Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Atmospheric Airglow Fluctuations Due To A Tsunami‐Driven Gravity Wave Disturbance, Michael P. Hickey Ph.D., G. Schubert, R. L. Walterscheid

Publications

A spectral full‐wave model is used to study the upward propagation of a gravity wave disturbance and its effect on atmospheric nightglow emissions. Gravity waves are generated by a surface displacement that mimics a tsunami having a maximum amplitude of 0.5 m, a characteristic horizontal wavelength of 400 km, and a horizontal phase speed of 200 m/s. The gravity wave disturbance can reach F region altitudes before significant viscous dissipation occurs. The response of the OH Meinel nightglow in the mesopause region (∼87 km altitude) produces relative brightness fluctuations, which are ∼1% of the mean for overhead viewing. The wave …

The Arctic Research Of The Composition Of The Troposphere From Aircraft And Satellites (Arctas) Mission: Design, Execution, And First Results, D J. Jacob, J H. Crawford, H Maring, A D. Clarke, Jack E. Dibb, L K. Emmons, R A. Ferrare, C A. Hostetler, Phil Russell, H B. Singh, A M. Thompson, G E. Shaw, E Mccauley, Judith Pederson, Jenny Fisher

Earth Sciences

The NASA Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) mission was conducted in two 3-week deployments based in Alaska (April 2008) and western Canada (June–July 2008). Its goal was to better understand the factors driving current changes in Arctic atmospheric composition and climate, including (1) influx of mid-latitude pollution, (2) boreal forest fires, (3) aerosol radiative forcing, and (4) chemical processes. The June–July deployment was preceded by one week of flights over California (ARCTAS-CARB) focused on (1) improving state emission inventories for greenhouse gases and aerosols, (2) providing observations to test and improve models …

Measurement And Interpolation Of Sea Surface Temperature And Salinity In The Tropical Pacific: A 9,000 Nautical Mile Research Odyssey, Amber Brooks

Earth and Soil Sciences

The purpose of this project was to compare spline and inverse distance weighting interpolation tools on data collected in the tropical Pacific Ocean by ship and data from a global network of CTD floats, known as Argo floats (fig.1), to provide evidence that technological advancement and integration is aiding our understanding of the ocean-atmosphere system of planet Earth. Thirty-one sea surface temperature and salinity samples were manually taken across a 9,000 nautical mile trek of the Pacific Ocean for the months of April, May and June 2008. Argo ASCII globally gridded monthly averaged sea surface temperature and salinity data, from …

Convective Distribution Of Tropospheric Ozone And Tracers In The Central American Itcz Region: Evidence From Observations During Tc4, M A. Avery, Cynthia Twohy, David Mccabe, J Joiner, Kurt Severance, E L. Atlas, D R. Blake, T P. Bui, John D. Crounse, Jack E. Dibb, Glenn Diskin, Paul Lawson, Matthew Mcgill, David Rogers, G W. Sachse, Eric Scheuer, A M. Thompson, Charles Trepte, Paul Wennberg, Jerald Ziemke

Earth Sciences

During the Tropical Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling (TC4) experiment that occurred in July and August of 2007, extensive sampling of active convection in the ITCZ region near Central America was performed from multiple aircraft and satellite sensors. As part of a sampling strategy designed to study cloud processes, the NASA ER‐2, WB‐57 and DC‐8 flew in stacked “racetrack patterns” in convective cells. On July 24, 2007, the ER‐2 and DC‐8 probed an actively developing storm and the DC‐8 was hit by lightning. Case studies of this flight, and of convective outflow on August 5, 2007 reveal a significant anti‐correlation …

Evidence Of Nitric Acid Uptake In Warm Cirrus Anvil Clouds During The Nasa Tc4 Campaign, Eric Scheuer, Jack E. Dibb, Cynthia Twohy, David Rogers, Andrew J. Heymsfield, Aaron Bansemer

Earth Sciences

Uptake of HNO3 onto cirrus ice may play an important role in tropospheric NOx cycling. Discrepancies between modeled and in situ measurements of gas-phase HNO3 in the troposphere suggest that redistribution and removal mechanisms by cirrus ice have been poorly constrained. Limited in situ measurements have provided somewhat differing results and are not fully compatible with theory developed from laboratory studies. We present new airborne measurements of HNO3 in cirrus clouds from anvil outflow made during the Tropical Composition, Cloud, and Climate Coupling Experiment (TC4). Upper tropospheric (>9 km) measurements made during three flights while repeatedly traversing the same …

