly from 2.7 to 0 mHz at these heights in the solar atmosphere.

  3. Wave heating of the solar atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arregui, Iñigo

    2015-04-01

    Magnetic waves are a relevant component in the dynamics of the solar atmosphere. Their significance has increased because of their potential as a remote diagnostic tool and their presumed contribution to plasma heating processes. We discuss our current understanding of coronal heating by magnetic waves, based on recent observational evidence and theoretical advances. The discussion starts with a selection of observational discoveries that have brought magnetic waves to the forefront of the coronal heating discussion. Then, our theoretical understanding of the nature and properties of the observed waves and the physical processes that have been proposed to explain observations are described. Particular attention is given to the sequence of processes that link observed wave characteristics with concealed energy transport, dissipation and heat conversion. We conclude with a commentary on how the combination of theory and observations should help us to understand and quantify magnetic wave heating of the solar atmosphere.

  4. Strategy for the Explorer program for solar and space physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1984-01-01

    Contents include: executive summary; the Explorer program - background and current status; strategy - level of activity; solar-terrestrial research (solar physics, space plasma physics, and upper atmospheric physics)

  5. NON-EQUILIBRIUM HELIUM IONIZATION IN AN MHD SIMULATION OF THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Golding, Thomas Peter; Carlsson, Mats; Leenaarts, Jorrit

    2016-01-01

    The ionization state of the gas in the dynamic solar chromosphere can depart strongly from the instantaneous statistical equilibrium commonly assumed in numerical modeling. We improve on earlier simulations of the solar atmosphere that only included non-equilibrium hydrogen ionization by performing a 2D radiation-magnetohydrodynamics simulation featuring non-equilibrium ionization of both hydrogen and helium. The simulation includes the effect of hydrogen Lyα and the EUV radiation from the corona on the ionization and heating of the atmosphere. Details on code implementation are given. We obtain helium ion fractions that are far from their equilibrium values. Comparison with models with local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) ionization shows that non-equilibrium helium ionization leads to higher temperatures in wavefronts and lower temperatures in the gas between shocks. Assuming LTE ionization results in a thermostat-like behavior with matter accumulating around the temperatures where the LTE ionization fractions change rapidly. Comparison of DEM curves computed from our models shows that non-equilibrium ionization leads to more radiating material in the temperature range 11–18 kK, compared to models with LTE helium ionization. We conclude that non-equilibrium helium ionization is important for the dynamics and thermal structure of the upper chromosphere and transition region. It might also help resolve the problem that intensities of chromospheric lines computed from current models are smaller than those observed

  6. Gone with the Wind: Three Years of MAVEN Measurements of Atmospheric Loss at Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brain, David; MAVEN Team

    2017-10-01

    The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission is making measurements of the Martian upper atmosphere and near space environment, and their interactions with energy inputs from the Sun. A major goal of the mission is to evaluate the loss of atmospheric gases to space in the present epoch, and over Martian history. MAVEN is equipped with instruments that measure both the neutral and charged upper atmospheric system (thermosphere, ionosphere, exosphere, and magnetosphere), inputs from the Sun (extreme ultraviolet flux, solar wind and solar energetic particles, and interplanetary magnetic field), and escaping atmospheric particles. The MAVEN instruments, coupled with models, allow us to more completely understand the physical processes that control atmospheric loss and the particle reservoirs for loss.Here, we provide an overview of the significant results from MAVEN over approximately 1.5 Mars years (nearly three Earth years) of observation, from November 2014 to present. We argue that the MAVEN measurements tell us that the loss of atmospheric gases to space was significant over Martian history, and present the seasonal behavior of the upper atmosphere and magnetosphere. We also discuss the influence of extreme events such as solar storms, and a variety of new discoveries and observations of the Martian system made by MAVEN.

  7. Solar activity impact on the Earth’s upper atmosphere

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kutiev, I.; Tsagouri, I.; Perrone, L.; Pancheva, D.; Mukhtarov, P.; Mikhailov, A.; Laštovička, Jan; Jakowski, N.; Burešová, Dalia; Blanch, E.; Andonov, B.; Altadill, D.; Magdaleno, S.; Parisi, M.; Torta, J. M.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 3, February (2013), A06/1-A06/21 ISSN 2115-7251 Grant - others:COST(XE) ES0803 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : ionosphere * solar activity * storm * total electron content * data analysis Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 2.519, year: 2013 http://www.swsc-journal.org/index.php?option=com_article&access=doi&doi=10.1051/swsc/2013028&Itemid=129

  8. On disturbances in the atmosphere produced by solar heating and by earth rotation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Somsikov, V.M.

    1980-01-01

    Using solar terminator as an example analyzed are the problems connected with generation of various disturbances in atmosphere resulted from solar heating and earth rotation. An equation for atmosphere pressure disturbance in the spherical system of coordinates is obtained. The Green function of this equation is found for isothermal atmosphere. A spectrum of space harmonics of disturbances is found and its diagram is presented. It is shown that disturbances of large and small scales can arize in atmosphere simultaneously. They can be refferred to acoustic, gravitational and tidal waves. It is noted that the obtained equation solution permits to obtain a full spectrum of atmosphere vibrations, conditioned by its solar heating

  9. Predicting Atmospheric Ionization and Excitation by Precipitating SEP and Solar Wind Protons Measured By MAVEN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jolitz, Rebecca; Dong, Chuanfei; Lee, Christina; Lillis, Rob; Brain, David; Curry, Shannon; Halekas, Jasper; Bougher, Stephen W.; Jakosky, Bruce

    2017-10-01

    Precipitating energetic particles ionize and excite planetary atmospheres, increasing electron content and producing aurora. At Mars, the solar wind and solar energetic particles (SEPs) can precipitate directly into the atmosphere because solar wind protons can charge exchange to become neutral and pass the magnetosheath, and SEPs are sufficiently energetic to cross the magnetosheath unchanged. We will compare ionization and Lyman alpha emission rates for solar wind and SEP protons during nominal solar activity and a CME shock front impact event on May 16 2016. We will use the Atmospheric Scattering of Protons and Energetic Neutrals (ASPEN) model to compare excitation and ionization rates by SEPs and solar wind protons currently measured by the SWIA (Solar Wind Ion Analyzer) and SEP instruments aboard the MAVEN spacecraft. Results will help quantify how SEP and solar wind protons influence atmospheric energy deposition during solar minimum.

  10. Energy Dissipation in the Upper Atmospheres of TRAPPIST-1 Planets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Ofer; Glocer, Alex; Garraffo, Cecilia; Drake, Jeremy J.; Bell, Jared M.

    2018-03-01

    We present a method to quantify the upper limit of the energy transmitted from the intense stellar wind to the upper atmospheres of three of the TRAPPIST-1 planets (e, f, and g). We use a formalism that treats the system as two electromagnetic regions, where the efficiency of the energy transmission between one region (the stellar wind at the planetary orbits) to the other (the planetary ionospheres) depends on the relation between the conductances and impedances of the two regions. Since the energy flux of the stellar wind is very high at these planetary orbits, we find that for the case of high transmission efficiency (when the conductances and impedances are close in magnitude), the energy dissipation in the upper planetary atmospheres is also very large. On average, the Ohmic energy can reach 0.5–1 W m‑2, about 1% of the stellar irradiance and 5–15 times the EUV irradiance. Here, using constant values for the ionospheric conductance, we demonstrate that the stellar wind energy could potentially drive large atmospheric heating in terrestrial planets, as well as in hot Jupiters. More detailed calculations are needed to assess the ionospheric conductance and to determine more accurately the amount of heating the stellar wind can drive in close-orbit planets.

  11. A Shuttle Upper Atmosphere Mass Spectrometer /SUMS/ experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanchard, R. C.; Duckett, R. J.; Hinson, E. W.

    1982-01-01

    A magnetic mass spectrometer is currently being adapted to the Space Shuttle Orbiter to provide repeated high altitude atmosphere data to support in situ rarefied flow aerodynamics research, i.e., in the high velocity, low density flight regime. The experiment, called Shuttle Upper Atmosphere Mass Spectrometer (SUMS), is the first attempt to design mass spectrometer equipment for flight vehicle aerodynamic data extraction. The SUMS experiment will provide total freestream atmospheric quantitites, principally total mass density, above altitudes at which conventional pressure measurements are valid. Experiment concepts, the expected flight profile, tradeoffs in the design of the total system and flight data reduction plans are discussed. Development plans are based upon a SUMS first flight after the Orbiter initial development flights.

  12. Empirical global model of upper thermosphere winds based on atmosphere and dynamics explorer satellite data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedin, A. E.; Spencer, N. W.; Killeen, T. L.

    1988-01-01

    Thermospheric wind data obtained from the Atmosphere Explorer E and Dynamics Explorer 2 satellites have been used to generate an empirical wind model for the upper thermosphere, analogous to the MSIS model for temperature and density, using a limited set of vector spherical harmonics. The model is limited to above approximately 220 km where the data coverage is best and wind variations with height are reduced by viscosity. The data base is not adequate to detect solar cycle (F10.7) effects at this time but does include magnetic activity effects. Mid- and low-latitude data are reproduced quite well by the model and compare favorably with published ground-based results. The polar vortices are present, but not to full detail.

  13. Solar Wind Interaction and Impact on the Venus Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Futaana, Yoshifumi; Stenberg Wieser, Gabriella; Barabash, Stas; Luhmann, Janet G.

    2017-11-01

    Venus has intrigued planetary scientists for decades because of its huge contrasts to Earth, in spite of its nickname of "Earth's Twin". Its invisible upper atmosphere and space environment are also part of the larger story of Venus and its evolution. In 60s to 70s, several missions (Venera and Mariner series) explored Venus-solar wind interaction regions. They identified the basic structure of the near-Venus space environment, for example, existence of the bow shock, magnetotail, ionosphere, as well as the lack of the intrinsic magnetic field. A huge leap in knowledge about the solar wind interaction with Venus was made possible by the 14-year long mission, Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO), launched in 1978. More recently, ESA's probe, Venus Express (VEX), was inserted into orbit in 2006, operated for 8 years. Owing to its different orbit from that of PVO, VEX made unique measurements in the polar and terminator regions, and probed the near-Venus tail for the first time. The near-tail hosts dynamic processes that lead to plasma energization. These processes in turn lead to the loss of ionospheric ions to space, slowly eroding the Venusian atmosphere. VEX carried an ion spectrometer with a moderate mass-separation capability and the observed ratio of the escaping hydrogen and oxygen ions in the wake indicates the stoichiometric loss of water from Venus. The structure and dynamics of the induced magnetosphere depends on the prevailing solar wind conditions. VEX studied the response of the magnetospheric system on different time scales. A plethora of waves was identified by the magnetometer on VEX; some of them were not previously observed by PVO. Proton cyclotron waves were seen far upstream of the bow shock, mirror mode waves were observed in magnetosheath and whistler mode waves, possibly generated by lightning discharges were frequently seen. VEX also encouraged renewed numerical modeling efforts, including fluid-type of models and particle-fluid hybrid type of models

  14. Improving the Ni I atomic model for solar and stellar atmospheric models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vieytes, M. C.; Fontenla, J. M.

    2013-01-01

    Neutral nickel (Ni I) is abundant in the solar atmosphere and is one of the important elements that contribute to the emission and absorption of radiation in the spectral range between 1900 and 3900 Å. Previously, the Solar Radiation Physical Modeling (SRPM) models of the solar atmosphere only considered a few levels of this species. Here, we improve the Ni I atomic model by taking into account 61 levels and 490 spectral lines. We compute the populations of these levels in full NLTE using the SRPM code and compare the resulting emerging spectrum with observations. The present atomic model significantly improves the calculation of the solar spectral irradiance at near-UV wavelengths, which is important for Earth atmospheric studies, and particularly for ozone chemistry.

  15. Improving the Ni I atomic model for solar and stellar atmospheric models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vieytes, M. C. [Instituto de de Astronomía y Física del Espacio, CONICET and UNTREF, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Fontenla, J. M., E-mail: mariela@iafe.uba.ar, E-mail: johnf@digidyna.com [North West Research Associates, 3380 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, CO 80301 (United States)

    2013-06-01

    Neutral nickel (Ni I) is abundant in the solar atmosphere and is one of the important elements that contribute to the emission and absorption of radiation in the spectral range between 1900 and 3900 Å. Previously, the Solar Radiation Physical Modeling (SRPM) models of the solar atmosphere only considered a few levels of this species. Here, we improve the Ni I atomic model by taking into account 61 levels and 490 spectral lines. We compute the populations of these levels in full NLTE using the SRPM code and compare the resulting emerging spectrum with observations. The present atomic model significantly improves the calculation of the solar spectral irradiance at near-UV wavelengths, which is important for Earth atmospheric studies, and particularly for ozone chemistry.

  16. Predicting Ionization Rates from SEP and Solar Wind Proton Precipitation into the Martian Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jolitz, R.; Dong, C.; Lee, C. O.; Curry, S.; Lillis, R. J.; Brain, D.; Halekas, J. S.; Larson, D. E.; Bougher, S. W.; Jakosky, B. M.

    2017-12-01

    Precipitating energetic particles ionize planetary atmospheres and increase total electron content. At Mars, the solar wind and solar energetic particles (SEPs) can precipitate directly into the atmosphere because solar wind protons can charge exchange to become neutrals and pass through the magnetosheath, while SEPs are sufficiently energetic to cross the magnetosheath unchanged. In this study we will present predicted ionization rates and resulting electron densities produced by solar wind and SEP proton ionization during nominal solar activity and a CME shock front impact event on May 16 2016. We will use the Atmospheric Scattering of Protons and Energetic Neutrals (ASPEN) model to compare ionization by SEP and solar wind protons currently measured by the SWIA (Solar Wind Ion Analyzer) and SEP instruments aboard the MAVEN spacecraft. Results will help to quantify how the ionosphere responds to extreme solar events during solar minimum.

  17. Atmospheric nitrous oxide produced by solar protons and relativistic electrons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prasad, S.S.; Zipf, E.C.

    1981-01-01

    An alternative means of nitric oxide production in the stratosphere to that of direct formation in the upper atmosphere by solar proton (SP) events and by relativistic electron precipitation (REP) events from the Earth's radiation belt, is described. It is suggested that nitrous oxide is produced in the mesosphere and then migrates downward and is converted in the stratosphere to NO by the reaction N 2 O + O( 1 D) → 2 NO. Such a process could amplify the direct NO production by >10%. Mesospheric nitrous oxide mixing ratios increase to values as high as 6 x 10 -7 due to REP- and SP- related production. Lateral transport will reduce these high values but mesospheric mixing ratios of N 2 O in the high latitudes would approach 10 -7 , considerably greater than those expected on the basis of theories which neglect REP- and SP-related production of this species. (U.K.)

  18. Upper atmospheric gravity wave details revealed in nightglow satellite imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Steven D.; Straka, William C.; Yue, Jia; Smith, Steven M.; Alexander, M. Joan; Hoffmann, Lars; Setvák, Martin; Partain, Philip T.

    2015-01-01

    Gravity waves (disturbances to the density structure of the atmosphere whose restoring forces are gravity and buoyancy) comprise the principal form of energy exchange between the lower and upper atmosphere. Wave breaking drives the mean upper atmospheric circulation, determining boundary conditions to stratospheric processes, which in turn influence tropospheric weather and climate patterns on various spatial and temporal scales. Despite their recognized importance, very little is known about upper-level gravity wave characteristics. The knowledge gap is mainly due to lack of global, high-resolution observations from currently available satellite observing systems. Consequently, representations of wave-related processes in global models are crude, highly parameterized, and poorly constrained, limiting the description of various processes influenced by them. Here we highlight, through a series of examples, the unanticipated ability of the Day/Night Band (DNB) on the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership environmental satellite to resolve gravity structures near the mesopause via nightglow emissions at unprecedented subkilometric detail. On moonless nights, the Day/Night Band observations provide all-weather viewing of waves as they modulate the nightglow layer located near the mesopause (∼90 km above mean sea level). These waves are launched by a variety of physical mechanisms, ranging from orography to convection, intensifying fronts, and even seismic and volcanic events. Cross-referencing the Day/Night Band imagery with conventional thermal infrared imagery also available helps to discern nightglow structures and in some cases to attribute their sources. The capability stands to advance our basic understanding of a critical yet poorly constrained driver of the atmospheric circulation. PMID:26630004

  19. Cometary X-rays : solar wind charge exchange in cometary atmospheres

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bodewits, Dennis

    2007-01-01

    The interaction of the solar wind with the planets and the interstellar medium is of key importance for the evolution of our solar system. The interaction with Earth's atmosphere is best known for the northern light. In case of Mars, the interaction with the solar wind might have lead to the erosion

  20. NIR-driven Moist Upper Atmospheres of Synchronously Rotating Temperate Terrestrial Exoplanets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujii, Yuka; Del Genio, Anthony D.; Amundsen, David S.

    2017-01-01

    H 2 O is a key molecule in characterizing atmospheres of temperate terrestrial planets, and observations of transmission spectra are expected to play a primary role in detecting its signatures in the near future. The detectability of H 2 O absorption features in transmission spectra depends on the abundance of water vapor in the upper part of the atmosphere. We study the three-dimensional distribution of atmospheric H 2 O for synchronously rotating Earth-sized aquaplanets using the general circulation model (GCM) ROCKE-3D, and examine the effects of total incident flux and stellar spectral type. We observe a more gentle increase of the water vapor mixing ratio in response to increased incident flux than one-dimensional models suggest, in qualitative agreement with the climate-stabilizing effect of clouds around the substellar point previously observed in GCMs applied to synchronously rotating planets. However, the water vapor mixing ratio in the upper atmosphere starts to increase while the surface temperature is still moderate. This is explained by the circulation in the upper atmosphere being driven by the radiative heating due to absorption by water vapor and cloud particles, causing efficient vertical transport of water vapor. Consistently, the water vapor mixing ratio is found to be well-correlated with the near-infrared portion of the incident flux. We also simulate transmission spectra based on the GCM outputs, and show that for the more highly irradiated planets, the H 2 O signatures may be strengthened by a factor of a few, loosening the observational demands for a H 2 O detection.

  1. Magnetospheric energy inputs into the upper atmospheres of the giant planets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. G. A. Smith

    2005-07-01

    Full Text Available We revisit the effects of Joule heating upon the upper atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn. We show that in addition to direct Joule heating there is an additional input of kinetic energy – ion drag energy – which we quantify relative to the Joule heating. We also show that fluctuations about the mean electric field, as observed in the Earth's ionosphere, may significantly increase the Joule heating itself. For physically plausible parameters these effects may increase previous estimates of the upper atmospheric energy input at Saturn from ~10 TW to ~20 TW.

    Keywords. Ionosphere (Electric fields and currents; Planetary ionosphere – Magnetospheric physics (Auroral phenomena

  2. Highlights from the First Ever Demographic Study of Solar Physics, Space Physics, and Upper Atmospheric Physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moldwin, M.; Morrow, C. A.; White, S. C.; Ivie, R.

    2014-12-01

    Members of the Education & Workforce Working Group and the American Institute of Physics (AIP) conducted the first ever National Demographic Survey of working professionals for the 2012 National Academy of Sciences Solar and Space Physics Decadal Survey to learn about the demographics of this sub-field of space science. The instrument contained questions for participants on: the type of workplace; basic demographic information regarding gender and minority status, educational pathways (discipline of undergrad degree, field of their PhD), how their undergraduate and graduate student researchers are funded, participation in NSF and NASA funded spaceflight missions and suborbital programs, and barriers to career advancement. Using contact data bases from AGU, the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division (AAS-SPD), attendees of NOAA's Space Weather Week and proposal submissions to NSF's Atmospheric, Geospace Science Division, the AIP's Statistical Research Center cross correlated and culled these data bases resulting in 2776 unique email addresses of US based working professionals. The survey received 1305 responses (51%) and generated 125 pages of single space answers to a number of open-ended questions. This talk will summarize the highlights of this first-ever demographic survey including findings extracted from the open-ended responses regarding barriers to career advancement which showed significant gender differences.

  3. First ever in situ observations of Venus' polar upper atmosphere density using the tracking data of the Venus Express Atmospheric Drag Experiment (VExADE)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblatt, P.; Bruinsma, S. L.; Müller-Wodarg, I. C. F.; Häusler, B.; Svedhem, H.; Marty, J. C.

    2012-02-01

    On its highly elliptical 24 h orbit around Venus, the Venus Express (VEX) spacecraft briefly reaches a periapsis altitude of nominally 250 km. Recently, however, dedicated and intense radio tracking campaigns have taken place in August 2008, October 2009, February and April 2010, for which the periapsis altitude was lowered to the 186-176 km altitude range in order to be able to probe the upper atmosphere of Venus above the North Pole for the first time ever in situ. As the spacecraft experiences atmospheric drag, its trajectory is measurably perturbed during the periapsis pass, allowing us to infer total atmospheric mass density at the periapsis altitude. A Precise Orbit Determination (POD) of the VEX motion is performed through an iterative least-squares fitting process to the Doppler tracking data, acquired by the VEX radioscience experiment (VeRa). The drag acceleration is modelled using an initial atmospheric density model (VTS3 model, Hedin, A.E., Niemann, H.B., Kasprzak, W.T., Seiff, A. [1983]. J. Geophys. Res. 88, 73-83). A scale factor of the drag acceleration is estimated for each periapsis pass, which scales Hedin's density model in order to best fit the radio tracking data. Reliable density scale factors have been obtained for 10 passes mainly from the second (October 2009) and third (April 2010) VExADE campaigns, which indicate a lower density by a factor of about 1.8 than Hedin's model predicts. These first ever in situ polar density measurements at solar minimum have allowed us to construct a diffusive equilibrium density model for Venus' thermosphere, constrained in the lower thermosphere primarily by SPICAV-SOIR measurements and above 175 km by the VExADE drag measurements (Müller-Wodarg et al., in preparation). The preliminary results of the VExADE campaigns show that it is possible to obtain with the POD technique reliable estimates of Venus' upper atmosphere densities at an altitude of around 175 km. Future VExADE campaigns will benefit from

  4. Dynamical Changes Induced by the Solar Proton Events in October-November 2003

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackman, C. H.; Roble, R. G.; Fleming, E. L.

    2006-05-01

    The very large solar storms in October-November 2003 caused solar proton events (SPEs) at the Earth and impacted the upper atmospheric polar cap regions. The Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Electrodynamic General Circulation Mode (TIME-GCM) was used to study the atmospheric dynamical influence of the solar protons that occurred in Oct-Nov 2003, the fourth largest period of SPEs measured in the past 40 years. The highly energetic solar protons caused ionization and changes in the electric field, which led to Joule heating of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. This heating led to temperature increases up to 4K in the upper mesosphere. The solar proton-induced ionization, as well as dissociation processes, led to the production of odd hydrogen (HOx) and odd nitrogen (NOy). Substantial (>40%) short-lived ozone decreases followed these enhancements of HOx and NOy and led to a cooling of the mesosphere and upper stratosphere. This cooling led to temperature decreases up to 2.5K. The solar proton-caused temperature changes led to maximum meridional and zonal wind variations of +/- 2 m/s on background winds up to +/- 30 m/s. The solar proton-induced wind perturbations were computed to taper off over a period of several days past the SPEs. Solar cycle 23 was accompanied by ten very large SPEs between 1998 and 2005, along with numerous smaller events. These solar proton-driven atmospheric variations need to be carefully considered when examining other polar changes.

  5. Trends in the Neutral and Ionized Upper Atmosphere

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Laštovička, Jan; Solomon, S.C.; Qian, L.

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 168, 1-4 (2012), s. 113-145 ISSN 0038-6308 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP209/10/1792 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : Global change * Long-term trends * Ionosphere * Upper atmosphere Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 5.519, year: 2012 http://www.springerlink.com/content/d4015w2q031q5048/fulltext.pdf

  6. The effects of solar particle events on the middle atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jackman, C.H.; Douglass, A.R.; Meade, P.E.

    1989-01-01

    Solar particle events (SPEs) have been investigated since the late 1960's for possible effects on the middle atmosphere. Solar protons from SPEs produce ionizations, dissociations, dissociative ionizations, and excitations in the middle atmosphere. The production of HO(x) and NO(x) and their subsequent effects on ozone can also be computed using energy deposition and photochemical models. The effects of SPE-produced HO(x) species on the odd nitrogen abundance of the middle atmosphere as well as the SPE-produced long term effects on ozone. Model computations indicate fairly good agreement with ozone data for the SPE-induced ozone depletion caused by NO(y) species connected with the August 1972 SPE. The model computations indicate that NO(y) will not be substantially changed over a solar cycle by SPEs. The changes are mainly at high latitudes and are on time scales of several months, after which the NO(y) drifts back to its ambient levels

  7. Automated Detection of Oscillating Regions in the Solar Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ireland, J.; Marsh, M. S.; Kucera, T. A.; Young, C. A.

    2010-01-01

    Recently observed oscillations in the solar atmosphere have been interpreted and modeled as magnetohydrodynamic wave modes. This has allowed for the estimation of parameters that are otherwise hard to derive, such as the coronal magnetic-field strength. This work crucially relies on the initial detection of the oscillations, which is commonly done manually. The volume of Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) data will make manual detection inefficient for detecting all of the oscillating regions. An algorithm is presented that automates the detection of areas of the solar atmosphere that support spatially extended oscillations. The algorithm identifies areas in the solar atmosphere whose oscillation content is described by a single, dominant oscillation within a user-defined frequency range. The method is based on Bayesian spectral analysis of time series and image filtering. A Bayesian approach sidesteps the need for an a-priori noise estimate to calculate rejection criteria for the observed signal, and it also provides estimates of oscillation frequency, amplitude, and noise, and the error in all of these quantities, in a self-consistent way. The algorithm also introduces the notion of quality measures to those regions for which a positive detection is claimed, allowing for simple post-detection discrimination by the user. The algorithm is demonstrated on two Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) datasets, and comments regarding its suitability for oscillation detection in SDO are made.

  8. Composition and structure of the martian upper atmosphere: analysis of results from viking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McElroy, M B; Kong, T Y; Yung, Y L; Nier, A O

    1976-12-11

    Densities for carbon dioxide measured by the upper atmospheric mass spectrometers on Viking 1 and Viking 2 are analyzed to yield height profiles for the temperature of the martian atmosphere between 120 and 200 kilometers. Densities for nitrogen and argon are used to derive vertical profiles for the eddy diffusion coefficient over the same height range. The upper atmosphere of Mars is surprisingly cold with average temperatures for both Viking 1 and Viking 2 of less than 200 degrees K, and there is significant vertical structure. Model calculations are presented and shown to be in good agreement with measured concentrations of carbon monoxide, oxygen, and nitric oxide.

  9. INSTRUMENTATION FOR MEASURING AND TRANSMISSION THE SOLAR RADIATION THROUGH EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandru Dan Toma

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The Sun's energy is distributed over a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum and Sun behaves approximately like a "blackbody" radiating at a temperature of about 5800 K with maximum output in the green-yellow part of the visible spectrum, around 500 nm. Not all solar radiation reaching the top of the atmosphere reaches Earth's surface due to a various optical phenomena in regard to solar radiation crossing the Earth’s atmosphere. In order to investigate them, there are two general categories of instruments used to measure the transmission of solar radiation through Earth's atmosphere: instruments that measure radiation from the entire sky and instruments that measure only direct solar radiation. Within each of these categories, instruments can be further subdivided into those that measure radiation over a broad range of wavelengths and those that measure only specific wavelengths.

  10. NIR-driven Moist Upper Atmospheres of Synchronously Rotating Temperate Terrestrial Exoplanets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fujii, Yuka; Del Genio, Anthony D.; Amundsen, David S. [NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY (United States)

    2017-10-20

    H{sub 2}O is a key molecule in characterizing atmospheres of temperate terrestrial planets, and observations of transmission spectra are expected to play a primary role in detecting its signatures in the near future. The detectability of H{sub 2}O absorption features in transmission spectra depends on the abundance of water vapor in the upper part of the atmosphere. We study the three-dimensional distribution of atmospheric H{sub 2}O for synchronously rotating Earth-sized aquaplanets using the general circulation model (GCM) ROCKE-3D, and examine the effects of total incident flux and stellar spectral type. We observe a more gentle increase of the water vapor mixing ratio in response to increased incident flux than one-dimensional models suggest, in qualitative agreement with the climate-stabilizing effect of clouds around the substellar point previously observed in GCMs applied to synchronously rotating planets. However, the water vapor mixing ratio in the upper atmosphere starts to increase while the surface temperature is still moderate. This is explained by the circulation in the upper atmosphere being driven by the radiative heating due to absorption by water vapor and cloud particles, causing efficient vertical transport of water vapor. Consistently, the water vapor mixing ratio is found to be well-correlated with the near-infrared portion of the incident flux. We also simulate transmission spectra based on the GCM outputs, and show that for the more highly irradiated planets, the H{sub 2}O signatures may be strengthened by a factor of a few, loosening the observational demands for a H{sub 2}O detection.

  11. Elemental composition and ionization state of the solar atmosphere and solar wind

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joselyn, J.A.C.

    1978-01-01

    Abundance measurements have always proved useful in generating and refining astrophysical theories. Some of the classical problems of astrophysics involve determining the relative abundances of elements in the atmosphere of a star from observations of its line spectrum, and then synthesizing the physical processes which would produce such abundances. Theories of the formation of the solar system are critically tested by their ability to explain observed abundances, and, elemental abundances can serve as tracers, helping to determine the origin and transport of ions. Since the solar wind originates at the sun, it can act as a diagnostic probe of solar conditions. In particular, measurements of the composition of the solar wind should be related to the solar composition. And, assuming ionization equilibrium, measurements of the relative abundances of the ionization states in the solar wind should infer coronal temperatures and temperature gradients. However, most spherically symmetric models of the solar wind are unable to explain the relationship between the composition estimated from solar observations and as measured at 1 AU; and, recent observations of significant flow speeds in the transition region raise doubts about the validity of the assumption of ionization equilibrium

  12. Instrument development for atmospheric radiation measurement (ARM): Status of the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer - extended Resolution (AERI-X), the Solar Radiance Transmission Interferometer (SORTI), and the Absolute Solar Transmission Inferometer (ASTI)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murcray, F.; Stephen, T.; Kosters, J. [Univ. of Denver, CO (United States)

    1996-04-01

    This paper describes three instruments currently under developemnt for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program at the University of Denver: the AERI-X (Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer-Extended Resolution) and the SORTI (Solar R adiance Transmission Interferometer), and ASTI (Absolute Solar transmission Interferometer).

  13. The microwave limb sounder for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waters, J. W.; Peckham, G. E.; Suttie, R. A.; Curtis, P. D.; Maddison, B. J.; Harwood, R. S.

    1988-01-01

    The Microwave Limb Sounder was designed to map the concentrations of trace gases from the stratosphere to the lower thermosphere, to improve understanding of the photochemical reactions which take place in this part of the atmosphere. The instrument will measure the intensity of thermal radiation from molecules in the atmosphere at frequencies corresponding to rotational absorption bands of chlorine monoxide, ozone, and water vapor. Molecular concentration profiles will be determined over a height range of 15 to 80 km (20 to 45 km for C10). The 57 deg inclination orbit proposed for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite will allow global coverage.

  14. Solar system astrophysics planetary atmospheres and the outer solar system

    CERN Document Server

    Milone, Eugene F

    2008-01-01

    Solar System Astrophysics opens with coverage of the atmospheres, ionospheres and magnetospheres of the Earth, Venus and Mars and the magnetosphere of Mercury. The book then provides an introduction to meteorology and treating the physics and chemistry of these areas in considerable detail. What follows are the structure, composition, particle environments, satellites, and rings of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, making abundant use of results from space probes. Solar System Astrophysics follows the history, orbits, structure, origin and demise of comets and the physics of meteors and provides a thorough treatment of meteorites, the asteroids and, in the outer solar system, the Kuiper Belt objects. The methods and results of extrasolar planet searches, the distinctions between stars, brown dwarfs, and planets, and the origins of planetary systems are examined. Historical introductions precede the development and discussion in most chapters. A series of challenges, useful as homework assignments or as foc...

  15. Atmospheric effects on the photovoltaic performance of hybrid perovskite solar cells

    KAUST Repository

    Sheikh, Arif D.

    2015-06-01

    Organometal trihalide perovskite solar cells have recently attracted lots of attention in the photovoltaic community due to their escalating efficiency and solution processability. The most efficient organometallic mixed-halide sensitized solar cells often employ 2,2′7,7′-tetrakis-(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenyl-amine)-9,9′-spirobifluorene (spiro-MeOTAD) as the hole-transporting material. In this work, we investigated the effect of different atmospheric storage conditions, particularly vacuum, dry nitrogen, and dry air, on the photovoltaic performance of TiO2-CH3NH3PbI3-xClx-spiro-MeOTAD solar cells. We found that spin coating of spiro-MeOTAD in an oxygen atmosphere alone was not adequate to functionalize its hole-transport property completely, and our systematic experiments revealed that the device efficiency depends on the ambient atmospheric conditions during the drying process of spiro-MeOTAD. Complementary incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE), light absorption and photoluminescence quenching measurements allowed us to attribute the atmosphere-dependent efficiency to the improved electronic characteristics of the solar cells. Furthermore, our Fourier transform infrared and electrical impedance measurements unambiguously detected modifications in the spiro-MeOTAD after the drying processes in different gas environments. Our findings demonstrate that proper oxidization and p-doping in functionalizing spiro-MeOTAD play a very critical role in determining device performance. These findings will facilitate the search for alternative hole-transporting materials in high-performance perovskite solar cells with long-term stability.

  16. The Application of Satellite Borne Accelerometer Data to the Study of Upper Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, H. B.

    2010-10-01

    The thesis studies some issues on the upper atmosphere based on the accelerometer data of CHAMP and GRACE-A/B satellites (Reigber et al. 2001, Tapley et al. 2004). The total atmospheric densities from 2002 to 2008 are computed from accelerometer measurements. Then the accuracies of three empirical density models such as CIRA72, DTM94 and NRLMSISE00 are evaluated. It shows that the mean errors of these models are about 22%, 26% and 27%, respectively. All of them underestimated the densities. For the years of Solar maximum (2002-2003), the models' errors exceed 30%, while for the years of Solar minimum (2007-2008), the errors are less than 15%. Three characteristics of density variation are studied, such as diurnal variation, seasonal variation and semi-annual variation. The results are: (1) The diurnal-amplitude in low-latitude region is about 1.3 at 470 km and 0.8 at 370 km. (2) The seasonal-amplitude is about 0.6 in the 60 degree region and 0.3 in the 30 degree region. (3) The semi-annual variation is related to the solar radiation. The stronger the radiation is, the greater the semi-annual-amplitude is. For example, it is about 0.32 with strong solar radiation and 0.20 with weak solar radiation. The effects of various solar indices on the model accuracy are also studied. It is shown that E10.7 could reduce the mean errors of models about 20%, and S10, Mg10, Y10 could reduce the standard deviations of models about 5%. To study the density response to magnetic storms, 52 storm events from 2003 to 2007 (ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/GEOMAGNETIC_DATA/INDICES/KP_AP) are chosen as examples. It is deduced that the index Dst is more suitable to describe the density variation than index Ap. The first response of density during the storm is very fast. In about 15 minutes after the storm onset, the density around the north and south poles would enhance about 40%~70%. However, the disturbance would take 2~6 hours to travel to the equator region. It is also found that the

  17. Temperature variations in Titan's upper atmosphere: Impact on Cassini/Huygens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Kazeminejad

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available Temperature variations of Titan's upper atmosphere due to the plasma interaction of the satellite with Saturn's magnetosphere and Titan's high altitude monomer haze particles can imply an offset of up to ±30K from currently estimated model profiles. We incorporated these temperature uncertainties as an offset into the recently published Vervack et al. (2004 (Icarus, Vol. 170, 91-112 engineering model and derive extreme case (i.e. minimum and maximum profiles temperature, pressure, and density profiles. We simulated the Huygens probe hypersonic entry trajectory and obtain, as expected, deviations of the probe trajectory for the extreme atmosphere models compared to the simulation based on the nominal one. These deviations are very similar to the ones obtained with the standard Yelle et al. (1997 (ESA SP-1177 profiles. We could confirm that the difference in aerodynamic drag is of an order of magnitude that can be measured by the probe science accelerometer. They represent an important means for the reconstruction of Titan's upper atmospheric properties. Furthermore, we simulated a Cassini low Titan flyby trajectory. No major trajectory deviations were found. The atmospheric torques due to aerodynamic drag, however, are twice as high for our high temperature profile as the ones obtained with the Yelle maximum profile and more than 5 times higher than the worst case estimations from the Cassini project. We propose to use the Cassini atmospheric torque measurements during its low flybys to derive the atmospheric drag and to reconstruct Titan's upper atmosphere density, pressure, and temperature. The results could then be compared to the reconstructed profiles obtained from Huygens probe measurements. This would help to validate the probe measurements and decrease the error bars.

  18. Calculated Resonance Line Profiles of [Mg II], [C II], and [Si IV] in the Solar Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avrett, E.; Landi, E.; McKillop, S.

    2013-12-01

    NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph space mission, launched 2013 June 27, is intended to study the structure of the solar chromosphere and the transition region between the chromosphere and corona. The spectral lines to be observed include the Mg II k line at 2796.5 Å, the C II 1334.5 Å line, and the Si IV line at 1393.8 Å, which are formed in the middle chromosphere, the upper chromosphere, and the lower transition region, respectively. Here we calculate the profiles of these lines from four models of the solar atmosphere, intended to represent the faint and mean internetwork, a network lane, and bright network. We show how the profiles change from the center of the solar disk toward the limb of the Sun and in response to outflows and inflows. These results are intended to cover the range of expected quiet-Sun observations and assist in their interpretation. We expect that the observations will lead to improvements in the models, which can then be used to estimate the required non-radiative heating in the different regions.

  19. Calculated resonance line profiles of [Mg II], [C II], and [Si IV] in the solar atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avrett, E.; McKillop, S.; Landi, E.

    2013-01-01

    NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph space mission, launched 2013 June 27, is intended to study the structure of the solar chromosphere and the transition region between the chromosphere and corona. The spectral lines to be observed include the Mg II k line at 2796.5 Å, the C II 1334.5 Å line, and the Si IV line at 1393.8 Å, which are formed in the middle chromosphere, the upper chromosphere, and the lower transition region, respectively. Here we calculate the profiles of these lines from four models of the solar atmosphere, intended to represent the faint and mean internetwork, a network lane, and bright network. We show how the profiles change from the center of the solar disk toward the limb of the Sun and in response to outflows and inflows. These results are intended to cover the range of expected quiet-Sun observations and assist in their interpretation. We expect that the observations will lead to improvements in the models, which can then be used to estimate the required non-radiative heating in the different regions.

  20. The Long-term Middle Atmospheric Influence of Very Large Solar Proton Events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackman, Charles H.; Marsh, Daniel R.; Vitt, Francis M.; Garcia, Rolando R.; Randall, Cora E.; Fleming, Eric L.; Frith, Stacey M.

    2008-01-01

    Long-term variations in ozone have been caused by both natural and humankind related processes. The humankind or anthropogenic influence on ozone originates from the chlorofluorocarbons and halons (chlorine and bromine) and has led to international regulations greatly limiting the release of these substances. Certain natural ozone influences are also important in polar regions and are caused by the impact of solar charged particles on the atmosphere. Such natural variations have been studied in order to better quantify the human influence on polar ozone. Large-scale explosions on the Sun near solar maximum lead to emissions of charged particles (mainly protons and electrons), some of which enter the Earth's magnetosphere and rain down on the polar regions. "Solar proton events" have been used to describe these phenomena since the protons associated with these solar events sometimes create a significant atmospheric disturbance. We have used the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) to study the long-term (> few months) influences of solar proton events from 1963 through 2004 on stratospheric ozone and temperature. There were extremely large solar proton events in 1972, 1989,2000,2001, and 2003. These events caused very distinctive polar changes in layers of the Earth's atmosphere known as the stratosphere (12-50 km; -7-30 miles) and mesosphere (50-90 km; 30-55 miles). The solar protons connected with these events created hydrogen- and nitrogen-containing compounds, which led to the polar ozone destruction. The nitrogen-containing compounds, called odd nitrogen, lasted much longer than the hydrogen-containing compounds and led to long-lived stratospheric impacts. An extremely active period for these events occurred in the five-year period, 2000- 2004, and caused increases in odd nitrogen which lasted for several months after individual events. Associated stratospheric ozone decreases of >lo% were calculated

  1. The Solar-Terrestrial Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hargreaves, John Keith

    1995-05-01

    The book begins with three introductory chapters that provide some basic physics and explain the principles of physical investigation. The principal material contained in the main part of the book covers the neutral and ionized upper atmosphere, the magnetosphere, and structures, dynamics, disturbances, and irregularities. The concluding chapter deals with technological applications. The account is introductory, at a level suitable for readers with a basic background in engineering or physics. The intent is to present basic concepts, and for that reason, the mathematical treatment is not complex. SI units are given throughout, with helpful notes on cgs units where these are likely to be encountered in the research literature. This book is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students who are taking introductory courses on upper atmospheric, ionospheric, or magnetospheric physics. This is a successor to The Upper Atmosphere and Solar-Terrestrial Relations, published in 1979.

  2. Dynamical Changes Induced by the Very Large Solar Proton Events in October-November 2003

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackman, Charles H.; Roble, Raymond G.

    2006-01-01

    The very large solar storms in October-November 2003 caused solar proton events (SPEs) at the Earth and impacted the upper atmospheric polar cap regions. The Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Electrodynamic General Circulation Mode (TIME-GCM) was used to study the atmospheric dynamical influence of the solar protons that occurred in Oct-Nov 2003, the fourth largest period of SPEs measured in the past 40 years. The highly energetic solar protons caused ionization and changes in the electric field, which led to Joule heating of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. This heating led to temperature increases up to 4K in the upper mesosphere. The solar proton-induced ionization, as well as dissociation processes, led to the production of odd hydrogen (HO(x)) and odd nitrogen (NO(y)). Substantial (>40%) short-lived ozone decreases followed these enhancements of HO(x) and NO(y) and led to a cooling of the mesosphere and upper stratosphere. This cooling led to temperature decreases up to 2.5K. The solar proton-caused temperature changes led to maximum meridional and zonal wind variations of +/- 2 m/s on background winds up to +/- 30 m/s. The solar proton-induced wind perturbations were computed to taper off over a period of several days past the SPEs. Solar cycle 23 was accompanied by ten very large SPEs between 1998 and 2005, along with numerous smaller events. These solar proton-driven atmospheric variations need to be carefully considered when examining other polar changes.

  3. ISAMS and MLS for NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Llewellyn-Jones, D.; Dickinson, P. H. G.

    1990-04-01

    The primary goal of NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), planned to be launched in 1991, is to compile data about the structure and behavior of the stratospheric ozone layer, and especially about the threat of the chlorine-based pollutants to its stablility. Two of the payload instruments, manufactured in the UK, are described: the Improved Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (ISAMS), a radiometer designed to measure thermal emission from selected atmospheric constituents at the earth's limb, then making it possible to obtain nearly global coverage of the vertical distribution of temperature and composition from 80 deg S to 80 deg N latitude; and the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), a limb sounding radiometer, measuring atmospheric thermal emission from selected molecular spectral lines at mm wavelength, in the frequency regions of 63, 183, and 205 GHz.

  4. Atmospheric solar heating rate in the water vapor bands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chou, Ming-Dah

    1986-01-01

    The total absorption of solar radiation by water vapor in clear atmospheres is parameterized as a simple function of the scaled water vapor amount. For applications to cloudy and hazy atmospheres, the flux-weighted k-distribution functions are computed for individual absorption bands and for the total near-infrared region. The parameterization is based upon monochromatic calculations and follows essentially the scaling approximation of Chou and Arking, but the effect of temperature variation with height is taken into account in order to enhance the accuracy. Furthermore, the spectral range is extended to cover the two weak bands centered at 0.72 and 0.82 micron. Comparisons with monochromatic calculations show that the atmospheric heating rate and the surface radiation can be accurately computed from the parameterization. Comparisons are also made with other parameterizations. It is found that the absorption of solar radiation can be computed reasonably well using the Goody band model and the Curtis-Godson approximation.

  5. SUMS preliminary design and data analysis development. [shuttle upper atmosphere mass spectrometer experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinson, E. W.

    1981-01-01

    The preliminary analysis and data analysis system development for the shuttle upper atmosphere mass spectrometer (SUMS) experiment are discussed. The SUMS experiment is designed to provide free stream atmospheric density, pressure, temperature, and mean molecular weight for the high altitude, high Mach number region.

  6. The SOLAR-C Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suematsu, Y.

    2015-12-01

    The Solar-C is a Japan-led international solar mission planned to be launched in mid2020. It is designed to investigate the magnetic activities of the Sun, focusing on the study in heating and dynamical phenomena of the chromosphere and corona, and also to develop an algorithm for predicting short and long term solar evolution. Since it has been revealed that the different parts of the magnetized solar atmosphere are essentially coupled, the SOLAR-C should tackle the spatial scales and temperature regimes that need to be observed in order to achieve a comprehensive physical understanding of this coupling. The science of Solar-C will greatly advance our understanding of the Sun, of basic physical processes operating throughout the universe. To dramatically improve the situation, SOLAR-C will carry three dedicated instruments; the Solar UV-Vis-IR Telescope (SUVIT), the EUV Spectroscopic Telescope (EUVST) and the High Resolution Coronal Imager (HCI), to jointly observe the entire visible solar atmosphere with essentially the same high spatial resolution (0.1-0.3 arcsec), performing high resolution spectroscopic measurements over all atmospheric regions and spectro-polarimetric measurements from the photosphere through the upper chromosphere. In addition, Solar-C will contribute to our understanding on the influence of the Sun-Earth environments with synergetic wide-field observations from ground-based and other space missions. Some leading science objectives and the mission concept, including designs of the three instruments aboard SOLAR-C will be presented.

  7. Absorption of solar energy heats up our planet's surface and the atmosphere and makes life for us po

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-01-01

    Credit: Image courtesy Barbara Summey, NASA Goddard Visualization Analysis Lab, based upon data processed by Takmeng Wong, CERES Science Team, NASA Langley Research Center Satellite: Terra Sensor: CERES Image Date: 09-30-2001 VE Record ID: 11546 Description: Absorption of solar energy heats up our planet's surface and the atmosphere and makes life for us possible. But the energy cannot stay bound up in the Earth's environment forever. If it did then the Earth would be as hot as the Sun. Instead, as the surface and the atmosphere warm, they emit thermal longwave radiation, some of which escapes into space and allows the Earth to cool. This false-color image of the Earth was produced on September 30, 2001, by the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument flying aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft. The image shows where more or less heat, in the form of longwave radiation, is emanating from the top of Earth's atmosphere. As one can see in the image, the thermal radiation leaving the oceans is fairly uniform. The blue swaths across the central Pacific represent thick clouds, the tops of which are so high they are among the coldest places on Earth. In the American Southwest, which can be seen in the upper righthand corner of the globe, there is often little cloud cover to block outgoing radiation and relatively little water to absorb solar energy. Consequently, the amount of outgoing radiation in the American Southwest exceeds that of the oceans. Also, that region was experiencing an extreme heatwave when these data were acquired. Recently, NASA researchers discovered that incoming solar radiation and outgoing thermal radiation increased in the tropics from the 1980s to the 1990s. (Click to read the press release .) They believe that the reason for the unexpected increase has to do with an apparent change in circulation patterns around the globe, which effectively reduced the amount of water vapor and cloud cover in the upper reaches of the atmosphere

  8. Statistical equilibrium of copper in the solar atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shi, J. R.; Mashonkina, L.; Zhao, G.; Gehren, T.; Zeng, J. L.

    2014-01-01

    Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) line formation for neutral copper in the one-dimensional solar atmospheres is presented for the atomic model, including 96 terms of Cu I and the ground state of Cu II. The accurate oscillator strengths for all the line transitions in model atom and photoionization cross sections were calculated using the R-matrix method in the Russell-Saunders coupling scheme. The main NLTE mechanism for Cu I is the ultraviolet overionization. We find that NLTE leads to systematically depleted total absorption in the Cu I lines and, accordingly, positive abundance corrections. Inelastic collisions with neutral hydrogen atoms produce minor effects on the statistical equilibrium of Cu I in the solar atmosphere. For the solar Cu I lines, the departures from LTE are found to be small, the mean NLTE abundance correction of ∼0.01 dex. It was found that the six low-excitation lines, with excitation energy of the lower level E exc ≤ 1.64 eV, give a 0.14 dex lower mean solar abundance compared to that from the six E exc > 3.7 eV lines, when applying experimental gf-values of Kock and Richter. Without the two strong resonance transitions, the solar mean NLTE abundance from 10 lines of Cu I is log ε ☉ (Cu) = 4.19 ± 0.10, which is consistent within the error bars with the meteoritic value 4.25 ± 0.05 of Lodders et al. The discrepancy between E exc = 1.39-1.64 eV and E exc > 3.7 eV lines can be removed when the calculated gf-values are adopted and a mean solar abundance of log ε ☉ (Cu) = 4.24 ± 0.08 is derived.

  9. THE FORMATION OF IRIS DIAGNOSTICS. II. THE FORMATION OF THE Mg II h and k LINES IN THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leenaarts, J.; Pereira, T. M. D.; Carlsson, M.; De Pontieu, B. [Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1029 Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo (Norway); Uitenbroek, H., E-mail: jorritl@astro.uio.no, E-mail: tiago.pereira@astro.uio.no, E-mail: mats.carlsson@astro.uio.no, E-mail: bdp@lmsal.com, E-mail: huitenbroek@nso.edu [NSO/Sacramento Peak P.O. Box 62 Sunspot, NM 88349-0062 (United States)

    2013-08-01

    NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) small explorer mission will study how the solar atmosphere is energized. IRIS contains an imaging spectrograph that covers the Mg II h and k lines as well as a slit-jaw imager centered at Mg II k. Understanding the observations requires forward modeling of Mg II h and k line formation from three-dimensional (3D) radiation-magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) models. This paper is the second in a series where we undertake this modeling. We compute the vertically emergent h and k intensity from a snapshot of a dynamic 3D RMHD model of the solar atmosphere, and investigate which diagnostic information about the atmosphere is contained in the synthetic line profiles. We find that the Doppler shift of the central line depression correlates strongly with the vertical velocity at optical depth unity, which is typically located less than 200 km below the transition region (TR). By combining the Doppler shifts of the h and k lines we can retrieve the sign of the velocity gradient just below the TR. The intensity in the central line depression is anti-correlated with the formation height, especially in subfields of a few square Mm. This intensity could thus be used to measure the spatial variation of the height of the TR. The intensity in the line-core emission peaks correlates with the temperature at its formation height, especially for strong emission peaks. The peaks can thus be exploited as a temperature diagnostic. The wavelength difference between the blue and red peaks provides a diagnostic of the velocity gradients in the upper chromosphere. The intensity ratio of the blue and red peaks correlates strongly with the average velocity in the upper chromosphere. We conclude that the Mg II h and k lines are excellent probes of the very upper chromosphere just below the TR, a height regime that is impossible to probe with other spectral lines. They also provide decent temperature and velocity diagnostics of the middle

  10. Toward a New Capability for Upper Atmospheric Research using Atomic Oxygen Lidar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clemmons, J. H.; Steinvurzel, P.; Mu, X.; Beck, S. M.; Lotshaw, W. T.; Rose, T. S.; Hecht, J. H.; Westberg, K. R.; Larsen, M. F.; Chu, X.; Fritts, D. C.

    2017-12-01

    Progress on development of a lidar system for probing the upper atmosphere based on atomic oxygen resonance is presented and discussed. The promise of a fully-developed atomic oxygen lidar system, which must be based in space to measure the upper atmosphere, for yielding comprehensive new insights is discussed in terms of its potential to deliver global, height-resolved measurements of winds, temperature, and density at a high cadence. An overview of the system is given, and its measurement principles are described, including its use of 1) a two-photon transition to keep the optical depth low; 2) laser tuning to provide the Doppler information needed to measure winds; and 3) laser tuning to provide a Boltzmann temperature measurement. The current development status is presented with a focus on what has been done to demonstrate capability in the laboratory and its evolution to a funded sounding rocket investigation designed to make measurements of three-dimensional turbulence in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere.

  11. Trends in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere: Recent progress

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Laštovička, Jan

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 118, č. 6 (2013), s. 3924-3935 ISSN 2169-9380 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP209/10/1792; GA MŠk LD12070 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : Long-term trends * upper atmosphere * ionosphere Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 3.440, year: 2013 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jgra.50341/abstract

  12. Convenient models of the atmosphere: optics and solar radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexander, Ginsburg; Victor, Frolkis; Irina, Melnikova; Sergey, Novikov; Dmitriy, Samulenkov; Maxim, Sapunov

    2017-11-01

    Simple optical models of clear and cloudy atmosphere are proposed. Four versions of atmospheric aerosols content are considered: a complete lack of aerosols in the atmosphere, low background concentration (500 cm-3), high concentrations (2000 cm-3) and very high content of particles (5000 cm-3). In a cloud scenario, the model of external mixture is assumed. The values of optical thickness and single scattering albedo for 13 wavelengths are calculated in the short wavelength range of 0.28-0.90 µm, with regard to the molecular absorption bands, that is simulated with triangle function. A comparison of the proposed optical parameters with results of various measurements and retrieval (lidar measurement, sampling, processing radiation measurements) is presented. For a cloudy atmosphere models of single-layer and two-layer atmosphere are proposed. It is found that cloud optical parameters with assuming the "external mixture" agrees with retrieved values from airborne observations. The results of calculating hemispherical fluxes of the reflected and transmitted solar radiation and the radiative divergence are obtained with the Delta-Eddington approach. The calculation is done for surface albedo values of 0, 0.5, 0.9 and for spectral values of the sandy surface. Four values of solar zenith angle: 0°, 30°, 40° and 60° are taken. The obtained values are compared with data of radiative airborne observations. Estimating the local instantaneous radiative forcing of atmospheric aerosols and clouds for considered models is presented together with the heating rate.

  13. The upper atmosphere of Venus: A tentative explanation of its rotation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyer, C.

    1986-01-01

    The upper atmosphere of Venus seems to revolve every 4 days, while the planet rotates in 243 days. Mariner 10 UV data on the changing positions of dark spots in the upper Venusian clouds have supported estimations of speeds ranging from 120-240 m/s. High rates of acceleration and deceleration occur on the night side, the former between -110 to -90 deg and the latter continuing to -50 deg. Arch and Y formations have been seen repeatedly between -110 to -70 deg. The highest are seen at about -90 deg and the lowest at about -30 deg. The temperature of the cloud layer at 60 km altitude is about 20 C, the pressure is nearly one earth atmosphere, and complex molecules, including O, C, H, N and S and combinations of these are present in abundance.

  14. Titan's hydrodynamically escaping atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strobel, Darrell F.

    2008-02-01

    The upper atmosphere of Titan is currently losing mass at a rate ˜(4-5)×10 amus, by hydrodynamic escape as a high density, slow outward expansion driven principally by solar UV heating by CH 4 absorption. The hydrodynamic mass loss is essentially CH 4 and H 2 escape. Their combined escape rates are restricted by power limitations from attaining their limiting rates (and limiting fluxes). Hence they must exhibit gravitational diffusive separation in the upper atmosphere with increasing mixing ratios to eventually become major constituents in the exosphere. A theoretical model with solar EUV heating by N 2 absorption balanced by HCN rotational line cooling in the upper thermosphere yields densities and temperatures consistent with the Huygens Atmospheric Science Investigation (HASI) data [Fulchignoni, M., and 42 colleagues, 2005. Nature 438, 785-791], with a peak temperature of ˜185-190 K between 3500-3550 km. This model implies hydrodynamic escape rates of ˜2×10 CHs and 5×10 Hs, or some other combination with a higher H 2 escape flux, much closer to its limiting value, at the expense of a slightly lower CH 4 escape rate. Nonthermal escape processes are not required to account for the loss rates of CH 4 and H 2, inferred by the Cassini Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) measurements [Yelle, R.V., Borggren, N., de la Haye, V., Kasprzak, W.T., Niemann, H.B., Müller-Wodarg, I., Waite Jr., J.H., 2006. Icarus 182, 567-576].

  15. Martian Atmospheric and Ionospheric plasma Escape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lundin, Rickard

    2016-04-01

    Solar forcing is responsible for the heating, ionization, photochemistry, and erosion processes in the upper atmosphere throughout the lifetime of the terrestrial planets. Of the four terrestrial planets, the Earth is the only one with a fully developed biosphere, while our kin Venus and Mars have evolved into arid inhabitable planets. As for Mars, there are ample evidences for an early Noachian, water rich period on Mars. The question is, what made Mars evolve so differently compared to the Earth? Various hydrosphere and atmospheric evolution scenarios for Mars have been forwarded based on surface morphology, chemical composition, simulations, semi-empiric (in-situ data) models, and the long-term evolution of the Sun. Progress has been made, but the case is still open regarding the changes that led to the present arid surface and tenuous atmosphere at Mars. This presentation addresses the long-term variability of the Sun, the solar forcing impact on the Martian atmosphere, and its interaction with the space environment - an electromagnetic wave and particle interaction with the upper atmosphere that has implications for its photochemistry, composition, and energization that governs thermal and non-thermal escape. Non-thermal escape implies an electromagnetic upward energization of planetary ions and molecules to velocities above escape velocity, a process governed by a combination of solar EUV radiation (ionization), and energy and momentum transfer by the solar wind. The ion escape issue dates back to the early Soviet and US-missions to Mars, but the first more accurate estimates of escape rates came with the Phobos-2 mission in 1989. Better-quality ion composition measurement results of atmospheric/ionospheric ion escape from Mars, obtained from ESA Mars Express (MEX) instruments, have improved our understanding of the ion escape mechanism. With the NASA MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars since Sept. 2014, dual in-situ measurement with plasma instruments are now

  16. Ground-based Observations for the Upper Atmosphere at King Sejong Station, Antarctica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jee, Geonhwa; Kim, Jeong-Han; Lee, Changsup; Kim, Yong Ha

    2014-06-01

    Since the operation of the King Sejong Station (KSS) started in Antarctic Peninsula in 1989, there have been continuous efforts to perform the observation for the upper atmosphere. The observations during the initial period of the station include Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI) and Michelson Interferometer for the mesosphere and thermosphere, which are no longer in operation. In 2002, in collaboration with York University, Canada, the Spectral Airglow Temperature Imager (SATI) was installed to observe the temperature in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region and it has still been producing the mesopause temperature data until present. The observation was extended by installing the meteor radar in 2007 to observe the neutral winds and temperature in the MLT region during the day and night in collaboration with Chungnam National University. We also installed the all sky camera in 2008 to observe the wave structures in the MLT region. All these observations are utilized to study on the physical characteristics of the MLT region and also on the wave phenomena such as the tide and gravity wave in the upper atmosphere over KSS that is well known for the strong gravity wave activity. In this article, brief introductions for the currently operating instruments at KSS will be presented with their applications for the study of the upper atmosphere

  17. Ground-based Observations for the Upper Atmosphere at King Sejong Station, Antarctica

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geonhwa Jee

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Since the operation of the King Sejong Station (KSS started in Antarctic Peninsula in 1989, there have been continuous efforts to perform the observation for the upper atmosphere. The observations during the initial period of the station include Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI and Michelson Interferometer for the mesosphere and thermosphere, which are no longer in operation. In 2002, in collaboration with York University, Canada, the Spectral Airglow Temperature Imager (SATI was installed to observe the temperature in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT region and it has still been producing the mesopause temperature data until present. The observation was extended by installing the meteor radar in 2007 to observe the neutral winds and temperature in the MLT region during the day and night in collaboration with Chungnam National University. We also installed the all sky camera in 2008 to observe the wave structures in the MLT region. All these observations are utilized to study on the physical characteristics of the MLT region and also on the wave phenomena such as the tide and gravity wave in the upper atmosphere over KSS that is well known for the strong gravity wave activity. In this article, brief introductions for the currently operating instruments at KSS will be presented with their applications for the study of the upper atmosphere.

