Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

An Atmospheric Optical Turbulence Structure Parameter Measurements System Based On Direct Ri Sensing Using High-Resolution Fiber-Optic Sensors, Matej Njegovec, Simon Pevec, Vedran Budinski, Boris Macuh, Melissa K. Beason, Denis Onlagic

Faculty Publications

The paper presents a method to characterize the refractive index structure parameter (C_n²) associated with optical turbulence directly. The characterization system is based on miniature, high‑resolution, all‑fiber refractive index (RI) sensors. The refractive index sensors employ open‑path, low‑finesse Fabry–Perot interferometers that are approximately 8 mm long and 200 μm in diameter. The active part of the interferometers is made of ultra‑low‑expansion glass, which eliminates the influence of thermal expansion on the refractive index measurements. The proposed refractive index sensor, operating in a differential configuration, achieved a resolution of 2×10^-9 RIU using a custom‑designed spectral interrogation system …

Effective Visibility In The Infrared Bands, Peter L. Dean-Erlander, Steven T. Fiorino, Ronald G. Driggers

Faculty Publications

Visibility is an atmospheric metric for the comparison of terrestrial imaging conditions and locations. A limitation of visibility is that it is defined for the visible spectrum only, and there is no simple infrared equivalent. This study compares three reflective infrared wavebands: near-IR (NIR), shortwave IR (SWIR), and extended shortwave IR (eSWIR), to the visible band across a global set of cities to develop three rule-of-thumb functions for IR effective visibility. To accomplish this, a radiometric sensor model is combined with the Laser Environmental Effects Definition and Reference (LEEDR) software package to calculate the visibility of a black-and-white contrast target …

Modeling Formation Of Turbulent Sporadic-E Clouds Using Realistic Wind Data, Aaron M. Schinder, Kenneth S. Obenberger, Jorge L. Chau, Juan M. Urco, Matthias Clahsen, Benjamin F. Akers, Daniel J. Emmons

Faculty Publications

A high resolution two-dimensional multi-fluid model of sporadic-E layers was developed and driven with physically realistic mesosphere, lower thermosphere (MLT) winds measured over Albuquerque, New Mexico. The realistic E-region winds are produced by the HYdrodynamic Point-wise Environment Reconstructor (HYPER) model that ingests meteor derived wind observations from a Spread-spectrum Interferometric Multistatic meteor radar Observing Network (SIMONe) system combined with the Navier-Stokes equations to provide high resolution three-dimensional wind fields over time. Sporadic-E dynamics are simulated using both realistic winds from HYPER as well as idealized hyperbolic tangent windshears to compare and contrast. Overall, the model shows greater inhomogeneity and irregularity …

A Global Internal Tide Modeling Framework For Improving Satellite Observations Of Fine-Scale Ocean Circulation, Badarvada Yadidya, Brian K. Arbic, Edward D. Zaron, Jay F. Shriver, Maarten C. Buijsman, Eric P. Chassignet, Loren Carrère, Michel Tchilibou

Faculty Publications

Small-scale oceanic eddies and filaments mediate the vertical exchange of heat and carbon within the global ocean. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission resolves these features through wide-swath interferometry, but internal tides often mask these observations. Non–phase-locked internal tides present special difficulty because they vary with the evolving ocean background. We show that this chaotic variability can be predicted. We use a data-assimilative ocean forecast model to resolve the mesoscale environment and separate tidal signals from the broader circulation. The model captures the organized structure of these incoherent waves in the independent SWOT measurements. Correcting for the total …

Backscattering By Particles Of Sizes <0.2 Μm In Seawater, Xiaodong Zhang, Yuanheng Xiong

Faculty Publications

We measured the angular scattering functions at 517 nm in different size fractions, including bulk and very small particles (VSP for diameters <0.2 μm), in a variety of waters ranging from coasts to open oceans and from surface to depths as deep as 3,000 m. The measurements revealed a strong covariation in backscattering between VSP and bulk particle populations. The fractional contribution by VSP decreases from 60% in clear oceanic water where bulk particle backscattering coefficient bbp is on the order of 0.001 m⁻¹ to <2% in turbid coastal water where bbp ∼0.1 m⁻¹. An empirical model is developed (r² = 0.89) to estimate bbp for VSP from the bulk bbp, which can now be routinely obtained from satellite observations.

