Sample records for targeted observations high-resolution

  1. Earth System Modeling 2.0: A Blueprint for Models That Learn From Observations and Targeted High-Resolution Simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schneider, Tapio; Lan, Shiwei; Stuart, Andrew; Teixeira, João.

    2017-12-01

    Climate projections continue to be marred by large uncertainties, which originate in processes that need to be parameterized, such as clouds, convection, and ecosystems. But rapid progress is now within reach. New computational tools and methods from data assimilation and machine learning make it possible to integrate global observations and local high-resolution simulations in an Earth system model (ESM) that systematically learns from both and quantifies uncertainties. Here we propose a blueprint for such an ESM. We outline how parameterization schemes can learn from global observations and targeted high-resolution simulations, for example, of clouds and convection, through matching low-order statistics between ESMs, observations, and high-resolution simulations. We illustrate learning algorithms for ESMs with a simple dynamical system that shares characteristics of the climate system; and we discuss the opportunities the proposed framework presents and the challenges that remain to realize it.

  2. Development of high resolution target monitor.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-01-01

    The proposed High-resolution Target Movement Monitor uses triangulation theory but in a unique way. Unlike the commercially available triangulation systems which use sensing diodes to perceive reflected laser signatures and are limited to very short ...

  3. Distributed MIMO Radar for Imaging and High Resolution Target Localization

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-02-02

    Reduction in Distributed MIMO Radar with Multi-Carrier OFDM Signals Carl Georgeson 11/23/2010 Approved 17 • 10-019 Algorithms for Target Location and...28-2012 Final Report 04/15/2009 - 11/30/2011 Distributed MIMO Radar for Imaging and High Resolution Target Localization FA9550-09-1-0303 Alexander M...error for the general case of MIMO radar with multiple waveforms with non-coherent and coherent observations; (b) finds a closed-form solution for the

  4. High Resolution Active Optics Observations from the Kepler Follow-up Observation Program

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gautier, Thomas N.; Ciardi, D. R.; Marcy, G. W.; Hirsch, L.

    2014-01-01

    The ground based follow-up observation program for candidate exoplanets discovered with the Kepler observatory has supported a major effort for high resolution imaging of candidate host stars using adaptive optics wave-front correction (AO), speckle imaging and lucky imaging. These images allow examination of the sky as close as a few tenths of an arcsecond from the host stars to detect background objects that might be the source of the Kepler transit signal instead of the host star. This poster reports on the imaging done with AO cameras on the Keck, Palomar 5m and Shane 3m (Lick Observatory) which have been used to obtain high resolution images of over 500 Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) exoplanet candidate host stars. All observations were made at near infrared wavelengths in the J, H and K bands, mostly using the host target star as the AO guide star. Details of the sensitivity to background objects actually attained by these observations and the number of background objects discovered are presented. Implications to the false positive rate of the Kepler candidates are discussed.

  5. High-spectral resolution solar microwave observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hurford, G. J.

    1986-01-01

    The application of high-spectral resolution microwave observations to the study of solar activity is discussed with particular emphasis on the frequency dependence of microwave emission from solar active regions. A shell model of gyroresonance emission from active regions is described which suggest that high-spectral resolution, spatially-resolved observations can provide quantitative information about the magnetic field distribution at the base of the corona. Corresponding observations of a single sunspot with the Owens Valley frequency-agile interferometer at 56 frequencies between 1.2 and 14 Ghs are presented. The overall form of the observed size and brightness temperature spectra was consistent with expectations based on the shell model, although there were differences of potential physical significance. The merits and weaknesses of microwave spectroscopy as a technique for measuring magnetic fields in the solar corona are briefly discussed.

  6. Fabrication High Resolution Metrology Target By Step And Repeat Method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dusa, Mircea

    1983-10-01

    Based on the photolithography process generally used to generate high resolution masks for semiconductor I.C.S, we found a very useful industrial application of laser technology.First, we have generated high resolution metrology targets which are used in industrial measurement laser interferometers as difra.ction gratings. Secondi we have generated these targets using step and repeat machine, with He-Ne laser interferometer controlled state, as a pattern generator, due to suitable computer programming.Actually, high resolution metrology target, means two chromium plates, one of which is called the" rule" the other one the "vernier". In Fig.1 we have the configuration of the rule and the vernier. The rule has a succesion of 3 μM lines generated as a difraction grating on a 4 x 4 inch chromium blank. The vernier has several exposed fields( areas) having 3 - 15 μm lines, fields placed on very precise position on the chromium blank surface. High degree of uniformity, tight CD tolerances, low defect density required by the targets, creates specialised problems during processing. Details of the processing, together with experimental results will be presented. Before we start to enter into process details, we have to point out that the dimensional requirements of the reticle target, are quite similar or perhaps more strict than LSI master casks. These requirements presented in Fig.2.

  7. High Resolution Crystal Structure of Human β-Glucuronidase Reveals Structural Basis of Lysosome Targeting

    PubMed Central

    Hassan, Md. Imtaiyaz; Waheed, Abdul; Grubb, Jeffery H.; Klei, Herbert E.; Korolev, Sergey; Sly, William S.

    2013-01-01

    Human β-glucuronidase (GUS) cleaves β-D-glucuronic acid residues from the non-reducing termini of glycosaminoglycan and its deficiency leads to mucopolysaccharidosis type VII (MPSVII). Here we report a high resolution crystal structure of human GUS at 1.7 Å resolution and present an extensive analysis of the structural features, unifying recent findings in the field of lysosome targeting and glycosyl hydrolases. The structure revealed several new details including a new glycan chain at Asn272, in addition to that previously observed at Asn173, and coordination of the glycan chain at Asn173 with Lys197 of the lysosomal targeting motif which is essential for phosphotransferase recognition. Analysis of the high resolution structure not only provided new insights into the structural basis for lysosomal targeting but showed significant differences between human GUS, which is medically important in its own right, and E. coli GUS, which can be selectively inhibited in the human gut to prevent prodrug activation and is also widely used as a reporter gene by plant biologists. Despite these differences, both human and E. coli GUS share a high structure homology in all three domains with most of the glycosyl hydrolases, suggesting that they all evolved from a common ancestral gene. PMID:24260279

  8. High-resolution remotely sensed small target detection by imitating fly visual perception mechanism.

    PubMed

    Huang, Fengchen; Xu, Lizhong; Li, Min; Tang, Min

    2012-01-01

    The difficulty and limitation of small target detection methods for high-resolution remote sensing data have been a recent research hot spot. Inspired by the information capture and processing theory of fly visual system, this paper endeavors to construct a characterized model of information perception and make use of the advantages of fast and accurate small target detection under complex varied nature environment. The proposed model forms a theoretical basis of small target detection for high-resolution remote sensing data. After the comparison of prevailing simulation mechanism behind fly visual systems, we propose a fly-imitated visual system method of information processing for high-resolution remote sensing data. A small target detector and corresponding detection algorithm are designed by simulating the mechanism of information acquisition, compression, and fusion of fly visual system and the function of pool cell and the character of nonlinear self-adaption. Experiments verify the feasibility and rationality of the proposed small target detection model and fly-imitated visual perception method.

  9. Coronal Heating and the Need for High-Resolution Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Klimchuk, James A.

    2008-01-01

    Despite excellent progress in recent years in understanding coronal heating, there remain many crucial questions that are still unanswered. Limitations in the observations are one important reason. Both theoretical and observational considerations point to the importance of small spatial scales, impulsive energy release, strong dynamics, and extreme plasma nonuniformity. As a consequence, high spatial resolution, broad temperature coverage, high temperature fidelity, and sensitivity to velocities and densities are all critical observational parameters. Current instruments lack one or more of these properties, and this has led to considerable ambiguity and confusion. In this talk, I will discuss recent ideas about coronal heating and emphasize that high spatial resolution observations, especially spectroscopic observations, are needed to make major progress on this important problem.

  10. High resolution observations: The state of the art and beyond

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Title, A.; Tarbell, T.; Shine, R.; Topka, K.; Frank, Z.

    1992-01-01

    The meaning of high resolution and its scientific importance with regard to solar observations is discussed. The state of the art is reviewed, looking into Solar Optical Universal Polarimeter (SOUP) observations, image selection techniques, and adaptive optics. It is concluded that until there are observations in space, complete understanding of processes in the solar photosphere, chromosphere, transition region, and corona will be impossible. The importance of high resolution is considered with regard to solar surface and convection, solar photosphere inside and outside magnetic fields, and sunspot geometry.

  11. High resolution solar observations from first principles to applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Verdoni, Angelo P.

    2009-10-01

    The expression "high-resolution observations" in Solar Physics refers to the spatial, temporal and spectral domains in their entirety. High-resolution observations of solar fine structure are a necessity to answer many of the intriguing questions related to solar activity. However, a researcher building instruments for high-resolution observations has to cope with the fact that these three domains often have diametrically opposed boundary conditions. Many factors have to be considered in the design of a successful instrument. Modern post-focus instruments are more closely linked with the solar telescopes that they serve than in past. In principle, the quest for high-resolution observations already starts with the selection of the observatory site. The site survey of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) under the stewardship of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) has identified Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) as one of the best sites for solar observations. In a first step, the seeing characteristics at BBSO based on the data collected for the ATST site survey are described. The analysis will aid in the scheduling of high-resolution observations at BBSO as well as provide useful information concerning the design and implementation of a thermal control system for the New Solar Telescope (NST). NST is an off-axis open-structure Gregorian-style telescope with a 1.6 m aperture. NST will be housed in a newly constructed 5/8-sphere ventilated dome. With optics exposed to the surrounding air, NST's open-structure design makes it particularly vulnerable to the effects of enclosure-related seeing. In an effort to mitigate these effects, the initial design of a thermal control system for the NST dome is presented. The goal is to remediate thermal related seeing effects present within the dome interior. The THermal Control System (THCS) is an essential component for the open-telescope design of NST to work. Following these tasks, a calibration routine for the

  12. High-Resolution Observations of a Binary Black Hole Candidate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsai, Chao-Wei; Phillips, Chris; Norris, Ray; Jarrett, Thomas; Emonts, Bjorn; Cluver, Michelle; Eisenhardt, Peter; Stern, Daniel; Assef, Roberto

    2012-10-01

    We propose a 12-hour 2.3 GHz continuum Long Baseline Array (LBA) observation of WISE J2332-5056, a newly discovered supermassive black hole (SMBH) merger candidate that is located in the nearby universe (z = 0.3447). Our recently acquired 9 GHz ATCA map shows unusual radio morphology: a one-sided, smaller (and likely younger) FR-I jet perpendicular to a larger, Doppler-boosted FR-II jet. Follow-up Gemini-S/GMOS spectroscopy of this WISE-selected radio galaxy reveals broad emission lines blue-shifted by > 3,500 km/s with respect to the narrow lines and host galaxy, hallmarks of a dual AGN system. Combined, the optical spectroscopy and radio morphology of this object are strongly suggestive of a black hole merger system. Even in the local universe these systems are extremely difficult to identify; yet the process of supermassive blackhole growth is vital toward understanding galaxy evolution from the early to the current universe. Moreover, nearby merging SMBHs may serve as outstanding targets for gravitational wave studies. The proposed high resolution LBA map, reaching 50 pc resolution at the source redshift will allow us to investigate the SMBH merger scenario hypothesis.

  13. Spectroscopic Characterisation of CARMENES Target Candidates from FEROS, CAFE and HRS High-Resolution Spectra

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Passegger, Vera Maria; Reiners, Ansgar; Jeffers, Sandra V.; Wende, Sebastian; Schöfer, Patrick; Amado, Pedro J.; Caballero, Jose A.; Montes, David; Mundt, Reinhard; Ribas, Ignasi; Quirrenbach, Andreas

    2016-07-01

    CARMENES (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exoearths with Near-infrared and optical Échelle Spectrographs) started a new planet survey on M-dwarfs in January this year. The new high-resolution spectrographs are operating in the visible and near-infrared at Calar Alto Observatory. They will perform high-accuracy radial-velocity measurements (goal 1 m s-1) of about 300 M-dwarfs with the aim to detect low-mass planets within habitable zones. We characterised the candidate sample for CARMENES and provide fundamental parameters for these stars in order to constrain planetary properties and understand star-planet systems. Using state-of-the-art model atmospheres (PHOENIX-ACES) and χ2-minimization with a downhill-simplex method we determine effective temperature, surface gravity and metallicity [Fe/H] for high-resolution spectra of around 480 stars of spectral types M0.0-6.5V taken with FEROS, CAFE and HRS. We find good agreement between the models and our observed high-resolution spectra. We show the performance of the algorithm, as well as results, parameter and spectral type distributions for the CARMENES candidate sample, which is used to define the CARMENES target sample. We also present first preliminary results obtained from CARMENES spectra.

  14. Parallel Reaction Monitoring: A Targeted Experiment Performed Using High Resolution and High Mass Accuracy Mass Spectrometry

    PubMed Central

    Rauniyar, Navin

    2015-01-01

    The parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) assay has emerged as an alternative method of targeted quantification. The PRM assay is performed in a high resolution and high mass accuracy mode on a mass spectrometer. This review presents the features that make PRM a highly specific and selective method for targeted quantification using quadrupole-Orbitrap hybrid instruments. In addition, this review discusses the label-based and label-free methods of quantification that can be performed with the targeted approach. PMID:26633379

  15. Targeted carbon conservation at national scales with high-resolution monitoring

    PubMed Central

    Asner, Gregory P.; Knapp, David E.; Martin, Roberta E.; Tupayachi, Raul; Anderson, Christopher B.; Mascaro, Joseph; Sinca, Felipe; Chadwick, K. Dana; Higgins, Mark; Farfan, William; Llactayo, William; Silman, Miles R.

    2014-01-01

    Terrestrial carbon conservation can provide critical environmental, social, and climate benefits. Yet, the geographically complex mosaic of threats to, and opportunities for, conserving carbon in landscapes remain largely unresolved at national scales. Using a new high-resolution carbon mapping approach applied to Perú, a megadiverse country undergoing rapid land use change, we found that at least 0.8 Pg of aboveground carbon stocks are at imminent risk of emission from land use activities. Map-based information on the natural controls over carbon density, as well as current ecosystem threats and protections, revealed three biogeographically explicit strategies that fully offset forthcoming land-use emissions. High-resolution carbon mapping affords targeted interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in rapidly developing tropical nations. PMID:25385593

  16. Targeted carbon conservation at national scales with high-resolution monitoring.

    PubMed

    Asner, Gregory P; Knapp, David E; Martin, Roberta E; Tupayachi, Raul; Anderson, Christopher B; Mascaro, Joseph; Sinca, Felipe; Chadwick, K Dana; Higgins, Mark; Farfan, William; Llactayo, William; Silman, Miles R

    2014-11-25

    Terrestrial carbon conservation can provide critical environmental, social, and climate benefits. Yet, the geographically complex mosaic of threats to, and opportunities for, conserving carbon in landscapes remain largely unresolved at national scales. Using a new high-resolution carbon mapping approach applied to Perú, a megadiverse country undergoing rapid land use change, we found that at least 0.8 Pg of aboveground carbon stocks are at imminent risk of emission from land use activities. Map-based information on the natural controls over carbon density, as well as current ecosystem threats and protections, revealed three biogeographically explicit strategies that fully offset forthcoming land-use emissions. High-resolution carbon mapping affords targeted interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in rapidly developing tropical nations.

  17. A targeted illumination optical fiber probe for high resolution fluorescence imaging and optical switching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shinde, Anant; Perinchery, Sandeep Menon; Murukeshan, Vadakke Matham

    2017-04-01

    An optical imaging probe with targeted multispectral and spatiotemporal illumination features has applications in many diagnostic biomedical studies. However, these systems are mostly adapted in conventional microscopes, limiting their use for in vitro applications. We present a variable resolution imaging probe using a digital micromirror device (DMD) with an achievable maximum lateral resolution of 2.7 μm and an axial resolution of 5.5 μm, along with precise shape selective targeted illumination ability. We have demonstrated switching of different wavelengths to image multiple regions in the field of view. Moreover, the targeted illumination feature allows enhanced image contrast by time averaged imaging of selected regions with different optical exposure. The region specific multidirectional scanning feature of this probe has facilitated high speed targeted confocal imaging.

  18. Observation of tropical cyclones by high resolution scatterometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Quilfen, Y.; Chapron, B.; Elfouhaily, T.; Katsaros, K.; Tournadre, J.

    1998-04-01

    Unprecedented views of surface wind fields in tropical cyclones (hereafter TCs) are provided by the European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS) C band scatterometer. Scatterometer measurements at C band are able to penetrate convective storms clouds, observing the surface wind fields with good accuracy. However the resolution of the measurements (50×50 km2) limits the interpretation of the scatterometer signals in such mesoscale events. The strong gradients of the surface wind existing at scales of a few kms are smoothed in the measured features such as the intensity and location of the wind maxima, and the position of the center. Beyond the ERS systems, the scatterometers on-board the ADEOS and METOP satellites, designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and by the European Space Agency, respectively, will be able to produce measurements of the backscattering coefficient at about 25×25 km2 resolution. A few sets of ERS-1 orbits sampling TC events were produced with an experimental 25×25 km2 resolution. Enhancing the resolution by a factor of 2 allows location of the wind maxima and minima in a TC with a much better accuracy than at 50 km resolution. In addition, a better resolution reduces the geophysical noise (variability of wind speed within the cell and effect of rain) that dominates the radiometric noise and hence improves the definition of the backscattering measurements. A comprehensive analysis of the backscattering measurements in the case of high winds and high sea states obtained within TCs is proposed in order to refine the interpretation of the wind vector derived from a backscattering model that is currently only calibrated up to moderate winds (<20 m/s) in neutral conditions. Observations of the TOPEX-POSEIDON dual-frequency altimeter are also used for that purpose. Patterns of the surface winds in TCs are described and characteristic features concerning asymmetries in the maximum winds and in the divergence field are discussed.

  19. High-resolution observations of the globular cluster NGC 7099

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sams, Bruce Jones, III

    The globular cluster NGC 7099 is a prototypical collapsed core cluster. Through a series of instrumental, observational, and theoretical observations, I have resolved its core structure using a ground based telescope. The core has a radius of 2.15 arcsec when imaged with a V band spatial resolution of 0.35 arcsec. Initial attempts at speckle imaging produced images of inadequate signal to noise and resolution. To explain these results, a new, fully general signal-to-noise model has been developed. It properly accounts for all sources of noise in a speckle observation, including aliasing of high spatial frequencies by inadequate sampling of the image plane. The model, called Full Speckle Noise (FSN), can be used to predict the outcome of any speckle imaging experiment. A new high resolution imaging technique called ACT (Atmospheric Correlation with a Template) was developed to create sharper astronomical images. ACT compensates for image motion due to atmospheric turbulence. ACT is similar to the Shift and Add algorithm, but uses apriori spatial knowledge about the image to further constrain the shifts. In this instance, the final images of NGC 7099 have resolutions of 0.35 arcsec from data taken in 1 arcsec seeing. The PAPA (Precision Analog Photon Address) camera was used to record data. It is subject to errors when imaging cluster cores in a large field of view. The origin of these errors is explained, and several ways to avoid them proposed. New software was created for the PAPA camera to properly take flat field images taken in a large field of view. Absolute photometry measurements of NGC 7099 made with the PAPA camera are accurate to 0.1 magnitude. Luminosity sampling errors dominate surface brightness profiles of the central few arcsec in a collapsed core cluster. These errors set limits on the ultimate spatial accuracy of surface brightness profiles. high resolution; even to a perfectly functioning Hubble

  20. High Resolution Observations of Escaping Ions in the Martian Magnetotail

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Halekas, J. S.; Raman, C.; Brain, D.; DiBraccio, G. A.; Harada, Y.; McFadden, J. P.; Mitchell, D. L.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Jakosky, B. M.

    2016-12-01

    Ions escape from the Martian upper atmosphere via a number of channels, including the central plasmasheet of the magnetotail. Mars Express observations show that the heavy ions O+ and O2+ escaping through the central tail often have approximately the same energy, suggesting acceleration in a quasi-static electric field, which has been interpreted as a Hall electric field. The Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA) on MAVEN was designed to measure the upstream solar wind. However, during orbit segments with appropriate spacecraft attitude, SWIA can also make high resolution measurements of escaping ions in the tail. During the prime mission, these observations were only returned sporadically, during periods of intense escaping fluxes that fortuitously triggered a mode switch. Now, in the extended mission, we return high resolution observations from SWIA routinely. Some of these high resolution measurements reveal slight differences in both the direction and energy of escaping O+ and O2+ ions, which may help determine the acceleration process(es). We investigate the location and solar wind conditions for which the escaping ions separate in energy and angle and the systematics of their energies and flow vectors, and discuss the implications for ion acceleration and the overall picture of Martian atmospheric escape.

  1. Solar flare microwave observations with high spectral resolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bruggmann, G.; Magun, A.; Benz, A. O.; Stehling, W.

    1990-12-01

    The solar flare radio emission in the 6-8 GHz range was observed with a high resolution spectrometer. The observed band corresponds to the plasma frequencies and gyrofrequencies of the transition region and the lowest part of the corona in active regions. Most of the emissions were found to be broadbanded, as expected from the gyrosynchrotron mechanism. In eight out of 46 observed events, spectral structures of three types were detected: spikes below the time resolution of 100 ms, slowly drifting broadband structures, and a narrow bandwidth patch of continuum emission. These first narrowband bursts spectrally recorded in the 6-8 GHz range are generally weak. Slowly drifting structures are the only type compatible with the gyrosynchrotron emission mechanism. A simple argument based on free-free absorption shows that plasma emission can only be propagated if the radiation originates in a dense region with a small density-scale length. The same holds for maser emission at a low harmonic of the electron gyrofrequency. Possible emission mechanisms and diagnostic capabilities are discussed.

  2. USGS aerial resolution targets.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Salamonowicz, P.H.

    1982-01-01

    It is necessary to measure the achievable resolution of any airborne sensor that is to be used for metric purposes. Laboratory calibration facilities may be inadequate or inappropriate for determining the resolution of non-photographic sensors such as optical-mechanical scanners, television imaging tubes, and linear arrays. However, large target arrays imaged in the field can be used in testing such systems. The USGS has constructed an array of resolution targets in order to permit field testing of a variety of airborne sensing systems. The target array permits any interested organization with an airborne sensing system to accurately determine the operational resolution of its system. -from Author

  3. High-resolution imaging and target designation through clouds or smoke

    DOEpatents

    Perry, Michael D.

    2003-01-01

    A method and system of combining gated intensifiers and advances in solid-state, short-pulse laser technology, compact systems capable of producing high resolution (i.e., approximately less than 20 centimeters) optical images through a scattering medium such as dense clouds, fog, smoke, etc. may be achieved from air or ground based platforms. Laser target designation through a scattering medium is also enabled by utilizing a short pulse illumination laser and a relatively minor change to the detectors on laser guided munitions.

  4. Orbiter glow observations at high spectral resolution

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kendall, D. J. W.; Mende, S. B.; Yn, E. J. ADMCDADE, I. C. AEMENDE, S. B.