Reduction Of Rocket-Borne Atmospheric Density Measurements Using Monte Carlo Simulation, Travis Gaulden

All Theses

The HEX II atmospheric rocket experiment, conducted near 9:30 U.T. February 14, 2007 from the Poker Flat Rocket Range in Alaska was designed to lead to a better understanding of density and velocity gradients in the lower thermosphere. In a supporting role to this mission, cold cathode ionization gauges recorded composite density along three rocket payload trajectory paths from 90 km to 200 km. Rocket-borne instruments experience near sonic to hypersonic velocities and encounter a range of viscous, slipflow, and collisionless flow conditions at these heights. These variable conditions necessitate the use of tailored analytic expressions appropriate to the flow …

Investigating Small-Scale Dynamical Features In The Mesopause Region, Deepak B. Simkhada

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Utilizing analyses of observational data, we performed a detailed study to investigate short-period atmospheric gravity waves and ripples, and instabilities in the mesopause region. Recent coordinated measurements from Haleakala Observatory, Maui, HI via airglow wave imaging, meteor wind radar, and Na wind temperature lidar have provided a unique dataset for this study. Gravity waves generated in the lower atmosphere propagate energy upwards into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region where they modulate the airglow emissions, and later break and deposit their momentum, causing significant perturbations in winds and temperatures. Ripples, on the other hand, are likely generated by localized shear …

Intercomparison Of Prism And Daymet Temperature Interpolation From 1980 To 2003, Rebecca A. Scully

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As ecosystem modeling becomes increasingly integrated with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) there is a rise in demand for spatially and temporally continuous meteorological data. But in order to justify management decisions or to provide robust scientific insights, the accuracy of meteorological data used as model input must be thoroughly quantified. Current methods to create spatially continuous climate data from discrete weather station data include inverse distance weighting, geostatistical techniques such as kriging and splines, local regression models such as Parameter-Elevation Regression on Independent Slope Model (PRISM) and Daymet, and regional regression models. For the conterminous United States, PRISM and Daymet …

Field And Smog Chamber Studies Of Agricultural Emissions And Reaction Products, Derek J. Price

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Agricultural emissions are an important contributor to atmospheric aerosol. These emissions include nitrogen containing organic compounds, primarily as amines, which have not been well investigated to date. Although there have been several studies that have looked at the emission of gas phase amines, there are only a few studies that have focused on ambient amine-based aerosol. There have also only been a handful of smog chamber studies that have investigated amine aerosol chemistry. Kinetic studies have looked at the reactions of amines with OH and ozone. However, amine reactions with nitrate radical (NO₃) are not well understood. Several …

Impact Of Mineral Dust On Nitrate, Sulfate, And Ozone In Transpacific Asian Pollution Plumes, T D. Fairlie, D J. Jacob, Jack E. Dibb, B Alexander, M A. Avery, Aaron Van Donkelaar, L Zhang

Earth Sciences

We use a 3-D global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to interpret aircraft observations of nitrate and sulfate partitioning in transpacific dust plumes during the INTEX-B campaign of April–May 2006. The model includes explicit transport of size-resolved mineral dust and its alkalinity, nitrate, and sulfate content. The observations show that particulate nitrate is primarily associated with dust, sulfate is primarily associated with ammonium, and Asian dust remains alkaline across the Pacific. This can be reproduced in the model by using a reactive uptake coefficient for HNO₃ on dust (γ(HNO₃) ~10⁻³) much lower than commonly assumed in …

Droughtscape, Spring 2010, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

NDMC and NC Drought Council Team Up

Drought to Intensify in Northwest and Hawaii

International Work

Impacts Recorded in Hawaii and Western States

U.S. Drought Monitor Archives Enhanced

Low-Water Impact Surveys Completed

K-12 Drought Outreach

A Balloon Sounding Technique For Measuring So2 Plumes, Gary A. Morris, Walter D. Komhyr, Jun Hirokawa, James Flynn, Barry Lefer, Nicholay Krotokov, Fong Ngan