Characterizing The Unique Chemical Imprint Of On-Axis, Lower-Temperature Hydrothermal Flow To The Deep Ocean (Southern East Pacific Rise, 16.5°–18.0°S), Laura E. Moore, Randelle M. Bundy, Joseph A. Resing, Scott M. White, Tamara Baumberger, Peter N. Sedwick, Nathaniel J. Buck, Anson M. Antriasian, Isaac Keohane

Faculty Publications

In addition to high-temperature vents, lower-temperature flow (LTF) (< 300°C) is abundant along mid-ocean ridges and contributes globally-important fluxes of heat and water along with largely-unconstrained geochemical influences on the ocean. We examined the impact of on-axis LTF on the chemical composition of the overlying water column (< 40 m above seafloor) along the 16.5°–18.0°S sector of the ultrafast-spreading southern East Pacific Rise using autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry surveys and conductivity-temperature-depth rosette casts. LTF sites were typically spatially isolated from high-temperature systems and imparted unique chemical signatures to the overlying ocean. Water column samples impacted by LTF exhibited low particulate iron:sulfur ratios and high methane: total-dissolvable manganese ratios, whereas samples influenced by high-temperature venting exhibited opposite trends. We confirmed that LTF imparts a distinct and measurable chemical signature to the water column, independent from high-temperature vents. Isolated, on-axis LTF will be important to consider when assessing hydrothermal circulation impacts upon ocean biogeochemistry.

Bgc-Argo Float Reveals Shifts In Nitrogen-Carbon Cycling In An Oxygen-Deficient Zone, Mariana B. Bif, Colette Kelly, Mark A. Altabet, Annie Bourbonnais, Claire Elbon, Edgart Flores, Alanna Mnich, Josh Plant, Kenneth S. Johnson

Faculty Publications

Oxygen-deficient zones are hotspots of marine fixed nitrogen loss, but the temporal dynamics of their microbial processes remain poorly resolved. Here we present a nearly three-year high-resolution record from a Biogeochemical Argo float in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific that captures a decline in nitrite concentrations, reflecting a shift in nitrogen redox balance. Using a stoichiometric mass-balance model, we quantify nitrogen transformations, including dissimilatory nitrate reduction to nitrite, denitrification, anammox, and nitrite oxidation, and their coupling to carbonate chemistry. The model shows that dissimilatory nitrate reduction to nitrite dominates nitrogen transformations, while denitrification and anammox vary over depth, biogeochemical transition, …

Characterizing Atmospheric Turbulence With The Lunar Step Response Method, Patrick D. Carattini, Caleb J. Stilp, Katelyn M. Atkinson, Stephen C. Cain

Faculty Publications

Most methods that astronomers use to characterize the strength of atmospheric turbulence in and around their observatories use differential image motion monitors observing a star to provide the necessary data for the measurement. With the Moon becoming a greater national priority, the need to characterize atmospheric paths between observatories on Earth and the Moon is potentially going to grow in the future. To this end, the differential image motion monitor is not an ideal instrument for characterizing turbulence along paths between observatories and the Moon as the bright Moon makes it difficult to detect and locate stars in its vicinity. …

Ecology And Life History Of Baleen Whales Inform Climate Change Vulnerabilities And Priorities For Future Monitoring, Lesley H. Thorne, Erin L. Meyer-Gutbrod

Faculty Publications

Baleen whales are key consumers in marine habitats that serve as vectors of nutrients, but their populations have been slow to recover from past commercial whaling due to their low reproductive rates and ongoing anthropogenic threats. Climate impacts have become central to the demography and habitat use of baleen whales, and conservation efforts must account for these impacts to be effective. However, knowledge of baleen whale climate responses is lacking, and current survey effort is insufficient to capture changes in migration and habitat use for many species. Due to their unique combination of ecological and life history characteristics, baleen whales …

Understanding The 2016–2018 Freshening Dynamics Of The Beaufort Gyre Through Observations And Model Reanalysis, Christina Gregory, Ganesh Gopalakrishnan, Bulusu Subrahmanyam

Faculty Publications

The Beaufort Gyre (BG) in the Arctic Ocean has experienced rapid changes in losing extensive amounts of sea-ice and undergoing freshening over the past few decades. In this study, we highlight important recent changes in BG’s surface circulation, and its impact on freshwater (FW) fluxes and freshwater content (FWC) and draw attention to the critical importance of continuous monitoring of BG dynamics. Using satellite observations of the upper ocean state and ocean and atmospheric reanalysis, here we attempt to understand the anomalous behavior of BG dynamics over the past few decades. In recent years, atmospheric forcings increasingly influenced important judications …