    1985-01-01

    An experiment flow on mission STS 41-G as part of the Canadian complement of experiments was designed to obtain relatively high resolution spectra of the Orbiter glow phenomenon over limited spectral regions centered on prominent upper atmospheric emissions. Observations were carried out successfully at altitudes of 360 km and 230 km although those at the lower altitude were limited by degradation of the image intensifier. Definitive glow results were obtained at the end of a thruster firing which showed the spectrum to be a continuum at a resolution of approximately 0.4 nm centered at a wavelength of 360 nm. Results at other wavelengths in the absence of any firings strongly suggest that the Orbiter glow is a continuum throughout the spectral region 550 nm to 760 nm. A discussion is presented that considers the reaction NO + O2 as being a possible candidate for the mechanism producing the shuttle glow.

  5. Mapping of CO2 at High Spatiotemporal Resolution using Satellite Observations: Global distributions from OCO-2

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hammerling, Dorit M.; Michalak, Anna M.; Kawa, S. Randolph

    2012-01-01

    Satellite observations of CO2 offer new opportunities to improve our understanding of the global carbon cycle. Using such observations to infer global maps of atmospheric CO2 and their associated uncertainties can provide key information about the distribution and dynamic behavior of CO2, through comparison to atmospheric CO2 distributions predicted from biospheric, oceanic, or fossil fuel flux emissions estimates coupled with atmospheric transport models. Ideally, these maps should be at temporal resolutions that are short enough to represent and capture the synoptic dynamics of atmospheric CO2. This study presents a geostatistical method that accomplishes this goal. The method can extract information about the spatial covariance structure of the CO2 field from the available CO2 retrievals, yields full coverage (Level 3) maps at high spatial resolutions, and provides estimates of the uncertainties associated with these maps. The method does not require information about CO2 fluxes or atmospheric transport, such that the Level 3 maps are informed entirely by available retrievals. The approach is assessed by investigating its performance using synthetic OCO-2 data generated from the PCTM/ GEOS-4/CASA-GFED model, for time periods ranging from 1 to 16 days and a target spatial resolution of 1deg latitude x 1.25deg longitude. Results show that global CO2 fields from OCO-2 observations can be predicted well at surprisingly high temporal resolutions. Even one-day Level 3 maps reproduce the large-scale features of the atmospheric CO2 distribution, and yield realistic uncertainty bounds. Temporal resolutions of two to four days result in the best performance for a wide range of investigated scenarios, providing maps at an order of magnitude higher temporal resolution relative to the monthly or seasonal Level 3 maps typically reported in the literature.

  6. Role of light satellites in the high-resolution Earth observation domain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fishman, Moshe

    1999-12-01

    Current 'classic' applications using and exploring space based earth imagery are exclusive, narrow niche tailored, expensive and hardly accessible. On the other side new, inexpensive and widely used 'consumable' applications will be only developed concurrently to the availability of appropriate imagery allowing that process. A part of these applications can be imagined today, like WWW based 'virtual tourism' or news media, but the history of technological, cultural and entertainment evolution teaches us that most of future applications are unpredictable -- they emerge together with the platforms enabling their appearance. The only thing, which can be ultimately stated, is that the definitive condition for such applications is the availability of the proper imagery platform providing low cost, high resolution, large area, quick response, simple accessibility and quick dissemination of the raw picture. This platform is a constellation of Earth Observation satellites. Up to 1995 the Space Based High Resolution Earth Observation Domain was dominated by heavy, super-expensive and very inflexible birds. The launch of Israeli OFEQ-3 Satellite by MBT Division of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) marked the entrance to new era of light, smart and cheap Low Earth Orbited Imaging satellites. The Earth Resource Observation System (EROS) initiated by West Indian Space, is based on OFEQ class Satellites design and it is capable to gather visual data of Earth Surface both at high resolution and large image capacity. The main attributes, derived from its compact design, low weight and sophisticated logic and which convert the EROS Satellite to valuable and productive system, are discussed. The major advantages of Light Satellites in High Resolution Earth Observation Domain are presented and WIS guidelines featuring the next generation of LEO Imaging Systems are included.

  7. High-resolution inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging for large rotation angle targets based on segmented processing algorithm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Hao; Zhang, Xinggan; Bai, Yechao; Tang, Lan

    2017-01-01

    In inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging, the migration through resolution cells (MTRCs) will occur when the rotation angle of the moving target is large, thereby degrading image resolution. To solve this problem, an ISAR imaging method based on segmented preprocessing is proposed. In this method, the echoes of large rotating target are divided into several small segments, and every segment can generate a low-resolution image without MTRCs. Then, each low-resolution image is rotated back to the original position. After image registration and phase compensation, a high-resolution image can be obtained. Simulation and real experiments show that the proposed algorithm can deal with the radar system with different range and cross-range resolutions and significantly compensate the MTRCs.

  8. Supporting observation campaigns with high resolution modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klocke, Daniel; Brueck, Matthias; Voigt, Aiko

    2017-04-01

    High resolution simulation in support of measurement campaigns offers a promising and emerging way to create large-scale context for small-scale observations of clouds and precipitation processes. As these simulation include the coupling of measured small-scale processes with the circulation, they also help to integrate the research communities from modeling and observations and allow for detailed model evaluations against dedicated observations. In connection with the measurement campaign NARVAL (August 2016 and December 2013) simulations with a grid-spacing of 2.5 km for the tropical Atlantic region (9000x3300 km), with local refinement to 1.2 km for the western part of the domain, were performed using the icosahedral non-hydrostatic (ICON) general circulation model. These simulations are again used to drive large eddy resolving simulations with the same model for selected days in the high definition clouds and precipitation for advancing climate prediction (HD(CP)2) project. The simulations are presented with the focus on selected results showing the benefit for the scientific communities doing atmospheric measurements and numerical modeling of climate and weather. Additionally, an outlook will be given on how similar simulations will support the NAWDEX measurement campaign in the North Atlantic and AC3 measurement campaign in the Arctic.

  9. Background concentrations for high resolution satellite observing systems of methane

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Benmergui, J. S.; Propp, A. M.; Turner, A. J.; Wofsy, S. C.

    2017-12-01

    Emerging satellite technologies promise to measure total column dry-air mole fractions of methane (XCH4) at resolutions on the order of a kilometer. XCH4 is linearly related to regional methane emissions through enhancements in the mixed layer, giving these satellites the ability to constrain emissions at unprecedented resolution. However, XCH4 is also sensitive to variability in transport of upwind concentrations (the "background concentration"). Variations in the background concentration are caused by synoptic scale transport in both the free troposphere and the stratosphere, as well as the rate of methane oxidation. Misspecification of the background concentration is aliased onto retrieved emissions as bias. This work explores several methods of specifying the background concentration for high resolution satellite observations of XCH4. We conduct observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) that simulate the retrieval of emissions in the Barnett Shale using observations from a 1.33 km resolution XCH4 imaging satellite. We test background concentrations defined (1) from an external continental-scale model, (2) using pixels along the edge of the image as a boundary value, (3) using differences between adjacent pixels, and (4) using differences between the same pixel separated by one hour in time. We measure success using the accuracy of the retrieval, the potential for bias induced by misspecification of the background, and the computational expedience of the method. Pathological scenarios are given to each method.

  10. CNES developments of key detection technologies to prepare next generation focal planes for high resolution Earth observation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Materne, A.; Virmontois, C.; Bardoux, A.; Gimenez, T.; Biffi, J. M.; Laubier, D.; Delvit, J. M.

    2014-10-01

    This paper describes the activities managed by CNES (French National Space Agency) for the development of focal planes for next generation of optical high resolution Earth observation satellites, in low sun-synchronous orbit. CNES has launched a new programme named OTOS, to increase the level of readiness (TRL) of several key technologies for high resolution Earth observation satellites. The OTOS programme includes several actions in the field of detection and focal planes: a new generation of CCD and CMOS image sensors, updated analog front-end electronics and analog-to-digital converters. The main features that must be achieved on focal planes for high resolution Earth Observation, are: readout speed, signal to noise ratio at low light level, anti-blooming efficiency, geometric stability, MTF and line of sight stability. The next steps targeted are presented in comparison to the in-flight measured performance of the PLEIADES satellites launched in 2011 and 2012. The high resolution panchromatic channel is still based upon Backside illuminated (BSI) CCDs operated in Time Delay Integration (TDI). For the multispectral channel, the main evolution consists in moving to TDI mode and the competition is open with the concurrent development of a CCD solution versus a CMOS solution. New CCDs will be based upon several process blocks under evaluation on the e2v 6 inches BSI wafer manufacturing line. The OTOS strategy for CMOS image sensors investigates on one hand custom TDI solutions within a similar approach to CCDs, and, on the other hand, investigates ways to take advantage of existing performance of off-the-shelf 2D arrays CMOS image sensors. We present the characterization results obtained from test vehicles designed for custom TDI operation on several CIS technologies and results obtained before and after radiation on snapshot 2D arrays from the CMOSIS CMV family.

  11. High-resolution continuum observations of the Sun

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zirin, Harold

    1987-01-01

    The aim of the PFI or photometric filtergraph instrument is to observe the Sun in the continuum with as high resolution as possible and utilizing the widest range of wavelengths. Because of financial and political problems the CCD was eliminated so that the highest photometric accuracy is only obtainable by comparison with the CFS images. Presently there is a limitation to wavelengths above 2200 A due to the lack of sensitivity of untreated film below 2200 A. Therefore the experiment at present consists of a film camera with 1000 feet of film and 12 filters. The PFI experiments are outlined using only two cameras. Some further problems of the experiment are addressed.

  12. High-spatial-resolution K-band Imaging of Select K2 Campaign Fields

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Colón, Knicole D.; Howell, Steve B.; Ciardi, David R.; Barclay, Thomas

    2017-12-01

    NASA's K2 mission began observing fields along the ecliptic plane in 2014. Each observing campaign lasts approximately 80 days, during which high-precision optical photometry of select astrophysical targets is collected by the Kepler spacecraft. Due to the 4 arcsec pixel scale of the Kepler photometer, significant blending between the observed targets can occur (especially in dense fields close to the Galactic plane). We undertook a program to use the Wide Field Camera (WFCAM) on the 3.8 m United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT) to collect high-spatial-resolution near-infrared images of targets in select K2 campaign fields, which we report here. These 0.4 arcsec resolution K-band images offer the opportunity to perform a variety of science, including vetting exoplanet candidates by identifying nearby stars blended with the target star and estimating the size, color, and type of galaxies observed by K2.

  13. Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope: High-resolution observing of the dynamic Sun

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tritschler, A.; Rimmele, T. R.; Berukoff, S.; Casini, R.; Kuhn, J. R.; Lin, H.; Rast, M. P.; McMullin, J. P.; Schmidt, W.; Wöger, F.; DKIST Team

    2016-11-01

    The 4-m aperture Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) formerly known as the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) is currently under construction on Haleakalā (Maui, Hawai'i) projected to start operations in 2019. At the time of completion, DKIST will be the largest ground-based solar telescope providing unprecedented resolution and photon collecting power. The DKIST will be equipped with a set of first-light facility-class instruments offering unique imaging, spectroscopic and spectropolarimetric observing opportunities covering the visible to infrared wavelength range. This first-light instrumentation suite will include: a Visible Broadband Imager (VBI) for high-spatial and -temporal resolution imaging of the solar atmosphere; a Visible Spectro-Polarimeter (ViSP) for sensitive and accurate multi-line spectropolarimetry; a Fabry-Pérot based Visible Tunable Filter (VTF) for high-spatial resolution spectropolarimetry; a fiber-fed Diffraction-Limited Near Infra-Red Spectro-Polarimeter (DL-NIRSP) for two-dimensional high-spatial resolution spectropolarimetry (simultaneous spatial and spectral information); and a Cryogenic Near Infra-Red Spectro-Polarimeter (Cryo-NIRSP) for coronal magnetic field measurements and on-disk observations of, e.g., the CO lines at 4.7 μm. We will provide an overview of the DKIST's unique capabilities with strong focus on the first-light instrumentation suite, highlight some of the additional properties supporting observations of transient and dynamic solar phenomena, and touch on some operational strategies and the DKIST critical science plan.

  14. Time-resolved High Spectral Resolution Observation of 2MASSW J0746425+200032AB

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wang, Ji; Mawet, Dimitri; Prato, Lisa, E-mail: ji.wang@caltech.edu

    Many brown dwarfs (BDs) exhibit photometric variability at levels from tenths to tens of percents. The photometric variability is related to magnetic activity or patchy cloud coverage, characteristic of BDs near the L–T transition. Time-resolved spectral monitoring of BDs provides diagnostics of cloud distribution and condensate properties. However, current time-resolved spectral studies of BDs are limited to low spectral resolution ( R ∼ 100) with the exception of the study of Luhman 16 AB at a resolution of 100,000 using the VLT+CRIRES. This work yielded the first map of BD surface inhomogeneity, highlighting the importance and unique contribution of highmore » spectral resolution observations. Here, we report on the time-resolved high spectral resolution observations of a nearby BD binary, 2MASSW J0746425+200032AB. We find no coherent spectral variability that is modulated with rotation. Based on simulations, we conclude that the coverage of a single spot on 2MASSW J0746425+200032AB is smaller than 1% or 6.25% if spot contrast is 50% or 80% of its surrounding flux, respectively. Future high spectral resolution observations aided by adaptive optics systems can put tighter constraints on the spectral variability of 2MASSW J0746425+200032AB and other nearby BDs.« less

  15. Combining targeted and nontargeted data analysis for liquid chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometric analyses.

    PubMed

    Croley, Timothy R; White, Kevin D; Wong, Jon; Callahan, John H; Musser, Steven M; Antler, Margaret; Lashin, Vitaly; McGibbon, Graham A

    2013-03-01

    Increasing importation of food and the diversity of potential contaminants have necessitated more analytical testing of these foods. Historically, mass spectrometric methods for testing foods were confined to monitoring selected ions (SIM or MRM), achieving sensitivity by focusing on targeted ion signals. A limiting factor in this approach is that any contaminants not included on the target list are not typically identified and retrospective data mining is limited. A potential solution is to utilize high-resolution MS to acquire accurate mass full-scan data. Based on the instrumental resolution, these data can be correlated to the actual mass of a contaminant, which would allow for identification of both target compounds and compounds that are not on a target list (nontargets). The focus of this research was to develop software algorithms to provide rapid and accurate data processing of LC/MS data to identify both targeted and nontargeted analytes. Software from a commercial vendor was developed to process LC/MS data and the results were compared to an alternate, vendor-supplied solution. The commercial software performed well and demonstrated the potential for a fully automated processing solution. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  16. Atmospheric Correction Prototype Algorithm for High Spatial Resolution Multispectral Earth Observing Imaging Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pagnutti, Mary

    2006-01-01

    This viewgraph presentation reviews the creation of a prototype algorithm for atmospheric correction using high spatial resolution earth observing imaging systems. The objective of the work was to evaluate accuracy of a prototype algorithm that uses satellite-derived atmospheric products to generate scene reflectance maps for high spatial resolution (HSR) systems. This presentation focused on preliminary results of only the satellite-based atmospheric correction algorithm.

  17. High Resolution Live Cell Raman Imaging Using Subcellular Organelle-Targeting SERS-Sensitive Gold Nanoparticles with Highly Narrow Intra-Nanogap

    PubMed Central

    Kang, Jeon Woong; So, Peter T. C.; Dasari, Ramachandra R.; Lim, Dong-Kwon

    2015-01-01

    We report a method to achieve high speed and high resolution live cell Raman images using small spherical gold nanoparticles with highly narrow intra-nanogap structures responding to NIR excitation (785 nm) and high-speed confocal Raman microscopy. The three different Raman-active molecules placed in the narrow intra-nanogap showed a strong and uniform Raman intensity in solution even under transient exposure time (10 ms) and low input power of incident laser (200 μW), which lead to obtain high-resolution single cell image within 30 s without inducing significant cell damage. The high resolution Raman image showed the distributions of gold nanoparticles for their targeted sites such as cytoplasm, mitochondria, or nucleus. The high speed Raman-based live cell imaging allowed us to monitor rapidly changing cell morphologies during cell death induced by the addition of highly toxic KCN solution to cells. These results strongly suggest that the use of SERS-active nanoparticle can greatly improve the current temporal resolution and image quality of Raman-based cell images enough to obtain the detailed cell dynamics and/or the responses of cells to potential drug molecules. PMID:25646716

  18. Assessment of meat authenticity using bioinformatics, targeted peptide biomarkers and high-resolution mass spectrometry.

    PubMed

    Ruiz Orduna, Alberto; Husby, Erik; Yang, Charles T; Ghosh, Dipankar; Beaudry, Francis

    2015-01-01

    In recent years a significant increase of food fraud has been observed, ranging from false label claims to the use of additives and fillers to increase profitability. Recently in 2013 horse and pig DNAs were detected in beef products sold from several retailers. Mass spectrometry (MS) has become the workhorse in protein research, and the detection of marker proteins could serve for both animal species and tissue authentication. Meat species authenticity is performed in this paper using a well-defined proteogenomic annotation, carefully chosen surrogate tryptic peptides and analysis using a hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap MS. Selected mammalian meat samples were homogenised and proteins were extracted and digested with trypsin. The samples were analysed using a high-resolution MS. Chromatography was achieved using a 30-min linear gradient along with a BioBasic C8 100 × 1 mm column at a flow rate of 75 µl min(-1). The MS was operated in full-scan high resolution and accurate mass. MS/MS spectra were collected for selected proteotypic peptides. Muscular proteins were methodically analysed in silico in order to generate tryptic peptide mass lists and theoretical MS/MS spectra. Following a comprehensive bottom-up proteomic analysis, we detected and identified a proteotypic myoglobin tryptic peptide (120-134) for each species with observed m/z below 1.3 ppm compared with theoretical values. Moreover, proteotypic peptides from myosin-1, myosin-2 and β-haemoglobin were also identified. This targeted method allowed comprehensive meat speciation down to 1% (w/w) of undesired product.

  19. High-Resolution Observations of a Meteo-Tsunami

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Assink, J. D.; Evers, L. G.; Smink, M.; Apituley, A.

    2017-12-01

    In the early morning of 29 May 2017, unusually large waves of over 2 m height hit the west coast of the Netherlands, leading to some property damage. The waves were due to a meteo-tsunami, which is a tsunami of meteorological origin, unlike seismogenic tsunamis. This particular event was caused by a rapidly moving cold front which featured a sharp squall line that moved towards the coast. Associated was a large perturbation in air pressure of 5 hPa which, along with Proudman resonance effects and the upsloping seabottom lead to the tidal surge. While the meteorological conditions leading up to such an event are relatively common, the more extreme events appear to happen under specific conditions only. As a result of the meteo-tsunami, gravity waves were observed all over the Netherlands with a variety of meteorlogical instruments, including weather radar, ceilometers and a network of microbarometers that are typically used for the detection of infrasound. In this presentation, these high-resolution observations of gravity waves are compared with mesoscale weather models.

  20. High spatial resolution measurements of NO2 applying Topographic Target Light scattering-Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (ToTaL-DOAS)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frins, E.; Platt, U.; Wagner, T.

    2008-06-01

    Tomographic Target Light scattering - Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (ToTaL-DOAS), also called Target-DOAS, is a novel experimental procedure to retrieve trace gas concentrations present in the low atmosphere. Scattered sunlight (partially or totally) reflected from natural or artificial targets of similar albedo located at different distances is analyzed to retrieve the concentration of different trace gases like NO2, SO2 and others. We report high spatial resolution measurements of NO2 mixing ratios in the city of Montevideo (Uruguay) observing three buildings as targets with a Mini-DOAS instrument. Our instrument was 146 m apart from the first building, 196 m from the second and 286 m from the third one. All three buildings are located along a main Avenue. We obtain temporal variation of NO2 mixing ratios between 30 ppb and 65 ppb (±2 ppb). Our measurements demonstrate that ToTaL-DOAS measurements can be made over very short distances. In polluted air masses, the retrieved absorption signal was found to be strong enough to allow measurements over distances in the range of several ten meters, and achieve a spatial resolution of 50 m approximately.

  1. A high-resolution and observationally constrained OMI NO 2 satellite retrieval

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Goldberg, Daniel L.; Lamsal, Lok N.; Loughner, Christopher P.

    Here, this work presents a new high-resolution NO 2 dataset derived from the NASA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) NO 2 version 3.0 retrieval that can be used to estimate surface-level concentrations. The standard NASA product uses NO 2 vertical profile shape factors from a 1.25° × 1° (~110 km × 110 km) resolution Global Model Initiative (GMI) model simulation to calculate air mass factors, a critical value used to determine observed tropospheric NO 2 vertical columns. To better estimate vertical profile shape factors, we use a high-resolution (1.33 km × 1.33 km) Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model simulation constrained by in situmore » aircraft observations to recalculate tropospheric air mass factors and tropospheric NO 2 vertical columns during summertime in the eastern US. In this new product, OMI NO 2 tropospheric columns increase by up to 160% in city centers and decrease by 20–50 % in the rural areas outside of urban areas when compared to the operational NASA product. Our new product shows much better agreement with the Pandora NO 2 and Airborne Compact Atmospheric Mapper (ACAM) NO 2 spectrometer measurements acquired during the DISCOVER-AQ Maryland field campaign. Furthermore, the correlation between our satellite product and EPA NO 2 monitors in urban areas has improved dramatically: r 2 = 0.60 in the new product vs. r 2 = 0.39 in the operational product, signifying that this new product is a better indicator of surface concentrations than the operational product. Our work emphasizes the need to use both high-resolution and high-fidelity models in order to recalculate satellite data in areas with large spatial heterogeneities in NO x emissions. Although the current work is focused on the eastern US, the methodology developed in this work can be applied to other world regions to produce high-quality region-specific NO 2 satellite retrievals.« less

  2. A high-resolution and observationally constrained OMI NO 2 satellite retrieval

    DOE PAGES

    Goldberg, Daniel L.; Lamsal, Lok N.; Loughner, Christopher P.; ...

    2017-09-26

    Here, this work presents a new high-resolution NO 2 dataset derived from the NASA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) NO 2 version 3.0 retrieval that can be used to estimate surface-level concentrations. The standard NASA product uses NO 2 vertical profile shape factors from a 1.25° × 1° (~110 km × 110 km) resolution Global Model Initiative (GMI) model simulation to calculate air mass factors, a critical value used to determine observed tropospheric NO 2 vertical columns. To better estimate vertical profile shape factors, we use a high-resolution (1.33 km × 1.33 km) Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model simulation constrained by in situmore » aircraft observations to recalculate tropospheric air mass factors and tropospheric NO 2 vertical columns during summertime in the eastern US. In this new product, OMI NO 2 tropospheric columns increase by up to 160% in city centers and decrease by 20–50 % in the rural areas outside of urban areas when compared to the operational NASA product. Our new product shows much better agreement with the Pandora NO 2 and Airborne Compact Atmospheric Mapper (ACAM) NO 2 spectrometer measurements acquired during the DISCOVER-AQ Maryland field campaign. Furthermore, the correlation between our satellite product and EPA NO 2 monitors in urban areas has improved dramatically: r 2 = 0.60 in the new product vs. r 2 = 0.39 in the operational product, signifying that this new product is a better indicator of surface concentrations than the operational product. Our work emphasizes the need to use both high-resolution and high-fidelity models in order to recalculate satellite data in areas with large spatial heterogeneities in NO x emissions. Although the current work is focused on the eastern US, the methodology developed in this work can be applied to other world regions to produce high-quality region-specific NO 2 satellite retrievals.« less

  3. A high-resolution and observationally constrained OMI NO2 satellite retrieval

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goldberg, Daniel L.; Lamsal, Lok N.; Loughner, Christopher P.; Swartz, William H.; Lu, Zifeng; Streets, David G.

