Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Gamma-Ray Observations Of Gro J1655-40, R Kroeger, Mark Strickman, J E. Grove, Philip Kaaret, E. Ford, B A. Harmon, Mark L. Mcconnell

Physics & Astronomy

The bright transient X-ray source GRO J1655-40 = XN Sco 1994 was observed by the OSSE instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO). Preliminary results are reported here. The initial outburst from GRO J1655-40 was detected by BATSE on 27 Jul 1994. OSSE observations were made in five separate viewing periods starting between 4 Aug 1994 and 4 Apr 1995. The first, third, and fifth observations are near the peak luminosity. In the second observation, the source flux had dropped by several orders of magnitude and we can only set an upper limit. The fourth observation is a weak …

Performance Of Cdznte Strip Detectors As Sub-Millimeter Resolution Imaging Gamma Radiation Spectrometers, M Mayer, V Boykin, M L. Cherry, J F. Courville, F P. Doty, A Drake, T G. Guzik, L A. Hamel, K Larson, John R. Macri, Mark L. Mcconnell, James M. Ryan, O Tousignant

Space Science Center

We report & gamma;-ray detection performance measurements and computer simulations of a sub-millimeter pitch CdZnTe strip detector. The detector is a prototype for & gamma;-ray astronomy measurements in the range of 20-200 keV. The prototype is a 1.5 mm thick, 64×64 orthogonal stripeCdZnTe detector of 0.375 mm pitch in both dimensions, with approximately one square inch of sensitive area. Using discrete laboratory electronics to process signals from an 8×8 stripe region of the prototype we measured good spectroscopic uniformity and sub-pitch (~0.2 mm) spatial resolution in both x and y dimensions. We present below measurements of the spatial uniformity, relative …

Balloon-Borne Coded Aperture Telescope For Arc-Minute Angular Resolution At Hard X-Ray Energies, Mark L. Mcconnell, V Boykin, R M. Kippen, K Larson, John R. Macri, M Mayer, James M. Ryan, P P. Altice, M L. Cherry, S B. Ellison, B Price, T G. Guzik, R Lockwood, M B. Barakat, K Johnston, N Zotov, M Elaasar

Space Science Center

We are working on the development of a new balloon-borne telescope, MARGIE (minute-of-arc resolution gamma ray imaging experiment). It will be a coded aperture telescope designed to image hard x-rays (in various configurations) over the 20 - 600 keV range with an angular resolution approaching one arc minute. MARGIE will use one (or both) of two different detection plane technologies, each of which is capable of providing event locations with sub-mm accuracies. One such technology involves the use of cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) strip detectors. We have successfully completed a series of laboratory measurements using a prototype CZT detector with …

Charge-Coupled Devices With Fast Timing For Astrophysics And Space Physics Research, M L. Cherry, P P. Altice, S B. Ellison, T G. Guzik, John R. Macri, Mark L. Mcconnell, G Y. Mclean, James M. Ryan, Paul P. Suni

Space Science Center

A charge coupled device is under development with fast timing capability (15 millisecond full frame readout, 30 microsecond resolution for measuring the time of individual pixel hits). The fast timing CCD will be used in conjunction with a CsI microfiber array or segmented scintillator matrix detector to detect x rays and gamma rays with submillimeter position resolution. The initial application will be in conjunction with a coded aperture hard x ray/gamma ray astronomy instrument. We describe the concept and the readout architecture of the device.

Seasonal And Inter-Annual Patterns Of Sediment-Water Nutrient And Oxygen Fluxes In Mobile Bay, Alabama (Usa): Regulating Factors And Ecological Significance., Jean L. Cowan, Jonathan Pennock, Walter R. Boynton

School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering

Sediment oxygen and nutrient fluxes were measured monthly for 2 yr in Mobile Bay, Alabama, USA. Rates of sediment oxygen consumption (0.1 to 1.25 gO₂ m^-2 d^-1), ammonium flux (-22 to 181 µmol m^-2 h^-1), nitrate flux (-14 to 67 µmol m^-2 h^-1), phosphate flux (-2 to 20.4 µmol m^-2 h^-1), and dissolved silicate flux (-15 to 342 µmol m^-2 h^-1) were moderate to high compared to values for other estuaries. A step-wise regression analysis revealed that dissolved oxygen concentration and temperature in bottom-waters …