  18. Simulated solar cycle effects on the middle atmosphere: WACCM3 Versus WACCM4

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peck, E. D.; Randall, C. E.; Harvey, V. L.; Marsh, D. R.

    2015-06-01

    The Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model version 4 (WACCM4) is used to quantify solar cycle impacts, including both irradiance and particle precipitation, on the middle atmosphere. Results are compared to previous work using WACCM version 3 (WACCM3) to estimate the sensitivity of simulated solar cycle effects to model modifications. The residual circulation in WACCM4 is stronger than in WACCM3, leading to larger solar cycle effects from energetic particle precipitation; this impacts polar stratospheric odd nitrogen and ozone, as well as polar mesospheric temperatures. The cold pole problem, which is present in both versions, is exacerbated in WACCM4, leading to more ozone loss in the Antarctic stratosphere. Relative to WACCM3, a westerly shift in the WACCM4 zonal winds in the tropical stratosphere and mesosphere, and a strengthening and poleward shift of the Antarctic polar night jet, are attributed to inclusion of the QBO and changes in the gravity wave parameterization in WACCM4. Solar cycle effects in WACCM3 and WACCM4 are qualitatively similar. However, the EPP-induced increase from solar minimum to solar maximum in polar stratospheric NOy is about twice as large in WACCM4 as in WACCM3; correspondingly, maximum increases in polar O3 loss from solar min to solar max are more than twice as large in WACCM4. This does not cause large differences in the WACCM3 versus WACCM4 solar cycle responses in temperature and wind. Overall, these results provide a framework for future studies using WACCM to analyze the impacts of the solar cycle on the middle atmosphere.

  19. New upper limits for atmospheric constituents on Io

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fink, U.; Larson, H. P.; Gautier, T. N., III

    1976-01-01

    A spectrum of Io from 0.86 to 2.7 microns with a resolution of 3.36 per cm and a signal to rms noise ratio of 120 is presented. No absorptions due to any atmospheric constituents on Io could be found in the spectrum. Upper limits of 0.12 cm-atm for NH3, 0.12 cm-atm for CH4, 0.4 cm-atm for N2O, and 24 cm-atm for H2S were determined. Laboratory spectra of ammonia frosts as a function of temperature were compared with the spectrum of Io and showed this frost not to be present at the surface of Io. A search for possible resonance lines of carbon, silicon, and sulfur, as well as the 1.08-micron line of helium, proved negative. Upper emission limits of 60, 18, 27, and 60 kilorayleighs, respectively, were established for these lines.

  20. Upper atmosphere research: Reaction rate and optical measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stief, L. J.; Allen, J. E., Jr.; Nava, D. F.; Payne, W. A., Jr.

    1990-01-01

    The objective is to provide photochemical, kinetic, and spectroscopic information necessary for photochemical models of the Earth's upper atmosphere and to examine reactions or reactants not presently in the models to either confirm the correctness of their exclusion or provide evidence to justify future inclusion in the models. New initiatives are being taken in technique development (many of them laser based) and in the application of established techniques to address gaps in the photochemical/kinetic data base, as well as to provide increasingly reliable information.

  1. Northern Hemisphere Atmospheric Influence of the Solar Proton Events and Ground Level Enhancement in January 2005

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackman, C. H.; Marsh, D. R.; Vitt, F. M.; Roble, R. G.; Randall, C. E.; Bernath, P. F.; Funke, B.; Lopez-Puertas, M.; Versick, S.; Stiller, G. P.; hide

    2011-01-01

    Solar eruptions in early 2005 led substantial barrage of charged particles on the Earth's atmosphere during the January 16-21 period. Proton fluxes were greatly increased during these several days and led to the production ofHO(x)(H, OH, BO2)and NO(x)(N, NO, NO2), which then caused the destruction of ozone. We focus on the Northern polar region, where satellite measurements and simulations with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM3) showed large enhancements in mesospheric HO(x) and NO(x) constituents, and associated ozone reductions, due 10 these solar proton events (SPEs). The WACCM3 simulations show enhanced short-lived OH throughout the mesosphere in the 60-82.5degN latitude band due to the SPEs for most days in the Jan.16-2l,2005 period, in reasonable agreement with the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) measurements. Mesospheric HO2 is also predicted to be increased by the SPEs, however, the modeled HO2 results are somewhat larger than the MLS measurements. These HO(x) enhancements led to huge predicted and MLS-measured ozone decreases of greater than 40% throughout most of the Northern polar mesosphere during the SPE period. Envisat Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) measurements of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) show increases throughout the stratosphere with highest enhancements of about 60 ppt y in the lowermost mesosphere over the Jan. 16-18, 2005 period due to the solar protons. WACCM3 predictions indicate H2O2 enhancements over the same time period of more than twice that amount. Measurements of nitric acid (HNO3) by both MLS and MIPAS show an increase of about 1 ppbv above background levels in the upper stratosphere during January 16-29, 2005. WACCM3 simulations show only minuscule HNO3 changes in the upper stratosphere during this time period. However due to the small loss rates during winter, polar mesospheric enhancements of NO(x) are computed to be greater than 50 ppbv during the SPE period. Computed NO

  2. Northern Hemisphere atmospheric influence of the solar proton events and ground level enhancement in January 2005

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. H. Jackman

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Solar eruptions in early 2005 led to a substantial barrage of charged particles on the Earth's atmosphere during the 16–21 January period. Proton fluxes were greatly increased during these several days and led to the production of HOx (H, OH, HO2 and NOx (N, NO, NO2, which then caused the destruction of ozone. We focus on the Northern polar region, where satellite measurements and simulations with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM3 showed large enhancements in mesospheric HOx and NOx constituents, and associated ozone reductions, due to these solar proton events (SPEs. The WACCM3 simulations show enhanced short-lived OH and HO2 concentrations throughout the mesosphere in the 60–82.5° N latitude band due to the SPEs for most days in the 16–21 January 2005 period, somewhat higher in abundance than those observed by the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS. These HOx enhancements led to huge predicted and MLS-measured ozone decreases of greater than 40 % throughout most of the northern polar mesosphere during the SPE period. Envisat Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS measurements of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 show increases throughout the stratosphere with highest enhancements of about 60 pptv in the lowermost mesosphere over the 16–18 January 2005 period due to the solar protons. WACCM3 predictions indicate H2O2 enhancements over the same time period of about three times that amount. Measurements of nitric acid (HNO3 by both MLS and MIPAS show an increase of about 1 ppbv above background levels in the upper stratosphere during 16–29 January 2005. WACCM3 simulations show only minuscule HNO3 increases (<0.05 ppbv in the upper stratosphere during this time period. Polar mesospheric enhancements of NOx are computed to be greater than 50

  3. Twenty-five years of Antarctic upper atmosphere research at Rhodes University

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gledhill, J.A.

    1987-01-01

    South Africa, as one of the twelve signatories of the Antarctic Treaty is required to establish presence in Antarctica. In this article the past 25 years of upper atmosphere research in Antarctica, and the ionosphere programme at SANAE (South African National Antarctic Expedition) are described. The use of ionograms, Barry ionosondes, airglow photometers, oblique incidence ionograms and the digitized FM ionosonde are discussed as well as anomalous daily variations, the ionospheric effects of particle precipitation, Atmosphere Explorer-C and project ISAAC (International South Atlantic Anomaly Campaign)

  4. Atmospheric Mining in the Outer Solar System: Resource Capturing, Storage, and Utilization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palaszewski, Bryan

    2014-01-01

    Atmospheric mining in the outer solar system has been investigated as a means of fuel production for high energy propulsion and power. Fusion fuels such as helium 3 and hydrogen can be wrested from the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune and either returned to Earth or used in-situ for energy production. Helium 3 and hydrogen (deuterium, etc.) were the primary gases of interest with hydrogen being the primary propellant for nuclear thermal solid core and gas core rocket-based atmospheric flight. A series of analyses were undertaken to investigate resource capturing aspects of atmospheric mining in the outer solar system. This included the gas capturing rate for hydrogen helium 4 and helium 3, storage options, and different methods of direct use of the captured gases. Additional supporting analyses were conducted to illuminate vehicle sizing and orbital transportation issues.

  5. A retrieved upper limit of CS in Neptune's atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iino, T.; Mizuno, A.; Nagahama, T.; Hirota, A.; Nakajima, T.

    2012-12-01

    We present our new result of CS(J=7-6), CO(J=3-2) observations of Neptune's atmosphere carried out with 10-m ASTE sub-mm waveband telescope on August 2010. As a result, while CS line was not detected with 6.4 mK 1-sigma r.m.s. noise level, CO line was detected as 282 mK with 9.7 mK noise level in antenna temperature scale. All of the observations were carried out with 512 MHz bandwidth and 500 kHz resolution, the total integration time for CS and CO were 23 m 40 s and 11 m 00 s, respectively. Abundances have been obtained from the comparison between the intensity and the synthesis spectra modeled by plane parallel 1-D radiative transfer code assuming various mixing ratio of each gas. The retrieved upper limit of CS mixing ratio was 0.03 ppb throughout tropopause to stratosphere. CO mixing ratio have been retrieved 1.0 ppm with errors +0.3 and -0.2 ppm, and the result was consistent with previous observation [1]. The origin of abundant CO in Neptune's atmosphere has been long discussed since its mixing ratio is 30 - 500 times higher than the value of other gas giants [2][3][4]. Assuming that all of CO is produced by thermochemical equilibrium process in deep interior of Neptune, required O/H value in interior is 440 times higher than the solar value [5]. For this reason, it is claimed that the external CO supply source, such as the impact of comet or asteroid, is also the possible candidates of the origin of CO along with the internal supply source [6]. In this observation, we searched the remnant gas of cometary impact in Neptune's atmosphere. Along with CO and HCN, CS could be one of the possible candidate of the remnant gas of cometary impact since CS was largely produced after the impact of comet SL/9 on Jupiter while many other major sulfur compounds have not been detected. Actually, derived L37-40. [7]Moreno et al., 2003. Planetary and Space Sciences 51, 591-611 [8]Zahnle et al.,1995. GRL 22, 1593-1596 [9]Feuchtgruber et al., 1999. Proceeding of the conference

  6. Short- and medium-term atmospheric constituent effects of very large solar proton events

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. H. Jackman

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Solar eruptions sometimes produce protons, which impact the Earth's atmosphere. These solar proton events (SPEs generally last a few days and produce high energy particles that precipitate into the Earth's atmosphere. The protons cause ionization and dissociation processes that ultimately lead to an enhancement of odd-hydrogen and odd-nitrogen in the polar cap regions (>60° geomagnetic latitude. We have used the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM3 to study the atmospheric impact of SPEs over the period 1963–2005. The very largest SPEs were found to be the most important and caused atmospheric effects that lasted several months after the events. We present the short- and medium-term (days to a few months atmospheric influence of the four largest SPEs in the past 45 years (August 1972; October 1989; July 2000; and October–November 2003 as computed by WACCM3 and observed by satellite instruments. Polar mesospheric NOx (NO+NO2 increased by over 50 ppbv and mesospheric ozone decreased by over 30% during these very large SPEs. Changes in HNO3, N2O5, ClONO2, HOCl, and ClO were indirectly caused by the very large SPEs in October–November 2003, were simulated by WACCM3, and previously measured by Envisat Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS. WACCM3 output was also represented by sampling with the MIPAS averaging kernel for a more valid comparison. Although qualitatively similar, there are discrepancies between the model and measurement with WACCM3 predicted HNO3 and ClONO2 enhancements being smaller than measured and N2O5 enhancements being larger than measured. The HOCl enhancements were fairly similar in amounts and temporal variation in WACCM3 and MIPAS. WACCM3 simulated ClO decreases below 50 km, whereas MIPAS mainly observed increases, a very perplexing difference. Upper stratospheric

  7. Cassini-VIMS at Jupiter: Solar occultation measurements using Io

    Science.gov (United States)

    Formisano, V.; D'Aversa, E.; Bellucci, G.; Baines, K.H.; Bibring, J.-P.; Brown, R.H.; Buratti, B.J.; Capaccioni, F.; Cerroni, P.; Clark, R.N.; Coradini, A.; Cruikshank, D.P.; Drossart, P.; Jaumann, R.; Langevin, Y.; Matson, D.L.; McCord, T.B.; Mennella, V.; Nelson, R.M.; Nicholson, P.D.; Sicardy, B.; Sotin, Christophe; Chamberlain, M.C.; Hansen, G.; Hibbits, K.; Showalter, M.; Filacchione, G.

    2003-01-01

    We report unusual and somewhat unexpected observations of the jovian satellite Io, showing strong methane absorption bands. These observations were made by the Cassini VIMS experiment during the Jupiter flyby of December/January 2000/2001. The explanation is straightforward: Entering or exiting from Jupiter's shadow during an eclipse, Io is illuminated by solar light which has transited the atmosphere of Jupiter. This light, therefore becomes imprinted with the spectral signature of Jupiter's upper atmosphere, which includes strong atmospheric methane absorption bands. Intercepting solar light refracted by the jovian atmosphere, Io essentially becomes a "miffor" for solar occultation events of Jupiter. The thickness of the layer where refracted solar light is observed is so large (more than 3000 km at Io's orbit), that we can foresee a nearly continuous multi-year period of similar events at Saturn, utilizing the large and bright ring system. During Cassini's 4-year nominal mission, this probing tecnique should reveal information of Saturn's atmosphere over a large range of southern latitudes and times. ?? 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. The SOLAR-C Mission: Science Objectives and Current Status

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suematsu, Y.; Solar-C Working Group

    2016-04-01

    The SOLAR-C is a Japan-led international solar mission for mid-2020s designed to investigate the magnetic activities of the Sun, focusing on the study in heating and dynamical phenomena of the chromosphere and corona, and to advance algorithms for predicting short and long term solar magnetic activities. For these purposes, SOLAR-C will carry three dedicated instruments; the Solar UV-Vis-IR Telescope (SUVIT), the EUV Spectroscopic Telescope (EUVST) and the High Resolution Coronal Imager (HCI), to jointly observe the entire visible solar atmosphere with essentially the same high spatial resolution (0.1"-0.3"), performing high resolution spectroscopic measurements over all atmospheric regions and spectro-polarimetric measurements from the photosphere through the upper chromosphere. SOLAR-C will also contribute to understand the solar influence on the Sun-Earth environments with synergetic wide-field observations from ground-based and other space missions.

  9. Magnetohydrodynamic and thermal processes in solar flare energy build-up and release

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tend, W. van.

    1979-01-01

    A solar flare can be described as an instability in the upper solar atmosphere that converts 10 28 ergs to 10 32 ergs of magnetic energy into other forms of energy, mainly kinetic energy. The solar flare gives rise to a wealth of observable phenomena. The author develops a fairly simple model to explain many of these apparently very diverse features of solar flares. (Auth.)

  10. Infrared investigation of the temperature structure of the solar atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Allen, R.G.

    1978-01-01

    Narrow-band continuum limb darkening observations of the sun were taken with the Infrared Spectrometer and the West Auxiliary of the McMath Solar Telescope during the first half of 1974. The infrared limb darkening measures were used with a few absolute intensity and limb darkening measures of other investigators to develop a series of empirical solar models. The temperatures in most of the solar models were adjusted until the predictions of the model atmosphere program matched the observational measures as well as possible. Limb darkening residuals were calculated by subtracting the observational measures of the limb darkening from the limb darkening measures that were computed from the program. Experiments with several models indicated that a steep temperature gradient was needed to fit the observations at short wavelengths while a rather low temperature gradient was needed at long wavelengths. Non-LTE effects and errors in the H - opacity were ruled out as possible sources of this discrepancy. An excellent fit to the observations was ultimately achieved with a two-component LTE solar model. The hot component of this model represents the half of the solar surface that is above the median temperature at each depth; while the cool component represents the half of the solar surface that is below the median temperature. Most of the observations are fitted to within the expected errors by this model. Discrepancies below 4500 A are probably due to line blanketing. The splitting between the hot and cool components of the model is consistent with current estimates of the rms intensity fluctuations in the solar atmosphere. The model also resembles several theoretical two-component models that have recently appeared in the literature

  11. Atmospheric Renewable Energy Research, Volume 5 (Solar Radiation Flux Model)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-09-01

    sources, namely photovoltaic (PV) panels, to roughly determine the energy producing potential of an installation’s solar array. The implicit...power resources assembled as a single system (generator, storage, distribution and load), with the ability to run independently as an “island” and/or...atmospheric layers that will act on the solar radiation as it traverses strata. These terms are a function of cloud type, size , and density. To create a

  12. Fundamental (f) oscillations in a magnetically coupled solar interior-atmosphere system - An analytical approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pintér, Balázs; Erdélyi, R.

    2018-01-01

    Solar fundamental (f) acoustic mode oscillations are investigated analytically in a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. The model consists of three layers in planar geometry, representing the solar interior, the magnetic atmosphere, and a transitional layer sandwiched between them. Since we focus on the fundamental mode here, we assume the plasma is incompressible. A horizontal, canopy-like, magnetic field is introduced to the atmosphere, in which degenerated slow MHD waves can exist. The global (f-mode) oscillations can couple to local atmospheric Alfvén waves, resulting, e.g., in a frequency shift of the oscillations. The dispersion relation of the global oscillation mode is derived, and is solved analytically for the thin-transitional layer approximation and for the weak-field approximation. Analytical formulae are also provided for the frequency shifts due to the presence of a thin transitional layer and a weak atmospheric magnetic field. The analytical results generally indicate that, compared to the fundamental value (ω =√{ gk }), the mode frequency is reduced by the presence of an atmosphere by a few per cent. A thin transitional layer reduces the eigen-frequencies further by about an additional hundred microhertz. Finally, a weak atmospheric magnetic field can slightly, by a few percent, increase the frequency of the eigen-mode. Stronger magnetic fields, however, can increase the f-mode frequency by even up to ten per cent, which cannot be seen in observed data. The presence of a magnetic atmosphere in the three-layer model also introduces non-permitted propagation windows in the frequency spectrum; here, f-mode oscillations cannot exist with certain values of the harmonic degree. The eigen-frequencies can be sensitive to the background physical parameters, such as an atmospheric density scale-height or the rate of the plasma density drop at the photosphere. Such information, if ever observed with high-resolution instrumentation and inverted, could help to

  13. Structure and dynamics of solar atmosphere: the reign of SOHO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bocchialini, Karine

    2004-01-01

    In this report for Accreditation to Supervise Research (HDR), the author proposes an overview of his research works which particularly addressed the study of the solar atmosphere, notably based on observations made by the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite. After a recall of his curriculum, he presents and comments results obtained in various areas: Corona heating and origin of solar wind, heating by waves, heating by quasi-steady mechanisms, regions which are sources of fast solar wind, sources of Coronal matter ejections. He also presents the different adopted approaches and methods (multi-wavelength analysis, oscillation measurement, statistical analysis) and the various observed structures (chromospheric network, shiny points, Coronal holes, and protuberances)

  14. Driving of the solar p-modes by radiative pumping in the upper photosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fontenla, Juan M.; Emslie, A. G.; Moore, Ronald L.

    1989-01-01

    It is shown that one viable driver of the solar p-modes is radiative pumping in the upper photosphere where the opacity is dominated by the negative hydrogen ion. This new option is suggested by the similar magnitudes of two energy flows that have been evaluated by independent empirical methods. The similarity indicates that the p-modes are radiatively pumped in the upper photosphere and therefore provide the required nonradiative cooling.

  15. Long-term changes and trends in the upper atmosphere - An introduction

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Laštovička, Jan; Akmaev, R. A.; Emmert, J. T.

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 71, 14-15 (2009), s. 1511-1513 ISSN 1364-6826 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517 Keywords : long-term changes * long-term trends * upper atmosphere Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 1.643, year: 2009 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13646826

  16. NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Program UARP and Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP): Research Summaries 1994 - 1996. Report to Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kendall, Rose (Compiler); Wolfe, Kathy (Compiler)

    1997-01-01

    Under the mandate contained in the FY 1976 NASA Authorization Act, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed and is implementing a comprehensive program of research, technology, and monitoring of the Earth's upper atmosphere, with emphasis on the stratosphere. This program aims at expanding our understanding to permit both the quantitative analysis of current perturbations as well as the assessment of possible future changes in this important region of our environment. It is carried out jointly by the Upper Atmosphere Research Program (UARP) and the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP), both managed within the Science Division in the Office of Mission to Planet Earth at NASA. Significant contributions to this effort are also provided by the Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Project (AEAP) of NASA's Office of Aeronautics. The long-term objectives of the present program are to perform research to: understand the physics, chemistry, and transport processes of the upper atmosphere and their effect on the distribution of chemical species in the stratosphere, such as ozone; understand the relationship of the trace constituent composition of the lower stratosphere and the lower troposphere to the radiative balance and temperature distribution of the Earth's atmosphere; and accurately assess possible perturbations of the upper atmosphere caused by human activities as well as by natural phenomena. In compliance with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, Public Law 101-549, NASA has prepared a report on the state of our knowledge of the Earth's upper atmosphere, particularly the stratosphere, and on the progress of UARP and ACMAP. The report for the year 1996 is composed of two parts. Part 1 summarizes the objectives, status, and accomplishments of the research tasks supported under NASA UARP and ACMAP in a document entitled, Research Summary 1994-1996. Part 2 is entitled Present State of Knowledge of the Upper Atmosphere

  17. Spectral solar irradiance and some optical properties for various polluted atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacovides, Constantinos P.; Asimakopoulos, Demosthenis N.; Steven, Michael D.

    2000-01-01

    Using ground-based spectroradiometric measurements taken over the Athens atmosphere during May 1995, the influence of gaseous pollutants and aerosol on the spectral radiant energy distribution was investigated. It was found that spectral measurements exhibited variations based on various polluted urban atmospheric conditions as determined via gaseous pollutants record analysis. The relative attenuations cause by gaseous pollutants and aerosol can exceed 27%, 17% and 16% in the global ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared portions of the solar spectrum respectively, as compared to 'background' values. In contrast, an enhancement of the near-infrared diffuse component by 66%, was observed, while in visible and ultraviolet bands the relative increases reached 54% and 21% respectively. Experimental total Rayleigh-corrected and spectral aerosol optical depths were retrieved, representing differences in polluted air over the Athens atmosphere. The diffuse component accounts for more than 80% of the total radiation field under high polluted atmosphere. The observed differences of solar radiation between the Athens center and at a nearby suburban site are a manifestation of contrasting air properties provided mainly by automotive traffic. (Author)

  18. Temperature structure of the Uranian upper atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elliot, J. L.; Dunham, E.

    1979-01-01

    The temperature structure of the upper atmosphere of Uranus at two locations on the planet was determined from observations of the occultation of the star SAO158687 by Uranus on 10 March 1977, carried out at the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. The temperature-pressure relationships obtained from the immersion and emersion data for 7280 A channel show peak-to-peak variations of 45 K for immersion and 35 K for emersion. The mean temperature for both immersion and emersion profiles is about 100 K, which shows that Uranus has a temperature inversion between 0.001 mbar and the 100 mbar level probed by IR measurements. Both profiles show wavelike temperature variations, which may be due to dynamical or photochemical processes.

  19. Upper Secondary Students' Understanding of the Basic Physical Interactions in Analogous Atomic and Solar Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taber, Keith S.

    2013-01-01

    Comparing the atom to a "tiny solar system" is a common teaching analogy, and the extent to which learners saw the systems as analogous was investigated. English upper secondary students were asked parallel questions about the physical interactions between the components of a simple atomic system and a simple solar system to investigate…

  20. Improved Statistical Model Of 10.7-cm Solar Radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vedder, John D.; Tabor, Jill L.

    1993-01-01

    Improved mathematical model simulates short-term fluctuations of flux of 10.7-cm-wavelength solar radiation during 91-day averaging period. Called "F10.7 flux", important as measure of solar activity and because it is highly correlated with ultraviolet radiation causing fluctuations in heating and density of upper atmosphere. F10.7 flux easily measureable at surface of Earth.

  1. Atmospheric scattering corrections to solar radiometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Box, M.A.; Deepak, A.

    1979-01-01

    Whenever a solar radiometer is used to measure direct solar radiation, some diffuse sky radiation invariably enters the detector's field of view along with the direct beam. Therefore, the atmospheric optical depth obtained by the use of Bouguer's transmission law (also called Beer-Lambert's law), that is valid only for direct radiation, needs to be corrected by taking account of the scattered radiation. In this paper we shall discuss the correction factors needed to account for the diffuse (i.e., singly and multiply scattered) radiation and the algorithms developed for retrieving aerosol size distribution from such measurements. For a radiometer with a small field of view (half-cone angle 0 ) and relatively clear skies (optical depths <0.4), it is shown that the total diffuse contributions represents approximately l% of the total intensity. It is assumed here that the main contributions to the diffuse radiation within the detector's view cone are due to single scattering by molecules and aerosols and multiple scattering by molecules alone, aerosol multiple scattering contributions being treated as negligibly small. The theory and the numerical results discussed in this paper will be helpful not only in making corrections to the measured optical depth data but also in designing improved solar radiometers

  2. Chemical effects in 11-year solar cycle simulations with the Freie Universität Berlin Climate Middle Atmosphere Model with online chemistry (FUB-CMAM-CHEM)

    OpenAIRE

    U. Langematz; J. Grenfell; K. Matthes; P. Mieth; M. Kunze; B. Steil; C. Brühl;  

    2005-01-01

    The impact of 11-year solar cycle variations on stratospheric ozone (O3) is studied with the Freie Universität Berlin Climate Middle Atmosphere Model with interactive chemistry (FUB-CMAM-CHEM). To consider the effect of variations in charged particle precipitation we included an idealized NO x source in the upper mesosphere representing relativistic electron precipitation (REP). Our results suggest that the NO x source by particles and its transport from the mesosphere to the stratosphe...

  3. Solar flares and radiocarbon abundance in the atmosphere of the Earth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Metskhvarishvili, R.Ya.; Imedadze, T.Sh.; Tleugaliev, S.Kh.; Tsinamdzgvrishvili, T.Sh.; Tsereteli, S.L.

    1978-01-01

    The correlation between the radiocarbon ( 14 C) content in the atmosphere of the Earth and the solar activity is studied. Annual measurements of the 14 C content in the tree rings for the last 120 years have been made. Relations of the radiocarbon content in dendrochronologically dated tree rings and the Wolf numbers for the period from 1850 to 1940 are presented. The spectroscopic and Borg methods have been used to ascertain the periodicities in the radiocarbon series. It is shown that well-defined periods of approximately 11 and approximately 65 years are observed in the radiocarbon series. The former is associated with an 11-year and the latter with a secular cycle of the 14 C content in the earth atmosphere. To study the relation of the solar activity to the level of radiocarbon in the earth atmosphere a mutual correlation function was calculated for various values of the time lags of 14 C with respect to the processes on the Sun. It follows from the data obtained that a positive correlation takes place for time lags smaller than three years. The detected positive correlation has revealed that the effect of solar flares in the 11-year cycle is prevalent

  4. Effects in atmospheric electricity daily variation controlled by solar wind

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ptitsyna, N.G.; Tyasto, M.I.; Levitin, A.E.; Gromova, L.A.; Tuomi, T.; AN SSSR, Moscow

    1995-01-01

    An analysis of fair weather atmospheric electricity, one of the environmental factors which affects the biosphere, is conducted. A distinct difference in the diurnal variation of atmospheric electric field at Helsinki is found between disturbed and extremely quiet conditions in the magnetosphere in winter before midnight. The comparison with the numerical model of the ionospheric electric field based on the solar wind parameters reveals that the maximum contribution of the magnetospheric-ionospheric generator to atmospheric electric field is about 100-150 v/m which assumes values of about 30% of the surface field. 8 refs.; 2 figs

  5. Multiple large solar lentigos on the upper back as clinical markers of past severe sunburn: a case-control study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Derancourt, C; Bourdon-Lanoy, E; Grob, J-J; Guillaume, J-C; Bernard, P; Bastuji-Garin, S

    2007-01-01

    Multiple solar lentigos commonly seen on the upper back and shoulders of adults are classically considered as a sign of photodamage, although epidemiological studies are scarce. To assess whether these lesions are clinical markers of past severe sunburn. A case-control study in two outpatient dermatology clinics in French university hospitals. Past episodes of moderate and severe sunburn were compared between 145 adult patients with multiple solar lentigos on the upper back and 145 matched controls. In multivariate analysis adjusted for potential confounders, recalled episodes of sunburn during childhood, adolescence and adulthood were independently associated with the presence of multiple solar lentigos (adjusted odds ratios, 95% confidence intervals: 2.3 (1.1-5.2) and 28.1 (10.4-75.6) for moderate and severe sunburn, respectively). Multiple solar lentigos on the upper back and shoulders of adults are potential clinical markers of past severe sunburn which may thus be used to identify a population at higher risk of developing cutaneous malignant melanoma.

  6. Upper atmosphere research satellite program. [to study the chemistry energetics, and dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huntress, W. T., Jr.

    1978-01-01

    A satellite program to conduct research on the chemistry, energetics, and dynamics of the upper atmosphere was developed. The scientific goals of the Upper Atmospheric Research Program, the program requirements, and the approach toward meeting those requirements are outlined. An initial series of two overlapping spacecraft missions is described. Both spacecraft are launched and recovered by the STS, one in the winter of 1983 at a 56 deg inclination, and the other a year later at a 70 deg inclination. The duration of each mission is 18 months, and each carries instruments to make global measurements of the temperature, winds, composition, irradation, and radiance in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere between the tropopause and 120 km altitude. The program requires a dedicated ground-based data system and a science team organization that leads to a strong interaction between the experiments and theory. The program includes supportive observations from other platforms such as rockets, balloons, and the Spacelab.

  7. Non-LTE H2+ as the source of missing opacity in the solar atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swamy, K. S. K.; Stecher, T. P.

    1974-01-01

    The population of the various vibrational levels of the H2+ molecule has been calculated from the consideration of formation and destruction mechanisms. The resulting population is used in calculating the total absorption due to H2+ and is compared with the other known sources of opacity at several optical depths of the solar atmosphere. It is shown that the absorption due to H2+ can probably account for the missing ultraviolet opacity in the solar atmosphere.

  8. Proceedings of the workshop: the solar constant and the Earth's atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zirin, H.; Moore, R.L.; Walter, J.

    1976-01-01

    The solar constant has long been a fundamental quantity in astrophysics, but as with many fundamental quantities, interest in its exact value or its variation has not been great over the last decade. This was particularly due to the fact that most models of stars indicated that their luminosity should be quite constant, varying only over nuclear burning times of hundreds of millions of years. Thus, after the pioneering work of Abbott, it has been more a subject of interest for atmospheric scientists who needed to know the exact inputs to the Earth's atmosphere. In recent years however, the celebrated problem of the missing solar neutrinos has brought into question the theories of stellar structure, and the solar constant is again being thought about. Standard solar models predict a lower solar constant in the past, 75% of the present, 4x10 9 years ago and a virtually constant value over short time scales (10 7 years). However, the lack of observed neutrinos predicted by this model suggests that the interior of the Sun is not really understood, which means that solar constant variations cannot be ruled out on the basis of the theory of stellar interiors. Measurement of the planets, the old Smithsonian measurements, and other data suggest that the Sun cannot have varied more than a few percent over the past hundred years, but some of the measurements even suggest small variation of the order of a percent. On the other hand, in the important near ultraviolet region, there is evidence for some variation in the 2700-3100 A region and up to 50% variation below 1600 A, dependent on solar activity. (Auth.)

  9. IRIS Observations of Magnetic Interactions in the Solar Atmosphere between Preexisting and Emerging Magnetic Fields. I. Overall Evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guglielmino, Salvo L.; Zuccarello, Francesca; Young, Peter R.; Murabito, Mariarita; Romano, Paolo

    2018-04-01

    We report multiwavelength ultraviolet observations taken with the IRIS satellite, concerning the emergence phase in the upper chromosphere and transition region of an emerging flux region (EFR) embedded in the preexisting field of active region NOAA 12529 in the Sun. IRIS data are complemented by full-disk observations of the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite, relevant to the photosphere and the corona. The photospheric configuration of the EFR is also analyzed by measurements taken with the spectropolarimeter on board the Hinode satellite, when the EFR was fully developed. Recurrent intense brightenings that resemble UV bursts, with counterparts in all coronal passbands, are identified at the edges of the EFR. Jet activity is also observed at chromospheric and coronal levels, near the observed brightenings. The analysis of the IRIS line profiles reveals the heating of dense plasma in the low solar atmosphere and the driving of bidirectional high-velocity flows with speed up to 100 km s‑1 at the same locations. Compared with previous observations and numerical models, these signatures suggest evidence of several long-lasting, small-scale magnetic reconnection episodes between the emerging bipole and the ambient field. This process leads to the cancellation of a preexisting photospheric flux concentration and appears to occur higher in the atmosphere than usually found in UV bursts, explaining the observed coronal counterparts.

  10. XUV-exposed, non-hydrostatic hydrogen-rich upper atmospheres of terrestrial planets. Part I: atmospheric expansion and thermal escape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erkaev, Nikolai V; Lammer, Helmut; Odert, Petra; Kulikov, Yuri N; Kislyakova, Kristina G; Khodachenko, Maxim L; Güdel, Manuel; Hanslmeier, Arnold; Biernat, Helfried

    2013-11-01

    The recently discovered low-density "super-Earths" Kepler-11b, Kepler-11f, Kepler-11d, Kepler-11e, and planets such as GJ 1214b represent the most likely known planets that are surrounded by dense H/He envelopes or contain deep H₂O oceans also surrounded by dense hydrogen envelopes. Although these super-Earths are orbiting relatively close to their host stars, they have not lost their captured nebula-based hydrogen-rich or degassed volatile-rich steam protoatmospheres. Thus, it is interesting to estimate the maximum possible amount of atmospheric hydrogen loss from a terrestrial planet orbiting within the habitable zone of late main sequence host stars. For studying the thermosphere structure and escape, we apply a 1-D hydrodynamic upper atmosphere model that solves the equations of mass, momentum, and energy conservation for a planet with the mass and size of Earth and for a super-Earth with a size of 2 R(Earth) and a mass of 10 M(Earth). We calculate volume heating rates by the stellar soft X-ray and extreme ultraviolet radiation (XUV) and expansion of the upper atmosphere, its temperature, density, and velocity structure and related thermal escape rates during the planet's lifetime. Moreover, we investigate under which conditions both planets enter the blow-off escape regime and may therefore experience loss rates that are close to the energy-limited escape. Finally, we discuss the results in the context of atmospheric evolution and implications for habitability of terrestrial planets in general.

  11. Bombs and Flares at the Surface and Lower Atmosphere of the Sun

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hansteen, V. H.; Pereira, T. M. D.; Carlsson, M.; Van der Voort, L. Rouppe [Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Norway, PB 1029 Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo (Norway); Archontis, V. [School of Mathematics and Statistics, St. Andrews University, St. Andrews, KY169SS (United Kingdom); Leenaarts, J. [Institute for Solar Physics, Dept. of Astronomy, Stockholm University, Roslagstullbacken 21 SE-10691 Stockholm (Sweden)

    2017-04-10

    A spectacular manifestation of solar activity is the appearance of transient brightenings in the far wings of the H α line, known as Ellerman bombs (EBs). Recent observations obtained by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph have revealed another type of plasma “bombs” (UV bursts) with high temperatures of perhaps up to 8 × 10{sup 4} K within the cooler lower solar atmosphere. Realistic numerical modeling showing such events is needed to explain their nature. Here, we report on 3D radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulations of magnetic flux emergence in the solar atmosphere. We find that ubiquitous reconnection between emerging bipolar magnetic fields can trigger EBs in the photosphere, UV bursts in the mid/low chromosphere and small (nano-/micro-) flares (10{sup 6} K) in the upper chromosphere. These results provide new insights into the emergence and build up of the coronal magnetic field and the dynamics and heating of the solar surface and lower atmosphere.

  12. Fourier analysis of Solar atmospheric numerical simulations accelerated with GPUs (CUDA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marur, A.

    2015-12-01

    Solar dynamics from the convection zone creates a variety of waves that may propagate through the solar atmosphere. These waves are important in facilitating the energy transfer between the sun's surface and the corona as well as propagating energy throughout the solar system. How and where these waves are dissipated remains an open question. Advanced 3D numerical simulations have furthered our understanding of the processes involved. Fourier transforms to understand the nature of the waves by finding the frequency and wavelength of these waves through the simulated atmosphere, as well as the nature of their propagation and where they get dissipated. In order to analyze the different waves produced by the aforementioned simulations and models, Fast Fourier Transform algorithms will be applied. Since the processing of the multitude of different layers of the simulations (of the order of several 100^3 grid points) would be time intensive and inefficient on a CPU, CUDA, a computing architecture that harnesses the power of the GPU, will be used to accelerate the calculations.

  13. Cosmogenic radionuclide 7Be in atmospheric fallouts, weather factors and solar activity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kungurov, F.R.

    2011-11-01

    Key words: 7 Be activity, atmospheric fallouts, solar activity, gamma spectroscopy. Subjects of research: cosmogenic radionuclide 7 Be in atmospheric fallouts and surrounding objects of environment, its migrational distribution connected to solar activity and weather meteorologic parameters of the region studied. Purpose of work: Defining correlation between atmospheric humidity and solar activity with concentration and distribution of cosmogenic radionuclide 7 Be. Methods of research: gamma-spectrometry method of activity measurements. The results obtained and their novelty: Cycle of research works on definition of concentration and migrational distribution of CRN 7 Be in Samarkand region during 2002-2005 was carried out for the first time. Volumetric activity of 7 Be in squat air layer of Samarkand was determined. Average density of 7 Be fallouts for the four years of studies was determined. Qualitative correlation bet ween 7 Be fallouts density variations and solar activity, expressed through Wolf number has been found. Qualitative correlation between 7 Be fallouts density variations and amount of precipitations has been found. Regularity in 7 Be concentration decrease towards north latitudes has been detected. Practical value: Developed scintillation method of 7 Be activity detection in atmospheric fallouts was used in works performed in the framework of republican grants 2F-No 1.2.3, CNT RUz PFNI 2F-No 2.1.39 and ITD-7-024. Methodology was used for the estimation of the velocity of erosion processes in the soils of different regions of Uzbekistan. Methodology is used in the works on 7 Be radioactivity measurements. Degree of embed and economic effectivity: Gained results replenish database on 7 Be isotope distribution on Earth regions and its role in formation of some processes, connected with meteorology, agronomy and radioecology of Samarkand region. Field of application: meteorology, agronomy and radioecology. (author)

  14. Poleward upgliding Siberian atmospheric rivers over sea ice heat up Arctic upper air.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komatsu, Kensuke K; Alexeev, Vladimir A; Repina, Irina A; Tachibana, Yoshihiro

    2018-02-13

    We carried out upper air measurements with radiosondes during the summer over the Arctic Ocean from an icebreaker moving poleward from an ice-free region, through the ice edge, and into a region of thick ice. Rapid warming of the Arctic is a significant environmental issue that occurs not only at the surface but also throughout the troposphere. In addition to the widely accepted mechanisms responsible for the increase of tropospheric warming during the summer over the Arctic, we showed a new potential contributing process to the increase, based on our direct observations and supporting numerical simulations and statistical analyses using a long-term reanalysis dataset. We refer to this new process as "Siberian Atmospheric Rivers (SARs)". Poleward upglides of SARs over cold air domes overlying sea ice provide the upper atmosphere with extra heat via condensation of water vapour. This heating drives increased buoyancy and further strengthens the ascent and heating of the mid-troposphere. This process requires the combination of SARs and sea ice as a land-ocean-atmosphere system, the implication being that large-scale heat and moisture transport from the lower latitudes can remotely amplify the warming of the Arctic troposphere in the summer.

  15. [The response of the upper respiratory tract to the impact of atmospheric pollution].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukhamadiev, R A; Ismagilov, Sh M

    2015-01-01

    The present literature review characterizes the environmental conditions in the Russian Federation in general and the Republic of Tatarstan in particular with special reference to the influence of atmospheric pollution on the development and the clinical picture of the diseases of the respiratory organs including pathology of the upper respiratory tract in the populations of the industrial centres and other environmentally unfriendly areas. The views of the domestic and foreign authors concerning the role of the environmental factors in the clinical picture of the upper respiratory tract disorders are described in detail. The authors emphasize the necessity of the further investigationsinto this problem and the development of the methods for the prevention of diseases of the upper respiratory react.

  16. Reconstruction of the solar EUV irradiance from 1996 to 2010 based on SOHO/EIT images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haberreiter Margit

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The solar Extreme UltraViolet (EUV spectrum has important effects on the Earth’s upper atmosphere. For a detailed investigation of these effects it is important to have a consistent data series of the EUV spectral irradiance available. We present a reconstruction of the solar EUV irradiance based on SOHO/EIT images, along with synthetic spectra calculated using different coronal features which represent the brightness variation of the solar atmosphere. The EIT images are segmented with the SPoCA2 tool which separates the features based on a fixed brightness classification scheme. With the SOLMOD code we then calculate intensity spectra for the 10–100 nm wavelength range and each of the coronal features. Weighting the intensity spectra with the area covered by each of the features yields the temporal variation of the EUV spectrum. The reconstructed spectrum is then validated against the spectral irradiance as observed with SOHO/SEM. Our approach leads to good agreement between the reconstructed and the observed spectral irradiance. This study is an important step toward understanding variations in the solar EUV spectrum and ultimately its effect on the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

  17. Venusian atmospheric and Magellan properties from attitude control data. M.S. Thesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Croom, Christopher A.; Tolson, Robert H.

    1994-01-01

    Results are presented of the study of the Venusian atmosphere, Magellan aerodynamic moment coefficients, moments of inertia, and solar moment coefficients. This investigation is based upon the use of attitude control data in the form of reaction wheel speeds from the Magellan spacecraft. As the spacecraft enters the upper atmosphere of Venus, measurable torques are experienced due to aerodynamic effects. Solar and gravity gradient effects also cause additional torques throughout the orbit. In order to maintain an inertially fixed attitude, the control system counteracts these torques by changing the angular rates of three reaction wheels. Model reaction wheel speeds are compared to observed Magellan reaction wheel speeds through a differential correction procedure. This method determines aerodynamic, atmospheric, solar pressure, and mass moment of inertia parameters. Atmospheric measurements include both base densities and scale heights. Atmospheric base density results confirm natural variability as measured by the standard orbital decay method. Potential inconsistencies in free molecular aerodynamic moment coefficients are identified. Moments of inertia are determined with a precision better than 1 percent of the largest principal moment of inertia.

  18. An estimation of impact of anthropogenic aerosols in atmosphere of Tirana on solar insolation. Part II: Modification of solar energy potential

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buzra, Urim, E-mail: rimibuzra@yahoo.com; Berberi, Pellumb; Mitrushi, Driada; Muda, Valbona [Department of Engineering Physics, FIMIF, PUT, Tirana (Albania); Halili, Daniela [Department of physics, FNS, AXHU, Elbasan (Albania); Berdufi, Irma [Institute of Nuclear Physics, INP, TU, Tirana (Albania)

    2016-03-25

    Change of irradiative properties of the atmosphere during clear days is an indicator, among others, of existence of atmospheric aerosols and can be used as an indicator for assessment both air pollution and local modifications of solar energy potentials. The main objective of this study is estimation of influence of anthropogenic aerosols on solar energy falling in a horizontal surface during a cloudless day. We have analyzed and quantified the effect of aerosols on reducing the amount of solar energy that falls on the horizontal ground surface in cloudless sky conditions, estimating temporal evolution, both in daily and hour scale, considering also, side effects caused by relative humidity of the air wind speed and geometric factor. As an indicator of concentration of aerosols in atmosphere, we agreed to use the attenuation of solar radiation after the last rainy day. All data were corrected by factors such as, variations of relative humidity, wind speed and daily change of incident angle of solar radiation. We studied the change of solar insolation in three sites with different traffic intensity, one in city of Shkodra and two in city of Tirana. Fifteen days after last rainy day, approximate time needed to achieve saturation, the insolation drops only 3.1% in the city of Shkodra, while in two sites in city of Tirana are 8.5 % and 18.4%. These data show that reduction of solar insolation is closely related with anthropogenic activity, mainly traffic around the site of the meteorological station. The day to day difference tends to decrease with increasing of number of days passed from the last rainy day, which is an evidence of a trend toward a dynamic equilibrium between decantation process of aerosols during the night and their generation during the day.

  19. ATOMIC CARBON IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE OF TITAN

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, X.; Yung, Y. L.; Ajello, J. M.

    2010-01-01

    The atomic carbon emission C I line feature at 1657 A ( 3 P 0 J - 3 P J ) in the upper atmosphere of Titan is first identified from the airglow spectra obtained by the Cassini Ultra-violet Imaging Spectrograph. A one-dimensional photochemical model of Titan is used to study the photochemistry of atomic carbon on Titan. Reaction between CH and atomic hydrogen is the major source of atomic carbon, and reactions with hydrocarbons (C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 4 ) are the most important loss processes. Resonance scattering of sunlight by atomic carbon is the dominant emission mechanism. The emission intensity calculations based on model results show good agreement with the observations.

  20. Electrifying atmospheres charging, ionisation and lightning in the solar system and beyond

    CERN Document Server

    Aplin, Karen L

    2013-01-01

    Electrical processes take place in all planetary atmospheres. There is evidence for lightning on Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, it is possible on Mars and Titan, and cosmic rays ionise every atmosphere, leading to charged droplets and particles. Controversy surrounds the role of atmospheric electricity in physical climate processes on Earth; here, a comparative approach is employed to review the role of electrification in the atmospheres of other planets and their moons. This book reviews the theory, and, where available, measurements, of planetary atmospheric electricity, taken to include ion production and ion-aerosol interactions. The conditions necessary for a global atmospheric electric circuit similar to Earth’s, and the likelihood of meeting these conditions in other planetary atmospheres, are briefly discussed. Atmospheric electrification is more important at planets receiving little solar radiation, increasing the relative significance of electrical forces. Nucleation onto atmospheric ...

  1. Improved upper bounds on Kaluza-Klein gravity with current Solar System experiments and observations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deng, Xue-Mei [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Purple Mountain Observatory, Nanjing (China); Xie, Yi [Nanjing University, School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing (China); Shanghai Key Laboratory of Space Navigation and Position Techniques, Shanghai (China); Nanjing University, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nanjing (China)

    2015-11-15

    As an extension of previous works on classical tests of Kaluza-Klein (KK) gravity and as an attempt to find more stringent constraints on this theory, its effects on physical experiments and astronomical observations conducted in the Solar System are studied. We investigate the gravitational time delay at inferior conjunction caused by KK gravity, and use new Solar System ephemerides and the observation of Cassini to strengthen constraints on KK gravity by up to two orders of magnitude. These improved upper bounds mean that the fifth-dimensional space in the soliton case is a very flat extra dimension in the Solar System, even in the vicinity of the Sun. (orig.)

  2. Climate response to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and solar irradiance on the time scale of days to weeks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao Long; Bala, Govindasamy; Caldeira, Ken

    2012-01-01

    Recent studies show that fast climate response on time scales of less than a month can have important implications for long-term climate change. In this study, we investigate climate response on the time scale of days to weeks to a step-function quadrupling of atmospheric CO 2 and contrast this with the response to a 4% increase in solar irradiance. Our simulations show that significant climate effects occur within days of a stepwise increase in both atmospheric CO 2 content and solar irradiance. Over ocean, increased atmospheric CO 2 warms the lower troposphere more than the surface, increasing atmospheric stability, moistening the boundary layer, and suppressing evaporation and precipitation. In contrast, over ocean, increased solar irradiance warms the lower troposphere to a much lesser extent, causing a much smaller change in evaporation and precipitation. Over land, both increased CO 2 and increased solar irradiance cause rapid surface warming that tends to increase both evaporation and precipitation. However, the physiological effect of increased atmospheric CO 2 on plant stomata reduces plant transpiration, drying the boundary layer and decreasing precipitation. This effect does not occur with increased solar irradiance. Therefore, differences in climatic effects from CO 2 versus solar forcing are manifested within days after the forcing is imposed. (letter)

  3. Solar and atmospheric forcing on mountain lakes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luoto, Tomi P; Nevalainen, Liisa

    2016-10-01

    We investigated the influence of long-term external forcing on aquatic communities in Alpine lakes. Fossil microcrustacean (Cladocera) and macrobenthos (Chironomidae) community variability in four Austrian high-altitude lakes, determined as ultra-sensitive to climate change, were compared against records of air temperature, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and solar forcing over the past ~400years. Summer temperature variability affected both aquatic invertebrate groups in all study sites. The influence of NAO and solar forcing on aquatic invertebrates was also significant in the lakes except in the less transparent lake known to have remained uniformly cold during the past centuries due to summertime snowmelt input. The results suggest that external forcing plays an important role in these pristine ecosystems through their impacts on limnology of the lakes. Not only does the air temperature variability influence the communities but also larger-scale external factors related to atmospheric circulation patterns and solar activity cause long-term changes in high-altitude aquatic ecosystems, through their connections to hydroclimatic conditions and light environment. These findings are important in the assessment of climate change impacts on aquatic ecosystems and in greater understanding of the consequences of external forcing on lake ontogeny. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Characteristics of atmospheric gravity waves observed using the MU (Middle and Upper atmosphere) radar and GPS (Global Positioning System) radio occultation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsuda, Toshitaka

    2014-01-01

    The wind velocity and temperature profiles observed in the middle atmosphere (altitude: 10-100 km) show perturbations resulting from superposition of various atmospheric waves, including atmospheric gravity waves. Atmospheric gravity waves are known to play an important role in determining the general circulation in the middle atmosphere by dynamical stresses caused by gravity wave breaking. In this paper, we summarize the characteristics of atmospheric gravity waves observed using the middle and upper atmosphere (MU) radar in Japan, as well as novel satellite data obtained from global positioning system radio occultation (GPS RO) measurements. In particular, we focus on the behavior of gravity waves in the mesosphere (50-90 km), where considerable gravity wave attenuation occurs. We also report on the global distribution of gravity wave activity in the stratosphere (10-50 km), highlighting various excitation mechanisms such as orographic effects, convection in the tropics, meteorological disturbances, the subtropical jet and the polar night jet.

  5. ANNEALING OF POLYCRYSTALLINE THIN FILM SILICON SOLAR CELLS IN WATER VAPOUR AT SUB-ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Pikna

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Thin film polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si solar cells were annealed in water vapour at pressures below atmospheric pressure. PN junction of the sample was contacted by measuring probes directly in the pressure chamber filled with steam during passivation. Suns-VOC method and a Lock-in detector were used to monitor an effect of water vapour to VOC of the solar cell during whole passivation process (in-situ. Tested temperature of the sample (55°C – 110°C was constant during the procedure. Open-circuit voltage of a solar cell at these temperatures is lower than at room temperature. Nevertheless, voltage response of the solar cell to the light flash used during Suns-VOC measurements was good observable. Temperature dependences for multicrystalline wafer-based and polycrystalline thin film solar cells were measured and compared. While no significant improvement of thin film poly-Si solar cell parameters by annealing in water vapour at under-atmospheric pressures was observed up to now, in-situ observation proved required sensitivity to changing VOC at elevated temperatures during the process.

  6. Highly relativistic magnetospheric electrons: A role in coupling to the middle atmosphere?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baker, D.N.; Blake, J.B.; Gorney, D.J.; Higbie, P.R.; Klebesadel, R.W.; King, J.H.

    1987-01-01

    Long-term (1979-present) observations of relativistic electrons (2--15 MeV) at geostationary orbit show a strong solar cycle dependence. Such electrons were largely absent near the last solar maximum (1979--80), while they were prominent during the approach to solar minimum (1983--85). This population now is dwindling as solar minimum has been reached. The strong magnetospheric presence of high-speed solar wind streams which results from solar coronal hole structures during the approach to solar activity (sunspot) minimum. We clearly observe 27-day periodic enhancements of the relativistic electrons in association with concurrently measured solar wind streams (V/sub S//sub W/approx. >600 km/s). We have used a numerical transport code to study the coupling of these high-energy electrons to earth's upper and middle atmosphere. We calculate using the observed energy spectra of the electrons that, when precipitated, these electrons show a large (maximum of ∼100 keV/cm 3 -s) energy deposition at 40--60 km altitude, which is 3--4 orders of magnitude greater than the galactic cosmic ray or solar EUV energy deposition at these altitudes. We also find that the global energy deposition in the mid-latitudes totals nearly 10 21 ergs for a typical 2--3 day event period. We conclude that this previously unrecognized electron population could play an important role in coupling solar wind and magnetospheric variability (on 27--day and 11--year cycles) to the middle atmosphere through a modulating effect on lower D-region ionization and, possibly, on upper level ozone chemistry. These electrons also may contribute to the recent Antarctic polar ozone depletion phenomenon. copyright American Geophysical Union 1987

  7. Penetration of internal gravity waveguide modes into the upper atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rudenko G.V.

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The paper describes internal gravity waveguide modes, using dissipative solutions above the source. We compare such a description with an accurate approach and a WKB approximation for dissipationless equations. For waveguide disturbances, dispersion relations calculated by any method are shown to be close to each other and to be in good agreement with observed characteristics of traveling ionospheric disturbances. Unlike other methods, dissipative solutions above the source allow us to adequately describe the spatial structure of disturbances in the upper atmosphere.

  8. CAN TiO EXPLAIN THERMAL INVERSIONS IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERES OF IRRADIATED GIANT PLANETS?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spiegel, David S.; Silverio, Katie; Burrows, Adam

    2009-01-01

    Spitzer Space Telescope infrared observations indicate that several transiting extrasolar giant planets have thermal inversions in their upper atmospheres. Above a relative minimum, the temperature appears to increase with altitude. Such an inversion probably requires a species at high altitude that absorbs a significant amount of incident optical/UV radiation. Some authors have suggested that the strong optical absorbers titanium oxide (TiO) and vanadium oxide (VO) could provide the needed additional opacity, but if regions of the atmosphere are cold enough for Ti and V to be sequestered into solids they might rain out and be severely depleted. With a model of the vertical distribution of a refractory species in gaseous and condensed form, we address the question of whether enough TiO (or VO) could survive aloft in an irradiated planet's atmosphere to produce a thermal inversion. We find that it is unlikely that VO could play a critical role in producing thermal inversions. Furthermore, we find that macroscopic mixing is essential to the TiO hypothesis; without macroscopic mixing, such a heavy species cannot persist in a planet's upper atmosphere. The amount of macroscopic mixing that is required depends on the size of condensed titanium-bearing particles that form in regions of an atmosphere that are too cold for gaseous TiO to exist. We parameterize the macroscopic mixing with the eddy diffusion coefficient K zz and find, as a function of particle size a, the values that K zz must assume on the highly irradiated planets HD 209458b, HD 149026b, TrES-4, and OGLE-TR-56b to loft enough titanium to the upper atmosphere for the TiO hypothesis to be correct. On these planets, we find that for TiO to be responsible for thermal inversions K zz must be at least a few times 10 7 cm 2 s -1 , even for a = 0.1 μm, and increases to nearly 10 11 cm 2 s -1 for a = 10 μm. Such large values may be problematic for the TiO hypothesis, but are not impossible.