    2017-09-01

    This work presents a new high-resolution NO2 dataset derived from the NASA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) NO2 version 3.0 retrieval that can be used to estimate surface-level concentrations. The standard NASA product uses NO2 vertical profile shape factors from a 1.25° × 1° (˜ 110 km × 110 km) resolution Global Model Initiative (GMI) model simulation to calculate air mass factors, a critical value used to determine observed tropospheric NO2 vertical columns. To better estimate vertical profile shape factors, we use a high-resolution (1.33 km × 1.33 km) Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model simulation constrained by in situ aircraft observations to recalculate tropospheric air mass factors and tropospheric NO2 vertical columns during summertime in the eastern US. In this new product, OMI NO2 tropospheric columns increase by up to 160 % in city centers and decrease by 20-50 % in the rural areas outside of urban areas when compared to the operational NASA product. Our new product shows much better agreement with the Pandora NO2 and Airborne Compact Atmospheric Mapper (ACAM) NO2 spectrometer measurements acquired during the DISCOVER-AQ Maryland field campaign. Furthermore, the correlation between our satellite product and EPA NO2 monitors in urban areas has improved dramatically: r2 = 0.60 in the new product vs. r2 = 0.39 in the operational product, signifying that this new product is a better indicator of surface concentrations than the operational product. Our work emphasizes the need to use both high-resolution and high-fidelity models in order to recalculate satellite data in areas with large spatial heterogeneities in NOx emissions. Although the current work is focused on the eastern US, the methodology developed in this work can be applied to other world regions to produce high-quality region-specific NO2 satellite retrievals.

  4. High resolution earth observation satellites and services in the next decade a European perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schreier, Gunter; Dech, Stefan

    2005-07-01

    Projects to use very high resolution optical satellite sensor data started in the late 90s and are believed to be the major driver for the commercialisation of earth observation. The global political security situation and updated legislative frameworks created new opportunities for high resolution, dual use satellite systems. In addition to new optical sensors, very high resolution synthetic aperture radars will become in the next few years an important component in the imaging satellite fleet. The paper will review the development in this domain so far, and give perspectives on future emerging markets and opportunities. With dual-use satellite initiatives and new political frameworks agreed between the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA), the European market becomes very attractive for both service suppliers and customers. The political focus on "Global Monitoring for Environment and Security" (GMES) and the "European Defence and Security Policy" drive and amplify this demand which ranges from low resolution climate monitoring to very high resolution reconnaissance tasks. In order to create an operational and sustainable GMES in Europe by 2007, the European infrastructure need to be adapted and extended. This includes the ESA SENTINEL and OXYGEN programmes, aiming for a fleet of earth observation satellites and an open and operational earth observation ground segment. The harmonisation of national and regional geographic information is driven by the European Commission's INSPIRE programme. The necessary satellite capacity to complement existing systems in the delivery of space based data required for GMES is currently under definition. Embedded in a market with global competition and in the global political framework of a Global Earth Observation System of Systems, European companies, agencies and research institutions are now contributing to this joint undertaking. The paper addresses the chances, risks and options for the future.

  5. LTE modeling of inhomogeneous chromospheric structure using high-resolution limb observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lindsey, C.

    1987-01-01

    The paper discusses considerations relevant to LTE modeling of rough atmospheres. Particular attention is given to the application of recent high-resolution observations of the solar limb in the far-infrared and radio continuum to the modeling of chromospheric spicules. It is explained how the continuum limb observations can be combined with morphological knowledge of spicule structure to model the physical conditions in chromospheric spicules. This discussion forms the basis for a chromospheric model presented in a parallel publication based on observations ranging from 100 microns to 2.6 mm.

  6. High resolution astrophysical observations using speckle imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Noyes, R. W.; Nisenson, P.; Papaliolios, C.; Stachnik, R. V.

    1986-04-01

    This report describes progress under a contract to develop a complete astronomical speckle image reconstruction facility and to apply that facility to the solution of astronomical problems. During the course of the contract we have developed the procedures, algorithms, theory and hardware required to perform that function and have made and interpreted astronomical observations of substantial significance. A principal result of the program was development of a photon-counting camera of innovative design, the PAPA detector. Development of this device was, in our view, essential to making the speckle process into a useful astronomical tool, since the principal impediment to that circumstance in the past was the necessity for application of photon noise compensation procedures which were difficult if not impossible to calibrate. The photon camera made this procedure unnecessary and permitted precision image recovery. The result of this effort and the associated algorithm development was an active program of astronomical observation which included investigations into young stellar objects, supergiant structure and measurements of the helium abundance of the early universe. We have also continued research on recovery of high angular resolution images of the solar surface working with scientists at the Sacramento Peak Observatory in this area.

  7. High-resolution Observation of Moving Magnetic Features in Active Regions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Qin; Deng, Na; Jing, Ju; Wang, Haimin

    2017-08-01

    Moving magnetic features (MMFs) are small photospheric magnetic elements that emerge and move outward toward the boundary of moat regions mostly during a sunspot decaying phase, in a serpent wave-like magnetic topology. Studies of MMFs and their classification (e.g., unipolar or bipolar types) strongly rely on the high spatiotemporal-resolution observation of photospheric magnetic field. In this work, we present a detailed observation of a sunspot evolution in NOAA active region (AR) 12565, using exceptionally high resolution Halpha images from the 1.6 New Solar telescope (NST) at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) and the UV images from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The spectropolarimetric measurements of photospheric magnetic field are obtained from the NST Near InfraRed Imaging Spectropolarimeter (NIRIS) at Fe I 1.56 um line. We investigate the horizontal motion of the classified MMFs and discuss the clustering patterns of the geometry and motion of the MMFs. We estimate the rate of flux generation by appearance of MMFs and the role MMFs play in sunspot decaying phase. We also study the interaction between the MMFs and the existing magnetic field features and its response to Ellerman bombs and IRIS bombs respectively at higher layers.

  8. Quantitative observation of tracer transport with high-resolution PET

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kulenkampff, Johannes; Gruendig, Marion; Zakhnini, Abdelhamid; Lippmann-Pipke, Johanna

    2016-04-01

    Transport processes in natural porous media are typically heterogeneous over various scales. This heterogeneity is caused by the complexity of pore geometry and molecular processes. Heterogeneous processes, like diffusive transport, conservative advective transport, mixing and reactive transport, can be observed and quantified with quantitative tomography of tracer transport patterns. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is by far the most sensitive method and perfectly selective for positron-emitting radiotracers, therefore it is suited as reference method for spatiotemporal tracer transport observations. The number of such PET-applications is steadily increasing. However, many applications are afflicted by the low spatial resolution (3 - 5 mm) of the clinical scanners from cooperating nuclear medical departments. This resolution is low in relation to typical sample dimensions of 10 cm, which are restricted by the mass attenuation of the material. In contrast, our GeoPET-method applies a high-resolution scanner with a resolution of 1 mm, which is the physical limit of the method and which is more appropriate for samples of the size of soil columns or drill cores. This higher resolution is achieved at the cost of a more elaborate image reconstruction procedure, especially considering the effects of Compton scatter. The result of the quantitative image reconstruction procedure is a suite of frames of the quantitative tracer distribution with adjustable frame rates from minutes to months. The voxel size has to be considered as reference volume of the tracer concentration. This continuous variable includes contributions from structures far below the spatial resolution, as far as a detection threshold, in the pico-molar range, is exceeded. Examples from a period of almost 10 years (Kulenkampff et al. 2008a, Kulenkampff et al. 2008b) of development and application of quantitative GeoPET-process tomography are shown. These examples include different transport processes

  9. Rapid Target Detection in High Resolution Remote Sensing Images Using Yolo Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Z.; Chen, X.; Gao, Y.; Li, Y.

    2018-04-01

    Object detection in high resolution remote sensing images is a fundamental and challenging problem in the field of remote sensing imagery analysis for civil and military application due to the complex neighboring environments, which can cause the recognition algorithms to mistake irrelevant ground objects for target objects. Deep Convolution Neural Network(DCNN) is the hotspot in object detection for its powerful ability of feature extraction and has achieved state-of-the-art results in Computer Vision. Common pipeline of object detection based on DCNN consists of region proposal, CNN feature extraction, region classification and post processing. YOLO model frames object detection as a regression problem, using a single CNN predicts bounding boxes and class probabilities in an end-to-end way and make the predict faster. In this paper, a YOLO based model is used for object detection in high resolution sensing images. The experiments on NWPU VHR-10 dataset and our airport/airplane dataset gain from GoogleEarth show that, compare with the common pipeline, the proposed model speeds up the detection process and have good accuracy.

  10. Targeted Recombinant Progeny: a design for ultra-high resolution mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci in crosses between inbred or pure lines.

    PubMed

    Heifetz, Eliyahu M; Soller, Morris

    2015-07-07

    High-resolution mapping of the loci (QTN) responsible for genetic variation in quantitative traits is essential for positional cloning of candidate genes, and for effective marker assisted selection. The confidence interval (QTL) flanking the point estimate of QTN-location is proportional to the number of individuals in the mapping population carrying chromosomes recombinant in the given interval. Consequently, many designs for high resolution QTN mapping are based on increasing the proportion of recombinants in the mapping population. The "Targeted Recombinant Progeny" (TRP) design is a new design for high resolution mapping of a target QTN in crosses between pure, or inbred lines. It is a three-generation procedure generating a large number of recombinant individuals within a QTL previously shown to contain a QTN. This is achieved by having individuals that carry chromosomes recombinant across the target QTL interval as parents of a large mapping population; most of whom will therefore carry recombinant chromosomes targeted to the given QTL. The TRP design is particularly useful for high resolution mapping of QTN that differentiate inbred or pure lines, and hence are not amenable to high resolution mapping by genome-wide association tests. In the absence of residual polygenic variation, population sizes required for achieving given mapping resolution by the TRP-F2 design relative to a standard F2 design ranged from 0.289 for a QTN with standardized allele substitution effect = 0.2, mapped to an initial QTL of 0.2 Morgan to 0.041 for equivalent QTN mapped to an initial QTL of 0.02 M. In the presence of residual polygenic variation, the relative effectiveness of the TRP design ranges from 1.068 to 0.151 for the same initial QTL intervals and QTN effect. Thus even in the presence of polygenic variation, the TRP can still provide major savings. Simulation showed that mapping by TRP should be based on 30-50 markers spanning the initial interval; and on at least 50 or

  11. Random Access Memories: A New Paradigm for Target Detection in High Resolution Aerial Remote Sensing Images.

    PubMed

    Zou, Zhengxia; Shi, Zhenwei

    2018-03-01

    We propose a new paradigm for target detection in high resolution aerial remote sensing images under small target priors. Previous remote sensing target detection methods frame the detection as learning of detection model + inference of class-label and bounding-box coordinates. Instead, we formulate it from a Bayesian view that at inference stage, the detection model is adaptively updated to maximize its posterior that is determined by both training and observation. We call this paradigm "random access memories (RAM)." In this paradigm, "Memories" can be interpreted as any model distribution learned from training data and "random access" means accessing memories and randomly adjusting the model at detection phase to obtain better adaptivity to any unseen distribution of test data. By leveraging some latest detection techniques e.g., deep Convolutional Neural Networks and multi-scale anchors, experimental results on a public remote sensing target detection data set show our method outperforms several other state of the art methods. We also introduce a new data set "LEarning, VIsion and Remote sensing laboratory (LEVIR)", which is one order of magnitude larger than other data sets of this field. LEVIR consists of a large set of Google Earth images, with over 22 k images and 10 k independently labeled targets. RAM gives noticeable upgrade of accuracy (an mean average precision improvement of 1% ~ 4%) of our baseline detectors with acceptable computational overhead.

  12. High-resolution mid-infrared observations of NGC 7469

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Miles, J. W.; Houck, J. R.; Hayward, T. L.

    1994-01-01

    We present a high-resolution 11.7 micrometer image of the starburst/Seyfert hybrid galaxy NGC 7469 using the Hale 5 m telescope at Palomar Observatory. Our map, with diffraction limited spatial resolution of 0.6 sec, shows a 3 sec diameter ring of emission around an unresolved nucleus. The map is similar to the Very Large Array (VLA) 6 cm map of this galaxy made with 0.4 sec resolution by Wilson et al. (1991). About half of the mid-infrared flux in our map emerges from the unresolved nucleus. We also present spatially resolved low resolution spectra that show that the 11.3 micrometer polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature comes from the circumnuclear ring but not from the nucleus of the galaxy.

  13. Design of the high resolution optical instrument for the Pleiades HR Earth observation satellites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lamard, Jean-Luc; Gaudin-Delrieu, Catherine; Valentini, David; Renard, Christophe; Tournier, Thierry; Laherrere, Jean-Marc

    2017-11-01

    As part of its contribution to Earth observation from space, ALCATEL SPACE designed, built and tested the High Resolution cameras for the European intelligence satellites HELIOS I and II. Through these programmes, ALCATEL SPACE enjoys an international reputation. Its capability and experience in High Resolution instrumentation is recognised by the most customers. Coming after the SPOT program, it was decided to go ahead with the PLEIADES HR program. PLEIADES HR is the optical high resolution component of a larger optical and radar multi-sensors system : ORFEO, which is developed in cooperation between France and Italy for dual Civilian and Defense use. ALCATEL SPACE has been entrusted by CNES with the development of the high resolution camera of the Earth observation satellites PLEIADES HR. The first optical satellite of the PLEIADES HR constellation will be launched in mid-2008, the second will follow in 2009. To minimize the development costs, a mini satellite approach has been selected, leading to a compact concept for the camera design. The paper describes the design and performance budgets of this novel high resolution and large field of view optical instrument with emphasis on the technological features. This new generation of camera represents a breakthrough in comparison with the previous SPOT cameras owing to a significant step in on-ground resolution, which approaches the capabilities of aerial photography. Recent advances in detector technology, optical fabrication and electronics make it possible for the PLEIADES HR camera to achieve their image quality performance goals while staying within weight and size restrictions normally considered suitable only for much lower performance systems. This camera design delivers superior performance using an innovative low power, low mass, scalable architecture, which provides a versatile approach for a variety of imaging requirements and allows for a wide number of possibilities of accommodation with a mini

  14. Target-Oriented High-Resolution SAR Image Formation via Semantic Information Guided Regularizations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hou, Biao; Wen, Zaidao; Jiao, Licheng; Wu, Qian

    2018-04-01

    Sparsity-regularized synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging framework has shown its remarkable performance to generate a feature enhanced high resolution image, in which a sparsity-inducing regularizer is involved by exploiting the sparsity priors of some visual features in the underlying image. However, since the simple prior of low level features are insufficient to describe different semantic contents in the image, this type of regularizer will be incapable of distinguishing between the target of interest and unconcerned background clutters. As a consequence, the features belonging to the target and clutters are simultaneously affected in the generated image without concerning their underlying semantic labels. To address this problem, we propose a novel semantic information guided framework for target oriented SAR image formation, which aims at enhancing the interested target scatters while suppressing the background clutters. Firstly, we develop a new semantics-specific regularizer for image formation by exploiting the statistical properties of different semantic categories in a target scene SAR image. In order to infer the semantic label for each pixel in an unsupervised way, we moreover induce a novel high-level prior-driven regularizer and some semantic causal rules from the prior knowledge. Finally, our regularized framework for image formation is further derived as a simple iteratively reweighted $\\ell_1$ minimization problem which can be conveniently solved by many off-the-shelf solvers. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of our framework for SAR image formation in terms of target enhancement and clutters suppression, compared with the state of the arts. Additionally, the proposed framework opens a new direction of devoting some machine learning strategies to image formation, which can benefit the subsequent decision making tasks.

  15. A new high resolution permafrost map of Iceland from Earth Observation data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barnie, Talfan; Conway, Susan; Balme, Matt; Graham, Alastair

    2017-04-01

    High resolution maps of permafrost are required for ongoing monitoring of environmental change and the resulting hazards to ecosystems, people and infrastructure. However, permafrost maps are difficult to construct - direct observations require maintaining networks of sensors and boreholes in harsh environments and are thus limited in extent in space and time, and indirect observations require models or assumptions relating the measurements (e.g. weather station air temperature, basal snow temperature) to ground temperature. Operationally produced Land Surface Temperature maps from Earth Observation data can be used to make spatially contiguous estimates of mean annual skin temperature, which has been used a proxy for the presence of permafrost. However these maps are subject to biases due to (i) selective sampling during the day due to limited satellite overpass times, (ii) selective sampling over the year due to seasonally varying cloud cover, (iii) selective sampling of LST only during clearsky conditions, (iv) errors in cloud masking (v) errors in temperature emissivity separation (vi) smoothing over spatial variability. In this study we attempt to compensate for some of these problems using a bayesian modelling approach and high resolution topography-based downscaling.

  16. High resolution strain sensor for earthquake precursor observation and earthquake monitoring

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Wentao; Huang, Wenzhu; Li, Li; Liu, Wenyi; Li, Fang

    2016-05-01

    We propose a high-resolution static-strain sensor based on a FBG Fabry-Perot interferometer (FBG-FP) and a wavelet domain cross-correlation algorithm. This sensor is used for crust deformation measurement, which plays an important role in earthquake precursor observation. The Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) technique based on a narrow-linewidth tunable fiber laser is used to interrogate the FBG-FPs. A demodulation algorithm based on wavelet domain cross-correlation is used to calculate the wavelength difference. The FBG-FP sensor head is fixed on the two steel alloy rods which are installed in the bedrock. The reference FBG-FP is placed in a strain-free state closely to compensate the environment temperature fluctuation. A static-strain resolution of 1.6 n(epsilon) can be achieved. As a result, clear solid tide signals and seismic signals can be recorded, which suggests that the proposed strain sensor can be applied to earthquake precursor observation and earthquake monitoring.

  17. High spatial resolution measurements of NO2 applying Topographic Target Light scattering-Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (ToTaL-DOAS)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frins, E.; Platt, U.; Wagner, T.

    2008-12-01

    Topographic Target Light scattering - Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (ToTaL-DOAS), also called Target-DOAS, is a novel experimental procedure to retrieve trace gas concentrations present in the low atmosphere. Scattered sunlight (diffuse or specular) reflected from natural or artificial targets located at different distances are analyzed to retrieve the spatial distribution of the concentration of different trace gases like NO2, SO2 and others. We report high spatial resolution measurements of NO2 mixing ratios in the city of Montevideo (Uruguay) observing three buildings as targets with a Mini-DOAS instrument. Our instrument was 146 m, 196 m, and 280 m apart from three different buildings located along a main Avenue. We obtain temporal variation of NO2 mixing ratios between 30 ppb and 65 ppb from measurements of November 2007 and mixing ratios up to 50 ppb from measurements of August and September 2008. Our measurements demonstrate that ToTaL-DOAS observations can be made over relative short distances. In polluted air masses, the retrieved absorption signal was found to be sufficiently strong to allow measurements over distances in the range of several tens of meters.

  18. HIRIS (High-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer: Science opportunities for the 1990s. Earth observing system. Volume 2C: Instrument panel report

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1987-01-01

    The high-resolution imaging spectrometer (HIRIS) is an Earth Observing System (EOS) sensor developed for high spatial and spectral resolution. It can acquire more information in the 0.4 to 2.5 micrometer spectral region than any other sensor yet envisioned. Its capability for critical sampling at high spatial resolution makes it an ideal complement to the MODIS (moderate-resolution imaging spectrometer) and HMMR (high-resolution multifrequency microwave radiometer), lower resolution sensors designed for repetitive coverage. With HIRIS it is possible to observe transient processes in a multistage remote sensing strategy for Earth observations on a global scale. The objectives, science requirements, and current sensor design of the HIRIS are discussed along with the synergism of the sensor with other EOS instruments and data handling and processing requirements.

  19. Aerosol and Cloud Interaction Observed From High Spectral Resolution Lidar Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Su, Wenying; Schuster, Gregory L.; Loeb, Norman G.; Rogers, Raymond R.; Ferrare, Richard A.; Hostetler, Chris A.; Hair, Johnathan W.; Obland, Michael D.

    2008-01-01

    Recent studies utilizing satellite retrievals have shown a strong correlation between aerosol optical depth (AOD) and cloud cover. However, these retrievals from passive sensors are subject to many limitations, including cloud adjacency (or 3D) effects, possible cloud contamination, uncertainty in the AOD retrieval. Some of these limitations do not exist in High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) observations; for instance, HSRL observations are not a ected by cloud adjacency effects, are less prone to cloud contamination, and offer accurate aerosol property measurements (backscatter coefficient, extinction coefficient, lidar ratio, backscatter Angstrom exponent,and aerosol optical depth) at a neospatial resolution (less than 100 m) in the vicinity of clouds. Hence, the HSRL provides an important dataset for studying aerosol and cloud interaction. In this study, we statistically analyze aircraft-based HSRL profiles according to their distance from the nearest cloud, assuring that all profile comparisons are subject to the same large-scale meteorological conditions. Our results indicate that AODs from HSRL are about 17% higher in the proximity of clouds (approximately 100 m) than far away from clouds (4.5 km), which is much smaller than the reported cloud 3D effect on AOD retrievals. The backscatter and extinction coefficients also systematically increase in the vicinity of clouds, which can be explained by aerosol swelling in the high relative humidity (RH) environment and/or aerosol growth through in cloud processing (albeit not conclusively). On the other hand, we do not observe a systematic trend in lidar ratio; we hypothesize that this is caused by the opposite effects of aerosol swelling and aerosol in-cloud processing on the lidar ratio. Finally, the observed backscatter Angstrom exponent (BAE) does not show a consistent trend because of the complicated relationship between BAE and RH. We demonstrate that BAE should not be used as a surrogate for Angstrom

  20. Assessment of prediction skill in equatorial Pacific Ocean in high resolution model of CFS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arora, Anika; Rao, Suryachandra A.; Pillai, Prasanth; Dhakate, Ashish; Salunke, Kiran; Srivastava, Ankur

    2018-01-01

    The effect of increasing atmospheric resolution on prediction skill of El Niño southern oscillation phenomenon in climate forecast system model is explored in this paper. Improvement in prediction skill for sea surface temperature (SST) and winds at all leads compared to low resolution model in the tropical Indo-Pacific basin is observed. High resolution model is able to capture extreme events reasonably well. As a result, the signal to noise ratio is improved in the high resolution model. However, spring predictability barrier (SPB) for summer months in Nino 3 and Nino 3.4 region is stronger in high resolution model, in spite of improvement in overall prediction skill and dynamics everywhere else. Anomaly correlation coefficient of SST in high resolution model with observations in Nino 3.4 region targeting boreal summer months when predicted at lead times of 3-8 months in advance decreased compared its lower resolution counterpart. It is noted that higher variance of winds predicted in spring season over central equatorial Pacific compared to observed variance of winds results in stronger than normal response on subsurface ocean, hence increases SPB for boreal summer months in high resolution model.

  1. High resolution spectrograph. [for LST

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Peacock, K.

    1975-01-01

    The high resolution spectrograph (HRS) is designed to be used with the Large Space Telescope (LST) for the study of spectra of point and extended targets in the spectral range 110 to 410 nm. It has spectral resolutions of 1,000; 30,000; and 100,000 and has a field of view as large as 10 arc sec. The spectral range and resolution are selectable using interchangeable optical components and an echelle spectrograph is used to display a cross dispersed spectrum on the photocathode of either of 2 SEC orthicon image tubes. Provisions are included for wavelength calibration, target identification and acquisition and thermal control. The system considerations of the instrument are described.

