| 1. |
- Kratz, David P., et al.
(författare)
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An inter-comparison of far-infrared line-by-line radiative transfer models
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-4073 .- 1879-1352. ; 90:3-4, s. 323-341
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A considerable fraction (>40%) of the outgoing longwave radiation escapes from the Earth's atmosphere-surface system within a region of the spectrum known as the far-infrared (wave-numbers less than ). Dominated by the line and continuum spectral features of the pure rotation band of water vapor, the far-infrared has a strong influence upon the radiative balance of the troposphere, and hence upon the climate of the Earth. Despite the importance of the far-infrared contribution, however, very few spectrally resolved observations have been made of the atmosphere for wave-numbers less than . The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), under its Instrument Incubator Program (IIP), is currently developing technology that will enable routine, space-based spectral measurements of the far-infrared. As part of NASA's IIP, the Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Troposphere (FIRST) project is developing an instrument that will have the capability of measuring the spectrum over the range from 100 to at a resolution of . To properly analyze the data from the FIRST instrument, accurate radiative transfer models will be required. Unlike the mid-infrared, however, no inter-comparison of codes has been performed for the far-infrared. Thus, in parallel with the development of the FIRST instrument, an investigation has been undertaken to inter-compare radiative transfer models for potential use in the analysis of far-infrared measurements. The initial phase of this investigation has focused upon the inter-comparison of six distinct line-by-line models. The results from this study have demonstrated remarkably good agreement among the models, with differences being of order 0.5%, thereby providing a high measure of confidence in our ability to accurately compute spectral radiances in the far-infrared.
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| 2. |
- Mlynczak, Martin G., et al.
(författare)
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Energy transport in the thermosphere during the solar storms of April 2002
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 110:A12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The dramatic solar storm events of April 2002 deposited a large amount of energy into the Earth's upper atmosphere, substantially altering the thermal structure, the chemical composition, the dynamics, and the radiative environment. We examine the flow of energy within the thermosphere during this storm period from the perspective of infrared radiation transport and heat conduction. Observations from the SABER instrument on the TIMED satellite are coupled with computations based on the ASPEN thermospheric general circulation model to assess the energy flow. The dominant radiative response is associated with dramatically enhanced infrared emission from nitric oxide at 5.3 μm from which a total of ∼7.7 × 1023 ergs of energy are radiated during the storm. Energy loss rates due to NO emission exceed 2200 Kelvin per day. In contrast, energy loss from carbon dioxide emission at 15 μm is only ∼2.3% that of nitric oxide. Atomic oxygen emission at 63 μm is essentially constant during the storm. Energy loss from molecular heat conduction may be as large as 3.8% of the NO emission. These results confirm the “natural thermostat” effect of nitric oxide emission as the primary mechanism by which storm energy is lost from the thermosphere below 210 km.
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| 3. |
- Mlynczak, Martin G., et al.
(författare)
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Evidence for a solar cycle influence on the infrared energy budget and radiative cooling of the thermosphere
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 112:A12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present direct observational evidence for solar cycle influence on the infrared energy budget and radiative cooling of the thermosphere. By analyzing nearly five years of data from the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument, we show that the annual mean infrared power radiated by the nitric oxide (NO) molecule at 5.3 μm has decreased by a factor of 2.9. This decrease is correlated (r = 0.96) with the decrease in the annual mean F10.7 solar index. Despite the sharp decrease in radiated power (which is equivalent to a decrease in the vertical integrated radiative cooling rate), the variability of the power as given in the standard deviation of the annual means remains approximately constant. A simple relationship is shown to exist between the infrared power radiated by NO and the F10.7 index, thus providing a fundamental relationship between solar activity and the thermospheric cooling rate for use in thermospheric models. The change in NO radiated power is also consistent with changes in absorbed ultraviolet radiation over the same time period. Computations of radiated power using an empirical model show much less variability than observed by SABER.
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| 4. |
- Mlynczak, Martin G., et al.