  9. Waves and Magnetism in the Solar Atmosphere (WAMIS)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ko, Yuan-Kuen [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC (United States); Moses, John D. [Heliophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA, Washington, DC (United States); Laming, John M.; Strachan, Leonard; Tun Beltran, Samuel [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC (United States); Tomczyk, Steven; Gibson, Sarah E. [High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, CO (United States); Auchère, Frédéric [Institut d' Astrophysique Spatiale, CNRS Université Paris-Sud, Orsay (France); Casini, Roberto [High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, CO (United States); Fineschi, Silvano [INAF - National Institute for Astrophysics, Astrophysical Observatory of Torino, Pino Torinese (Italy); Knoelker, Michael [High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, CO (United States); Korendyke, Clarence [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC (United States); McIntosh, Scott W. [High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, CO (United States); Romoli, Marco [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, Florence (Italy); Rybak, Jan [Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Tatranska Lomnica (Slovakia); Socker, Dennis G. [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC (United States); Vourlidas, Angelos [Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD (United States); Wu, Qian, E-mail: yuan-kuen.ko@nrl.navy.mil [High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, CO (United States)

    2016-02-16

    Comprehensive measurements of magnetic fields in the solar corona have a long history as an important scientific goal. Besides being crucial to understanding coronal structures and the Sun's generation of space weather, direct measurements of their strength and direction are also crucial steps in understanding observed wave motions. In this regard, the remote sensing instrumentation used to make coronal magnetic field measurements is well suited to measuring the Doppler signature of waves in the solar structures. In this paper, we describe the design and scientific values of the Waves and Magnetism in the Solar Atmosphere (WAMIS) investigation. WAMIS, taking advantage of greatly improved infrared filters and detectors, forward models, advanced diagnostic tools and inversion codes, is a long-duration high-altitude balloon payload designed to obtain a breakthrough in the measurement of coronal magnetic fields and in advancing the understanding of the interaction of these fields with space plasmas. It consists of a 20 cm aperture coronagraph with a visible-IR spectro-polarimeter focal plane assembly. The balloon altitude would provide minimum sky background and atmospheric scattering at the wavelengths in which these observations are made. It would also enable continuous measurements of the strength and direction of coronal magnetic fields without interruptions from the day–night cycle and weather. These measurements will be made over a large field-of-view allowing one to distinguish the magnetic signatures of different coronal structures, and at the spatial and temporal resolutions required to address outstanding problems in coronal physics. Additionally, WAMIS could obtain near simultaneous observations of the electron scattered K-corona for context and to obtain the electron density. These comprehensive observations are not provided by any current single ground-based or space observatory. The fundamental advancements achieved by the near-space observations

  10. Waves and Magnetism in the Solar Atmosphere (WAMIS)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ko, Yuan-Kuen; Moses, John D.; Laming, John M.; Strachan, Leonard; Tun Beltran, Samuel; Tomczyk, Steven; Gibson, Sarah E.; Auchère, Frédéric; Casini, Roberto; Fineschi, Silvano; Knoelker, Michael; Korendyke, Clarence; McIntosh, Scott W.; Romoli, Marco; Rybak, Jan; Socker, Dennis G.; Vourlidas, Angelos; Wu, Qian

    2016-01-01

    Comprehensive measurements of magnetic fields in the solar corona have a long history as an important scientific goal. Besides being crucial to understanding coronal structures and the Sun's generation of space weather, direct measurements of their strength and direction are also crucial steps in understanding observed wave motions. In this regard, the remote sensing instrumentation used to make coronal magnetic field measurements is well suited to measuring the Doppler signature of waves in the solar structures. In this paper, we describe the design and scientific values of the Waves and Magnetism in the Solar Atmosphere (WAMIS) investigation. WAMIS, taking advantage of greatly improved infrared filters and detectors, forward models, advanced diagnostic tools and inversion codes, is a long-duration high-altitude balloon payload designed to obtain a breakthrough in the measurement of coronal magnetic fields and in advancing the understanding of the interaction of these fields with space plasmas. It consists of a 20 cm aperture coronagraph with a visible-IR spectro-polarimeter focal plane assembly. The balloon altitude would provide minimum sky background and atmospheric scattering at the wavelengths in which these observations are made. It would also enable continuous measurements of the strength and direction of coronal magnetic fields without interruptions from the day–night cycle and weather. These measurements will be made over a large field-of-view allowing one to distinguish the magnetic signatures of different coronal structures, and at the spatial and temporal resolutions required to address outstanding problems in coronal physics. Additionally, WAMIS could obtain near simultaneous observations of the electron scattered K-corona for context and to obtain the electron density. These comprehensive observations are not provided by any current single ground-based or space observatory. The fundamental advancements achieved by the near-space observations

  11. Chemistry and evolution of Titan's atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strobel, D.F.

    1982-01-01

    The chemistry and evolution of Titan's atmosphere is reviewed in the light of the scientific findings from the Voyager mission. It is argued that the present N 2 atmosphere may be Titan's initial atmosphere rather than photochemically derived from an original NH 3 atmosphere. The escape rate of hydrogen from Titan is controlled by photochemical production from hydrocarbons. CH 4 is irreversibly converted to less hydrogen rich hydrocarbons, which over geologic time accumulate on the surface to a layer thickness of approximately 0.5 km. Magnetospheric electrons interacting with Titan's exosphere may dissociate enough N 2 into hot, escaping N atoms to remove approximately 0.2 of Titan's present atmosphere over geologic time. The energy dissipation of magnetospheric electrons exceeds solar e.u.v. energy deposition in Titan's atmosphere by an order of magnitude and is the principal driver of nitrogen photochemistry. The environmental conditions in Titan's upper atmosphere are favorable to building up complex molecules, particularly in the north polar cap region. (author)

  12. Variation of the Solar Microwave Spectrum in the Last Half Century

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shimojo, Masumi; Saito, Masao [National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS), Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588 (Japan); Iwai, Kazumasa [Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (ISEE), Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601 (Japan); Asai, Ayumi [Kwasan and Hida Observatories, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502 (Japan); Nozawa, Satoshi [Department of Science, Ibaraki University, Mito, Ibaraki, 310-8512 (Japan); Minamidani, Tetsuhiro, E-mail: masumi.shimojo@nao.ac.jp [Department of Astronomical Science, School of Physical Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University of Advanced Studies), Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588 (Japan)

    2017-10-10

    The total solar fluxes at 1, 2, 3.75, and 9.4 GHz were observed continuously from 1957 to 1994 at Toyokawa, Japan, and from 1994 until now at Nobeyama, Japan, with the current Nobeyama Radio Polarimeters. We examined the multi-frequency and long-term data sets, and found that not only the microwave solar flux but also its monthly standard deviation indicate the long-term variation of solar activity. Furthermore, we found that the microwave spectra at the solar minima of Cycles 20–24 agree with each other. These results show that the average atmospheric structure above the upper chromosphere in the quiet-Sun has not varied for half a century, and suggest that the energy input for atmospheric heating from the sub-photosphere to the corona have not changed in the quiet-Sun despite significantly differing strengths of magnetic activity in the last five solar cycles.

  13. A novel polarization interferometer for measuring upper atmospheric winds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ting-Kui, Mu; Chun-Min, Zhang

    2010-01-01

    A static polarization interferometer for measuring upper atmospheric winds is presented, based on two Savart plates with their optical axes perpendicular to each other. The principle and characteristics of the interferometer are described. The interferometer with a wide field of view can offer a stable benchmark optical path difference over a specified spectral region of 0.55–0.63 μm because there are no quarter wave plates. Since the instrument employs a straight line common-path configuration but without moving parts and slits, it is very compact, simple, inherently robust and has high throughput. The paper is limited to a theoretical analysis. (general)

  14. Commentary Relative to the Emission Spectrum of the Solar Atmosphere: Further Evidence for a Distinct Solar Surface

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robitaille P.-M.

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The chromosphere and corona of the Sun represent tenuous regions which are characterized by numerous optically thin emission lines in the ultraviolet and X-ray bands. When observed from the center of the solar disk outward, these emission lines experience modest brightening as the limb is approached. The intensity of many ultraviolet and X-ray emission lines nearly doubles when observation is extended just beyond the edge of the disk. These findings indicate that the solar body is opaque in this frequency range and that an approximately two fold greater region of the solar atmosphere is being sampled outside the limb. These observations provide strong support for the presence of a distinct solar surface. Therefore, the behavior of the emission lines in this frequency range constitutes the twenty fifth line of evidence that the Sun is comprised of condensed matter

  15. European SpaceCraft for the study of Atmospheric Particle Escape (ESCAPE): a mission proposed in response to the ESA M5-call

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dandouras, Iannis; Yamauchi, Masatoshi; Rème, Henri; De Keyser, Johan; Marghitu, Octav; Fazakerley, Andrew; Grison, Benjamin; Kistler, Lynn; Milillo, Anna; Nakamura, Rumi; Paschalidis, Nikolaos; Paschalis, Antonis; Pinçon, Jean-Louis; Sakanoi, Takeshi; Wieser, Martin; Wurz, Peter; Yoshikawa, Ichiro; Häggström, Ingemar; Liemohn, Mike; Tian, Feng

    2017-04-01

    ESCAPE is a mission proposed in response to the ESA-M5 call that will quantitatively estimate the amount of escaping particles of the major atmospheric components (nitrogen and oxygen), as neutral and ionised species, escaping from the Earth as a magnetised planet. The spatial distribution and temporal variability of the flux of these species and their isotopic composition will be for the first time systematically investigated in an extended altitude range, from the exobase/upper ionosphere (500 km altitude) up to the magnetosphere. The goal is to understand the importance of each escape mechanism, its dependence on solar and geomagnetic activity, and to infer the history of the Earth's atmosphere over a long (geological scale) time period. Since the solar EUV and solar wind conditions during solar maximum at present are comparable to the solar minimum conditions 1-2 billion years ago, the escaping amount and the isotope and N/O ratios should be obtained as a function of external forcing (solar and geomagnetic conditions) to allow a scaling to the past. The result will be used as a reference to understand the atmospheric/ionospheric evolution of magnetised planets. To achieve this goal, a slowly spinning spacecraft is proposed equipped with a suite of instruments developed and supplied by an international consortium. These instruments will detect the upper atmosphere and magnetosphere escaping populations by a combination of in-situ measurements and of remote-sensing observations.

  16. Atmospheric Mining in the Outer Solar System:. [Aerial Vehicle Reconnaissance and Exploration Options

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palaszewski, Bryan A.

    2014-01-01

    Atmospheric mining in the outer solar system has been investigated as a means of fuel production for high energy propulsion and power. Fusion fuels such as Helium 3 (3He) and hydrogen can be wrested from the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune and either returned to Earth or used in-situ for energy production. Helium 3 and hydrogen (deuterium, etc.) were the primary gases of interest with hydrogen being the primary propellant for nuclear thermal solid core and gas core rocket-based atmospheric flight. A series of analyses were undertaken to investigate resource capturing aspects of atmospheric mining in the outer solar system. This included the gas capturing rate, storage options, and different methods of direct use of the captured gases. Additional supporting analyses were conducted to illuminate vehicle sizing and orbital transportation issues. While capturing 3He, large amounts of hydrogen and 4He are produced. With these two additional gases, the potential for fueling small and large fleets of additional exploration and exploitation vehicles exists. Additional aerospacecraft or other aerial vehicles (UAVs, balloons, rockets, etc.) could fly through the outer planet atmospheres, for global weather observations, localized storm or other disturbance investigations, wind speed measurements, polar observations, etc. Deep-diving aircraft (built with the strength to withstand many atmospheres of pressure) powered by the excess hydrogen or helium 4 may be designed to probe the higher density regions of the gas giants. Outer planet atmospheric properties, atmospheric storm data, and mission planning for future outer planet UAVs are presented.

  17. A non-LTE retrieval scheme for sounding the upper atmosphere of Mars in the infrared

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez-Valverde, Miguel Angel; García-Comas, Maya; Funke, Bernd; Jimenez-Monferrer, Sergio; Lopez-Puertas, Manuel

    2016-04-01

    Several instruments on board Mars Express have been sounding the upper atmosphere of Mars systematically in a limb geometry in the IR part of the spectrum. Two of them in particular, OMEGA and PFS, performed emission measurements during daytime and detected the strongest IR bands of species like CO2 and CO (Piccialli et al, JGRE, submitted). Similarly on Venus, the instrument VIRTIS carried out observations of CO2 and CO bands at 2.7, 4.3 and 4.7 um at high altitudes (Gilli et al, JGRE, 2009). All these daylight atmospheric emissions respond to fluorescent situations, a case of non-local thermodynamic equilibrum conditions (non-LTE), well understood nowadays using comprehensive non-LTE theoretical models and tools (Lopez-Valverde et al., Planet. Space Sci., 2011). However, extensive exploitation of these emissions has only been done in optically thin conditions to date (Gilli et al, Icarus, 2015) or in a broad range of altitudes if in nadir geometry (Peralta et al, Apj, 2015). Within the H2020 project UPWARDS we aim at performing retrievals under non-LTE conditions including optically thick cases, like those of the CO2 and CO strongest bands during daytime in the upper atmosphere of Mars. Similar effort will also be applied eventually to Venus. We will present the non-LTE scheme used for such retrievals, based on similar efforts performed recently in studies of the Earth's upper atmosphere using data from the MIPAS instrument, on board Envisat (Funke et al., Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2009; Jurado-Navarro, PhD Thesis, Univ. Granada, 2015). Acknowledgemnt: This work is supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme under grant agreement UPWARDS-633127

  18. Atmospheric turbidity and transmittance of solar radiation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Shobokshy, Mohammad S.; Al-Saedi, Yaseen G.

    During the last two decades, the urban areas in the city of Riyadh—the capital of Saudi Arabia—were increasing at an exceptionally high rate through a series of development plans. The major plans had been completed by the end of 1982. Some other big utility projects were started and completed during 1987. As a consequence, the air quality has deteriorated markedly and air pollution episodes recorded during these activities showed that particulates were present in the atmosphere at high concentrations. Later in January 1991 the Gulf war started and the firing of the oil fields in Kuwait soon followed. It was estimated that soot particulates were emitted at a rate of 600 ton d -1 along with high rates of other gases. This event has led to significant air quality and visibility problems. Direct normal solar radiation has been measured during the summer months of July and August which were characterized by very dry and cloudless weather for the period between 1982 and 1992. A year-to-year trend of the transmittance of direct normal solar irradiance was then determined. The atmospheric fine aerosol (oil field fires in Kuwait were passing over Riyadh are presented. The reduction in solar irradiation reflects the intensity of dark smoke at a distance of 500 km from Kuwait.

  19. Progress in observations and simulations of global change in the upper atmosphere

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Qian, L.; Laštovička, Jan; Roble, R. G.; Solomon, S.C.

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 116, - (2011), A00H03/1-A00H03/16 ISSN 0148-0227 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP209/10/1792 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517 Keywords : Long-term trends * upper atmosphere * ionosphere Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 3.021, year: 2011 http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2010JA016317.shtml

  20. Solar cyclic behavior of trapped energetic electrons in Earth's inner radiation belt

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abel, Bob; Thorne, Richard M.

    1994-10-01

    Magnetic electron spectrometer data from six satellites (OV3-3, OV1-14, OGO 5, S3-2, S3-3, and CRRES) have been used to study long-term (1966-1991) behavior of trapped energetic electrons in the inner radiation belt. Comparison of the observed energy spectra at L equal to or greater than 1.35 for different phases of the solar cycle reveals a clear trend toward enhanced fluxes during periods of solar maximum for energies below a few hundred keV; we suggest that this is caused by an increase in the rate of inward radial diffusion from a source at higher L. In contrast, for L less than 1.30, where atmospheric collisions become increasingly important, the electron flux is reduced during solar maximum; we attribute this to the expected increase in upper atmospheric densities. The electron flux above 1 MeV exhibits a systematic decay beyond 1979 to values well below the current NASA AE-8 model. This indicates that the natural background of high-energy electrons has previously been overestimated due to the long lasting presence of electrons produced by nuclear detonations in the upper atmosphere in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

  1. Solar Cycle Response and Long-Term Trends in the Mesospheric Metal Layers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawkins, E. C. M.; Plane, J. M. C.; Chipperfield, M.; Feng, W.; Marsh, D. R.; Hoffner, J.; Janches, D.

    2016-01-01

    The meteoric metal layers (Na, Fe, and K) which form as a result of the ablation of incoming meteors act as unique tracers for chemical and dynamical processes that occur within the upper mesosphere lower thermosphere region. In this work, we examine whether these metal layers are sensitive Fe indicators of decadal long-term changes within the upper atmosphere. Output from a whole-atmosphere climate model is used to assess the response of the Na, K, and Fe layers across a 50 year period (1955-2005). At short timescales, the K layer has previously been shown to exhibit a very different seasonal behavior compared to the other metals. Here we show that this unusual behavior is also exhibited at longer time scales (both the 11 year solar cycle and 50 year periods), where K displays a much more pronounced response to atmospheric temperature changes than either Na or Fe. The contrasting solar cycle behavior of the K and Na layers predicted by the model is confirmed using satellite and lidar observations for the period 2004-2013.

  2. Divergence of sun-rays by atmospheric refraction at large solar zenith angles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Uhl

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available For the determination of photolysis rates at large zenith angles it has been demonstrated that refraction by the earth's atmosphere must be taken into account. In fact, due to the modified optical path the optical transmittance is thereby increased in most instances. Here we show that in addition the divergence of sun-rays, which is also caused by refraction but which reduces the direct solar irradiance, should not be neglected. Our calculations are based on a spherically symmetric atmosphere and include extinction by Rayleigh scattering, ozone, and background aerosol. For rays with 10km tangent altitude the divergence yields a reduction of about 10% to 40% at solar zenith angles of 91° to 96°. Moreover, we find that the divergence effect can completely cancel the relative enhancement caused by the increase of transmittance.

  3. EUV-VUV photochemistry in the upper atmospheres of Titan and the early Earth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imanaka, H.; Smith, M. A.

    2010-12-01

    Titan, the organic-rich moon of Saturn, possesses a thick atmosphere of nitrogen, globally covered with organic haze layers. The recent Cassini’s INMS and CAPS observations clearly demonstrate the importance of complex organic chemistry in the ionosphere. EUV photon radiation is the major driving energy source there. Our previous laboratory study of the EUV-VUV photolysis of N2/CH4 gas mixtures demonstrates a unique role of nitrogen photoionization in the catalytic formation of complex hydrocarbons in Titan’s upper atmosphere (Imanaka and Smith, 2007, 2009). Such EUV photochemistry could also have played important roles in the formation of complex organic molecules in the ionosphere of the early Earth. It has been suggested that the early Earth atmosphere may have contained significant amount of reduced species (CH4, H2, and CO) (Kasting, 1990, Pavlov et al., 2001, Tian et al., 2005). Recent experimental study, using photon radiation at wavelengths longer than 110 nm, demonstrates that photochemical organic haze could have been generated from N2/CO2 atmospheres with trace amounts of CH4 or H2 (Trainer et al., 2006, Dewitt et al., 2009). However, possible EUV photochemical processes in the ionosphere are not well understood. We have investigated the effect of CO2 in the possible EUV photochemical processes in simulated reduced early Earth atmospheres. The EUV-VUV photochemistry using wavelength-tunable synchrotron light between 50 - 150 nm was investigated for gas mixtures of 13CO2/CH4 (= 96.7/3.3) and N2/13CO2/CH4 (= 90/6.7/3.3). The onsets of unsaturated hydrocarbon formation were observed at wavelengths shorter than the ionization potentials of CO2 and N2, respectively. This correlation indicates that CO2 can play a similar catalytic role to N2 in the formation of heavy organic species, which implies that EUV photochemistry might have significant impact on the photochemical generation of organic haze layers in the upper atmosphere of the early Earth.

  4. Field-Aligned Current Response to Solar Indices

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    R. Edwards, Thom; Weimer, D. R.; Tobiska, W. K.

    2017-01-01

    Magnetometer data from three satellite missions have been used to analyze and identify the effects of varying solar radiation on the magnitudes and locations of field-aligned currents in the Earth's upper atmosphere. Data from the CHAMP, Ørsted, and Swarm satellite missions have been bought...... together to provide a database spanning a 15 year period. The extensive time frame has been augmented by data from the ACE satellite, as well as a number of indices of solar radiation. This data set has been sorted by a number of solar wind, interplanetary magnetic field, and solar radiation indices...... to evaluate the effects of variations in four different solar indices on the total current in different regions of the polar cap. While the solar indices do not have major influence on the total current of the polar cap when compared to solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field parameters it does appear...

  5. Solar Thermal Upper Stage Cryogen System Engineering Checkout Test

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsen, A. D; Cady, E. C.; Jenkins, D. S.

    1999-01-01

    The Solar Thermal Upper Stage technology (STUSTD) program is a solar thermal propulsion technology program cooperatively sponsored by a Boeing led team and by NASA MSFC. A key element of its technology program is development of a liquid hydrogen (LH2) storage and supply system which employs multi-layer insulation, liquid acquisition devices, active and passive thermodynamic vent systems, and variable 40W tank heaters to reliably provide near constant pressure H2 to a solar thermal engine in the low-gravity of space operation. The LH2 storage and supply system is designed to operate as a passive, pressure fed supply system at a constant pressure of about 45 psia. During operation of the solar thermal engine over a small portion of the orbit the LH2 storage and supply system propulsively vents through the enjoy at a controlled flowrate. During the long coast portion of the orbit, the LH2 tank is locked up (unvented). Thus, all of the vented H2 flow is used in the engine for thrust and none is wastefully vented overboard. The key to managing the tank pressure and therefore the H2 flow to the engine is to manage and balance the energy flow into the LH2 tank with the MLI and tank heaters with the energy flow out of the LH2 tank through the vented H2 flow. A moderate scale (71 cu ft) LH2 storage and supply system was installed and insulated at the NASA MSFC Test Area 300. The operation of the system is described in this paper. The test program for the LH2 system consisted of two parts: 1) a series of engineering tests to characterize the performance of the various components in the system: and 2) a 30-day simulation of a complete LEO and GEO transfer mission. This paper describes the results of the engineering tests, and correlates these results with analytical models used to design future advanced Solar Orbit Transfer Vehicles.

  6. Characterizing the Upper Atmosphere of Titan using the Titan Global Ionosphere- Thermosphere Model: Nitrogen and Methane.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, J. M.; Waite, J. H.; Bar-Nun, A.; Bougher, S. W.; Ridley, A. J.; Magee, B.

    2008-12-01

    Recently, a great deal of effort has been put forth to explain the Cassini Ion-Neutral Mass Spectrometer (Waite et al [2004]) in-situ measurements of Titan's upper atmosphere (e.g. Muller-Wodarg [2008], Strobel [2008], Yelle et al [2008]). Currently, the community seems to agree that large amounts of CH4 are escaping from Titan's upper atmosphere at a rate of roughly 2.0 x 1027 molecules of CH4/s (3.33 x 1028 amu/s), representing a significant mass source to the Kronian Magnetosphere. However, such large escape fluxes from Titan are currently not corroborated by measurements onboard the Cassini Spacecraft. Thus, we posit another potential scenario: Aerosol depletion of atmospheric methane. Using the three-dimensional Titan Global Ionosphere-Thermosphere Model (T-GITM) (Bell et al [2008]), we explore the possible removal mechanisms of atmospheric gaseous constituents by these aerosols. Titan simulations are directly compared against Cassini Ion-Neutral Mass Spectrometer in-situ densities of N2 and CH4. From this work, we can then compare and contrast this aerosol depletion scenario against the currently posited hydrodynamic escape scenario, illustrating the merits and shortcomings of both.

  7. Infrared radiation in the energy balance of the upper atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gordiets, B.F.; Markov, M.N.

    1977-01-01

    The contribution of the infrared radiation to the energy balance of the Earth's upper atmosphere is discussed. The theoretical analysis has been carried out of the mechanisms of the transformation of the energy of outgoing particles and the ultraviolet-radiation of the Sun absorbed at the heights of Z >= 90 km into the infrared radiation. It is found out the the infrared radiation within the wave length range of 1.2-20 μ is more intensive that the 63 μ radiation of atomic oxygen and plays an important role in the general energy balance and the thermal regime of the thermosphere. It has been found out too that in the area of Z >= 120 km heights the radiation in the 5.3 μ NO band is the most intensive. This radiation is to be considered for the more accurate description of parameters of the atmosphere (temperature, density) conditioning the nature of the translocation of ionospheric sounds (ISS)

  8. Modeling atmospheric effects of the September 1859 Solar Flare

    OpenAIRE

    Thomas, Brian; Jackman, Charles; Melott, Adrian

    2006-01-01

    We have modeled atmospheric effects, especially ozone depletion, due to a solar proton event which probably accompanied the extreme magnetic storm of 1-2 September 1859. We use an inferred proton fluence for this event as estimated from nitrate levels in Greenland ice cores. We present results showing production of odd nitrogen compounds and their impact on ozone. We also compute rainout of nitrate in our model and compare to values from ice core data.

  9. The SUVIT Instrument on the Solar-C Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarbell, Theodore D.; Ichimoto, Kiyoshi

    2014-06-01

    Solar-C is a new space mission being proposed to JAXA, with significant contributions anticipated from NASA, ESA, and EU countries. The main scientific objectives are to: reveal the mechanisms for heating and dynamics of the chromosphere and corona and acceleration of the solar wind; determine the physical origin of the large-scale explosions and eruptions that drive short-term solar, heliospheric, and geospace variability; use the solar atmosphere as a laboratory for understanding fundamental physical processes; make unprecedented observations of the polar magnetic fields. The unique approaches of Solar-C to achieve these goals are to: determine the properties and evolution of the 3-dimensional magnetic field, especially on small spatial scales, and for the first time observed in the crucial low beta plasma region; observe all the temperature regimes of the atmosphere seamlessly at the highest spatial resolution ever achieved; observe at high cadence the prevailing dynamics in all regions of the atmosphere; determine physical properties from high resolution spectroscopic measurements throughout the atmosphere and into the solar wind. The powerful suite of instruments onboard Solar-C will be sensitive to temperatures from the photosphere 5500 K) to solar flares 20 MK) with no temperature gap, with spatial resolution at all temperatures of 0.3″ or less (0.1″ in the lower atmosphere) and at high cadence. The purpose of the Solar UV-Visible-IR Telescope (SUVIT) is to obtain chromospheric velocity, temperature, density and magnetic field diagnostics over as wide arange of heights as possible, through high cadence spectral line profiles and vector spectro-polarimetry. SUVIT is a meter-class telescope currently under study at 1.4m in order to obtain sufficientresolution and S/N. SUVIT has two complementary focal plane packages, the Filtergraph that makes high cadence imaging observations with the highest spatial resolution and the Spectro-polarimeter that makes

  10. Periodicities common to the solar atmosphere rotation and the functioning of human organism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tyagun, N.F.

    1995-01-01

    The study is made of the occurrence rates of menstrual cycle periods for ∼ 2000 women. Peaks on the distribution histogram, corresponding to 21, 25, 28 and 30 days, coincide with a set of axial rotation periods of the solar atmosphere. It is proposed that the functioning of human organism is determined not only by the Moon bu by the rithmics of solar system. 10 refs., 1 fig

  11. Impact of cosmic rays and solar energetic particles on the Earth’s ionosphere and atmosphere

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Velinov, P. I. Y.; Asenovski, S.; Kudela, K.; Laštovička, Jan; Mateev, L.; Mishev, A.; Tonev, P.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 3, 26 March (2013), A14/1-A14/17 ISSN 2115-7251 Grant - others:European COST Action(XE) ES0803 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : cosmic rays * solar energetic particles * ionization * ionosphere * atmosphere * solar activity * solar-terrestrial relationships Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 2.519, year: 2013 http://www.swsc-journal.org/articles/swsc/abs/2013/01/swsc120040/swsc120040.html

  12. Observational Evidence of Magnetic Waves in the Solar Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    McIntosh, Scott W.

    2012-03-01

    The observational evidence in supporting the presence of magnetic waves in the outer solar atmosphere is growing rapidly - we will discuss recent observations and place them in context with salient observations made in the past. While the clear delineation of these magnetic wave "modes" is unclear, much can be learned about the environment in which they originated and possibly how they are removed from the system from the observations. Their diagnostic power is, as yet, untapped and their energy content (both as a mechanical source for the heating of coronal material and acceleration of the solar wind) remains in question, but can be probed observationally - raising challenges for modeling efforts. We look forward to the IRIS mission by proposing some sample observing sequences to help resolve some of the zoological issues present in the literature.

  13. Neutral escape at Mars induced by the precipitation of high-energy protons and hydrogen atoms of the solar wind origin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shematovich, Valery I.

    2017-04-01

    One of the first surprises of the NASA MAVEN mission was the observation by the SWIA instrument of a tenuous population of protons with solar wind energies travelling anti-sunward near periapsis, at altitudes of 150-250 km (Halekas et al., 2015). While the penetration of solar wind protons to low altitude is not completely unexpected given previous Mars Express results, this population maintains exactly the same velocity as the solar wind observed. From previous studies it was known that some fraction of the solar wind can interact with the extended corona of Mars. By charge exchange with the neutral particles in this corona, some fraction of the incoming solar wind protons can gain an electron and become an energetic neutral hydrogen atom. Once neutral, these particles penetrate through the Martian induced magnetosphere with ease, with free access to the collisional atmosphere/ionosphere. The origin, kinetics and transport of the suprathermal O atoms in the transition region (from thermosphere to exosphere) of the Martian upper atmosphere due to the precipitation of the high-energy protons and hydrogen atoms are discussed. Kinetic energy distribution functions of suprathermal and superthermal (ENA) oxygen atoms formed in the Martian upper atmosphere were calculated using the kinetic Monte Carlo model (Shematovich et al., 2011, Shematovich, 2013) of the high-energy proton and hydrogen atom precipitation into the atmosphere. These functions allowed us: (a) to estimate the non-thermal escape rates of neutral oxygen from the Martian upper atmosphere, and (b) to compare with available MAVEN measurements of oxygen corona. Induced by precipitation the escape of hot oxygen atoms may become dominant under conditions of extreme solar events - solar flares and coronal mass ejections, - as it was shown by recent observations of the NASA MAVEN spacecraft (Jakosky et al., 2015). This work is supported by the RFBR project and by the Basic Research Program of the Praesidium of

  14. Phase space representation of neutron monitor count rate and atmospheric electric field in relation to solar activity in cycles 21 and 22.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, H G; Lopes, I

    Heliospheric modulation of galactic cosmic rays links solar cycle activity with neutron monitor count rate on earth. A less direct relation holds between neutron monitor count rate and atmospheric electric field because different atmospheric processes, including fluctuations in the ionosphere, are involved. Although a full quantitative model is still lacking, this link is supported by solid statistical evidence. Thus, a connection between the solar cycle activity and atmospheric electric field is expected. To gain a deeper insight into these relations, sunspot area (NOAA, USA), neutron monitor count rate (Climax, Colorado, USA), and atmospheric electric field (Lisbon, Portugal) are presented here in a phase space representation. The period considered covers two solar cycles (21, 22) and extends from 1978 to 1990. Two solar maxima were observed in this dataset, one in 1979 and another in 1989, as well as one solar minimum in 1986. Two main observations of the present study were: (1) similar short-term topological features of the phase space representations of the three variables, (2) a long-term phase space radius synchronization between the solar cycle activity, neutron monitor count rate, and potential gradient (confirmed by absolute correlation values above ~0.8). Finally, the methodology proposed here can be used for obtaining the relations between other atmospheric parameters (e.g., solar radiation) and solar cycle activity.

  15. Atmospheric effects on the photovoltaic performance of hybrid perovskite solar cells

    KAUST Repository

    Sheikh, Arif D.; Bera, Ashok; Haque, Mohammed; Baby, Rakhi Raghavan; Del Gobbo, Silvano; Alshareef, Husam N.; Wu, Tao

    2015-01-01

    nitrogen, and dry air, on the photovoltaic performance of TiO2-CH3NH3PbI3-xClx-spiro-MeOTAD solar cells. We found that spin coating of spiro-MeOTAD in an oxygen atmosphere alone was not adequate to functionalize its hole-transport property completely

  16. Vortex flows in the solar chromosphere. I. Automatic detection method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kato, Y.; Wedemeyer, S.

    2017-05-01

    Solar "magnetic tornadoes" are produced by rotating magnetic field structures that extend from the upper convection zone and the photosphere to the corona of the Sun. Recent studies show that these kinds of rotating features are an integral part of atmospheric dynamics and occur on a large range of spatial scales. A systematic statistical study of magnetic tornadoes is a necessary next step towards understanding their formation and their role in mass and energy transport in the solar atmosphere. For this purpose, we develop a new automatic detection method for chromospheric swirls, meaning the observable signature of solar tornadoes or, more generally, chromospheric vortex flows and rotating motions. Unlike existing studies that rely on visual inspections, our new method combines a line integral convolution (LIC) imaging technique and a scalar quantity that represents a vortex flow on a two-dimensional plane. We have tested two detection algorithms, based on the enhanced vorticity and vorticity strength quantities, by applying them to three-dimensional numerical simulations of the solar atmosphere with CO5BOLD. We conclude that the vorticity strength method is superior compared to the enhanced vorticity method in all aspects. Applying the method to a numerical simulation of the solar atmosphere reveals very abundant small-scale, short-lived chromospheric vortex flows that have not been found previously by visual inspection.

  17. Long-period fading in atmospherics during severe meteorological activity and associated solar geophysical phenomena at low latitudes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. B. Bhattacharya

    1998-02-01

    Full Text Available The records of VLF atmospherics over Calcutta and then over Kalyani (West Bengal during the torrential rainfall, caused by violent monsoon and post-monsoon depressions, exhibit distinct long-period fadings both at day and night. Interesting results obtained from an analysis of round-the-clock atmospherics data and associated meteorological parameters are reported in this paper. A possible correlation between the severe meteorological activity with the solar geophysical phenomena was studied. The results are indicative of an interesting sequence of solar-terrestrial events. A tentative conclusion is reached, suggesting an origin of the fading from atmospheric gravity waves generated in the centre of activity of the depressions concerned.Key words. Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics · Lightning · Precipitation

  18. Atmospheric Mining in the Outer Solar System: Aerial Vehicle Mission and Design Issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palaszewski, Bryan

    2015-01-01

    Atmospheric mining in the outer solar system has been investigated as a means of fuel production for high energy propulsion and power. Fusion fuels such as Helium 3 (3He) and deuterium can be wrested from the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune and either returned to Earth or used in-situ for energy production. Helium 3 and deuterium were the primary gases of interest with hydrogen being the primary propellant for nuclear thermal solid core and gas core rocket-based atmospheric flight. A series of analyses were undertaken to investigate resource capturing aspects of atmospheric mining in the outer solar system. This included the gas capturing rate, storage options, and different methods of direct use of the captured gases. While capturing 3He, large amounts of hydrogen and 4He are produced. With these two additional gases, the potential for fueling small and large fleets of additional exploration and exploitation vehicles exists. The mining aerospacecraft (ASC) could fly through the outer planet atmospheres, for global weather observations, localized storm or other disturbance investigations, wind speed measurements, polar observations, etc. Analyses of orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs), landers, and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) mining factories are included. Preliminary observations are presented on near-optimal selections of moon base orbital locations, OTV power levels, and OTV and lander rendezvous points.

  19. On transient events in the upper atmosphere generated away of thunderstorm regions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morozenko, V.; Garipov, G.; Khrenov, B.; Klimov, P.; Panasyuk, M.; Sharakin, S.; Zotov, M.

    2011-12-01

    Experimental data on transient events in UV and Red-IR ranges obtained in the MSU missions "Unversitetsky-Tatiana" (wavelengths 300-400 nm) and "Unversitetsky-Tatiana-2" (wavelengths 300-400 nm and 600-800 nm), published by Garipov et al, in 2010 at COSPAR session http://www.cospar2010.org, at TEPA conference http://www.aragats.am/Conferences/tepa2010 and in 2011 by Sadovnichy et al, Solar System Research, 45, #1, 3-29 (2011); Vedenkin et al, JETP, v. 140, issue 3(9), 1-11 (2011) demonstrated existence of transients at large distances (up to thousands km) away of cloud thunderstorm regions. Those "remote" transients are short (1-5 msec) and are less luminous than the transients above thunderstorm regions. The ratio of Red-IR to UV photon numbers in those transients indicates high altitude of their origin (~70 km). Important observation facts are also: 1. a change of the exponent in transient distribution on luminosity Q ("-1" for photon numbers Q=1020 -1023 to "-2" for Q>1023), 2. a change of global distribution of transient with their luminosity (transients with Q>1023 are concentrated in equatorial range above continents, while transients with low luminosity are distributed more uniformly), 3. a phenomenon of transient sequences in one satellite orbit which is close to geomagnetic meridian. In the present paper phenomenological features of transients are explained in assumption that the observed transients have to be divided in two classes: 1. transients related to local, lower in the atmosphere, lightning at distance not more than hundreds km from satellite detector field of view in the atmosphere and 2. transients generated by far away lightning. Local transients are luminous and presumably are events called "transient luminous events" (TLE). In distribution on luminosity those events have some threshold Q~1023 and their differential luminosity distribution is approximated by power law exponent "-2". Remote transients have to be considered separately. Their

  20. Waves and Magnetism in the Solar Atmosphere (WAMIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan-Kuen eKo

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Comprehensive measurements of magnetic fields in the solar corona have a long history as an important scientific goal. Besides being crucial to understanding coronal structures and the Sun’s generation of space weather, direct measurements of their strength and direction are also crucial steps in understanding observed wave motions. In this regard, the remote sensing instrumentation used to make coronal magnetic field measurements is well suited to measuring the Doppler signature of waves in the solar structures. In this paper, we describe the design and scientific values of the Waves and Magnetism in the Solar Atmosphere (WAMIS investigation. WAMIS, taking advantage of greatly improved infrared filters and detectors, forward models, advanced diagnostic tools and inversion codes, is a long-duration high-altitude balloon payload designed to obtain a breakthrough in the measurement of coronal magnetic fields and in advancing the understanding of the interaction of these fields with space plasmas. It consists of a 20 cm aperture coronagraph with a visible-IR spectro-polarimeter focal plane assembly. The balloon altitude would provide minimum sky background and atmospheric scattering at the wavelengths in which these observations are made. It would also enable continuous measurements of the strength and direction of coronal magnetic fields without interruptions from the day-night cycle and weather. These measurements will be made over a large field-of-view allowing one to distinguish the magnetic signatures of different coronal structures, and at the spatial and temporal resolutions required to address outstanding problems in coronal physics. Additionally, WAMIS could obtain near simultaneous observations of the electron scattered K-corona for context and to obtain the electron density. These comprehensive observations are not provided by any current single ground-based or space observatory. The fundamental advancements achieved by the near

  1. Energetic Metastable Oxygen and Nitrogen Atoms in the Terrestrial Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kharchenko, Vasili; Dalgarno, A.

    2005-01-01

    This report summarizes our research performed under NASA Grant NAG5-11857. The three-year grant have been supported by the Geospace Sciences SR&T program. We have investigated the energetic metastable oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the terrestrial stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere. Hot atoms in the atmosphere are produced by solar radiation, the solar wind and various ionic reactions. Nascent hot atoms arise in ground and excited electronic states, and their translational energies are larger by two - three orders of magnitude than the thermal energies of the ambient gas. The relaxation kinetics of hot atoms determines the rate of atmospheric heating, the intensities of aeronomic reactions, and the rate of atom escape from the planet. Modeling of the non-Maxwellian energy distributions of metastable oxygen and nitrogen atoms have been focused on the determination of their impact on the energetics and chemistry of the terrestrial atmosphere between 25 and 250 km . At this altitudes, we have calculated the energy distribution functions of metastable O and N atoms and computed non-equilibrium rates of important aeronomic reactions, such as destruction of the water molecules by O(1D) atoms and production of highly excited nitric oxide molecules. In the upper atmosphere, the metastable O(lD) and N(2D) play important role in formation of the upward atomic fluxes. We have computed the upward fluxes of the metastable and ground state oxygen atoms in the upper atmosphere above 250 km. The accurate distributions of the metastable atoms have been evaluated for the day and night-time conditions.

  2. Atmospheric turbidity parameters affecting the incident solar solar radiation for two different areas in (Eg))

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tadros, M.T.Y.; Mosalam, M.A.; El-metwally, M.

    1999-01-01

    Atmospheric turbidity parameters such as Linke turbidity (L-0) and true Angstrom parameters (Bita o , Alpha 0 ) have been determined from the measurements of direct solar radiation for entire spectrum and for specified spectral bands during one year starting from june 1992 to may 1993. Comparison between the industrial area in Helwan (south Cairo) with that of the agricultural area in Mansoura, in (Eg), was done. Analysis of data revealed that the atmospheric turbidity parameters (L Beta) in Helwan is higher than that in Mansoura, except for hot wet months. The increase of L in Mansoura, in summer, is due to the increase of water vapor content. The wavelength exponent Alpha shows that the size the size of particles in Helwan is larger than that in Mansoura

  3. Formation of a hybrid-type proto-atmosphere on Mars accreting in the solar nebula

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saito, Hiroaki; Kuramoto, Kiyoshi

    2018-03-01

    Recent studies of the chronology of Martian meteorites suggest that the growth of Mars was almost complete within a few Myr after the birth of the Solar system. During such rapid accretion, proto-Mars likely gravitationally maintained both the solar nebula component and the impact degassing component, containing H2O vapour and reduced gas species, as a proto-atmosphere to be called a hybrid-type proto-atmosphere. Here we numerically analyse the mass and composition of the degassed component and the atmospheric thermal structure sustained by accretional heating. Our results predict that a growing Mars possibly acquired a massive and hot hybrid-type proto-atmosphere with surface pressure and temperature greater than several kbar and 2000 K, respectively, which is sufficient to produce a deep magma ocean. In such a high-temperature and high-pressure environment, a significant amount of H2O, CH4, CO, and H2 is expected to be partitioned into the planetary interior, although this would strongly depend on the dynamics of the magma ocean and mantle solidification. The dissolved H2O may explain the wet Martian mantle implied from basaltic Martian meteorites. Along with the remnant reduced atmosphere after the hydrodynamic atmospheric escape, dissolved reduced gas species may have maintained an earliest Martian surface environment that allowed prebiotic chemical evolution and liquid H2O activities.

  4. Solar Coronal Jets: Observations, Theory, and Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raouafi, N. E.; Patsourakos, S.; Pariat, E.; Young, P. R.; Sterling, A.; Savcheva, A.; Shimojo, M.; Moreno-Insertis, F.; Devore, C. R.; Archontis, V.; hide

    2016-01-01

    Chromospheric and coronal jets represent important manifestations of ubiquitous solar transients, which may be the source of signicant mass and energy input to the upper solar atmosphere and the solar wind. While the energy involved in a jet-like event is smaller than that of nominal solar ares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), jets share many common properties with these major phenomena, in particular, the explosive magnetically driven dynamics. Studies of jets could, therefore, provide critical insight for understanding the larger, more complex drivers of the solar activity. On the other side of the size-spectrum, the study of jets could also supply important clues on the physics of transients closeor at the limit of the current spatial resolution such as spicules. Furthermore, jet phenomena may hint to basic process for heating the corona and accelerating the solar wind; consequently their study gives us the opportunity to attack a broadrange of solar-heliospheric problems.

  5. CORRELATION BETWEEN THE 22-YEAR SOLAR MAGNETIC CYCLE AND THE 22-YEAR QUASICYCLE IN THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qu Weizheng; Zhao Jinping; Huang Fei; Deng Shenggui

    2012-01-01

    According to the variation pattern of the solar magnetic field polarity and its relation to the relative sunspot number, we established the time series of the sunspot magnetic field polarity index and analyzed the strength and polarity cycle characteristics of the solar magnetic field. The analysis showed the existence of a cycle with about a 22-year periodicity in the strength and polarity of the solar magnetic field, which proved the Hale proposition that the 11-year sunspot cycle is one-half of the 22-year solar magnetic cycle. By analyzing the atmospheric temperature field, we found that the troposphere and the stratosphere in the middle latitude of both the northern and southern hemispheres exhibited a common 22-year quasicycle in the atmospheric temperature, which is believed to be attributable to the 22-year solar magnetic cycle.

  6. Solar thermal upper stage: Economic advantage and development status

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Alan M.

    1995-01-01

    A solar thermal upper stage (STUS) is envisioned as a propulsive concept for the future. The STUS will be used for low Earth orbit (LEO) to geostationary-Earth orbit (GEO) transfer and for planetary exploration missions. The STUS offers significant performance gains over conventional chemical propulsion systems. These performance gains translate into a more economical, more efficient method of placing useful payloads in space and maximizing the benefits derived from space activity. This paper will discuss the economical advantages of an STUS compared to conventional chemical propulsion systems, the potential market for an STUS, and the recent activity in the development of an STUS. The results of this assessment combined with the performance gains, will provide a strong justification for the development of an STUS.

  7. Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) science data processing center implementation history

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herring, Ellen L.; Taylor, K. David

    1990-01-01

    NASA-Goddard is responsible for the development of a ground system for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) observatory, whose launch is scheduled for 1991. This ground system encompasses a dedicated Central Data Handling Facility (CDHF); attention is presently given to the management of software systems design and implementation phases for CDHF by the UARS organization. Also noted are integration and testing activities performed following software deliveries to the CDHF. The UARS project has an obvious requirement for a powerful and flexible data base management system; an off-the-shelf commercial system has been incorporated.

  8. 1D Atmosphere Models from Inversion of Fe i 630 nm Observations with an Application to Solar Irradiance Studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cristaldi, Alice; Ermolli, Ilaria, E-mail: alice.cristaldi@oaroma.inaf.it [INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, Monte Porzio Catone, I-00078 (Italy)

    2017-06-01

    Present-day semi-empirical models of solar irradiance (SI) variations reconstruct SI changes measured on timescales greater than a day by using spectra computed in one dimensional atmosphere models (1D models), which are representative of various solar surface features. Various recent studies have pointed out, however, that the spectra synthesized in 1D models do not reflect the radiative emission of the inhomogenous atmosphere revealed by high-resolution solar observations. We aimed to derive observation-based atmospheres from such observations and test their accuracy for SI estimates. We analyzed spectropolarimetric data of the Fe i 630 nm line pair in photospheric regions that are representative of the granular quiet-Sun pattern (QS) and of small- and large-scale magnetic features, both bright and dark with respect to the QS. The data were taken on 2011 August 6, with the CRisp Imaging Spectropolarimeter at the Swedish Solar Telescope, under excellent seeing conditions. We derived atmosphere models of the observed regions from data inversion with the SIR code. We studied the sensitivity of results to spatial resolution and temporal evolution, and discuss the obtained atmospheres with respect to several 1D models. The atmospheres derived from our study agree well with most of the 1D models we compare our results with, both qualitatively and quantitatively (within 10%), except for pore regions. Spectral synthesis computations of the atmosphere obtained from the QS observations return an SI between 400 and 2400 nm that agrees, on average, within 2.2% with standard reference measurements, and within −0.14% with the SI computed on the QS atmosphere employed by the most advanced semi-empirical model of SI variations.

  9. Middle atmosphere response to different descriptions of the 11-yr solar cycle in spectral irradiance in a chemistry-climate model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. H. Swartz

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The 11-yr solar cycle in solar spectral irradiance (SSI inferred from measurements by the SOlar Radiation & Climate Experiment (SORCE suggests a much larger variation in the ultraviolet than previously accepted. We present middle atmosphere ozone and temperature responses to the solar cycles in SORCE SSI and the ubiquitous Naval Research Laboratory (NRL SSI reconstruction using the Goddard Earth Observing System chemistry-climate model (GEOSCCM. The results are largely consistent with other recent modeling studies. The modeled ozone response is positive throughout the stratosphere and lower mesosphere using the NRL SSI, while the SORCE SSI produces a response that is larger in the lower stratosphere but out of phase with respect to total solar irradiance above 45 km. The modeled responses in total ozone are similar to those derived from satellite and ground-based measurements, 3–6 Dobson Units per 100 units of 10.7-cm radio flux (F10.7 in the tropics. The peak zonal mean tropical temperature response using the SORCE SSI is nearly 2 K per 100 units F10.7 – 3 times larger than the simulation using the NRL SSI. The GEOSCCM and the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC 2-D coupled model are used to examine how the SSI solar cycle affects the atmosphere through direct solar heating and photolysis processes individually. Middle atmosphere ozone is affected almost entirely through photolysis, whereas the solar cycle in temperature is caused both through direct heating and photolysis feedbacks, processes that are mostly linearly separable. This is important in that it means that chemistry-transport models should simulate the solar cycle in ozone well, while general circulation models without coupled chemistry will underestimate the temperature response to the solar cycle significantly in the middle atmosphere. Further, the net ozone response results from the balance of ozone production at wavelengths less than 242 nm

  10. Measurement of atmospheric precipitable water using a solar radiometer. [water vapor absorption effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pitts, D. E.; Dillinger, A. E.; Mcallum, W. E.

    1974-01-01

    A technique is described and tested that allows the determination of atmospheric precipitable water from two measurements of solar intensity: one in a water-vapor absorption band and another in a nearby spectral region unaffected by water vapor.

  11. Non-equilibrium hydrogen ionization in 2D simulations of the solar atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leenaarts, J.; Carlsson, M.; Hansteen, V.; Rutten, R. J.

    2007-10-01

    Context: The ionization of hydrogen in the solar chromosphere and transition region does not obey LTE or instantaneous statistical equilibrium because the timescale is long compared with important hydrodynamical timescales, especially of magneto-acoustic shocks. Since the pressure, temperature, and electron density depend sensitively on hydrogen ionization, numerical simulation of the solar atmosphere requires non-equilibrium treatment of all pertinent hydrogen transitions. The same holds for any diagnostic application employing hydrogen lines. Aims: To demonstrate the importance and to quantify the effects of non-equilibrium hydrogen ionization, both on the dynamical structure of the solar atmosphere and on hydrogen line formation, in particular Hα. Methods: We implement an algorithm to compute non-equilibrium hydrogen ionization and its coupling into the MHD equations within an existing radiation MHD code, and perform a two-dimensional simulation of the solar atmosphere from the convection zone to the corona. Results: Analysis of the simulation results and comparison to a companion simulation assuming LTE shows that: a) non-equilibrium computation delivers much smaller variations of the chromospheric hydrogen ionization than for LTE. The ionization is smaller within shocks but subsequently remains high in the cool intershock phases. As a result, the chromospheric temperature variations are much larger than for LTE because in non-equilibrium, hydrogen ionization is a less effective internal energy buffer. The actual shock temperatures are therefore higher and the intershock temperatures lower. b) The chromospheric populations of the hydrogen n = 2 level, which governs the opacity of Hα, are coupled to the ion populations. They are set by the high temperature in shocks and subsequently remain high in the cool intershock phases. c) The temperature structure and the hydrogen level populations differ much between the chromosphere above photospheric magnetic elements

  12. Assessing 1D Atmospheric Solar Radiative Transfer Models: Interpretation and Handling of Unresolved Clouds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barker, H. W.; Stephens, G. L.; Partain, P. T.; Bergman, J. W.; Bonnel, B.; Campana, K.; Clothiaux, E. E.; Clough, S.; Cusack, S.; Delamere, J.; Edwards, J.; Evans, K. F.; Fouquart, Y.; Freidenreich, S.; Galin, V.; Hou, Y.; Kato, S.; Li, J.;  Mlawer, E.;  Morcrette, J.-J.;  O'Hirok, W.;  Räisänen, P.;  Ramaswamy, V.;  Ritter, B.;  Rozanov, E.;  Schlesinger, M.;  Shibata, K.;  Sporyshev, P.;  Sun, Z.;  Wendisch, M.;  Wood, N.;  Yang, F.

    2003-08-01

    The primary purpose of this study is to assess the performance of 1D solar radiative transfer codes that are used currently both for research and in weather and climate models. Emphasis is on interpretation and handling of unresolved clouds. Answers are sought to the following questions: (i) How well do 1D solar codes interpret and handle columns of information pertaining to partly cloudy atmospheres? (ii) Regardless of the adequacy of their assumptions about unresolved clouds, do 1D solar codes perform as intended?One clear-sky and two plane-parallel, homogeneous (PPH) overcast cloud cases serve to elucidate 1D model differences due to varying treatments of gaseous transmittances, cloud optical properties, and basic radiative transfer. The remaining four cases involve 3D distributions of cloud water and water vapor as simulated by cloud-resolving models. Results for 25 1D codes, which included two line-by-line (LBL) models (clear and overcast only) and four 3D Monte Carlo (MC) photon transport algorithms, were submitted by 22 groups. Benchmark, domain-averaged irradiance profiles were computed by the MC codes. For the clear and overcast cases, all MC estimates of top-of-atmosphere albedo, atmospheric absorptance, and surface absorptance agree with one of the LBL codes to within ±2%. Most 1D codes underestimate atmospheric absorptance by typically 15-25 W m-2 at overhead sun for the standard tropical atmosphere regardless of clouds.Depending on assumptions about unresolved clouds, the 1D codes were partitioned into four genres: (i) horizontal variability, (ii) exact overlap of PPH clouds, (iii) maximum/random overlap of PPH clouds, and (iv) random overlap of PPH clouds. A single MC code was used to establish conditional benchmarks applicable to each genre, and all MC codes were used to establish the full 3D benchmarks. There is a tendency for 1D codes to cluster near their respective conditional benchmarks, though intragenre variances typically exceed those for

  13. The upper limit of the solar antineutrino flux according to the LSD array data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al'etta, M.; Antonioli, P.; Badino, D.

    1997-01-01

    The analysis of the experimental data obtained at the LSD liquid scintillation detector is carried out with the aim of searching the possible flux of electron antineutrinos from Sun. The most strong at present upper limit for the electron antineutrino flux of solar origin is determined: ≤ 1.0 x 10 5 cm -2 x s -1 (the reliability level of 90%)

  14. Atmospheric-radiation boundary conditions for high-frequency waves in time-distance helioseismology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fournier, D.; Leguèbe, M.; Hanson, C. S.; Gizon, L.; Barucq, H.; Chabassier, J.; Duruflé, M.

    2017-12-01

    The temporal covariance between seismic waves measured at two locations on the solar surface is the fundamental observable in time-distance helioseismology. Above the acoustic cut-off frequency ( 5.3 mHz), waves are not trapped in the solar interior and the covariance function can be used to probe the upper atmosphere. We wish to implement appropriate radiative boundary conditions for computing the propagation of high-frequency waves in the solar atmosphere. We consider recently developed and published radiative boundary conditions for atmospheres in which sound-speed is constant and density decreases exponentially with radius. We compute the cross-covariance function using a finite element method in spherical geometry and in the frequency domain. The ratio between first- and second-skip amplitudes in the time-distance diagram is used as a diagnostic to compare boundary conditions and to compare with observations. We find that a boundary condition applied 500 km above the photosphere and derived under the approximation of small angles of incidence accurately reproduces the "infinite atmosphere" solution for high-frequency waves. When the radiative boundary condition is applied 2 Mm above the photosphere, we find that the choice of atmospheric model affects the time-distance diagram. In particular, the time-distance diagram exhibits double-ridge structure when using a Vernazza Avrett Loeser atmospheric model.

  15. Coupling of magnetospheric electrical effects into the global atmospheric electrical circuit

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hays, P.B.; Roble, R.G.

    1979-01-01

    A quasi-static model of global atmospheric electricity has been constructed (Hays and Roble, 1978) to study the electrical processes in the lower atmosphere and the coupling between solar- and upper- atmosphere-induced variations superimposed upon the global electrical circuit. The paper reviews the essential features of this model and discusses the results obtained thus far on the effects of magnetospheric convection and substorms on the global atmospheric electrical circuit. A schematic diagram of the global quasi-static model is given. It is assumed that thunderstorms act as dipole generators, each with a positive center at the top of the cloud and a negative center a few kilometers lower than the positive center

  16. SPICAM: studying the global structure and composition of the Martian atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertaux, J.-L.; Fonteyn, D.; Korablev, O.; Chassefre, E.; Dimarellis, E.; Dubois, J. P.; Hauchecorne, A.; Lefèvre, F.; Cabane, M.; Rannou, P.; Levasseur-Regourd, A. C.; Cernogora, G.; Quemerais, E.; Hermans, C.; Kockarts, G.; Lippens, C.; de Maziere, M.; Moreau, D.; Muller, C.; Neefs, E.; Simon, P. C.; Forget, F.; Hourdin, F.; Talagrand, O.; Moroz, V. I.; Rodin, A.; Sandel, B.; Stern, A.

    2004-08-01

    The SPICAM (SPectroscopy for the Investigation of the Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars) instrument consists of two spectrometers. The UV spectrometer addresses key issues about ozone and its H2O coupling, aerosols, the atmospheric vertical temperature structure and the ionosphere. The IR spectrometer is aimed primarily at H2O and abundances and vertical profiling of H2O and aerosols. SPICAM's density/temperature profiles will aid the development of meteorological and dynamical atmospheric models from the surface up to 160 km altitude. UV observations of the upper atmosphere will study the ionosphere and its direct interaction with the solar wind. They will also allow a better understanding of escape mechanisms, crucial for insight into the long-term evolution of the atmosphere.

  17. Nitrogen isotope variations in camphor (Cinnamomum Camphora) leaves of different ages in upper and lower canopies as an indicator of atmospheric nitrogen sources

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xiao Huayun, E-mail: xiaohuayun@vip.skleg.c [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 46, Guanshui Road, Guiyang 550002 (China); Wu Lianghong; Zhu Renguo; Wang Yanli; Liu Congqiang [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 46, Guanshui Road, Guiyang 550002 (China)

    2011-02-15

    Nitrogen isotopic composition of new, middle-aged and old camphor leaves in upper and lower canopies has been determined in a living area, near a motorway and near an industrial area (Jiangan Chemical Fertilizer Plant). We found that at sites near roads, more positive {delta}{sup 15}N values were observed in the camphor leaves, especially in old leaves of upper canopies, and {Delta}{delta}{sup 15}N = {delta}{sup 15}N{sub upper} - {delta}{sup 15}N{sub lower} > 0, while those near the industrial area had more negative {delta}{sup 15}N values and {Delta}{delta}{sup 15}N < 0. These could be explained by two isotopically different atmospheric N sources: greater uptake from isotopically heavy pools of atmospheric NO{sub x} by old leaves in upper canopies at sites adjacent to roads, and greater uptake of {sup 15}N-depleted NH{sub y} in atmospheric deposition by leaves at sites near the industrial area. This study presents novel evidence that {sup 15}N natural abundance of camphor leaves can be used as a robust indicator of atmospheric N sources. - Research highlights: Camphor leaves showed high {delta}{sup 15}N values near roads and low values near the industrial area. The {delta}{sup 15}N values of camphor leaves near roads increased with time of exposure. The {delta}{sup 15}N values of camphor leaves near the industrial area decreased with time of exposure. More positive foliage {delta}{sup 15}N values were found in the upper canopies near roads. Near the industrial area, the upper canopies showed more negative foliage {delta}{sup 15}N values. - Nitrogen isotope in camphor leaves indicating atmospheric nitrogen sources.

  18. The Variability of Atmospheric Deuterium Brightness at Mars: Evidence for Seasonal Dependence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayyasi, Majd; Clarke, John; Bhattacharyya, Dolon; Deighan, Justin; Jain, Sonal; Chaffin, Michael; Thiemann, Edward; Schneider, Nick; Jakosky, Bruce

    2017-10-01

    The enhanced ratio of deuterium to hydrogen on Mars has been widely interpreted as indicating the loss of a large column of water into space, and the hydrogen content of the upper atmosphere is now known to be highly variable. The variation in the properties of both deuterium and hydrogen in the upper atmosphere of Mars is indicative of the dynamical processes that produce these species and propagate them to altitudes where they can escape the planet. Understanding the seasonal variability of D is key to understanding the variability of the escape rate of water from Mars. Data from a 15 month observing campaign, made by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph high-resolution echelle channel, are used to determine the brightness of deuterium as observed at the limb of Mars. The D emission is highly variable, with a peak in brightness just after southern summer solstice. The trends of D brightness are examined against extrinsic as well as intrinsic sources. It is found that the fluctuations in deuterium brightness in the upper atmosphere of Mars (up to 400 km), corrected for periodic solar variations, vary on timescales that are similar to those of water vapor fluctuations lower in the atmosphere (20-80 km). The observed variability in deuterium may be attributed to seasonal factors such as regional dust storm activity and subsequent circulation lower in the atmosphere.

  19. Evidence of small-scale magnetic concentrations dragged by vortex motion of solar photospheric plasma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balmaceda, L.; Vargas Domínguez, S.; Palacios, J.; Cabello, I.; Domingo, V.

    2010-04-01

    Vortex-type motions have been measured by tracking bright points in high-resolution observations of the solar photosphere. These small-scale motions are thought to be determinant in the evolution of magnetic footpoints and their interaction with plasma and therefore likely to play a role in heating the upper solar atmosphere by twisting magnetic flux tubes. We report the observation of magnetic concentrations being dragged towards the center of a convective vortex motion in the solar photosphere from high-resolution ground-based and space-borne data. We describe this event by analyzing a series of images at different solar atmospheric layers. By computing horizontal proper motions, we detect a vortex whose center appears to be the draining point for the magnetic concentrations detected in magnetograms and well-correlated with the locations of bright points seen in G-band and CN images.