  2. Overview of LBTI: A Multipurpose Facility for High Spatial Resolution Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hinz, P. M.; Defrere, D.; Skemer, A.; Bailey, V.; Stone, J.; Spalding, E.; Vaz, A.; Pinna, E.; Puglisi, A.; Esposito, S.; hide

    2016-01-01

    The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) is a high spatial resolution instrument developed for coherent imaging and nulling interferometry using the 14.4 m baseline of the 2x8.4 m LBT. The unique telescope design, comprising of the dual apertures on a common elevation-azimuth mount, enables a broad use of observing modes. The full system is comprised of dual adaptive optics systems, a near-infrared phasing camera, a 1-5 micrometer camera (called LMIRCam), and an 8-13 micrometer camera (called NOMIC). The key program for LBTI is the Hunt for Observable Signatures of Terrestrial planetary Systems (HOSTS), a survey using nulling interferometry to constrain the typical brightness from exozodiacal dust around nearby stars. Additional observations focus on the detection and characterization of giant planets in the thermal infrared, high spatial resolution imaging of complex scenes such as Jupiter's moon, Io, planets forming in transition disks, and the structure of active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Several instrumental upgrades are currently underway to improve and expand the capabilities of LBTI. These include: Improving the performance and limiting magnitude of the parallel adaptive optics systems; quadrupling the field of view of LMIRcam (increasing to 20"x20"); adding an integral field spectrometry mode; and implementing a new algorithm for path length correction that accounts for dispersion due to atmospheric water vapor. We present the current architecture and performance of LBTI, as well as an overview of the upgrades.

  3. The Liege-balloon program. [balloon-borne instruments for high-spectral resolution observations of the sun

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zander, R.

    1974-01-01

    The Liege-balloon program is intended to make high-spectral resolution observations of the sun in the near- and intermediate infrared regions not accessible from the ground. A description of the equipment, followed by a summary of the data obtained till now is presented. Except for ozone whose maximum of concentration lies near 25 Km altitude, the residual mass distribution of the other mentioned molecules decreases with altitude. This is a self-explanatory argument for carrying out spectroscopic observations from platforms transcending the densest layers of the earth's atmosphere. The Liege balloon equipment is primarily intended for very high-resolution solar observations from about 27-30 Km altitude, in all spectral regions between 1.5 and 15.0 microns, not accessible from the ground.

  4. Observer performance assessment of JPEG-compressed high-resolution chest images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Good, Walter F.; Maitz, Glenn S.; King, Jill L.; Gennari, Rose C.; Gur, David

    1999-05-01

    The JPEG compression algorithm was tested on a set of 529 chest radiographs that had been digitized at a spatial resolution of 100 micrometer and contrast sensitivity of 12 bits. Images were compressed using five fixed 'psychovisual' quantization tables which produced average compression ratios in the range 15:1 to 61:1, and were then printed onto film. Six experienced radiologists read all cases from the laser printed film, in each of the five compressed modes as well as in the non-compressed mode. For comparison purposes, observers also read the same cases with reduced pixel resolutions of 200 micrometer and 400 micrometer. The specific task involved detecting masses, pneumothoraces, interstitial disease, alveolar infiltrates and rib fractures. Over the range of compression ratios tested, for images digitized at 100 micrometer, we were unable to demonstrate any statistically significant decrease (p greater than 0.05) in observer performance as measured by ROC techniques. However, the observers' subjective assessments of image quality did decrease significantly as image resolution was reduced and suggested a decreasing, but nonsignificant, trend as the compression ratio was increased. The seeming discrepancy between our failure to detect a reduction in observer performance, and other published studies, is likely due to: (1) the higher resolution at which we digitized our images; (2) the higher signal-to-noise ratio of our digitized films versus typical CR images; and (3) our particular choice of an optimized quantization scheme.

  5. High Resolution Asteroid Profile by Multi Chord Occultation Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Degenhardt, Scott

    2009-05-01

    For millennia man has observed celestial objects occulting other bodies and distant stars. We have used these celestial synchronicities to measure the properties of objects. On January 1, 1801 Italian astronomer Giusappe Piazzi discovered the first asteroid that would soon be named Ceres. To date 190,000 of these objects have been catalogued, but only a fraction of these have accurate measurements of their true size and shape. The International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) currently facilitates the prediction and reduction of asteroidal occultations. By measuring the shadow cast on the earth by an asteroid during a stellar occultation one can directly measure the physical size, shape, and position in space of this body to accuracies orders of magnitudes better than the best ground based adaptive optics telescope and can provide verification to 3D inverted reflective lightcurve prediction models. Recent novel methods developed by IOTA involving an individual making multiple observations through unattended remote observing stations have made way for numerous chords of occultation measurement through a single body yielding high resolution profiles of asteroid bodies. Methodology of how observing stations are deployed will be demonstrated, results of some of these observations are presented as comparisons to their inverted lightcurve are shown.

  6. The relationship between Class I and Class II methanol masers at high angular resolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCarthy, T. P.; Ellingsen, S. P.; Voronkov, M. A.; Cimò, G.

    2018-06-01

    We have used the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) to make the first high-resolution observations of a large sample of class I methanol masers in the 95-GHz (80-71A+) transition. The target sources consist of a statistically complete sample of 6.7-GHz class II methanol masers with an associated 95-GHz class I methanol maser, enabling a detailed study of the relationship between the two methanol maser classes at arcsecond angular resolution. These sources have been previously observed at high resolution in the 36- and 44-GHz transitions, allowing comparison between all three class I maser transitions. In total, 172 95-GHz maser components were detected across the 32 target sources. We find that at high resolution, when considering matched maser components, a 3:1 flux density ratio is observed between the 95- and 44-GHz components, consistent with a number of previous lower angular resolution studies. The 95-GHz maser components appear to be preferentially located closer to the driving sources and this may indicate that this transition is more strongly inverted nearby to background continuum sources. We do not observe an elevated association rate between 95-GHz maser emission and more evolved sources, as indicated by the presence of 12.2-GHz class II masers. We find that in the majority of cases where both class I and class II methanol emission is observed, some component of the class I emission is associated with a likely outflow candidate.

  7. High Resolution Radar for NASA and Space Situational Awareness for Observation and Monitoring

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geldzahler, B.; D'Addario, L.; Ott, M.; Birr, R.; Woods, G.; Miller, M.

    2014-09-01

    NASA has embarked on a series of demonstrations that will enable the implementation of a high power, high resolution X/Ka-band radar system using a phased array of widely spaced 12m antennas to better track and characterize near Earth objects and orbital debris. This radar system also has applications for cost effective space situational awareness. Ka band can provide 5cm ranging resolution, and, with arrays in the western United States and Australia used in an astrometric mode, ? 10 cm resolution at GEO. Here we report the results of a successful X-band demonstration of coherent uplink arraying with real time compensation for atmospheric phase fluctuations at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) using a system simplified from work previously undertaken. The X-band system is a prelude to the Ka-band work currently underway. The target satellites were components of the DSCS and WGS systems. KSC was chosen for the demonstration site because [a] of reduced implementation costs, [b] there is a lot of water vapor in the air (not Ka-band friendly), and [c] some of the test satellites have low elevations thereby adding more attenuation and turbulence to the demonstration. When Ka-band coherent uplink arraying is demonstrated to work at KSC, it will work and can be deployed anywhere.

  8. High Resolution Observations and Modeling of Small-Scale Solar Magnetic Elements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Berger, Thomas E.

    2001-01-01

    This research contract investigating the radiative transfer and dynamic physics of the smallest observable magnetic structures in the solar photosphere. Due to the lack of a high-resolution visible light satellite instrument for solar studies, all data were acquired using ground-based instrumentation. The primary goal of the investigation was to understand the formation and evolution of "G-band bright points" in relation to the associated magnetic elements. G-band bright points are small (on the order of 100 kin or less in diameter) bright signatures associated with magnetic flux elements in the photosphere. They are seen in the A2A-X2 4308 A molecular bandhead of the CH radical ill the solar spectrum and offer the highest spatial resolution and highest contrast "tracers" of small magnetic structure on the Sun.

  9. High definition clouds and precipitation for climate prediction -results from a unified German research initiative on high resolution modeling and observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rauser, F.

    2013-12-01

    We present results from the German BMBF initiative 'High Definition Cloud and Precipitation for advancing Climate Prediction -HD(CP)2'. This initiative addresses most of the problems that are discussed in this session in one, unified approach: cloud physics, convection, boundary layer development, radiation and subgrid variability are approached in one organizational framework. HD(CP)2 merges both observation and high performance computing / model development communities to tackle a shared problem: how to improve the understanding of the most important subgrid-scale processes of cloud and precipitation physics, and how to utilize this knowledge for improved climate predictions. HD(CP)2 is a coordinated initiative to: (i) realize; (ii) evaluate; and (iii) statistically characterize and exploit for the purpose of both parameterization development and cloud / precipitation feedback analysis; ultra-high resolution (100 m in the horizontal, 10-50 m in the vertical) regional hind-casts over time periods (3-15 y) and spatial scales (1000-1500 km) that are climatically meaningful. HD(CP)2 thus consists of three elements (the model development and simulations, their observational evaluation and exploitation/synthesis to advance CP prediction) and its first three-year phase has started on October 1st 2012. As a central part of HD(CP)2, the HD(CP)2 Observational Prototype Experiment (HOPE) has been carried out in spring 2013. In this campaign, high resolution measurements with a multitude of instruments from all major centers in Germany have been carried out in a limited domain, to allow for unprecedented resolution and precision in the observation of microphysics parameters on a resolution that will allow for evaluation and improvement of ultra-high resolution models. At the same time, a local area version of the new climate model ICON of the Max Planck Institute and the German weather service has been developed that allows for LES-type simulations on high resolutions on

  10. Laser radar cross-section estimation from high-resolution image data.

    PubMed

    Osche, G R; Seeber, K N; Lok, Y F; Young, D S

    1992-05-10

    A methodology for the estimation of ladar cross sections from high-resolution image data of geometrically complex targets is presented. Coherent CO(2) laser radar was used to generate high-resolution amplitude imagery of a UC-8 Buffalo test aircraft at a range of 1.3 km at nine different aspect angles. The average target ladar cross section was synthesized from these data and calculated to be sigma(T) = 15.4 dBsm, which is similar to the expected microwave radar cross sections. The aspect angle dependence of the cross section shows pronounced peaks at nose on and broadside, which are also in agreement with radar results. Strong variations in both the mean amplitude and the statistical distributions of amplitude with the aspect angle have also been observed. The relative mix of diffuse and specular returns causes significant deviations from a simple Lambertian or Swerling II target, especially at broadside where large normal surfaces are present.

  11. Estimating Vegetation Rainfall Interception Using Remote Sensing Observations at Very High Resolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cui, Y.; Zhao, P.; Hong, Y.; Fan, W.; Yan, B.; Xie, H.

    2017-12-01

    Abstract: As an important compont of evapotranspiration, vegetation rainfall interception is the proportion of gross rainfall that is intercepted, stored and subsequently evaporated from all parts of vegetation during or following rainfall. Accurately quantifying the vegetation rainfall interception at a high resolution is critical for rainfall-runoff modeling and flood forecasting, and is also essential for understanding its further impact on local, regional, and even global water cycle dynamics. In this study, the Remote Sensing-based Gash model (RS-Gash model) is developed based on a modified Gash model for interception loss estimation using remote sensing observations at the regional scale, and has been applied and validated in the upper reach of the Heihe River Basin of China for different types of vegetation. To eliminate the scale error and the effect of mixed pixels, the RS-Gash model is applied at a fine scale of 30 m with the high resolution vegetation area index retrieved by using the unified model of bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF-U) for the vegetation canopy. Field validation shows that the RMSE and R2 of the interception ratio are 3.7% and 0.9, respectively, indicating the model's strong stability and reliability at fine scale. The temporal variation of vegetation rainfall interception loss and its relationship with precipitation are further investigated. In summary, the RS-Gash model has demonstrated its effectiveness and reliability in estimating vegetation rainfall interception. When compared to the coarse resolution results, the application of this model at 30-m fine resolution is necessary to resolve the scaling issues as shown in this study. Keywords: rainfall interception; remote sensing; RS-Gash analytical model; high resolution

  12. High-cadence, High-resolution Spectroscopic Observations of Herbig Stars HD 98922 and V1295 Aquila

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Aarnio, Alicia N.; Monnier, John D.; Calvet, Nuria

    Recent observational work has indicated that mechanisms for accretion and outflow in Herbig Ae/Be star–disk systems may differ from magnetospheric accretion (MA) as it is thought to occur in T Tauri star–disk systems. In this work, we assess the temporal evolution of spectral lines probing accretion and mass loss in Herbig Ae/Be systems and test for consistency with the MA paradigm. For two Herbig Ae/Be stars, HD 98922 (B9e) and V1295 Aql (A2e), we have gathered multi-epoch (∼years) and high-cadence (∼minutes) high-resolution optical spectra to probe a wide range of kinematic processes. Employing a line equivalent width evolution correlation metricmore » introduced here, we identify species co-evolving (indicative of common line origin) via novel visualization. We interferometrically constrain often problematically degenerate parameters, inclination and inner-disk radius, allowing us to focus on the structure of the wind, magnetosphere, and inner gaseous disk in radiative transfer models. Over all timescales sampled, the strongest variability occurs within the blueshifted absorption components of the Balmer series lines; the strength of variability increases with the cadence of the observations. Finally, high-resolution spectra allow us to probe substructure within the Balmer series’ blueshifted absorption components: we observe static, low-velocity features and time-evolving features at higher velocities. Overall, we find the observed line morphologies and variability are inconsistent with a scaled-up T Tauri MA scenario. We suggest that as magnetic field structure and strength change dramatically with increasing stellar mass from T Tauri to Herbig Ae/Be stars, so too may accretion and outflow processes.« less

  13. Understanding and improving mitigation strategies for reducing catchment scale nutrient loads using high resolution observations and uncertainty analysis approaches

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Collins, A.; Lloyd, C.; Freer, J. E.; Johnes, P.; Stirling, M.

    2012-12-01

    One of the biggest challenges in catchment water quality management is tackling the problem of reducing water pollution from agriculture whilst ensuring food security nationally. Improvements to catchment management plans are needed if we are to enhance biodiversity and maintain good ecological status in freshwater ecosystems, while producing enough food to support a growing global population. In order to plan for a more sustainable and secure future, research needs to quantify the uncertainties and understand the complexities in the source-mobilisation-delivery-impact continuum of pollution and nutrients at all scales. In the UK the Demonstration Test Catchment (DTC) project has been set up to improve water quality specifically from diffuse pollution from agriculture by enhanced high resolution monitoring and targeted mitigation experiments. The DTC project aims to detect shifts in the baseline trend of the most ecologically-significant pollutants resulting from targeted on-farm measures at field to farm scales and assessing their effects on ecosystem function. The DTC programme involves three catchments across the UK that are indicative of three different typologies and land uses. This paper will focus on the Hampshire Avon DTC, where a total of 12 parameters are monitored by bank-side stations at two sampling sites, including flow, turbidity, phosphate and nitrate concentrations at 30 min resolution. This monitoring is supported by daily resolution sampling at 5 other sites and storm sampling at all locations. Part of the DTC project aims to understand how observations of water quality within river systems at different temporal resolutions and types of monitoring strategies enable us to understand and detect changes over and above the natural variability. Baseline monitoring is currently underway and early results show that high-resolution data is essential at this sub-catchment scale to understand important process dynamics. This is critical if we are to design

  14. A distributed automatic target recognition system using multiple low resolution sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yue, Zhanfeng; Lakshmi Narasimha, Pramod; Topiwala, Pankaj

    2008-04-01

    In this paper, we propose a multi-agent system which uses swarming techniques to perform high accuracy Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) in a distributed manner. The proposed system can co-operatively share the information from low-resolution images of different looks and use this information to perform high accuracy ATR. An advanced, multiple-agent Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems-based approach is proposed which integrates the processing capabilities, combines detection reporting with live video exchange, and swarm behavior modalities that dramatically surpass individual sensor system performance levels. We employ real-time block-based motion analysis and compensation scheme for efficient estimation and correction of camera jitter, global motion of the camera/scene and the effects of atmospheric turbulence. Our optimized Partition Weighted Sum (PWS) approach requires only bitshifts and additions, yet achieves a stunning 16X pixel resolution enhancement, which is moreover parallizable. We develop advanced, adaptive particle-filtering based algorithms to robustly track multiple mobile targets by adaptively changing the appearance model of the selected targets. The collaborative ATR system utilizes the homographies between the sensors induced by the ground plane to overlap the local observation with the received images from other UAVs. The motion of the UAVs distorts estimated homography frame to frame. A robust dynamic homography estimation algorithm is proposed to address this, by using the homography decomposition and the ground plane surface estimation.

  15. Multiplatform observations enabling albedo retrievals with high temporal resolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Riihelä, Aku; Manninen, Terhikki; Key, Jeffrey; Sun, Qingsong; Sütterlin, Melanie; Lattanzio, Alessio; Schaaf, Crystal

    2017-04-01

    In this paper we show that combining observations from different polar orbiting satellite families (such as AVHRR and MODIS) is physically justifiable and technically feasible. Our proposed approach will lead to surface albedo retrievals at higher temporal resolution than the state of the art, with comparable or better accuracy. This study is carried out in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Sustained and coordinated processing of Environmental Satellite data for Climate Monitoring (SCOPE-CM) project SCM-02 (http://www.scope-cm.org/projects/scm-02/). Following a spectral homogenization of the Top-of-Atmosphere reflectances of bands 1 & 2 from AVHRR and MODIS, both observation datasets are atmospherically corrected with a coherent atmospheric profile and algorithm. The resulting surface reflectances are then fed into an inversion of the RossThick-LiSparse-Reciprocal surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model. The results of the inversion (BRDF kernels) may then be integrated to estimate various surface albedo quantities. A key principle here is that the larger number of valid surface observations with multiple satellites allows us to invert the BRDF coefficients within a shorter time span, enabling the monitoring of relatively rapid surface phenomena such as snowmelt. The proposed multiplatform approach is expected to bring benefits in particular to the observation of the albedo of the polar regions, where persistent cloudiness and long atmospheric path lengths present challenges to satellite-based retrievals. Following a similar logic, the retrievals over tropical regions with high cloudiness should also benefit from the method. We present results from a demonstrator dataset of a global combined AVHRR-GAC and MODIS dataset covering the year 2010. The retrieved surface albedo is compared against quality-monitored in situ albedo observations from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). Additionally, the combined retrieval

  16. MATISSE a web-based tool to access, visualize and analyze high resolution minor bodies observation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zinzi, Angelo; Capria, Maria Teresa; Palomba, Ernesto; Antonelli, Lucio Angelo; Giommi, Paolo

    2016-07-01

    In the recent years planetary exploration missions acquired data from minor bodies (i.e., dwarf planets, asteroid and comets) at a detail level never reached before. Since these objects often present very irregular shapes (as in the case of the comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko target of the ESA Rosetta mission) "classical" bidimensional projections of observations are difficult to understand. With the aim of providing the scientific community a tool to access, visualize and analyze data in a new way, ASI Science Data Center started to develop MATISSE (Multi-purposed Advanced Tool for the Instruments for the Solar System Exploration - http://tools.asdc.asi.it/matisse.jsp) in late 2012. This tool allows 3D web-based visualization of data acquired by planetary exploration missions: the output could either be the straightforward projection of the selected observation over the shape model of the target body or the visualization of a high-order product (average/mosaic, difference, ratio, RGB) computed directly online with MATISSE. Standard outputs of the tool also comprise downloadable files to be used with GIS software (GeoTIFF and ENVI format) and 3D very high-resolution files to be viewed by means of the free software Paraview. During this period the first and most frequent exploitation of the tool has been related to visualization of data acquired by VIRTIS-M instruments onboard Rosetta observing the comet 67P. The success of this task, well represented by the good number of published works that used images made with MATISSE confirmed the need of a different approach to correctly visualize data coming from irregular shaped bodies. In the next future the datasets available to MATISSE are planned to be extended, starting from the addition of VIR-Dawn observations of both Vesta and Ceres and also using standard protocols to access data stored in external repositories, such as NASA ODE and Planetary VO.

  17. High spectral resolution observations of fluorescent molecular hydrogen in molecular clouds

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burton, Michael G.; Geballe, T. R.; Brand, P. W. J. L.; Moorhouse, A.

    1990-01-01

    The 1-0 S(1) line of molecular hydrogen has been observed at high spectral resolution in several sources where the emission was suspected of being fluorescent. In NGC 2023, the Orion Bar, and Parsamyan 18, the S(1) line is unresolved, and the line center close to the rest velocity of the ambient molecular cloud. Such behavior is expected for UV-excited line emission. The H2 line widths in molecular clouds thus can serve as diagnostic for shocked and UV-excitation mechanisms. If the lines are broader than several km/s or velocity shifts are observed across a source it is likely that shocks are responsible for the excitation of the gas.

  18. Spatiotemporal Variability of Drought in Pakistan through High-Resolution Daily Gridded In-Situ Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bashir, F.; Zeng, X.; Gupta, H. V.; Hazenberg, P.

    2017-12-01

    Drought as an extreme event may have far reaching socio-economic impacts on agriculture based economies like Pakistan. Effective assessment of drought requires high resolution spatiotemporally continuous hydrometeorological information. For this purpose, new in-situ daily observations based gridded analyses of precipitation, maximum, minimum and mean temperature and diurnal temperature range are developed, that covers whole Pakistan on 0.01º latitude-longitude for a 54-year period (1960-2013). The number of participating meteorological observatories used in these gridded analyses is 2 to 6 times greater than any other similar product available. This data set is used to identify extreme wet and dry periods and their spatial patterns across Pakistan using Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). Periodicity of extreme events is estimated at seasonal to decadal scales. Spatiotemporal signatures of drought incidence indicating its extent and longevity in different areas may help water resource managers and policy makers to mitigate the severity of the drought and its impact on food security through suitable adaptive techniques. Moreover, this high resolution gridded in-situ observations of precipitation and temperature is used to evaluate other coarser-resolution gridded products.

  19. CARMENES science preparation. High-resolution spectroscopy of M dwarfs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Montes, D.; Caballero, J. A.; Jeffers, S.; Alonso-Floriano, F. J.; Mundt, R.; CARMENES Consortium

    2015-05-01

    To ensure an efficient use of CARMENES observing time, and the highest chances of success, it is necessary first to select the most promising targets. To achieve this, we are observing 500 M dwarfs at high-resolution (R = 30,000-48,000), from which we determine the projected rotational velocity vsin{i} with an accuracy better than 0.5-0.2 km/s and radial-velocity stability better than 0.2-0.1 km/s. Our aim is to have at least two spectra at different epochs of the final 300 CARMENES targets. Our observations with FEROS at ESO/MPG 2.2 m La Silla, CAFE at 2.2 m Calar Alto and HRS at Hobby Eberly Telescope allow us to identify single- and double-line spectroscopic binaries and, especially, fast rotators, which should be discarded from the target list for exoplanet searches. Here we present preliminary results.