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

This paper reports on the development of a new technique for inexpensive measurements of SO2 profiles using a modified dual-ozonesonde instrument payload. The presence of SO2 interferes with the standard electrochemical cell (ECC) ozonesonde measurement, resulting in –1 molecule of O3 reported for each molecule of SO2 present (provided [O3].[SO2]). In laboratory tests, an SO2 filter made with CrO3 placed on the inlet side of the sonde removes nearly 100% of the SO2 present for concentrations up to 60 ppbv and remained effective after exposure to 2.8 3 1016 molecules of SO2 [equivalent to a column ;150 DU (1 DU …

Experimental Validation Techniques For The Heleeos Off-Axis Laser Propagation Model, John D. Haiducek

Theses and Dissertations

The High Energy Laser End-to-End Operational Simulation (HELEEOS) off-axis scattering algorithm is designed to predict the irradiance that will be detected at a given off-axis location due to atmospheric scattering of a high-energy laser. The HELEEOS system models the propagation of the laser through the atmosphere, accounting for such effects as turbulence, thermal blooming, and atmospheric absorption. The HELEEOS off-axis scattering algorithm uses the scattering phase functions of the Mie scattering models to predict the amount of radiation that will be scattered toward a particular observation location from each point along the beam path, and the total irradiance that will …

Application Of Satellite-Derived Wind Profiles To Joint Precision Airdrop System (Jpads) Operations, David C. Meier

Theses and Dissertations

The Joint Precision Airdrop System has revolutionized military airdrop capability, allowing accurate delivery of equipment and supplies to smaller drop zones, from higher altitudes than was previously possible. This capability depends on accurate wind data which is currently provided by a combination of high-resolution forecast models and GPS dropsondes released in the vicinity of the dropzone shortly before the airdrop. This research develops a windprofiling algorithm to derive the needed wind data from passive IR satellite soundings, eliminating the requirement for a hazardous dropsonde pass near the drop zone, or allowing the dropsonde to be dropped farther from the dropzone. …

Evaluation Of Interplanetary Magnetic Field Tracing Models Using Impulsive Seps, Brian P. Elliott

Theses and Dissertations

Current Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) models are evaluated in this study to determine which model(s) perform an accurate representation of this magnetic structure. These IMF models include the Parker Spiral model, the Potential Field Source Surface (PFSS) model, the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) model and the ENLIL model. Impulsive Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) are used as tracers to determine the magnetic structure of the IMF and provide source locations for model comparisons. Each individual model is analyzed, compared to the identified solar source region and a longitude/latitude offset of these traces assigned. The model connection of the PFSS and Parker models is …

Passive Ranging Using Infra-Red Atmospheric Attenuation, Douglas J. Macdonald

Theses and Dissertations

Methods of estimating range to an emissive target based on the depth of an atmospheric absorption band are demonstrated. The present work uses measurements of the CO2 absorption band centered at 2.0 µm where signal-to-background ratios are maximum for many applications. Model results, based on high-resolution transmission molecular absorption (HITRAN) database cross sections, are used to predict range accuracy at ranges of up to 50 km and are compared with short range (<5km) experimental results. The spectra of 23 high explosive events were used to validate the model. Using the assumption of a blackbody spectrum, extracted ranges consistently underestimated the true range by approximately 13%. By incorporating the stoichiometry of the fireball from previous research and using particulate contribution as a parameter, the error for the range estimates could be reduced to 3%.

A Regional Scale Modeling Analysis Of Aerosol And Trace Gas Distributions Over The Eastern Pacific During The Intex-B Field Campaign, B Adhikary, Gregory R. Carmichael, S Kulkarni, C Wei, Y Tang, A D'Allura, M Mena-Carrasco, David G. Streets, Q Zhang, R B. Pierce, J Al-Saadi, L K. Emmons, G G. Pfister, M A. Avery, J D. Barrick, D R. Blake, William H. Brune, Robert C. Cohen, Jack E. Dibb, A Fried, B J. Heikes, L Gregory Huey, D W. O'Sullivan, G W. Sachse, R E. Shetter, H B. Singh, T L. Campos, C A. Cantrell, F Flocke, E J. Dunlea, Jose L. Jimenez, Andrew Weinheimer, John D. Crounse, Paul Wennberg, James J. Schauer, E A. Stone, D A. Jaffe, D R. Reidmiller