  20. Mid-latitude summer response of the middle atmosphere to short-term solar UV changes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Keckhut

    1995-06-01

    Full Text Available Temperature and wind data obtained with Rayleigh lidar since 1979 and Russian rockets since 1964 are analyzed to deduce the summer response of the middle atmosphere to short-term solar UV changes. The equivalent width of the 1083 nm He I line is used as a proxy to monitor the short-term UV flux changes. Spectral analyses are performed on 108-day windows to extract the 27-day component from temperature, wind and solar data sets. Linear regressions between these spectral harmonics show some significant correlations around 45 km at mid-latitudes. For large 27-day solar cycles, amplitudes of 2 K and 6 m s-1 are calculated for temperature data series over the south of France (44°N, and on wind data series over Volgograd (49°N, respectively. Cross-spectrum analyses have indicated correlations between these atmospheric parameters and the solar proxy with a phase lag of less than 2 days. These statistically correlative results, which provide good qualitative agreement with numerical simulations, are both obtained at mid-latitude. However, the observed amplitudes are larger than expected, with numerical models suggesting that dynamical processes such as equatorial or gravity waves may be responsible.

  1. Mid-latitude summer response of the middle atmosphere to short-term solar UV changes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Keckhut

    Full Text Available Temperature and wind data obtained with Rayleigh lidar since 1979 and Russian rockets since 1964 are analyzed to deduce the summer response of the middle atmosphere to short-term solar UV changes. The equivalent width of the 1083 nm He I line is used as a proxy to monitor the short-term UV flux changes. Spectral analyses are performed on 108-day windows to extract the 27-day component from temperature, wind and solar data sets. Linear regressions between these spectral harmonics show some significant correlations around 45 km at mid-latitudes. For large 27-day solar cycles, amplitudes of 2 K and 6 m s-1 are calculated for temperature data series over the south of France (44°N, and on wind data series over Volgograd (49°N, respectively. Cross-spectrum analyses have indicated correlations between these atmospheric parameters and the solar proxy with a phase lag of less than 2 days. These statistically correlative results, which provide good qualitative agreement with numerical simulations, are both obtained at mid-latitude. However, the observed amplitudes are larger than expected, with numerical models suggesting that dynamical processes such as equatorial or gravity waves may be responsible.

  2. HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION OBSERVATIONS OF LOOPS IN THE SOLAR CORONA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brooks, David H.; Ugarte-Urra, Ignacio [College of Science, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030 (United States); Warren, Harry P. [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Winebarger, Amy R. [NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, ZP 13, Huntsville, AL 35812 (United States)

    2013-08-01

    Understanding how the solar corona is structured is of fundamental importance to determine how the Sun's upper atmosphere is heated to high temperatures. Recent spectroscopic studies have suggested that an instrument with a spatial resolution of 200 km or better is necessary to resolve coronal loops. The High Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C) achieved this performance on a rocket flight in 2012 July. We use Hi-C data to measure the Gaussian widths of 91 loops observed in the solar corona and find a distribution that peaks at about 270 km. We also use Atmospheric Imaging Assembly data for a subset of these loops and find temperature distributions that are generally very narrow. These observations provide further evidence that loops in the solar corona are often structured at a scale of several hundred kilometers, well above the spatial scale of many proposed physical mechanisms.

  3. Solar Science Digital Comic Series that promotes Science Literacy with Upper Elementary and Middle School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kellagher, E.; Scherrer, D. K.; Buhr Sullivan, S. M.

    2013-12-01

    The SDO instruments (EVE, AIA and HMI) teams have created a digital comic book series for upper elementary and middle school students featuring solar science aficionados Camilla and Colours, 2 cool mascot characters. These comics may be printed or read on mobile devices and are available as a free download. Many teachers are looking for resources to use with their students via the IPad so our collaboration helps supply teachers with a great resource that teaches about solar concepts and helps dispel solar misconceptions. It doesn't come as a surprise to a lot of us, but a recent study confirms what's been theorized for years: Comics are a stronger learning tool than text books. Image-based storytelling is a powerful educational tool. Comics are probably more able to combine story and information simultaneously, more effectively and seamlessly, than almost any other medium. There's also a great potential to incorporate interactive elements into digital versions, so that more information can be presented on certain items on a page. For example, videos, animations and even historic footage and audio can be embedded into digital comics. Really, the possibilities are limited only by the creators' imaginations as to how to find new ways to create a rich experience that is interesting to explore for students. We are excited to unveil this new series of solar science comics that promotes science literacy with upper elementary and middle school students.

  4. Simulating the 3-D Structure of Titan's Upper Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, J. M.; Waite, H.; Westlake, J.; Magee, B.

    2009-05-01

    We present results from the 3-D Titan Global Ionosphere-Thermosphere Model (Bell et al [2009], PSS, in review). We show comparisons between simulated N2, CH4, and H2 density fields and the in-situ data from the Cassini Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS). We describe the temperature and wind fields consistent with these density calculations. Variations with local time, longitude, and latitude will be addressed. Potential plasma heating sources can be estimated using the 1-D model of De La Haye et al [2007, 2008] and the impacts on the thermosphere of Titan can be assessed in a global sense in Titan-GITM. Lastly, we will place these findings within the context of recent work in modeling the 2-D structure of Titan's upper atmosphere (Mueller-Wodarg et al [2008]).

  5. Solar cosmic rays in the system of solar terrestrial relations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miroshnichenko, Leonty I.

    2008-02-01

    In this brief review, we discuss a number of geophysical effects of solar energetic particles (SEPs) or solar cosmic rays (SCR). We concentrate mainly on the observational evidence and proposed mechanisms of some expected effects and/or poor-studied phenomena discovered within the last three decades, in particular, depletion of the ozone layer, perturbations in the global electric current, effects on the winter storm vorticity, change of the atmospheric transparency and production of nitrates. Some "archaeological" data on SCR fluxes in the past and upper limit of total energy induced by SEPs are also discussed. Due attention is paid to the periodicities in the solar particle fluxes. Actually, many solar, heliospheric and terrestrial parameters changing generally in phase with the solar activity are subjected to a temporary depression close to the solar maximum ("Gnevyshev Gap"). A similar gap has been found recently in the yearly numbers of the >10 MeV proton events. All the above-mentioned findings are evidently of great importance in the studies of general proton emissivity of the Sun and long-term trends in the behaviour of solar magnetic fields. In addition, these data can be very helpful for elaborating the methods for prediction of the radiation conditions in space and for estimation of the SEPs' contribution to solar effects on the geosphere, their relative role in the formation of terrestrial weather and climate and in the problem of solar-terrestrial relations (STR) on the whole.

  6. Metadata database and data analysis software for the ground-based upper atmospheric data developed by the IUGONET project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashi, H.; Tanaka, Y.; Hori, T.; Koyama, Y.; Shinbori, A.; Abe, S.; Kagitani, M.; Kouno, T.; Yoshida, D.; Ueno, S.; Kaneda, N.; Yoneda, M.; Tadokoro, H.; Motoba, T.; Umemura, N.; Iugonet Project Team

    2011-12-01

    The Inter-university Upper atmosphere Global Observation NETwork (IUGONET) is a Japanese inter-university project by the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Tohoku University, Nagoya University, Kyoto University, and Kyushu University to build a database of metadata for ground-based observations of the upper atmosphere. The IUGONET institutes/universities have been collecting various types of data by radars, magnetometers, photometers, radio telescopes, helioscopes, etc. at various locations all over the world and at various altitude layers from the Earth's surface to the Sun. The metadata database will be of great help to researchers in efficiently finding and obtaining these observational data spread over the institutes/universities. This should also facilitate synthetic analysis of multi-disciplinary data, which will lead to new types of research in the upper atmosphere. The project has also been developing a software to help researchers download, visualize, and analyze the data provided from the IUGONET institutes/universities. The metadata database system is built on the platform of DSpace, which is an open source software for digital repositories. The data analysis software is written in the IDL language with the TDAS (THEMIS Data Analysis Software suite) library. These products have been just released for beta-testing.

  7. Numerical Solution of the Electron Transport Equation in the Upper Atmosphere

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Woods, Mark Christopher [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Holmes, Mark [Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States); Sailor, William C [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2017-07-01

    A new approach for solving the electron transport equation in the upper atmosphere is derived. The problem is a very stiff boundary value problem, and to obtain an accurate numerical solution, matrix factorizations are used to decouple the fast and slow modes. A stable finite difference method is applied to each mode. This solver is applied to a simplifieed problem for which an exact solution exists using various versions of the boundary conditions that might arise in a natural auroral display. The numerical and exact solutions are found to agree with each other to at least two significant digits.

  8. Two Scenarios for the Eruption of Magnetic Flux Ropes in the Solar Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filippov, B. P.; Den, O. E.

    2018-05-01

    Eruptions of material from lower to upper layers of the solar atmosphere can be divided into two classes. The first class of eruptions maintain their (usually loop-like) shapes as they increase in size (eruptive prominences), or display a sudden expansion of fairly shapeless clumps of plasma in all directions (flare sprays). The second class refers to narrow, collimated flows of plasma on various scales (spicules, surges, jets). It is obvious that the magnetic configurations in which these phenomena develop differ: for the first class they form closed structures that confine the plasma, and in the second class open structures directing flows of plasma in a particular direction, as a rule, upward. At the same time, the mechanisms initiating eruptions of both classes could be similar, or even practically identical. This mechanism could be instability of twisted magnetic tubes (flux ropes), leading to different consequences under different conditions. It is shown that the results of eruptive instability are determined by the ratio of the scales of the magnetic flux rope and the confining coronal field, and also by the configuration of the ambient magnetic field in the corona. Observations of both types of eruptions are analyzed, the conditions for their develoment are examined, and phenomenological models are proposed.

  9. Global structure and composition of the martian atmosphere with SPICAM on Mars express

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertaux, Jean-Loup; Korablev, O.; Fonteyn, D.; Guibert, S.; Chassefière, E.; Lefèvre, F.; Dimarellis, E.; Dubois, J. P.; Hauchecorne, A.; Cabane, M.; Rannou, P.; Levasseur-Regourd, A. C.; Cernogora, G.; Quémerais, E.; Hermans, C.; Kockarts, G.; Lippens, C.; de Maziere, M.; Moreau, D.; Muller, C.; Neefs, E.; Simon, P. C.; Forget, F.; Hourdin, F.; Talagrand, O.; Moroz, V. I.; Rodin, A.; Sandel, B.; Stern, A.

    SPectroscopy for the Investigation of the Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars (SPICAM) Light, a light-weight (4.7 kg) UV-IR instrument to be flown on Mars Express orbiter, is dedicated to the study of the atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars. A UV spectrometer (118-320 nm, resolution 0.8 nm) is dedicated to nadir viewing, limb viewing and vertical profiling by stellar and solar occultation (3.8 kg). It addresses key issues about ozone, its coupling with H2O, aerosols, atmospheric vertical temperature structure and ionospheric studies. UV observations of the upper atmosphere will allow studies of the ionosphere through the emissions of CO, CO+, and CO2+, and its direct interaction with the solar wind. An IR spectrometer (1.0-1.7 μm, resolution 0.5-1.2 nm) is dedicated primarily to nadir measurements of H2O abundances simultaneously with ozone measured in the UV, and to vertical profiling during solar occultation of H2O, CO2, and aerosols. The SPICAM Light near-IR sensor employs a pioneering technology acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF), leading to a compact and light design. Overall, SPICAM Light is an ideal candidate for future orbiter studies of Mars, after Mars Express, in order to study the interannual variability of martian atmospheric processes. The potential contribution to a Mars International Reference Atmosphere is clear.

  10. Sensitivity of the photodissociation of NO2, NO3, HNO3 and H2O2 to the solar radiation diffused by the ground and by atmospheric particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mugnai, A.; Petroncelli, P.; Fiocco, G.

    1979-01-01

    The diffusion of solar radiation by atmospheric molecules and aerosols and by ground albedo affects the photodissociation rates of atmospheric species relevant to the ozone chemistry. In this paper, a previous investigation on the photodissociation of O 3 is extended to NO 2 , NO 3 , HNO 3 , H 2 O 2 . Because of the different character of the absorption spectra of these species, the behaviour of photodissociation profiles with height and their sensitivity to such factors as ground albedo, aerosol loads, solar zenith angle are somewhat different. The results show that the presence of the aerosols usually enhances the photodissociation in the upper troposphere and in the stratosphere, because of scattering, but tends to reduce it at low heights because of the increased extinction. Enhancements in the photodissociation coefficients are as high as 20 to 40% for low values of the albedo and large aerosol loads such as those obtained after a volcanic eruption. On the other hand, at large values of the albedo, the effect of aerosols is mainly in attenuating the radiation going into and coming from the ground and their presence can lead to reduced photolysis even in the stratosphere. (author)

  11. Solar and atmospheric neutrinos in three generations with a magnetic moment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pulido, J.; Tao, Z.

    1995-01-01

    A solution to the solar and atomospheric neutrino problems in three generations in the joint context of matter oscillations and the magnetic moment is investigated. An appropriate rotation of the evolution Hamiltonian reduces the three generation case to a two generation one. A convenient background for such a scenario with small neutrino masses and large magnetic moments is given by the Zee-type models, in which the mass generation mechanism leads to a pair of separate orders of magnitude for the mass square differences between neutrino species. We obtain a ratio var-epsilon congruent 10 -2 --10 -3 between these orders of magnitude, so that one of them [(0.3--3)x10 -2 eV 2 ] is suitable for the atmospheric neutrino solution and the other (∼10 -5 eV 2 ) for the solar neutrino solution. The magnetic moment leads to a decrease of the survival probability with solar neutrino energy. Such a decrease is consistent with the experimental situation

  12. Correlation of trace element content in air particulates with solar meteorological data in the atmosphere of Athens

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kanias, G.D.; Grimanis, A.P.; Viras, L.G.

    2003-01-01

    Relation between the trace element content in air particulates and solar meteorological data in the atmospheric environment of Athens, Greece, was studied. For this purpose, Sm, Br, As, Na, K, La, Ce, Cr, Ag, Sc, Fe, Zn, Co, Sb, Th were determined by INAA in respirable aerosols collected during winter 1993-1994. The results showed that the average cloudiness, sunshine, and the total solar radiation (sun and sky) on a horizontal surface, (3 variables) have no relation with trace element variation. However, diffuse solar radiation (sun and sky) on a horizontal surface seems to have statistically significant relationship with some of the trace element variation. It forms a single component with some trace elements after the application of the factor analysis. The increase of the same solar variable in the Athens City center, is one of the factors which cannot permit the emission of trace elements in the atmospheric environment from dust soil and car tires. (author)

  13. Characterization of extra-solar planets and their atmospheres (Spectroscopy of transits and atmospheric escape)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bourrier, Vincent

    2014-01-01

    Hot Jupiters are exo-planets so close to their star that their atmosphere can lose gas because of hydrodynamic escape. Transiting gaseous giants are an excellent way to understand this mechanism, but it is necessary to study other types of planets to determine its impact on the exo-planetary population. This thesis aims at using transit spectroscopy to observe the atmosphere of several exo-planets, to study their properties and to contribute to the characterization of hydrodynamic escape. UV lines observed with the Hubble telescope are analyzed with the numerical model of upper atmospheres we developed. Using the Ly-α line we identify energetic and dynamical interactions between the atmospheres of the hot Jupiters HD209458b and HD189733b and their stars. We study the dependence of the escape on the environment of a planet and on its physical properties, through the observation of a super-Earth and a warm Jupiter in the 55 Cnc system. Using observations of HD209458b, we show that magnesium lines are a window on the region of formation of hydrodynamic escape. We study the potential of transit spectroscopy in the near-UV to detect new cases of atmospheric escape. This mechanism is fostered by the proximity of a planet to its star, which makes it even more important to understand the formation and migration processes that can be traced in the alignment of a planetary system. Using measures from the spectrographs HARPS-N and SOPHIE we study the alignments of 55 Cnc e and the Kepler candidate KOI 12.01, whose planetary nature we also seek to validate. (author)

  14. Numerical simulation of small-scale mixing processes in the upper ocean and atmospheric boundary layer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Druzhinin, O; Troitskaya, Yu; Zilitinkevich, S

    2016-01-01

    The processes of turbulent mixing and momentum and heat exchange occur in the upper ocean at depths up to several dozens of meters and in the atmospheric boundary layer within interval of millimeters to dozens of meters and can not be resolved by known large- scale climate models. Thus small-scale processes need to be parameterized with respect to large scale fields. This parameterization involves the so-called bulk coefficients which relate turbulent fluxes with large-scale fields gradients. The bulk coefficients are dependent on the properties of the small-scale mixing processes which are affected by the upper-ocean stratification and characteristics of surface and internal waves. These dependencies are not well understood at present and need to be clarified. We employ Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) as a research tool which resolves all relevant flow scales and does not require closure assumptions typical of Large-Eddy and Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations (LES and RANS). Thus DNS provides a solid ground for correct parameterization of small-scale mixing processes and also can be used for improving LES and RANS closure models. In particular, we discuss the problems of the interaction between small-scale turbulence and internal gravity waves propagating in the pycnocline in the upper ocean as well as the impact of surface waves on the properties of atmospheric boundary layer over wavy water surface. (paper)

  15. On the nature of the solar influence on climate and its contribution to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vieira, L. A.; da Silva, L. A.; Guarnieri, F.; Echer, E.; Dal Lago, A.; Wrasse, C. M.; Schuch, N.

    2007-05-01

    The influence of solar magnetic variability on the lower atmospheric regions has been observed on different atmospheric parameters in different time scales, but a plausible mechanism to explain these observations remains unclear. It is also indistinguishable whether or not the variability on the solar-terrestrial coupling drives the present climate change. New observations suggested that the existence of a geomagnetic signal in climate data would support a direct link between solar variability and their effects on climate. Usoskin and colleagues compared 1000-year reconstructions of sunspot numbers and cosmic ray flux, derived from cosmogenic isotope dates, with air temperature history in the Northern hemisphere. They observed higher temperatures during periods of intense solar activity. In addition, they report that three different statistical tests consistently indicate that the long-term trends in the temperature correlate better with cosmic rays than with sunspot numbers. Vieira and Da Silva observed that the clouds effects on the radiative flux in the atmosphere in the southern Pacific are related to the intensity of the geomagnetic field. They have also observed a cosmic rays modulation of the variability of the long wavelength radiative flux in the atmosphere. More recently, Vieira and colleagues reported that a correlation between increasing sea-level pressure in the tropical Pacific, and decreasing magnetic field intensity is observed. This indicates that the physical processes in the magnetosphere, ionosphere and upper atmosphere are mapped downward to the Earth's surface. It was suggested that that the coupling mechanism may be linked to the ozone depletion in the lower mesosphere, and in the upper stratosphere of the auroral region, and/or the southern hemisphere magnetic anomaly region. The depletion is caused by high energy protons produced during solar proton events (SPEs) released during large solar storms. Variations in solar irradiance, and ozone

  16. Incoherent scatter studies of upper atmosphere dynamics and coding technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haeggstroem, Ingemar.

    1990-09-01

    Observations by the EISCAT incoherent scatter radar are used to study the dynamics of the auroral upper atmosphere. The study describes some effects of the strong plasma convection occurring at these latitudes and a new coding technique for incoherent scatter radars. A technique to determine the thermospheric neutral wind from incoherent scatter measurements is described. Simultaneous Fabry-Perot interferometer measurements of the wind are compared with those derived from the radar data. F-region electron density depletions in the afternoon/evening sector of the auroral zone, identified as the main ionospheric trough, are investigated. In a statistical study, based on wide latitude scanning experiment made at solar minimum, the trough appearance at a given latitude is compared to the geomagnetic index K p , and an empirical model predicting the latitude of the trough is proposed. Detailed studies, using different experiment modes, show that the equatorward edge of the auroral oval is co-located of up to 1 degree poleward of the trough minimum, which in turn is co-located with the peak convective electric field, with its boundary 1 degree - 2 degree equatorward of the trough minimum. It is shown that the F-region ion composition changes from pure 0 + to molecular ion dominated (NO + /O 2 + ) as the trough moves into the region probed by the radar. In a special case, where a geomagnetic sudden impulse caused an expansion of the plasma convection pattern, the equatorward trough progression is studied together with ionosonde measurements. A new coding technique for incoherent scatter radar measurement is introduced and described. The method, called alternating codes, provides significantly more accurate estimates of the plasma parameters than can be obtained by frequency commutated multipulse measurements. Simple explanations of the method are given as well as a precise definition. Two examples of application of the alternating codes are presented, showing the high

  17. Angular dependent transport of auroral electrons in the upper atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lummerzheim, D.; Rees, M.H.

    1989-01-01

    The transport of auroral electrons through the upper atmosphere is analyzed. The transport equation is solved using a discrete ordinate method including elastic and inelastic scattering of electrons resulting in changes of pitch angle, and degradation in energy as the electrons penetrate into the atmosphere. The transport equation is solved numerically for the electron intensity as a function of altitude, pitch angle, and energy. In situ measurements of the pitch angle and energy distribution of precipitating electrons over an auroral arc provide boundary conditions for the calculation. The electron spectra from various locations over the aurora present a variety of anisotropic pitch angle distributions and energy spectra. Good agreement is found between the observed backscattered electron energy spectra and model predictions. Differences occur at low energies (below 500 eV) in the structure of the pitch angle distribution. Model calculations were carried out with various different phase functions for elastic and inelastic collisions to attempt changing the angular scattering, but the observed pitch angle distributions remain unexplained. We suggest that mechanisms other than collisional scattering influence the angular distribution of auroral electrons at or below 300 km altitude in the low energy domain. (author)

  18. The coronas-F space mission key results for solar terrestrial physics

    CERN Document Server

    2014-01-01

    This volume is the updated and extended translation of the Russian original. It presents the results of observations of solar activity and its effects in the Earth space environment carried out from July 2001 to December 2005 on board the CORONAS-F space mission. The general characteristics of the CORONAS-F scientific payload are provided with a description of the principal experiments. The main results focus on the global oscillations of the Sun (p-modes), solar corona, solar flares, solar cosmic rays, Earth’s radiation belts, and upper atmosphere. The book will be welcomed by students, post-graduates, and scientists working in the field of solar and solar-terrestrial physics. This English edition is supplemented by sections presenting new results of the SPIRIT and TESIS experiments under the CORONAS solar program, as well as from the SONG experiment onboard the CORONAS-F satellite.

  19. High resolution solar observations in the context of space weather prediction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Guo

    Space weather has a great impact on the Earth and human life. It is important to study and monitor active regions on the solar surface and ultimately to predict space weather based on the Sun's activity. In this study, a system that uses the full power of speckle masking imaging by parallel processing to obtain high-spatial resolution images of the solar surface in near real-time has been developed and built. The application of this system greatly improves the ability to monitor the evolution of solar active regions and to predict the adverse effects of space weather. The data obtained by this system have also been used to study fine structures on the solar surface and their effects on the upper solar atmosphere. A solar active region has been studied using high resolution data obtained by speckle masking imaging. Evolution of a pore in an active region presented. Formation of a rudimentary penumbra is studied. The effects of the change of the magnetic fields on the upper level atmosphere is discussed. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) have a great impact on space weather. To study the relationship between CMEs and filament disappearance, a list of 431 filament and prominence disappearance events has been compiled. Comparison of this list with CME data obtained by satellite has shown that most filament disappearances seem to have no corresponding CME events. Even for the limb events, only thirty percent of filament disappearances are associated with CMEs. A CME event that was observed on March 20, 2000 has been studied in detail. This event did not show the three-parts structure of typical CMEs. The kinematical and morphological properties of this event were examined.

  20. Depths of formation of the CN molecule lines in the solar atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Porfir'eva, G.A.

    1975-01-01

    The depths of production of lines of weak bands of the CN molecule violet (lambda=4216A) system are calculated by the weight function method. Two models of solar atmosphere are used. Lines with the different rotational vibrational quantum numbers are produced practically in the same layer (tau approximately equal to 0.05-0.06). The difference of depths of production of the line center and the wing is small (Δtau 0 =0.005). The contribution functions for the solar disk center differ little from those for the edge. The calculations carried out are in good agreement with the results obtained from earlier observations

  1. Heating of the outer solar atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parker, E.N.

    1983-01-01

    The author discusses the idea that there must be a source of magnetic fields somewhere below the solar surface. He starts by considering present day ideas about the sun's internal structure. The sun has a radius of approximately 700,000 km, of which the outer 100,000 km or so is the convective zone, according to mixing-length models. The dynamo is believed to operate in the convective zone, across which there may be a 5-10% variation in the angular velocity. There are the stretched east-west fields similar to the ones in the earth's core. Associated with these are poloidal fields which contribute to a net dipole moment of the sun and are generated by a dynamo. The author shows that essentially no magnetic field configuration has an equilibrium; they dissipate quickly in spite of the high conductivity in fluid motions and heating. This is probably the major part of the heating of the sun's outer atmosphere. (Auth.)

  2. Estimate of the upper limit of amplitude of Solar Cycle No. 23

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Silbergleit, V. M; Larocca, P. A [Departamento de Fisica, UBA (Argentina)

    2001-07-01

    AA* indices of values greater than 60 10{sup -9} Tesla are considered in order to characterize geomagnetic storms since the available series of these indices comprise the years from 1868 to 1998 (The longest existing interval of geomagnetic activity). By applying the precursor technique we have performed an analysis of the storm periods and the solar activity, obtaining a good correlation between the number of storms ({alpha})(characterized by the AA* indices) and the amplitudes of each solar cycle ({zeta}) and those of the next ({mu}). Using the multiple regression method applied to {alpha}=A+B{zeta} +C{mu}, the constants are calculated and the values found are: A=-33 {+-}18, B= 0.74{+-}0.13 y C= 0.56{+-}0.13. The present statistical method indicates that the current solar cycle (number 23) would have an upper limit of 202{+-}57 monthy mean sunspots. This value indicates that the solar activity would be high causing important effects on the Earth's environment. [Spanish] Se consideran los valores de los indices AA* de valor mayor que 60 10{sup -9} Tesla para caracterizar tormentas geomagneticas ya que las series disponibles de estos indices van desde 1868 hasta 1998 (el mas largo intervalo de la actividad geomagnetica existente). Aplicando la tecnica del precursor hemos realizado un analisis de los periodos de tormentas y la actividad solar obteniendo una buena correlacion entre el numero de tormentas ({alpha}) (caracterizado por los indices AA*) y las amplitudes de los ciclos solares corriente ({zeta}) y el proximo ({mu}). Usando el metodo de regresion multiple aplicado a {alpha}=A+B{zeta} +C{mu}, las consonantes resultaron: A=-33 {+-}18, B= 0.74{+-}0.13 y C= 0.56{+-}0.13. El metodo estadistico presentado indica que el ciclo actual (numero 23) tendria un pico de 202{+-} 57 manchas mensuales promedio. Este valor indica que la actividad solar seria alta produciendo importantes efectos en el medio ambiente terrestre.

  3. SPARTAN high resolution solar studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruner, Marilyn E.

    1993-01-01

    This report summarizes the work performed on Contract NAS5-29739, a sub-orbital research program directed toward the study of the geometry of and physical conditions in matter found in the upper layers of the solar atmosphere. The report describes a new sounding rocket payload developed under the contract, presents a guide to the contents of semiannual reports submitted during the contract, discusses the results of the first flight of the payload and the progress on scientific analysis. A bibliography of papers and publications is included.

  4. Pathways, Impacts, and Policies on Severe Aerosol Injections into the Atmosphere: 2011 Severe Atmospheric Aerosols Events Conference

    KAUST Repository

    Weil, Martin

    2012-09-01

    The 2011 severe atmospheric events conference, held on August 11-12, 2011, Hamburg, Germany, discussed climatic and environmental changes as a result of various kinds of huge injections of aerosols into the atmosphere and the possible consequences for the world population. Various sessions of the conference dealt with different aspects of large aerosol injections and severe atmospheric aerosol events along the geologic time scale. A presentation about radiative heating of aerosols as a self-lifting mechanism in the Australian forest fires discussed the question of how the impact of tropical volcanic eruptions depends on the eruption season. H.-F. Graf showed that cloud-resolving plume models are more suitable to predict the volcanic plume height and dispersion than one-dimensional models. G. Stenchikov pointed out that the absorbing smoke plumes in the upper troposphere can be partially mixed into the lower stratosphere because of the solar heating and lofting effect.

  5. Pathways, Impacts, and Policies on Severe Aerosol Injections into the Atmosphere: 2011 Severe Atmospheric Aerosols Events Conference

    KAUST Repository

    Weil, Martin; Grassl, Hartmut; Hoshyaripour, Gholamali; Kloster, Silvia; Kominek, Jasmin; Misios, Stergios; Scheffran, Juergen; Starr, Steven; Stenchikov, Georgiy L.; Sudarchikova, Natalia; Timmreck, Claudia; Zhang, Dan; Kalinowski, Martin

    2012-01-01

    The 2011 severe atmospheric events conference, held on August 11-12, 2011, Hamburg, Germany, discussed climatic and environmental changes as a result of various kinds of huge injections of aerosols into the atmosphere and the possible consequences for the world population. Various sessions of the conference dealt with different aspects of large aerosol injections and severe atmospheric aerosol events along the geologic time scale. A presentation about radiative heating of aerosols as a self-lifting mechanism in the Australian forest fires discussed the question of how the impact of tropical volcanic eruptions depends on the eruption season. H.-F. Graf showed that cloud-resolving plume models are more suitable to predict the volcanic plume height and dispersion than one-dimensional models. G. Stenchikov pointed out that the absorbing smoke plumes in the upper troposphere can be partially mixed into the lower stratosphere because of the solar heating and lofting effect.

  6. The lower solar atmosphere

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rutten, R.J.

    1998-01-01

    This "rapporteur" report discusses the solar photosphere and low chromosphere in the context of chemical composition studies. The highly dynamical nature of the photosphere does not seem to jeopardize precise determination of solar abundances in classical fashion. It is still an open question how

  7. CORRELATION BETWEEN THE 22-YEAR SOLAR MAGNETIC CYCLE AND THE 22-YEAR QUASICYCLE IN THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Qu Weizheng; Zhao Jinping; Huang Fei; Deng Shenggui, E-mail: quweizhe@ouc.edu.cn [College of Environment Oceanography, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100 (China)

    2012-07-15

    According to the variation pattern of the solar magnetic field polarity and its relation to the relative sunspot number, we established the time series of the sunspot magnetic field polarity index and analyzed the strength and polarity cycle characteristics of the solar magnetic field. The analysis showed the existence of a cycle with about a 22-year periodicity in the strength and polarity of the solar magnetic field, which proved the Hale proposition that the 11-year sunspot cycle is one-half of the 22-year solar magnetic cycle. By analyzing the atmospheric temperature field, we found that the troposphere and the stratosphere in the middle latitude of both the northern and southern hemispheres exhibited a common 22-year quasicycle in the atmospheric temperature, which is believed to be attributable to the 22-year solar magnetic cycle.

  8. A New Method to Comprehensively Diagnose Shock Waves in the Solar Atmosphere Based on Simultaneous Spectroscopic and Imaging Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruan, Wenzhi; Yan, Limei; He, Jiansen; Zhang, Lei; Wang, Linghua; Wei, Yong

    2018-06-01

    Shock waves are believed to play an important role in plasma heating. The shock-like temporal jumps in radiation intensity and Doppler shift have been identified in the solar atmosphere. However, a quantitative diagnosis of the shocks in the solar atmosphere is still lacking, seriously hindering the understanding of shock dissipative heating of the solar atmosphere. Here, we propose a new method to realize the goal of the shock quantitative diagnosis, based on Rankine–Hugoniot equations and taking the advantages of simultaneous imaging and spectroscopic observations from, e.g., IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph). Because of this method, the key parameters of shock candidates can be derived, such as the bulk velocity and temperature of the plasma in the upstream and downstream, the propagation speed and direction. The method is applied to the shock candidates observed by IRIS, and the overall characteristics of the shocks are revealed quantitatively for the first time. This method is also tested with the help of forward modeling, i.e., virtual observations of simulated shocks. The parameters obtained from the method are consistent with the parameters of the shock formed in the model and are independent of the viewing direction. Therefore, the method we proposed here is applicable to the quantitative and comprehensive diagnosis of the observed shocks in the solar atmosphere.

  9. Integrating Solar Power onto the Electric Grid - Bridging the Gap between Atmospheric Science, Engineering and Economics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghonima, M. S.; Yang, H.; Zhong, X.; Ozge, B.; Sahu, D. K.; Kim, C. K.; Babacan, O.; Hanna, R.; Kurtz, B.; Mejia, F. A.; Nguyen, A.; Urquhart, B.; Chow, C. W.; Mathiesen, P.; Bosch, J.; Wang, G.

    2015-12-01

    One of the main obstacles to high penetrations of solar power is the variable nature of solar power generation. To mitigate variability, grid operators have to schedule additional reliability resources, at considerable expense, to ensure that load requirements are met by generation. Thus despite the cost of solar PV decreasing, the cost of integrating solar power will increase as penetration of solar resources onto the electric grid increases. There are three principal tools currently available to mitigate variability impacts: (i) flexible generation, (ii) storage, either virtual (demand response) or physical devices and (iii) solar forecasting. Storage devices are a powerful tool capable of ensuring smooth power output from renewable resources. However, the high cost of storage is prohibitive and markets are still being designed to leverage their full potential and mitigate their limitation (e.g. empty storage). Solar forecasting provides valuable information on the daily net load profile and upcoming ramps (increasing or decreasing solar power output) thereby providing the grid advance warning to schedule ancillary generation more accurately, or curtail solar power output. In order to develop solar forecasting as a tool that can be utilized by the grid operators we identified two focus areas: (i) develop solar forecast technology and improve solar forecast accuracy and (ii) develop forecasts that can be incorporated within existing grid planning and operation infrastructure. The first issue required atmospheric science and engineering research, while the second required detailed knowledge of energy markets, and power engineering. Motivated by this background we will emphasize area (i) in this talk and provide an overview of recent advancements in solar forecasting especially in two areas: (a) Numerical modeling tools for coastal stratocumulus to improve scheduling in the day-ahead California energy market. (b) Development of a sky imager to provide short term

  10. Newtonian CAFE: a new ideal MHD code to study the solar atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    González-Avilés, J. J.; Cruz-Osorio, A.; Lora-Clavijo, F. D.; Guzmán, F. S.

    2015-12-01

    We present a new code designed to solve the equations of classical ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) in three dimensions, submitted to a constant gravitational field. The purpose of the code centres on the analysis of solar phenomena within the photosphere-corona region. We present 1D and 2D standard tests to demonstrate the quality of the numerical results obtained with our code. As solar tests we present the transverse oscillations of Alfvénic pulses in coronal loops using a 2.5D model, and as 3D tests we present the propagation of impulsively generated MHD-gravity waves and vortices in the solar atmosphere. The code is based on high-resolution shock-capturing methods, uses the Harten-Lax-van Leer-Einfeldt (HLLE) flux formula combined with Minmod, MC, and WENO5 reconstructors. The divergence free magnetic field constraint is controlled using the Flux Constrained Transport method.

  11. Solar Irradiance Variability and Its Impacts on the Earth Climate System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harder, J. W.; Woods, T. N.

    The Sun plays a vital role in the evolution of the climates of terrestrial planets. Observations of the solar spectrum are now routinely made that span the wavelength range from the X-ray portion of the spectrum (5 nm) into the infrared to about 2400 nm. Over this very broad wavelength range, accounting for about 97% of the total solar irradiance, the intensity varies by more than 6 orders of magnitude, requiring a suite of very different and innovative instruments to determine both the spectral irradiance and its variability. The origins of solar variability are strongly linked to surface magnetic field changes, and analysis of solar images and magnetograms show that the intensity of emitted radiation from solar surface features in active regions has a very strong wavelength and magnetic field strength dependence. These magnetic fields produce observable solar surface features such as sunspots, faculae, and network structures that contribute in different ways to the radiated output. Semi-empirical models of solar spectral irradiance are able to capture much of the Sun's output, but this topic remains an active area of research. Studies of solar structures in both high spectral and spatial resolution are refining this understanding. Advances in Earth observation systems and high-quality three-dimensional chemical climate models provide a sound methodology to study the mechanisms of the interaction between Earth's atmosphere and the incoming solar radiation. Energetic photons have a profound effect on the chemistry and dynamics of the thermosphere and ionosphere, and these processes are now well represented in upper atmospheric models. In the middle and lower atmosphere the effects of solar variability enter the climate system through two nonexclusive pathways referred to as the top-down and bottom-up mechanisms. The top-down mechanism proceeds through the alteration of the photochemical rates that establish the middle atmospheric temperature structure and

  12. Sensitivity of a soil-plant-atmosphere model to changes in air temperature, dew point temperature, and solar radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Luxmoore, R.J. (Oak Ridge National Lab.,TN); Stolzy, J.L.; Holdeman, J.T.

    1981-01-01

    Air temperature, dew point temperature and solar radiation were independently varied in an hourly soil-plant-atmosphere model in a sensitivity analysis of these parameters. Results suggested that evapotranspiration in eastern Tennessee is limited more by meteorological conditions that determine the vapor-pressure gradient than by the necessary energy to vaporize water within foliage. Transpiration and soil water drainage were very sensitive to changes in air and dew point temperature and to solar radiation under low atmospheric vapor-pressure deficit conditions associated with reduced air temperature. Leaf water potential and stomatal conductance were reduced under conditions having high evapotranspiration. Representative air and dew point temperature input data for a particular application are necessary for satisfactory results, whereas irradiation may be less well characterized for applications with high atmospheric vapor-pressure deficit. The effects of a general rise in atmospheric temperature on forest water budgets are discussed.

  13. Atmospheric chemistry and transport modeling in the outer solar system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Yuan-Tai (Anthony)

    2001-11-01

    This thesis consists of 1-D and 2-D photochemical- dynamical modeling in the upper atmospheres of outer planets. For 1-D modeling, a unified hydrocarbon photochemical model has been studied in Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Titan, by comparing with the Voyager observations, and the recent measurements of methyl radicals by ISO in Saturn and Neptune. The CH3 observation implies a kinetically sensitive test to the measured and estimated hydrocarbon rate constants at low temperatures. We identify the key reactions that control the concentrations of CH3 in the model, such as the three-body recombination reaction, CH3 + CH3 + M --> C 2H6 + M, and the recycling reaction H + CH3 + M --> CH4 + M. The results show reasonable agreement with ISO values. In Chapter 4, the detection of PH3 in the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere of Jupiter has provided a photochemical- dynamical coupling model to derive the eddy diffusion coefficient in the upper troposphere of Jupiter. Using a two-layers photochemical model with updated photodissociation cross-sections and chemical rate constants for NH3 and PH 3, we find that the upper tropospheric eddy diffusion coefficient 106 cm2 sec-1, are required to match the derived PH3 vertical profile by the observation. The best-fit functional form derivation of eddy diffusion coefficient in the upper troposphere of Jupiter above 400 mbar is K = 2.0 × 104 (n/2.2 × 1019)-0.5 cm 2 sec-1. On the other hand, Chapter 5 demonstrates a dynamical-only 2-D model of C2H6 providing a complete test for the current 2-D transport models in Jovian lower stratosphere and upper troposphere (270 to 0.1 mbar pressure levels). Different combinations of residual advection, horizontal eddy dispersion, and vertical eddy mixing are examined at different latitudes.

  14. Molecular line parameters for the atmospheric trace molecule spectroscopy experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, L. R.; Farmer, C. B.; Toth, R. A.; Rinsland, Curtis P.

    1987-01-01

    During its first mission in 1985 onboard Spacelab 3, the ATMOS (atmospheric trace molecule spectroscopy) instrument, a high speed Fourier transform spectrometer, produced a large number of high resolution infrared solar absorption spectra recorded in the occultation mode. The analysis and interpretation of these data in terms of composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the earth's upper atmosphere required good knowledge of the molecular line parameters for those species giving rise to the absorptions in the atmospheric spectra. This paper describes the spectroscopic line parameter database compiled for the ATMOS experiment and referenced in other papers describing ATMOS results. With over 400,000 entries, the linelist catalogs parameters of 46 minor and trace species in the 1-10,000/cm region.

  15. Ellerman bombs observed with the new vacuum solar telescope and the atmospheric imaging assembly onboard the solar dynamics observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yajie; Tian, Hui; Xu, Zhi; Xiang, Yongyuan; Fang, Yuliang; Yang, Zihao

    2017-12-01

    Ellerman bombs (EBs) are believed to be small-scale reconnection events occurring around the temperature minimum region in the solar atmosphere. They are often identified as significant enhancements in the extended Hα wings without obvious signatures in the Hα core. Here we explore the possibility of using the 1700 Å images taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to study EBs. From the Hα wing images obtained with the New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST) on 2015 May 2, we have identified 145 EBs and 51% of them clearly correspond to the bright points (BPs) in the AIA 1700 Å images. If we resize the NVST images using a linear interpolation to make the pixel sizes of the AIA and NVST images the same, some previously identified EBs disappear and about 71% of the remaining EBs are associated with BPs. Meanwhile, 66% of the compact brightenings in the AIA 1700 Å images can be identified as EBs in the Hα wings. The intensity enhancements of the EBs in the Hα wing images reveal a linear correlation with those of the BPs in the AIA 1700 Å images. Our study suggests that a significant fraction of EBs can be observed with the AIA 1700 Å filter, which is promising for large-sample statistical study of EBs as the seeing-free and full-disk SDO/AIA data are routinely available.

  16. Annual reconstruction of the solar cycle from atmospheric 14C variations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murphy, J.O.

    1990-01-01

    Initially, the rise and fall components of the 11-year solar sunspot cycle are approximated by separate least-squares polynomials for four cycle classifications, which are determined by the magnitude of the average of the annual sunspot numbers per cycle. Following a method is formulated to generate detailed reconstruction of the annual variation of a solar cycle based on this cycle average, and the results obtained for cycles -4 through to 21 are compared with the annual Zurich values. This procedure is then employed to establish annual sunspot numbers using published average cycle values obtained from atmospheric carbon 14 variations, which have been derived from the chemical analysis of tree ring sections. The reconstructed sequences are correlated with the observed cycle values and with tree ring width index chronologies which exhibit a significant 11-year periodicity. It is anticipated that the long carbon 14 records and parallel dendrochronological data could be employed to obtain a more detailed portrayal of previous periods of strong solar activity than that given by current estimates based on historical records. 17 refs., 2 tabs., 9 figs

  17. Modeling the solar cycle change in nitric oxide in the thermosphere and upper mesosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fuller-Rowell, T.J.

    1993-01-01

    Measurements from the Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME) satellite have shown that low-latitude nitric oxide densities at 110 km decrease by about a factor of 8 from January 1982 to April 1985. This time period corresponds to the descending phase of the last solar cycle where the monthly smoothed sunspot number decreased from more than 150 to less than 25. In addition, nitric oxide was observed to vary by a factor of 2 over a solar rotation, during high solar activity. A one-dimensional, globally averaged model of the thermosphere and upper mesosphere has been used to study the height distribution of nitric oxide (NO) and its response to changes in the solar extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV) through the solar cycle and over a solar rotation. The primary source of nitric oxide is the reaction of excited atomic nitrogen, N( 2 D), with molecular oxygen. The atomic nitrogen is created by a number of ion-neutral reactions and by direct dissociation of molecular nitrogen by photons and photoelectrons. The occurrence of the peak nitric oxide density at or below 115 km is a direct consequence of ionization and dissociation of molecular nitrogen by photoelectrons, which are produced by the solar flux below 30.0 nm (XUV). Nitric oxide is shown to vary over the solar cycle by a factor of 7 at low latitudes in the lower thermosphere E region, due to the estimated change in the solar EUV flux, in good agreement with the SME satellite observations. The NO density is shown to be strongly dependent on the temperature profile in the lower thermosphere and accounts for the difference between the current model and previous work. Wavelengths less than 1.8 nm have little impact on the NO profile. A factor of 3 change in solar flux below 5.0 nm at high solar activity produced a factor of 2 change in the peak NO density, consistent with SME observations over a solar rotation; this change also lowered the peak to 100 km, consistent with rocket data. 52 refs., 10 figs., 5 tabs

  18. Transition to a Moist Greenhouse with CO2 and solar forcing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popp, Max; Schmidt, Hauke; Marotzke, Jochem

    2016-02-09

    Water-rich planets such as Earth are expected to become eventually uninhabitable, because liquid water turns unstable at the surface as temperatures increase with solar luminosity. Whether a large increase of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as CO2 could also destroy the habitability of water-rich planets has remained unclear. Here we show with three-dimensional aqua-planet simulations that CO2-induced forcing as readily destabilizes the climate as does solar forcing. The climate instability is caused by a positive cloud feedback and leads to a new steady state with global-mean sea-surface temperatures above 330 K. The upper atmosphere is considerably moister in this warm state than in the reference climate, implying that the planet would be subject to substantial loss of water to space. For some elevated CO2 or solar forcings, we find both cold and warm equilibrium states, implying that the climate transition cannot be reversed by removing the additional forcing.

  19. Energy Storage and Release through the Solar Activity Cycle Models Meet Radio Observations

    CERN Document Server

    Nindos, Alexander

    2012-01-01

    For nearly sixty years, radio observations have provided a unique insight into the physics of the active and quiescent solar atmosphere. Thanks to the variety of emission mechanisms and to the large altitude range available to observations, fundamental plasma parameters have been measured from the low chromosphere to the upper corona and interplanetary medium. This book presents current research in solar radio astronomy and shows how well it fits in the exceptional scientific context brought by the current space solar observatories. It essentially contains contributed research and review papers presented during the 2010 Community of European Solar Radio Astronomers (CESRA) meeting, which took place in Belgium in June 2010. This book is aimed at graduate students and researchers working in solar physics and space science. Previously published in Solar Physics journal, Vol. 273/2, 2011.

  20. Role of the QBO in Modulating the Influence of the 11 Year Solar Cycle on the Atmosphere Using Constant Forcings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-21

    ozone concentration. To estimate quantitatively the frac- tional difference in ozone, dO3/O3, between solar maximum and solar minimum we follow Tilmes et...11. Statistically significant positiver · F anomalies for the QBO east case in the midlatitude upper stratosphere from July on imply weaker wave‐mean

  1. Models of the quiet and active solar atmosphere from Harvard OSO data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noyes, R. W.

    1971-01-01

    Review of some Harvard Observatory programs aimed at defining the physical conditions in quiet and active solar regions on the basis of data obtained from the OSO-IV and OSO-VI spacecraft. The spectral range covered is from 300 A to 1400 A. This spectral range consists of emission lines and continua from abundant elements such as hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, aluminum, neon, iron, and calcium in various ionization states ranging from neutral to 15 times ionized. The structure is discussed of the quiet solar atmosphere as deduced from center-to-limb behavior of spectral lines and continua formed in the chromosphere and corona. In reviewing investigations of solar active regions, it is shown that the structure of these regions varies in a complicated manner from point to point. The local structure is influenced by factors such as the magnetic field configuration within the active region and the age or evolutionary state of the region.

  2. Thermal bifurcation in the upper solar photosphere inferred from heterodyne spectroscopy of OH rotational lines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deming, D.; Hillman, J. J.; Kostiuk, T.; Mumma, M. J.; Zipoy, D. M.

    1984-01-01

    Low noise high spectral resolution observations of two pure rotation transitions of OH from the solar photosphere were obtained. The observations were obtained using the technique of optically null-balanced infrared heterodyne spectroscopy, and consist of center-to-limb line profiles of a v=1 and a v=0 transition near 12 microns. These lines should be formed in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), and are diagnostics of the thermal structure of the upper photosphere. The v=0 R22 (24.5)e line strengthens at the solar limb, in contradiction to the predictions of current one dimensional photospheric models. Data for this line support a two dimensional model in which horizontal thermal fluctuations of order + or - 800K occur in the region Tau (sub 5000) approximately .001 to .01. This thermal bifurcation may be maintained by the presence of magnetic flux tubes, and may be related to the solar limb extensions observed in the 30 to 200 micron region.

  3. Multi-wavelength search for complex molecules in Titan's Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nixon, C. A.; Cordiner, M. A.; Greathouse, T. K.; Richter, M.; Kisiel, Z.; Irwin, P. G.; Teanby, N. A.; Kuan, Y. J.; Charnley, S. B.

    2017-12-01

    Titan's atmosphere is one of the most complex astrochemical environments known: the photochemistry of methane and nitrogen, induced by solar UV and Saturn magnetospheric electron impacts, creates a bonanza of organic molecules like no other place in the solar system. Cassini has unveiled the first glimpses of Titan's chemical wonderland, but many gaps remain. In particular, interpreting the mass spectra of Titan's upper atmosphere requires external knowledge, to disentangle the signature of molecules from their identical-mass brethren. Cassini infrared spectroscopy with CIRS has helped to some extent, but is also limited by low spectral resolution. Potentially to the rescue, comes high-resolution spectroscopy from the Earth at infrared and sub-millimeter wavelengths, where molecules exhibit vibrational and rotational transitions respectively. In this presentation, we describe the quest to make new, unique identifications of large molecules in Titan's atmosphere, focusing specifically on cyclic molecules including N-heterocycles. This molecular family is of high astrobiological significance, forming the basic ring structure for DNA nucleobases. We present the latest spectroscopic observations of Titan from ALMA and NASA's IRTF telescope, discussing present findings and directions for future work.

  4. Present State of Knowledge of the Upper Atmosphere 1996: An Assessment Report to Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurylo, M. J.; Kaye, J. A.; Decola, P. L.; Friedl, R. R.; Peterson, D. B.

    1997-01-01

    This document is issued in response to the Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990, Public Law 101-549, which mandates that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other key agencies submit triennial report to congress and the Environmental Protection Agency. NASA is charged with the responsibility to report on the state of our knowledge of the Earth's upper atmosphere, particularly the Stratosphere. Part 1 of this report summarizes the objectives, status, and accomplishments of the research tasks supported under NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Program and Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling and Analysis Program for the period of 1994-1996. Part 2 (this document) presents summaries of several scientific assessments, reviews, and summaries. These include the executive summaries of two scientific assessments: (Section B) 'Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 1994'; (Section C) 'l995 Scientific Assessment of the Atmospheric Effects of Stratospheric Aircraft); end of mission/series statements for three stratospherically-focused measurement campaigns: (Section D) 'ATLAS End-of-Series Statement'; (Section E) 'ASHOE/MAESA End-of-Mission Statement'; (Section F) 'TOTE/VOTE End-of-Mission Statement'; a summary of NASA's latest biennial review of fundamental photochemical processes important to atmospheric chemistry 'Chemical Kinetics and Photochemical Data for Use in Stratospheric Modeling'; and (Section H) the section 'Atmospheric Ozone Research" from the Mission to Planet Earth Science Research Plan, which describes NASA's current and future research activities related to both tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry.

  5. HEATING MECHANISMS IN THE LOW SOLAR ATMOSPHERE THROUGH MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN CURRENT SHEETS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ni, Lei; Lin, Jun [Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650011 (China); Roussev, Ilia I. [Division of Geosciences, National Science Foundation Arlington, Virginia (United States); Schmieder, Brigitte, E-mail: leini@ynao.ac.cn [Observatoire de Paris, LESIA, Meudon (France)

    2016-12-01

    We simulate several magnetic reconnection processes in the low solar chromosphere/photosphere; the radiation cooling, heat conduction and ambipolar diffusion are all included. Our numerical results indicate that both the high temperature (≳8 × 10{sup 4} K) and low temperature (∼10{sup 4} K) magnetic reconnection events can happen in the low solar atmosphere (100–600 km above the solar surface). The plasma β controlled by plasma density and magnetic fields is one important factor to decide how much the plasma can be heated up. The low temperature event is formed in a high β magnetic reconnection process, Joule heating is the main mechanism to heat plasma and the maximum temperature increase is only several thousand Kelvin. The high temperature explosions can be generated in a low β magnetic reconnection process, slow and fast-mode shocks attached at the edges of the well developed plasmoids are the main physical mechanisms to heat the plasma from several thousand Kelvin to over 8 × 10{sup 4} K. Gravity in the low chromosphere can strongly hinder the plasmoid instability and the formation of slow-mode shocks in a vertical current sheet. Only small secondary islands are formed; these islands, however, are not as well developed as those in the horizontal current sheets. This work can be applied to understand the heating mechanism in the low solar atmosphere and could possibly be extended to explain the formation of common low temperature Ellerman bombs (∼10{sup 4} K) and the high temperature Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) bombs (≳8 × 10{sup 4}) in the future.

  6. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations of hot jupiter upper atmospheres

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Trammell, George B.; Li, Zhi-Yun; Arras, Phil, E-mail: gbt8f@virginia.edu, E-mail: zl4h@virginia.edu, E-mail: arras@virginia.edu [Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400325, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4325 (United States)

    2014-06-20

    Two-dimensional simulations of hot Jupiter upper atmospheres including the planet's magnetic field are presented. The goal is to explore magnetic effects on the layer of the atmosphere that is ionized and heated by stellar EUV radiation, and the imprint of these effects on the Lyα transmission spectrum. The simulations are axisymmetric, isothermal, and include both rotation and azimuth-averaged stellar tides. Mass density is converted to atomic hydrogen density through the assumption of ionization equilibrium. The three-zone structure—polar dead zone (DZ), mid-latitude wind zone (WZ), and equatorial DZ—found in previous analytic calculations is confirmed. For a magnetic field comparable to that of Jupiter, the equatorial DZ, which is confined by the magnetic field and corotates with the planet, contributes at least half of the transit signal. For even stronger fields, the gas escaping in the mid-latitude WZ is found to have a smaller contribution to the transit depth than the equatorial DZ. Transmission spectra computed from the simulations are compared to Hubble Space Telescope Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and Advanced Camera for Surveys data for HD 209458b and HD 189733b, and the range of model parameters consistent with the data is found. The central result of this paper is that the transit depth increases strongly with magnetic field strength when the hydrogen ionization layer is magnetically dominated, for dipole magnetic field B {sub 0} ≳ 10 G. Hence transit depth is sensitive to magnetic field strength, in addition to standard quantities such as the ratio of thermal to gravitational binding energies. Another effect of the magnetic field is that the planet loses angular momentum orders of magnitude faster than in the non-magnetic case, because the magnetic field greatly increases the lever arm for wind braking of the planet's rotation. Spin-down timescales for magnetized models of HD 209458b that agree with the observed transit depth

  7. Early solar physics

    CERN Document Server

    Meadows, A J

    1970-01-01

    Early Solar Physics reviews developments in solar physics, particularly the advent of solar spectroscopy and the discovery of relationships between the various layers of the solar atmosphere and between the different forms of solar activity. Topics covered include solar observations during 1843; chemical analysis of the solar atmosphere; the spectrum of a solar prominence; and the solar eclipse of December 12, 1871. Spectroscopic observations of the sun are also presented. This book is comprised of 30 chapters and begins with an overview of ideas about the sun in the mid-nineteenth century, fo

  8. EMERGENCE OF GRANULAR-SIZED MAGNETIC BUBBLES THROUGH THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE. III. THE PATH TO THE TRANSITION REGION

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ortiz, Ada; Hansteen, Viggo H.; Pontieu, Bart De; Carlsson, Mats; Voort, Luc Rouppe van der [Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1029 Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo (Norway); Rubio, Luis Ramón Bellot [Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC), Apdo. 3040, E-18080 Granada (Spain); Rodríguez, Jaime de la Cruz, E-mail: ada@astro.uio.no [Institute for Solar Physics, Dept. of Astronomy, Stockholm University, Albanova University Center, SE-10691 Stockholm (Sweden)

    2016-07-10

    We study, for the first time, the ascent of granular-sized magnetic bubbles from the solar photosphere through the chromosphere into the transition region and above. Such events occurred in a flux emerging region in NOAA 11850 on 2013 September 25. During that time, the first co-observing campaign between the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft was carried out. Simultaneous observations of the chromospheric H α 656.28 nm and Ca ii 854.2 nm lines, plus the photospheric Fe i 630.25 nm line, were made with the CRISP spectropolarimeter at the Spitzer Space Telescope ( SST ) reaching a spatial resolution of 0.″14. At the same time, IRIS was performing a four-step dense raster of the emerging flux region, taking slit jaw images at 133 (C ii, transition region), 140 (Si iv, transition region), 279.6 (Mg ii k, core, upper chromosphere), and 283.2 nm (Mg ii k, wing, photosphere). Spectroscopy of several lines was performed by the IRIS spectrograph in the far- and near-ultraviolet, of which we have used the Si iv 140.3 and the Mg ii k 279.6 nm lines. Coronal images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly of the Solar Dynamics Observatory were used to investigate the possible coronal signatures of the flux emergence events. The photospheric and chromospheric properties of small-scale emerging magnetic bubbles have been described in detail in Ortiz et al. Here we are able to follow such structures up to the transition region. We describe the properties, including temporal delays, of the observed flux emergence in all layers. We believe this may be an important mechanism of transporting energy and magnetic flux from subsurface layers to the transition region and corona.

  9. A solar radiation model for use in climate studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chou, Ming-Dah

    1992-01-01

    A solar radiation routine is developed for use in climate studies that includes absorption and scattering due to ozone, water vapor, oxygen, carbon dioxide, clouds, and aerosols. Rayleigh scattering is also included. Broadband parameterization is used to compute the absorption by water vapor in a clear atmosphere, and the k-distribution method is applied to compute fluxes in a scattering atmosphere. The reflectivity and transmissivity of a scattering layer are computed analytically using the delta-four-stream discrete-ordinate approximation. The two-stream adding method is then applied to compute fluxes for a composite of clear and scattering layers. Compared to the results of high spectral resolution and detailed multiple-scattering calculations, fluxes and heating rate are accurately computed to within a few percent. The high accuracy of the flux and heating-rate calculations is achieved with a reasonable amount of computing time. With the UV and visible region grouped into four bands, this solar radiation routine is useful not only for climate studies but also for studies on photolysis in the upper atmosphere and photosynthesis in the biosphere.