  20. The high resolution optical instruments for the Pleiades HR Earth observation satellites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gaudin-Delrieu, Catherine; Lamard, Jean-Luc; Cheroutre, Philippe; Bailly, Bruno; Dhuicq, Pierre; Puig, Olivier

    2017-11-01

    Coming after the SPOT satellites series, PLEIADESHR is a CNES optical high resolution satellite dedicated to Earth observation, part of a larger optical and radar multi-sensors system, ORFEO, which is developed in cooperation between France and Italy for dual Civilian and Defense use. The development of the two PLEIADES-HR cameras was entrusted by CNES to Thales Alenia Space. This new generation of instrument represents a breakthrough in comparison with the previous SPOT instruments owing to a significant step in on-ground resolution, which approaches the capabilities of aerial photography. The PLEIADES-HR instrument program benefits from Thales Alenia Space long and successful heritage in Earth observation from space. The proposed solution benefits from an extensive use of existing products, Cannes Space Optics Centre facilities, unique in Europe, dedicated to High Resolution instruments. The optical camera provides wide field panchromatic images supplemented by 4 multispectral channels with narrow spectral bands. The optical concept is based on a four mirrors Korsch telescope. Crucial improvements in detector technology, optical fabrication and electronics make it possible for the PLEIADES-HR instrument to achieve the image quality requirements while respecting the drastic limitations of mass and volume imposed by the satellite agility needs and small launchers compatibility. The two flight telescopes were integrated, aligned and tested. After the integration phase, the alignment, mainly based on interferometric measurements in vacuum chamber, was successfully achieved within high accuracy requirements. The wave front measurements show outstanding performances, confirmed, after the integration of the PFM Detection Unit, by MTF measurements on the Proto-Flight Model Instrument. Delivery of the proto flight model occurred mi-2008. The FM2 Instrument delivery is planned Q2-2009. The first optical satellite launch of the PLEIADES-HR constellation is foreseen

  1. Observing the high redshift Universe with Euclid

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laureijs, René; Euclid Collaboration

    2018-05-01

    Euclid enables the exploration of large sky areas with diffraction limited resolution in the optical and near-infrared, and is sensitive enough to detect targets at cosmological distances. This combination of capabilities gives Euclid a clear advantage over telescope facilities with larger apertures, both on ground and in space. The decision to mount in the NISP instrument one extra grism for the wavelength range 0.92-1.3 μm with a spectral resolution of R ~260 makes possible a rest-frame UV survey of the early Universe in the redshift range 6.5 < z < 9.7. Euclid's standard imaging with VIS in the 0.55-0.9 μm band and with NISP in the Y, J, H bands provide complementary photometry for further target identification and characterization. Euclid is a suitable facility to discover and map the spatial distribution of rare high-redshift targets and to collect statistically relevant samples, in particular of high redshift Lyα emitters and QSOs, which can be used as signposts of the cosmic structures. The Euclid surveys are also a starting point for deeper follow up observations of the individual high-z objects. We present the Euclid mission and discuss the detectability of high-z objects to probe the epoch of ionization.

  2. High-resolution observations of the polar magnetic fields of the sun

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lin, H.; Varsik, J.; Zirin, H.

    1994-01-01

    High-resolution magnetograms of the solar polar region were used for the study of the polar magnetic field. In contrast to low-resolution magnetograph observations which measure the polar magnetic field averaged over a large area, we focused our efforts on the properties of the small magnetic elements in the polar region. Evolution of the filling factor (the ratio of the area occupied by the magnetic elements to the total area) of these magnetic elements, as well as the average magnetic field strength, were studied during the maximum and declining phase of solar cycle 22, from early 1991 to mid-1993. We found that during the sunspot maximum period, the polar regions were occupied by about equal numbers of positive and negative magnetic elements, with equal average field strength. As the solar cycle progresses toward sunspot minimum, the magnetic field elements in the polar region become predominantly of one polarity. The average magnetic field of the dominant polarity elements also increases with the filling factor. In the meanwhile, both the filling factor and the average field strength of the non-dominant polarity elements decrease. The combined effects of the changing filling factors and average field strength produce the observed evolution of the integrated polar flux over the solar cycle. We compared the evolutionary histories of both filling factor and average field strength, for regions of high (70-80 deg) and low (60-70 deg) latitudes. For the south pole, we found no significant evidence of difference in the time of reversal. However, the low-latitude region of the north pole did reverse polarity much earlier than the high-latitude region. It later showed an oscillatory behavior. We suggest this may be caused by the poleward migration of flux from a large active region in 1989 with highly imbalanced flux.

  3. Io’s volcanoes at high spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution from ground-based observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de Kleer, Katherine R.; de Pater, Imke

    2017-10-01

    Io’s dynamic volcanic eruptions provide a laboratory for studying large-scale volcanism on a body vastly different from Earth, and for unraveling the connections between tidal heating and the geological activity it powers. Ground-based near-infrared observatories allow for high-cadence, long-time-baseline observing programs using diverse instrumentation, and yield new information into the nature and variability of this activity. I will summarize results from four years of ground-based observations of Io’s volcanism, including: (1) A multi-year cadence observing campaign using adaptive optics on 8-10 meter telescopes, which places constraints on tidal heating models through sampling the spatial distribution of Io’s volcanic heat flow, and provides estimates of the occurrence rate of Io’s most energetic eruptions; (2) High-spectral-resolution (R~25,000) studies of Io’s volcanic SO gas emission at 1.7 microns, which resolves this rovibronic line into its different branches, and thus contains detailed information on the temperature and thermal state of the gas; and (3) The highest-spatial-resolution map ever produced of the entire Loki Patera, a 20,000 km2 volcanic feature on Io, derived from adaptive-optics observations of an occultation of Io by Europa. The map achieves a spatial resolution of ~10 km and indicates compositional differences across the patera. These datasets both reveal specific characteristics of Io’s individual eruptions, and provide clues into the sub-surface systems connecting Io’s tidally-heated interior to its surface expressions of volcanism.

  4. High-resolution observations of the near-surface wind field over an isolated mountain and in a steep river canyon

    Treesearch

    B. W. Butler; N. S. Wagenbrenner; J. M. Forthofer; B. K. Lamb; K. S. Shannon; D. Finn; R. M. Eckman; K. Clawson; L. Bradshaw; P. Sopko; S. Beard; D. Jimenez; C. Wold; M. Vosburgh

    2015-01-01

    A number of numerical wind flow models have been developed for simulating wind flow at relatively fine spatial resolutions (e.g., 100 m); however, there are very limited observational data available for evaluating these high-resolution models. This study presents high-resolution surface wind data sets collected from an isolated mountain and a steep river canyon. The...

  5. Evaluation on newly developed high resolution of surface solar radiation from MTSAT observations for the Tibetan Plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Niu, X.; Yang, K.; Tang, W.; Qin, J.

    2015-12-01

    Neither surface measurement nor existing remote sensing products of the Surface Solar Radiation (SSR) can meet the application requirements of hydrological and land process modeling in the Tibetan Plateau (TP). High resolution (hourly; 0.1⁰) of SSR estimates have been derived recently from the geostationary satellite observations - the Multi-functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT). This SSR estimation is based on updating an existing physical model, the UMD-SRB (University of Maryland Surface Radiation Budget) which is the basis of the well-known GEWEX-SRB model. In the updated framework introduced is the high-resolution Global Land Surface Broadband Albedo Product (GLASS) with spatial continuity. The developed SSR estimates are demonstrated at different temporal resolutions over the TP and are evaluated against ground observations and other satellite products from: (1) China Meteorological Administration (CMA) radiation stations in TP; (2) three TP radiation stations contributed from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research; (3) and the universal used satellite products (i.e. ISCCP-FD, GEWEX-SRB) in relatively low spatial resolution (0.5º-2.5º) and temporal resolution (3-hourly, daily, or monthly).

  6. Sensitivity to grid resolution in the ability of a chemical transport model to simulate observed oxidant chemistry under high-isoprene conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Karen; Jacob, Daniel J.; Fisher, Jenny A.; Kim, Patrick S.; Marais, Eloise A.; Miller, Christopher C.; Travis, Katherine R.; Zhu, Lei; Yantosca, Robert M.; Sulprizio, Melissa P.; Cohen, Ron C.; Dibb, Jack E.; Fried, Alan; Mikoviny, Tomas; Ryerson, Thomas B.; Wennberg, Paul O.; Wisthaler, Armin

    2016-04-01

    Formation of ozone and organic aerosol in continental atmospheres depends on whether isoprene emitted by vegetation is oxidized by the high-NOx pathway (where peroxy radicals react with NO) or by low-NOx pathways (where peroxy radicals react by alternate channels, mostly with HO2). We used mixed layer observations from the SEAC4RS aircraft campaign over the Southeast US to test the ability of the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model at different grid resolutions (0.25° × 0.3125°, 2° × 2.5°, 4° × 5°) to simulate this chemistry under high-isoprene, variable-NOx conditions. Observations of isoprene and NOx over the Southeast US show a negative correlation, reflecting the spatial segregation of emissions; this negative correlation is captured in the model at 0.25° × 0.3125° resolution but not at coarser resolutions. As a result, less isoprene oxidation takes place by the high-NOx pathway in the model at 0.25° × 0.3125° resolution (54 %) than at coarser resolution (59 %). The cumulative probability distribution functions (CDFs) of NOx, isoprene, and ozone concentrations show little difference across model resolutions and good agreement with observations, while formaldehyde is overestimated at coarse resolution because excessive isoprene oxidation takes place by the high-NOx pathway with high formaldehyde yield. The good agreement of simulated and observed concentration variances implies that smaller-scale non-linearities (urban and power plant plumes) are not important on the regional scale. Correlations of simulated vs. observed concentrations do not improve with grid resolution because finer modes of variability are intrinsically more difficult to capture. Higher model resolution leads to decreased conversion of NOx to organic nitrates and increased conversion to nitric acid, with total reactive nitrogen oxides (NOy) changing little across model resolutions. Model concentrations in the lower free troposphere are also insensitive to grid resolution. The

  7. Interpreting high time resolution galactic cosmic ray observations in a diffusive context

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jordan, A.; Spence, H. E.; Blake, J. B.; Shaul, D. A.

    2009-12-01

    We interpret galactic cosmic ray (GCR) variations near Earth within a diffusive context. The variations occur on time-/size-scales ranging from Forbush decreases (Fds), to substructure embedded within Fds, to smaller amplitude and shorter duration variations during relatively benign interplanetary conditions. We use high time resolution GCR observations from the High Sensitivity Telescope (HIST) on Polar and from the Spectrometer for INTEGRAL (SPI) and also use solar wind plasma and magnetic field observations from ACE and/or Wind. To calculate the coefficient of diffusion, we combine these datasets with a simple convection-diffusion model for relativistic charged particles in a magnetic field. We find reasonable agreement between our and previous estimates of the coefficient. We also show whether changes in the coefficient of diffusion are sufficient to explain the above GCR variations.

  8. Hunting the parent of the Orphan stream. II. The first high-resolution spectroscopic study

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Casey, Andrew R.; Keller, Stefan C.; Da Costa, Gary

    2014-03-20

    We present the first high-resolution spectroscopic study on the Orphan stream for five stream candidates, observed with the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle spectrograph on the Magellan Clay telescope. The targets were selected from the low-resolution catalog of Casey et al.: three high-probability members, one medium, and one low-probability stream candidate were observed. Our analysis indicates that the low- and medium-probability targets are metal-rich field stars. The remaining three high-probability targets range over ∼1 dex in metallicity, and are chemically distinct compared to the other two targets and all standard stars: low [α/Fe] abundance ratios are observed, and lower limits aremore » ascertained for [Ba/Y], which sit well above the Milky Way trend. These chemical signatures demonstrate that the undiscovered parent system is unequivocally a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, consistent with dynamical constraints inferred from the stream width and arc. As such, we firmly exclude the proposed association between NGC 2419 and the Orphan stream. A wide range in metallicities adds to the similarities between the Orphan stream and Segue 1, although the low [α/Fe] abundance ratios in the Orphan stream are in tension with the high [α/Fe] values observed in Segue 1. Open questions remain before Segue 1 could possibly be claimed as the 'parent' of the Orphan stream. The parent system could well remain undiscovered in the southern sky.« less

  9. Optimal design of an earth observation optical system with dual spectral and high resolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, Pei-pei; Jiang, Kai; Liu, Kai; Duan, Jing; Shan, Qiusha

    2017-02-01

    With the increasing demand of the high-resolution remote sensing images by military and civilians, Countries around the world are optimistic about the prospect of higher resolution remote sensing images. Moreover, design a visible/infrared integrative optic system has important value in earth observation. Because visible system can't identify camouflage and recon at night, so we should associate visible camera with infrared camera. An earth observation optical system with dual spectral and high resolution is designed. The paper mainly researches on the integrative design of visible and infrared optic system, which makes the system lighter and smaller, and achieves one satellite with two uses. The working waveband of the system covers visible, middle infrared (3-5um). Dual waveband clear imaging is achieved with dispersive RC system. The focal length of visible system is 3056mm, F/# is 10.91. And the focal length of middle infrared system is 1120mm, F/# is 4. In order to suppress the middle infrared thermal radiation and stray light, the second imaging system is achieved and the narcissus phenomenon is analyzed. The system characteristic is that the structure is simple. And the especial requirements of the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), spot, energy concentration, and distortion etc. are all satisfied.

  10. VizieR Online Data Catalog: KOIs companions from high-resolution imaging (Hirsch+, 2017)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hirsch, L. A.; Ciardi, D. R.; Howard, A. W.; Everett, M. E.; Furlan, E.; Saylors, M.; Horch, E. P.; Howell, S. B.; Teske, J.; Marcy, G. W.

    2017-07-01

    We report on 176 close (<2'') stellar companions detected with high-resolution imaging near 170 hosts of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs). Our sample consists of 170 stellar hosts of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) observed with various high-resolution imaging campaigns. This sample was drawn from the overall sample of KOI stars observed with high-resolution imaging, described in the imaging compilation paper by Furlan et al. 2017 (Cat. J/AJ/153/71). We choose targets for this study by requiring that at least one companion was detected within 2'', and that the companion was detected in two or more filters, providing color information. We choose the 2'' separation limit to include all companions falling on the same Kepler pixel as the primary KOI host star. Furlan et al. 2017 (Cat. J/AJ/153/71) details the observations and measured differential magnitudes (Δm=m2-m1) for stars with high-resolution imaging, including our target systems. Each companion within 2'' must have at least two measured Δm values from the full set of filters used for follow-up observations, in order to be included in our sample. These filters include J-band, H-band, and K-band from adaptive optics imaging from the Keck/NIRC2, Palomar/PHARO, Lick/IRCAL, and MMT/Aries instruments; 562, 692 and 880nm filters from the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI) at the Gemini North and WIYN telescopes; i and z bands from the AstraLux lucky imaging campaign at the Calar Alto 2.2m telescope; and LP600 and i bands from Palomar/RoboAO. We also include seeing-limited observations in the U-, B-, and V-bands from the UBV survey (Everett et al.) and "secure" detections (noise probability <10%) in the J-band from the UKIRT Kepler field survey. (3 data files).

  11. High Resolution Radio Observations Of Energetically Dominant Regions In Local Luminous Infrared Galaxies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barcos-Munoz, Loreto

    2016-07-01

    Luminous and Ultra-luminous Infrared galaxies (U/LIRGs) are one of the most powerful classes of extragalactic objects in the local universe, and they provide a unique opportunity to study star formation and feedback processes in extreme environments. They are primarily observed to be interacting or merging disk galaxies. During the interaction, large amounts of gas are funneled to the central few kpc, triggering high star formation rates (SFR) and dust production. The absorption of UV and optical radiation from stars, or active galactic nuclei (AGN), by dust produces their observed high infrared luminosities.The high level of dust obscuration intrinsic to U/LIRGs makes them difficult to study. Radio interferometry is thus the perfect tool for revealing the nature of these systems - it provides the high spatial resolution needed to resolve energetically dominant regions in U/LIRGs at wavelengths that have both diagnostic power and transparency to dust. In this thesis, 6 and 33 GHz radio continuum interferometric observations with the upgraded Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) are used to study a sample of 22 local U/LIRGs.First, a detailed analysis of the 6 and 33 GHz radio continuum emission from the closest ULIRG, Arp 220, is presented. This late stage merger is highly obscured, being optically thick even at mid-infrared wavelengths. Further, due to its extreme environment, it is often used as a template for high redshift starbursts. Arp 220 hosts two distinct nuclei that are separated by (\\sim) 370 pc. The nuclei are well resolved with the 33 GHz observations (i.e., with a spatial resolution of ˜ 30 pc). The deconvolved radii enclosing half of the total 33 GHz light are approximately 50 and 35 pc for the eastern and western nucleus, respectively. Literature values of the gas mass and infrared luminosity are combined with the 33 GHz sizes under the assumption of co-spatiality to show that Arp 220 has one of the highest molecular gas surface densities

  12. Wave Dissipation over Nearshore Beach Morphology: Insights from High-Resolution LIDAR Observations and the SWASH Wave Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mulligan, R. P.; Gomes, E.; McNinch, J.; Brodie, K. L.

    2016-02-01

    Numerical modelling of the nearshore zone can be computationally intensive due to the complexity of wave breaking, and the need for high temporal and spatial resolution. In this study we apply the SWASH non-hydrostatic wave-flow model that phase-resolves the free surface and fluid motions in the water column at high resolution. The model is forced using observed directional energy spectra, and results are compared to wave observations during moderate storm events. Observations are collected outside the surf zone using acoustic wave and currents sensors, and inside the surf zone over a 100 m transect using high-resolution LIDAR measurements of the sea surface from a sensor mounted on a tower on the beach dune at the Field Research Facility in Duck, NC. The model is applied to four cases with different wave conditions and bathymetry, and used to predict the spatial variability in wave breaking, and correlation between energy dissipation and morphologic features. Model results compare well with observations of spectral evolution outside the surf zone, and with the remotely sensed observations of wave transformation inside the surf zone. The results indicate the importance of nearshore bars, rip-channels, and larger features (major scour depression under the pier following large waves from Hurricane Irene) on the location of wave breaking and alongshore variability in wave energy dissipation.

  13. High-resolution streaming video integrated with UGS systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rohrer, Matthew

    2010-04-01

    Imagery has proven to be a valuable complement to Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) systems. It provides ultimate verification of the nature of detected targets. However, due to the power, bandwidth, and technological limitations inherent to UGS, sacrifices have been made to the imagery portion of such systems. The result is that these systems produce lower resolution images in small quantities. Currently, a high resolution, wireless imaging system is being developed to bring megapixel, streaming video to remote locations to operate in concert with UGS. This paper will provide an overview of how using Wifi radios, new image based Digital Signal Processors (DSP) running advanced target detection algorithms, and high resolution cameras gives the user an opportunity to take high-powered video imagers to areas where power conservation is a necessity.

  14. The structure of the ISM in the Zone of Avoidance by high-resolution multi-wavelength observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tóth, L. V.; Doi, Y.; Pinter, S.; Kovács, T.; Zahorecz, S.; Bagoly, Z.; Balázs, L. G.; Horvath, I.; Racz, I. I.; Onishi, T.

    2018-05-01

    We estimate the column density of the Galactic foreground interstellar medium (GFISM) in the direction of extragalactic sources. All-sky AKARI FIS infrared sky survey data might be used to trace the GFISM with a resolution of 2 arcminutes. The AKARI based GFISM hydrogen column density estimates are compared with similar quantities based on HI 21cm measurements of various resolution and of Planck results. High spatial resolution observations of the GFISM may be important recalculating the physical parameters of gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies using the updated foreground parameters.

  15. High Spatial Resolution Commercial Satellite Imaging Product Characterization

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ryan, Robert E.; Pagnutti, Mary; Blonski, Slawomir; Ross, Kenton W.; Stnaley, Thomas

    2005-01-01

    NASA Stennis Space Center's Remote Sensing group has been characterizing privately owned high spatial resolution multispectral imaging systems, such as IKONOS, QuickBird, and OrbView-3. Natural and man made targets were used for spatial resolution, radiometric, and geopositional characterizations. Higher spatial resolution also presents significant adjacency effects for accurate reliable radiometry.

  16. High-Resolution Spectroscopic Database for the NASA Earth Observing System Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rothman, Laurence

    2003-01-01

    The purpose of this project is to develop and enhance the HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database and associated software to support the observational programs of the Earth Observing System (EOS). In particular, the focus is on the EOS projects: the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the High-Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS), Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT), the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE III). The HITRAN program is also involved in the Ozone Monitoring Experiment (OMI). The data requirements of these programs in terms of spectroscopy are varied with respect to constituents being observed, required remote-sensing parameters, and spectral coverage. A general requisite is for additional spectral parameters and improvements to existing molecular bands sufficient for the simulation of the observations leading to retrieval of the atmospheric state. In addition, cross-section data for heavier molecular species must be expanded and made amenable to modeling in remote sensing. The effort in the project also includes developing software and distribution to make access, manipulation, and use of HITRAN functional to the EOS program.

  17. High Resolution Spectroscopic Database for the NASA Earth Observing System Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rothman, Laurence

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this project has been to develop and enhance the HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database and associated software to support the observational programs of the Earth Observing System (EOS). Emphasis has been on the EOS projects: the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the High-Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS), Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT), the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE III). The HITRAN program is also involved in the Ozone Monitoring Experiment (OMI). The data requirements of these programs in terms of spectroscopy are varied with respect to constituents being observed, required remote-sensing parameters, and spectral coverage. A general requisite is for additional spectral parameters and improvements to existing molecular bands sufficient for the simulation of the observations leading to retrieval of the atmospheric state. In addition, cross-section data for heavier molecular species must be expanded and made amenable to modeling in remote sensing. The effort in the project also includes developing software and distribution to make access, manipulation, and use of HITRAN functional to the EOS program.

  18. High-Resolution Spectroscopic Database for the NASA Earth Observing System Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rothman, Laurence S.

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this project is to develop and enhance the HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database and associated - software to support the observational programs of the Earth observing System (EOS). In particular, the focus is on the EOS projects: the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the High-Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS), Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT), the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE III). The HITRAN program is also involved in the Ozone Monitoring Experiment (OMI). The data requirements of these programs in terms of spectroscopy are varied with respect to constituents being observed, required remote-sensing parameters, and spectral coverage. A general requisite is for additional spectral parameters and improvements to existing molecular bands sufficient for the simulation of the observations leading to retrieval of the atmospheric state. In addition cross-section data for heavier molecular species must be expanded and made amenable to modeling in remote sensing. The effort in the project also includes developing software and distribution to make access, manipulation, and use HITRAN functional to the EOS program.

  19. High resolution modelling and observation of wind-driven surface currents in a semi-enclosed estuary

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nash, S.; Hartnett, M.; McKinstry, A.; Ragnoli, E.; Nagle, D.