A Comparison Of Modeled Daytime E Regions From E-Probed And Pyiri With Ionosonde Observations, Daniel J. Emmons, Cornelius C. J. H. Salinas, Dong L. Wu, Nimalan Swarnalingam, Eugene V. Dao, Jorge L. Chau, Yosuke Yamazaki, Kyle E. Fitch, Victoriya V. Forsythe

Faculty Publications

While the F region is the primary focus of many ionospheric models because it contains the peak electron density, the E region is an important region for ionospheric conductivities and high-frequency radio propagation. This study analyzes modeled E regions from the newly developed PyIRI and E-PROBED models. A long-term comparison of E region predictions from E-PROBED and PyIRI with ionosonde observations is performed for three sites spanning low- (Fortaleza, Brazil), mid- (El Arenosillo, Spain), and high-latitudes (Gakona, Alaska). Modeled foE and hmE trends are compared against a combination of manually-scaled and automatically-scaled ionograms using ARTIST-5 for the period 2009–2024 for …

Hydrodynamic Tipping Points In The Mississippi Sound In Response To Bonnet Carré Spillway Openings, Mustafa Kemal Cambazoglu, Brandy N. Armstrong, Mohsena Lopa, Marc Diard, Jerry D. Wiggert

Faculty Publications

This project examines the current operational strategy of the Bonnet Carré Spillway (BCS), a Mississippi River flood-control structure located about 21 miles northwest of New Orleans, Louisiana, and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The BCS is part of the larger Mississippi River and Tributaries Project, a network of levees and control structures designed to minimize flooding from the American plains to southern Louisiana. The spillway is opened when river discharge at New Orleans is forecasted to exceed 1,250,000 cubic feet per second, diverting significant volumes of Mississippi River water into Lake Pontchartrain which subsequently flows into Mississippi …

An Algorithm For Extracting Bathymetry From Icesat-2 Data That Employs Structure And Density Using Concentric Ellipses, Yuri Rzhanov, Kim Lowell

Faculty Publications

The ICESat-2 satellite collects LiDAR data along linear orbital tracks using a photon-counting green wavelength (532.27 nm) instrument. The utility of combining ICESat-2 data with satellite imagery for training and subsequently applying satellite-derived bathymetry models to provide estimates of shallow water depth is well-established. However, automating and improving the accuracy of the identification of ICESat-2 photon events (PEs) representing bathymetry remains a challenge. This article presents an algorithm for automated extraction of PEs reflected from the ocean floor (rather than the ocean surface or noise in the water column). The algorithm is unique in examining both the density of PEs …

Streams Guidelines: Standards For Technical Reporting In Environmental And Host-Associated Microbiome Studies, Julia M. Kelliher, Chloe Mirzayi, Sarah R. Bordenstein, Aaron Oliver, Christina A. Kellogg, Eneida L. Hatcher, Maureen Berg, Petr Baldrian, Mashael Aljumaah, Cassandra Maria Luz Miller, Christopher Mungall, Vlastimil Novak, Alexis Palucki, Ethan Smith, Nazifa Tabassum, Gregory Bonito, J. Rodney Brister, Patrick S. Chain, Mingfei Chen, Samuel Degregori, Xuefeng Peng, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

The interdisciplinary nature of microbiome research, coupled with the generation of complex multi-omics data, makes knowledge sharing challenging. The Strengthening the Organization and Reporting of Microbiome Studies (STORMS) guidelines provide a checklist for the reporting of study information, experimental design and analytical methods within a scientific manuscript on human microbiome research. Here, in this Consensus Statement, we present the standards for technical reporting in environmental and host-associated microbiome studies (STREAMS) guidelines. The guidelines expand on STORMS and include 67 items to support the reporting and review of environmental (for example, terrestrial, aquatic, atmospheric and engineered), synthetic and non-human host-associated microbiome …

Constraints On Inner Core Composition From Seismicanisotropy: The Importance Of Light Elements And Nickel, Jada Bollmeyer, Daniel A. Frost, Prajna Paramita Das