  10. The SPICAV-SOIR instrument probing the atmosphere of Venus: an overview

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trompet, Loïc; Mahieux, Arnaud; Wilquet, Valérie; Robert, Séverine; Chamberlain, Sarah; Thomas, Ian; Carine Vandaele, Ann; Bertaux, Jean-Loup

    2016-04-01

    The Solar Occultation in the Infrared (SOIR) channel mounted on top of the SPICAV instrument of the ESA's Venus Express mission has observed the atmosphere of Venus during more than eight years. This IR spectrometer (2.2-4.3 μm) with a high spectral resolution (0.12 cm-1) combined an echelle grating with an acousto-optic tunable filter for order selection. SOIR performed more than 1500 solar occultation measurements leading to about two millions spectra. The Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) was in charge of SOIR's development and operations as well as its data pipeline. BIRA-IASB carried out several studies on the composition of Venus mesosphere and lower thermosphere: carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen halide (HF, HCl, DF, DCl), sulfur dioxide, water (H2O, HDO) as well as sulphuric acid aerosols in the upper haze of Venus. Density and temperature profiles of the upper atmosphere of Venus (60 km to 170 km) at the terminator have been retrieved from SOIR's spectra using different assumptions, wherein the hydrostatic equilibrium and the local thermodynamical equilibrium in the radiative transfer calculations. These results allow us to produce an Atmospheric model of Venus called Venus Atmosphere from SOIR measurements at the Terminator (VAST). Data obtained by SOIR will also contribute to update the Venus International Reference Atmosphere (VIRA). Recently, the treatment of the raw data to transmittance has been optimized, and a new dataset of spectra has been produced. All raw spectra (PSA level 2) as well as calibrated spectra (PSA level 3) have been delivered to ESA's Planetary Science Archive (PDSPSA). Consequently the re-analysis of all spectra has been undergone. We will briefly present the improvements implemented in the data pipeline. We will also show a compilation of results obtained by the instrument considering the complete mission duration.

  11. Parameterization models for solar radiation and solar technology applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khalil, Samy A. [National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Solar and Space Department, Marsed Street, Helwan, 11421 Cairo (Egypt)

    2008-08-15

    Solar radiation is very important for the evaluation and wide use of solar renewable energy systems. The development of calibration procedures for broadband solar radiation photometric instrumentation and the improvement of broadband solar radiation measurement accuracy have been done. An improved diffuse sky reference and photometric calibration and characterization software for outdoor pyranometer calibrations are outlined. Parameterizations for direct beam, total hemispherical and diffuse sky radiation and solar radiation technology are briefly reviewed. The uncertainties for various broadband solar radiations of solar energy and atmospheric effects are discussed. The varying responsivities of solar radiation with meteorological, statistical and climatological parameters and possibility atmospheric conditions was examined. (author)

  12. Parameterization models for solar radiation and solar technology applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khalil, Samy A.

    2008-01-01

    Solar radiation is very important for the evaluation and wide use of solar renewable energy systems. The development of calibration procedures for broadband solar radiation photometric instrumentation and the improvement of broadband solar radiation measurement accuracy have been done. An improved diffuse sky reference and photometric calibration and characterization software for outdoor pyranometer calibrations are outlined. Parameterizations for direct beam, total hemispherical and diffuse sky radiation and solar radiation technology are briefly reviewed. The uncertainties for various broadband solar radiations of solar energy and atmospheric effects are discussed. The varying responsivities of solar radiation with meteorological, statistical and climatological parameters and possibility atmospheric conditions was examined

  13. Measurements of the Magnetic Field of the Upper Chromosphere with Polarimetry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rachmeler, Laurel; Mckenzie, David; Winebarger, Amy; Kobayashi, Ken; Ishikawa, Ryohko; Kubo, Masahito; Narukage, Noriyuki; Bueno, Trujillo, Javier; Auchere, Frederic

    2017-01-01

    A major remaining challenge for heliophysics is to decipher the magnetic structure of the chromosphere. The chromosphere is the critical interface between the Sun's photosphere and corona: it contains more mass than the entire interplanetary heliosphere, requires a heating rate that is larger than that of the corona, and mediates all the energy driving the solar wind, solar atmospheric heating and solar eruptions. While measurements of the magnetic field in the photosphere are routine, the chromosphere poses several extra challenges. The magnetically sensitive lines formed in the upper chromosphere are in the ultraviolet, so space-based observations are required. The lines are often formed over a range of heights, sampling different plasma which complicates the inversion process. These lines are sensitive to the magnetic field via polarized light that is created or modified through the Hanle and Zeeman effects. There are a few observations of these lines, and a significant challenge remains in extracting the magnetic field from the polarization measurements, as detailed model atmospheres with advanced radiative transfer physics are needed. Real progress is obtained by a simultaneous improvement in both the observational side and the modeling side. We present information on the CLASP (Chromospheric LAyer Spectro-Polarimeter) sounding rocket program, and future prospects for these types of measurements.

  14. A parameterization for the absorption of solar radiation by water vapor in the earth's atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, W.-C.

    1976-01-01

    A parameterization for the absorption of solar radiation as a function of the amount of water vapor in the earth's atmosphere is obtained. Absorption computations are based on the Goody band model and the near-infrared absorption band data of Ludwig et al. A two-parameter Curtis-Godson approximation is used to treat the inhomogeneous atmosphere. Heating rates based on a frequently used one-parameter pressure-scaling approximation are also discussed and compared with the present parameterization.

  15. Emergence of granular-sized magnetic bubbles through the solar atmosphere. I. Spectropolarimetric observations and simulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ortiz, Ada; Hansteen, Viggo H.; Van der Voort, Luc Rouppe [Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1029 Blindern, N-0315 Oslo (Norway); Bellot Rubio, Luis R. [Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC), Apdo. 3040, E-18080 Granada (Spain); De la Cruz Rodríguez, Jaime, E-mail: ada@astro.uio.no [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-75120 Uppsala (Sweden)

    2014-02-01

    We study a granular-sized magnetic flux emergence event that occurred in NOAA 11024 in 2009 July. The observations were made with the CRISP spectropolarimeter at the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope achieving a spatial resolution of 0.''14. Simultaneous full Stokes observations of the two photospheric Fe I lines at 630.2 nm and the chromospheric Ca II 854.2 nm line allow us to describe in detail the emergence process across the solar atmosphere. We report here on three-dimensional (3D) semi-spherical bubble events, where instead of simple magnetic footpoints, we observe complex semi-circular feet straddling a few granules. Several phenomena occur simultaneously, namely, abnormal granulation, separation of opposite-polarity legs, and brightenings at chromospheric heights. However, the most characteristic signature in these events is the observation of a dark bubble in filtergrams taken in the wings of the Ca II 854.2 nm line. There is a clear coincidence between the emergence of horizontal magnetic field patches and the formation of the dark bubble. We can infer how the bubble rises through the solar atmosphere as we see it progressing from the wings to the core of Ca II 854.2 nm. In the photosphere, the magnetic bubble shows mean upward Doppler velocities of 2 km s{sup –1} and expands at a horizontal speed of 4 km s{sup –1}. In about 3.5 minutes it travels some 1100 km to reach the mid chromosphere, implying an average ascent speed of 5.2 km s{sup –1}. The maximum separation attained by the magnetic legs is 6.''6. From an inversion of the observed Stokes spectra with the SIR code, we find maximum photospheric field strengths of 480 G and inclinations of nearly 90° in the magnetic bubble interior, along with temperature deficits of up to 250 K at log τ = –2 and above. To aid the interpretation of the observations, we carry out 3D numerical simulations of the evolution of a horizontal, untwisted magnetic flux sheet injected in the convection

  16. Influence of the atmospheric aerosol and air pollution on solar albedo of the earth. Vol. 4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mayhoub, A.B.; Mohamed, K.S.

    1996-01-01

    The effect of increasing atmospheric aerosol and air pollutant concentration on the solar albedo and consequently upon the heat budget near the earth's surface is studied. The magnitude of aerosol absorption coefficient to back-scattering coefficient B ab /B bs is calculated. This study will be used to estimate atmospheric stability categories and other meteorological parameters which are affected by thermal state radiation balance of the atmosphere as mixing and inversion height of Inshas nuclear reactor site. Consequently, concentration distribution of radioactive release from Inshas can be evaluated.. 4 figs., 5 tabs

  17. Influence of the atmospheric aerosol and air pollution on solar albedo of the earth. Vol. 4

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mayhoub, A B; Mohamed, K S [Mathematics and Theoretical Physics Department, Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Auhtority, Cairo, (Egypt)

    1996-03-01

    The effect of increasing atmospheric aerosol and air pollutant concentration on the solar albedo and consequently upon the heat budget near the earth`s surface is studied. The magnitude of aerosol absorption coefficient to back-scattering coefficient B{sub ab}/B{sub bs} is calculated. This study will be used to estimate atmospheric stability categories and other meteorological parameters which are affected by thermal state radiation balance of the atmosphere as mixing and inversion height of Inshas nuclear reactor site. Consequently, concentration distribution of radioactive release from Inshas can be evaluated.. 4 figs., 5 tabs.

  18. THE VARIABILITY OF HCN IN TITAN’S UPPER ATMOSPHERE AS IMPLIED BY THE CASSINI ION-NEUTRAL MASS SPECTROMETER MEASUREMENTS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cui, J.; Cao, Y.-T. [National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China); Lavvas, P. P. [Groupe de Spectroscopie Moleculaire et Atmospherique, Universite de Reims, Champagne-Ardenne, CNRS UMR F-7331 (France); Koskinen, T. T. [Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)

    2016-07-20

    HCN is an important constituent in Titan’s upper atmosphere, serving as the main coolant in the local energy budget. In this study, we derive the HCN abundance at the altitude range of 960–1400 km, combining the Ion-Neutral Mass Spectrometer data acquired during a large number of Cassini flybys with Titan. Typically, the HCN abundance declines modestly with increasing altitude and flattens to a near constant level above 1200 km. The data reveal a tendency for dayside depletion of HCN, which is clearly visible below 1000 km but weakens with increasing altitude. Despite the absence of convincing anti-correlation between HCN volume mixing ratio and neutral temperature, we argue that the variability in HCN abundance makes an important contribution to the large temperature variability observed in Titan’s upper atmosphere.

  19. Pluto's atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elliot, J.L.; Dunham, E.W.; Bosh, A.S.; Slivan, S.M.; Young, L.A.

    1989-01-01

    Airborne CCD photometer observations of Pluto's June 9, 1988 stellar occultation have yielded an occultation lightcurve, probing two regions on the sunrise limb 2000 km apart, which reveals an upper atmosphere overlying an extinction layer with an abrupt upper boundary. The extinction layer may surround the entire planet. Attention is given to a model atmosphere whose occultation lightcurve closely duplicates observations; fits of the model to the immersion and emersion lightcurves exhibit no significant derived atmosphere-structure differences. Assuming a pure methane atmosphere, surface pressures of the order of 3 microbars are consistent with the occultation data. 43 references

  20. Solar Indices - Solar Flares

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

  1. Solar Indices - Solar Ultraviolet

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

  2. Solar Indices - Solar Corona

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

  3. Solar Indices - Solar Irradiance

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

  4. Some studies relating to solar-terrestrial physics and the middle atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Theobald, A.G.

    1977-12-01

    A review is given of observed variations in the Earth's rotation rate, and mechanisms by which the Sun might affect the length of day are discussed. Solar activity and means by which the planets might influence this activity are considered. Observed solar activity - weather correlations, in particular in relation to the sun-based, interplanetary magnetic sector structure and some of the suggested mechanisms for producing these correlations are discussed. The simple photochemical production of ozone in the middle atmosphere and the manner in which cosmic rays, through the production of nitrogen compounds, alter the ozone concentration at high altitudes is described. A computer model is developed which calculates ozone concentrations and energy absorption at any altitude, latitude, longitude and time of year and used to predict ozone and temperature change profiles over a 14-day cycle of ultra-violet changes. The existence of a solar magnetic sector linked variation of the high latitude, high altitude NO concentration is postulated and this is incorporated into the computer model to predict a temperature oscillation over a 14-day cycle which varies with geographic latitude and longitude. This effect is investigated in detail. (UK)

  5. Upper tropospheric cloud systems determined from IR Sounders and their influence on the atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stubenrauch, Claudia; Protopapadaki, Sofia; Feofilov, Artem; Velasco, Carola Barrientos

    2017-02-01

    Covering about 30% of the Earth, upper tropospheric clouds play a key role in the climate system by modulating the Earth's energy budget and heat transport. Infrared Sounders reliably identify cirrus down to an IR optical depth of 0.1. Recently LMD has built global cloud climate data records from AIRS and IASI observations, covering the periods from 2003-2015 and 2008-2015, respectively. Upper tropospheric clouds often form mesoscale systems. Their organization and properties are being studied by (1) distinguishing cloud regimes within 2° × 2° regions and (2) applying a spatial composite technique on adjacent cloud pressures, which estimates the horizontal extent of the mesoscale cloud systems. Convective core, cirrus anvil and thin cirrus of these systems are then distinguished by their emissivity. Compared to other studies of tropical mesoscale convective systems our data include also the thinner anvil parts, which make out about 30% of the area of tropical mesoscale convective systems. Once the horizontal and vertical structure of these upper tropospheric cloud systems is known, we can estimate their radiative effects in terms of top of atmosphere and surface radiative fluxes and by computing their heating rates.

  6. Retrieval of water vapor vertical distributions in the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere from SCIAMACHY limb measurements

    OpenAIRE

    Rozanov, A.; Weigel, K.; Bovensmann, H.; Dhomse, S.; Eichmann, K.-U.; Kivi, R.; Rozanov, V.; Vömel, H.; Weber, M.; Burrows, J. P.

    2011-01-01

    This study describes the retrieval of water vapor vertical distributions in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) altitude range from space-borne observations of the scattered solar light made in limb viewing geometry. First results using measurements from SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY) aboard ENVISAT (Environmental Satellite) are presented here. In previous publications, the retrieval of water vapor vertical ...

  7. Atmospheric Mining in the Outer Solar System: Outer Planet Orbital Transfer and Lander Analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palaszewski, Bryan

    2016-01-01

    Atmospheric mining in the outer solar system has been investigated as a means of fuel production for high energy propulsion and power. Fusion fuels such as Helium 3 (3He) and deuterium can be wrested from the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune and either returned to Earth or used in-situ for energy production. Helium 3 and deuterium were the primary gases of interest with hydrogen being the primary propellant for nuclear thermal solid core and gas core rocket-based atmospheric flight. A series of analyses were undertaken to investigate resource capturing aspects of atmospheric mining in the outer solar system. This included the gas capturing rate, storage options, and different methods of direct use of the captured gases. While capturing 3He, large amounts of hydrogen and 4He are produced. Analyses of orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs), landers, and the issues with in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) mining factories are included. Preliminary observations are presented on near-optimal selections of moon base orbital locations, OTV power levels, and OTV and lander rendezvous points. For analyses of round trip OTV flights from Uranus to Miranda or Titania, a 10- Megawatt electric (MWe) OTV power level and a 200 metricton (MT) lander payload were selected based on a relative short OTV trip time and minimization of the number of lander flights. A similar optimum power level is suggested for OTVs flying from low orbit around Neptune to Thalassa or Triton. Several moon base sites at Uranus and Neptune and the OTV requirements to support them are also addressed.

  8. Numerical simulation of the circulation of the atmosphere of Titan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hourdin, F.; Levan, P.; Talagrand, O.; Courtin, Regis; Gautier, Daniel; Mckay, Christopher P.

    1992-01-01

    A three dimensional General Circulation Model (GCM) of Titan's atmosphere is described. Initial results obtained with an economical two dimensional (2D) axisymmetric version of the model presented a strong superrotation in the upper stratosphere. Because of this result, a more general numerical study of superrotation was started with a somewhat different version of the GCM. It appears that for a slowly rotating planet which strongly absorbs solar radiation, circulation is dominated by global equator to pole Hadley circulation and strong superrotation. The theoretical study of this superrotation is discussed. It is also shown that 2D simulations systemically lead to instabilities which make 2D models poorly adapted to numerical simulation of Titan's (or Venus) atmosphere.

  9. The physical and theoretical basis of solar-terrestrial relationships 2. Non-equatorial locations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Njau, E.C.

    1988-07-01

    The basic formulations presented in Part 1 of this series (hereinafter simply referred to as ''Paper 1'') are modified in order to mathematically represent the expected solar-terrestrial influences in non-equatorial regions. Analysis and interpretation of these formulations lead to the establishment of several new periodicities as well as other features associated with the non-equatorial atmosphere. Besides, we show through suitable examples that the physical processes that cause and influence some previously observed climatic and upper atmospheric variations in temperate and polar regions are easily deduced from our formulations. (author). 35 refs

  10. Global response to solar radiation absorbed by phytoplankton in a coupled climate model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Patara, Lavinia [Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Bologna (Italy); Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), Kiel (Germany); Vichi, Marcello; Masina, Simona [Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Bologna (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Bologna (Italy); Fogli, Pier Giuseppe [Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Bologna (Italy); Manzini, Elisa [Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Bologna (Italy); Max-Planck-Institut fuer Meteorologie, Hamburg (Germany)

    2012-10-15

    The global climate response to solar radiation absorbed by phytoplankton is investigated by performing multi-century simulations with a coupled ocean-atmosphere-biogeochemistry model. The absorption of solar radiation by phytoplankton increases radiative heating in the near-surface ocean and raises sea surface temperature (SST) by overall {approx}0.5 C. The resulting increase in evaporation enhances specific atmospheric humidity by 2-5%, thereby increasing the Earth's greenhouse effect and the atmospheric temperatures. The Hadley Cell exhibits a weakening and poleward expansion, therefore reducing cloudiness at subtropical-middle latitudes and increasing it at tropical latitudes except near the Equator. Higher SST at polar latitudes reduces sea ice cover and albedo, thereby increasing the high-latitude ocean absorption of solar radiation. Changes in the atmospheric baroclinicity cause a poleward intensification of mid-latitude westerly winds in both hemispheres. As a result, the North Atlantic Ocean meridional overturning circulation extends more northward, and the equatorward Ekman transport is enhanced in the Southern Ocean. The combination of local and dynamical processes decreases upper-ocean heat content in the Tropics and in the subpolar Southern Ocean, and increases it at middle latitudes. This study highlights the relevance of coupled ocean-atmosphere processes in the global climate response to phytoplankton solar absorption. Given that simulated impacts of phytoplankton on physical climate are within the range of natural climate variability, this study suggests the importance of phytoplankton as an internal constituent of the Earth's climate and its potential role in participating in its long-term climate adjustments. (orig.)

  11. Global response to solar radiation absorbed by phytoplankton in a coupled climate model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patara, Lavinia; Vichi, Marcello; Masina, Simona; Fogli, Pier Giuseppe; Manzini, Elisa

    2012-01-01

    The global climate response to solar radiation absorbed by phytoplankton is investigated by performing multi-century simulations with a coupled ocean-atmosphere-biogeochemistry model. The absorption of solar radiation by phytoplankton increases radiative heating in the near-surface ocean and raises sea surface temperature (SST) by overall ∼0.5 C. The resulting increase in evaporation enhances specific atmospheric humidity by 2-5%, thereby increasing the Earth's greenhouse effect and the atmospheric temperatures. The Hadley Cell exhibits a weakening and poleward expansion, therefore reducing cloudiness at subtropical-middle latitudes and increasing it at tropical latitudes except near the Equator. Higher SST at polar latitudes reduces sea ice cover and albedo, thereby increasing the high-latitude ocean absorption of solar radiation. Changes in the atmospheric baroclinicity cause a poleward intensification of mid-latitude westerly winds in both hemispheres. As a result, the North Atlantic Ocean meridional overturning circulation extends more northward, and the equatorward Ekman transport is enhanced in the Southern Ocean. The combination of local and dynamical processes decreases upper-ocean heat content in the Tropics and in the subpolar Southern Ocean, and increases it at middle latitudes. This study highlights the relevance of coupled ocean-atmosphere processes in the global climate response to phytoplankton solar absorption. Given that simulated impacts of phytoplankton on physical climate are within the range of natural climate variability, this study suggests the importance of phytoplankton as an internal constituent of the Earth's climate and its potential role in participating in its long-term climate adjustments. (orig.)

  12. Cosmic ray induced charged particle albedos in the upper atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bhatnagar, S.P.; Verma, S.D.

    1982-01-01

    There are several observations made in balloon and satellite experiments of relativistic albedo electrons in 50 to 10,000 MeV energy region. The spectrum of these electrons is a power law with negative exponent. At lower energies, 1 to 50 MeV region theoretical evaluations indicate that their energy spectrum will have a similar shape, thus the flux at low energies will be much higher. The only spectrum measurements available below 20 MeV were taken at Ft. Churchill by Hovestadt and Meyer (1969). The flux and energy spectrum of the Re-entrant albedos electrons have been calculated in the energy range 3-50 MeV for Ft. Churchill, Canada, Palestein, Texas and Hyderabad, India, and are presented. The angular distribution of re-entrant electrons in the upper atmosphere is not yet observed, however Kurnosova et. al. (1979) have measured the Vertical and Horizontal integral flux at Hyderabad, India

  13. Solar Indices - Solar Radio Flux

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

  14. XUV-exposed, non-hydrostatic hydrogen-rich upper atmospheres of terrestrial planets. Part II: hydrogen coronae and ion escape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kislyakova, Kristina G; Lammer, Helmut; Holmström, Mats; Panchenko, Mykhaylo; Odert, Petra; Erkaev, Nikolai V; Leitzinger, Martin; Khodachenko, Maxim L; Kulikov, Yuri N; Güdel, Manuel; Hanslmeier, Arnold

    2013-11-01

    We studied the interactions between the stellar wind plasma flow of a typical M star, such as GJ 436, and the hydrogen-rich upper atmosphere of an Earth-like planet and a "super-Earth" with a radius of 2 R(Earth) and a mass of 10 M(Earth), located within the habitable zone at ∼0.24 AU. We investigated the formation of extended atomic hydrogen coronae under the influences of the stellar XUV flux (soft X-rays and EUV), stellar wind density and velocity, shape of a planetary obstacle (e.g., magnetosphere, ionopause), and the loss of planetary pickup ions on the evolution of hydrogen-dominated upper atmospheres. Stellar XUV fluxes that are 1, 10, 50, and 100 times higher compared to that of the present-day Sun were considered, and the formation of high-energy neutral hydrogen clouds around the planets due to the charge-exchange reaction under various stellar conditions was modeled. Charge-exchange between stellar wind protons with planetary hydrogen atoms, and photoionization, lead to the production of initially cold ions of planetary origin. We found that the ion production rates for the studied planets can vary over a wide range, from ∼1.0×10²⁵ s⁻¹ to ∼5.3×10³⁰ s⁻¹, depending on the stellar wind conditions and the assumed XUV exposure of the upper atmosphere. Our findings indicate that most likely the majority of these planetary ions are picked up by the stellar wind and lost from the planet. Finally, we estimated the long-time nonthermal ion pickup escape for the studied planets and compared them with the thermal escape. According to our estimates, nonthermal escape of picked-up ionized hydrogen atoms over a planet's lifetime within the habitable zone of an M dwarf varies between ∼0.4 Earth ocean equivalent amounts of hydrogen (EO(H)) to <3 EO(H) and usually is several times smaller in comparison to the thermal atmospheric escape rates.

  15. TOMOGRAPHY OF PLASMA FLOWS IN THE UPPER SOLAR CONVECTION ZONE USING TIME-DISTANCE INVERSION COMBINING RIDGE AND PHASE-SPEED FILTERING

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Švanda, Michal

    2013-01-01

    The consistency of time-distance inversions for horizontal components of the plasma flow on supergranular scales in the upper solar convection zone is checked by comparing the results derived using two k-ω filtering procedures—ridge filtering and phase-speed filtering—commonly used in time-distance helioseismology. I show that both approaches result in similar flow estimates when finite-frequency sensitivity kernels are used. I further demonstrate that the performance of the inversion improves (in terms of a simultaneously better averaging kernel and a lower noise level) when the two approaches are combined together in one inversion. Using the combined inversion, I invert for horizontal flows in the upper 10 Mm of the solar convection zone. The flows connected with supergranulation seem to be coherent only for the top ∼5 Mm; deeper down there is a hint of change of the convection scales toward structures larger than supergranules

  16. Sparse Bayesian Inference and the Temperature Structure of the Solar Corona

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Warren, Harry P. [Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Byers, Jeff M. [Materials Science and Technology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States); Crump, Nicholas A. [Naval Center for Space Technology, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States)

    2017-02-20

    Measuring the temperature structure of the solar atmosphere is critical to understanding how it is heated to high temperatures. Unfortunately, the temperature of the upper atmosphere cannot be observed directly, but must be inferred from spectrally resolved observations of individual emission lines that span a wide range of temperatures. Such observations are “inverted” to determine the distribution of plasma temperatures along the line of sight. This inversion is ill posed and, in the absence of regularization, tends to produce wildly oscillatory solutions. We introduce the application of sparse Bayesian inference to the problem of inferring the temperature structure of the solar corona. Within a Bayesian framework a preference for solutions that utilize a minimum number of basis functions can be encoded into the prior and many ad hoc assumptions can be avoided. We demonstrate the efficacy of the Bayesian approach by considering a test library of 40 assumed temperature distributions.

  17. Concentrations of ethane (C2H6) in the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere and acetylene (C2H2) in the upper troposphere deduced from Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy/Spacelab 3 spectra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rinsland, C. P.; Russell, J. M., III; Zander, R.; Farmer, C. B.; Norton, R. H.

    1987-01-01

    This paper reports the results of the spectroscopic analysis of C2H6 and C2H2 absorption spectra obtained by the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) instrument flown on the Shuttle as part of the Spacelab 3 mission. The spectra were recorded during sunset occultations occurring between 25 deg N and 31 deg N latitudes, yielding volume-mixing ratio profiles of C2H6 in the lower stratosphere and the upper troposphere, and an upper tropospheric profile of C2H2. These results compare well with previous in situ and remote sounding data obtained at similar latitudes and with model calculations. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the ATMOS instrument to sound the lower atmosphere from space.

  18. A proposed new method for the determination of the solar irradiance at EUV wavelength range

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feldman, Uri; Doschek, G. A.; Seely, J. F.; Landi, E.; Dammasch, I.

    The solar irradiance in the far ultraviolet (FUV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and its time variability are important inputs to geospace models. It provides the primary mechanism for heating the earth's upper atmosphere and creating the ionosphere. Understanding various space weather phenomena requires reliable detailed knowledge of the solar EUV irradiance. Ideally one would like to have a single well-calibrated, high-resolution spectrometer that can continuously monitor the solar irradiance over the relevant wavelengths range. Since this is much too difficult to accomplish, a number of monitoring instruments were constructed in the past, each covering a fraction of the required wavelength range. Assembling solar irradiance from measurements by a number of instruments is extremely difficult and is usually plagued by large uncertainties. To overcome some of the difficulties resulting from such procedures, empirical models have been developed that rely in large part on solar activity levels as proxies. In recent years a different approach has been established for the determination of the solar irradiance, an approach independent of irradiance observations. The new approach is based on the line intensities calculated from emission measure (EM) distributions across the solar surface. The EM distributions are derived from spatially and spectrally resolved measurements of line intensities and describe the temperature and density structure of the basic large scale features of the solar atmosphere, specifically coronal holes, quiet Sun, and active regions. Recently, as a result of detailed analysis of solar upper atmosphere (SUA) spectra recorded by SUMER/SoHO it was discovered that, in contrast to earlier beliefs, the solar EM in 3x105 -4x106 K plasmas does not appear to vary continuously with temperature as previously assumed. Instead it appears to be composed of isothermal structures where each can attain but one of the following four main temperatures: 5x105 , 9x105

  19. On the relation between ionospheric winter anomalies and solar wind

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rumi, G.C.

    2001-01-01

    There are two different winter anomalies. A small one that appears in connection with ionization at relatively low latitudes in the bottom of the D-region of the ionosphere. There, the electron densities in the winter happen to be less than should be expected. On the other hand, the classic winter anomaly is present when in the winter the upper D-region, again at relatively low latitudes, has more ionization than should be expected. Both these effects are due to the slant compression of the geomagnetic field produced by the solar wind in the wind in the winter season (which is, of course, the summer season when reference is made to events in the other hemisphere). It is shown that the small winter anomaly is a consequence of a hemispheric imbalance in the flux of galactic cosmic rays determined by the obliquely distorted geomagnetic field. It is shown that the standard winter anomaly can be ascribed to the influx of a super solar wind, which penetrates into the Earth's polar atmosphere down to E-region, heights and, duly concentrated through a funneling action at the winter pole of the distorted geomagnetic field, slows down the winter polar vortex. An equatorward motion of the polar air with its content of nitric oxide brings about the excess of ionization in the upper D-region at lower latitudes. The experimentally observed rhythmic recurrence of the upper winter anomaly is correlated to a possible rhythmic recurrence of the super solar wind. The actual detection of the upper winter anomaly could yield some information on the velocity of the basic solar wind. A by-product of the present analysis, the determination of Γ, the coefficient of collisional detachment of the electrons from the O 2 - ions, is presented in the Appendix

  20. On the relation between ionospheric winter anomalies and solar wind

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rumi, G.C. [Lecco, (Italy)

    2001-06-01

    There are two different winter anomalies. A small one that appears in connection with ionization at relatively low latitudes in the bottom of the D-region of the ionosphere. There, the electron densities in the winter happen to be less than should be expected. On the other hand, the classic winter anomaly is present when in the winter the upper D-region, again at relatively low latitudes, has more ionization than should be expected. Both these effects are due to the slant compression of the geomagnetic field produced by the solar wind in the wind in the winter season (which is, of course, the summer season when reference is made to events in the other hemisphere). It is shown that the small winter anomaly is a consequence of a hemispheric imbalance in the flux of galactic cosmic rays determined by the obliquely distorted geomagnetic field. It is shown that the standard winter anomaly can be ascribed to the influx of a super solar wind, which penetrates into the Earth's polar atmosphere down to E-region, heights and, duly concentrated through a funneling action at the winter pole of the distorted geomagnetic field, slows down the winter polar vortex. An equatorward motion of the polar air with its content of nitric oxide brings about the excess of ionization in the upper D-region at lower latitudes. The experimentally observed rhythmic recurrence of the upper winter anomaly is correlated to a possible rhythmic recurrence of the super solar wind. The actual detection of the upper winter anomaly could yield some information on the velocity of the basic solar wind. A by-product of the present analysis, the determination of {gamma}, the coefficient of collisional detachment of the electrons from the O{sub 2} {sup -} ions, is presented in the Appendix.

  1. The Atmospheric Response to High Nonthermal Electron Beam Fluxes in Solar Flares. I. Modeling the Brightest NUV Footpoints in the X1 Solar Flare of 2014 March 29

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kowalski, Adam F. [Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, 2000 Colorado Ave, Boulder, CO 80305 (United States); Allred, Joel C.; Daw, Adrian [NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 671, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Cauzzi, Gianna [INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, I-50125 Firenze (Italy); Carlsson, Mats, E-mail: Adam.Kowalski@lasp.colorado.edu [Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, PO Box 1029 Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo (Norway)

    2017-02-10

    The 2014 March 29 X1 solar flare (SOL20140329T17:48) produced bright continuum emission in the far- and near-ultraviolet (NUV) and highly asymmetric chromospheric emission lines, providing long-sought constraints on the heating mechanisms of the lower atmosphere in solar flares. We analyze the continuum and emission line data from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) of the brightest flaring magnetic footpoints in this flare. We compare the NUV spectra of the brightest pixels to new radiative-hydrodynamic predictions calculated with the RADYN code using constraints on a nonthermal electron beam inferred from the collisional thick-target modeling of hard X-ray data from Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager . We show that the atmospheric response to a high beam flux density satisfactorily achieves the observed continuum brightness in the NUV. The NUV continuum emission in this flare is consistent with hydrogen (Balmer) recombination radiation that originates from low optical depth in a dense chromospheric condensation and from the stationary beam-heated layers just below the condensation. A model producing two flaring regions (a condensation and stationary layers) in the lower atmosphere is also consistent with the asymmetric Fe ii chromospheric emission line profiles observed in the impulsive phase.

  2. Origin and stability of exomoon atmospheres: implications for habitability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lammer, Helmut; Schiefer, Sonja-Charlotte; Juvan, Ines; Odert, Petra; Erkaev, Nikolai V; Weber, Christof; Kislyakova, Kristina G; Güdel, Manuel; Kirchengast, Gottfried; Hanslmeier, Arnold

    2014-09-01

    We study the origin and escape of catastrophically outgassed volatiles (H2O, CO2) from exomoons with Earth-like densities and masses of 0.1, 0.5 and 1 M⊕ orbiting an extra-solar gas giant inside the habitable zone of a young active solar-like star. We apply a radiation absorption and hydrodynamic upper atmosphere model to the three studied exomoon cases. We model the escape of hydrogen and dragged dissociation products O and C during the activity saturation phase of the young host star. Because the soft X-ray and EUV radiation of the young host star may be up to ~100 times higher compared to today's solar value during the first 100 Myr after the system's origin, an exomoon with a mass 0.5 M⊕, however, may evolve to habitats that are a mixture of Mars-like and Earth-analogue habitats, so that life may originate and evolve at the exomoon's surface.

  3. Data Assimilation with the Extended Cmam: Nudging to Re-Analyses of the Lower Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fomichev, V. I.; Beagley, S. R.; Shepherd, M. G.; Semeniuk, K.; Mclandress, C. W.; Scinocca, J.; McConnell, J. C.

    2012-12-01

    The extended CMAM is currently being run in a forecast mode allowing the use of the model to simulate specific events. The current analysis period covers 1990-2010. The model is forced using ERA-Interim re-analyses via a nudging technique for the troposphere/stratosphere in combination with the GCM evolution in the lower atmosphere. Thus a transient forced model state is created in the lower atmosphere. The upper atmosphere is allowed to evolve in response to the observed conditions occurring in the lower atmosphere and in response to other transient forcing's such as SSTs, solar flux, and CO2 and CFC boundary changes. This methodology allows specific events and observations to be more successfully compared with the model. The model results compared to TOMS and ACE observations show a good agreement.

  4. A contribution to the study of the influence of the energy of solar wind upon the atmospheric processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radovanović Milan M.

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available According to the satellite observing of solar wind, and as well according the development of certain weather conditions it is realized that their interactive connections could have important role on the development of atmospheric processes. In this paper is given several of such situations. We have tried to point to a very important significance of new methodological approach in understanding development of meteorological conditions. Researching the influence of the solar wind on the changes of conditions in the atmosphere could develop in several ways but in any case for the further steps a multidiscipline approach is needed. Karen Labitske in Germany has done a lot of research in this area. "The physics is still highly speculative at this point though".

  5. The Liquid Metallic Hydrogen Model of the Sun and the Solar Atmosphere VII. Further Insights into the Chromosphere and Corona

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robitaille P.-M.

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available In the liquid metallic hydrogen model of the Sun, the chromosphere is responsible for the capture of atomic hydrogen in the solar atmosphere and its eventual re-entry onto the photospheric surface (P.M. Robitaille. The Liquid Metallic Hydrogen Model of the Sun and the Solar Atmosphere IV. On the Nature of the Chromosphere. Prog. Phys., 2013, v. 3, L15–L21. As for the corona, it represents a diffuse region containing both gaseous plasma and condensed matter with elevated electron affinity (P.M. Robitaille. The Liquid Metallic Hydrogen Model of the Sun and the Solar Atmosphere V. On the Nature of the Corona. Prog. Phys., 2013, v. 3, L22–L25. Metallic hydrogen in the corona is thought to enable the continual harvest of electrons from the outer reaches of the Sun, thereby preserving the neutrality of the solar body. The rigid rotation of the corona is offered as the thirty-third line of evidence that the Sun is comprised of condensed matter. Within the context of the gaseous models of the Sun, a 100 km thick transition zone has been hypothesized to exist wherein temperatures increase dramatically from 104–106 K. Such extreme transitional temperatures are not reasonable given the trivial physical scale of the proposed transition zone, a region adopted to account for the ultra-violet emission lines of ions such as C IV, O IV, and Si IV. In this work, it will be argued that the transition zone does not exist. Rather, the intermediate ionization states observed in the solar atmosphere should be viewed as the result of the simultaneous transfer of protons and electrons onto condensed hydrogen structures, CHS. Line emissions from ions such as C IV, O IV, and Si IV are likely to be the result of condensation reactions, manifesting the involvement of species such as CH4, SiH4, H3O+ in the synthesis of CHS in the chromosphere. In addition, given the presence of a true solar surface at the level of the photosphere in the liquid metallic hydrogen model

  6. Atmospheric radiation flight dose rates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobiska, W. K.

    2015-12-01

    Space weather's effects upon the near-Earth environment are due to dynamic changes in the energy transfer processes from the Sun's photons, particles, and fields. Of the domains that are affected by space weather, the coupling between the solar and galactic high-energy particles, the magnetosphere, and atmospheric regions can significantly affect humans and our technology as a result of radiation exposure. Space Environment Technologies (SET) has been conducting space weather observations of the atmospheric radiation environment at aviation altitudes that will eventually be transitioned into air traffic management operations. The Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) system and Upper-atmospheric Space and Earth Weather eXperiment (USEWX) both are providing dose rate measurements. Both activities are under the ARMAS goal of providing the "weather" of the radiation environment to improve aircraft crew and passenger safety. Over 5-dozen ARMAS and USEWX flights have successfully demonstrated the operation of a micro dosimeter on commercial aviation altitude aircraft that captures the real-time radiation environment resulting from Galactic Cosmic Rays and Solar Energetic Particles. The real-time radiation exposure is computed as an effective dose rate (body-averaged over the radiative-sensitive organs and tissues in units of microsieverts per hour); total ionizing dose is captured on the aircraft, downlinked in real-time, processed on the ground into effective dose rates, compared with NASA's Langley Research Center (LaRC) most recent Nowcast of Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation System (NAIRAS) global radiation climatology model runs, and then made available to end users via the web and smart phone apps. Flight altitudes now exceed 60,000 ft. and extend above commercial aviation altitudes into the stratosphere. In this presentation we describe recent ARMAS and USEWX results.

  7. A telescope for observation from space of extreme lightnings in the upper atmosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nam, S.; Artikova, S.; Chung, T.; Garipov, G.; Jeon, J.A.; Jeong, S.; Jin, J.Y.; Khrenov, B.A.; Kim, J.E.; Kim, M.; Kim, Y.K.; Klimov, P.; Lee, J.; Lee, H.Y.; Na, G.W.; Oh, S.J.; Panasyuk, M.; Park, I.H.; Park, J.H.; Park, Y.-S.

    2008-01-01

    A new type of telescope with a wide field-of-view and functions of fast zoom-in has been introduced. Two kinds of MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) micromirrors, digital and analog, are used for reflectors of the telescope, placed at different focal lengths. We apply this technology to the observation from space of TLE (Transient Luminous Events), extremely large transient sparks occurring at the upper atmosphere. TLE are one type of important backgrounds to be understood for future space observation of UHECR (Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays). The launch of the payload carried by a Russian microsatellite is foreseen in the middle of 2008

  8. Quantifying uncertainties of climate signals related to the 11-year solar cycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kruschke, T.; Kunze, M.; Matthes, K. B.; Langematz, U.; Wahl, S.

    2017-12-01

    Although state-of-the-art reconstructions based on proxies and (semi-)empirical models converge in terms of total solar irradiance, they still significantly differ in terms of spectral solar irradiance (SSI) with respect to the mean spectral distribution of energy input and temporal variability. This study aims at quantifying uncertainties for the Earth's climate related to the 11-year solar cycle by forcing two chemistry-climate models (CCMs) - CESM1(WACCM) and EMAC - with five different SSI reconstructions (NRLSSI1, NRLSSI2, SATIRE-T, SATIRE-S, CMIP6-SSI) and the reference spectrum RSSV1-ATLAS3, derived from observations. We conduct a unique set of timeslice experiments. External forcings and boundary conditions are fixed and identical for all experiments, except for the solar forcing. The set of analyzed simulations consists of one solar minimum simulation, employing RSSV1-ATLAS3 and five solar maximum experiments. The latter are a result of adding the amplitude of solar cycle 22 according to the five reconstructions to RSSV1-ATLAS3. Our results show that the climate response to the 11y solar cycle is generally robust across CCMs and SSI forcings. However, analyzing the variance of the solar maximum ensemble by means of ANOVA-statistics reveals additional information on the uncertainties of the mean climate signals. The annual mean response agrees very well between the two CCMs for most parts of the lower and middle atmosphere. Only the upper mesosphere is subject to significant differences related to the choice of the model. However, the different SSI forcings lead to significant differences in ozone concentrations, shortwave heating rates, and temperature throughout large parts of the mesosphere and upper stratosphere. Regarding the seasonal evolution of the climate signals, our findings for short wave heating rates, and temperature are similar to the annual means with respect to the relative importance of the choice of the model or the SSI forcing for the

  9. Response of earth's atmosphere to increases in solar flux and implications for loss of water from Venus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasting, J.F.; Pollack, J.B.; Ackerman, T.P.

    1984-01-01

    A one-dimensional radiative-convective model is used to compute temperature and water vapor profiles as functions of solar flux for an earthlike atmosphere. The troposphere is assumed to be fully saturated, with a moist adiabatic lapse rate, and changes in cloudiness are neglected. Predicted surface temperatures increase monotonically from -1 to 111 C as the solar flux is increased from 0.81 to 1.45 times its present value. The results imply that the surface temperature of a primitive water-rich Venus should have been at least 80-100 C and may have been much higher. Water vapor should have been a major atmospheric constituent at all altitudes, leading to the rapid hydrodynamic escape of hydrogen. The oxygen left behind by this process was presumably consumed by reactions with reduced minerals in the crust. 43 references

  10. Development of dual stream PCRTM-SOLAR for fast and accurate radiative transfer modeling in the cloudy atmosphere with solar radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Q.; Liu, X.; Wu, W.; Kizer, S.; Baize, R. R.

    2016-12-01

    Fast and accurate radiative transfer model is the key for satellite data assimilation and observation system simulation experiments for numerical weather prediction and climate study applications. We proposed and developed a dual stream PCRTM-SOLAR model which may simulate radiative transfer in the cloudy atmosphere with solar radiation quickly and accurately. Multi-scattering of multiple layers of clouds/aerosols is included in the model. The root-mean-square errors are usually less than 5x10-4 mW/cm2.sr.cm-1. The computation speed is 3 to 4 orders of magnitude faster than the medium speed correlated-k option MODTRAN5. This model will enable a vast new set of scientific calculations that were previously limited due to the computational expenses of available radiative transfer models.

  11. Meteorology ans solar physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwarz, Oliver

    When in the second half of the 19th century both solar physics and astrophysics came into existence, various solar phenomena were described by analogies encountered in the terrestrial atmosphere. For a certain time, meteorology played a central role in research on solar processes. At first glance, this may appear as a curious and old-fashioned specialty. However, solar physics owes its first insights into solar structure to various analogies in terrestrial atmospheric studies. The present investigation intends to elucidate this fact, to present details of the historical development, and to demonstrate how our present knowledge in certain fields is based on considerations which were originally taken from the description of the terrestrial atmosphere.

  12. TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS IN THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE AND THE ORIGIN OF CUTOFF FREQUENCY FOR TORSIONAL TUBE WAVES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Routh, S.; Musielak, Z. E.; Hammer, R.

    2010-01-01

    Fundamental modes supported by a thin magnetic flux tube embedded in the solar atmosphere are typically classified as longitudinal, transverse, and torsional waves. If the tube is isothermal, then the propagation of longitudinal and transverse tube waves is restricted to frequencies that are higher than the corresponding global cutoff frequency for each wave. However, no such global cutoff frequency exists for torsional tube waves, which means that a thin and isothermal flux tube supports torsional tube waves of any frequency. In this paper, we consider a thin and non-isothermal magnetic flux tube and demonstrate that temperature gradients inside this tube are responsible for the origin of a cutoff frequency for torsional tube waves. The cutoff frequency is used to determine conditions for the wave propagation in the solar atmosphere, and the obtained results are compared to the recent observational data that support the existence of torsional tube waves in the Sun.

  13. Atmospheric Mining in the Outer Solar System: Resource Capturing, Exploration, and Exploitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palaszewski, Bryan

    2015-01-01

    Atmospheric mining in the outer solar system (AMOSS) has been investigated as a means of fuel production for high-energy propulsion and power. Fusion fuels such as helium 3 (He-3) and hydrogen can be wrested from the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune and either returned to Earth or used in-situ for energy production. 3He and hydrogen (deuterium, etc.) were the primary gases of interest, with hydrogen being the primary propellant for nuclear thermal solid core and gas core rocket-based atmospheric flight. A series of analyses were undertaken to investigate resource capturing aspects of AMOSS. These analyses included the gas capturing rate, storage options, and different methods of direct use of the captured gases. Additional supporting analyses were conducted to illuminate vehicle sizing and orbital transportation issues. While capturing 3He, large amounts of hydrogen and helium 4 (He-4) are produced. With these two additional gases, the potential exists for fueling small and large fleets of additional exploration and exploitation vehicles. Additional aerospacecraft or other aerial vehicles (UAVs, balloons, rockets, etc.) could fly through the outer-planet atmosphere to investigate cloud formation dynamics, global weather, localized storms or other disturbances, wind speeds, the poles, and so forth. Deep-diving aircraft (built with the strength to withstand many atmospheres of pressure) powered by the excess hydrogen or 4He may be designed to probe the higher density regions of the gas giants.

  14. Motions and magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Krat, V A [AN SSSR, Leningrad. Glavnaya Astronomicheskaya Observatoriya

    1977-09-01

    The measured magnetic fields generally cannot be regarded as ''mean'' values of the magnetic field intensity H due to depolarization effects in the sum of the Zeeman components of small elements. A picture of smallest magnetic elements in the photosphere can be identified with the photospheric network of the granulation. A relatively long lifetime of the elements of this network and characteristics of its evolution show that a magnetic field of H > or approximately = 10/sup 2/ Oe is concentrated in the dark network between granules near to the solar disc center. Direct measurements of H in solar prominences give values of H ranging from 10 to 10/sup 2/ Oe. At their boundary they cannot be smaller than 10/sup 2/ Oe. The chromospheric elements seen in the center of H/sub a/ (spectrograms obtained on the solar stratospheric observatory (SSO) in 1970-1973) are about four times wider than photospheric elements. The growth in size of the structure elements from the photosphere to the chromosphere results from the magnetic expansion of elements floating up in the atmosphere. On the basis of the stratospheric and best filter observations it is shown that typical configurations of the field are magnetic arcs. Sunspots are considered as stationary processes dissipating due to magnetohydrodynamic instabilities. They have (observations on the SSO) considerable regions of a homogeneous magnetic field inside the umbra. The complicated system of twisted magnetic ropes in outer parts of the umbra and penumbra results from the dissipation of the main configuration. The most plausible model of a sunspot seems to be a twisted toroid with a steady magnetic field directed along the axis of symmetry inside the toroid. This model explains the fact of appearance of a secondary sunspot group inside the primary main group. The axis of the sunspot toroid always remains in the photosphere. Some properties of ''super-granules'' and ''giant granules'' are discussed.

  15. Atmospheric data over a solar cycle: no connection between galactic cosmic rays and new particle formation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Kulmala

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Aerosol particles affect the Earth's radiative balance by directly scattering and absorbing solar radiation and, indirectly, through their activation into cloud droplets. Both effects are known with considerable uncertainty only, and translate into even bigger uncertainties in future climate predictions. More than a decade ago, variations in galactic cosmic rays were suggested to closely correlate with variations in atmospheric cloud cover and therefore constitute a driving force behind aerosol-cloud-climate interactions. Later, the enhancement of atmospheric aerosol particle formation by ions generated from cosmic rays was proposed as a physical mechanism explaining this correlation. Here, we report unique observations on atmospheric aerosol formation based on measurements at the SMEAR II station, Finland, over a solar cycle (years 1996–2008 that shed new light on these presumed relationships. Our analysis shows that none of the quantities related to aerosol formation correlates with the cosmic ray-induced ionisation intensity (CRII. We also examined the contribution of ions to new particle formation on the basis of novel ground-based and airborne observations. A consistent result is that ion-induced formation contributes typically significantly less than 10% to the number of new particles, which would explain the missing correlation between CRII and aerosol formation. Our main conclusion is that galactic cosmic rays appear to play a minor role for atmospheric aerosol formation events, and so for the connected aerosol-climate effects as well.

  16. An electrodynamic model of the solar wind interaction with the ionospheres of Mars and Venus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cloutier, P.A.; Daniell, R.E. Jr.

    1979-01-01

    the electrodynamic model for the solar wind interaction with non-magnetic planets (Cloutier and Daniell, Planet. Space Sci. 21, 463, 1973; Daniell and Cloutier, Planet. Space Sci. 25, 621, 1977) is modified to include the effects of non-ohmic currents in the upper ionosphere. The model is then used to calculate convection patterns induced by the solar wind in the ionospheres of Mars and Venus. For Mars the observations of the neutral mass spectrometer or Vikings 1 and 2 provided the neutral atmosphere. Model calculations reproduced the retarding potential analyzer data and indicate that the ionosphere above about 200 km is probably controlled by convection rather than chemistry or diffusion. For Venus a model atmosphere based on Dickenson and Ridley, J. Atmos. Sci. 32, 1219 (1975) and Mayr et al., J. Geophys. Res. 83, 4411 (1978) was used. The resulting model calculations were compared to radio occultation data from Mariners 5 and 10 and Venera 9 which represent extremes in the variability of the upper Cytherean ionosphere. The model calculations are shown to fall within this variation. These results represent the state of the theory immediately prior to the Pioneer-Venus encounter. (author)

  17. Digital solar edge tracker for the Halogen Occultation Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mauldin, L. E., III; Moore, A. S.; Stump, C. W.; Mayo, L. S.

    1987-01-01

    The optical and electronic design of the Halogen Occultation Experiment (Haloe) elevation sun sensor is described. The Haloe instrument is a gas-correlation radiometer now being developed at NASA Langley for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. The system uses a Galilean telescope to form a solar image on a linear silicon photodiode array. The array is a self-scanned monolithic CCD. The addresses of both solar edges imaged on the array are used by the control/pointing system to scan the Haloe science instantaneous field of view (IFOV) across the vertical solar diameter during instrument calibration and then to maintain the science IFOV 4 arcmin below the top edge during the science data occultation event. Vertical resolution of 16 arcsec and a radiometric dynamic range of 100 are achieved at the 700-nm operating wavelength. The design provides for loss of individual photodiode elements without loss of angular tracking capability.

  18. Composition changes after the "Halloween" solar proton event: the High Energy Particle Precipitation in the Atmosphere (HEPPA model versus MIPAS data intercomparison study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Funke

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available We have compared composition changes of NO, NO2, H2O2, O3, N2O, HNO3, N2O5, HNO4, ClO, HOCl, and ClONO2 as observed by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS on Envisat in the aftermath of the "Halloween" solar proton event (SPE in late October 2003 at 25–0.01 hPa in the Northern Hemisphere (40–90° N and simulations performed by the following atmospheric models: the Bremen 2-D model (B2dM and Bremen 3-D Chemical Transport Model (B3dCTM, the Central Aerological Observatory (CAO model, FinROSE, the Hamburg Model of the Neutral and Ionized Atmosphere (HAMMONIA, the Karlsruhe Simulation Model of the Middle Atmosphere (KASIMA, the ECHAM5/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC model, the modeling tool for SOlar Climate Ozone Links studies (SOCOL and SOCOLi, and the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM4. The large number of participating models allowed for an evaluation of the overall ability of atmospheric models to reproduce observed atmospheric perturbations generated by SPEs, particularly with respect to NOy and ozone changes. We have further assessed the meteorological conditions and their implications for the chemical response to the SPE in both the models and observations by comparing temperature and tracer (CH4 and CO fields.

    Simulated SPE-induced ozone losses agree on average within 5 % with the observations. Simulated NOy enhancements around 1 hPa, however, are typically 30 % higher than indicated by the observations which are likely to be related to deficiencies in the used ionization rates, though other error sources related to the models' atmospheric background state and/or transport schemes cannot be excluded. The analysis of the observed and modeled NOy partitioning in the aftermath of the SPE has demonstrated the need to implement

  19. Atmospheric Photochemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massey, Harrie; Potter, A. E.

    1961-01-01

    The upper atmosphere offers a vast photochemical laboratory free from solid surfaces, so all reactions take place in the gaseous phase. At 30 km altitude the pressure has fallen to about one-hundredth of that at ground level, and we shall, rather arbitrarily, regard the upper atmosphere as beginning at that height. By a little less than 100 km the pressure has fallen to 10(exp -3) mm Hg and is decreasing by a power of ten for every 15 km increase in altitude. Essentially we are concerned then with the photochemistry of a nitrogen-oxygen mixture under low-pressure conditions in which photo-ionization, as well as photodissociation, plays an important part. Account must also be taken of the presence of rare constituents, such as water vapour and its decomposition products, including particularly hydroxyl, oxides of carbon, methane and, strangely enough, sodium, lithium and calcium. Many curious and unfamiliar reactions occur in the upper atmosphere. Some of them are luminescent, causing the atmosphere to emit a dim light called the airglow. Others, between gaseous ions and neutral molecules, are almost a complete mystery at this time. Similar interesting phenomena must occur in other planetary atmospheres, and they might be predicted if sufficient chemical information were available.

  20. Middle atmospheric thermal structures in Eastern and Western hemispheres over a solar cycle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohanakumar, K.; Devanarayanan, S.

    1987-01-01

    Temperature variations of the 25-60 km region of the atmosphere over stations in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres were compared for an 11-year solar cycle period (1971-1981). The temperature of the two hemispheres did not show similar variations at the same height and time. A cross-correlation analysis between the variations in temperature of the two hemispheres showed insignificant correlation, except at 30 km over the tropics and at 40 km over the midlatitude. Up to 40 km, the temperature changes in the two hemispheres are identical. At higher levels, Western Hemispheric temperatures were higher than those of the Eastern Hemisphere. The diurnal variation of minor constituents and their vertical transport in the middle atmosphere might be responsible for the differences in temperature observed in the two hemispheres. (author)

  1. Phosphorus Chemistry in the Atmosphere of Jupiter: A Reassessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borunov, Sergei; Dorofeeva, Vera; Khodakovsky, Igor; Drossart, Pierre; Lellouch, Emmanuel; Encrenaz, Thérèse

    1995-02-01

    A new distribution of phosphorus compounds in the atmosphere of Jupiter is given, using revised values for the chemical constants. In contrast with previous works, it is shown that phosphine PH 3 remains the most abundant equilibrium gaseous compound even at the upper levels of Jupiter's troposphere. The observed PH 3 abundance is equal to the equilibrium value, at all temperatures above 535 K for solar P and O elemental abundances, and above 600 K for a reasonable range of P and O abundances. P 4O 6 does not take part in the phosphorus cycle on Jupiter.

  2. The upper atmosphere of Uranus - Mean temperature and temperature variations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunham, E.; Elliot, J. L.; Gierasch, P. J.

    1980-01-01

    The number-density, pressure, and temperature profiles of the Uranian atmosphere in the pressure interval from 0.3 to 30 dynes/sq cm are derived from observations of the occultation of SAO 158687 by Uranus on 1977 March 10, observations made from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory and the Cape Town station of the South African Astronomical Observatory. The mean temperature is found to be about 95 K, but peak-to-peak variations from 10 K to 20 K or more exist on a scale of 150 km or 3 scale heights. The existence of a thermal inversion is established, but the inversion is much weaker than the analogous inversion on Neptune. The mean temperature can be explained by solar heating in the 3.3 micron methane band with a methane mixing ratio of 4 x 10 to the -6th combined with the cooling effect of ethane with a mixing ratio of not greater than 4 x 10 to the -6th. The temperature variations are probably due to a photochemical process that has formed a Chapman layer.

  3. Estimate of the atmospheric turbidity from three broad-band solar radiation algorithms. A comparative study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. López

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available Atmospheric turbidity is an important parameter for assessing the air pollution in local areas, as well as being the main parameter controlling the attenuation of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface under cloudless sky conditions. Among the different turbidity indices, the Ångström turbidity coefficient β is frequently used. In this work, we analyse the performance of three methods based on broad-band solar irradiance measurements in the estimation of β. The evaluation of the performance of the models was undertaken by graphical and statistical (root mean square errors and mean bias errors means. The data sets used in this study comprise measurements of broad-band solar irradiance obtained at eight radiometric stations and aerosol optical thickness measurements obtained at one co-located radiometric station. Since all three methods require estimates of precipitable water content, three common methods for calculating atmospheric precipitable water content from surface air temperature and relative humidity are evaluated. Results show that these methods exhibit significant differences for low values of precipitable water. The effect of these differences in precipitable water estimates on turbidity algorithms is discussed. Differences in hourly turbidity estimates are later examined. The effects of random errors in pyranometer measurements and cloud interferences on the performance of the models are also presented. Examination of the annual cycle of monthly mean values of β for each location has shown that all three turbidity algorithms are suitable for analysing long-term trends and seasonal patterns.

  4. Estimate of the atmospheric turbidity from three broad-band solar radiation algorithms. A comparative study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. López

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available Atmospheric turbidity is an important parameter for assessing the air pollution in local areas, as well as being the main parameter controlling the attenuation of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface under cloudless sky conditions. Among the different turbidity indices, the Ångström turbidity coefficient β is frequently used. In this work, we analyse the performance of three methods based on broad-band solar irradiance measurements in the estimation of β. The evaluation of the performance of the models was undertaken by graphical and statistical (root mean square errors and mean bias errors means. The data sets used in this study comprise measurements of broad-band solar irradiance obtained at eight radiometric stations and aerosol optical thickness measurements obtained at one co-located radiometric station. Since all three methods require estimates of precipitable water content, three common methods for calculating atmospheric precipitable water content from surface air temperature and relative humidity are evaluated. Results show that these methods exhibit significant differences for low values of precipitable water. The effect of these differences in precipitable water estimates on turbidity algorithms is discussed. Differences in hourly turbidity estimates are later examined. The effects of random errors in pyranometer measurements and cloud interferences on the performance of the models are also presented. Examination of the annual cycle of monthly mean values of β for each location has shown that all three turbidity algorithms are suitable for analysing long-term trends and seasonal patterns.

  5. Estimate of the atmospheric turbidity from three broad-band solar radiation algorithms. A comparative study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lopez, G.; Batlles, F.J. [Dept. de Ingenieria Electrica y Termica, EPS La Rabida, Univ. de Huelva, Huelva (Spain)

    2004-07-01

    Atmospheric turbidity is an important parameter for assessing the air pollution in local areas, as well as being the main parameter controlling the attenuation of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface under cloudless sky conditions. Among the different turbidity indices, the Aangstroem turbidity coefficient {beta} is frequently used. In this work, we analyse the performance of three methods based on broadband solar irradiance measurements in the estimation of {beta}. The evaluation of the performance of the models was undertaken by graphical and statistical (root mean square errors and mean bias errors) means. The data sets used in this study comprise measurements of broad-band solar irradiance obtained at eight radiometric stations and aerosol optical thickness measurements obtained at one co-located radiometric station. Since all three methods require estimates of precipitable water content, three common methods for calculating atmospheric precipitable water content from surface air temperature and relative humidity are evaluated. Results show that these methods exhibit significant differences for low values of precipitable water. The effect of these differences in precipitable water estimates on turbidity algorithms is discussed. Differences in hourly turbidity estimates are later examined. The effects of random errors in pyranometer measurements and cloud interferences on the performance of the models are also presented. Examination of the annual cycle of monthly mean values of {beta} for each location has shown that all three turbidity algorithms are suitable for analysing long-term trends and seasonal patterns. (orig.)