    2012-04-01

    Hydrodynamic circulation in estuaries is primarily driven by tides, river inflows and surface winds. While tidal and river data can be quite easily obtained for input to hydrodynamic models, sourcing accurate surface wind data is problematic. Firstly, the wind data used in hydrodynamic models is usually measured on land and can be quite different in magnitude and direction from offshore winds. Secondly, surface winds are spatially-varying but due to a lack of data it is common practice to specify a non-varying wind speed and direction across the full extents of a model domain. These problems can lead to inaccuracies in the surface currents computed by three-dimensional hydrodynamic models. In the present research, a wind forecast model is coupled with a three-dimensional numerical model of Galway Bay, a semi-enclosed estuary on the west coast of Ireland, to investigate the effect of surface wind data resolution on model accuracy. High resolution and low resolution wind fields are specified to the model and the computed surface currents are compared with high resolution surface current measurements obtained from two high frequency SeaSonde-type Coastal Ocean Dynamics Applications Radars (CODAR). The wind forecast models used for the research are Harmonie cy361.3, running on 2.5 and 0.5km spatial grids for the low resolution and high resolution models respectively. The low-resolution model runs over an Irish domain on 540x500 grid points with 60 vertical levels and a 60s timestep and is driven by ECMWF boundary conditions. The nested high-resolution model uses 300x300 grid points on 60 vertical levels and a 12s timestep. EFDC (Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code) is used for the hydrodynamic model. The Galway Bay model has ten vertical layers and is resolved spatially and temporally at 150m and 4 sec respectively. The hydrodynamic model is run for selected hindcast dates when wind fields were highly energetic. Spatially- and temporally-varying wind data is provided by

  20. High-Resolution Spectroscopic Database for the NASA Earth Observing System Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rothman, Laurence S.; Starr, David (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    The purpose of this project is to develop and enhance the HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database and associated software to support the observational programs of the Earth Observing System (EOS). In particular, the focus is on the EOS projects: the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the High-Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS), Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT), the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE III). The data requirements of these programs in terms of spectroscopy are varied, but usually call for additional spectral parameters or improvements to existing molecular bands. In addition, cross-section data for heavier molecular species must be expanded and made amenable to modeling in remote sensing. The effort in the project also includes developing software and distribution to make access, manipulation, and use of HITRAN functional to the EOS program.

  1. Exploring image data assimilation in the prospect of high-resolution satellite oceanic observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Durán Moro, Marina; Brankart, Jean-Michel; Brasseur, Pierre; Verron, Jacques

    2017-07-01

    Satellite sensors increasingly provide high-resolution (HR) observations of the ocean. They supply observations of sea surface height (SSH) and of tracers of the dynamics such as sea surface salinity (SSS) and sea surface temperature (SST). In particular, the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will provide measurements of the surface ocean topography at very high-resolution (HR) delivering unprecedented information on the meso-scale and submeso-scale dynamics. This study investigates the feasibility to use these measurements to reconstruct meso-scale features simulated by numerical models, in particular on the vertical dimension. A methodology to reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) multivariate meso-scale scenes is developed by using a HR numerical model of the Solomon Sea region. An inverse problem is defined in the framework of a twin experiment where synthetic observations are used. A true state is chosen among the 3D multivariate states which is considered as a reference state. In order to correct a first guess of this true state, a two-step analysis is carried out. A probability distribution of the first guess is defined and updated at each step of the analysis: (i) the first step applies the analysis scheme of a reduced-order Kalman filter to update the first guess probability distribution using SSH observation; (ii) the second step minimizes a cost function using observations of HR image structure and a new probability distribution is estimated. The analysis is extended to the vertical dimension using 3D multivariate empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) and the probabilistic approach allows the update of the probability distribution through the two-step analysis. Experiments show that the proposed technique succeeds in correcting a multivariate state using meso-scale and submeso-scale information contained in HR SSH and image structure observations. It also demonstrates how the surface information can be used to reconstruct the ocean state below

  2. HMMR (High-Resolution Multifrequency Microwave Radiometer) Earth observing system, volume 2e. Instrument panel report

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1987-01-01

    Recommendations and background are provided for a passive microwave remote sensing system of the future designed to meet the observational needs of Earth scientist in the next decade. This system, called the High Resolution Multifrequency Microwave Radiometer (HMMR), is to be part of a complement of instruments in polar orbit. Working together, these instruments will form an Earth Observing System (EOS) to provide the information needed to better understand the fundamental, global scale processes which govern the Earth's environment. Measurements are identified in detail which passive observations in the microwave portion of the spectrum could contribute to an Earth Observing System in polar orbit. Requirements are established, e.g., spatial and temporal resolution, for these measurements so that, when combined with the other instruments in the Earth Observing System, they would yield a data set suitable for understanding the fundamental processes governing the Earth's environment. Existing and/or planned sensor systems are assessed in the light of these requirements, and additional sensor hardware needed to meet these observational requirements are defined.

  3. A Three-Dimensional Target Depth-Resolution Method with a Single-Vector Sensor.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Anbang; Bi, Xuejie; Hui, Juan; Zeng, Caigao; Ma, Lin

    2018-04-12

    This paper mainly studies and verifies the target number category-resolution method in multi-target cases and the target depth-resolution method of aerial targets. Firstly, target depth resolution is performed by using the sign distribution of the reactive component of the vertical complex acoustic intensity; the target category and the number resolution in multi-target cases is realized with a combination of the bearing-time recording information; and the corresponding simulation verification is carried out. The algorithm proposed in this paper can distinguish between the single-target multi-line spectrum case and the multi-target multi-line spectrum case. This paper presents an improved azimuth-estimation method for multi-target cases, which makes the estimation results more accurate. Using the Monte Carlo simulation, the feasibility of the proposed target number and category-resolution algorithm in multi-target cases is verified. In addition, by studying the field characteristics of the aerial and surface targets, the simulation results verify that there is only amplitude difference between the aerial target field and the surface target field under the same environmental parameters, and an aerial target can be treated as a special case of a surface target; the aerial target category resolution can then be realized based on the sign distribution of the reactive component of the vertical acoustic intensity so as to realize three-dimensional target depth resolution. By processing data from a sea experiment, the feasibility of the proposed aerial target three-dimensional depth-resolution algorithm is verified.

  4. CARMENES input catalogue of M dwarfs. III. Rotation and activity from high-resolution spectroscopic observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jeffers, S. V.; Schöfer, P.; Lamert, A.; Reiners, A.; Montes, D.; Caballero, J. A.; Cortés-Contreras, M.; Marvin, C. J.; Passegger, V. M.; Zechmeister, M.; Quirrenbach, A.; Alonso-Floriano, F. J.; Amado, P. J.; Bauer, F. F.; Casal, E.; Alonso, E. Diez; Herrero, E.; Morales, J. C.; Mundt, R.; Ribas, I.; Sarmiento, L. F.

    2018-06-01

    CARMENES is a spectrograph for radial velocity surveys of M dwarfs with the aim of detecting Earth-mass planets orbiting in the habitable zones of their host stars. To ensure an optimal use of the CARMENES guaranteed time observations, in this paper we investigate the correlation of activity and rotation for approximately 2200 M dwarfs, ranging in spectral type from M0.0 V to M9.0 V. We present new high-resolution spectroscopic observations with FEROS, CAFE, and HRS of approximately 500 M dwarfs. For each new observation, we determined its radial velocity and measured its Hα activity index and its rotation velocity. Additionally, we have multiple observations of many stars to investigate if there are any radial velocity variations due to multiplicity. The results of our survey confirm that early-M dwarfs are Hα inactive with low rotational velocities and that late-M dwarfs are Hα active with very high rotational velocities. The results of this high-resolution analysis comprise the most extensive catalogue of rotation and activity in M dwarfs currently available. Based on observations made at the Calar Alto Observatory, Spain, the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile and McDonald Observatory, USA.Tables A.1-A.3 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/614/A76

  5. A Reliable, Feasible Method to Observe Neighborhoods at High Spatial Resolution

    PubMed Central

    Kepper, Maura M.; Sothern, Melinda S.; Theall, Katherine P.; Griffiths, Lauren A.; Scribner, Richard; Tseng, Tung-Sung; Schaettle, Paul; Cwik, Jessica M.; Felker-Kantor, Erica; Broyles, Stephanie T.

    2016-01-01

    Introduction Systematic social observation (SSO) methods traditionally measure neighborhoods at street level and have been performed reliably using virtual applications to increase feasibility. Research indicates that collection at even higher spatial resolution may better elucidate the health impact of neighborhood factors, but whether virtual applications can reliably capture social determinants of health at the smallest geographic resolution (parcel level) remains uncertain. This paper presents a novel, parcel-level SSO methodology and assesses whether this new method can be collected reliably using Google Street View and is feasible. Methods Multiple raters (N=5) observed 42 neighborhoods. In 2016, inter-rater reliability (observed agreement and kappa coefficient) was compared for four SSO methods: (1) street-level in person; (2) street-level virtual; (3) parcel-level in person; and (4) parcel-level virtual. Intra-rater reliability (observed agreement and kappa coefficient) was calculated to determine whether parcel-level methods produce results comparable to traditional street-level observation. Results Substantial levels of inter-rater agreement were documented across all four methods; all methods had >70% of items with at least substantial agreement. Only physical decay showed higher levels of agreement (83% of items with >75% agreement) for direct versus virtual rating source. Intra-rater agreement comparing street- versus parcel-level methods resulted in observed agreement >75% for all but one item (90%). Conclusions Results support the use of Google Street View as a reliable, feasible tool for performing SSO at the smallest geographic resolution. Validation of a new parcel-level method collected virtually may improve the assessment of social determinants contributing to disparities in health behaviors and outcomes. PMID:27989289

  6. [Non-contrast time-resolved magnetic resonance angiography combining high resolution multiple phase echo planar imaging based signal targeting and alternating radiofrequency contrast inherent inflow enhanced multi phase angiography combining spatial resolution echo planar imaging based signal targeting and alternating radiofrequency in intracranial arteries].

    PubMed

    Nakamura, Masanobu; Yoneyama, Masami; Tabuchi, Takashi; Takemura, Atsushi; Obara, Makoto; Sawano, Seishi

    2012-01-01

    Detailed information on anatomy and hemodynamics in cerebrovascular disorders such as AVM and Moyamoya disease is mandatory for defined diagnosis and treatment planning. Arterial spin labeling technique has come to be applied to magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and perfusion imaging in recent years. However, those non-contrast techniques are mostly limited to single frame images. Recently we have proposed a non-contrast time-resolved MRA technique termed contrast inherent inflow enhanced multi phase angiography combining spatial resolution echo planar imaging based signal targeting and alternating radiofrequency (CINEMA-STAR). CINEMA-STAR can extract the blood flow in the major intracranial arteries at an interval of 70 ms and thus permits us to observe vascular construction in full by preparing MIP images of axial acquisitions with high spatial resolution. This preliminary study demonstrates the usefulness of the CINEMA-STAR technique in evaluating the cerebral vasculature.

  7. A Three-Dimensional Target Depth-Resolution Method with a Single-Vector Sensor

    PubMed Central

    Zhao, Anbang; Bi, Xuejie; Hui, Juan; Zeng, Caigao; Ma, Lin

    2018-01-01

    This paper mainly studies and verifies the target number category-resolution method in multi-target cases and the target depth-resolution method of aerial targets. Firstly, target depth resolution is performed by using the sign distribution of the reactive component of the vertical complex acoustic intensity; the target category and the number resolution in multi-target cases is realized with a combination of the bearing-time recording information; and the corresponding simulation verification is carried out. The algorithm proposed in this paper can distinguish between the single-target multi-line spectrum case and the multi-target multi-line spectrum case. This paper presents an improved azimuth-estimation method for multi-target cases, which makes the estimation results more accurate. Using the Monte Carlo simulation, the feasibility of the proposed target number and category-resolution algorithm in multi-target cases is verified. In addition, by studying the field characteristics of the aerial and surface targets, the simulation results verify that there is only amplitude difference between the aerial target field and the surface target field under the same environmental parameters, and an aerial target can be treated as a special case of a surface target; the aerial target category resolution can then be realized based on the sign distribution of the reactive component of the vertical acoustic intensity so as to realize three-dimensional target depth resolution. By processing data from a sea experiment, the feasibility of the proposed aerial target three-dimensional depth-resolution algorithm is verified. PMID:29649173

  8. High-resolution observations of the QSO 3C 345 at 1.3 centimeters

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Baath, L. B.; Ronnang, B. O.; Pauliny-Toth, I. I. K.; Preuss, E.; Witzel, A.; Matveenko, L. I.; Kogan, L. R.; Kostenko, V. I.; Shaffer, D. B.

    1981-01-01

    High-resolution VLBI observations made at a frequency of 22.235 GHz of the quasar 3C 345 are discussed. Antennas located at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, USSR; Onsala, Sweden; Effelsberg, West Germany; and the Haystack Observatory, Massachusetts were employed at 4-min integration times to provide baselines ranging up to 5.5 x 10 to the 8th wavelengths. About 40% of the total flux density of 7.85 Jy, observed in November 1977, and 8.05 Jy, observed in October 1978, is found to originate in an unresolved component of the quasar core in a region less than 0.1 milliarcsec in diameter. The elongated jet-like component of the quasar is observed to contain several peaks of emission extending up to 6 milliarsec from the core which decreased in extent between the two observations.

  9. High-resolution observations in the western Mediterranean Sea: the REP14-MED experiment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Onken, Reiner; Fiekas, Heinz-Volker; Beguery, Laurent; Borrione, Ines; Funk, Andreas; Hemming, Michael; Hernandez-Lasheras, Jaime; Heywood, Karen J.; Kaiser, Jan; Knoll, Michaela; Mourre, Baptiste; Oddo, Paolo; Poulain, Pierre-Marie; Queste, Bastien Y.; Russo, Aniello; Shitashima, Kiminori; Siderius, Martin; Thorp Küsel, Elizabeth

    2018-04-01

    The observational part of the REP14-MED experiment was conducted in June 2014 in the Sardo-Balearic Basin west of Sardinia (western Mediterranean Sea). Two research vessels collected high-resolution oceanographic data by means of hydrographic casts, towed systems, and underway measurements. In addition, a vast amount of data was provided by a fleet of 11 ocean gliders, time series were available from moored instruments, and information on Lagrangian flow patterns was obtained from surface drifters and one profiling float. The spatial resolution of the observations encompasses a spectrum over 4 orders of magnitude from 𝒪(101 m) to 𝒪(105 m), and the time series from the moored instruments cover a spectral range of 5 orders from 𝒪(101 s) to 𝒪(106 s). The objective of this article is to provide an overview of the huge data set which has been utilised by various studies, focusing on (i) water masses and circulation, (ii) operational forecasting, (iii) data assimilation, (iv) variability of the ocean, and (v) new payloads for gliders.

  10. Effects of Resolution, Range, and Image Contrast on Target Acquisition Performance.

    PubMed

    Hollands, Justin G; Terhaar, Phil; Pavlovic, Nada J

    2018-05-01

    We sought to determine the joint influence of resolution, target range, and image contrast on the detection and identification of targets in simulated naturalistic scenes. Resolution requirements for target acquisition have been developed based on threshold values obtained using imaging systems, when target range was fixed, and image characteristics were determined by the system. Subsequent work has examined the influence of factors like target range and image contrast on target acquisition. We varied the resolution and contrast of static images in two experiments. Participants (soldiers) decided whether a human target was located in the scene (detection task) or whether a target was friendly or hostile (identification task). Target range was also varied (50-400 m). In Experiment 1, 30 participants saw color images with a single target exemplar. In Experiment 2, another 30 participants saw monochrome images containing different target exemplars. The effects of target range and image contrast were qualitatively different above and below 6 pixels per meter of target for both tasks in both experiments. Target detection and identification performance were a joint function of image resolution, range, and contrast for both color and monochrome images. The beneficial effects of increasing resolution for target acquisition performance are greater for closer (larger) targets.

  11. Low-resolution ship detection from high-altitude aerial images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qi, Shengxiang; Wu, Jianmin; Zhou, Qing; Kang, Minyang

    2018-02-01

    Ship detection from optical images taken by high-altitude aircrafts such as unmanned long-endurance airships and unmanned aerial vehicles has broad applications in marine fishery management, ship monitoring and vessel salvage. However, the major challenge is the limited capability of information processing on unmanned high-altitude platforms. Furthermore, in order to guarantee the wide detection range, unmanned aircrafts generally cruise at high altitudes, resulting in imagery with low-resolution targets and strong clutters suffered by heavy clouds. In this paper, we propose a low-resolution ship detection method to extract ships from these high-altitude optical images. Inspired by a recent research on visual saliency detection indicating that small salient signals could be well detected by a gradient enhancement operation combined with Gaussian smoothing, we propose the facet kernel filtering to rapidly suppress cluttered backgrounds and delineate candidate target regions from the sea surface. Then, the principal component analysis (PCA) is used to compute the orientation of the target axis, followed by a simplified histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) descriptor to characterize the ship shape property. Finally, support vector machine (SVM) is applied to discriminate real targets and false alarms. Experimental results show that the proposed method actually has high efficiency in low-resolution ship detection.

  12. High-resolution CO2 and CH4 flux inverse modeling combining GOSAT, OCO-2 and ground-based observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maksyutov, S. S.; Oda, T.; Saito, M.; Ito, A.; Janardanan Achari, R.; Sasakawa, M.; Machida, T.; Kaiser, J. W.; Belikov, D.; Valsala, V.; O'Dell, C.; Yoshida, Y.; Matsunaga, T.

    2017-12-01

    We develop a high-resolution CO2 and CH4 flux inversion system that is based on the Lagrangian-Eulerian coupled tracer transport model, and is designed to estimate surface fluxes from atmospheric CO2 and CH4 data observed by the GOSAT and OCO-2 satellites and by global in-situ networks, including observation in Siberia. We use the Lagrangian particle dispersion model (LPDM) FLEXPART to estimate the surface flux footprints for each observation at 0.1-degree spatial resolution for three days of transport. The LPDM is coupled to a global atmospheric tracer transport model (NIES-TM). The adjoint of the coupled transport model is used in an iterative optimization procedure based on either quasi-Newtonian algorithm or singular value decomposition. Combining surface and satellite data for use in inversion requires correcting for biases present in satellite observation data, that is done in a two-step procedure. As a first step, bi-weekly corrections to prior flux fields are estimated for the period of 2009 to 2015 from in-situ CO2 and CH4 data from global observation network, included in Obspack-GVP (for CO2), WDCGG (CH4) and JR-STATION datasets. High-resolution prior fluxes were prepared for anthropogenic emissions (ODIAC and EDGAR), biomass burning (GFAS), and the terrestrial biosphere. The terrestrial biosphere flux was constructed using a vegetation mosaic map and separate simulations of CO2 fluxes by the VISIT model for each vegetation type present in a grid. The prior flux uncertainty for land is scaled proportionally to monthly mean GPP by the MODIS product for CO2 and EDGAR emissions for CH4. Use of the high-resolution transport leads to improved representation of the anthropogenic plumes, often observed at continental continuous observation sites. OCO-2 observations are aggregated to 1 second averages, to match the 0.1 degree resolution of the transport model. Before including satellite observations in the inversion, the monthly varying latitude-dependent bias is

  13. Automated target classification in high resolution dual frequency sonar imagery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aridgides, Tom; Fernández, Manuel

    2007-04-01

    An improved computer-aided-detection / computer-aided-classification (CAD/CAC) processing string has been developed. The classified objects of 2 distinct strings are fused using the classification confidence values and their expansions as features, and using "summing" or log-likelihood-ratio-test (LLRT) based fusion rules. The utility of the overall processing strings and their fusion was demonstrated with new high-resolution dual frequency sonar imagery. Three significant fusion algorithm improvements were made. First, a nonlinear 2nd order (Volterra) feature LLRT fusion algorithm was developed. Second, a Box-Cox nonlinear feature LLRT fusion algorithm was developed. The Box-Cox transformation consists of raising the features to a to-be-determined power. Third, a repeated application of a subset feature selection / feature orthogonalization / Volterra feature LLRT fusion block was utilized. It was shown that cascaded Volterra feature LLRT fusion of the CAD/CAC processing strings outperforms summing, baseline single-stage Volterra and Box-Cox feature LLRT algorithms, yielding significant improvements over the best single CAD/CAC processing string results, and providing the capability to correctly call the majority of targets while maintaining a very low false alarm rate. Additionally, the robustness of cascaded Volterra feature fusion was demonstrated, by showing that the algorithm yields similar performance with the training and test sets.

  14. CO and Dust Properties in the TW Hya Disk from High-resolution ALMA Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Jane; Andrews, Sean M.; Cleeves, L. Ilsedore; Öberg, Karin I.; Wilner, David J.; Bai, Xuening; Birnstiel, Til; Carpenter, John; Hughes, A. Meredith; Isella, Andrea; Pérez, Laura M.; Ricci, Luca; Zhu, Zhaohuan

    2018-01-01

    We analyze high angular resolution ALMA observations of the TW Hya disk to place constraints on the CO and dust properties. We present new, sensitive observations of the 12CO J = 3 ‑ 2 line at a spatial resolution of 8 au (0.″14). The CO emission exhibits a bright inner core, a shoulder at r ≈ 70 au, and a prominent break in slope at r ≈ 90 au. Radiative transfer modeling is used to demonstrate that the emission morphology can be reasonably reproduced with a 12CO column density profile featuring a steep decrease at r ≈ 15 au and a secondary bump peaking at r ≈ 70 au. Similar features have been identified in observations of rarer CO isotopologues, which trace heights closer to the midplane. Substructure in the underlying gas distribution or radially varying CO depletion that affects much of the disk’s vertical extent may explain the shared emission features of the main CO isotopologues. We also combine archival 1.3 mm and 870 μm continuum observations to produce a spectral index map at a spatial resolution of 2 au. The spectral index rises sharply at the continuum emission gaps at radii of 25, 41, and 47 au. This behavior suggests that the grains within the gaps are no larger than a few millimeters. Outside the continuum gaps, the low spectral index values of α ≈ 2 indicate either that grains up to centimeter size are present or that the bright continuum rings are marginally optically thick at millimeter wavelengths.

  15. Ultra-High Spectral Resolution Observations of Fragmentation in Dark Cloud Cores

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Velusamy, T.; Langer, W.; Kuiper, T; Levin, S.; Olsen, E.

    1993-01-01

    This paper presents new evidence of the fragmentary structure of dense cores in dark clouds using the high resolution spectra of the carbon chain molecule CCS transition (J subscript N = 2 subscript 1 - 1 subscript o) at 22.344033 GHz with 0.008 km s superscript -1 resolution.

  16. OBSERVING CASCADES OF SOLAR BULLETS AT HIGH RESOLUTION. II

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Scullion, E.; Engvold, O.; Lin, Y.