Earth Sciences

The Sulfur Transport and dEposition Model (STEM) is applied to the analysis of observations obtained during the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-Phase B (INTEX-B), conducted over the eastern Pacific Ocean during spring 2006. Predicted trace gas and aerosol distributions over the Pacific are presented and discussed in terms of transport and source region contributions. Trace species distributions show a strong west (high) to east (low) gradient, with the bulk of the pollutant transport over the central Pacific occurring between ∼20° N and 50° N in the 2-6 km altitude range. These distributions are evaluated in the eastern Pacific by comparison with …

Design Of A Software Framework Prototype For Scientific Model Interoperability, Eric Fritzinger, Sohei Okamoto

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

19 PowerPoint slides Session 2: Infrastructure Convener: Sergiu Dascalu, UNR Abstract: -What are models? -Mathematical models used to describe a system -E.g. Atmospheric, Oceanic, Ecological, etc… -Algorithmic calculations which take input and produce estimated results -Weather forecasting, global warming predictions, sea level estimations, etc… -Models are invaluable

Research Poster: Climate Prediction Downscaling Of Temperature And Precipitation In The Great Basin Region, Ramesh Vellore, Benjamin J. Hatchett, Darko Koracin

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

Research poster

Research Poster: Measuring The Aerosol Asymmetry Parameter G Instrument Description And Initial Measurements, Guoxun Tian, Hans Moosmuller, W. Patrick Arnott

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

Research poster

A Multiscale And Multidisciplinary Investigation Of Ecosystem- Atmosphere Co2 Exchange Over The Rocky Mountains Of Colorado, Jielun Sun, Steven Oncley, Sean Burns, Britton Stephens, Donald Lenschow, Teresa Campos, Russell Monson, David Schimel, William Sacks, Stephan Dewekker, Chun-Ta Lai, Brian Lamb, Dennis Ojima, Patrick Ellsworth, Leonel Sternberg, Sharon Zhong, Craig Clements, David Moore, Dean Anderson, Andrew Watt, Jia Hu, Mark Tschudi, Steven Aulenbach, Eugene Allwine, Teresa Coons

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

A significant fraction of Earth consists of mountainous terrain. However, the question of how to monitor the surface–atmosphere carbon exchange over complex terrain has not been fully explored. This article reports on studies by a team of investigators from U.S. universities and research institutes who carried out a multiscale and multidisciplinary field and modeling investigation of the CO2 exchange between ecosystems and the atmosphere and of CO2 transport over complex mountainous terrain in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado. The goals of the field campaign, which included ground and airborne in situ and remote-sensing measurements, were to characterize unique features …

Temperature Trends And Episodic Changes Of The Middle Atmosphere Over Logan Utah With Consideration To Model Specification, Troy A. Wynn, Vincent B. Wickwar

Reports

A summary of the linear trends estimated from the USU Rayleigh Lidar (41.74o N, 118oW) temperature data set. The data set covers a time span from September, 1993 to August, 2003 and an altitude range of 45 to 80 km. The data set includes 584 data points at 45 km to 580 data points at 80 km. Cooling trend profiles are calculated and compared to results from other researchers. Collinearity and bias are also considered as issues that could affect the regression results. Also considered is the possibility that the Mt. Pinatubo eruption has influenced temperature trend estimates. This is …

A Passive Sampler For Ambient Gaseous Oxidized Mercury Concentrations, Seth N. Lyman, Mae Sexauer Gustin, Eric M. Prestbo

USU Uintah Basin Faculty Publications

This paper reports on the development of a passive sampler for estimating gaseous oxidized mercury concentrations. Atmospheric gaseous oxidized mercury concentrations calculated from passive sampler data were correlated with those obtained using an automated analyzer (r2 = 0.71, p < 0.01, n = 110 for one-week deployments; r2 = 0.89, p < 0.01, n = 22 for two-week deployments). Sampler uptake was not significantly affected by changes in temperature, humidity, or ozone concentration, but it was slightly dependent on wind speed. As such, an equation for correcting data due to this factor was developed based on wind tunnel and field data. The detection limit for a two-week sampler deployment was ∼5 pg m−3. Field data collected in Nevada and the southeastern United States showed these samplers are useful for investigating spatial and temporal variability in gaseous oxidized mercury concentrations.