In-Situ Far-Field Calibration Of Multibeam Sonar Arrays For Precise Backscatter Imagery, Larry Fusillo, Christian De Moustier, John H. Satriano, Stanley Zietz

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

Calibration of large hull-mounted sonar transducer arrays is usually done by measuring the performance of individual components in a test tank. Multiple transducer element beam patterns are superimposed and combined with window attenuation and other partial measurements to give an approximation of the total beam pattern. This process often ignores or fails to accurately model factors such as mounting hardware, array misalignment, reflections from the hull structure and other real world absorbers, reflectors and attenuators which can have significant effect on the actual beam pattern. This paper describes an application of a novel technique for in-situ measurement of the far-field …

Swath Mapping On The Continental Shelf And Slope: The Eel River Basin, Northern California, John A. Goff, Larry A. Mayer, John E. Hughes Clarke, Lincoln F. Pratson

Affiliate Scholarship

First Paragraph

The STRATAFORM program sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (Nittrouer and Kravitz, 1996, this issue) seeks to understand how sedimentary processes lead to the formation of the stratigraphic sequences on continental margins. A central challenge facing this effort is to understand the transport of sediments in shore-parallel as well as shore-perpendicular directions• Multidimensionality is necessary to describe, for example, the accumulation of sediments from river inputs, the distribution of gullies and canyons on the slope, the meandering of channels, and the structure of slumps and slides.

Modeling Of The Processing And Removal Of Trace Gas And Aerosol Species By Arctic Radiation Fogs And Comparison With Measurements, M H. Bergin, S N. Pandis, C Davidson, J L. Jaffrezo, Jack E. Dibb, A G. Russell, H D. Kuhns

Earth Sciences

A Lagrangian radiation fog model is applied to a fog event at Summit, Greenland. The model simulates the formation and dissipation of fog. Included in the model are detailed gas and aqueous phase chemistry, and deposition of chemical species with fog droplets. Model predictions of the gas phase concentrations of H₂O₂, HCOOH, SO₂, and HNO₃ as well as the fog fluxes of S(VI), N(V), H₂O₂, and water are compared with measurements. The predicted fluxes of S(VI), N(V), H₂O₂, and fog water generally agree with measured …

Recent Climate Anomalies And Their Impact On Snow Chemistry At South Pole, 1987 - 1994, Jack E. Dibb, Sallie I. Whitlow

Earth Sciences

Three 2-m deep snowpits sampled at South Pole in 1994 provide detailed (2-cm resolution) profiles of the concentrations of soluble ionic species for the period 1987 - 1994. The most prominent feature is a large concentration spike of SO4 = in snow deposited in 1992 reflecting fallout from the eruptions of Pinatubo and Hudson in 1991. Concentrations of MSA and values of the MSA/(non-sea-salt SO4 =) ratio are elevated for about three years centered on the prominent volcanic signal. These changes appear to be due to the extended 1991 - 1993 El Nino. The overlapping effects of the volcanic eruptions …

Ground-Based Gamma-Ray Burst Follow-Up Efforts: Results Of The First Two Years Of The Batse/Comptel/Nmsu Rapid Response Network, B Mcnamara, T Harrison, James M. Ryan, R M. Kippen, Mark L. Mcconnell, John R. Macri, C Kouveliotou, Gerald J. Fishman, C Meegan, L O. Hanlon, K Bennett, T. A. Spoelstra, V. G. Metlov, N. V. Metlova, E. Feigelson, A. J. Beasley, D. M. Palmer, Scott Barthelmy, Dale E. Gary, E. T. Olsen, S. Levin, P. G. Wannier, M. A. Janssen, The Macho Collaboration, J. Borovicka, P. Pravec, R. Hudec, M. J. Coe

Physics & Astronomy

No abstract provided.

Search For Gamma-Ray Emission From The Lagrangian Points Of Psr 1957+20, R Buccheri, V. Salamone, K Bennett, M Busetta, L Kuiper, W Hermsen, Mark L. Mcconnell, R Much, James M. Ryan, H Steinle, V. Schonfelder

Physics & Astronomy

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory data of the COMPTEL and EGRET telescopes from 3 viewing periods have been used to search for gamma-ray emission from the Lagrangian points L_4_ and L_5_ of the binary system including the eclipsing pulsar PSR1957+20. The result was negative and the upper limits derived remain significantly below detections reported earlier.

