 efficiently solved. The method was tested using Jicamarca Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) and Digisonde Ne(h) profiles for the periods when CHAMP and GRACE neutral gas density observations are available in the vicinity of the Jicamarca Observatory. The retrieved from ISR Ne(h) neutral gas densities were shown to be close to the observed ones (MRD < 10%) being within the announced absolute uncertainty (10-15%) of the neutral gas density observations and more successful than the predictions of the empirical models JB-2008 (MRD = 32%) and MSISE-00 (MRD = 27%) for the analyzed cases. The implementation of the method with Jicamarca Digisonde Ne(h) profiles has also shown acceptable results especially for solar minimum conditions (MRD ~ 12%) and higher prediction accuracy than modern empirical models provide. This finding seems to open a way for the practical exploitation of the method for thermospheric monitoring purposes.
The mean ozone profile and its temperature sensitivity in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere - An analysis of LIMS observations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Froidevaux, Lucien; Allen, Mark; Berman, Stanley; Daughton, Alan
1989-05-01
Multiple simultaneous LIMS (Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere) observations of both O3 and temperature T in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere are analyzed to derive O3-T correlations for comparisons with model calculations. The zonally averaged O3 profile is compared with results from a simplified photochemical model that assumes O3 to be in a photochemical steady state. The model profile is systematically lower than the observed profile. Key parameters are identified in which changes can systematically increase the O3 profile in both the stratosphere and the mesosphere. The LIMS-derived values for the sensitivity of O3 to changes in T are compared with equilibrium model calculations which include the T-driven opacity feedback effect on photodissociation rate constants. The theoretical O3 response to temperature perturbations is investigated. It is shown how the O3-T sensitivity coefficient is affected by zonal and vertical advection terms as well as by the photochemical coupling between O3 and T.
Diagnostic Power of Broad Emission Line Profiles in Searches for Binary Supermassive Black Holes: Comparison of Models with Observations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Nguyen, Khai; Bogdanovic, Tamara; Eracleous, Michael; Runnoe, Jessie C.; Sigurdsson, Steinn
2017-01-01
Motivated by observational searches for sub-parsec supermassive black hole binaries (SBHBs) we develop a semi-analytic model to describe the spectral emission line signatures of these systems. We are particularly interested in modeling the profiles of the broad emission lines, which have been used as a tool to search for SBHBs. The goal of this work is to test one of the leading models of binary accretion flows in the literature: SBHB in a circumbinary disk. In this context, we model SBHB accretion flows as a set of three accretion disks: two mini-disks that are gravitationally bound to the individual black holes and a circumbinary disk that forms a common envelope about a gravitationally bound binary. Our first generation model shows that emission line profiles tend to have different statistical properties depending on the semi-major axis, mass ratio, eccentricity of the binary, and the alignment of the triple-disk system, and can in principle be used to constrain the statistical distribution of these parameters. We present the results of a second generation model, which improves upon the treatment of radiative transfer by taking into account the effect of line-driven winds on the properties of the model emission line profiles. This improvement allows a preliminary comparison of the model profiles with the observed SBHB candidates and AGN population in general.
Ocean and Atmospheric Profiling Lidar Observations and Its Link to Ocean Carbon Cycle
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Hu, Yongxiang
2010-01-01
This study introduces space-based ocean and atmospheric profiling lidar for improving modeling and understanding of ocean carbon cycle. Unique measurements from space-based profiling lidars include (1) the global ocean surface mean square slope measurements for improving air-sea turbulence exchange estimates; (2) the backscatter and beam attenuation measurements for improving the global estimate of partial pressure of CO2 of the ocean with the reduction of uncertainties in primary productivity estimates. Global statistics of CALIOP integrated ocean subsurface backscatter measurements of coastal waters will be presented. The study will also assess the impact of CALIOP on the uncertainty reduction of primary productivity and the improvement of CO2 partial pressure estimates. Ocean surface roughness statistics, its applications in air-sea interaction and its comparisons with other measurements will also be presented
Statistical temperature profile retrievals in clear-air using passive 118-GHz O2 observations
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Gasiewski, A. J.; Johnson, J. T.