    High resolution observations from the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope revealed bright, discrete, blob-like structures (which we refer to as solar bullets) in the Hα 656.28 nm line core that appear to propagate laterally across the solar atmosphere as clusters in active regions (ARs). These small-scale structures appear to be field aligned and many bullets become triggered simultaneously and traverse collectively as a cluster. Here, we conduct a follow-up study on these rapidly evolving structures with coincident observations from the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. With the co-aligned data sets, we reveal (a) an evolving multithermal structure in the bullet clustermore » ranging from chromospheric to at least transition region temperatures, (b) evidence for cascade-like behavior and corresponding bidirectional motions in bullets within the cluster, which indicate that there is a common source of the initial instability leading to bullet formation, and (c) a direct relationship between co-incident bullet velocities observed in Hα and He ii 30.4 nm and an inverse relationship with respect to bullet intensity in these channels. We find evidence supporting that bullets are typically composed of a cooler, higher density core detectable in Hα with a less dense, hotter, and fainter co-moving outer sheath. Bullets unequivocally demonstrate the finely structured nature of the AR corona. We have no clear evidence for bullets being associated with locally heated (or cooled), fast flowing plasma. Fast MHD pulses (such as solitons) could best describe the dynamic properties of bullets whereas the presence of a multithermal structure is new.« less

  17. High resolution MR microscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ciobanu, Luisa

    Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) microscopy [1] has the potential to bring the full capabilities of NMR to arbitrarily specified localized positions within small samples. The most interesting target of study is the living biological cell, with typical dimensions ˜100 mum, but with substructures that are much smaller, such as the cell nucleus (typically ˜10 mu m) and mitochondria (1--10 mum). One anticipates that the development of MR microscopy with resolution at the level of these substructures or better and with a wide, three dimensional field-of-view could open a new avenue of investigation into the biology of the living cell. Although the first MR image of a single biological cell was reported in 1987 [2], the cell imaged had quite large (˜1 mm diameter) spatial dimensions and the resolution obtained (on the order of 10 mu m) was not adequate for meaningful imaging of more typically sized cells. The quest for higher resolution has continued. In 1989 Zhou et al. [3] obtained fully three dimensional images with spatial resolution of (6.37 mum)3, or 260 femtoliters. While better "in-plane" resolutions (i.e., the resolution in 2 of the 3 spatial dimensions) have since been obtained, [4, 5] this volume resolution was not exceeded until quite recently by Lee et al., [6] who report 2D images having volume resolution of 75 mum 3 and in-plane resolution of 1 mum. In parallel with these advances in raw resolution several investigators [7, 8, 9] have focused on localized spectroscopy and/or chemical shift imaging. The key obstacles to overcome in MR microscopy are (1) the loss of signal to noise that occurs when observing small volumes and (2) molecular diffusion during the measurement or encoding. To date the problem of sensitivity has typically been addressed by employing small micro-coil receivers. [10] The problem of molecular diffusion can only be defeated with strong magnetic field gradients that can encode spatial information quickly. We report MR microscopy

  18. Hyperresolution: an hyperspectral and high resolution imager for Earth observation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    De Vidi, R.; Chiarantini, L.; Bini, A.

    2017-11-01

    Hyperspectral space imagery is an emerging technology that supports many scientific, civil, security and defence operational applications. The main advantage of this remote sensing technique is that it allows the so-called Feature Extraction: in fact the spectral signature allows the recognition of the materials composing the scene. Hyperspectral Products and their applications have been investigated in the past years by Galileo Avionica to direct the instrument characteristics design. Sample products have been identified in the civil / environment monitoring fields (such as coastal monitoring, vegetation, hot spot and urban classification) and in defense / security applications: their performances have been verified by means of airborne flight campaigns. The Hyperspectral and High Resolution Imager is a space-borne instrument that implement a pushbroom technique to get strip spectral images over the Hyperspectral VNIR and SWIR bands, with a ground sample distance at nadir of 20m in a 20 km wide ground swath, with 200 spectral channels, realizing an average spectral resolution of 10nm. The High Resolution Panchromatic Channel insists in the same swath to allow for multiresolution data fusion of hyperspectral imagery.

  19. A vision for an ultra-high resolution integrated water cycle observation and prediction system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Houser, P. R.

    2013-05-01

    Society's welfare, progress, and sustainable economic growth—and life itself—depend on the abundance and vigorous cycling and replenishing of water throughout the global environment. The water cycle operates on a continuum of time and space scales and exchanges large amounts of energy as water undergoes phase changes and is moved from one part of the Earth system to another. We must move toward an integrated observation and prediction paradigm that addresses broad local-to-global science and application issues by realizing synergies associated with multiple, coordinated observations and prediction systems. A central challenge of a future water and energy cycle observation strategy is to progress from single variable water-cycle instruments to multivariable integrated instruments in electromagnetic-band families. The microwave range in the electromagnetic spectrum is ideally suited for sensing the state and abundance of water because of water's dielectric properties. Eventually, a dedicated high-resolution water-cycle microwave-based satellite mission may be possible based on large-aperture antenna technology that can harvest the synergy that would be afforded by simultaneous multichannel active and passive microwave measurements. A partial demonstration of these ideas can even be realized with existing microwave satellite observations to support advanced multivariate retrieval methods that can exploit the totality of the microwave spectral information. The simultaneous multichannel active and passive microwave retrieval would allow improved-accuracy retrievals that are not possible with isolated measurements. Furthermore, the simultaneous monitoring of several of the land, atmospheric, oceanic, and cryospheric states brings synergies that will substantially enhance understanding of the global water and energy cycle as a system. The multichannel approach also affords advantages to some constituent retrievals—for instance, simultaneous retrieval of vegetation

  20. Thermophysical behavior of the uppermost lunar surface from Diviner high time-resolution, post-sunset observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Russell, P.; Greenhagen, B. T.; Paige, D. A.; Hayne, P. O.; Williams, J. P.

    2016-12-01

    Lunar "Cold Spots" are areas around small fresh craters that are colder than their surroundings in nighttime regolith temperature (e.g., Bandfield et al., 2014, Williams et al., 2016), implying that the thermophysical properties of the surface here, exterior to the visible ejecta, have somehow been altered by the impact process. Intriguingly, this cold anomaly does not appear in Diviner observations during eclipses, when the sun has been blocked for only a short period of time (Hayne et al., 2011). Here, we extend the investigation of the immediate reaction of Cold Spots and other areas of interest to the cessation of solar heating by specifically targeting and analyzing observations in the post-sunset, or twilight, period (i.e., 16:00-17:00 local time). Analysis of this time period focuses specifically on variability in the thermophysical structure of the upper 1 cm of lunar surface, whereas previous analyses of nighttime temperatures typically speak to the upper 10s of cm. Initial results suggest that twilight temperatures mimic the behavior of eclipse temperatures, in that the Cold Spot does not become colder until 30-45 min. after sunset. In fact, it is warmer than surroundings in the first 30 min. This suggests that the thermal inertia of the upper 1 cm is higher than surroundings, while the thermal inertia of the upper 10s of cm may be lower. A current impediment to such a study is that, the finer the Diviner data is resolved temporally, the fewer areas exist that have data at all time resolutions. As part of a goal of the LRO extended mission to better constrain the thermophysical properties of the upper regolith, we plan to take advantage of the 5 twilight crossings between 10/2016 - 10/2018 to make targeted observations of a variety of types of geological features up to 5 times, spaced 4 lunar min. apart, during the post-sunset hour. A trial campaign 4-5/2015 observed 22 targets a total of 94 times. At one of the 2 targeted large Cold Spots, 4 co

  1. Recent applications of gas chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry.

    PubMed

    Špánik, Ivan; Machyňáková, Andrea

    2018-01-01

    Gas chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry is a powerful analytical method that combines excellent separation power of gas chromatography with improved identification based on an accurate mass measurement. These features designate gas chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry as the first choice for identification and structure elucidation of unknown volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds. Gas chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry quantitative analyses was previously focused on the determination of dioxins and related compounds using magnetic sector type analyzers, a standing requirement of many international standards. The introduction of a quadrupole high-resolution time-of-flight mass analyzer broadened interest in this method and novel applications were developed, especially for multi-target screening purposes. This review is focused on the development and the most interesting applications of gas chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry towards analysis of environmental matrices, biological fluids, and food safety since 2010. The main attention is paid to various approaches and applications of gas chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry for non-target screening to identify contaminants and to characterize the chemical composition of environmental, food, and biological samples. The most interesting quantitative applications, where a significant contribution of gas chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry over the currently used methods is expected, will be discussed as well. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  2. Constraints on Circumstellar Dust Grain Sizes from High Spatial Resolution Observations in the Thermal Infrared

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bloemhof, E. E.; Danen, R. M.; Gwinn, C. R.

    1996-01-01

    We describe how high spatial resolution imaging of circumstellar dust at a wavelength of about 10 micron, combined with knowledge of the source spectral energy distribution, can yield useful information about the sizes of the individual dust grains responsible for the infrared emission. Much can be learned even when only upper limits to source size are available. In parallel with high-resolution single-telescope imaging that may resolve the more extended mid-infrared sources, we plan to apply these less direct techniques to interpretation of future observations from two-element optical interferometers, where quite general arguments may be made despite only crude imaging capability. Results to date indicate a tendency for circumstellar grain sizes to be rather large compared to the Mathis-Rumpl-Nordsieck size distribution traditionally thought to characterize dust in the general interstellar medium. This may mean that processing of grains after their initial formation and ejection from circumstellar atmospheres adjusts their size distribution to the ISM curve; further mid-infrared observations of grains in various environments would help to confirm this conjecture.

  3. Mistic winds, a microsatellite constellation approach to high-resolution observations of the atmosphere using infrared sounding and 3d winds measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maschhoff, K. R.; Polizotti, J. J.; Aumann, H. H.; Susskind, J.

    2016-10-01

    MISTiC Winds is an approach to improve short-term weather forecasting based on a miniature high resolution, wide field, thermal emission spectrometry instrument that will provide global tropospheric vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and humidity at high (3-4 km) horizontal and vertical ( 1 km) spatial resolution. MISTiC's extraordinarily small size, payload mass of less than 15 kg, and minimal cooling requirements can be accommodated aboard a 27U-class CubeSat or an ESPA-Class micro-satellite. Low fabrication and launch costs enable a LEO sunsynchronous sounding constellation that would collectively provide frequent IR vertical profiles and vertically resolved atmospheric motion vector wind observations in the troposphere. These observations are highly complementary to present and emerging environmental observing systems, and would provide a combination of high vertical and horizontal resolution not provided by any other environmental observing system currently in operation. The spectral measurements that would be provided by MISTiC Winds are similar to those of NASA's AIRS that was built by BAE Systems and operates aboard the AQUA satellite. These new observations, when assimilated into high resolution numerical weather models, would revolutionize short-term and severe weather forecasting, save lives, and support key economic decisions in the energy, air transport, and agriculture arenas-at much lower cost than providing these observations from geostationary orbit. In addition, this observation capability would be a critical tool for the study of transport processes for water vapor, clouds, pollution, and aerosols. Key remaining technical risks are being reduced through laboratory and airborne testing under NASA's Instrument Incubator Program.

  4. High-resolution three-dimensional imaging radar

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cooper, Ken B. (Inventor); Chattopadhyay, Goutam (Inventor); Siegel, Peter H. (Inventor); Dengler, Robert J. (Inventor); Schlecht, Erich T. (Inventor); Mehdi, Imran (Inventor); Skalare, Anders J. (Inventor)

    2010-01-01

    A three-dimensional imaging radar operating at high frequency e.g., 670 GHz, is disclosed. The active target illumination inherent in radar solves the problem of low signal power and narrow-band detection by using submillimeter heterodyne mixer receivers. A submillimeter imaging radar may use low phase-noise synthesizers and a fast chirper to generate a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) waveform. Three-dimensional images are generated through range information derived for each pixel scanned over a target. A peak finding algorithm may be used in processing for each pixel to differentiate material layers of the target. Improved focusing is achieved through a compensation signal sampled from a point source calibration target and applied to received signals from active targets prior to FFT-based range compression to extract and display high-resolution target images. Such an imaging radar has particular application in detecting concealed weapons or contraband.

  5. A high-resolution synthetic bed elevation grid of the Antarctic continent

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Graham, Felicity S.; Roberts, Jason L.; Galton-Fenzi, Ben K.; Young, Duncan; Blankenship, Donald; Siegert, Martin J.

    2017-05-01

    Digital elevation models of Antarctic bed topography are smoothed and interpolated onto low-resolution ( > 1 km) grids as current observed topography data are generally sparsely and unevenly sampled. This issue has potential implications for numerical simulations of ice-sheet dynamics, especially in regions prone to instability where detailed knowledge of the topography, including fine-scale roughness, is required. Here, we present a high-resolution (100 m) synthetic bed elevation terrain for Antarctica, encompassing the continent, continental shelf, and seas south of 60° S. Although not identically matching observations, the synthetic bed surface - denoted as HRES - preserves topographic roughness characteristics of airborne and ground-based ice-penetrating radar data measured by the ICECAP (Investigating the Cryospheric Evolution of the Central Antarctic Plate) consortium or used to create the Bedmap1 compilation. Broad-scale ( > 5 km resolution) features of the Antarctic landscape are incorporated using a low-pass filter of the Bedmap2 bed elevation data. HRES has applicability in high-resolution ice-sheet modelling studies, including investigations of the interaction between topography, ice-sheet dynamics, and hydrology, where processes are highly sensitive to bed elevations and fine-scale roughness. The data are available for download from the Australian Antarctic Data Centre (target="_blank">doi:10.4225/15/57464ADE22F50).

  6. High Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy and Star Formation: HETG Observations of the Pre-Main Sequence Stellar Cluster IC 348

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Principe, David; Huenemoerder, David P.; Schulz, Norbert; Kastner, Joel H.; Weintraub, David; Preibisch, Thomas

    2018-01-01

    We present Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) observations of the ∼3 Myr old pre-main sequence (pre-MS) stellar cluster IC 348. With 400-500 cluster members at a distance of ∼300 pc, IC 348 is an ideal target to observe a large number of X-ray sources in a single pointing and is thus an extremely efficient use of Chandra-HETG. High resolution X-ray spectroscopy offers a means to investigate detailed spectral characteristic of X-ray emitting plasmas and their surrounding environments. We present preliminary results where we compare X-ray spectral signatures (e.g., luminosity, temperature, column density, abundance) of the X-ray brightest pre-MS stars in IC 348 with spectral type, multiwavelength signatures of accretion, and the presence of circumstellar disks at multiple stages of pre-MS stellar evolution. Assuming all IC 348 members formed from the same primordial molecular cloud, any disparity between coronal abundances of individual members, as constrained by the identification and strength of emission lines, will constrain the source(s) of coronal chemical evolution at a stage of pre-MS evolution vital to the formation of planets.

  7. Identifying Complex Mixtures in the Environment with Cheminformatics and Non-targeted High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (SETAC NA Focused Topic Meeting : Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures)

    EPA Science Inventory

    Non-target high resolution mass spectrometry techniques combined with advanced cheminformatics offer huge potential for exploring complex mixtures in our environment – yet also offers plenty of challenges. Peak inventories of several non-target studies from within Europe reveal t...

  8. Test target for characterizing 3D resolution of optical coherence tomography

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hu, Zhixiong; Hao, Bingtao; Liu, Wenli; Hong, Baoyu; Li, Jiao

    2014-12-01

    Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive 3D imaging technology which has been applied or investigated in many diagnostic fields including ophthalmology, dermatology, dentistry, cardiovasology, endoscopy, brain imaging and so on. Optical resolution is an important characteristic that can describe the quality and utility of an image acquiring system. We employ 3D printing technology to design and fabricate a test target for characterizing 3D resolution of optical coherence tomography. The test target which mimics USAF 1951 test chart was produced with photopolymer. By measuring the 3D test target, axial resolution as well as lateral resolution of a spectral domain OCT system was evaluated. For comparison, conventional microscope and surface profiler were employed to characterize the 3D test targets. The results demonstrate that the 3D resolution test targets have the potential of qualitatively and quantitatively validating the performance of OCT systems.

  9. High resolution metric imaging payload

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Delclaud, Y.

    2017-11-01

    Alcatel Space Industries has become Europe's leader in the field of high and very high resolution optical payloads, in the frame work of earth observation system able to provide military government with metric images from space. This leadership allowed ALCATEL to propose for the export market, within a French collaboration frame, a complete space based system for metric observation.

  10. Coregistration of high-resolution Mars orbital images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sidiropoulos, Panagiotis; Muller, Jan-Peter

    2015-04-01

    represent the best available 3D reference frame for Mars showing co-registration with MOLA<25m (loc.cit.). In our work, the reference generated by HRSC terrain corrected orthorectified images is used as a common reference frame to co-register all available high-resolution orbital NASA products into a common 3D coordinate system, thus allowing the examination of the changes that happen on the surface of Mars over time (such as seasonal flows [McEwen et al., 2011] or new impact craters [Byrne, et al., 2009]). In order to accomplish such a tedious manual task, we have developed an automatic co-registration pipeline that produces orthorectified versions of the NASA images in realistic time (i.e. from ~15 minutes to 10 hours per image depending on size). In the first step of this pipeline, tie-points are extracted from the target NASA image and the reference HRSC image or image mosaic. Subsequently, the HRSC areo-reference information is used to transform the HRSC tie-points pixel coordinates into 3D "world" coordinates. This way, a correspondence between the pixel coordinates of the target NASA image and the 3D "world" coordinates is established for each tie-point. This set of correspondences is used to estimate a non-rigid, 3D to 2D transformation model, which transforms the target image into the HRSC reference coordinate system. Finally, correlation of the transformed target image and the HRSC image is employed to fine-tune the orthorectification results, thus generating results with sub-pixel accuracy. This method, which has been proven to be accurate, robust to resolution differences and reliable when dealing with partially degraded data and fast, will be presented, along with some example co-registration results that have been achieved by using it. Acknowledgements: The research leading to these results has received partial funding from the STFC "MSSL Consolidated Grant" ST/K000977/1 and partial support from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7

  11. Rapid, High-Resolution Detection of Environmental Change over Continental Scales from Satellite Data - the Earth Observation Data Cube

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lewis, Adam; Lymburner, Leo; Purss, Matthew B. J.; Brooke, Brendan; Evans, Ben; Ip, Alex; Dekker, Arnold G.; Irons, James R.; Minchin, Stuart; Mueller, Norman

    2015-01-01

    The effort and cost required to convert satellite Earth Observation (EO) data into meaningful geophysical variables has prevented the systematic analysis of all available observations. To overcome these problems, we utilise an integrated High Performance Computing and Data environment to rapidly process, restructure and analyse the Australian Landsat data archive. In this approach, the EO data are assigned to a common grid framework that spans the full geospatial and temporal extent of the observations - the EO Data Cube. This approach is pixel-based and incorporates geometric and spectral calibration and quality assurance of each Earth surface reflectance measurement. We demonstrate the utility of the approach with rapid time-series mapping of surface water across the entire Australian continent using 27 years of continuous, 25 m resolution observations. Our preliminary analysis of the Landsat archive shows how the EO Data Cube can effectively liberate high-resolution EO data from their complex sensor-specific data structures and revolutionise our ability to measure environmental change.

  12. The large area high resolution gamma ray astrophysics facility - HR-GRAF

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fenyves, E. J.; Chaney, R. C.; Hoffman, J. H.; Cline, D. B.; Atac, M.; Park, J.; White, S. R.; Zych, A. D.; Tumer, Q. T.; Hughes, E. B.

    1990-03-01

    The long-term program is described in terms of its equipment, scientific objectives, and long-range scientific studies. A prototype of a space-based large-area high-resolution gamma-ray facility (HR-GRAF) is being developed to examine pointlike and diffuse gamma-ray sources in the range 1 MeV-100 GeV. The instrument for the facility is proposed to have high angular and energy resolution and very high sensitivity to permit the study of the proposed objects. The primary research targets include the mapping of galactic gamma radiation, observing the angular variations of diffuse gamma rays, and studying the Galactic center with particular emphasis on the hypothetical black hole. Also included in the research plans are obtaining data on gamma-ray bursters, investigating the transmission of gamma rays from cold dark matter, and studying nuclear gamma-ray lines.

  13. A Fabry-Perot spectrometer for high-resolution observation of the Sun

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kneer, F.; Hirzberger, H.

    2001-12-01

    Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs) are powerful instruments for spectro-polarimetry of the Sun with high spatial resolution. They allow easy image reconstruction of two-dimensional fields of view. Some examples of high quality results obtained with the ``Göttingen'' FPI spectrometer, mounted in the Vacuum Tower Telescope at the Observatorio del Teide/Tenerife, are presented in a poster to this workshop. We thus concentrate on the design of a new instrument for the 1.5 m GREGOR solar telescope. We discuss the pros and cons of telecentric and collimated mounting and describe the expected performance, especially the spectral resolution, of our design.

  14. High Spectral Resolution Observation of the Soft Diffuse X-ray Background in the Direction of the Galactic Anti-Center

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wulf, Dallas; Eckart, Mega E.; Galeazzi, Massimiliano; Jaeckel, Felix; Kelley, Richard L.; Kilbourne, Caroline A.; McCammon, Dan; Morgan, Kelsey M.; Porter, Frederick S.; Szymkowiak, Andrew E.

    2018-01-01

    High spectral resolution observations in the soft x-rays are necessary for understanding and modelling the hot component of the interstellar medium and its contribution to the Soft X-ray Background (SXRB). This extended source emission cannot be resolved with most wavelength dispersive spectrometers, making energy dispersive microcalorimeters the ideal choice for these observations. We present here the analysis of the most recent sounding rocket flight of the University of Wisconsin-Madison/Goddard Space Flight Center X-ray Quantum Calorimeter (XQC), a large area silicon thermistor microcalorimeter. This 111 second observation integrates a nearly 1 steradian field of view in the direction of the galactic anti-center (l, b = 165°, -5°) and features ~5 eV spectral resolution below 1 keV. Direct comparison will also be made to the previous, high-latitude observations.

  15. High-Resolution Genetics Identifies the Lipid Transfer Protein Sec14p as Target for Antifungal Ergolines

    PubMed Central

    Cotesta, Simona; Perruccio, Francesca; Knapp, Britta; Fu, Yue; Studer, Christian; Pries, Verena; Riedl, Ralph; Helliwell, Stephen B.; Petrovic, Katarina T.; Movva, N. Rao; Sanglard, Dominique; Tao, Jianshi; Hoepfner, Dominic

    2016-01-01

    Invasive infections by fungal pathogens cause more deaths than malaria worldwide. We found the ergoline compound NGx04 in an antifungal screen, with selectivity over mammalian cells. High-resolution chemogenomics identified the lipid transfer protein Sec14p as the target of NGx04 and compound-resistant mutations in Sec14p define compound-target interactions in the substrate binding pocket of the protein. Beyond its essential lipid transfer function in a variety of pathogenic fungi, Sec14p is also involved in secretion of virulence determinants essential for the pathogenicity of fungi such as Cryptococcus neoformans, making Sec14p an attractive antifungal target. Consistent with this dual function, we demonstrate that NGx04 inhibits the growth of two clinical isolates of C. neoformans and that NGx04-related compounds have equal and even higher potency against C. neoformans. Furthermore NGx04 analogues showed fungicidal activity against a fluconazole resistant C. neoformans strain. In summary, we present genetic evidence that NGx04 inhibits fungal Sec14p and initial data supporting NGx04 as a novel antifungal starting point. PMID:27855158

  16. High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope Observation of Zero-Strain Deformation Twinning Mechanisms in Ag

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, L.; Wang, J.; Gong, S. K.; Mao, S. X.

    2011-04-01

    We have observed a new deformation-twinning mechanism using the high resolution transmission electron microscope in polycrystalline Ag films, zero-strain twinning via nucleation, and the migration of a Σ3{112} incoherent twin boundary (ITB). This twinning mechanism produces a near zero macroscopic strain because the net Burgers vectors either equal zero or are equivalent to a Shockley partial dislocation. This observation provides new insight into the understanding of deformation twinning and confirms a previous hypothesis: detwinning could be accomplished via the nucleation and migration of Σ3{112} ITBs. The zero-strain twinning mechanism may be unique to low staking fault energy metals with implications for their deformation behavior.

  17. Application of High Resolution Air-Borne Remote Sensing Observations for Monitoring NOx Emissions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Souri, A.; Choi, Y.; Pan, S.; Curci, G.; Janz, S. J.; Kowalewski, M. G.; Liu, J.; Herman, J. R.; Weinheimer, A. J.