Asian Influence Over The Western North Pacific During The Fall Season: Inferences From Lead 210, Soluble Ionic Species And Ozone, Jack E. Dibb, R. Talbot, Anthony Klemm, G L. Gregory, H B. Singh, J D. Bradshaw, S T. Sandholm

Earth Sciences

Aerosol samples collected over the western Pacific during the NASA/Global Tropospheric Experiment Pacific Exploratory Mission (PEM-West A) expedition (September–October 1991) revealed mean ²¹⁰Pb concentrations in the free troposphere in the 5–10 fCi m⁻³ STP range. Most soluble ionic aerosol-associated species were near detection limits [≪40 parts per trillion by volume (pptv)] in these same samples. The altitude distribution of O₃ near Asia closely resembled that of ²¹⁰Pb, while no relationship was found between the concentrations of O₃ and ⁷Be. Free tropospheric air over the western Pacific was depleted in soluble aerosol-associated species but enriched …

Chemical Characteristics Of Continental Outflow From Asia To The Troposphere Over The Western Pacific Ocean During September-October 1991: Results From Pem-West A, R. Talbot, Jack E. Dibb, K I. Klemm, J D. Bradshaw, S T. Sandholm, D R. Blake, G W. Sachse, J E. Collins Jr, B J. Heikes, G L. Gregory, B E. Anderson, H B. Singh, D C. Thornton, J T. Merrill

Earth Sciences

An important objective of the Pacific Exploratory Mission-West A (PEM-West A) was the chemical characterization of the outflow of tropospheric trace gases and aerosol particles from the Asian continent over the western Pacific Ocean. This paper summarizes the chemistry of this outflow during the period September – October 1991. The vertical distributions of CO, C₂H₆, and NO_xshowed regions of outflow at altitudes below 2 km and from 8 to 12 km. Mixing ratios of CO were ≈130 parts per billion by volume (ppbv), ≈1000 parts per trillion by volume (pptv) for C₂H …

Comptel Measurements Of Mev Gamma-Ray Burst Spectra, R M. Kippen, James M. Ryan, A Connors, Mark L. Mcconnell, C Winkler, L O. Hanlon, V Schonfelder, J Greiner, M Varendorff, W Collmar, W Hermsen, L Kuiper

Space Science Center

We present results from the on-going spectral analysis of gamma-ray bursts measured by the COMPTEL instrument in its main Compton “Telescope” observing mode (0.75–30 MeV). Thus far, 18 bursts have been analyzed from three years (April 1991–April 1994) of observations. The time-averaged spectra of these events above 1 MeV are all consistent with a simple power law model with spectral index in the range 1.5–3.5. Exponential, thermal bremsstrahlung and thermal synchrotron models are statistically inconsistent with the burst sample, although they can adequately describe some of the individual burst spectra. We find good agreement between burst spectra measured simultaneously by …

Hard X‐Ray Polarimetry Of Solar Flares With Batse, Mark L. Mcconnell, D J. Forrest, W T. Vestrand, M Finger

Space Science Center

We describe a technique for measuring the polarization of hard X‐rays from solar flares based on the angular distribution of that portion of the flux which is scattered off the top of the Earth’s atmosphere. The scattering cross section depends not only on the scatter angle itself, but on the orientation of the scatter angle with respect to the incident polarization vector. Consequently, the distribution of the observed albedo flux will depend on the direction and the polarization properties (i.e., the level of polarization and polarization angle) of the source. Since the albedo component can represent a relatively large fraction …

Atmospheric Sampling Of Supertyphoon Mireille With Nasa Dc-8 Aircraft On September 27,1991, During Pem-West A, G W. Sachse, R E. Newall, W Hu, Z X. Wu, H Akimoto, B E. Anderson, E V. Browell, G L. Gregory, G W. Sachse, M C. Shipman, A S. Bachmeier, A R. Bandy, D C. Thornton, D R. Blake, F Sherwood Rowland, J D. Bradshaw, J H. Crawford, D D. Davis, S T. Sandholm, W Brockett, L Degreef, D Lewis, D Mccormick, E Monitz, J E. Collins Jr, B J. Heikes, J T. Merrill, K K. Kelly, S C. Liu, Y Kondo, M Koike, C M. Liu, F Sakama, H B. Singh, Jack E. Dibb, R. Talbot