Faculty Publications

The inner core is seismically anisotropic, with PKIKP waves traversing the inner core parallel to the rotation axis faster than those in the equatorial plane. This anisotropy increases with depth into the inner core and may result from alignment of iron crystals deformed during inner core growth. Using previously calculated elastic properties of iron, we seek to determine the most likely iron-light element alloy (FeC, FeO, FeS, or FeSi). For each FeX alloy, we interpolate elastic tensors across the pressure and temperature range of the inner core and model the anisotropy resulting from flow during core growth. Lastly, we compare …

User Interface And Watchstation Improvements Required For Multi-Vehicle Usv Operations, Val Schmidt, Joshua Bergeron

Faculty Publications

In October 2024, the University of New Hampshire and NOAA’s Uncrewed Systems Office embarked on a mapping mission in the Gulf of Maine, simultaneously operating two DriX Un-crewed Surface Vehicles. Goals of the project were focused on testing hypotheses related to concepts of operation, including the safety of operations, cognitive loading of operators, management of vehicle endurance, vehicle logistics, maintenance and field support, refueling and a host of others.

Flow Structure And Mixing Near A Small River Plume Front: Winyah Bay, Sc, Usa, Christopher Papageorgiou, George Voulgaris, Alexander E. Yankovsky, Diane Bennett Fribance

Faculty Publications

This study presents Eulerian data from Winyah Bay, SC, USA collected during the passage of a tidal plume. The data captured the evolution and structure of the plume and include high-resolution velocity and temperature time series, supplemented by temperature – salinity profiles from a MicroCTD profiler. The observations identified a pre-existing plume extending to 4 m, with a water density of 1023.6 kg m⁻³, laying above denser ambient waters. Upon arrival, the newly discharged tidal plume introduced a fresher layer (1020.7 kg m⁻³) extending to 2.6 m, gradually thinning due to radial spreading. The plume's frontal …

Flow Structure And Mixing Near A Small River Plume Front: Winyah Bay, Sc, Usa, Christopher Papageorgiou, George Voulgaris, Alexander E. Yankovsky, Diane Bennett Fribance

Faculty Publications

This study presents Eulerian data from Winyah Bay, SC, USA collected during the passage of a tidal plume. The data captured the evolution and structure of the plume and include high-resolution velocity and temperature time series, supplemented by temperature – salinity profiles from a MicroCTD profiler. The observations identified a pre-existing plume extending to 4 m, with a water density of 1023.6 kg m⁻³, laying above denser ambient waters. Upon arrival, the newly discharged tidal plume introduced a fresher layer (1020.7 kg m⁻³) extending to 2.6 m, gradually thinning due to radial spreading. The plume's frontal …

Interactions And Community Structure Of Fungi And Prokaryotes In Salt And Brackish Marsh Ecosystems, Madeleine A. Thompso, Xuefeng Peng

Faculty Publications

Microbial communities play a fundamental role in biogeochemical cycling within salt and brackish marsh ecosystems, yet fungal-prokaryotic interactions in these environments remain poorly understood. This study employed metabarcoding of the 16S and 28S rRNA genes to investigate prokaryotic and fungal communities across four locations in sediments and surface waters of the North Inlet salt marsh and Winyah Bay brackish marsh (South Carolina, USA) over four time points from 2020 to 2021. Co-occurrence network analyses were used to identify potential microbial interactions and their ecological implications. Distinct fungal and prokaryotic communities were observed between the two marsh types. From the 16S …

Effects Of Climate Change On River And Groundwater Nutrient Inputs To The Coastal Ocean, Christina M. Richardson, Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Shea Wyatt, Annie Bourbonnais, Vanessa Hatje, Claudia Frey, Tina Sanders, Diana E. Varela, Adina Paytan

Faculty Publications

Rivers and groundwater are major sources of nutrients to the global coastal ocean. Climate change is expected to impact nutrient fluxes from river basins and coastal aquifers through alterations to both hydrological and nutrient cycling processes. In this Review, we identify and summarize how climate change impacts, such as changes in precipitation, increased cryosphere melt, and sea level rise, will affect water discharge and nutrient concentrations in rivers and coastal groundwater, which ultimately control nutrient inputs to the coastal ocean. We also document key limitations in the current understanding of climate-related changes to nutrient fluxes, especially in coastal groundwater basins. …

Decreasing Foraminiferal Flux In Response To Ongoing Climate Change In The Santa Barbara Basin, California, Emily Harvard, Katherine Cherry, Claudia R. Benitez-Nelson, Eric Tappa, Catherine V. Davis