  6. Critical Evaluation of Chemical Reaction Rates and Collision Cross Sections of Importance in the Earth's Upper Atmosphere and the Atmospheres of Other Planets, Moons, and Comets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huestis, David L.

    2006-01-01

    We propose to establish a long-term program of critical evaluation by domain experts of the rates and cross sections for atomic and molecular processes that are needed for understanding and modeling the atmospheres in the solar system. We envision data products resembling those of the JPL/NASA Panel for Data Evaluation and the similar efforts of the international combustion modeling community funded by US DoE and its European counterpart.

  7. Atmospheric Electricity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aplin, Karen; Fischer, Georg

    2018-02-01

    Electricity occurs in atmospheres across the Solar System planets and beyond, spanning spectacular lightning displays in clouds of water or dust, to more subtle effects of charge and electric fields. On Earth, lightning is likely to have existed for a long time, based on evidence from fossilized lightning strikes in ancient rocks, but observations of planetary lightning are necessarily much more recent. The generation and observations of lightning and other atmospheric electrical processes, both from within-atmosphere measurements, and spacecraft remote sensing, can be readily studied using a comparative planetology approach, with Earth as a model. All atmospheres contain charged molecules, electrons, and/or molecular clusters created by ionization from cosmic rays and other processes, which may affect an atmosphere's energy balance both through aerosol and cloud formation, and direct absorption of radiation. Several planets are anticipated to host a "global electric circuit" by analogy with the circuit occurring on Earth, where thunderstorms drive current of ions or electrons through weakly conductive parts of the atmosphere. This current flow may further modulate an atmosphere's radiative properties through cloud and aerosol effects. Lightning could potentially have implications for life through its effects on atmospheric chemistry and particle transport. It has been observed on many of the Solar System planets (Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) and it may also be present on Venus and Mars. On Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, lightning is thought to be generated in deep water and ice clouds, but discharges can be generated in dust, as for terrestrial volcanic lightning, and on Mars. Other, less well-understood mechanisms causing discharges in non-water clouds also seem likely. The discovery of thousands of exoplanets has recently led to a range of further exotic possibilities for atmospheric electricity, though lightning detection beyond our Solar System

  8. Measuring the greenhouse effect and radiative forcing through the atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Philipona, Rolf; Kräuchi, Andreas; Brocard, Emmanuel

    2013-04-01

    In spite of a large body of existing measurements of incoming shortwave solar radiation and outgoing longwave terrestrial radiation at the Earth's surface and at the top of the atmosphere, there are few observations documenting how radiation profiles change through the atmosphere - information that is necessary to fully quantify the greenhouse effect of the Earth's atmosphere. Using weather balloons and specific radiometer equipped radiosondes, we continuously measured shortwave and longwave radiation fluxes from the surface of the Earth up to altitudes of 35 kilometers in the upper stratosphere. Comparing radiation profiles from night measurements with different amounts of water vapor, we show evidence of large greenhouse forcing. We show, that under cloud free conditions, water vapor increases with Clausius-Clapeyron ( 7% / K), and longwave downward radiation at the surface increases by 8 Watts per square meter per Kelvin. The longwave net radiation however, shows a positive increase (downward) of 2.4 Watts per square meter and Kelvin at the surface, which decreases with height and shows a similar but negative increase (upward) at the tropopause. Hence, increased tropospheric water vapor increases longwave net radiation towards the ground and towards space, and produces a heating of 0.42 Kelvin per Watt per square meter at the surface. References: Philipona et al., 2012: Solar and thermal radiation profiles and radiative forcing measured through the atmosphere. Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L13806, doi: 10.1029/2012GL052087.

  9. New enhancement mechanism of the transitions in the Earth of the solar and atmospheric neutrinos crossing the Earth core

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petcov, S.T.

    1999-01-01

    It is shown that the ν 2 → ν e and ν μ → ν e (ν e → ν μ(τ) ) transitions respectively of the solar and atmospheric neutrinos in the Earth in the case of ν e - ν μ(τ) mixing in vacuum, are strongly enhanced by a new type of resonance when the neutrinos cross the Earth core. The resonance is operative at small mixing angles but differs from the MSW one. It is in many respects similar to the electron paramagnetic resonance taking place in a specific configuration of two magnetic fields. The conditions for existence of the new resonance include, in particular, specific constraints on the neutrino oscillation lengths in the Earth mantle and in the Earth core, thus the resonance is a 'neutrino oscillation length resonance'. It leads also to enhancement of the ν 2 → ν e and ν e → ν s transitions in the case of ν e - ν s mixing and of the ν-bar s (or ν μ → ν s ) transitions at small mixing angles. The presence of the neutrino oscillation length resonance in the transitions of solar and atmospheric neutrinos traversing the Earth core has important implications for current and future solar and atmospheric neutrino experiments, and more specifically, for the interpretation of the results of the Super-Kamiokande experiment

  10. Temperature responses to the 11 year solar cycle in the mesosphere from the 31 year (1979-2010) extended Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model simulations and a comparison with the 14 year (2002-2015) TIMED/SABER observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gan, Quan; Du, Jian; Fomichev, Victor I.; Ward, William E.; Beagley, Stephen R.; Zhang, Shaodong; Yue, Jia

    2017-04-01

    A recent 31 year simulation (1979-2010) by extended Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (eCMAM30) and the 14 year (2002-2015) observation by the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere and Dynamics/Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emssion Radiometry (TIMED/SABER) are utilized to investigate the temperature response to the 11 year solar cycle on the mesosphere. Overall, the zonal mean responses tend to increase with height, and the amplitudes are on the order of 1-2 K/100 solar flux unit (1 sfu = 10-22 W m-2 Hz-1) below 80 km and 2-4 K/100 sfu in the mesopause region (80-100 km) from the eCMAM30, comparatively weaker than those from the SABER except in the midlatitude lower mesosphere. A pretty good consistence takes place at around 75-80 km with a response of 1.5 K/100 sfu within 10°S/N. Also, a symmetric pattern of the responses about the equator agrees reasonably well between the two. It is noteworthy that the eCMAM30 displays an alternate structure with the upper stratospheric cooling and the lower mesospheric warming at midlatitudes of the winter hemisphere, in favor of the long-term Rayleigh lidar observation reported by the previous studies. Through diagnosing multiple dynamical parameters, it is manifested that this localized feature is induced by the anomalous residual circulation as a consequence of the wave-mean flow interaction during the solar maximum year.

  11. Investigating the Impact of a Solar Eclipse on Atmospheric Radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fender, Josh; Morse, Justin; Ringler, John; Galovich, Cynthia; Kuehn, Charles A.; Semak, Matthew

    2018-06-01

    We present a project that measured atmospheric muon flux as a function of altitude during a total solar eclipse. An auxiliary goal was to design and build a cost-effective muon detection device that is simple enough for those with minimal training to build. The detector is part of a self-contained autonomous payload that is carried to altitude aboard a weather balloon. The detection system consists of three Geiger counters connected to a coincidence circuit. This system, along with internal and external temperature sensors and an altimeter, are controlled by an onboard Arduino Mega microcontroller. An internal frame was constructed to house and protect the payload components using modular 3D-printed parts. The payload was launched during the 2017 solar eclipse from Guernsey, Wyoming, along the path of totality. Initial data analysis indicates that line-of-sight blockage of the sun due to a total eclipse produces a negligible difference in muon flux when compared to the results of previous daytime flights. The successful performance of the payload, its low overall cost, and its ease of use suggest that this project would be well-suited for individuals or groups such as high school or undergraduate science students to reproduce and enhance.

  12. Long-term changes of the upper stratosphere as seen by Japanese rocketsondes at Ryori (39°N, 141°E

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Keckhut

    1999-09-01

    Full Text Available Wind and temperature profiles measured routinely by rockets at Ryori (Japan since 1970 are analysed to quantify interannual changes that occur in the upper stratosphere. The analysis involved using a least square fitting of the data with a multiparametric adaptative model composed of a linear combination of some functions that represent the main expected climate forcing responses of the stratosphere. These functions are seasonal cycles, solar activity changes, stratospheric optical depth induced by volcanic aerosols, equatorial wind oscillations and a possible linear trend. Step functions are also included in the analyses to take into account instrumental changes. Results reveal a small change for wind data series above 45 km when new corrections were introduced to take into account instrumental changes. However, no significant change of the mean is noted for temperature even after sondes were improved. While wind series reveal no significant trends, a significant cooling of 2.0 to 2.5 K/decade is observed in the mid upper stratosphere using this analysis method. This cooling is more than double the cooling predicted by models by a factor of more than two. In winter, it may be noted that the amplitude of the atmospheric response is enhanced. This is probably caused by the larger ozone depletion and/or by some dynamical feedback effects. In winter, cooling tends to be smaller around 40-45 km (in fact a warming trend is observed in December as already observed in other data sets and simulated by models. Although the winter response to volcanic aerosols is in good agreement with numerical simulations, the solar signature is of the opposite sign to that expected. This is not understood, but it has already been observed with other data sets.Key words. Atmospheric composition and structure (evolution of one atmosphere; pressure · density · and temperature · Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (middle atmosphere dynamics

  13. A kinetic-theory approach for computing chemical-reaction rates in upper-atmosphere hypersonic flows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallis, Michael A; Bond, Ryan B; Torczynski, John R

    2009-09-28

    Recently proposed molecular-level chemistry models that predict equilibrium and nonequilibrium reaction rates using only kinetic theory and fundamental molecular properties (i.e., no macroscopic reaction-rate information) are investigated for chemical reactions occurring in upper-atmosphere hypersonic flows. The new models are in good agreement with the measured Arrhenius rates for near-equilibrium conditions and with both measured rates and other theoretical models for far-from-equilibrium conditions. Additionally, the new models are applied to representative combustion and ionization reactions and are in good agreement with available measurements and theoretical models. Thus, molecular-level chemistry modeling provides an accurate method for predicting equilibrium and nonequilibrium chemical-reaction rates in gases.

  14. Retrieval of water vapor vertical distributions in the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere from SCIAMACHY limb measurements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Rozanov

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This study describes the retrieval of water vapor vertical distributions in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS altitude range from space-borne observations of the scattered solar light made in limb viewing geometry. First results using measurements from SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY aboard ENVISAT (Environmental Satellite are presented here. In previous publications, the retrieval of water vapor vertical distributions has been achieved exploiting either the emitted radiance leaving the atmosphere or the transmitted solar radiation. In this study, the scattered solar radiation is used as a new source of information on the water vapor content in the UTLS region. A recently developed retrieval algorithm utilizes the differential absorption structure of the water vapor in 1353–1410 nm spectral range and yields the water vapor content in the 11–25 km altitude range. In this study, the retrieval algorithm is successfully applied to SCIAMACHY limb measurements and the resulting water vapor profiles are compared to in situ balloon-borne observations. The results from both satellite and balloon-borne instruments are found to agree typically within 10 %.

  15. Analysis of Titan's neutral upper atmosphere from Cassini Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer measurements in the Closed Source Neutral mode

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Jun

    In this thesis I present an in-depth study of the distribution of various neutral species in Titan's upper atmosphere, at altitudes between 950 and 1,500 km for abundant species (N 2 , CH 4 as well as their isotopes) and between 950 and 1,200 km for most minor species. However, the study of the H 2 distribution on Titan is extended to an altitude as high as 6,000 km in the exosphere. The analysis is based on a large sample of Cassini/INMS (Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer) measurements in the CSN (Closed Source Neutral) mode, obtained during 15 close flybys of Titan. The densities of abundant species including N 2 , CH 4 and H 2 are determined directly from their main channels. However, to untangle the overlapping cracking patterns of minor species, the technique of Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is used to determine simultaneously the densities of various hydrocarbons, nitriles and oxygen compounds. All minor species except for 40 Ar present density enhancements measured during the outbound legs. This can be interpreted as a result of wall effects, which could be either adsorption/desorption or heterogeneous surface chemistry on the chamber walls. In the thesis, I use a simple model to describe the observed time behavior of minor species. Results on their atmospheric abundances are provided both in terms of direct inbound measurements assuming ram pressure enhancement and values corrected for wall adsorption/desorption. Among all minor species of photochemical interest, the INMS data provide direct observational evidences for C 2 H 2 , C 2 H 4 , C 2 H 6 , CH 3 C 2 H, C 4 H 2 , C 6 H 6 , HC 3 N and C 2 N 2 in Titan's upper atmosphere. Upper limits are put for other minor species. The globally averaged distribution of N 2 , CH 4 and H 2 are each modeled with the diffusion approximation. The N 2 profile suggests an average thermospheric temperature of 154 K. The CH 4 and H 2 distribution constrains their fluxes to be 3.0 × 10 9 cm -2 s -1 and 1.3 × 10 10 cm -2 s

  16. Solar cycle variations in mesospheric carbon monoxide

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jae N.; Wu, Dong L.; Ruzmaikin, Alexander; Fontenla, Juan

    2018-05-01

    As an extension of Lee et al. (2013), solar cycle variation of carbon monoxide (CO) is analyzed with MLS observation, which covers more than thirteen years (2004-2017) including maximum of solar cycle 24. Being produced primarily by the carbon dioxide (CO2) photolysis in the lower thermosphere, the variations of the mesospheric CO concentration are largely driven by the solar cycle modulated ultraviolet (UV) variation. This solar signal extends down to the lower altitudes by the dynamical descent in the winter polar vortex, showing a time lag that is consistent with the average descent velocity. To characterize a global distribution of the solar impact, MLS CO is correlated with the SORCE measured total solar irradiance (TSI) and UV. As high as 0.8 in most of the polar mesosphere, the linear correlation coefficients between CO and UV/TSI are more robust than those found in the previous work. The photochemical contribution explains most (68%) of the total variance of CO while the dynamical contribution accounts for 21% of the total variance at upper mesosphere. The photochemistry driven CO anomaly signal is extended in the tropics by vertical mixing. The solar cycle signal in CO is further examined with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) 3.5 simulation by implementing two different modeled Spectral Solar Irradiances (SSIs): SRPM 2012 and NRLSSI. The model simulations underestimate the mean CO amount and solar cycle variations of CO, by a factor of 3, compared to those obtained from MLS observation. Different inputs of the solar spectrum have small impacts on CO variation.

  17. THE RESPONSE OF A THREE-DIMENSIONAL SOLAR ATMOSPHERE TO WAVE-DRIVEN JETS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scullion, E. [Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo (Norway); Erdelyi, R.; Fedun, V. [Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre (SP2RC), Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH (United Kingdom); Doyle, J. G., E-mail: eamonms@astro.uio.no, E-mail: robertus@sheffield.ac.uk, E-mail: v.fedun@sheffield.ac.uk, E-mail: jgd@arm.ac.uk [Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG (United Kingdom)

    2011-12-10

    Global oscillations from the solar interior are, mainly, pressure-driven (p-modes) oscillations with a peak power of a five-minute period. These oscillations are considered to manifest in many phenomena in the lower solar atmosphere, most notably, in spicules. These small-scale jets may provide the key to understanding the powering mechanisms of the transition region (TR) and lower corona. Here, we simulate the formation of wave-driven (type-I) spicule phenomena in three dimensions and the transmission of acoustic waves from the lower chromosphere and into the corona. The outer atmosphere oscillates in response to the jet formation, and in turn, we reveal the formation of a circular seismic surface wave, which we name as a Transition Region Quake (TRQ). The TRQ forms as a consequence of an upward propelling spicular wave train that repeatedly punctures and energizes the TR. The steep density gradient enables the TRQ to develop and radially fan outward from the location where the spicular plasma column impinges the TR. We suggest the TRQ formation as a formidable mechanism in continuously sustaining part of the energy budget of the TR. We present a supporting numerical model which allow us to determine the level of energy dumping at the TR by upward-propagating p-modes. Upon applying a wavelet analysis on our simulations we identify the presence of a chromospheric cavity which resonates with the jet propagation and leaves behind an oscillatory wake with a distinctive periodicity. Through our numerical analysis we also discover type-I spicule turbulence leading to a convection-based motion in the low corona.

  18. Long-period variations of wind parameters in the mesopause region and the solar cycle dependence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greisiger, K.M.; Schminder, R.; Kuerschner, D.

    1987-01-01

    A solar dependence of wind parameters below 100 km was found by Sprenger and Schminder on the basis of long-term continuous ionospheric drift measurements. For winter they obtained for the prevailing wind a positive correlation with solar activity and for the amplitude of the semi-diurnal tidal wind a negative correlation. However, after the years 1973-1974 we found a significant negative correlation with solar activity with an indication of a new change after 1983. We conclude that this long-term behaviour points rather to a climatic variation with an internal atmospheric cause than to a direct solar control. Recent satellite data of the solar u.v. radiation and the upper stratospheric ozone have shown that the possible variation of the thermal tidal excitation during the solar cycle amounts to only a few per cent. This is, therefore, insufficient to account for the 40-70% variation of the tidal amplitudes. Some other possibilities of explaining this result are discussed. (author)

  19. Changes in atmospheric circulation between solar maximum and minimum conditions in winter and summer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jae Nyung

    2008-10-01

    Statistically significant climate responses to the solar variability are found in Northern Annular Mode (NAM) and in the tropical circulation. This study is based on the statistical analysis of numerical simulations with ModelE version of the chemistry coupled Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model (GCM) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis. The low frequency large scale variability of the winter and summer circulation is described by the NAM, the leading Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) of geopotential heights. The newly defined seasonal annular modes and its dynamical significance in the stratosphere and troposphere in the GISS ModelE is shown and compared with those in the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. In the stratosphere, the summer NAM obtained from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis as well as from the ModelE simulations has the same sign throughout the northern hemisphere, but shows greater variability at low latitudes. The patterns in both analyses are consistent with the interpretation that low NAM conditions represent an enhancement of the seasonal difference between the summer and the annual averages of geopotential height, temperature and velocity distributions, while the reverse holds for high NAM conditions. Composite analysis of high and low NAM cases in both the model and observation suggests that the summer stratosphere is more "summer-like" when the solar activity is near a maximum. This means that the zonal easterly wind flow is stronger and the temperature is higher than normal. Thus increased irradiance favors a low summer NAM. A quantitative comparison of the anti-correlation between the NAM and the solar forcing is presented in the model and in the observation, both of which show lower/higher NAM index in solar maximum/minimum conditions. The summer NAM in the troposphere obtained from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis has a dipolar zonal structure with maximum

  20. XUV-Exposed, Non-Hydrostatic Hydrogen-Rich Upper Atmospheres of Terrestrial Planets. Part II: Hydrogen Coronae and Ion Escape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lammer, Helmut; Holmström, Mats; Panchenko, Mykhaylo; Odert, Petra; Erkaev, Nikolai V.; Leitzinger, Martin; Khodachenko, Maxim L.; Kulikov, Yuri N.; Güdel, Manuel; Hanslmeier, Arnold

    2013-01-01

    Abstract We studied the interactions between the stellar wind plasma flow of a typical M star, such as GJ 436, and the hydrogen-rich upper atmosphere of an Earth-like planet and a “super-Earth” with a radius of 2 REarth and a mass of 10 MEarth, located within the habitable zone at ∼0.24 AU. We investigated the formation of extended atomic hydrogen coronae under the influences of the stellar XUV flux (soft X-rays and EUV), stellar wind density and velocity, shape of a planetary obstacle (e.g., magnetosphere, ionopause), and the loss of planetary pickup ions on the evolution of hydrogen-dominated upper atmospheres. Stellar XUV fluxes that are 1, 10, 50, and 100 times higher compared to that of the present-day Sun were considered, and the formation of high-energy neutral hydrogen clouds around the planets due to the charge-exchange reaction under various stellar conditions was modeled. Charge-exchange between stellar wind protons with planetary hydrogen atoms, and photoionization, lead to the production of initially cold ions of planetary origin. We found that the ion production rates for the studied planets can vary over a wide range, from ∼1.0×1025 s−1 to ∼5.3×1030 s−1, depending on the stellar wind conditions and the assumed XUV exposure of the upper atmosphere. Our findings indicate that most likely the majority of these planetary ions are picked up by the stellar wind and lost from the planet. Finally, we estimated the long-time nonthermal ion pickup escape for the studied planets and compared them with the thermal escape. According to our estimates, nonthermal escape of picked-up ionized hydrogen atoms over a planet's lifetime within the habitable zone of an M dwarf varies between ∼0.4 Earth ocean equivalent amounts of hydrogen (EOH) to stars—Early atmospheres—Earth-like exoplanets—Energetic neutral atoms—Ion escape—Habitability. Astrobiology 13, 1030–1048. PMID:24283926

  1. Solar system sputtering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tombrello, T. A.

    1982-01-01

    The sites and materials involved in solar system sputtering of planetary surfaces are reviewed, together with existing models for the processes of sputtering. Attention is given to the interaction of the solar wind with planetary atmospheres in terms of the role played by the solar wind in affecting the He-4 budget in the Venus atmosphere, and the erosion and differentiation of the Mars atmosphere by solar wind sputtering. The study is extended to the production of isotopic fractionation and anomalies in interplanetary grains by irradiation, and to erosion effects on planetary satellites with frozen volatile surfaces, such as with Io, Europa, and Ganymede. Further measurements are recommended of the molecular form of the ejected material, the yields and energy spectra of the sputtered products, the iosotopic fractionation sputtering causes, and the possibility of electronic sputtering enhancement with materials such as silicates.

  2. Photoreactivity of condensed species in Titan lower atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleury, Benjamin; Gudipati, Murthy; Couturier-Tamburelli, Isabelle; Carrasco, Nathalie

    2017-10-01

    Photochemical processes initiated in the thermosphere of Titan at about 1000 km by the dissociation and the ionization of N2 and CH4 by the VUV solar photons [1] lead to the formation of a number of hydrocarbons and nitriles species. Some of these species can condense in the troposphere and the lower stratosphere of Titan ( 300 nm) can reach these lower atmospheric layers [4], ongoing possible further solid-state chemistry as demonstrated experimentally [5]. We will present here an experimental study simulating the reactivity of ices in the atmosphere of Titan and will discuss the photoreactivity occurring in the lower atmospheric layers of Titan despite the absorption of the most energetic photons.AcknowledgmentsThis work is supported by NASA Solar System Workings grant " Photochemistry in Titan’s Lower Atmosphere". The research work has been carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NC acknowledges the European Research Council for their financial support (ERC Starting Grant PRIMCHEM, grant agreement n°636829).References[1] Waite, J. H., et al., The process of Tholin formation in Titan’s upper atmosphere, (2007), Science 316, 870-875.[2] Barth, E. L., Modeling survey of ices in Titan’s stratosphere, (2017), Planetary and Space Science 137, 20-31.[3] Fulchignoni, M., et al., In situ measurements of the physical characteristics of Titan’s environment, (2005), Nature 438, 785-791.[4] Tomasko, M. G., et al., Rain, winds and haze during the Huygens probe’s descent to Titan’s surface, (2005), Nature 438, 765-778.[5] Gudipati, M. S., et al., Photochemical activity of Titan’s low-altitude condensed haze, (2013), Nature Communications, 4: p1648.

  3. Climate of the upper atmosphere

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Bremer, J.; Laštovička, Jan; Mikhailov, A. V.; Altadill, D.; Pal, B.; Burešová, Dalia; Franceschi de, G.; Jacobi, C.; Kouris, S. S.; Perrone, L.; Turunen, E.

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 52, 3/4 (2009), s. 273-299 ISSN 1593-5213 R&D Projects: GA MŠk OC 091 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517 Keywords : Ionosphere * trends * atmospheric waves * ionospheric variability * incoherent radar * space weather Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 0.548, year: 2009

  4. Atmospheric Mining in the Outer Solar System: Outer Planet In-Space Bases and Moon Bases for Resource Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palaszewski, Bryan

    2017-01-01

    Atmospheric mining in the outer solar system has been investigated as a means of fuel production for high energy propulsion and power. Fusion fuels such as Helium 3 (3He) and deuterium can be wrested from the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune and either returned to Earth or used in-situ for energy production. Helium 3 and deuterium were the primary gases of interest with hydrogen being the primary propellant for nuclear thermal solid core and gas core rocket-based atmospheric flight. A series of analyses were undertaken to investigate resource capturing aspects of atmospheric mining in the outer solar system. This included the gas capturing rate, storage options, and different methods of direct use of the captured gases. While capturing 3He, large amounts of hydrogen and 4He are produced. The propulsion and transportation requirements for all of the major moons of Uranus and Neptune are presented. Analyses of orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs), landers, factories, and the issues with in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) low gravity processing factories are included. Preliminary observations are presented on near-optimal selections of moon base orbital locations, OTV power levels, and OTV and lander rendezvous points. Several artificial gravity in-space base designs and orbital sites at Uranus and Neptune and the OTV requirements to support them are also addressed.

  5. Solar Features

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of solar feature datasets contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide.

  6. Nb-TiO{sub 2}/polymer hybrid solar cells with photovoltaic response under inert atmosphere conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lira-Cantu, Monica; Khoda Siddiki, Mahbube; Munoz-Rojas, David; Amade, Roger [Centre d' Investigacio en Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia (CIN2, CSIC), Laboratory of Nanostructured Materials for Photovoltaic Energy, Campus UAB, Barcelona (Spain); Gonzalez-Pech, Natalia I. [Centre d' Investigacio en Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia (CIN2, CSIC), Laboratory of Nanostructured Materials for Photovoltaic Energy, Campus UAB, Barcelona (Spain); Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada, 64640 Monterrey, N.L. (Mexico)

    2010-07-15

    Hybrid Solar Cells (HSC) applying Nb-TiO{sub 2} in direct contact with a conducting organic polymer, MEH-PPV, show higher stability than the bare TiO{sub 2}-based HSC when analyzed under inert atmosphere conditions. IPCE analyses revealed that inert atmospheres affect directly the semiconductor oxide in the first stages of the analyses but photovoltaic performance stabilizes after several hours. A 20 wt% Nb-doped TiO{sub 2} presented the highest stability and photovoltaic properties. The behavior has been attributed to the solubility limit of Nb within the TiO{sub 2} beyond 20 wt% doping level where the co-existence of NbO{sub 2} is observed. The HSCs were analyzed under controlled N{sub 2} atmosphere and 1000 W/m{sup 2} (AM 1.5) irradiation. (author)

  7. The Liquid Metallic Hydrogen Model of the Sun and the Solar Atmosphere V. On the Nature of the Corona

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robitaille P.-M.

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The E-corona is the site of numerous emission lines associated with high ionization states (i.e. FeXIV-FeXXV. Modern gaseous models of the Sun require that these states are produced by atomic irradiation, requiring the sequential removal of electrons to infinity, without an associated electron acceptor. This can lead to computed temperatures in the corona which are unrealistic (i.e. ∼30–100 MK contrasted to solar core values of ∼16 MK. In order to understand the emission lines of the E-corona, it is vital to recognize that they are superimposed upon the K-corona, which produces a continuous spectrum, devoid of Fraunhofer lines, arising from this same region of the Sun. It has been advanced that the K-corona harbors self-luminous condensed matter (Robitaille P.M. The Liquid Metallic Hydrogen Model of the Sun and the Solar Atmosphere II. Continuous Emission and Condensed Matter Within the Corona. Progr. Phys., 2013, v. 3, L8–L10; Robitaille P.M. The Liquid Metallic Hydrogen Model of the Sun and the Solar Atmosphere III. Importance of Continuous Emission Spectra from Flares, Coronal Mass Ejections, Prominences, and Other Coronal Structures. Progr. Phys., 2013, v. 3, L11–L14. Condensed matter can possess elevated electron affinities which may strip nearby atoms of their electrons. Such a scenario accounts for the high ionization states observed in the corona: condensed matter acts to harness electrons, ensuring the electrical neutrality of the Sun, despite the flow of electrons and ions in the solar winds. Elevated ionization states reflect the presence of materials with high electron affinities in the corona, which is likely to be a form of metallic hydrogen, and does not translate into elevated temperatures in this region of the solar atmosphere. As a result, the many mechanisms advanced to account for coronal heating in the gaseous models of the Sun

  8. Unified fit of solar and atmospheric neutrinos: towards the MNSP matrix

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    Present solar and atmospheric neutrino give a strong indication that neutrinos oscillate between the three active species. This is the first step towards the determination of their mass. But we have also to determine the 3 x 3 neutrino mixing matrix (3 angles and one or several phases linked to CP violation), called MNSP (Maki-Nakagawa-Suzuki-Pontecorvo) and similar to the quark mixing matrix, called CKM (Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa). The purpose of the colloquium (one day) is to give an overview of the present situation and what progresses are expected in the forthcoming years. 3 guidelines: pedagogical approach, critical review of the experimental situation and of the different analyses, lookout to the future. (author)

  9. Characterization and evolution of distant planetary atmospheres using stellar occultations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, L. A.

    2008-09-01

    Ground-based or near-Earth (e.g., HST) stellar occultations of every atmosphere in our solar system has been observed: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, Uranus, Neptune, Triton, and Pluto [1]. These observations probe the atmospheres at roughly 0.1 to 100 microbar. I will talk about three aspects of stellar occultations: one-dimensional vertical profiles of the atmosphere, two- or three-dimensional atmospheric states, and the time evolution of atmosphere. In all three, I will draw on recent observations, with an emphasis on Pluto. Occultations are particularly important for the study of Pluto's atmosphere, which is impossible to study with imaging, and extremely difficult to study with spectroscopy. It was discovered by stellar occultation in 1988 [2]. No subsequent Pluto occultations were observed until two events in 2002 [3]. Pluto is now crossing the galactic plane, and there have been several additional occultations observed since 2006. These include a high signal-to-noise observation from the Anglo Australian Observatory in 2006 [4] (Fig 1), densely spaced visible and infrared observations of Pluto's upper atmosphere from telescopes in the US and Mexico in March, 2007 [5] (Fig. 2), and a dualwavelength central flash observation from Mt. John in July, 2007 [6] (Fig 3). The flux from a star occulted by an atmosphere diminishes primarily due to the increase in refraction with depth in the atmosphere, defocusing the starlight, although absorption and tangential focusing can also contribute. Because the atmospheric density, to first order, follows an exponential, it is feasible to derive a characteristic pressure and temperature from isothermal fits to even low-quality occultation light curves. Higher quality light curves allow fits with more flexible models, or light curve inversions that derive temperatures limited by the resolution of the data. These allow the derivation of one-dimensional profiles of temperature and pressure vs. altitude, which are critical

  10. Solar Imagery

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of solar photographic and illustrated datasets contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide....

  11. Chromospheric heating during flux emergence in the solar atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leenaarts, Jorrit; de la Cruz Rodríguez, Jaime; Danilovic, Sanja; Scharmer, Göran; Carlsson, Mats

    2018-04-01

    Context. The radiative losses in the solar chromosphere vary from 4 kW m-2 in the quiet Sun, to 20 kW m-2 in active regions. The mechanisms that transport non-thermal energy to and deposit it in the chromosphere are still not understood. Aim. We aim to investigate the atmospheric structure and heating of the solar chromosphere in an emerging flux region. Methods: We have used observations taken with the CHROMIS and CRISP instruments on the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope in the Ca II K , Ca II 854.2 nm, Hα, and Fe I 630.1 nm and 630.2 nm lines. We analysed the various line profiles and in addition perform multi-line, multi-species, non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) inversions to estimate the spatial and temporal variation of the chromospheric structure. Results: We investigate which spectral features of Ca II K contribute to the frequency-integrated Ca II K brightness, which we use as a tracer of chromospheric radiative losses. The majority of the radiative losses are not associated with localised high-Ca II K-brightness events, but instead with a more gentle, spatially extended, and persistent heating. The frequency-integrated Ca II K brightness correlates strongly with the total linear polarization in the Ca II 854.2 nm, while the Ca II K profile shapes indicate that the bulk of the radiative losses occur in the lower chromosphere. Non-LTE inversions indicate a transition from heating concentrated around photospheric magnetic elements below log τ500 = -3 to a more space-filling and time-persistent heating above log τ500 = -4. The inferred gas temperature at log τ500 = -3.8 correlates strongly with the total linear polarization in the Ca II 854.2 nm line, suggesting that that the heating rate correlates with the strength of the horizontal magnetic field in the low chromosphere. Movies attached to Figs. 1 and 4 are available at http://https://www.aanda.org/

  12. Solar Indices

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

  13. A method for daily global solar radiation estimation from two instantaneous values using MODIS atmospheric products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Xiaojun; Du, Huaqiang; Zhou, Guomo; Mao, Fangjie; Li, Pingheng; Fan, Weiliang; Zhu, Dien

    2016-01-01

    Accurate information on the temporal and spatial distributions of solar radiation is very important in many scientific fields. In this study, instantaneous solar irradiances on a horizontal surface at 10:30 and 13:30 local time (LT) were calculated from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) atmospheric data products with relatively high spatial resolution using a solar radiation model. These solar irradiances were combined to derive half-hourly averages of solar irradiance (HASI) and daily global solar radiation (GSR) on a horizontal surface using linear interpolation, piecewise linear regression, and quadratic polynomial regression. Compared with field observations, the HASI were estimated accurately when the total cloud fraction (TCF) was 0.6. Overall, the daily GSR estimated in this study was better than that estimated by the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis of NASA. The daily GSR estimated in this study was underestimated, whereas it was overestimated by MERRA. The combination of the daily GSR estimates of this study and MERRA offers a simple and feasible technique for reducing uncertainty in daily GSR estimates. - Highlights: • Daily GSR is integrated from two observations from the MODIS products. • Daily GSR from the MODIS products is underestimated. • Biases were attributed primarily to variations in the total cloud percent. • Combining daily GSR estimates from the MODIS and the MERRA increases accuracy.

  14. Light in Condensed Matter in the Upper Atmosphere as the Origin of Homochirality: Circularly Polarized Light from Rydberg Matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmlid, Leif

    2009-08-01

    Clouds of the condensed excited Rydberg matter (RM) exist in the atmospheres of comets and planetary bodies (most easily observed at Mercury and the Moon), where they surround the entire bodies. Vast such clouds are recently proposed to exist in the upper atmosphere of Earth (giving rise to the enormous features called noctilucent clouds, polar mesospheric clouds, and polar mesospheric summer radar echoes). It has been shown in experiments with RM that linearly polarized visible light scattered from an RM layer is transformed to circularly polarized light with a probability of approximately 50%. The circular Rydberg electrons in the magnetic field in the RM may be chiral scatterers. The magnetic and anisotropic RM medium acts as a circular polarizer probably by delaying one of the perpendicular components of the light wave. The delay process involved is called Rabi-flopping and gives delays of the order of femtoseconds. This strong effect thus gives intense circularly polarized visible and UV light within RM clouds. Amino acids and other chiral molecules will experience a strong interaction with this light field in the upper atmospheres of planets. The interaction will vary with the stereogenic conformation of the molecules and in all probability promote the survival of one enantiomer. Here, this strong effect is proposed to be the origin of homochirality. The formation of amino acids in the RM clouds is probably facilitated by the catalytic effect of RM.

  15. Light in condensed matter in the upper atmosphere as the origin of homochirality: circularly polarized light from Rydberg matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmlid, Leif

    2009-01-01

    Clouds of the condensed excited Rydberg matter (RM) exist in the atmospheres of comets and planetary bodies (most easily observed at Mercury and the Moon), where they surround the entire bodies. Vast such clouds are recently proposed to exist in the upper atmosphere of Earth (giving rise to the enormous features called noctilucent clouds, polar mesospheric clouds, and polar mesospheric summer radar echoes). It has been shown in experiments with RM that linearly polarized visible light scattered from an RM layer is transformed to circularly polarized light with a probability of approximately 50%. The circular Rydberg electrons in the magnetic field in the RM may be chiral scatterers. The magnetic and anisotropic RM medium acts as a circular polarizer probably by delaying one of the perpendicular components of the light wave. The delay process involved is called Rabi-flopping and gives delays of the order of femtoseconds. This strong effect thus gives intense circularly polarized visible and UV light within RM clouds. Amino acids and other chiral molecules will experience a strong interaction with this light field in the upper atmospheres of planets. The interaction will vary with the stereogenic conformation of the molecules and in all probability promote the survival of one enantiomer. Here, this strong effect is proposed to be the origin of homochirality. The formation of amino acids in the RM clouds is probably facilitated by the catalytic effect of RM.

  16. Upper Ocean Evolution Across the Beaufort Sea Marginal Ice Zone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, C.; Rainville, L.; Gobat, J. I.; Perry, M. J.; Freitag, L. E.; Webster, S.

    2016-12-01

    The observed reduction of Arctic summertime sea ice extent and expansion of the marginal ice zone (MIZ) have profound impacts on the balance of processes controlling sea ice evolution, including the introduction of several positive feedback mechanisms that may act to accelerate melting. Examples of such feedbacks include increased upper ocean warming though absorption of solar radiation, elevated internal wave energy and mixing that may entrain heat stored in subsurface watermasses (e.g., the relatively warm Pacific Summer and Atlantic waters), and elevated surface wave energy that acts to deform and fracture sea ice. Spatial and temporal variability in ice properties and open water fraction impact these processes. To investigate how upper ocean structure varies with changing ice cover, how the balance of processes shift as a function of ice fraction and distance from open water, and how these processes impact sea ice evolution, a network of autonomous platforms sampled the atmosphere-ice-ocean system in the Beaufort, beginning in spring, well before the start of melt, and ending with the autumn freeze-up. Four long-endurance autonomous Seagliders occupied sections that extended from open water, through the marginal ice zone, deep into the pack during summer 2014 in the Beaufort Sea. Gliders penetrated up to 200 km into the ice pack, under complete ice cover for up to 10 consecutive days. Sections reveal strong fronts where cold, ice-covered waters meet waters that have been exposed to solar warming, and O(10 km) scale eddies near the ice edge. In the pack, Pacific Summer Water and a deep chlorophyll maximum form distinct layers at roughly 60 m and 80 m, respectively, which become increasingly diffuse late in the season as they progress through the MIZ and into open water. Stratification just above the Pacific Summer Water rapidly weakens near the ice edge and temperature variance increases, likely due to mixing or energetic vertical exchange associated with strong

  17. Multi-wavelength Observations of Two Explosive Events and Their Effects on the Solar Atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agustinus G. Admiranto

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available We investigated two flares in the solar atmosphere that occurred on June 3, 2012 and July 6, 2012 and caused propagation of Moreton and EIT waves. In the June 3 event, we noticed a filament winking which presumably was caused by the wave propagation from the flare. An interesting feature of this event is that there was a reflection of this wave by a coronal hole located alongside the wave propagation, but not all of this wave was transmitted by the coronal hole. Using the running difference method, we calculated the speed of Moreton and EIT waves and we found values of 926 km/s before the reflection and 276 km/s after the reflection (Moreton wave and 1,127 km/s before the reflection and 46 km/s after the reflection (EIT wave. In the July 6 event, this phenomenon was accompanied by type II and type III solar radio bursts, and we also performed a running difference analysis to find the speed of the Moreton wave, obtaining a value of 988 km/s. The speed derived from the analysis of the solar radio burst was 1,200 km/s, and we assume that this difference was caused by the different nature of the motions in these phenomena, where the solar radio burst was caused by the propagating particles, not waves.

  18. Solar electricity and solar fuels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spiers, David J.

    1989-04-01

    The nature of solar radiation and its variation with location is described. The distribution of energy in the solar spectrum places immediate limits on the theoretical efficiency of conversion processes, since practical absorbers cannot convert all wavelengths received to useful energy. The principles of solar energy conversion methods are described. Absorption of solar energy can give rise to direct electrical generation, heating, or chemical change. Electrical generation from sunlight can be achieved by photovoltaic systems directly or by thermal systems which use solar heat to drive a heat engine and generator. The technology used and under research for promising ways of producing electricity or fuel from solar energy is described. Photovoltaic technology is established today for remote area, small power applications, and photovoltaic module sales alone are over 100 million dollars per year at present. The photovoltaic market has grown steadily since the mid-1970's, as prices have fallen continuously. Future energy options are briefly described. The merits of a sustainable energy economy, based on renewable energy resources, including solar energy, are emphasized, as this seems to provide the only hope of eliminating the problems caused by the build-up of atmospheric carbon dioxide, acid rain pollution and nuclear waste disposal. There is no doubt that clean fuels which were derived from solar energy and either did not involve carbon dioxide and used atmospheric carbon dioxide as the source dioxide as the source of carbon would be a worthy ideal. Methods described could one day achieve this.

  19. Solar Adaptive Optics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas R. Rimmele

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Adaptive optics (AO has become an indispensable tool at ground-based solar telescopes. AO enables the ground-based observer to overcome the adverse effects of atmospheric seeing and obtain diffraction limited observations. Over the last decade adaptive optics systems have been deployed at major ground-based solar telescopes and revitalized ground-based solar astronomy. The relatively small aperture of solar telescopes and the bright source make solar AO possible for visible wavelengths where the majority of solar observations are still performed. Solar AO systems enable diffraction limited observations of the Sun for a significant fraction of the available observing time at ground-based solar telescopes, which often have a larger aperture than equivalent space based observatories, such as HINODE. New ground breaking scientific results have been achieved with solar adaptive optics and this trend continues. New large aperture telescopes are currently being deployed or are under construction. With the aid of solar AO these telescopes will obtain observations of the highly structured and dynamic solar atmosphere with unprecedented resolution. This paper reviews solar adaptive optics techniques and summarizes the recent progress in the field of solar adaptive optics. An outlook to future solar AO developments, including a discussion of Multi-Conjugate AO (MCAO and Ground-Layer AO (GLAO will be given.

  20. Radar observations of high-latitude lower-thermospheric and upper-mesospheric winds and their response to geomagnetic activity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, R.M.

    1987-01-01

    Observations made by the Chatanika, Alaska, incoherent scatter radar during the summer months of 1976 to 1081 are analyzed to obtain high resolution lower-thermospheric neutral winds. Average winds and their tidal components are presented and compared to previous observational and model results. Upper-mesospheric neutral-wind observations obtained by the Poke Flat, Alaska Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) radar during the summer months of 1980 to 1982 are investigated statistically for evidence of variations due to geomagnetic activity. Observation of upper-mesospheric neutral winds made during two energetic Solar Proton Events (SPEs) by the Poker Flat, MST radar are presented. These results allow the low-altitude limits of magnetospheric coupling to the neutral atmosphere to be determined. Lower-thermospheric neutral winds are coupled to the ion convection driven by typical magnetospheric forcing above about 100 km. Coupling to lower atmospheric levels does not occur except during intervals of extreme disturbance of the magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere system which are also accompanied by dramatically increased ionization in the high-latitude mesosphere, such as SPEs

  1. Atmospheric chemistry and climate

    OpenAIRE

    Satheesh, SK

    2012-01-01

    Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science where major focus is the composition of the Earth's atmosphere. Knowledge of atmospheric composition is essential due to its interaction with (solar and terrestrial) radiation and interactions of atmospheric species (gaseous and particulate matter) with living organisms. Since atmospheric chemistry covers a vast range of topics, in this article the focus is on the chemistry of atmospheric aerosols with special emphasis on the Indian reg...

  2. On the role of solar and geomagnetic activity in long-term trends in the atmosphere-ionosphere system

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Laštovička, Jan

    2005-01-01

    Roč. 67, č. 1-2 (2005), s. 83-92 ISSN 1364-6826 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR KSK3012103; GA AV ČR IAA3042102 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30420517 Keywords : Long-term trends * Atmosphere * Ionosphere * Solar activity * Geomagnetic activity Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology Impact factor: 1.309, year: 2005

  3. Joint US Navy/US Air Force climatic study of the upper atmosphere. Volume 1: January

    Science.gov (United States)

    Changery, Michael J.; Williams, Claude N.; Dickenson, Michael L.; Wallace, Brian L.

    1989-07-01

    The upper atmosphere was studied based on 1980 to 1985 twice daily gridded analyses produced by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts. This volume is for the month of January. Included are global analyses of: (1) Mean temperature standard deviation; (2) Mean geopotential height standard deviation; (3) Mean density standard deviation; (4) Mean density standard deviation (all for 13 levels - 1000, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30 mb); (5) Mean dew point standard deviation for the 13 levels; and (6) Jet stream at levels 500 through 30 mb. Also included are global 5 degree grid point wind roses for the 13 pressure levels.

  4. WAMDII: The Wide Angle Michelson Doppler Imaging Interferometer

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-01-01

    As part of an effort to learn more about the upper atmosphere and how it is linked to the weather experienced each day, NASA and NRCC are jointly sponsoring the Wide Angle Michelson Doppler Imaging Interferometer (WAMDII) Mission. WAMDII will measure atmospheric temperature and wind speed in the upper atmosphere. In addition to providing data on the upper atmosphere, the wind speed and temperature readings WAMDII takes will also be highly useful in developing and updating computer simulated models of the upper atmosphere. These models are used in the design and testing of equipment and software for Shuttles, satellites, and reentry vehicles. In making its wind speed and temperature measurements, WAMDII examines the Earth's airglow, a faint photochemical luminescence caused by the influx of solar ultraviolet energy into the upper atmosphere. During periods of high solar flare activity, the amount of this UV energy entering the upper atmosphere increases, and this increase may effect airglow emissions.

  5. Magnetohydrodynamic process in solar activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jingxiu Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Magnetohydrodynamics is one of the major disciplines in solar physics. Vigorous magnetohydrodynamic process is taking place in the solar convection zone and atmosphere. It controls the generating and structuring of the solar magnetic fields, causes the accumulation of magnetic non-potential energy in the solar atmosphere and triggers the explosive magnetic energy release, manifested as violent solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Nowadays detailed observations in solar astrophysics from space and on the ground urge a great need for the studies of magnetohydrodynamics and plasma physics to achieve better understanding of the mechanism or mechanisms of solar activity. On the other hand, the spectacular solar activity always serves as a great laboratory of magnetohydrodynamics. In this article, we reviewed a few key unresolved problems in solar activity studies and discussed the relevant issues in solar magnetohydrodynamics.

  6. Solar Spicules: Prospects for Breakthroughs in Understanding with Solar-B

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sterling, A.

    Spicules densely populate the lower solar atmosphere; any image or movie of the chromosphere shows a plethora of them or their "cousins," such as mottles or fibrils. Yet despite several decades of effort we still do not know the mechanism that generates them, or how important their contribution is to the material and energy balance of the overall solar atmosphere. Solar-B will provide exciting new chromospheric observations at high time- and spatial-resolution, along with associated quality magnetic field data, that promise to open doors to revolutionary breakthroughs in spicule research. In this presentation we will review the current observational and theoretical status of spicule studies, and discuss prospects for advances in spicule understanding during the Solar-B era.

  7. Reply to comment "On the hydrogen escape: Comment to variability of the hydrogen in the Martian upper atmosphere as simulated by a 3D atmosphere-exosphere coupling by J.-Y. Chaufray et al." by V. Krasnopolsky, Icarus, 281, 262

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaufray, J.-Y.; Gonzalez-Galindo, F.; Forget, F.; Lopez-Valverde, M.; Leblanc, F.; Modolo, R.; Hess, S.

    2018-02-01

    Krasnopolsky (2017) makes a careful review of our recent results about the Martian hydrogen content of the Martian upper atmosphere (Chaufray et al., 2015). We comment here on his two major points. First, he suggests that the non-thermal escape of H2, and particularly collisions with hot oxygen, not taken into account in our general circulation model (GCM), should modify our reported H2 and H density profiles. This is an important issue; we acknowledge that future effective coupling of our GCM with comprehensive models of the Martian solar wind interaction, ideally after being validated with the latest plasma observations of H2+, would allow for better estimations of the relative importance of the H2 non-thermal and thermal escape processes. For the time being we need assumptions in the GCM, with proper and regular updates. According to a recent and detailed study of the anisotropic elastic and inelastic collision cross sections between O and H2 (Gacesa et al., 2012), the escape rates used by Krasnopolsky (2010) for this process might be overestimated. We therefore do not include non thermal escape of H2 in the model. And secondly, in response to Krasnopolsky's comment on the H escape variability with the solar cycle, we revised our calculations and found a small bug in the computation of the Jeans effusion velocity. Our revised computed H escape rates are included here. They have a small impact on our key conclusions: similar seasonal variations, a reduced variation with the solar cycle but still larger than Krasnopolsky (2017), and again a hydrogen scape systematically lower than the diffusion-limited flux. This bug does not affect the latest Mars Climate Database v5.2.

  8. Investigation of the middle atmosphere of Venus as a key to understand its dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zasova, L. V.; Khatountsev, I. V.; Ignatiev, N. I.; Moroz, V. I.; Formisano, V.; Bellucci, G.

    2001-11-01

    Middle atmosphere of Venus (50 - 100km) is a very important part of the atmosphere. More than 70 % of the absorbed solar energy deposits there, providing an important source of energy to support thermal structure and dynamics. We investigate the thermal tides distribution, which is possibly responsible for the support of the superrotation. Temperature and aerosol vertical profiles were retrieved in a self consistent way from Venera-15 IR spectrometry data with vertical resolution of several kilometers. The temperature variation at the isobaric levels vs. solar longitude was presented as a superposition of the cosines with periods of 1, 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 Venusian days with amplitude and phase depending on latitude and altitude. In particular, in the upper clouds, where most of the solar energy absorbs, all four tidal components have significant amplitudes. For the midlatitude jet the solar related periods were also found with maximal amplitude of 1/2 days period. It was also discovered that the jet changes its position in such a way that the laws of the conservation of momentum and flux are satisfied. The Fourier spectrometer on Venera-15 may be considered as a precursor of the instrument of this kind for the future missions. A functioning of the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer, with spectral range 1-50 mkm, proposed for Venus Express mission together with UV (0.2-0.5 mm) mapping spectrometer, will be enable to get answers to the fundamental questions of the middle atmosphere: clouds formation, nature of the ``unknown" UV-absorber and the mechanism of support of the superrotation. This work was supported by the grant RFFI - 02-01-17841.

  9. Technologies and Methods Used at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) to Serve Solar Irradiance Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pankratz, Chris; Beland, Stephane; Craft, James; Baltzer, Thomas; Wilson, Anne; Lindholm, Doug; Snow, Martin; Woods, Thomas; Woodraska, Don

    2018-01-01

    The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado in Boulder, USA operates the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) NASA mission, as well as several other NASA spacecraft and instruments. Dozens of Solar Irradiance data sets are produced, managed, and disseminated to the science community. Data are made freely available to the scientific immediately after they are produced using a variety of data access interfaces, including the LASP Interactive Solar Irradiance Datacenter (LISIRD), which provides centralized access to a variety of solar irradiance data sets using both interactive and scriptable/programmatic methods. This poster highlights the key technological elements used for the NASA SORCE mission ground system to produce, manage, and disseminate data to the scientific community and facilitate long-term data stewardship. The poster presentation will convey designs, technological elements, practices and procedures, and software management processes used for SORCE and their relationship to data quality and data management standards, interoperability, NASA data policy, and community expectations.

  10. Geology and photometric variation of solar system bodies with minor atmospheres: implications for solid exoplanets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujii, Yuka; Kimura, Jun; Dohm, James; Ohtake, Makiko

    2014-09-01

    A reasonable basis for future astronomical investigations of exoplanets lies in our best knowledge of the planets and satellites in the Solar System. Solar System bodies exhibit a wide variety of surface environments, even including potential habitable conditions beyond Earth, and it is essential to know how they can be characterized from outside the Solar System. In this study, we provide an overview of geological features of major Solar System solid bodies with minor atmospheres (i.e., the terrestrial Moon, Mercury, the Galilean moons, and Mars) that affect surface albedo at local to global scale, and we survey how they influence point-source photometry in the UV/visible/near IR (i.e., the reflection-dominant range). We simulate them based on recent mapping products and also compile observed light curves where available. We show a 5-50% peak-to-trough variation amplitude in one spin rotation associated with various geological processes including heterogeneous surface compositions due to igneous activities, interaction with surrounding energetic particles, and distribution of grained materials. Some indications of these processes are provided by the amplitude and wavelength dependence of variation in combinations of the time-averaged spectra. We also estimate the photometric precision needed to detect their spin rotation rates through periodogram analysis. Our survey illustrates realistic possibilities for inferring the detailed properties of solid exoplanets with future direct imaging observations. Key Words: Planetary environments-Planetary geology-Solar System-Extrasolar terrestrial planets.

  11. Thermally-Induced Structural Disturbances of Rigid Panel Solar Arrays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, John D.; Thornton, Earl A.

    1997-01-01

    The performance of a significant number of spacecraft has been impacted negatively by attitude disturbances resulting from thermally-induced motions of flexible structures. Recent examples of spacecraft affected by these disturbances include the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). Thermally-induced structural disturbances occur as the result of rapid changes in thermal loading typically initiated as a satellite exits or enters the Earth's shadow. Temperature differences in flexible appendages give rise to structural deformations, which in turn result in disturbance torques reacting back on the spacecraft. Structures which have proven susceptible to these disturbances include deployable booms and solar arrays. This paper investigates disturbances resulting from thermally-induced deformations of rigid panel solar arrays. An analytical model for the thermal-structural response of the solar array and the corresponding disturbance torque are presented. The effect of these disturbances on the attitude dynamics of a simple spacecraft is then investigated using a coupled system of governing equations which includes the effects of thermally-induced deformations. Numerical results demonstrate the effect of varying solar array geometry on the dynamic response of the system.

  12. Solar radiophysics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McLean, D.J.; Labrum, N.R.

    1985-01-01

    This book treats all aspects of solar radioastronomy at metre wavelengths, particularly work carried out on the Australian radioheliograph at Culgoora, with which most of the authors have been associated in one way or another. After an introductory section on historical aspects, the solar atmosphere, solar flares, and coronal radio emission, the book deals with instrumentation, theory, and details of observations and interpretations of the various aspects of metrewave solar radioastronomy, including burst types, solar storms, and the quiet sun. (U.K.)

  13. Solar Atmosphere to Earth's Surface: Long Lead Time dB/dt Predictions with the Space Weather Modeling Framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welling, D. T.; Manchester, W.; Savani, N.; Sokolov, I.; van der Holst, B.; Jin, M.; Toth, G.; Liemohn, M. W.; Gombosi, T. I.

    2017-12-01

    The future of space weather prediction depends on the community's ability to predict L1 values from observations of the solar atmosphere, which can yield hours of lead time. While both empirical and physics-based L1 forecast methods exist, it is not yet known if this nascent capability can translate to skilled dB/dt forecasts at the Earth's surface. This paper shows results for the first forecast-quality, solar-atmosphere-to-Earth's-surface dB/dt predictions. Two methods are used to predict solar wind and IMF conditions at L1 for several real-world coronal mass ejection events. The first method is an empirical and observationally based system to estimate the plasma characteristics. The magnetic field predictions are based on the Bz4Cast system which assumes that the CME has a cylindrical flux rope geometry locally around Earth's trajectory. The remaining plasma parameters of density, temperature and velocity are estimated from white-light coronagraphs via a variety of triangulation methods and forward based modelling. The second is a first-principles-based approach that combines the Eruptive Event Generator using Gibson-Low configuration (EEGGL) model with the Alfven Wave Solar Model (AWSoM). EEGGL specifies parameters for the Gibson-Low flux rope such that it erupts, driving a CME in the coronal model that reproduces coronagraph observations and propagates to 1AU. The resulting solar wind predictions are used to drive the operational Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) for geospace. Following the configuration used by NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, this setup couples the BATS-R-US global magnetohydromagnetic model to the Rice Convection Model (RCM) ring current model and a height-integrated ionosphere electrodynamics model. The long lead time predictions of dB/dt are compared to model results that are driven by L1 solar wind observations. Both are compared to real-world observations from surface magnetometers at a variety of geomagnetic latitudes

  14. Solar Adaptive Optics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rimmele, Thomas R; Marino, Jose

    Adaptive optics (AO) has become an indispensable tool at ground-based solar telescopes. AO enables the ground-based observer to overcome the adverse effects of atmospheric seeing and obtain diffraction limited observations. Over the last decade adaptive optics systems have been deployed at major ground-based solar telescopes and revitalized ground-based solar astronomy. The relatively small aperture of solar telescopes and the bright source make solar AO possible for visible wavelengths where the majority of solar observations are still performed. Solar AO systems enable diffraction limited observations of the Sun for a significant fraction of the available observing time at ground-based solar telescopes, which often have a larger aperture than equivalent space based observatories, such as HINODE. New ground breaking scientific results have been achieved with solar adaptive optics and this trend continues. New large aperture telescopes are currently being deployed or are under construction. With the aid of solar AO these telescopes will obtain observations of the highly structured and dynamic solar atmosphere with unprecedented resolution. This paper reviews solar adaptive optics techniques and summarizes the recent progress in the field of solar adaptive optics. An outlook to future solar AO developments, including a discussion of Multi-Conjugate AO (MCAO) and Ground-Layer AO (GLAO) will be given. Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.12942/lrsp-2011-2.

  15. Alien skies planetary atmospheres from earth to exoplanets

    CERN Document Server

    Pont, Frédéric J

    2014-01-01

    Planetary atmospheres are complex and evolving entities, as mankind is rapidly coming to realise whilst attempting to understand, forecast and mitigate human-induced climate change. In the Solar System, our neighbours Venus and Mars provide striking examples of two endpoints of planetary evolution, runaway greenhouse and loss of atmosphere to space. The variety of extra-solar planets brings a wider angle to the issue: from scorching "hot jupiters'' to ocean worlds, exo-atmospheres explore many configurations unknown in the Solar System, such as iron clouds, silicate rains, extreme plate tectonics, and steam volcanoes. Exoplanetary atmospheres have recently become accessible to observations. This book puts our own climate in the wider context of the trials and tribulations of planetary atmospheres. Based on cutting-edge research, it uses a grand tour of the atmospheres of other planets to shine a new light on our own atmosphere, and its relation with life.