(författare)
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Solar-terrestrial coupling evidenced by periodic behavior in geomagnetic indexes and the infrared energy budget of the thermosphere
- 2008
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 35:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We examine time series of the daily global power (W) radiated by carbon dioxide (at 15 μm) and by nitric oxide (at 5.3 μm) from the Earth's thermosphere between 100 km and 200 km altitude. Also examined is a time series of the daily absorbed solar ultraviolet power in the same altitude region in the wavelength span 0 to 175 run. The infrared data are derived from the SABER instrument and the solar data are derived from the SEE instrument, both on the NASA TIMED satellite. The time series cover nearly 5 years from 2002 through 2006. The infrared and solar time series exhibit a decrease in radiated and absorbed power consistent with the declining phase of the current 11-year solar cycle. The infrared time series also exhibits high frequency variations that are not evident in the solar power time series. Spectral analysis shows a statistically significant 9-day periodicity in the infrared data but not in the solar data. A very strong 9-day periodicity is also found to exist in the time series of daily Ap and Kp geomagnetic indexes. These 9-day periodicities are linked to the recurrence of coronal holes on the Sun. These results demonstrate a direct coupling between the upper atmosphere of the Sun and the infrared energy budget of the thermosphere. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.
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| 5. |
- Mlynczak, Martin G., et al.
(författare)
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Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry observations of daytime mesospheric O2(1Δ) 1.27 μm emission and derivation of ozone, atomic oxygen, and solar and chemical energy deposition rates
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. - 2169-897X .- 2169-8996. ; 112:D15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report observations of the daytime O2(1Δ) airglow emission at 1.27 μm recorded by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on the NASA Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. The measured limb radiances are inverted to yield vertical profiles of the volume emission rate of energy from the O2 molecule. From these emission rates we subsequently derive the mesospheric ozone concentrations using a nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) radiative and kinetic model. Rates of energy deposition due to absorption of ultraviolet radiation in the Hartley band of ozone are also derived, independent of knowledge of the ozone abundance and solar irradiances. Atomic oxygen concentrations are obtained from the ozone abundance using photochemical steady state assumptions. Rates of energy deposition due to exothermic chemical reactions are also derived. The data products illustrated here are from a test day (4 July 2002) of SABER Version 1.07 data which are now becoming publicly available. This test day illustrates the high quality of the SABER O2(1Δ) airglow and ozone data and the variety of fundamental science questions to which they can be applied.
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| 6. |
- Siskind, David E., et al.
(författare)
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Decreases in atomic hydrogen over the summer pole : Evidence for dehydration from polar mesospheric clouds?
- 2008
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 35:13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observations from the Sounding of the Atmosphere with Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on the NASA/Thermospheric Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite show a surprising decrease in the inferred atomic hydrogen (H) over the polar regions in the lowermost thermosphere during the summer. This contrasts with predictions by global models that H should peak in this region at this time. We suggest the decrease is a consequence of the sequestering of the water vapor by the formation of polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) that redistributes the H2O thus reducing the chemical source of H. This decrease is more pronounced in the Northern rather than the Southern summer which is roughly consistent with the known morphology of PMCs. A model calculation which includes a PMC parameterization gives good qualitative agreement with the data suggesting that this process should be considered in global models of the coupling between the middle and upper atmosphere. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.
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| 7. |
- Smith, Anne K., et al.
(författare)
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Satellite observations of high nighttime ozone at the equatorial mesopause
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 113:17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Measurements by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry instrument enable the characterization of the seasonal variation of ozone and temperature in the upper mesosphere. These are the first global measurements that resolve both the structure of the secondary ozone maximum at night and the temperature over all seasons of the year. The average nighttime mixing ratios at the altitude of the maximum vary with latitude and season. Analysis shows that the highest mixing ratios are clustered near the equator during equinoxes. The high ozone mixing ratios are observed in exactly the place and time at which the diurnal tide is largest. The diurnal tidal phase is such that coldest temperatures at 95 km occur near midnight. The high ozone is coincident with regions that have both low temperature and low amounts of atomic hydrogen. We focus particularly on ozone mixing ratios in the range of 18-50 ppmv; these occur intermittently in the equinoctial tropics on days when the night temperature is particularly cold. The occurrence of ozone maxima over 20 ppmv was unexpected but is shown in this paper to be consistent with theory and is a result of large-amplitude diurnal tides. The same seasonal and latitudinal characteristics are seen in ozone density measured by Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.
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| 8. |
- Gardner, J.L., et al.