Faculty Publications

The rapid response of foraminiferal assemblages to changing climate makes their shells an invaluable geological record of the past. However, the time frame over which foraminifera respond to climatic signals and the specific drivers influencing assemblage composition and abundance remain obscure. We focus on the impact of ongoing, anthropogenic climate change on planktic foraminifera in the California Current ecosystem, which would appear as a nearly instantaneous event in the sediment record. The Santa Barbara Basin sediment trap, located off the coast of California, USA since 1993, provides a record of more than 30 years of particulate and foraminiferal flux in …

Ocean And Coastal Acidification Monitoring Priorities For The Northeast Us And Eastern Canada, Christopher Hunt, Austin Pugh, Jake Kritzer, Samantha Siedlecki, Kumiko Azetsu-Scott, Parker Gassett, Diane Lavoie, Adam Pimenta, Amy Trice, Elizabeth Turner

Faculty Publications

The Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification Monitoring Prioritization Plan 2024 calls for Coastal Acidification Networks to identify the ocean and coastal acidification (OCA) monitoring needs most important for their regions. The Northeast Coastal Acidification Network (NECAN) organized a webinar series to study regional needs, which culminated with a workshop in November 2023. This workshop led to the identification of six priority new Monitoring Needs in addition to the maintenance of current monitoring efforts:

• Improve spatial and temporal scale of monitoring co-located OCA variables and biological measurements to better resolve variability of acidification dynamics in concert with biological processes …

Assessing The Costs Of Constructed Floating Wetlands For The Treatment Of Surface Waters And Wastewater, John Awad, Christopher Walker, Declan Page, Muhammad Arslan, Sarah A. White, Terry Lucke, Simon Beecham, Ryan J. Winston, William H.J. Stonsnider, Phil Nicodemus, Chris Streb, John Van Leeuwen

Faculty Publications

The development of constructed floating wetlands (CFWs) as a nature-based solution for water treatment has progressed over the last 25 years. However, full-scale CFW adoption remains relatively limited due in part to the uncertainty regarding the costs of CFWs in terms of capital and operational expenditure (CAPEX and OPEX) and treatment capacity. This study reports on the costs of 11 international CFW schemes including the factors affecting CAPEX and OPEX and levelized costs of nitrogen and phosphorus removal. The estimated levelized CAPEX and OPEX ranged from US$15/m² to $2537/m² and from $0.5/m² y⁻¹ to $181/m² y⁻¹, respectively, for CFW schemes …

A 12,800-Year-Old Layer With Cometary Dust, Microspherules, And Platinum Anomaly Recorded In Multiple Cores From Baffin Bay, Christopher R. Moore, Vladimir A. Tselmovich, Malcolm A. Lecompte, Allen West, Stephen J. Culver, David J. Mallinson, Mohammed Baalousha M.Sc, Ph.D., James P. Kennett, William M. Napier, Michael Bizimis, Victor Adedeji, Seth R. Sutton, Gunther Kleteschka, Kurt A. Langworthy, Jesus P. Perez, Timothy Witwer, Marc D. Young, Jordan Jeffreys, Richard C. Greenwood, James A. Malley

Faculty Publications

The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH) posits that ~12,800 years ago Earth encountered the debris stream of a disintegrating comet, triggering hemisphere-wide airbursts, atmospheric dust loading, and the deposition of a distinctive suite of extraterrestrial (ET) impact proxies at the Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB). Until now, evidence supporting this hypothesis has come only from terrestrial sediment and ice-core records. Here we report the first discovery of similar impact-related proxies in ocean sediments from four marine cores in Baffin Bay that span the YDB layer at water depths of 0.5–2.4 km, minimizing the potential for modern contamination. Using scanning electron microscopy …

Expanded Genetic And Functional Diversity Of Oceanic Fungi, Xuefeng Peng, David L. Valentine

Faculty Publications

Background

Fungi are known members of marine microbiomes that can act as saprotrophs, parasites, and pathogens. Although a few studies utilizing cultivation-based methods and metabarcoding have been conducted, the diversity, ecological roles, and functional activities of fungi in the open ocean remain vastly underexplored. This gap in knowledge is particularly notable in oxygen minimum zones (OMZ) of the ocean, which have expanded over the past 50 years, affecting marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles. The eastern tropical North Pacific Ocean (ETNP) is the largest oxygen minimum zone where fungi have been implicated in the production of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous …

An Upper-Mesopelagic-Zone Carbon Budget For The Subarctic North Pacific, Brandon M. Stephens, Montserrat Roca-Martí, Amy E. Maas, Vinícius J. Amaral, Samantha Clevenger, Shawnee Traylor, Claudia R. Benitez-Nelson, Philip W. Boyd, Ken O. Buesseler, Craig A. Carlson, Nicolas Cassar, Margaret Estapa, Andrea J. Fassbender, Yibin Huang, Phoebe J. Lam, Oliver Marchal, Susanne Menden-Deuer, Nicola L. Paul, Alyson E. Santoro, David A. Siegel, David P. Nicolson

Faculty Publications

Mesopelagic zone (MZ) carbon budgets comparing supply with demand can be difficult to constrain due to the temporal and spatial offsets between key sources and sinks, their associated uncertainties, and potential sampling biases. To address these challenges, the EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing (EXPORTS) campaign increased the number and variety of simultaneous measurements to monitor temporal variability in the MZ carbon budget using both a Lagrangian frame of reference and long-term autonomous observations. In this study, we collate a comprehensive combination of new and previously published organic carbon supply and demand measurements collected from the surface (5 …

Global Sporadic-E Prediction And Climatology Using Deep Learning, J. A. Ellis, Daniel J. Emmons, M. B. Cohen

Faculty Publications

Sporadic-E (E_s) is an ionospheric phenomenon defined by strong layers of plasma which may interfere with radio wave propagation. In this work, we develop deep learning models to improve the understanding of E_s, including the presence, intensity and height of the layers. We developed three separate models. The first, building off earlier work in (J. A. Ellis et al., 2024, link in AFIT Scholar, 10.1029/2023sw003669), includes only the main features from radio occultation (RO) measurements. The second adds to that time, date, location, geomagnetic and solar indices, solar winds, x-ray flux, weather and lightning. A …

Simultaneous Observations Of Irregular Sporadic E Structures Using The Lwa And A Dps4d, Kenneth S. Obenberger, C. A. Taylor, Jonah J. Colman, Eugene Dao, J. Dowell, J. D. Eccles, Daniel J. Emmons, C. T. Fallen, J. M. Holmes, G. B. Taylor

Faculty Publications

Multi-instrument studies have recently shed new light on the morphology of sporadic E, especially intense sporadic E. Here we present simultaneous observations of dense sporadic E (E_s) structures using the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) radio telescopes and a Digisonde Portable Sounder 4D (DPS4D). Our coordinated observations show that the LWA radio telescopes in central New Mexico can reliably locate regions of dense Es structures as they pass over a Digisonde located over 500 km away in Texas. The LWA appears to be most sensitive to the densest E_s structures, which also appear to contain irregularities with vertical …

Global Ionospheric F Region Parameters From Gnss-Pod Limb Measurements: Evaluations And Comparisons With Two Empirical Models - Iri-2020 And Nequick-2, Nimalan Swarnalingam, Dong L. Wu, Dieter Bilitza, Daniel J. Emmons, Cornelius Csar Jude H. Salinas, Artem Smirnov, Yenca Migoya-Oru

Faculty Publications

An optimal estimation (OE) technique has recently been developed for F region electron density (Ne) using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) limb sounding on low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites (COSMIC-2, Spire, and FengYun-3). This method provides unprecedented spatiotemporal sampling for global monthly Ne climatology within 100–500 km in 2 hr intervals. The global dataset, collected during mid to moderately high solar activity, is compared with leading models: IRI-2020 and NeQuick-2. Diurnal variations in summer, winter, and equinoctial months are examined for the F2-layer peak, as well as the topside and bottomside of the F region. The observed and modeled NmF2 …

The Effects Of Snow Cover On The Dynamic Pressure Of Nuclear Detonation Blast Waves, Adam Card, Andrew W. Decker

Faculty Publications

Blast pressure is the primary military targeting metric for nuclear weapons. Any local conditions that affect blast pressure have the potential for altering nuclear plans, both from defensive and offensive standpoints. Understanding the impact of snow to the blast wave, therefore, provides a benefit both to military planners and to warfighters on the ground, for any operation occurring in arctic environments. No existing data provides a quantitative description of how snow on the ground affects a nuclear detonation blast wave passing over it. Similar blast waves passing over dust have experimentally proven to enhance blast pressure in a localized region.1 …