1993-01-01
The clean-air temperature profile accuracy yielded by a localized linear statistical retrieval operator applied to passive aircraft-based 118-GHz spectra is demonstrated. A comparison of the statistically and physically derived correlation coefficients of antenna temperature and kinetic temperature furnishes a physical justification of the statistical retrieval technique. The atmospheric temperature mean and covariance significantly depend on such geophysical parameters as latitude, longitude, local season, and time, as well as the prevailing meteorological state and orographic effects..
Observed damage during Argon gas cluster depth profiles of compound semiconductors
Barlow, Anders J. Portoles, Jose F.; Cumpson, Peter J.
2014-08-07
Argon Gas Cluster Ion Beam (GCIB) sources have become very popular in XPS and SIMS in recent years, due to the minimal chemical damage they introduce in the depth-profiling of polymer and other organic materials. These GCIB sources are therefore particularly useful for depth-profiling polymer and organic materials, but also (though more slowly) the surfaces of inorganic materials such as semiconductors, due to the lower roughness expected in cluster ion sputtering compared to that introduced by monatomic ions. We have examined experimentally a set of five compound semiconductors, cadmium telluride (CdTe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium phosphide (GaP), indium arsenide (InAs), and zinc selenide (ZnSe) and a high-κ dielectric material, hafnium oxide (HfO), in their response to argon cluster profiling. An experimentally determined HfO etch rate of 0.025 nm/min (3.95 × 10{sup −2} amu/atom in ion) for 6 keV Ar gas clusters is used in the depth scale conversion for the profiles of the semiconductor materials. The assumption has been that, since the damage introduced into polymer materials is low, even though sputter yields are high, then there is little likelihood of damaging inorganic materials at all with cluster ions. This seems true in most cases; however, in this work, we report for the first time that this damage can in fact be very significant in the case of InAs, causing the formation of metallic indium that is readily visible even to the naked eye.
Improved Hurricane Boundary Layer Observations with the Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Esteban-Fernandez, Daniel; Changy, P.; Carswell, J.; Contreras, R.; Chu, T.
2006-01-01
During the NOAA/NESDIS 2005 Hurricane Season (HS2005) and the 2006 Winter Experiment, the University of Massachusetts (UMass) installed two instruments on the NOAA N42RF WP-3D research aircraft: the Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (IWRAP) and the Simultaneous Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR). IWRAP is a dual-band (C- and Ku), dual-polarized pencil-beam airborne radar that profiles the volume backscatter and Doppler velocity from rain and that also measures the ocean backscatter response. It simultaneously profiles along four separate incidence angles while conically scanning at 60 RPM. SFMR is a C-band nadir viewing radiometer that measures the emission from the ocean surface and intervening atmosphere simultaneously at six frequencies. It is designed to obtain the surface wind speed and the column average rain rate. Both instruments have previously been flown during the 2002, 2003 and 2004 hurricane seasons. For the HS2005, the IWRAP system was modified to implement a raw data acquisition system. The importance of the raw data system arises when trying to profile the atmosphere all the way down to the surface with a non-nadir looking radar system. With this particular geometry, problems arise mainly from the fact that both rain and ocean provide a return echo coincident in time through the antenna s main lobe. This paper shows how this limitation has been removed and presents initial results demonstrating its new capabilities to derive the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) wind field within the inner core of hurricanes to much lower altitudes than the ones the original system was capable of, and to analyze the spectral response of the ocean backscatter and the rain under different wind and rain conditions.
Observed stratospheric profiles and stratospheric lifetimes of HCFC-141b and HCFC-142b
Lee, J.M.; Sturges, W.T.; Penkett, S.A.
1995-06-01
The authors present profile measurements of HCFC-141b and HCFC-142b in the stratosphere. The measurements show that these chemicals are not in equilibrium in the stratosphere at present,