Droughtscape, Winter 2010, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

USDM Forum Highlights

Drought Likely to Ease

Research Shows Birds Vulnerable to Drought

Drought Recedes in 2009

CA, TX Suffer Impacts from Ongoing Drought

NDMC Wishes Ryu Well

Conferees Pick SPI for Global Drought Index

Post-Coring Entrapment Of Modern Air In Some Shallow Ice Cores Collected Near The Firn-Ice Transition: Evidence From Cfc-12 Measurements In Antarctic Firn Air And Ice Cores, Murat Aydin, S. A. Montzka, M. O. Battle, M. B. Williams, Warren J. De Bruyn, J. H. Butler, K. R. Verhulst, C. Tatum, B. K. Gun, D. A. Plotkin, B. D. Hall, Eric S. Saltzman

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

In this study, we report measurements of CFC-12 (CCl2F2) in firn air and in air extracted from shallow ice cores from three Antarctic sites. The firn air data are consistent with the known atmospheric history of CFC-12. In contrast, some of the ice core samples collected near the firn-ice transition exhibit anomalously high CFC-12 levels. Together, the ice core and firn air data provide evidence for the presence of modern air entrapped in the shallow ice core samples that likely contained open pores at the time of collection. We propose that this is due to closure of the open pores …

On The Fractional Solubillity Of Copper In Marine Aerosols: Toxicity Of Aeolian Copper Revisited, Edward R. Sholkovitz, Peter N. Sedwick, Thomas M. Church

OES Faculty Publications

Paytan et al. (2009) argue that the atmospheric deposition of aerosols lead to copper concentrations that are potentially toxic to marine phytoplankton in a large area of tropical and subtropical North Atlantic Ocean. A key assumption in their model is that all marine aerosols (mineral dust and anthropogenic particles) have a high (40%) fractional solubility of copper. Our data show that the fractional solubility of copper for Saharan dust over the Sargasso Sea and Bermuda is significantly lower (1-7%). In contrast, anthropogenic aerosols with non-Saharan sources have significantly higher values (10-100%). Hence, the potential Cu toxicity in the tropical and …

Retrieval Of Atmospheric Elemental Carbon Records Using Lake Sediments : Implications In Radiative Forcing, Tanveer Ahmed

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Elemental or black carbon (EC or BC) aerosols produced during incomplete combustion strongly absorb solar radiation and contribute to global warming, and cause cardiopulmonary disease. Long-term atmospheric EC measurements, [EC]_atm, are needed to validate global climate models to estimate the impact of EC on earth's temperature. Such data is sparse.

Effect Of Noise In Principal Component Analysis With An Application To Ozone Pollution, Katerina G. Tsakiri

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis analyzes the effect of independent noise in principal components of k normally distributed random variables defined by a covariance matrix. We prove that the principal components as well as the canonical variate pairs determined from joint distribution of original sample affected by noise can be essentially different in comparison with those determined from the original sample. However when the differences between the eigenvalues of the original covariance matrix are sufficiently large compared to the level of the noise, the effect of noise in principal components and canonical variate pairs proved to be negligible. The theoretical results are supported …

Tropical Cyclogenesis Associated With Extratropical Precursors In The North Atlantic Basin, Thomas J. Galarneau

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis investigates genesis pathways of tropical cyclones (TCs) over the North Atlantic basin during 2004-2008 with a focus on TCs that form in conjunction with extratropical precursor disturbances. These genesis pathways are nonbaroclinic, low-level baroclinic, trough-induced, transient-trough interaction, weak tropical transition (TT), and strong TT. The transient-trough interaction, trough-induced, weak TT, and strong TT genesis pathways all occur in conjunction with extratropical precursor disturbances. This thesis will assess the physical and dynamical mechanisms relevant to TC genesis among these genesis pathways via composite and case study analyses.

Role Of Equatorial Waves In Tropical Cyclogenesis, Carl J. Schreck, Iii

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Tropical cyclones typically form within preexisting wavelike disturbances that couple with convection. Using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) multisatellite rainfall estimates, this study determines the relative number of tropical cyclones that can be attributed to various wave types, including the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO), Kelvin waves, equatorial Rossby (ER) waves, mixed Rossby-gravity (MRG) waves, and tropical depression (TD)-type disturbances. Tropical cyclogenesis is attributed to an equatorial wave's convection when the filtered rainfall anomaly exceeds a threshold value at the genesis location.