Earth Sciences

The DC-8 mission of September 27, 1991, was designed to sample air flowing into Typhoon Mireille in the boundary layer, air in the upper tropospheric eye region, and air emerging from the typhoon and ahead of the system, also in the upper troposphere. The objective was to find how a typhoon redistributes trace constituents in the West Pacific region and whether any such redistribution is important on the global scale. The boundary layer air (300 m), in a region to the SE of the eye, contained low mixing ratios of the tracer species O3, CO, C2H6, C2H2, C3H8, C6H6and CS2 …

The Angular Distribution Of Comptel Gamma-Ray Bursts, R M. Kippen, James M. Ryan, A Connors, Mark L. Mcconnell, H Hartmann, C Winkler, L O. Hanlon, V Schonfelder, J Greiner, M Varendorff, W Collmar, W Hermsen, L Kuiper

Space Science Center

The superior burst location capability of the COMPTEL instrument aboard the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory allows us to study the small-scale angular distribution of burst sources with good sensitivity even though the number of burst detections is small. We accumulate four years (April 1991–April 1995) of observations to form a catalog of 27 burst locations whose mean 1σ uncertainty is ∼1°. We find that the COMPTEL bursts are consistent with an isotropic distribution of sources, yet the spatial coincidence of two of the bursts within COMPTEL’s angular resolution indicates the possibility of repetition. This possibility is studied using the two-point angular …

Using Batse To Measure Gamma-Ray Burst Polarization, Mark L. Mcconnell, D J. Forrest, W T. Vestrand, M H. Finger

Space Science Center

We describe a technique for measuring the polarization of hard x-rays from γ-ray bursts based on the angular distribution of that portion of the flux which is scattered off the top of the Earth’s atmosphere. The scattering cross section depends not only on the scatter angle itself, but on the orientation of the scatter angle with respect to the incident polarization vector. Consequently, the distribution of the observed albedo flux will depend on the direction and the polarization properties (i.e., the level of polarization and polarization angle) of the source. Although the BATSE design (with its large field-of-view for each …

Looking For The Source Of ∼Hour-Long Soft X-Ray Emission Following Grb 780506, A Connors, Mark L. Mcconnell

Space Science Center

GRB 780506, a gamma-ray burst discovered in HEAO 1 A-4 data, was unusual in three respects. First, it was well-measured (by HEAO 1 A-2) in 2–60 keV X-rays. Second, two minutes after it ended, HEAO 1 A-2 detected a faint resurgence of 2–10 keV flux, lasting roughly an hour. From recently calculated position constraints, it appears the source of the extended flux is consistent with the source of the burst, and probably not from a serendipitous transient along the Galactic plane. Third, it now appears GRB 780506 belongs to a newly discovered softer subclass of gamma-rays bursts. This subclass is …

Extended Γ‐Ray Emission In Solar Flares, G Rank, K Bennett, H Bloemen, H Debrunner, J Lockwood, Mark L. Mcconnell, James M. Ryan, V Schonfelder, R Suleiman

Space Science Center

During the solar flare events on 11 and 15 June 1991, COMPTEL measured extended emission in the neutron capture line for about 5 hours after the impulsive phase. The time profiles can be described by a double exponential decay with decay constants on the order of 10 min for the fast and 200 min for the slow component. Within the statistical uncertainty both flares show the same long‐term behaviour. The spectrum during the extended phase is significantly harder than during the impulsive phase and pions are not produced in significant numbers before the beginning of the extended emission. Our results …

Comptel Solar Flare Measurements, James M. Ryan, Mark L. Mcconnell

Space Science Center

We review some of the highlights of the COMPTEL measurements of solar flares. These include images of the Sun in γ rays and neutrons. One of the important features of the COMPTEL instrument is its capability to measure weak fluxes of γ rays and neutrons in the extended phase of flares. These data complement the spectra taken with the COMPTEL burst spectrometer and the telescope during the impulsive phase of flares. We focus our attention on some of these general capabilities of the instrument and the latest results of two long‐duration γ‐ray flares, i.e., 11 and 15 June 1991