(författare)
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Comparison of nighttime nitric oxide 5.3 μm emissions in the thermosphere measured by MIPAS and SABER
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 112:A10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A comparative study of nitric oxide (NO) 5.3 μm emissions in the thermosphere measured by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) spectrometer and the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) radiometer satellite instruments was conducted for nighttime data collected on 14 June 2003. The agreement between the data sets was very good, within ∼25% over the entire latitude range studied from −58° to + 4°. The MIPAS and SABER data were inverted to retrieve NO volume emission rates. Spectral fitting of the MIPAS data was used to determine the NO(v = 1) rotational and spin-orbit temperatures, which were found to be in nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) above 110 km. Near 110 km the rotational and spin-orbit temperatures converged, indicating the onset of equilibrium in agreement with the results of non-LTE modeling. Because of the onset of equilibrium the NO rotational and spin-orbit temperatures can be used to estimate the kinetic temperature near 110 km. The results indicate that the atmospheric model NRLMSISE-00 underestimates the kinetic temperature near 110 km for the locations investigated. The SABER instrument 5.3 μm band filter cuts off a significant fraction of the NO(Δv = 1) band, and therefore modeling of NO is necessary to predict the total band radiance. The needed correction factors were directly determined from the MIPAS data, providing validation of the modeled values used in SABER operational data processing. The correction factors were applied to the SABER data to calculate densities of NO(v = 1). A feasibility study was also conducted to investigate the use of NO 5.3 μm emission data to derive NO(v = 0) densities in the thermosphere.
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| 9. |
- Montanes-Rodriguez, Pilar, et al.
(författare)
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Vegetation signature in the observed globally integrated spectrum of earth considering simultaneous cloud data : Applications for extrasolar planets
- 2006
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 651:1 I, s. 544-552
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A series of missions will be launched over the next few decades that will be designed to detect and characterize extrasolar planets around nearby stars. These missions will search for habitable environments and signs of life (biosignatures) in planetary spectra. The vegetation's "red edge," an enhancement in the Earth's spectrum near 700 nm when sunlight is reflected from greenery, is often suggested as a tool in the search for life in terrestrial-like extrasolar planets. Here, through ground-based observations of the Earth's spectrum, satellite observations of clouds, and an advanced atmospheric radiative-transfer code, we determine the temporal evolution of the vegetation signature of Earth. We find a strong correlation between the evolution of the spectral intensity of the red edge and changes in the cloud-free vegetated area over the course of observations. This relative increase for our single day corresponds to an apparent reflectance change of about 0.0050 ± 0.0005 with respect to the mean albedo of 0.25 at 680 nm (2.0% ± 0.2%). The excellent agreement between models and observations motivated us to probe more deeply into the red-edge detectability using real cloud observations at longer timescales. Overall, we find the evolution of the red-edge signal in the globally averaged spectra to be weak, and only attributable to vegetation changes when the real land and cloud distributions for the day are known. However, it becomes prominent under certain Sun-Earth-Moon orbital geometries that are applicable to the search for life in extrasolar planets. Our results indicate that vegetation detection in Earth-like planets will require a considerable level of instrumental precision and will be a difficult task, but not as difficult as the normally weak earthshine signal might seem to suggest.
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| 10. |
- Ortiz, J.L., et al.
(författare)
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Detection of sporadic impact flashes on the Moon : Implications for the luminous efficiency of hypervelocity impacts and derived terrestrial impact rates
- 2006
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Ingår i: Icarus. - : Elsevier BV. - 0019-1035 .- 1090-2643. ; 184:2, s. 319-326
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the first redundant detection of sporadic impact flashes on the Moon from a systematic survey performed between 2001 and 2004. Our wide-field lunar monitoring allows us to estimate the impact rate of large meteoroids on the Moon as a function of the luminous energy received on Earth. It also shows that some historical well-documented mysterious lunar events fit in a clear impact context. Using these data and traditional values of the luminous efficiency for this kind of event we obtain that the impact rate on Earth of large meteoroids (0.1–10 m) would be at least one order of magnitude larger than currently thought. This discrepancy indicates that the luminous efficiency of the hypervelocity impacts is higher than 10−2, much larger than the common belief, or the latest impact fluxes are somewhat too low, or, most likely, a combination of both. Our nominal analysis implies that on Earth, collisions of bodies with masses larger than 1 kg can be as frequent as 80,000 per year and blasts larger than 15-kton could be as frequent as one per year, but this is highly dependent on the exact choice of the luminous efficiency value. As a direct application of our results, we expect that the impact flash of the SMART-1 spacecraft should be detectable from Earth with medium-sized telescopes.
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