  16. Comparison of photospheric electric current and ultraviolet and x-ray emission in a solar active region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haisch, B.M.; Bruner, M.E.; Hagyard, M.J.; Bonnet, R.M.; NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL; ESA, Paris, France)

    1986-01-01

    This paper presents an extensive set of coordinated observations of a solar active region, taking into account spectroheliograms obtained with the aid of the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) Ultraviolet Spectrometer Polarimeter (UVSP) instrument, SMM soft x-ray polychromator (XRP) raster maps, and high spatial resolution ultraviolet images of the sun in Lyman-alpha and in the 1600 A continuum. These data span together the upper solar atmosphere from the temperature minimum to the corona. The data are compared to maps of the inferred photospheric electric current derived from the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) vector magnetograph observations. Some empirical correlation is found between regions of inferred electric current density and the brightest features in the ultraviolet continuum and to a lesser extent those seen in Lyman-alpha within an active region. 29 references

  17. CSSP implementation plan for space plasma physics programs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baker, D.N.; Williams, D.J.; Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD)

    1985-01-01

    The Committee on Solar and Space Physics (CSSP) has provided NASA with guidance in the areas of solar, heliospheric, magnetospheric, and upper atmospheric research. The budgetary sitation confronted by NASA has called for a prioritized plane for the implementation of solar and space plasma physics programs. CSSP has developed the following recommendations: (1) continue implementation of both the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite and Solar Optical Telescope programs; (2) initiate the International Solar Terrestrial Physics program; (3) plan for later major free-flying missions and carry out the technology development they require; (4) launch an average of one solar and space physics Explorer per yr beginning in 1990; (5) enhance current Shuttle/Spacelab programs; (6) develop facility-class instrumentation; (7) augment the solar terrestrial theory program by FY 1990; (8) support a compute modeling program; (9) strengthen the research and analysis program; and (10) maintain a stable suborbital program for flexible science objectives in upper atmosphere and space plasma physics

  18. OH in the Tropical Upper Troposhere and Its Relationships to Solar Radiation and Reactive Nitrogen

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, R. S.; Rosenlof, K. H.; Fahey, D. W.; Wennberg, P. O.; Hintsa, E. J.; Hanisco, T. F.

    2014-01-01

    In situ measurements of [OH], [HO2] (square brackets denote species concentrations), and other chemical species were made in the tropical upper troposphere (TUT). [OH] showed a robust correlation with solar zenith angle. Beyond this dependence, however, [HOx] ([OH] + [HO2]) only weakly responds to variations in its source and sink species. For example, at a given SZA, [HOx] was broadly independent of the product of [O3] and [H2O]. This suggests that [OH] is heavily buffered in the TUT. One important exception to this result is found in regions with very low [O3], [NO], and [NOy], where [OH] is highly suppressed, pointing to the critical role of NO in sustaining OH in the TUT.

  19. Total solar eclipse of 16 February 1980 and the vertical profiles of atmospheric parameters in the lowest 200M

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    RameshBabu, V.; Sastry, J.S.

    Vertical profiles of air temperature, wind and humidity at Raichur (16 degrees 12'N and 77 degrees 21'E) in the lowest 200m of the atmosphere are presented for the period 15-18 February 1980. The effect of the total solar eclipse, on 16 February...

  20. Upper limits for stratospheric H2O2 and HOCl from high resolution balloon-borne infrared solar absorption spectra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larsen, J. C.; Rinsland, C. P.; Goldman, A.; Murcray, D. G.; Murcray, F. J.

    1985-01-01

    Solar absorption spectra from two stratospheric balloon flights have been analyzed for the presence of H2O2 and HOCl absorption in the 1230.0 to 1255.0 per cm region. The data were recorded at 0.02 per cm resolution during sunset with the University of Denver interferometer system on October 27, 1978 and March 23, 1981. Selected spectral regions were analyzed with the technique of nonlinear least squares spectral curve fitting. Upper limits of 0.33 ppbv for H2O2 and 0.36 ppbv for HOCl near 28 km are derived from the 1978 flight data while upper limits of 0.44 ppbv for H2O2 and 0.43 ppbv for HOCl at 29.5 km are obtained from the 1981 flight data.

  1. Solar induced inter-annual variability of ozone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fytterer, Tilo; Nieder, Holger; Perot, Kristell; Sinnhuber, Miriam; Stiller, Gabriele; Urban, Joachim

    2014-05-01

    Measurements by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding instrument on board the ENVIromental SATellite from 2005 - 2011 are used to investigate the impact of solar and geomagnetic activity on O3 in the stratosphere and mesosphere inside the Antarctic polar vortex. It is known from observations that energetic particles, mainly originating from the sun, precipitate in the Earth atmosphere and produce odd nitrogen NOx (N + NO + NO2) in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere, which is transported downwards into the stratosphere during polar winter. Results from global chemistry-transport models suggest that this leads to a depletion of O3 down to ~30 km at high latitudes during winter. Therefore it appears promising to search for a link between high energetic particles and O3 in actual data sets. Thus in this study, correlation analysis between a 26 days average centred around 1 Apr, 1 May and 1 Jun of several solar/geomagnetic indices (Ap index, F10.7 cm solar radio flux, Lyman-alpha, 2 MeV electrons flux) and 26 day running means from 1 Apr - 1 Nov of O3 in the altitude range from 20 - 70 km were performed. The results reveal negative correlation coefficients propagating downwards throughout the polar winter, at least for the Ap index and the 2 MeV electrons flux. Comparisons with TIMED/SABER and Odin/SMR O3 data are in moderate agreement, also showing a descending negative signal in either indices, but only for the correlation with 1 Apr.

  2. Multi-wavelength imaging of solar plasma. High-beta disruption model of solar flares

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shibasaki, Kiyoto

    2007-01-01

    Solar atmosphere is filled with plasma and magnetic field. Activities in the atmosphere are due to plasma instabilities in the magnetic field. To understand the physical mechanisms of activities / instabilities, it is necessary to know the physical conditions of magnetized plasma, such as temperature, density, magnetic field, and their spatial structures and temporal developments. Multi-wavelength imaging is essential for this purpose. Imaging observations of the Sun at microwave, X-ray, EUV and optical ranges are routinely going on. Due to free exchange of original data among solar physics and related field communities, we can easily combine images covering wide range of spectrum. Even under such circumstances, we still do not understand the cause of activities in the solar atmosphere well. The current standard model of solar activities is based on magnetic reconnection: release of stored magnetic energy by reconnection is the cause of solar activities on the Sun such as solar flares. However, recent X-ray, EUV and microwave observations with high spatial and temporal resolution show that dense plasma is involved in activities from the beginning. Based on these observations, I propose a high-beta model of solar activities, which is very similar to high-beta disruptions in magnetically confined fusion experiments. (author)

  3. Solar forcing for CMIP6 (v3.2)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthes, Katja; Funke, Bernd; Andersson, Monika E.; Barnard, Luke; Beer, Jürg; Charbonneau, Paul; Clilverd, Mark A.; Dudok de Wit, Thierry; Haberreiter, Margit; Hendry, Aaron; Jackman, Charles H.; Kretzschmar, Matthieu; Kruschke, Tim; Kunze, Markus; Langematz, Ulrike; Marsh, Daniel R.; Maycock, Amanda C.; Misios, Stergios; Rodger, Craig J.; Scaife, Adam A.; Seppälä, Annika; Shangguan, Ming; Sinnhuber, Miriam; Tourpali, Kleareti; Usoskin, Ilya; van de Kamp, Max; Verronen, Pekka T.; Versick, Stefan

    2017-06-01

    5 predecessor by using time-slice experiments of two chemistry-climate models and a reference radiative transfer model. The differences in the long-term mean SSI in the CMIP6 dataset, compared to CMIP5, impact on climatological stratospheric conditions (lower shortwave heating rates of -0.35 K day-1 at the stratopause), cooler stratospheric temperatures (-1.5 K in the upper stratosphere), lower ozone abundances in the lower stratosphere (-3 %), and higher ozone abundances (+1.5 % in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere). Between the maximum and minimum phases of the 11-year solar cycle, there is an increase in shortwave heating rates (+0.2 K day-1 at the stratopause), temperatures ( ˜ 1 K at the stratopause), and ozone (+2.5 % in the upper stratosphere) in the tropical upper stratosphere using the CMIP6 forcing dataset. This solar-cycle response is slightly larger, but not statistically significantly different from that for the CMIP5 forcing dataset.CMIP6 models with a well-resolved shortwave radiation scheme are encouraged to prescribe SSI changes and include solar-induced stratospheric ozone variations, in order to better represent solar climate variability compared to models that only prescribe TSI and/or exclude the solar-ozone response. We show that monthly-mean solar-induced ozone variations are implicitly included in the SPARC/CCMI CMIP6 Ozone Database for historical simulations, which is derived from transient chemistry-climate model simulations and has been developed for climate models that do not calculate ozone interactively. CMIP6 models without chemistry that perform a preindustrial control simulation with time-varying solar forcing will need to use a modified version of the SPARC/CCMI Ozone Database that includes solar variability. CMIP6 models with interactive chemistry are also encouraged to use the particle forcing datasets, which will allow the potential long-term effects of particles to be addressed for the first time. The consideration of

  4. Solar forcing for CMIP6 (v3.2

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Matthes

    2017-06-01

    the CMIP6 solar forcing dataset to its CMIP5 predecessor by using time-slice experiments of two chemistry–climate models and a reference radiative transfer model. The differences in the long-term mean SSI in the CMIP6 dataset, compared to CMIP5, impact on climatological stratospheric conditions (lower shortwave heating rates of −0.35 K day−1 at the stratopause, cooler stratospheric temperatures (−1.5 K in the upper stratosphere, lower ozone abundances in the lower stratosphere (−3 %, and higher ozone abundances (+1.5 % in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere. Between the maximum and minimum phases of the 11-year solar cycle, there is an increase in shortwave heating rates (+0.2 K day−1 at the stratopause, temperatures ( ∼  1 K at the stratopause, and ozone (+2.5 % in the upper stratosphere in the tropical upper stratosphere using the CMIP6 forcing dataset. This solar-cycle response is slightly larger, but not statistically significantly different from that for the CMIP5 forcing dataset.CMIP6 models with a well-resolved shortwave radiation scheme are encouraged to prescribe SSI changes and include solar-induced stratospheric ozone variations, in order to better represent solar climate variability compared to models that only prescribe TSI and/or exclude the solar-ozone response. We show that monthly-mean solar-induced ozone variations are implicitly included in the SPARC/CCMI CMIP6 Ozone Database for historical simulations, which is derived from transient chemistry–climate model simulations and has been developed for climate models that do not calculate ozone interactively. CMIP6 models without chemistry that perform a preindustrial control simulation with time-varying solar forcing will need to use a modified version of the SPARC/CCMI Ozone Database that includes solar variability. CMIP6 models with interactive chemistry are also encouraged to use the particle forcing datasets, which will allow the potential long

  5. Global view of F-region electron density and temperature at solar maximum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brace, L.H.; Theis, R.F.; Hoegy, W.R.

    1982-01-01

    Dynamics Explorer-2 is permitting the first measurements of the global structure of the F-regions at very high levels of solar activity (S>200). Selected full orbits of Langmuir probe measurements of electron temperature, T/sub e/, and density, N/sub e/, are shown to illustrate this global structure and some of the ionospheric features that are the topic of other papers in this issue. The ionospheric thermal structure is of particular interest because T/sub e/ is a sensitive indicator of the coupling of magnetospheric energy into the upper atmosphere. A comparison of these heating effects with those observed at solar minimum shows that the magnetospheric sources are more important at solar maximum, as might have been expected. Heating at the cusp, the auroral oval and the plasma-pause is generally both greater and more variable. Electron cooling rate calculations employing low latitude measurements indicate that solar extreme ultraviolet heating of the F region at solar maximum is enhanced by a factor that is greater than the increase in solar flux. Some of this enhanced electron heating arises from the increase in electron heating efficiency at the higher N/sub e/ of solar maximum, but this appears insufficient to completely resolve the discrepancy

  6. The role of cosmic rays in the atmospheric processes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stozhkov, Y I [Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991, Leninsky Prospect, 53, Moscow (Russian Federation)

    2003-05-01

    The energy flux of galactic cosmic rays falling on the earth's atmosphere is small in comparison with solar electromagnetic irradiation (by 10{sup 8} times). But at altitudes of h {approx} 3 to 35 km in the atmosphere, cosmic rays are the only ionization source (from the ground level up to h {approx} 3 km, natural radioactivity is an additional source of ionization). Solar activity modulates cosmic ray flux. The cosmic rays produce atmospheric ions that define the electrical properties of the atmosphere. The electric charges play a very important role in the processes of cloud and thundercloud formation in the operation of the global electric circuit. The changes in electric properties of the atmosphere influence weather and climate. Thus, we have the following chain of the solar terrestrial relationship: solar activity - cosmic ray modulation - changes in the global electric properties of the atmosphere - changes in weather and climate. The following questions are discussed in this paper: light ion production in the atmosphere, role of electric charges in the formation of clouds and thunderclouds, experimental evidences of the relationships between cosmic ray flux and atmospheric current and lightning.

  7. The role of cosmic rays in the atmospheric processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stozhkov, Y I

    2003-01-01

    The energy flux of galactic cosmic rays falling on the earth's atmosphere is small in comparison with solar electromagnetic irradiation (by 10 8 times). But at altitudes of h ∼ 3 to 35 km in the atmosphere, cosmic rays are the only ionization source (from the ground level up to h ∼ 3 km, natural radioactivity is an additional source of ionization). Solar activity modulates cosmic ray flux. The cosmic rays produce atmospheric ions that define the electrical properties of the atmosphere. The electric charges play a very important role in the processes of cloud and thundercloud formation in the operation of the global electric circuit. The changes in electric properties of the atmosphere influence weather and climate. Thus, we have the following chain of the solar terrestrial relationship: solar activity - cosmic ray modulation - changes in the global electric properties of the atmosphere - changes in weather and climate. The following questions are discussed in this paper: light ion production in the atmosphere, role of electric charges in the formation of clouds and thunderclouds, experimental evidences of the relationships between cosmic ray flux and atmospheric current and lightning

  8. Initiation of non-tropical thunderstorms by solar activity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herman, J R [Radio Sciences Co., Melbourne, Fla. (USA); Goldberg, R A

    1978-02-01

    Correlative evidence accumulating since 1926 suggests that there must be some physical coupling mechanism between solar activity and thunderstorm occurrence in middle to high latitudes. Such a link may be provided by alteration of atmospheric electric parameters through the influence of cosmic ray decreases and/or high-energy solar protons associated with active solar events. Galactic cosmic ray decreases tend to enhance the electric field at low heights. The protons produce excess ionization near and above 20 km, greatly increasing the atmospheric conductivity and possibly lowering the height of the electrosphere. Consequent effects near the solar proton cut-off latitude also lead to an enhancement of the atmospheric electric field near the surface. If appropriate meteorological conditions (warm moist air with updrafts) exist or develop during a solar event, the atmospheric electric field enhancement may be sufficient to trigger thunderstorm development. The suggested mechanism appears plausible enough to warrant a co-ordinated experimental effort involving satellite balloon and ground-based measurements of the possible forcing functions (solar protons and cosmic rays) and the responding atmospheric electrical and ionic species' characteristics.

  9. Solar Radio

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Scientists monitor the structure of the solar corona, the outer most regions of the Sun's atmosphere, using radio waves (100?s of MHz to 10?s of GHz). Variations in...

  10. Joint US Navy/US Air Force climatic study of the upper atmosphere. Volume 2: February

    Science.gov (United States)

    Changery, Michael J.; Williams, Claude N.; Dickenson, Michael L.; Wallace, Brian L.

    1989-09-01

    The upper atmosphere was studied based on 1980 to 1985 twice daily gridded analyses produced by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts. This volume is for the month of February. Included are global analyses of: (1) Mean temperature standard deviation; (2) Mean geopotential height standard deviation; (3) Mean density standard deviation; (4) Height and vector standard deviation (all for 13 pressure levels - 1000, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30 mb); (5) Mean dew point standard deviation for the 13 levels; and (6) Jet stream for levels 500 through 30 mb. Also included are global 5 degree grid point wind roses for the 13 pressure levels.

  11. Joint US Navy/US Air Force climatic study of the upper atmosphere. Volume 7: July

    Science.gov (United States)

    Changery, Michael J.; Williams, Claude N.; Dickenson, Michael L.; Wallace, Brian L.

    1989-07-01

    The upper atmosphere was studied based on 1980 to 1985 twice daily gridded analysis produced by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts. This volume is for the month of July. Included are global analyses of: (1) Mean temperature/standard deviation; (2) Mean geopotential height/standard deviation; (3) Mean density/standard deviation; (4) Height and vector standard deviation (all at 13 pressure levels - 1000, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30 mb); (5) Mean dew point standard deviation at levels 1000 through 30 mb; and (6) Jet stream at levels 500 through 30 mb. Also included are global 5 degree grid point wind roses for the 13 pressure levels.

  12. Joint US Navy/US Air Force climatic study of the upper atmosphere. Volume 4: April

    Science.gov (United States)

    Changery, Michael J.; Williams, Claude N.; Dickenson, Michael L.; Wallace, Brian L.

    1989-07-01

    The upper atmosphere was studied based on 1980 to 1985 twice daily gridded analyses produced by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts. This volume is for the month of April. Included are global analyses of: (1) Mean temperature standard deviation; (2) Mean geopotential height standard deviation; (3) Mean density standard deviation; (4) Height and vector standard deviation (all for 13 pressure levels - 1000, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30 mb); (5) Mean dew point standard deviation for the 13 levels; and (6) Jet stream for levels 500 through 30 mb. Also included are global 5 degree grid point wind roses for the 13 pressure levels.

  13. Joint US Navy/US Air Force climatic study of the upper atmosphere. Volume 3: March

    Science.gov (United States)

    Changery, Michael J.; Williams, Claude N.; Dickenson, Michael L.; Wallace, Brian L.

    1989-11-01

    The upper atmosphere was studied based on 1980 to 1985 twice daily gridded analysis produced by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts. This volume is for the month of March. Included are global analyses of: (1) Mean Temperature Standard Deviation; (2) Mean Geopotential Height Standard Deviation; (3) Mean Density Standard Deviation; (4) Height and Vector Standard Deviation (all for 13 pressure levels - 1000, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30 mb); (5) Mean Dew Point Standard Deviation for levels 1000 through 30 mb; and (6) Jet stream for levels 500 through 30 mb. Also included are global 5 degree grid point wind roses for the 13 pressure levels.

  14. Joint US Navy/US Air Force climatic study of the upper atmosphere. Volume 10: October

    Science.gov (United States)

    Changery, Michael J.; Williams, Claude N.; Dickenson, Michael L.; Wallace, Brian L.

    1989-07-01

    The upper atmosphere was studied based on 1980 to 1985 twice daily gridded analysis produced by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts. This volume is for the month of October. Included are global analyses of: (1) Mean temperature/standard deviation; (2) Mean geopotential height/standard deviation; (3) Mean density/standard deviation; (4) Height and vector standard deviation (all at 13 pressure levels - 1000, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30 mb); (5) Mean dew point/standard deviation at levels 1000 through 30 mb; and (6) Jet stream at levels 500 through 30 mb. Also included are global 5 degree grid point wind roses for the 13 pressure levels.

  15. Long-term changes of the upper stratosphere as seen by Japanese rocketsondes at Ryori (39°N, 141°E

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Keckhut

    Full Text Available Wind and temperature profiles measured routinely by rockets at Ryori (Japan since 1970 are analysed to quantify interannual changes that occur in the upper stratosphere. The analysis involved using a least square fitting of the data with a multiparametric adaptative model composed of a linear combination of some functions that represent the main expected climate forcing responses of the stratosphere. These functions are seasonal cycles, solar activity changes, stratospheric optical depth induced by volcanic aerosols, equatorial wind oscillations and a possible linear trend. Step functions are also included in the analyses to take into account instrumental changes. Results reveal a small change for wind data series above 45 km when new corrections were introduced to take into account instrumental changes. However, no significant change of the mean is noted for temperature even after sondes were improved. While wind series reveal no significant trends, a significant cooling of 2.0 to 2.5 K/decade is observed in the mid upper stratosphere using this analysis method. This cooling is more than double the cooling predicted by models by a factor of more than two. In winter, it may be noted that the amplitude of the atmospheric response is enhanced. This is probably caused by the larger ozone depletion and/or by some dynamical feedback effects. In winter, cooling tends to be smaller around 40-45 km (in fact a warming trend is observed in December as already observed in other data sets and simulated by models. Although the winter response to volcanic aerosols is in good agreement with numerical simulations, the solar signature is of the opposite sign to that expected. This is not understood, but it has already been observed with other data sets.

    Key words. Atmospheric composition and structure (evolution of one atmosphere; pressure · density · and temperature · Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (middle atmosphere dynamics

  16. ESA STSE Project “Sea Surface Temperature Diurnal Variability: Regional Extend – Implications in Atmospheric Modelling”

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Karagali, Ioanna

    of the vertical extend of diurnal signals. Drifting buoys provide measurements close to the surface but are not always available. Moored buoys are generally not able to resolve the daily SST signal, which strongly weakens with depth within the upper water column. For such reasons, the General Ocean Turbulence......, atmospheric and oceanic modelling, bio-chemical processes and oceanic CO2 studies. The diurnal variability of SST, driven by the coincident occurrence of low enough wind and solar heating, is currently not properly understood. Atmospheric, oceanic and climate models are currently not adequately resolving...... the daily SST variability, resulting in biases of the total heat budget estimates and therefore, demised model accuracies. The ESA STSE funded project SSTDV:R.EX.-IM.A.M. aimed at characterising the regional extend of diurnal SST signals and their impact in atmospheric modelling. This study will briefly...

  17. High-resolution studies of the structure of the solar atmosphere using a new imaging algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karovska, Margarita; Habbal, Shadia Rifai

    1991-01-01

    The results of the application of a new image restoration algorithm developed by Ayers and Dainty (1988) to the multiwavelength EUV/Skylab observations of the solar atmosphere are presented. The application of the algorithm makes it possible to reach a resolution better than 5 arcsec, and thus study the structure of the quiet sun on that spatial scale. The results show evidence for discrete looplike structures in the network boundary, 5-10 arcsec in size, at temperatures of 100,000 K.

  18. A Reanalysis for the Seasonal and Longer-Period Cycles and the Trends in Middle Atmosphere Temperature from the HALOE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Remsberg, Ellis E.

    2007-01-01

    Previously published analyses for the seasonal and longer-period cycles in middle atmosphere temperature versus pressure (or T(p)) from the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) are extended to just over 14 years and updated to properly account for the effects of autocorrelation in its time series of zonally-averaged data. The updated seasonal terms and annual averages are provided, and they can be used to generate temperature distributions that are representative of the period 1991-2005. QBO-like terms have also been resolved and are provided, and they exhibit good consistency across the range of latitudes and pressure-altitudes. Further, exploratory analyses of the residuals from each of the 221 time series have yielded significant 11-yr solar cycle (or SC-like) and linear trend terms at a number of latitudes and levels. The amplitudes of the SC-like terms for the upper mesosphere agree reasonably with calculations of the direct solar radiative effects for T(p). Those SC amplitudes increase by about a factor of 2 from the lower to the upper mesosphere and are also larger at the middle than at the low latitudes. The diagnosed cooling trends for the subtropical latitudes are in the range, -0.5 to -1.0 K/decade, which is in good agreement with the findings from models of the radiative effects on pressure surfaces due to known increases in atmospheric CO2. The diagnosed trends are somewhat larger than predicted with models for the upper mesosphere of the northern hemisphere middle latitudes.

  19. A Solar Radiation Parameterization for Atmospheric Studies. Volume 15

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chou, Ming-Dah; Suarez, Max J. (Editor)

    1999-01-01

    The solar radiation parameterization (CLIRAD-SW) developed at the Goddard Climate and Radiation Branch for application to atmospheric models are described. It includes the absorption by water vapor, O3, O2, CO2, clouds, and aerosols and the scattering by clouds, aerosols, and gases. Depending upon the nature of absorption, different approaches are applied to different absorbers. In the ultraviolet and visible regions, the spectrum is divided into 8 bands, and single O3 absorption coefficient and Rayleigh scattering coefficient are used for each band. In the infrared, the spectrum is divided into 3 bands, and the k-distribution method is applied for water vapor absorption. The flux reduction due to O2 is derived from a simple function, while the flux reduction due to CO2 is derived from precomputed tables. Cloud single-scattering properties are parameterized, separately for liquid drops and ice, as functions of water amount and effective particle size. A maximum-random approximation is adopted for the overlapping of clouds at different heights. Fluxes are computed using the Delta-Eddington approximation.

  20. A comparison of photospheric electric current and ultraviolet and X-ray emission in a solar active region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haisch, B. M.; Bruner, M. E.; Hagyard, M. J.; Bonnet, R. M.

    1986-01-01

    This paper presents an extensive set of coordinated observations of a solar active region, taking into account spectroheliograms obtained with the aid of the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) Ultraviolet Spectrometer Polarimeter (UVSP) instrument, SMM soft X-ray polychromator (XRP) raster maps, and high spatial resolution ultraviolet images of the sun in Lyman-alpha and in the 1600 A continuum. These data span together the upper solar atmosphere from the temperature minimum to the corona. The data are compared to maps of the inferred photospheric electric current derived from the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) vector magnetograph observations. Some empirical correlation is found between regions of inferred electric current density and the brightest features in the ultraviolet continuum and to a lesser extent those seen in Lyman-alpha within an active region.

  1. Solar nuclear energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tlalka, R.

    1977-01-01

    Brief characteristics are given of solar radiation and of its spectral range. The relation is derived for the gas pressure in the centre of the Sun and the mechanism is described of particle interactions in the Sun. Using the Eddington model the basic nuclear reactions in the Sun are described, namely the proton-proton chain and the C-N cycle. The energy transfer is discussed from the Sun to the boundaries of the Earth atmosphere and inside the atmosphere. The measurement of solar energy is conducted with actinometers, i.e., pyrheliometers, pyranometers and combinations thereof. The results of solar radiation measurement in different weather conditions are graphically represented. (J.B.)

  2. Polarisation of auroral emission lines in the Earth's upper atmosphere : first results and perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamy, H.; Barthelemy, M.; Simon Wedlund, C.; Lilensten, J.; Bommier, V.

    2011-12-01

    Polarisation of light is a key observable to provide information about asymmetry or anisotropy within a radiative source. Following the pioneering and controversial work of Duncan in 1959, the polarisation of auroral emission lines in the Earth's upper atmosphere has been overlooked for a long time, even though the red intense auroral line (6300Å) produced by collisional impacts with electrons precipitating along magnetic field lines is a good candidate to search for polarisation. This problem was investigated again by Lilensten et al (2006) and observations were obtained by Lilensten et al (2008) confirming that the red auroral emission line is polarised. More recent measurements obtained by Barthélemy et al (2011) are presented and discussed. The results are compared to predictions of the theoretical work of Bommier et al (2011) and are in good agreement. Following these encouraging results, a new dedicated spectropolarimeter is currently under construction between BIRA-IASB and IPAG to provide simultaneously the polarisation of the red line and of other interesting auroral emission lines such as N2+ 1NG (4278Å), other N2 bands, etc... Perspectives regarding the theoretical polarisation of some of these lines will be presented. The importance of these polarisation measurements in the framework of atmospheric modeling and geomagnetic activity will be discussed.

  3. Solar Features - Solar Flares - SIDS

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance (SID) is any of several radio propagation anomalies due to ionospheric changes resulting from solar or geophysical events.

  4. Selection of astrophysical/astronomical/solar sites at the Argentina East Andes range taking into account atmospheric components

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Piacentini, R.D.; García, B.; Micheletti, M.I.; Salum, G.; Freire, M.; Maya, J.; Mancilla, A.; Crinó, E.; Mandát, Dušan; Pech, M.; Bulik, T.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 57, č. 12 (2016), s. 2559-2574 ISSN 0273-1177 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 7AMB14AR005; GA MŠk LE13012; GA MŠk LG14019; GA MŠk LM2015046 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : astrophysical * astronomical * solar: sites * Argentina -Andes: atmospheric components Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 1.401, year: 2016

  5. Measurement-based J(NO2) sensitivity in a cloudless atmosphere under low aerosol loading and high solar zenith angle conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frueh, B.; Trautmann, T.

    2000-01-01

    The comparison between measured and simulated photodissociation frequencies of NO 2 , J(NO 2 ), in a cloudless atmosphere in a recent paper by Frueh et al., 2000 (Journal of Geophysical Research 105, 9843-9857) revealed an overestimation of J(NO 2 ) near ground level by model calculations compared with measurements and an underestimation in the upper part of the aerosol layer. A possible reason for the disagreement is the changing sun position during the vertical ascent. To resolve this problem we carried out a sensitivity study varying the solar zenith angle of 74 o by 1.4 o (which corresponds to the change of sun position during the vertical flight patterns). This results in a considerable deviation of J(NO 2 ) of about 10%. Further sensitivity studies on J(NO 2 ) have been done. These include realistic variations in ground albedo, humidity and aerosol properties. A variation in ground albedo from the measured value of A G = 0.023 (292-420 nm wavelength) to A G = 0 and A G = 0.05, respectively, resulted in an average J(NO 2 ) reduction and enhancement of only 2% near ground level with a slight decrease with increasing altitude. Furthermore, we compared simulations based on different relative humidity profiles with results from a dry atmosphere. Compared to the dry case the deviations of J(NO 2 ) were considerable (5-16%) although the measured aerosol concentration was very low. Moreover, we doubled the aerosol particle concentration. The maximum J(NO 2 ) deviations were in the same order of magnitude as for the relative humidity (5-16%). These changes are in the range of measurement uncertainty of J(NO 2 ) (author)

  6. Heat transfer in the atmosphere

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oerlemans, J.

    1982-01-01

    The atmosphere is almost transparent to solar radiation and almost opaque to terrestrial radiation. This implies that in the mean the atmosphere cools while the earth's surface is heated. Convection in the lower atmosphere must therefore occur. The upward flux of energy associated with it

  7. Non-LTE profiles of the Al I autoionization lines. [for solar model atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finn, G. D.; Jefferies, J. T.

    1974-01-01

    A non-LTE formulation is given for the transfer of radiation in the autoionizing lines of neutral aluminum at 1932 and 1936 A through both the Bilderberg and Harvard-Smithsonian model atmospheres. Numerical solutions for the common source function of these lines and their theoretical line profiles are calculated and compared with the corresponding LTE profiles. The results show that the non-LTE profiles provide a better match with the observations. They also indicate that the continuous opacity of the standard solar models should be increased in this wavelength region if the center-limb variations of observed and theoretical profiles of these lines are to be in reasonable agreement.

  8. Study of Atmospheric Forcing and Responses (SAFAR campaign: overview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Jayaraman

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Study of Atmospheric Forcing and Responses (SAFAR is a five year (2009–2014 research programme specifically to address the responses of the earth's atmosphere to both natural and anthropogenic forcings using a host of collocated instruments operational at the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Gadanki (13.5° N, 79.2° E, India from a unified viewpoint of studying the vertical coupling between the forcings and responses from surface layer to the ionosphere. As a prelude to the main program a pilot campaign was conducted at Gadanki during May–November 2008 using collocated observations from the MST radar, Rayleigh lidar, GPS balloonsonde, and instruments measuring aerosol, radiation and precipitation, and supporting satellite data. We show the importance of the large radiative heating caused by absorption of solar radiation by soot particles in the lower atmosphere, the observed high vertical winds in the convective updrafts extending up to tropopause, and the difficulty in simulating the same with existing models, the upward traveling waves in the middle atmosphere coupling the lower atmosphere with the upper atmosphere, their manifestation in the mesospheric temperature structure and inversion layers, the mesopause height extending up to 100 km, and the electro-dynamical coupling between mesosphere and the ionosphere which causes irregularities in the ionospheric F-region. The purpose of this communication is not only to share the knowledge that we gained from the SAFAR pilot campaign, but also to inform the international atmospheric science community about the SAFAR program as well as to extend our invitation to join in our journey.

  9. Solar Features - Solar Flares - Patrol

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The H-alpha Flare Patrol identifies time periods each day when the sun is being continuously monitored by select ground-based solar observatories.

  10. Estimativa de radiação solar via modelagem atmosférica de mesoescala aplicada à região nordeste do Brasil Estimation of solar radiation by mesoscale atmospheric modeling applied to the northeast Brazil region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Otacilio Leandro De Menezes Neto

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available A utilização de fontes alternativas de energias, como a solar, a eólica e a biomassa, vem crescendo significativamente nos últimos anos, sendo a energia solar, em particular, uma fonte abundante na região Nordeste do Brasil. O conhecimento preciso da radiação solar incidente é, assim, de grande importância para o planejamento energético brasileiro, servindo de base para o desenvolvimento de futuros projetos de plantas fotovoltaicas e de aproveitamento da energia solar. Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia para o mapeamento da energia solar incidente ao nível do solo para a região Nordeste do Brasil, utilizando um modelo atmosférico de mesoescala (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System - RAMS, validado e ajustado por meio dos dados medidos pela rede de plataformas de coleta de dados (PCDs da Fundação Cearense de Meteorologia e Recursos Hídricos (FUNCEME. Os resultados mostraram que o modelo apresenta erros sistemáticos, sobreestimando a radiação na superfície, porém após as devidas correções estatísticas, utilizando-se uma relação entre a fração de cobertura de nuvens prevista pelo modelo e a radiação observada na superfície e estimada no topo da atmosfera, encontram-se correlações de 0,92 com intervalos de confiança de 13,5 W/m² para dados com base mensal. Usando essa metodologia, a estimativa do valor médio anual (após ajustes da radiação solar incidente no estado do Ceará é de 215 W/m² (máximo em outubro: 260 W/m².The use of renewable energy sources, like solar, wind and biomass is rapidly increasing in recent years, with solar radiation being a particularly abundant energy source over Northeast Brazil. Thus, the proper quantitative knowledge of the incoming solar radiation is of great importance for energy generation planning in Brazil, serving as basis for developing future projects of photovoltaic power plants and solar energy exploration. This work presents a methodology for mapping the

  11. The 11-year solar cycle in current reanalyses: a (non)linear attribution study of the middle atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuchar, A.; Sacha, P.; Miksovsky, J.; Pisoft, P.

    2015-06-01

    This study focusses on the variability of temperature, ozone and circulation characteristics in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere with regard to the influence of the 11-year solar cycle. It is based on attribution analysis using multiple nonlinear techniques (support vector regression, neural networks) besides the multiple linear regression approach. The analysis was applied to several current reanalysis data sets for the 1979-2013 period, including MERRA, ERA-Interim and JRA-55, with the aim to compare how these types of data resolve especially the double-peaked solar response in temperature and ozone variables and the consequent changes induced by these anomalies. Equatorial temperature signals in the tropical stratosphere were found to be in qualitative agreement with previous attribution studies, although the agreement with observational results was incomplete, especially for JRA-55. The analysis also pointed to the solar signal in the ozone data sets (i.e. MERRA and ERA-Interim) not being consistent with the observed double-peaked ozone anomaly extracted from satellite measurements. The results obtained by linear regression were confirmed by the nonlinear approach through all data sets, suggesting that linear regression is a relevant tool to sufficiently resolve the solar signal in the middle atmosphere. The seasonal evolution of the solar response was also discussed in terms of dynamical causalities in the winter hemispheres. The hypothetical mechanism of a weaker Brewer-Dobson circulation at solar maxima was reviewed together with a discussion of polar vortex behaviour.

  12. Solar helium and neon in the Earth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Honda, M.; Mcdougall, I.; Patterson, D. B.

    1994-01-01

    Neon isotopic compositions in mantle-derived samples commonly are enriched in (20)Ne and (21)Ne relative to (22)Ne compared with atmospheric neon ((20)Ne/(22)Ne and (21)Ne/(22)Ne ratios in atmospheric neon are 9.8 and 0.029, respectively), together with significant primordial (3)He. Such results have been obtained on MORB's, intraplate plume-related oceanic island basalts, backarc basin basalts, mantle xenoliths, ancient diamonds and CO2 well gases (e.g., 1 - 8). The highest (20)Ne/(22)Ne ratio observed in MORB glasses (= 13.6 plus or minus 1.3 is close to the solar value (= 13.6, as observed in solar wind). In order to explain the enrichment of (20)Ne and (21)Ne relative to atmospheric neon for samples derived from the mantle, it is necessary to postulate the presence of at least two distinct non-atmospheric components. The two most likely candidates are solar and nucleogenic ((20)Ne/(22)Ne solar = 13.6 (21)Ne/(22)Ne solar = 0.032, (20)Ne/(22)Ne nucleogenic = 2.5 and (21)Ne/(22)Ne nucleogenic = 32). This is because solar neon is the only known component with a (20)Ne/(22)Ne ratio greater than both the atmospheric value and that observed in samples derived from the mantle. Nucleogenic neon is well known to elevate (21)Ne/(22)Ne ratios. Neon isotopic signatures observed in mantle-derived samples can be accounted for by mixing of the three neon end members: solar, nucleogenic and atmospheric.

  13. 3D General Circulation Model of the Middle Atmosphere of Jupiter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zube, Nicholas Gerard; Zhang, Xi; Li, Cheng; Le, Tianhao

    2017-10-01

    The characteristics of Jupiter’s large-scale stratospheric circulation remain largely unknown. Detailed distributions of temperature and photochemical species have been provided by recent observations [1], but have not yet been accurately reproduced by middle atmosphere general circulation models (GCM). Jupiter’s stratosphere and upper troposphere are influenced by radiative forcing from solar insolation and infrared cooling from hydrogen and hydrocarbons, as well as waves propagating from the underlying troposphere [2]. The relative significance of radiative and mechanical forcing on stratospheric circulation is still being debated [3]. Here we present a 3D GCM of Jupiter’s atmosphere with a correlated-k radiative transfer scheme. The simulation results are compared with observations. We analyze the impact of model parameters on the stratospheric temperature distribution and dynamical features. Finally, we discuss future tracer transport and gravity wave parameterization schemes that may be able to accurately simulate the middle atmosphere dynamics of Jupiter and other giant planets.[1] Kunde et al. 2004, Science 305, 1582.[2] Zhang et al. 2013a, EGU General Assembly, EGU2013-5797-2.[3] Conrath 1990, Icarus, 83, 255-281.

  14. Influence of base pressure and atmospheric contaminants on a-Si:H solar cell properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woerdenweber, J.; Schmitz, R.; Mueck, A.; Zastrow, U.; Niessen, L.; Gordijn, A.; Carius, R.; Beyer, W.; Rau, U.; Merdzhanova, T.; Stiebig, H.

    2008-01-01

    The influence of atmospheric contaminants oxygen and nitrogen on the performance of thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at 13.56 MHz was systematically investigated. The question is addressed as to what degree of high base pressures (up to 10 -4 Torr) are compatible with the preparation of good quality amorphous silicon based solar cells. The data show that for the intrinsic a-Si:H absorber layer exists critical oxygen and nitrogen contamination levels (about 2x10 19 atoms/cm 3 and 4x10 18 atoms/cm 3 , respectively). These levels define the minimum impurity concentration that causes a deterioration in solar cell performance. This critical concentration is found to depend little on the applied deposition regime. By enhancing, for example, the flow of process gases, a higher base pressure (and leak rate) can be tolerated before reaching the critical contamination level. The electrical properties of the corresponding films show that increasing oxygen and nitrogen contamination results in an increase in dark conductivity and photoconductivity, while activation energy and photosensitivity are decreased. These effects are attributed to nitrogen and oxygen induced donor states, which cause a shift of the Fermi level toward the conduction band and presumably deteriorate the built-in electric field in the solar cells. Higher doping efficiencies are observed for nitrogen compared to oxygen. Alloying effects (formation of SiO x ) are observed for oxygen contaminations above 10 20 atoms/cm 3 , leading to an increase in the band gap

  15. Influence of geomagnetic activity and atmospheric pressure on human arterial pressure during the solar cycle 24

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azcárate, T.; Mendoza, B.; Levi, J. R.

    2016-11-01

    We performed a study of the systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) arterial blood pressure behavior under natural variables such as the atmospheric pressure (AtmP) and the horizontal geomagnetic field component (H). We worked with a sample of 304 healthy normotense volunteers, 152 men and 152 women, with ages between 18 and 84 years in Mexico City during the period 2008-2014, corresponding to the minimum, ascending and maximum phases of the solar cycle 24. The data was divided by gender, age and day/night cycle. We studied the time series using three methods: Correlations, bivariate and superposed epochs (within a window of three days around the day of occurrence of a geomagnetic storm) analysis, between the SBP and DBP and the natural variables (AtmP and H). The correlation analysis indicated correlation between the SBP and DBP and AtmP and H, being the largest during the night. Furthermore, the correlation and bivariate analysis showed that the largest correlations are between the SBP and DBP and the AtmP. The superposed epoch analysis found that the largest number of significant SBP and DBP changes occurred for women. Finally, the blood pressure changes are larger during the solar minimum and ascending solar cycle phases than during the solar maximum; the storms of the minimum were more intense than those of the maximum and this could be the reason of behavior of the blood pressure changes along the solar cycle.

  16. Atmospheric electrodynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Volland, H.

    1984-01-01

    The book Atmospheric Electrodynamics, by Hans Voland is reviewed. The book describes a wide variety of electrical phenomena occurring in the upper and lower atmosphere and develops the mathematical models which simulate these processes. The reviewer finds that the book is of interest to researchers with a background in electromagnetic theory but is of only limited use as a reference work

  17. Atmospheric stability and atmospheric circulation in Athens, Greece

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Synodinou, B.M.; Petrakis, M.; Kassomenos, P.; Lykoudis, S.

    1996-01-01

    In the evaluation and study of atmospheric pollution reference is always made to the stability criteria. These criteria, usually represented as functions of different meteorological data such as wind speed and direction, temperature, solar radiation, etc., play a very important role in the investigation of different parameters that affect the build up of pollution episodes mainly in urban areas. In this paper an attempt is made to evaluate the atmospheric stability criteria based on measurements obtained from two locations in and nearby Athens. The atmospheric stability is then examined along with the other meteorological parameters

  18. Solar Features - Solar Flares

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A solar flare is a short-lived sudden increase in the intensity of radiation emitted in the neighborhood of sunspots. For many years it was best monitored in the...

  19. Trend-outflow method for understanding interactions of surface water with groundwater and atmospheric water for eight reaches of the Upper Rio Grande

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yi; Sheng, Zhuping

    2011-11-01

    SummaryAtmospheric water, surface water, and groundwater interact very actively through hydrologic processes such as precipitation, infiltration, seepage, irrigation, drainage, evaporation, and evapotranspiration in the Upper Rio Grande Basin. A trend-outflow method has been developed in this paper to gain a better understanding of the interactions based on cumulated inflow and outflow data for any river reaches of interest. A general trend-outflow equation was derived by associating the net interaction of surface water with atmospheric water as a polynomial of inflow and the net interaction of surface water with groundwater as a constant based on surface water budget. Linear and quadratic relations are probably two common trend-outflow types in the real world. It was found that trend-outflows of the Upper Rio Grande reaches, Española, Albuquerque, Socorro-Engle, Palomas, and Rincon are linear with inflow, while those of reaches, Belen, Mesilla and Hueco are quadratic. Reaches Belen, Mesilla and Hueco are found as water deficit reaches mainly for irrigated agriculture in extreme drought years.

  20. Solar Magnetic Atmospheric Effects on Global Helioseismic ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    provide priceless diagnostic tools in the search for hidden aspects of the solar interior ... The overall structure of the helioseismic frequency spectrum, see Figure 1, has not .... 10.7 cm radio flux were used as a proxy of the solar surface activity. All the ..... According to their predictions, at least B = 5 × 105 G field strength is.

  1. Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

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

  2. Solar saddle bags. Solar-Fahrradpacktaschen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Willems, M

    1991-09-12

    The invention consists of the arrangement of solar cells on the upper side of saddle bags of every design (handle bar pocket, bicycle saddle bag etc.) which charge the accumulators in the pack pocket. One can drive the alternator of the bicycle, a transistor radio, a cassette tape recorder, or similar, with the power from the accumulators. The lamp and the taillight of the bicycle can still be used. The solar cells can be attached firmly to the pack pocket. However, they can also be assembled detachably, e.g. by push-buttons or zip-fasteners.

  3. Composition Changes After the "Halloween" Solar Proton Event: The High-Energy Particle Precipitation in the Atmosphere (HEPPA) Model Versus MIPAS Data Intercomparison Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Funke, B.; Baumgaertner, A.; Calisto, M.; Egorova, T.; Jackman, C. H.; Kieser, J.; Krivolutsky, A.; Lopez-Puertas, M.; Marsh. D. R.; Reddmann, T.; hide

    2010-01-01

    We have compared composition changes of NO, NO2, H2O2,O3, N2O, HNO3 , N2O5, HNO4, ClO, HOCl, and ClONO2 as observed by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) on Envisat in the aftermath of the "Halloween" solar proton event (SPE) in October/November 2003 at 25-0.01 hPa in the Northern hemisphere (40-90 N) and simulations performed by the following atmospheric models: the Bremen 2D model (B2dM) and Bremen 3D Chemical Transport Model (B3dCTM), the Central Aerological Observatory (CAO) model, FinROSE, the Hamburg Model of the Neutral and Ionized Atmosphere (HAMMONIA), the Karlsruhe Simulation Model of the Middle Atmosphere (KASIMA), the ECHAM5/MESSY Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) model, the modeling tool for SO1ar Climate Ozone Links studies (SOCOL and SOCOLi), and the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM4). The large number of participating models allowed for an evaluation of the overall ability of atmospheric models to reproduce observed atmospheric perturbations generated by SPEs, particularly with respect to NOS, and ozone changes. We have further assessed the meteorological conditions and their implications on the chemical response to the SPE in both the models and observations by comparing temperature and tracer (CH4 and CO) fields. Simulated SPE-induced ozone losses agree on average within 5% with the observations. Simulated NO(y) enhancements around 1 hPa, however, are typically 30% higher than indicated by the observations which can be partly attributed to an overestimation of simulated electron-induced ionization. The analysis of the observed and modeled NO(y) partitioning in the aftermath of the SPE has demonstrated the need to implement additional ion chemistry (HNO3 formation via ion-ion recombination and water cluster ions) into the chemical schemes. An overestimation of observed H2O2 enhancements by all models hints at an underestimation of the OH/HO2 ratio in the upper polar stratosphere during the SPE. The

  4. Vertical Propagation and Temporal Growth of Perturbations in the Winter Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christiansen, B.

    2001-12-01

    We present a general circulation model study of the temporal growth and vertically propagation of perturbations following vertical confined forcings. Both transient and sustained forcings are considered. The motivation for the study is the recent recognition of downward propagation of anomalies from the stratosphere to the troposphere and its implications both for medium range forecasts and for a possible physical mechanism for stratospheric impacts on weather and climate. The dynamical link might also offer a mechanism for changes in the upper atmosphere to affect the tropospheric climate. Here we are thinking of changes in trace gases such as ozone, but also of modulations of the upper atmospheric structure related to the 11-year solar cycle. The model atmosphere is chaotic and shows growth of perturbations no matter which level is forced. The perturbations grow to a size comparable to the variability of the unperturbed atmosphere on a time-scale of 20 - 25 days in the troposphere and 30 - 40 days in the stratosphere. After the initial period of growth the perturbations have the same structure as the unperturbed atmosphere. Although the forcing is restricted to the northern hemisphere the perturbations encompass the whole atmosphere and develop on the same time scale on both hemispheres. Perturbations grow with time squared both when zonal mean and single cell values are considered. Such a power law growth suggest the existence of a finite predictability time which is independent of the initial perturbation as long as it is small. In the unperturbed atmosphere the stratospheric variability has the form of downward propagating stratospheric vacillations. However, in the initial period of growth the perturbations do not propagate downward and seem in general uncoupled to the background vacillations. This suggests that the downward propagation is a robust feature determined more by the processes in the troposphere than the state of the stratosphere. We note that

  5. Water, Methane Depletion, and High-Altitude Condensates in the Atmosphere of the Warm Super-Neptune WASP-107b

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreidberg, Laura; Line, Michael; Thorngren, Daniel; Morley, Caroline; Stevenson, Kevin

    2018-01-01

    The super-Neptune exoplanet WASP-107b is an exciting target for atmosphere characterization. It has an unusually large atmospheric scale height and a small, bright host star, raising the possibility of precise constraints on its current nature and formation history. In this talk, I will present the first atmospheric study of WASP-107b, a Hubble Space Telescope measurement of its near-infrared transmission spectrum. We determined the planet's composition with two techniques: atmospheric retrieval based on the transmission spectrum and interior structure modeling based on the observed mass and radius. The interior structure models set a 3σ upper limit on the atmospheric metallicity of 30x solar. The transmission spectrum shows strong evidence for water absorption (6.5σ confidence), and we infer a water abundance consistent with expectations for a solar abundance pattern. On the other hand, methane is depleted relative to expectations (at 3σ confidence), suggesting a low carbon-to-oxygen ratio or high internal heat flux. The water features are smaller than predicted for a cloudless atmosphere, crossing less than one scale height. A thick condensate layer at high altitudes (0.1 - 3 mbar) is needed to match the observations; however, we find that it is challenging for physically motivated cloud and haze models to produce opaque condensates at these pressures. Taken together, these findings serve as an illustration of the diversity and complexity of exoplanet atmospheres. The community can look forward to more such results with the high precision and wide spectral coverage afforded by future observing facilities.

  6. Solar Variability and Planetary Climates

    CERN Document Server

    Calisesi, Y; Gray, L; Langen, J; Lockwood, M

    2007-01-01

    Variations in solar activity, as revealed by variations in the number of sunspots, have been observed since ancient times. To what extent changes in the solar output may affect planetary climates, though, remains today more than ever a subject of controversy. In 2000, the SSSI volume on Solar Variability and Climate reviewed the to-date understanding of the physics of solar variability and of the associated climate response. The present volume on Solar Variability and Planetary Climates provides an overview of recent advances in this field, with particular focus at the Earth's middle and lower atmosphere. The book structure mirrors that of the ISSI workshop held in Bern in June 2005, the collection of invited workshop contributions and of complementary introductory papers synthesizing the current understanding in key research areas such as middle atmospheric processes, stratosphere-troposphere dynamical coupling, tropospheric aerosols chemistry, solar storm influences, solar variability physics, and terrestri...

  7. GCM simulations of cold dry Snowball Earth atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voigt, A.; Held, I.; Marotzke, J.

    2009-12-01

    We use the full-physics atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM5 to investigate cold and virtually dry Snowball Earth atmospheres. These result from specifying sea ice as the surface boundary condition everywhere, corresponding to a frozen aquaplanet, while keeping total solar irradiance at its present-day value of 1365 Wm-2 and setting atmospheric carbon dioxide to 300 ppmv. Here, we present four simulations corresponding to the four possible combinations of enabled or disabled diurnal and seasonal cycles. The aim of this study is twofold. First, we focus on the zonal-mean circulation of Snowball Earth atmospheres, which, due to missing moisture, might constitute an ideal though yet unexplored testbed for theories of atmospheric dynamics. Second, we investigate tropical surface temperatures with an emphasis on the impact of the diurnal and seasonal cycles. This will indicate whether the presence of the diurnal or seasonal cycle would facilitate or anticipate the escape from Snowball Earth conditions when total solar irradiance or atmospheric CO2 levels were increased. The dynamics of the tropical circulation in Snowball Earth atmospheres differs substantially from that in the modern atmosphere. The analysis of the mean zonal momentum budget reveals that the mean flow meridional advection of absolute vorticity is primarily balanced by vertical diffusion of zonal momentum. The contribution of eddies is found to be even smaller than the contribution of mean flow vertical advection of zonal momentum, the latter being usually neglected in theories for the Hadley circulation, at least in its upper tropospheric branch. Suppressing vertical diffusion of horizontal momentum above 850 hPa leads to a stronger Hadley circulation. This behaviour cannot be understood from axisymmetric models of the atmosphere, nor idealized atmospheric general circulation models, which both predict a weakening of the Hadley circulation when the vertical viscosity is decreased globally. We

  8. Registering upper atmosphere parameters in East Siberia with Fabry—Perot Interferometer KEO Scientific "Arinae"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasilyev, Roman; Artamonov, Maksim; Beletsky, Aleksandr; Zherebtsov, Geliy; Medvedeva, Irina; Mikhalev, Aleksandr; Syrenova, Tatyana

    2017-09-01

    We describe the Fabry–Perot interferometer designed to study Earth’s upper atmosphere. We propose a modification of the existing data processing method for determining the Doppler shift and Doppler widening and also for separating the observed line intensity and the background intensity. The temperature and wind velocity derived from these parameters are compared with physical characteristics obtained from modeling (NRLMSISE-00, HWM14). We demonstrate that the temperature is determined from the oxygen 630 nm line irrespective of the hydroxyl signal existing in interference patterns. We show that the interferometer can obtain temperature from the oxygen 557.7 nm line in case of additional calibration of the device. The observed wind velocity mainly agrees with model data. Night variations in the red and green oxygen lines quite well coincide with those in intensities obtained by devices installed nearby the interferometer.

  9. The study of the martian atmosphere from top to bottom with SPICAM light on mars express

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertaux, Jean-Loup; Fonteyn, D.; Korablev, O.; Chassefière, E.; Dimarellis, E.; Dubois, J. P.; Hauchecorne, A.; Cabane, M.; Rannou, P.; Levasseur-Regourd, A. C.; Cernogora, G.; Quemerais, E.; Hermans, C.; Kockarts, G.; Lippens, C.; de Maziere, M.; Moreau, D.; Muller, C.; Neefs, B.; Simon, P. C.; Forget, F.; Hourdin, F.; Talagrand, O.; Moroz, V. I.; Rodin, A.; Sandel, B.; Stern, A.

    2000-10-01

    SPICAM Light is a small UV-IR instrument selected for Mars Express to recover most of the science that was lost with the demise of Mars 96, where the SPICAM set of sensors was dedicated to the study of the atmosphere of Mars (Spectroscopy for the investigation of the characteristics of the atmosphere of mars). The new configuration of SPICAM Light includes optical sensors and an electronics block. A UV spectrometer (118-320 nm, resolution 0.8 nm) is dedicated to Nadir viewing, limb viewing and vertical profiling by stellar occultation (3.8 kg). It addresses key issues about ozone, its coupling with H 2O, aerosols, atmospheric vertical temperature structure and ionospheric studies. An IR spectrometer (1.2- 4.8 μm, resolution 0.4-1 nm) is dedicated to vertical profiling during solar occultation of H 2O, CO 2, CO, aerosols and exploration of carbon compounds (3.5 kg). A nadir looking sensor for H 2O abundances (1.0- 1.7 μm, resolution 0.8 nm) is recently included in the package (0.8 kg). A simple data processing unit (DPU, 0.9 kg) provides the interface of these sensors with the spacecraft. In nadir orientation, SPICAM UV is essentially an ozone detector, measuring the strongest O 3 absorption band at 250 nm in the spectrum of the solar light scattered back from the ground. In the stellar occultation mode the UV Sensor will measure the vertical profiles of CO 2, temperature, O 3, clouds and aerosols. The density/temperature profiles obtained with SPICAM Light will constrain and aid in the development of the meteorological and dynamical atmospheric models, from the surface to 160 km in the atmosphere. This is essential for future missions that will rely on aerocapture and aerobraking. UV observations of the upper atmosphere will allow study of the ionosphere through the emissions of CO, CO +, and CO 2+, and its direct interaction with the solar wind. Also, it will allow a better understanding of escape mechanisms and estimates of their magnitude, crucial for insight

  10. Abundance analysis of neodymium in the solar atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdelkawy, Ali G. A.; Shaltout, Abdelrazek M. K.; Beheary, M. M.; Bakry, A.

    2017-10-01

    Based on non-local thermodynamical equilibrium (NLTE) calculations, the solar neodymium (Nd) content was found based on a model atom of singly ionized neodymium (Nd II) containing 153 energy levels and 42 line transitions plus the ground state of Nd III. Here, we re-derive the solar Nd abundance using the model of the solar photosphere of Holweger & Müller.We succeed in selecting a good sample line list, relying on 20 Nd II solar lines together with the most accurate transition probabilities measured experimentally and available observational data. With damping parameters obtained from the literature, we find a mean NLTE solar photospheric Nd abundance of log ɛNd(1D) = 1.43 ± 0.16, which is in excellent agreement with the meteoritic value (log ɛNd = 1.45 ± 0.02). For a set of selected Nd II lines, the NLTE abundance correction is found to be +0.01 dex compared with the standard LTE effect. The influence of collisional interactions with electrons and neutral hydrogen atoms is investigated in detail.

  11. ICARUS Mission, Next Step of Coronal Exploration after Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe Plus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krasnoselskikh, V.; Tsurutani, B.; Velli, M.; Maksimovic, M.; Balikhin, M. A.; Dudok de Wit, T.; Kretzschmar, M.

    2017-12-01

    The primary scientific goal of ICARUS, a mother-daughter satellite mission, will be to determine how the magnetic field and plasma dynamics in the outer solar atmosphere give rise to the corona, the solar wind and the heliosphere. Reaching this goal will be a Rosetta-stone step, with results broadly applicable in the fields of space plasma and astrophysics. Within ESA's Cosmic Vision roadmap, these goals address Theme 2: How does the solar system work ?" Investigating basic processes occurring from the Sun to the edge of the Solar System". ICARUS will not only advance our understanding of the plasma environment around the Sun, but also of the numerous magnetically active stars with hot plasma coronae. ICARUS I will perform the firstever direct in situ measurements of electromagnetic fields, particle acceleration, wave activity, energy distribution and flows directly in the regions where the solar wind emerges from the coronal plasma. ICARUS I will have a perihelion at 1 Solar radius from its surface, it will cross the region where the major energy deposition occurs. The polar orbit of ICARUS I will enable crossing the regions where both the fast and slow wind are generated. It will probe local characteristics of the plasma and provide unique information about the processes involved in the creation of the solar wind. ICARUS II will observe this region using remote-sensing instruments, providing simultaneous information about regions crossed by ICARUS I and the solar atmosphere below as observed by solar telescopes. It will provide bridges for understanding the magnetic links between heliosphere and solar atmosphere. Such information is crucial to understanding of the physics and electrodynamics of the solar atmosphere. ICARUS II will also play an important relay role, enabling the radio-link with ICARUS I. It will receive, collect and store information transmitted from ICARUS I during its closest approach to the Sun. It will perform preliminary data processing and

  12. Space weather effects measured in atmospheric radiation on aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobiska, W. K.; Bouwer, D.; Bailey, J. J.; Didkovsky, L. V.; Judge, K.; Wieman, S. R.; Atwell, W.; Gersey, B.; Wilkins, R.; Rice, D.; Schunk, R. W.; Bell, L. D.; Mertens, C. J.; Xu, X.; Wiltberger, M. J.; Wiley, S.; Teets, E.; Shea, M. A.; Smart, D. F.; Jones, J. B. L.; Crowley, G.; Azeem, S. I.; Halford, A. J.

    2016-12-01

    Space weather's effects upon the near-Earth environment are due to dynamic changes in the energy transfer processes from the Sun's photons, particles, and fields. Of the domains that are affected by space weather, the coupling between the solar and galactic high-energy particles, the magnetosphere, and atmospheric regions can significantly affect humans and our technology as a result of radiation exposure. Since 2013 Space Environment Technologies (SET) has been conducting observations of the atmospheric radiation environment at aviation altitudes using a small fleet of six instruments. The objective of this work is to improve radiation risk management in air traffic operations. Under the auspices of the Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) and Upper-atmospheric Space and Earth Weather eXperiment (USEWX) projects our team is making dose rate measurements on multiple aircraft flying global routes. Over 174 ARMAS and USEWX flights have successfully demonstrated the operation of a micro dosimeter on commercial aviation altitude aircraft that captures the radiation environment resulting from Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs), Solar Energetic Protons (SEPs), and outer radiation belt energetic electrons. The real-time radiation exposure is measured as an absorbed dose rate in silicon and then computed as an ambient dose equivalent rate for reporting dose relevant to radiative-sensitive organs and tissue in units of microsieverts per hour. ARMAS total ionizing absorbed dose is captured on the aircraft, downlinked in real-time, processed on the ground into ambient dose equivalent rates, compared with NASA's Langley Research Center (LaRC) most recent Nowcast of Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation System (NAIRAS) global radiation climatology model runs, and then made available to end users. Dose rates from flight altitudes up to 56,700 ft. are shown for flights across the planet under a variety of space weather conditions. We discuss several space weather

  13. Solar Indices - Sunspot Numbers

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

  14. Solar Indices - Plage Regions

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of indices related to solar activity contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. This...

  15. Upper-Atmospheric Space and Earth Weather Experiment

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The USEWX project is seeking to monitor, record, and distribute atmospheric measurements of the radiation environment by installing a variety of dosimeters and other...

  16. Toward Improved Modeling of Spectral Solar Irradiance for Solar Energy Applications: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xie, Yu [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sengupta, Manajit [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2017-10-19

    This study introduces the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) recent efforts to extend the capability of the Fast All-sky Radiation Model for Solar applications (FARMS) by computing spectral solar irradiances over both horizontal and inclined surfaces. A new model is developed by computing the optical thickness of the atmosphere using a spectral irradiance model for clear-sky conditions, SMARTS2. A comprehensive lookup table (LUT) of cloud bidirectional transmittance distribution functions (BTDFs) is precomputed for 2002 wavelength bands using an atmospheric radiative transfer model, libRadtran. The solar radiation transmitted through the atmosphere is given by considering all possible paths of photon transmission and the relevent scattering and absorption attenuation. Our results indicate that this new model has an accuracy that is similar to that of state-of-the-art radiative transfer models, but it is significantly more efficient.

  17. Detecting Solar Neutrino Flare in Megaton and km3 detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fargion, Daniele; Di Giacomo, Paola

    2009-01-01

    To foresee a solar flare neutrino signal we infer its upper and lower bound. The upper bound was derived since a few years by general energy equipartition arguments on observed solar particle flare. The lower bound, the most compelling one for any guarantee neutrino signal, is derived by most recent records of hard Gamma bump due to solar flare on January 2005 (by neutral pion decay). Because neutral and charged pions (made by hadron scattering in the flare) are born on the same foot, their link is compelling: the observed gamma flux [Grechnev V.V. et al., (arXiv:0806.4424), Solar Physics, Vol. 1, October, (2008), 252] reflects into a corresponding one for the neutrinos, almost one to one. Moreover while gamma photons might be absorbed (in deep corona) or at least reduced inside the flaring plasma, the secondaries neutrino are not. So pion neutrinos should be even more abundant than gamma ones. Tens-hundred MeV neutrinos may cross undisturbed the whole Sun, doubling at least their rate respect a unique solar-side for gamma flare. Therefore we obtain minimal bounds opening a windows for neutrino astronomy, already at the edge of present but quite within near future Megaton neutrino detectors. Such detectors are considered mostly to reveal cosmic supernova background or rare Local Group (few Mpc) Supernovas events [Matthew D. Kistler et al. (0810.1959v1)]. However rarest (once a decade), brief (a few minutes) powerful solar neutrino 'flare' may shine and they may overcome by two to three order of magnitude the corresponding steady atmospheric neutrino noise on the Earth, leading in largest Neutrino detector at least to one or to meaning-full few events clustered signals. The voice of such a solar anti-neutrino flare component at a few tens MeVs may induce an inverse beta decay over a vanishing anti-neutrino solar background. Megaton or even inner ten Megaton Ice Cube detector at ten GeV threshold may also reveal traces in hardest energy of solar flares. Icecube

  18. A SEARCH FOR MAGNESIUM IN EUROPA'S ATMOSPHERE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hörst, S. M.; Brown, M. E.

    2013-01-01

    Europa's tenuous atmosphere results from sputtering of the surface. The trace element composition of its atmosphere is therefore related to the composition of Europa's surface. Magnesium salts are often invoked to explain Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer spectra of Europa's surface, thus magnesium may be present in Europa's atmosphere. We have searched for magnesium emission in the Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph archival spectra of Europa's atmosphere. Magnesium was not detected and we calculate an upper limit on the magnesium column abundance. This upper limit indicates that either Europa's surface is depleted in magnesium relative to sodium and potassium, or magnesium is not sputtered as efficiently resulting in a relative depletion in its atmosphere.

  19. Anti-neutrino imprint in solar neutrino flare

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fargion, D.

    2006-10-01

    A future neutrino detector at megaton mass might enlarge the neutrino telescope thresholds revealing cosmic supernova background and largest solar flares (SFs) neutrinos. Indeed the solar energetic (Ep>100 MeV) flare particles (protons, α), while scattering among themselves on solar corona atmosphere must produce prompt charged pions, whose chain decays are source of a solar (electron muon) neutrino 'flare' (at tens or hundreds MeV energy). These brief (minutes) neutrino 'bursts' at largest flare peak may overcome by three to five orders of magnitude the steady atmospheric neutrino noise on the Earth, possibly leading to their detection above detection thresholds (in a full mixed three flavour state). Moreover the birth of anti-neutrinos at a few tens of MeV very clearly flares above a null thermal 'hep' anti-neutrino solar background and also above a tiny supernova relic and atmospheric noise. The largest prompt solar anti-neutrino 'burst' may be well detected in future Super Kamikande (gadolinium implemented) anti-neutrino \\bar\

  20. A radiative transfer module for calculating photolysis rates and solar heating in climate models: Solar-J v7.5

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Juno; Prather, Michael J.; Cameron-Smith, Philip; Veidenbaum, Alex; Nicolau, Alex

    2017-07-01

    Solar-J is a comprehensive radiative transfer model for the solar spectrum that addresses the needs of both solar heating and photochemistry in Earth system models. Solar-J is a spectral extension of Cloud-J, a standard in many chemical models that calculates photolysis rates in the 0.18-0.8 µm region. The Cloud-J core consists of an eight-stream scattering, plane-parallel radiative transfer solver with corrections for sphericity. Cloud-J uses cloud quadrature to accurately average over correlated cloud layers. It uses the scattering phase function of aerosols and clouds expanded to eighth order and thus avoids isotropic-equivalent approximations prevalent in most solar heating codes. The spectral extension from 0.8 to 12 µm enables calculation of both scattered and absorbed sunlight and thus aerosol direct radiative effects and heating rates throughout the Earth's atmosphere.The Solar-J extension adopts the correlated-k gas absorption bins, primarily water vapor, from the shortwave Rapid Radiative Transfer Model for general circulation model (GCM) applications (RRTMG-SW). Solar-J successfully matches RRTMG-SW's tropospheric heating profile in a clear-sky, aerosol-free, tropical atmosphere. We compare both codes in cloudy atmospheres with a liquid-water stratus cloud and an ice-crystal cirrus cloud. For the stratus cloud, both models use the same physical properties, and we find a systematic low bias of about 3 % in planetary albedo across all solar zenith angles caused by RRTMG-SW's two-stream scattering. Discrepancies with the cirrus cloud using any of RRTMG-SW's three different parameterizations are as large as about 20-40 % depending on the solar zenith angles and occur throughout the atmosphere.Effectively, Solar-J has combined the best components of RRTMG-SW and Cloud-J to build a high-fidelity module for the scattering and absorption of sunlight in the Earth's atmosphere, for which the three major components - wavelength integration, scattering, and

  1. The Effect of Cumulus Cloud Field Anisotropy on Domain-Averaged Solar Fluxes and Atmospheric Heating Rates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinkelman, Laura M.; Evans, K. Franklin; Clothiaux, Eugene E.; Ackerman, Thomas P.; Stackhouse, Paul W., Jr.

    2006-01-01

    Cumulus clouds can become tilted or elongated in the presence of wind shear. Nevertheless, most studies of the interaction of cumulus clouds and radiation have assumed these clouds to be isotropic. This paper describes an investigation of the effect of fair-weather cumulus cloud field anisotropy on domain-averaged solar fluxes and atmospheric heating rate profiles. A stochastic field generation algorithm was used to produce twenty three-dimensional liquid water content fields based on the statistical properties of cloud scenes from a large eddy simulation. Progressively greater degrees of x-z plane tilting and horizontal stretching were imposed on each of these scenes, so that an ensemble of scenes was produced for each level of distortion. The resulting scenes were used as input to a three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer model. Domain-average transmission, reflection, and absorption of broadband solar radiation were computed for each scene along with the average heating rate profile. Both tilt and horizontal stretching were found to significantly affect calculated fluxes, with the amount and sign of flux differences depending strongly on sun position relative to cloud distortion geometry. The mechanisms by which anisotropy interacts with solar fluxes were investigated by comparisons to independent pixel approximation and tilted independent pixel approximation computations for the same scenes. Cumulus anisotropy was found to most strongly impact solar radiative transfer by changing the effective cloud fraction, i.e., the cloud fraction when the field is projected on a surface perpendicular to the direction of the incident solar beam.

  2. Solar Radius at Subterahertz Frequencies and Its Relation to Solar Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menezes, Fabian; Valio, Adriana

    2017-12-01

    The Sun emits radiation at several wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the optical band, the solar radius is 695 700 km, and this defines the photosphere, which is the visible surface of the Sun. However, as the altitude increases, the electromagnetic radiation is produced at other frequencies, causing the solar radius to change as a function of wavelength. These measurements enable a better understanding of the solar atmosphere, and the radius dependence on the solar cycle is a good indicator of the changes that occur in the atmospheric structure. We measure the solar radius at the subterahertz frequencies of 0.212 and 0.405 THz, which is the altitude at which these emissions are primarily generated, and also analyze the radius variation over the 11-year solar activity cycle. For this, we used radio maps of the solar disk for the period between 1999 and 2017, reconstructed from daily scans made by the Solar Submillimeter-wave Telescope (SST), installed at El Leoncito Astronomical Complex (CASLEO) in the Argentinean Andes. Our measurements yield radii of 966.5'' ±2.8'' for 0.2 THz and 966.5'' ±2.7'' for 0.4 THz. This implies a height of 5.0 ±2.0 ×106 m above the photosphere. Furthermore, we also observed a strong anticorrelation between the radius variation and the solar activity at both frequencies.

  3. ENERGY CONTENT AND PROPAGATION IN TRANSVERSE SOLAR ATMOSPHERIC WAVES

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goossens, M.; Van Doorsselaere, T. [Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Mathematics Department, Celestijnenlaan 200B bus 2400, B-3001 Heverlee (Belgium); Soler, R. [Solar Physics Group, Departament de Fisica, Universitat de les Illes Balears, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca (Spain); Verth, G., E-mail: tom.vandoorsselaere@wis.kuleuven.be [Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre (SP2RC), School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheffield, Hounsfield Road, Hicks Building, Sheffield S3 7RH (United Kingdom)

    2013-05-10

    Recently, a significant amount of transverse wave energy has been estimated propagating along solar atmospheric magnetic fields. However, these estimates have been made with the classic bulk Alfven wave model which assumes a homogeneous plasma. In this paper, the kinetic, magnetic, and total energy densities and the flux of energy are computed for transverse MHD waves in one-dimensional cylindrical flux tube models with a piecewise constant or continuous radial density profile. There are fundamental deviations from the properties for classic bulk Alfven waves. (1) There is no local equipartition between kinetic and magnetic energy. (2) The flux of energy and the velocity of energy transfer have, in addition to a component parallel to the magnetic field, components in the planes normal to the magnetic field. (3) The energy densities and the flux of energy vary spatially, contrary to the case of classic bulk Alfven waves. This last property has the important consequence that the energy flux computed with the well known expression for bulk Alfven waves could overestimate the real flux by a factor in the range 10-50, depending on the flux tube equilibrium properties.

  4. Solar system astrophysics background science and the inner solar system

    CERN Document Server

    Milone, Eugene F

    2008-01-01

    Solar System Astrophysics: A Text for the Science of Planetary Systems covers the field of solar system astrophysics beginning with basic tools of spherical astronomy, coordinate frames, and celestial mechanics. Historical introductions precede the development and discussion in most chapters. After a basic treatment of the two- and restricted three-body system motions in Background Science and the Inner Solar System, perturbations are discussed, followed by the Earth's gravitational potential field and its effect on satellite orbits. This is followed by analysis of the Earth-Moon system and the interior planets. In Planetary Atmospheres and the Outer Solar System, the atmospheres chapters include detailed discussions of circulation, applicable also to the subsequent discussion of the gas giants. The giant planets are discussed together, and the thermal excesses of three of them are highlighted. This is followed by chapters on moons and rings, mainly in the context of dynamical stability, comets and meteors, m...

  5. Water vapor measurements at ALOMAR over a solar cycle compared with model calculations by LIMA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartogh, P.; Sonnemann, G. R.; Grygalashvyly, M.; Song, Li; Berger, U.; Lübken, F.-J.

    2010-01-01

    Microwave water vapor measurements between 40 and 80 km altitude over a solar cycle (1996-2006) were carried out in high latitudes at Arctic Lidar Observatory for Middle Atmosphere Research (ALOMAR) (69.29°N, 16.03°E), Norway. Some smaller gaps and three interruptions of monitoring in the winters 1996/1997 and 2005/2006 and from spring 2001 to spring 2002 occurred during this period. The observations show a distinct year-to-year variability not directly related to solar Lyman-α radiation. In winter the water vapor mixing ratios in the upper domain were anticorrelated to the solar activity, whereas in summer, minima occurred in the years after the solar maximum in 2000/2001. In winter, sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) modulated the water vapor mixing ratios. Within the stratopause region a middle atmospheric water vapor maximum was observed, which results from the methane oxidation and is a regular feature there. The altitude of the maximum increased by approximately 5 km as summer approached. The largest mixing ratios were monitored in autumn. During the summer season a secondary water vapor maximum also occurred above 65 km most pronounced in late summer. The solar Lyman-α radiation impacts the water vapor mixing ratio particularly in winter above 65 km. In summer the correlation is positive below 70 km. The correlation is also positive in the lower mesosphere/stratopause region in winter due to the action of sudden stratospheric warmings, which occur more frequently under the condition of high solar activity and the enhancing the humidity. A strong day-to-day variability connected with planetary wave activity was found throughout the entire year. Model calculations by means of Leibniz-Institute Middle Atmosphere model (LIMA) reflect the essential patterns of the water vapor variation, but the results also show differences from the observations, indicating that exchange processes between the troposphere and stratosphere not modeled by LIMA could have

  6. Structure of the middle atmosphere of Venus and future observation with PFS on Venus Express.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zasova, L. V.; Formisano, V.; Moroz, V. I.; Ignatiev, N. I.; Khatountsev, I. A.

    Investigation of the middle atmosphere of Venus (55 -- 100 km) will allow to advance our knowledge about the most puzzling phenomena of the Venus dynamics -- its superrotation. More than 70% of all absorbed by Venus Solar energy is deposited there, results in the thermal tides generation and giving energy to support the superrotation. The importance of the tides in the middle atmosphere is manifested by the tidal character of the local time variation of the structure of the thermal field, zonal wind field (especially, behavior of the wind speed in the mid latitude jet), upper clouds, with amplitudes depending on the altitude and latitude. Investigation of the middle atmosphere is a scientific goal of the long wavelength channel of PFS on Venus Express, as well as of its short wavelength channel (the latter on the day side). The 3D temperature, aerosol, thermal wind and SO2 abundance fields, spatial distribution of abundance of H2O (possibly vertical profile), CO, HCl, HF will be obtained.

  7. Simulation of non-hydrostatic gravity wave propagation in the upper atmosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. Deng

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The high-frequency and small horizontal scale gravity waves may be reflected and ducted in non-hydrostatic simulations, but usually propagate vertically in hydrostatic models. To examine gravity wave propagation, a preliminary study has been conducted with a global ionosphere–thermosphere model (GITM, which is a non-hydrostatic general circulation model for the upper atmosphere. GITM has been run regionally with a horizontal resolution of 0.2° long × 0.2° lat to resolve the gravity wave with wavelength of 250 km. A cosine wave oscillation with amplitude of 30 m s−1 has been applied to the zonal wind at the low boundary, and both high-frequency and low-frequency waves have been tested. In the high-frequency case, the gravity wave stays below 200 km, which indicates that the wave is reflected or ducted in propagation. The results are consistent with the theoretical analysis from the dispersion relationship when the wavelength is larger than the cutoff wavelength for the non-hydrostatic situation. However, the low-frequency wave propagates to the high altitudes during the whole simulation period, and the amplitude increases with height. This study shows that the non-hydrostatic model successfully reproduces the high-frequency gravity wave dissipation.

  8. Response of the middle atmosphere to anthropogenic and natural forcings in the CMIP5 simulations with the Max Planck Institute Earth system model

    KAUST Repository

    Schmidt, H.; Rast, S.; Bunzel, F.; Esch, M.; Giorgetta, M.; Kinne, S.; Krismer, T.; Stenchikov, Georgiy L.; Timmreck, C.; Tomassini, L.; Walz, M.

    2013-01-01

    The ECHAM6 atmospheric general circulation model is the atmosphere component of the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (MPI-ESM) that is used in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) simulations. As ECHAM6 has its uppermost layer centered at 0.01 hPa in the upper mesosphere, these simulations offer the opportunity to study the middle atmosphere climate change and its relation to the troposphere on the basis of a very comprehensive set of state-of-the-art model simulations. The goals of this paper are (a) to introduce those new features of ECHAM6 particularly relevant for the middle atmosphere, including external forcing data, and (b) to evaluate the simulated middle atmosphere and describe the simulated response to natural and anthropogenic forcings. New features in ECHAM6 with respect to ECHAM5 include a new short-wave radiation scheme, the option to vary spectral irradiance independent of total solar irradiance, and a latitude-dependent gravity-wave source strength. The description of external forcing data focuses on solar irradiance and ozone. Stratospheric temperature trends simulated with the MPI-ESM for the last decades of the 20th century agree well with observations. The future projections depend strongly on the scenario. Under the high emission scenario RCP8.5, simulated temperatures are locally lower by more than 20 K than preindustrial values. Many of the simulated patterns of the responses to natural forcings as provided by solar variability, volcanic aerosols, and El Nino-Southern Oscillation, largely agree with the observations. 2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

  9. Response of the middle atmosphere to anthropogenic and natural forcings in the CMIP5 simulations with the Max Planck Institute Earth system model

    KAUST Repository

    Schmidt, H.

    2013-03-06

    The ECHAM6 atmospheric general circulation model is the atmosphere component of the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (MPI-ESM) that is used in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) simulations. As ECHAM6 has its uppermost layer centered at 0.01 hPa in the upper mesosphere, these simulations offer the opportunity to study the middle atmosphere climate change and its relation to the troposphere on the basis of a very comprehensive set of state-of-the-art model simulations. The goals of this paper are (a) to introduce those new features of ECHAM6 particularly relevant for the middle atmosphere, including external forcing data, and (b) to evaluate the simulated middle atmosphere and describe the simulated response to natural and anthropogenic forcings. New features in ECHAM6 with respect to ECHAM5 include a new short-wave radiation scheme, the option to vary spectral irradiance independent of total solar irradiance, and a latitude-dependent gravity-wave source strength. The description of external forcing data focuses on solar irradiance and ozone. Stratospheric temperature trends simulated with the MPI-ESM for the last decades of the 20th century agree well with observations. The future projections depend strongly on the scenario. Under the high emission scenario RCP8.5, simulated temperatures are locally lower by more than 20 K than preindustrial values. Many of the simulated patterns of the responses to natural forcings as provided by solar variability, volcanic aerosols, and El Nino-Southern Oscillation, largely agree with the observations. 2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

  10. Photochemistry of Planetary Atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yung, Y. L.

    2005-12-01

    The Space Age started half a century ago. Today, with the completion of a fairly detailed study of the planets of the Solar System, we have begun studying exoplanets (or extrasolar planets). The overriding question in is to ask whether an exoplanet is habitable and harbors life, and if so, what the biosignatures ought to be. This forces us to confront the fundamental question of what controls the composition of an atmosphere. The composition of a planetary atmosphere reflects a balance between thermodynamic equilibrium chemistry (as in the interior of giant planets) and photochemistry (as in the atmosphere of Mars). The terrestrial atmosphere has additional influence from life (biochemistry). The bulk of photochemistry in planetary atmospheres is driven by UV radiation. Photosynthesis may be considered an extension of photochemistry by inventing a molecule (chlorophyll) that can harvest visible light. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of photochemistry is catalytic chemistry, the ability of trace amounts of gases to profoundly affect the composition of the atmosphere. Notable examples include HOx (H, OH and HO2) chemistry on Mars and chlorine chemistry on Earth and Venus. Another remarkable feature of photochemistry is organic synthesis in the outer solar system. The best example is the atmosphere of Titan. Photolysis of methane results in the synthesis of more complex hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbon chemistry inevitably leads to the formation of high molecular weight products, giving rise to aerosols when the ambient atmosphere is cool enough for them to condense. These results are supported by the findings of the recent Cassini mission. Lastly, photochemistry leaves a distinctive isotopic signature that can be used to trace back the evolutionary history of the atmosphere. Examples include nitrogen isotopes on Mars and sulfur isotopes on Earth. Returning to the question of biosignatures on an exoplanet, our Solar System experience tells us to look for speciation

  11. Climate responses to SATIRE and SIM-based spectral solar forcing in a 3D atmosphere-ocean coupled GCM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wen Guoyong

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We apply two reconstructed spectral solar forcing scenarios, one SIM (Spectral Irradiance Monitor based, the other the SATIRE (Spectral And Total Irradiance REconstruction modeled, as inputs to the GISS (Goddard Institute for Space Studies GCMAM (Global Climate Middle Atmosphere Model to examine climate responses on decadal to centennial time scales, focusing on quantifying the difference of climate response between the two solar forcing scenarios. We run the GCMAM for about 400 years with present day trace gas and aerosol for the two solar forcing inputs. We find that the SIM-based solar forcing induces much larger long-term response and 11-year variation in global averaged stratospheric temperature and column ozone. We find significant decreasing trends of planetary albedo for both forcing scenarios in the 400-year model runs. However the mechanisms for the decrease are very different. For SATIRE solar forcing, the decreasing trend of planetary albedo is associated with changes in cloud cover. For SIM-based solar forcing, without significant change in cloud cover on centennial and longer time scales, the apparent decreasing trend of planetary albedo is mainly due to out-of-phase variation in shortwave radiative forcing proxy (downwelling flux for wavelength >330 nm and total solar irradiance (TSI. From the Maunder Minimum to present, global averaged annual mean surface air temperature has a response of ~0.1 °C to SATIRE solar forcing compared to ~0.04 °C to SIM-based solar forcing. For 11-year solar cycle, the global surface air temperature response has 3-year lagged response to either forcing scenario. The global surface air 11-year temperature response to SATIRE forcing is about 0.12 °C, similar to recent multi-model estimates, and comparable to the observational-based evidence. However, the global surface air temperature response to 11-year SIM-based solar forcing is insignificant and inconsistent with observation-based evidence.

  12. Multi-station synthesis of early twentieth century surface atmospheric electricity measurements for upper tropospheric properties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. G. Harrison

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available The vertical columnar current density in the global atmospheric electrical circuit depends on the local columnar resistance. A simple model for the columnar resistance is suggested, which separates the local boundary layer component from the upper troposphere cosmic ray component, and calculates the boundary layer component from a surface measurement of air conductivity. This theory is shown to provide reasonable agreement with observations. One application of the simple columnar model theory is to provide a basis for the synthesis of surface atmospheric electrical measurements made simultaneously at several European sites. Assuming the ionospheric potential to be common above all the sites, the theoretical air-earth current density present in the absence of a boundary layer columnar resistance can be found by extrapolation. This is denoted the free troposphere limit air-earth current density, J0. Using early surface data from 1909 when no ionospheric potential data are available for corroboration, J0 is found to be ~6 pA m−2, although this is subject to uncertainties in the data and limitations in the theory. Later (1966–1971 European balloon and surface data give J0=2.4 pA m−2.

  13. Method and apparatus for simulating atmospheric absorption of solar energy due to water vapor and CO{sub 2}

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sopori, B.L.

    1995-06-20

    A method and apparatus for improving the accuracy of the simulation of sunlight reaching the earth`s surface includes a relatively small heated chamber having an optical inlet and an optical outlet, the chamber having a cavity that can be filled with a heated stream of CO{sub 2} and water vapor. A simulated beam comprising infrared and near infrared light can be directed through the chamber cavity containing the CO{sub 2} and water vapor, whereby the spectral characteristics of the beam are altered so that the output beam from the chamber contains wavelength bands that accurately replicate atmospheric absorption of solar energy due to atmospheric CO{sub 2} and moisture. 8 figs.

  14. The determination of parameters of the upper atmosphere by the radio-meteor measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shamukov, Damir; Fahrutdinova, Antonina; Nugmanov, Ildus

    Study of the parameters of the upper atmosphere on the basis of amplitude-time characteristics of meteor ionization. Together with various methods meteor observations (optical, photographic, visual, spectral, television), the most effective modern method of studying meteors means is radar. The development of modern radar technology allows us to apply this tool to monitor meteors. This method allows to determine the parameters of temperature and atmospheric pressure. Actual issue is the development of methods of determining the coefficient of ambipolar diffusion, pressure, density and temperature of the atmosphere in the meteor zone. Graph of amplitude-time characteristic has the exponential form. This fact allows to determine the coefficient of ambipolar diffusion. New algorithm for estimation of the ambipolar diffusion coefficient based on a set of statistical methods and techniques of digital signal processing. There are decomposition of data on singular values and Prony's method. This method of modeling the sample data as a linear combination of exponential. Prony’s method approximates the amplitude-time characteristics of using a deterministic exponential model. Input data is amplitude-time characteristics of the meteor trail x[1]…x[N]. The method allows to estimate x[n] p-membered exponential model: begin{center} x[n]=Sigma2A_{k}exp[a _{k}(n-1)]Cos[2Pif_{k}(n-1)T+Fi_{k}] (1) end{center} 1<=n<=N, T - time range in seconds, A_{k} and a_{k} - amplitude and damping coefficient, f_{k} and Fi_{k} - frequency and initial phase. The equation describing the decay of radio signal: begin{center} A=A_{0}exp(-16Pi^{2}$D_{a}t/λ (2) ). (2) lambdaλ - radar wavelength. The output of the algorithm - the ambipolar diffusion coefficient values D_{a}. begin{center} T=0.5lnD-T_{0}+mg/2kT_{0} (3) Last equation allows to obtain temperature values using the coefficient of ambipolar diffusion depends on the height.

  15. THERMAL DIAGNOSTICS WITH THE ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY ON BOARD THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY: A VALIDATED METHOD FOR DIFFERENTIAL EMISSION MEASURE INVERSIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cheung, Mark C. M.; Boerner, P.; Schrijver, C. J.; Malanushenko, A. [Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, 3251 Hanover Street Bldg. 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304 (United States); Testa, P. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Chen, F.; Peter, H., E-mail: cheung@lmsal.com [Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, D-37077 Göttingen (Germany)

    2015-07-10

    We present a new method for performing differential emission measure (DEM) inversions on narrow-band EUV images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The method yields positive definite DEM solutions by solving a linear program. This method has been validated against a diverse set of thermal models of varying complexity and realism. These include (1) idealized Gaussian DEM distributions, (2) 3D models of NOAA Active Region 11158 comprising quasi-steady loop atmospheres in a nonlinear force-free field, and (3) thermodynamic models from a fully compressible, 3D MHD simulation of active region (AR) corona formation following magnetic flux emergence. We then present results from the application of the method to AIA observations of Active Region 11158, comparing the region's thermal structure on two successive solar rotations. Additionally, we show how the DEM inversion method can be adapted to simultaneously invert AIA and Hinode X-ray Telescope data, and how supplementing AIA data with the latter improves the inversion result. The speed of the method allows for routine production of DEM maps, thus facilitating science studies that require tracking of the thermal structure of the solar corona in time and space.

  16. Investigations on physics of planetary atmospheres and small bodies of the Solar system, extrasolar planets and disk structures around the stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vidmachenko, A. P.; Delets, O. S.; Dlugach, J. M.; Zakhozhay, O. V.; Kostogryz, N. M.; Krushevska, V. M.; Kuznyetsova, Y. G.; Morozhenko, O. V.; Nevodovskyi, P. V.; Ovsak, O. S.; Rozenbush, O. E.; Romanyuk, Ya. O.; Shavlovskiy, V. I.; Yanovitskij, E. G.

    2015-12-01

    The history and main becoming stages of Planetary system physics Department of the Main astronomical observatory of National academy of Sciences of Ukraine are considered. Fundamental subjects of department researches and science achievements of employees are presented. Fields of theoretical and experimental researches are Solar system planets and their satellites; vertical structures of planet atmospheres; radiative transfer in planet atmospheres; exoplanet systems of Milky Way; stars having disc structures; astronomical engineering. Employees of the department carry out spectral, photometrical and polarimetrical observations of Solar system planets, exoplanet systems and stars with disc structures. 1. From the history of department 2. The main directions of department research 3. Scientific instrumentation 4. Telescopes and observation stations 5. Theoretical studies 6. The results of observations of planets and small Solar system bodies and their interpretation 7. The study of exoplanets around the stars of our galaxy 8. Spectral energy distribution of fragmenting protostellar disks 9. Cooperation with the National Technical University of Ukraine (KPI) and National University of Ukraine "Lviv Polytechnic" to study the impact of stratospheric aerosol changes on weather and climate of the Earth 10. International relations. Scientific and organizational work. Scientific conferences, congresses, symposia 11. The main achievements of the department 12. Current researches 13. Anniversaries and awards

  17. Role of upper-most crustal composition in the evolution of the Precambrian ocean-atmosphere system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Large, R. R.; Mukherjee, I.; Zhukova, I.; Corkrey, R.; Stepanov, A.; Danyushevsky, L. V.

    2018-04-01

    Recent research has emphasized the potential relationships between supercontinent cycles, mountain building, nutrient flux, ocean-atmosphere chemistry and the origin of life. The composition of the Upper-Most Continental Crust (UMCC) also figures prominently in these relationships, and yet little detailed data on each component of this complex relationship has been available for assessment. Here we provide a new set of data on the trace element concentrations, including the Rare Earth Elements (REE), in the matrix of 52 marine black shale formations spread globally through the Archean and Proterozoic. The data support previous studies on the temporal geochemistry of shales, but with some important differences. Results indicate a change in provenance of the black shales (upper-most crustal composition), from more mafic in the Archean prior to 2700 Ma, to more felsic from 2700 to 2200 Ma, followed by a return to mafic compositions from 2200 to 1850 Ma. Around 1850 to 1800 Ma there is a rapid change to uniform felsic compositions, which remained for a billion years to 800 Ma. The shale matrix geochemistry supports the assertion that the average upper-most continental source rocks for the shales changed from a mix of felsic, mafic and ultramafic prior to 2700 Ma to more felsic after 1850 Ma, with an extended transition period between. The return to more mafic UMCC from 2200 to 1850 Ma is supported by the frequency of Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) and banded iron formations, which suggest a peak in major mantle-connected plume events and associated Fe-rich hydrothermal activity over this period. Support for the change to felsic UMCC around 1850 Ma is provided by previous geological data which shows that felsic magmas, including, A-type granites and K-Th-U-rich granites intruded vast areas of the continental crust, peaking around 1850 Ma and declining to 1000 Ma. The implications of this change in UMCC are far reaching and may go some way to explain the distinct

  18. The atmospheric implications of radiation belt remediation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. J. Rodger

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available High altitude nuclear explosions (HANEs and geomagnetic storms can produce large scale injections of relativistic particles into the inner radiation belts. It is recognised that these large increases in >1 MeV trapped electron fluxes can shorten the operational lifetime of low Earth orbiting satellites, threatening a large, valuable population. Therefore, studies are being undertaken to bring about practical human control of the radiation belts, termed "Radiation Belt Remediation" (RBR. Here we consider the upper atmospheric consequences of an RBR system operating over either 1 or 10 days. The RBR-forced neutral chemistry changes, leading to NOx enhancements and Ox depletions, are significant during the timescale of the precipitation but are generally not long-lasting. The magnitudes, time-scales, and altitudes of these changes are no more significant than those observed during large solar proton events. In contrast, RBR-operation will lead to unusually intense HF blackouts for about the first half of the operation time, producing large scale disruptions to radio communication and navigation systems. While the neutral atmosphere changes are not particularly important, HF disruptions could be an important area for policy makers to consider, particularly for the remediation of natural injections.

  19. Solar collecting characteristics of regenerative solar air collector; Chikunetsushiki kuki shunetsuki no shunetsu tokusei

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aoki, H; Takano, S; Kamitaira, T [Hachinohe Institute of Technology, Aomori (Japan)

    1997-11-25

    In order to develop a solar drying equipment for agricultural and marine products, a regenerative solar air collector was fabricated on a trial basis, which uses round stones as a heat storing material. Its heat collecting characteristics were discussed. The air heat collector was installed on a roof of the Hachinohe Engineering University facing due south. The inside of the air heat collector is lined with heat insulating material with a thickness of 30 mm, and black-painted round stones were laid as an heat insulating material on the floor and the north face. The collector is of a natural air circulating system in which outside air enters from an entrance open to atmosphere, and warmed air exits from upper exit. A selectively absorbing face plaque for accelerating the natural circulation was suspended on the upper part of the north face of the collector. An experiment was performed also on a case in which air is forcibly circulated by fan from the air exit hole. In the natural circulation system, high heat collecting efficiency is shown in the forenoon. However, heat loss increases as temperature in the equipment rises, and heat stored in the round stones during daytime was dissipated completely in the afternoon to night. In the case of the forced circulation system, heat collecting efficiency as high as about 90% was shown in sunny days. This is thought because of heat storage buffering action due to storage of heat in and its dissipation from the round stones, and because of suppression of heat dissipation from the glass surface. 1 ref., 9 figs.

  20. Infrared radiation and inversion population of CO2 laser levels in Venusian and Martian atmospheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordiyets, B. F.; Panchenko, V. Y.

    1983-01-01

    Formation mechanisms of nonequilibrium 10 micron CO2 molecule radiation and the possible existence of a natural laser effect in the upper atmospheres of Venus and Mars are theoretically studied. An analysis is made of the excitation process of CO2 molecule vibrational-band levels (with natural isotropic content) induced by direct solar radiation in bands 10.6, 9.4, 4.3, 2.7 and 2.0 microns. The model of partial vibrational-band temperatures was used in the case. The problem of IR radiation transfer in vibrational-rotational bands was solved in the radiation escape approximation.

  1. Wave propagation in a non-isothermal atmosphere and the solar five-minute oscillations. [Acoustic waves

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chiuderi, C; Giovanardi, C [Florence Univ. (Italy). Istituto di Astronomia

    1979-11-01

    This paper presents a detailed discussion of the properties of linear, periodic acoustic waves that propagate vertically in a non-isothermal atmosphere. In order to retain the basic feature of the solar atmosphere we have chosen a temperature profile presenting a minimum. An analytical solution of the problem is possible if T/..mu.., ..mu.. being the mean molecular weight, varies parabolically with height. The purpose of this study is to point out the qualitative differences existing between the case treated here and the customary analysis based on a locally isothermal treatment. The computed velocity amplitude and the temperature-perturbation as functions of the wave period exhibit a sharp peak in the region between 180 and 300 s, thus showing the possibility of interpreting the five-minute oscillations as a resonant phenomenon. The propagating or stationary nature of the waves is investigated by a study of the phase of the proposed analytical solution.

  2. 8 years of Solar Spectral Irradiance Observations from the ISS with the SOLAR/SOLSPEC Instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Damé, L.; Bolsée, D.; Meftah, M.; Irbah, A.; Hauchecorne, A.; Bekki, S.; Pereira, N.; Cessateur, G.; Marchand, M.; Thiéblemont, R.; Foujols, T.

    2016-12-01

    Accurate measurements of Solar Spectral Irradiance (SSI) are of primary importance for a better understanding of solar physics and of the impact of solar variability on climate (via Earth's atmospheric photochemistry). The acquisition of a top of atmosphere reference solar spectrum and of its temporal and spectral variability during the unusual solar cycle 24 is of prime interest for these studies. These measurements are performed since April 2008 with the SOLSPEC spectro-radiometer from the far ultraviolet to the infrared (166 nm to 3088 nm). This instrument, developed under a fruitful LATMOS/BIRA-IASB collaboration, is part of the Solar Monitoring Observatory (SOLAR) payload, externally mounted on the Columbus module of the International Space Station (ISS). The SOLAR mission, with its actual 8 years duration, will cover almost the entire solar cycle 24. We present here the in-flight operations and performances of the SOLSPEC instrument, including the engineering corrections, calibrations and improved know-how procedure for aging corrections. Accordingly, a SSI reference spectrum from the UV to the NIR will be presented, together with its UV variability, as measured by SOLAR/SOLSPEC. Uncertainties on these measurements and comparisons with other instruments will be briefly discussed.

  3. The Solar Dynamics Observatory, Studying the Sun and Its Influence on Other Bodies in the Solar System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chamberlin, P. C.

    2011-01-01

    The solar photon output, which was once thought to be constant, varies over all time scales from seconds during solar flares to years due to the solar cycle. These solar variations cause significant deviations in the Earth and space environments on similar time scales, such as affecting the atmospheric densities and composition of particular atoms, molecules, and ions in the atmospheres of the Earth and other planets. Presented and discussed will be examples of unprecedented observations from NASA's new solar observatory, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Using three specialized instruments, SDO measures the origins of solar activity from inside the Sun, though its atmosphere, then accurately measuring the Sun's radiative output in X-ray and EUV wavelengths (0.1-121 nm). Along with the visually appealing observations will be discussions of what these measurements can tell us about how the plasma motions in all layers of the Sun modifies and strengthens the weak solar dipole magnetic field to drive large energy releases in solar eruptions. Also presented will be examples of how the release of the Sun's energy, in the form of photons and high energy particles, physically influence other bodies in the solar system such as Earth, Mars, and the Moon, and how these changes drive changes in the technology that we are becoming dependent upon. The presentation will continuously emphasize how SDO, the first satellite in NASA's Living with a Star program, improving our understanding of the variable Sun and its Heliospheric influence.

  4. The Solar Connections Observatory for Planetary Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliversen, Ronald J.; Harris, Walter M.; Oegerle, William R. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    The NASA Sun-Earth Connection theme roadmap calls for comparative study of how the planets, comets, and local interstellar medium (LISM) interact with the Sun and respond to solar variability. Through such a study we advance our understanding of basic physical plasma and gas dynamic processes, thus increasing our predictive capabilities for the terrestrial, planetary, and interplanetary environments where future remote and human exploration will occur. Because the other planets have lacked study initiatives comparable to the terrestrial ITM, LWS, and EOS programs, our understanding of the upper atmospheres and near space environments on these worlds is far less detailed than our knowledge of the Earth. To close this gap we propose a mission to study {\\it all) of the solar interacting bodies in our planetary system out to the heliopause with a single remote sensing space observatory, the Solar Connections Observatory for Planetary Environments (SCOPE). SCOPE consists of a binocular EUV/FUV telescope operating from a remote, driftaway orbit that provides sub-arcsecond imaging and broadband medium resolution spectro-imaging over the 55-290 nm bandpass, and high (R>10$^{5}$ resolution H Ly-$\\alpha$ emission line profile measurements of small scale planetary and wide field diffuse solar system structures. A key to the SCOPE approach is to include Earth as a primary science target. From its remote vantage point SCOPE will be able to observe auroral emission to and beyond the rotational pole. The other planets and comets will be monitored in long duration campaigns centered when possible on solar opposition when interleaved terrestrial-planet observations can be used to directly compare the response of both worlds to the same solar wind stream and UV radiation field. Using a combination of observations and MHD models, SCOPE will isolate the different controlling parameters in each planet system and gain insight into the underlying physical processes that define the

  5. A theoretical analysis of the impact of atmospheric parameters on the spectral, electrical and thermal performance of a concentrating III–V triple-junction solar cell

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Theristis, Marios; Fernández, Eduardo F.; Stark, Cameron; O’Donovan, Tadhg S.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • An integrated spectral dependent electrical–thermal model has been developed. • The effect of atmospheric parameters on system’s performance is evaluated. • The HCPV cooling requirements under “hot & dry” conditions are quantified. • Case studies show the impact of heat transfer coefficient on annual energy yield. • The integrated modelling allows the system’s optimisation. - Abstract: The spectral sensitivity of a concentrating triple-junction (3J) solar cell has been investigated. The atmospheric parameters such as the air mass (AM), aerosol optical depth (AOD) and precipitable water (PW) change the distribution of the solar spectrum in a way that the spectral, electrical and thermal performance of a 3J solar cell is affected. In this paper, the influence of the spectral changes on the performance of each subcell and whole cell has been analysed. It has been shown that increasing the AM and AOD have a negative impact on the spectral and electrical performance of 3J solar cells while increasing the PW has a positive effect, although, to a lesser degree. A three-dimensional finite element analysis model is used to quantify the effect of each atmospheric parameter on the thermal performance for a range of heat transfer coefficients from the back-plate to the ambient air and also ambient temperature. It is shown that a heat transfer coefficient greater than 1300 W/(m"2 K) is required to keep the solar cell under 100 °C at all times. In order to get a more realistic assessment and also to investigate the effect of heat transfer coefficient on the annual energy yield, the methodology is applied for four US locations using data from a typical meteorological year (TMY3).

  6. Passive solar homes in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kindred, G.F. [Garfield Kindred Associates, Hancock, MI (United States)

    2001-07-01

    This paper discussed the construction and design of 3 affordable passive solar homes located in high latitudes: (1) the Kindred house located in a wooded subdivision in Hancock, Michigan; (2) the Autio house located in Laurium, Michigan; and the Mikkola house located in South Range, Michigan. The award-winning houses were part of the United States federal government's Energy Star program. The houses were constructed with common building materials in order to introduce the general public to the principles of energy-conscious passive solar design strategies and sustainable construction technologies. Super-insulation was used to retain solar heat gain in the houses. Air infiltration was minimized through the use of an airtight drywall sealing technique. Large windows were a prominent feature of the southern facades of the houses. The windows used fixed and casement low-e argon-filled insulated glazing. Average bills for the Kindred home are US$960 per year. It was concluded that passive solar design and construction strategies are now being used more often in the area as a result of the positive media coverage that the homes has received. 5 refs.

  7. Atmospheric Renewable Energy Research, Volume 3: Solar-Power Microgrids and Atmospheric Influences

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-01

    1.2 DOD Renewable Energy Applications 1 1.3 Atmospheric Renewable Energy Research Strategy 2 1.4 Microgrid Definitions 3 1.4.1 Mobile Microgrid 4...1.4.2 Hybrid Microgrid 4 1.4.3 Smart Microgrid 4 1.5 Long-Term Atmospheric Renewable Energy Research Vision 5 2. Atmospheric Dependencies 5 2.1...developed-for-Army “ smart ” mobile hybrid microgrid that will incorporate both traditional and renewable energy power resources. A significant

  8. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite: From Coffee Table Art to Quantitative Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douglass, Anne R.

    1999-01-01

    The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) has provided an unprecedented set of observations of constituents of the stratosphere. When used in combination with data from other sources and appropriate modeling tools, these observations are useful for quantitative evaluation of stratospheric photochemical processes. This is illustrated by comparing ozone observations from airborne Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL), from the Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM), from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), and from the Halogen occultation Experiment (HALOE) with ozone fields generated with a three dimensional model. For 1995-96, at polar latitudes, observations from DIAL flights on December 9 and January 30, and POAM and MLS between late December and late January are compared with ozone fields from the GSFC 3D chemistry and transport model. Data from the three platforms consistently show that the observed ozone has a negative trend relative to the modeled ozone, and that the trend is uniform in time between early and mid winter, with no obvious dependence on proximity to the vortex edge. The importance of chlorine catalyzed photochemistry to this ozone loss is explored by comparing observations from MLS and HALOE with simulations for other northern winters, particularly 1997-98.

  9. On the role of atmospheric forcing on upper ocean physics in the Southern Ocean and biological impacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carranza, Magdalena M.

    The Southern Ocean (SO) plays a key role in regulating climate by absorbing nearly half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2). Both physical and biogeochemical processes contribute to the net CO2 sink. As a result of global warming and ozone depletion, westerly winds have increased, with consequences for upper ocean physics but little is known on how primary producers are expected to respond to changes in atmospheric forcing. This thesis addresses the impact of atmospheric forcing on upper ocean dynamics and phytoplankton bloom development in the SO on synoptic storm scales, combining a broad range of observations derived from satellites, reanalysis, profiling floats and Southern elephant seals. On atmospheric synoptic timescales (2-10 days), relevant for phytoplankton growth and accumulation, wind speed has a larger impact on satellite Chl-a variability than surface heat fluxes or wind stress curl. In summer, strong winds are linked to deep mixed layers, cold sea surface temperatures and enhanced satellite chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), which suggest wind-driven entrainment plays a role in sustaining phytoplankton blooms at the surface. Subsurface bio-optical data from floats and seals reveal deep Chl-a fluorescence maxima (DFM) are ubiquitous in summer and tend to sit at the base of the mixed layer, but can occur in all seasons. The fact that wind speed and Chl-a correlations are maximal at zero lag time (from daily data) and incubation experiments indicate phytoplankton growth occurs 3-4 days after iron addition, suggests high winds in summer entrain Chl-a from a subsurface maximum. Vertical profiles also reveal Chl-a fluorescence unevenness within hydrographically defined mixed layers, suggesting the biological timescales of adaptation through the light gradient (i.e. growth and/or photoacclimation) are often faster than mixing timescales, and periods of quiescence between storms are long enough for biological gradients to form within the homogeneous layer in density

  10. Design review of the Brazilian Experimental Solar Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dal Lago, A.; Vieira, L. E. A.; Albuquerque, B.; Castilho, B.; Guarnieri, F. L.; Cardoso, F. R.; Guerrero, G.; Rodríguez, J. M.; Santos, J.; Costa, J. E. R.; Palacios, J.; da Silva, L.; Alves, L. R.; Costa, L. L.; Sampaio, M.; Dias Silveira, M. V.; Domingues, M. O.; Rockenbach, M.; Aquino, M. C. O.; Soares, M. C. R.; Barbosa, M. J.; Mendes, O., Jr.; Jauer, P. R.; Branco, R.; Dallaqua, R.; Stekel, T. R. C.; Pinto, T. S. N.; Menconi, V. E.; Souza, V. M. C. E. S.; Gonzalez, W.; Rigozo, N.

    2015-12-01

    The Brazilian's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), in collaboration with the Engineering School of Lorena/University of São Paulo (EEL/USP), the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), and the Brazilian's National Laboratory for Astrophysics (LNA), is developing a solar vector magnetograph and visible-light imager to study solar processes through observations of the solar surface magnetic field. The Brazilian Experimental Solar Telescope is designed to obtain full disk magnetic field and line-of-sight velocity observations in the photosphere. Here we discuss the system requirements and the first design review of the instrument. The instrument is composed by a Ritchey-Chrétien telescope with a 500 mm aperture and 4000 mm focal length. LCD polarization modulators will be employed for the polarization analysis and a tuning Fabry-Perot filter for the wavelength scanning near the Fe II 630.25 nm line. Two large field-of-view, high-resolution 5.5 megapixel sCMOS cameras will be employed as sensors. Additionally, we describe the project management and system engineering approaches employed in this project. As the magnetic field anchored at the solar surface produces most of the structures and energetic events in the upper solar atmosphere and significantly influences the heliosphere, the development of this instrument plays an important role in advancing scientific knowledge in this field. In particular, the Brazilian's Space Weather program will benefit most from the development of this technology. We expect that this project will be the starting point to establish a strong research program on Solar Physics in Brazil. Our main aim is to progressively acquire the know-how to build state-of-art solar vector magnetograph and visible-light imagers for space-based platforms.

  11. Oscillator phenomena in the solar atmosphere and radiation modulation in microwaves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vaz, A.M.Z.

    1983-05-01

    An overview of the principal known descriptions of oscillations in the solar atmosphere at different ranges of periods was developed. Particular attention was given to oscillations with time scale of seconds, associated to active regions or bursts. 1.5 quasi-periodic oscillations were detected by the first time at more than one microwave frequency simultaneously (22 GHz and 44 GHz), with high sensitivity and high time resolution, superimposed on a burst on Dec. 15, 1980. An advance phase of 0,3s between the oscillations in the frequencies of 22 GHz and 44 GHz was discovered. The proposed mechanism to explain such oscillations is based on oscillations of the magnetic field at the source. These oscillations modulate the gyro-synchrotron emission from high energy electrons trapped in the magnetic structure. The phase difference is attributed to the influence of the optical thickness of the gyro-synchrotron emission at 22 GHz. (Author) [pt

  12. Recovering the fine structures in solar images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karovska, Margarita; Habbal, S. R.; Golub, L.; Deluca, E.; Hudson, Hugh S.

    1994-01-01

    Several examples of the capability of the blind iterative deconvolution (BID) technique to recover the real point spread function, when limited a priori information is available about its characteristics. To demonstrate the potential of image post-processing for probing the fine scale and temporal variability of the solar atmosphere, the BID technique is applied to different samples of solar observations from space. The BID technique was originally proposed for correction of the effects of atmospheric turbulence on optical images. The processed images provide a detailed view of the spatial structure of the solar atmosphere at different heights in regions with different large-scale magnetic field structures.

  13. Thermodynamic Upper Bound on Broadband Light Coupling with Photonic Structures

    KAUST Repository

    Yu, Zongfu; Raman, Aaswath; Fan, Shanhui

    2012-01-01

    to an upper bound dictated by the second law of thermodynamics. Such bound limits how efficient light can be coupled to any photonic structure. As one example of application, we use this upper bound to derive the limit of light absorption in broadband solar

  14. Frontier of solar observation. Solar activity observed by 'HINODE' mission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, Tetsuya

    2008-01-01

    After launched in September 2006, solar observation satellite 'HINODE' has been a solar observatory on orbit with the scientific instruments well operated and its continuous observation was conducted steadily on almost all solar atmospheres from photosphere to corona. 'HINODE' was equipped with the solar optical telescope, extreme-ultraviolet imaging spectrometer and x-ray telescope and aimed at clarifying the mystery of solar physics related with coronal heating and magnetic reconnection. Present state of 'HINODE' was described from observations made in initial observation results, which have made several discoveries, such as Alfven waves in the corona, unexpected dynamics in the chromosphere and photosphere, continuous outflowing plasma as a possible source of solar wind, and fine structures of magnetic field in sunspots and solar surface. (T. Tanaka)

  15. A radiative transfer module for calculating photolysis rates and solar heating in climate models: Solar-J v7.5

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Hsu

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Solar-J is a comprehensive radiative transfer model for the solar spectrum that addresses the needs of both solar heating and photochemistry in Earth system models. Solar-J is a spectral extension of Cloud-J, a standard in many chemical models that calculates photolysis rates in the 0.18–0.8 µm region. The Cloud-J core consists of an eight-stream scattering, plane-parallel radiative transfer solver with corrections for sphericity. Cloud-J uses cloud quadrature to accurately average over correlated cloud layers. It uses the scattering phase function of aerosols and clouds expanded to eighth order and thus avoids isotropic-equivalent approximations prevalent in most solar heating codes. The spectral extension from 0.8 to 12 µm enables calculation of both scattered and absorbed sunlight and thus aerosol direct radiative effects and heating rates throughout the Earth's atmosphere.The Solar-J extension adopts the correlated-k gas absorption bins, primarily water vapor, from the shortwave Rapid Radiative Transfer Model for general circulation model (GCM applications (RRTMG-SW. Solar-J successfully matches RRTMG-SW's tropospheric heating profile in a clear-sky, aerosol-free, tropical atmosphere. We compare both codes in cloudy atmospheres with a liquid-water stratus cloud and an ice-crystal cirrus cloud. For the stratus cloud, both models use the same physical properties, and we find a systematic low bias of about 3 % in planetary albedo across all solar zenith angles caused by RRTMG-SW's two-stream scattering. Discrepancies with the cirrus cloud using any of RRTMG-SW's three different parameterizations are as large as about 20–40 % depending on the solar zenith angles and occur throughout the atmosphere.Effectively, Solar-J has combined the best components of RRTMG-SW and Cloud-J to build a high-fidelity module for the scattering and absorption of sunlight in the Earth's atmosphere, for which the three major components – wavelength

  16. Solar Imagery - Chromosphere - H-Alpha

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Collection includes a variety of H-alpha photographic datasets contributed by a number of national and private solar observatories located worldwide. Solar...

  17. Science with the solar optical telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, S. D.; Hogan, G. D.

    1984-01-01

    The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) is designed to provide the solar physics community with the data necessary for solving several fundamental problems in the energetics and dynamics of the solar atmosphere. Among these problems are questions on the origin and evolution of the sun's magnetic field, heating of the outer solar atmosphere, and sources of the solar wind in the lower lying regions of the outer atmosphere. The SOT will be built under the management of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, with science instruments provided by teams led by Principal Investigators. The telescope will be built by the Perkin-Elmer Corporation, and the science instruments selected for the first flight will be provided by the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory (LPARL) and the California Institute of Technology, with actual construction of a combined science instrument taking place at the LPARL. The SOT has a 1.3-meter-diameter primary mirror that will be capable of achieving diffraction-limited viewing in the visible of 0.1 arc-second. This dimension is less than a hydrodynamic scale-height or a mean-free-path of a continuum photon in the solar atmosphere. Image stability will be achieved by a control system in the telescope, which moves both the primary and tertiary mirrors in tandem, and will be further enhanced by a correlation tracker in the combined science instrument. The SOT Facility is currently scheduled for its first flight on Spacelab at the beginning of the 1990's.

  18. Solar cycle in current reanalyses: (non)linear attribution study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuchar, A.; Sacha, P.; Miksovsky, J.; Pisoft, P.

    2014-12-01

    This study focusses on the variability of temperature, ozone and circulation characteristics in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere with regard to the influence of the 11 year solar cycle. It is based on attribution analysis using multiple nonlinear techniques (Support Vector Regression, Neural Networks) besides the traditional linear approach. The analysis was applied to several current reanalysis datasets for the 1979-2013 period, including MERRA, ERA-Interim and JRA-55, with the aim to compare how this type of data resolves especially the double-peaked solar response in temperature and ozone variables and the consequent changes induced by these anomalies. Equatorial temperature signals in the lower and upper stratosphere were found to be sufficiently robust and in qualitative agreement with previous observational studies. The analysis also pointed to the solar signal in the ozone datasets (i.e. MERRA and ERA-Interim) not being consistent with the observed double-peaked ozone anomaly extracted from satellite measurements. Consequently the results obtained by linear regression were confirmed by the nonlinear approach through all datasets, suggesting that linear regression is a relevant tool to sufficiently resolve the solar signal in the middle atmosphere. Furthermore, the seasonal dependence of the solar response was also discussed, mainly as a source of dynamical causalities in the wave propagation characteristics in the zonal wind and the induced meridional circulation in the winter hemispheres. The hypothetical mechanism of a weaker Brewer Dobson circulation was reviewed together with discussion of polar vortex stability.

  19. CLOUDS IN SUPER-EARTH ATMOSPHERES: CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIUM CALCULATIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mbarek, Rostom; Kempton, Eliza M.-R., E-mail: mbarekro@grinnell.edu, E-mail: kemptone@grinnell.edu [Department of Physics, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 50112 (United States)

    2016-08-20

    Recent studies have unequivocally proven the existence of clouds in super-Earth atmospheres. Here we provide a theoretical context for the formation of super-Earth clouds by determining which condensates are likely to form under the assumption of chemical equilibrium. We study super-Earth atmospheres of diverse bulk composition, which are assumed to form by outgassing from a solid core of chondritic material, following Schaefer and Fegley. The super-Earth atmospheres that we study arise from planetary cores made up of individual types of chondritic meteorites. They range from highly reducing to oxidizing and have carbon to oxygen (C:O) ratios that are both sub-solar and super-solar, thereby spanning a range of atmospheric composition that is appropriate for low-mass exoplanets. Given the atomic makeup of these atmospheres, we minimize the global Gibbs free energy of formation for over 550 gases and condensates to obtain the molecular composition of the atmospheres over a temperature range of 350–3000 K. Clouds should form along the temperature–pressure boundaries where the condensed species appear in our calculation. We find that the composition of condensate clouds depends strongly on both the H:O and C:O ratios. For the super-Earth archetype GJ 1214b, KCl and ZnS are the primary cloud-forming condensates at solar composition, in agreement with previous work. However, for oxidizing atmospheres, K{sub 2}SO{sub 4} and ZnO condensates are favored instead, and for carbon-rich atmospheres with super-solar C:O ratios, graphite clouds appear. For even hotter planets, clouds form from a wide variety of rock-forming and metallic species.

  20. Pressure Balance at Mars and Solar Wind Interaction with the Martian Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krymskii, A. M.; Ness, N. F.; Crider, D. H.; Breus, T. K.; Acuna, M. H.; Hinson, D.

    2003-01-01

    The strongest crustal fields are located in certain regions in the Southern hemisphere. In the Northern hemisphere, the crustal fields are rather weak and usually do not prevent direct interaction between the SW and the Martian ionosphere/atmosphere. Exceptions occur in the isolated mini-magnetospheres formed by the crustal anomalies. Electron density profiles of the ionosphere of Mars derived from radio occultation data obtained by the Radio Science Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) experiment have been compared with the crustal magnetic fields measured by the MGS Magnetometer/Electron Reflectometer (MAG/ER) experiment. A study of 523 electron density profiles obtained at latitudes from +67 deg. to +77 deg. has been conducted. The effective scale-height of the electron density for two altitude ranges, 145-165 km and 165-185 km, and the effective scale-height of the neutral atmosphere density in the vicinity of the ionization peak have been derived for each of the profiles studied. For the regions outside of the potential mini-magnetospheres, the thermal pressure of the ionospheric plasma for the altitude range 145-185 km has been estimated. In the high latitude ionosphere at Mars, the total pressure at altitudes 160 and 180 km has been mapped. The solar wind interaction with the ionosphere of Mars and origin of the sharp drop of the electron density at the altitudes 200-210 km will be discussed.