    2017-12-01

    Nitrogen oxides (NOx=NO+NO2) are one of the air pollutants, responsible for the formation of tropospheric ozone, acid rain and particulate nitrate. The anthropogenic NOx emissions are commonly estimated based on bottom-up inventories which are complicated by many potential sources of error. One way to improve the emission inventories is to use relevant observations to constrain them. Fortunately, Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is one of the most successful detected species from remote sensing. Although many studies have shown the capability of using space-borne remote sensing observations for monitoring emissions, the insufficient sample number and footprint of current measurements have introduced a burden to constrain emissions at fine scales. Promisingly, there are several air-borne sensors collected for NASA's campaigns providing high spatial resolution of NO2 columns. Here, we use the well-characterized NO2 columns from the Airborne Compact Atmospheric Mapper (ACAM) onboard NASA's B200 aircraft into a 1×1 km regional model to constrain anthropogenic NOx emissions in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria area. Firstly, in order to incorporate the data, we convert the NO2 slant column densities to vertical ones using a joint of a radiative transfer model and the 1x1 km regional model constrained by P3-B aircraft measurements. After conducting an inverse modeling method using the Kalman filter, we find the ACAM observations are resourceful at mitigating the overprediction of model in reproducing NO2 on regular days. Moreover, the ACAM provides a unique opportunity to detect an anomaly in emissions leading to strong air quality degradation that is lacking in previous works. Our study provides convincing evidence that future geostationary satellites with high spatial and temporal resolutions will give us insights into uncertainties associated with the emissions at regional scales.

  18. Aerosol midlatitude cyclone indirect effects in observations and high-resolution simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCoy, Daniel T.; Field, Paul R.; Schmidt, Anja; Grosvenor, Daniel P.; Bender, Frida A.-M.; Shipway, Ben J.; Hill, Adrian A.; Wilkinson, Jonathan M.; Elsaesser, Gregory S.

    2018-04-01

    Aerosol-cloud interactions are a major source of uncertainty in inferring the climate sensitivity from the observational record of temperature. The adjustment of clouds to aerosol is a poorly constrained aspect of these aerosol-cloud interactions. Here, we examine the response of midlatitude cyclone cloud properties to a change in cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC). Idealized experiments in high-resolution, convection-permitting global aquaplanet simulations with constant CDNC are compared to 13 years of remote-sensing observations. Observations and idealized aquaplanet simulations agree that increased warm conveyor belt (WCB) moisture flux into cyclones is consistent with higher cyclone liquid water path (CLWP). When CDNC is increased a larger LWP is needed to give the same rain rate. The LWP adjusts to allow the rain rate to be equal to the moisture flux into the cyclone along the WCB. This results in an increased CLWP for higher CDNC at a fixed WCB moisture flux in both observations and simulations. If observed cyclones in the top and bottom tercile of CDNC are contrasted it is found that they have not only higher CLWP but also cloud cover and albedo. The difference in cyclone albedo between the cyclones in the top and bottom third of CDNC is observed by CERES to be between 0.018 and 0.032, which is consistent with a 4.6-8.3 Wm-2 in-cyclone enhancement in upwelling shortwave when scaled by annual-mean insolation. Based on a regression model to observed cyclone properties, roughly 60 % of the observed variability in CLWP can be explained by CDNC and WCB moisture flux.

  19. High-resolution observations of active region moss and its dynamics

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Morton, R. J.; McLaughlin, J. A., E-mail: richard.morton@northumbria.ac.uk

    2014-07-10

    The High Resolution Coronal Imager has provided the sharpest view of the EUV corona to date. In this paper, we exploit its impressive resolving power to provide the first analysis of the fine-scale structure of moss in an active region. The data reveal that the moss is made up of a collection of fine threads that have widths with a mean and standard deviation of 440 ± 190 km (FWHM). The brightest moss emission is located at the visible head of the fine-scale structure and the fine structure appears to extend into the lower solar atmosphere. The emission decreases alongmore » the features, implying that the lower sections are most likely dominated by cooler transition region plasma. These threads appear to be the cool, lower legs of the hot loops. In addition, the increased resolution allows for the first direct observation of physical displacements of the moss fine structure in a direction transverse to its central axis. Some of these transverse displacements demonstrate periodic behavior, which we interpret as a signature of kink (Alfvénic) waves. Measurements of the properties of the transverse motions are made and the wave motions have means and standard deviations of 55 ± 37 km for the transverse displacement amplitude, 77 ± 33 s for the period, and 4.7 ± 2.5 km s{sup –1} for the velocity amplitude. The presence of waves in the transition region of hot loops could have important implications for the heating of active regions.« less

  20. A Fabry-Perot Spectrometer for High-Resolution Observation of the Sun

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kneer, F.; Hirzberger, J.

    Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs) are powerful instruments for spectro-polarimetry of the Sun with high spatial resolution. They allow easy image reconstruction of two-dimensional narrow-band fields of view. Some examples of high quality results obtained with the ``Göttingen'' FPI spectrometer, mounted in the Vacuum Tower Telescope at the Observatorio del Teide/Tenerife, are presented in a poster to this workshop. We thus concentrate on the design of a new instrument for the 1.5 m GREGOR solar telescope. We discuss the pros and cons of telecentric and collimated mounting and describe the expected performance, especially the spectral resolution, of our design.

  1. RadioAstron Maser Observations: a Record in Angular Resolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sobolev, A. M.; Shakhvorostova, N. N.; Alakoz, A. V.; Baan, W. A.; RadioAstron Maser Team

    2017-06-01

    Extremely long baselines of the space-ground interferometer RadioAstron allow to achieve ultra-high angular resolutions. The possibility of detection of a maser emission with resolutions about tens of micro-arcseconds was arguable before successful experiments reported in this paper. We present the results of the maser survey obtained by RadioAstron during first 5 years of operation. Extremely high angular resolution of 11 microarcseconds have been achieved in observations of the megamaser galaxy NGC 4258. For the galaxy at the distance about 7 Mpc this corresponds to linear resolution around 80 AU. Very compact features with angular sizes about 20 micro-arcseconds have been detected in star-forming regions of our Galaxy. Corresponding linear sizes are about 5-10 millions of kilometers.

  2. Modelling high-resolution ALMA observations of strongly lensed highly star-forming galaxies detected by Herschel

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dye, S.; Furlanetto, C.; Dunne, L.; Eales, S. A.; Negrello, M.; Nayyeri, H.; van der Werf, P. P.; Serjeant, S.; Farrah, D.; Michałowski, M. J.; Baes, M.; Marchetti, L.; Cooray, A.; Riechers, D. A.; Amvrosiadis, A.

    2018-06-01

    We have modelled ˜0.1 arcsec resolution Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimeter Array imaging of six strong gravitationally lensed galaxies detected by the Herschel Space Observatory. Our modelling recovers mass properties of the lensing galaxies and, by determining magnification factors, intrinsic properties of the lensed submillimetre sources. We find that the lensed galaxies all have high ratios of star formation rate to dust mass, consistent with or higher than the mean ratio for high-redshift submillimetre galaxies and low-redshift ultra-luminous infrared galaxies. Source reconstruction reveals that most galaxies exhibit disturbed morphologies. Both the cleaned image plane data and the directly observed interferometric visibilities have been modelled, enabling comparison of both approaches. In the majority of cases, the recovered lens models are consistent between methods, all six having mass density profiles that are close to isothermal. However, one system with poor signal to noise shows mildly significant differences.

  3. Multiplexed Elimination of Wild-Type DNA and High-Resolution Melting Prior to Targeted Resequencing of Liquid Biopsies.

    PubMed

    Ladas, Ioannis; Fitarelli-Kiehl, Mariana; Song, Chen; Adalsteinsson, Viktor A; Parsons, Heather A; Lin, Nancy U; Wagle, Nikhil; Makrigiorgos, G Mike

    2017-10-01

    The use of clinical samples and circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) collected from liquid biopsies for diagnostic and prognostic applications in cancer is burgeoning, and improved methods that reduce the influence of excess wild-type (WT) portion of the sample are desirable. Here we present enrichment of mutation-containing sequences using enzymatic degradation of WT DNA. Mutation enrichment is combined with high-resolution melting (HRM) performed in multiplexed closed-tube reactions as a rapid, cost-effective screening tool before targeted resequencing. We developed a homogeneous, closed-tube approach to use a double-stranded DNA-specific nuclease for degradation of WT DNA at multiple targets simultaneously. The No Denaturation Nuclease-assisted Minor Allele Enrichment with Probe Overlap (ND-NaME-PrO) uses WT oligonucleotides overlapping both strands on putative DNA targets. Under conditions of partial denaturation (DNA breathing), the oligonucleotide probes enhance double-stranded DNA-specific nuclease digestion at the selected targets, with high preference toward WT over mutant DNA. To validate ND-NaME-PrO, we used multiplexed HRM, digital PCR, and MiSeq targeted resequencing of mutated genomic DNA and cfDNA. Serial dilution of KRAS mutation-containing DNA shows mutation enrichment by 10- to 120-fold and detection of allelic fractions down to 0.01%. Multiplexed ND-NaME-PrO combined with multiplexed PCR-HRM showed mutation scanning of 10-20 DNA amplicons simultaneously. ND-NaME-PrO applied on cfDNA from clinical samples enables mutation enrichment and HRM scanning over 10 DNA targets. cfDNA mutations were enriched up to approximately 100-fold (average approximately 25-fold) and identified via targeted resequencing. Closed-tube homogeneous ND-NaME-PrO combined with multiplexed HRM is a convenient approach to efficiently enrich for mutations on multiple DNA targets and to enable prescreening before targeted resequencing. © 2017 American Association for Clinical

  4. Computational Burden Resulting from Image Recognition of High Resolution Radar Sensors

    PubMed Central

    López-Rodríguez, Patricia; Fernández-Recio, Raúl; Bravo, Ignacio; Gardel, Alfredo; Lázaro, José L.; Rufo, Elena

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a methodology for high resolution radar image generation and automatic target recognition emphasizing the computational cost involved in the process. In order to obtain focused inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) images certain signal processing algorithms must be applied to the information sensed by the radar. From actual data collected by radar the stages and algorithms needed to obtain ISAR images are revised, including high resolution range profile generation, motion compensation and ISAR formation. Target recognition is achieved by comparing the generated set of actual ISAR images with a database of ISAR images generated by electromagnetic software. High resolution radar image generation and target recognition processes are burdensome and time consuming, so to determine the most suitable implementation platform the analysis of the computational complexity is of great interest. To this end and since target identification must be completed in real time, computational burden of both processes the generation and comparison with a database is explained separately. Conclusions are drawn about implementation platforms and calculation efficiency in order to reduce time consumption in a possible future implementation. PMID:23609804

  5. Computational burden resulting from image recognition of high resolution radar sensors.

    PubMed

    López-Rodríguez, Patricia; Fernández-Recio, Raúl; Bravo, Ignacio; Gardel, Alfredo; Lázaro, José L; Rufo, Elena

    2013-04-22

    This paper presents a methodology for high resolution radar image generation and automatic target recognition emphasizing the computational cost involved in the process. In order to obtain focused inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) images certain signal processing algorithms must be applied to the information sensed by the radar. From actual data collected by radar the stages and algorithms needed to obtain ISAR images are revised, including high resolution range profile generation, motion compensation and ISAR formation. Target recognition is achieved by comparing the generated set of actual ISAR images with a database of ISAR images generated by electromagnetic software. High resolution radar image generation and target recognition processes are burdensome and time consuming, so to determine the most suitable implementation platform the analysis of the computational complexity is of great interest. To this end and since target identification must be completed in real time, computational burden of both processes the generation and comparison with a database is explained separately. Conclusions are drawn about implementation platforms and calculation efficiency in order to reduce time consumption in a possible future implementation.

  6. Real time observation of mouse fetal skeleton using a high resolution X-ray synchrotron

    PubMed Central

    Chang, Dong Woo; Kim, Bora; Shin, Jae Hoon; Yun, Young Min; Je, Jung Ho; Hwu, Yeu kuang; Yoon, Jung Hee

    2011-01-01

    The X-ray synchrotron is quite different from conventional radiation sources. This technique may expand the capabilities of conventional radiology and be applied in novel manners for special cases. To evaluate the usefulness of X-ray synchrotron radiation systems for real time observations, mouse fetal skeleton development was monitored with a high resolution X-ray synchrotron. A non-monochromatized X-ray synchrotron (white beam, 5C1 beamline) was employed to observe the skeleton of mice under anesthesia at embryonic day (E)12, E14, E15, and E18. At the same time, conventional radiography and mammography were used to compare with X-ray synchrotron. After synchrotron radiation, each mouse was sacrificed and stained with Alizarin red S and Alcian blue to observe bony structures. Synchrotron radiation enabled us to view the mouse fetal skeleton beginning at gestation. Synchrotron radiation systems facilitate real time observations of the fetal skeleton with greater accuracy and magnification compared to mammography and conventional radiography. Our results show that X-ray synchrotron systems can be used to observe the fine structures of internal organs at high magnification. PMID:21586868

  7. High resolution solar observations in the context of space weather prediction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Guo

    Space weather has a great impact on the Earth and human life. It is important to study and monitor active regions on the solar surface and ultimately to predict space weather based on the Sun's activity. In this study, a system that uses the full power of speckle masking imaging by parallel processing to obtain high-spatial resolution images of the solar surface in near real-time has been developed and built. The application of this system greatly improves the ability to monitor the evolution of solar active regions and to predict the adverse effects of space weather. The data obtained by this system have also been used to study fine structures on the solar surface and their effects on the upper solar atmosphere. A solar active region has been studied using high resolution data obtained by speckle masking imaging. Evolution of a pore in an active region presented. Formation of a rudimentary penumbra is studied. The effects of the change of the magnetic fields on the upper level atmosphere is discussed. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) have a great impact on space weather. To study the relationship between CMEs and filament disappearance, a list of 431 filament and prominence disappearance events has been compiled. Comparison of this list with CME data obtained by satellite has shown that most filament disappearances seem to have no corresponding CME events. Even for the limb events, only thirty percent of filament disappearances are associated with CMEs. A CME event that was observed on March 20, 2000 has been studied in detail. This event did not show the three-parts structure of typical CMEs. The kinematical and morphological properties of this event were examined.

  8. First results from the Goddard High-Resolution spectrograph - High-resolution observations of the 1942 A resonance line of HG II in the chemically peculiar B star, Chi Lupi

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Leckrone, David S.; Wahlgren, Glenn M.; Johansson, Sveneric G.

    1991-01-01

    The Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph on the HST has been used to obtain high S/N observations of the sharp-lined, Hg- and Pt-rich B-type star, Chi Lupi, with a resolving power of 87,000. The observations reveal a level of spectroscopic detail never before observed at ultraviolet wavelengths for any star other than the sun. Concentrating on the region around the resonance line of Hg II at 1942 A, the profile and central position of this line confirm beyond doubt that the Hg isotope anomaly in Chi Lupi is real and extreme, with Hg being heavily concentrated in the form of Hg-204. The problems in atomic physics which impair the accurate analysis of spectra of this quality are emphasized.

  9. Assessment of Multiple Daily Precipitation Statistics in ERA-Interim Driven Med-CORDEX and EURO-CORDEX Experiments Against High Resolution Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coppola, E.; Fantini, A.; Raffaele, F.; Torma, C. Z.; Bacer, S.; Giorgi, F.; Ahrens, B.; Dubois, C.; Sanchez, E.; Verdecchia, M.

    2017-12-01

    We assess the statistics of different daily precipitation indices in ensembles of Med-CORDEX and EUROCORDEX experiments at high resolution (grid spacing of ˜0.11° , or RCM11) and medium resolution (grid spacing of ˜0.44° , or RCM44) with regional climate models (RCMs) driven by the ERA-Interim reanalysis of observations for the period 1989-2008. The assessment is carried out by comparison with a set of high resolution observation datasets for 9 European subregions. The statistics analyzed include quantitative metrics for mean precipitation, daily precipitation Probability Density Functions (PDFs), daily precipitation intensity, frequency, 95th percentile and 95th percentile of dry spell length. We assess both an ensemble including all Med-CORDEX and EURO-CORDEX models and one including the Med-CORDEX models alone. For the All Models ensembles, the RCM11 one shows a remarkable performance in reproducing the spatial patterns and seasonal cycle of mean precipitation over all regions, with a consistent and marked improvement compared to the RCM44 ensemble and the ERA-Interim reanalysis. A good consistency with observations by the RCM11 ensemble (and a substantial improvement compared to RCM44 and ERA-Interim) is found also for the daily precipitation PDFs, mean intensity and, to a lesser extent, the 95th percentile. In fact, for some regions the RCM11 ensemble overestimates the occurrence of very high intensity events while for one region the models underestimate the occurrence of the largest extremes. The RCM11 ensemble still shows a general tendency to underestimate the dry day frequency and 95th percentile of dry spell length over wetter regions, with only a marginal improvement compared to the lower resolution models. This indicates that the problem of the excessive production of low precipitation events found in many climate models persists also at relatively high resolutions, at least in wet climate regimes. Concerning the Med-CORDEX model ensembles we find

  10. High-resolution urban observation network for user-specific meteorological information service in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, South Korea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Park, Moon-Soo; Park, Sung-Hwa; Chae, Jung-Hoon; Choi, Min-Hyeok; Song, Yunyoung; Kang, Minsoo; Roh, Joon-Woo

    2017-04-01

    To improve our knowledge of urban meteorology, including those processes applicable to high-resolution meteorological models in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), the Weather Information Service Engine (WISE) Urban Meteorological Observation System (UMS-Seoul) has been designed and installed. The UMS-Seoul incorporates 14 surface energy balance (EB) systems, 7 surface-based three-dimensional (3-D) meteorological observation systems and applied meteorological (AP) observation systems, and the existing surface-based meteorological observation network. The EB system consists of a radiation balance system, sonic anemometers, infrared CO2/H2O gas analyzers, and many sensors measuring the wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity, precipitation, and air pressure. The EB-produced radiation, meteorological, and turbulence data will be used to quantify the surface EB according to land use and to improve the boundary-layer and surface processes in meteorological models. The 3-D system, composed of a wind lidar, microwave radiometer, aerosol lidar, or ceilometer, produces the cloud height, vertical profiles of backscatter by aerosols, wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, and liquid water content. It will be used for high-resolution reanalysis data based on observations and for the improvement of the boundary-layer, radiation, and microphysics processes in meteorological models. The AP system includes road weather information, mosquito activity, water quality, and agrometeorological observation instruments. The standardized metadata for networks and stations are documented and renewed periodically to provide a detailed observation environment. The UMS-Seoul data are designed to support real-time acquisition and display and automatically quality check within 10 min from observation. After the quality check, data can be distributed to relevant potential users such as researchers and policy makers. Finally, two case studies demonstrate that the observed data

  11. A balloon-borne high-resolution spectrometer for observations of gamma-ray emission from solar flares

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Crannell, C. J.; Starr, R.; Stottlemyre, A. R.; Trombka, J. I.

    1984-01-01

    The design, development, and balloon-flight verification of a payload for observations of gamma-ray emission from solar flares are reported. The payload incorporates a high-purity germanium semiconductor detector, standard NIM and CAMAC electronics modules, a thermally stabilized pressure housing, and regulated battery power supplies. The flight system is supported on the ground with interactive data-handling equipment comprised of similar electronics hardware. The modularity and flexibility of the payload, together with the resolution and stability obtained throughout a 30-hour flight, make it readily adaptable for high-sensitivity, long-duration balloon fight applications.

  12. High resolution observations of low contrast phenomena from an Advanced Geosynchronous Platform (AGP)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Maxwell, M. S.

    1984-01-01

    Present technology allows radiometric monitoring of the Earth, ocean and atmosphere from a geosynchronous platform with good spatial, spectral and temporal resolution. The proposed system could provide a capability for multispectral remote sensing with a 50 m nadir spatial resolution in the visible bands, 250 m in the 4 micron band and 1 km in the 11 micron thermal infrared band. The diffraction limited telescope has a 1 m aperture, a 10 m focal length (with a shorter focal length in the infrared) and linear and area arrays of detectors. The diffraction limited resolution applies to scenes of any brightness but for a dark low contrast scenes, the good signal to noise ratio of the system contribute to the observation capability. The capabilities of the AGP system are assessed for quantitative observations of ocean scenes. Instrument and ground system configuration are presented and projected sensor capabilities are analyzed.

  13. High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopic Observations of the Upper Scorpius Eclipsing Binary EPIC 203868608

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Johnson, Marshall C.; Mace, Gregory N.; Kim, Hwihyun; Kaplan, Kyle; McLane, Jacob; Sokal, Kimberly R.

    2017-06-01

    EPIC 203868608 is a source in the ~10 Myr old Upper Scorpius OB association. Using K2 photometry and ground-based follow-up observations, David et al. (2016) found that it consists of two brown dwarfs with a tertiary object at a projected separation of ~20 AU; the former objects appear to be a double-lined eclipsing binary with a period of 4.5 days. This is one of only two known eclipsing SB2s where both components are below the hydrogen-burning limit. We present additional follow-up observations of this system from the IGRINS high-resolution near-infrared spectrograph at McDonald Observatory. Our measured radial velocities do not follow the orbital solution presented by David et al. (2016). Instead, our combined IGRINS plus literature radial velocity dataset appears to indicate a period significantly different than that of the eclipsing binary obvious from the K2 light curve. We will discuss possible scenarios to account for the conflicting observations of this system.

  14. Detection performance in clutter with variable resolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schmieder, D. E.; Weathersby, M. R.

    1983-07-01

    Experiments were conducted to determine the influence of background clutter on target detection criteria. The experiment consisted of placing observers in front of displayed images on a TV monitor. Observer ability to detect military targets embedded in simulated natural and manmade background clutter was measured when there was unlimited viewing time. Results were described in terms of detection probability versus target resolution for various signal to clutter ratios (SCR). The experiments were preceded by a search for a meaningful clutter definition. The selected definition was a statistical measure computed by averaging the standard deviation of contiguous scene cells over the whole scene. The cell size was comparable to the target size. Observer test results confirmed the expectation that the resolution required for a given detection probability was a continuum function of the clutter level. At the lower SCRs the resolution required for a high probability of detection was near 6 line pairs per target (LP/TGT), while at the higher SCRs it was found that a resoluton of less than 0.25 LP/TGT would yield a high probability of detection. These results are expected to aid in target acquisition performance modeling and to lead to improved specifications for imaging automatic target screeners.

  15. Seismic Study of the Subsurface Structure and Dynamics of the Solar Interior from High Spatial Resolution Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Korzennik, Sylvain G.

    1997-01-01

    We have carried out the data reduction and analysis of Mt. Wilson 60' solar tower high spatial resolution observations. The reduction of the 100-day-long summer of 1990 observation campaign in terms of rotational splittings was completed leading to an excess of 600,000 splittings. The analysis of these splittings lead to a new inference of the solar internal rotation rate as a function of depth and latitude.

  16. Preparation of the CARMENES Input Catalogue: Low- and High-resolution Spectroscopy of M dwarfs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alonso-Floriano, F. J.; Montes, D.; Caballero, J. A.; Klutsch, A.; Jeffers, S.; Reiners, A.; Zechmeister, M.; Lamert, A.; Passegger, V. M.; Mundt, R.; Amado, P. J.; Berdinas, Z. M.; Casal, E.; Cortés-Contreras, M.; Morales, J. C.; Ribas, I.; Rodríguez-López, C.; Quirrenbach, A.

    2015-01-01

    The identification of the most promising targets for exoplanet hunting is a crucial first step to ensure an efficient use of the CARMENES guaranteed time. To achieve this, we obtained low-resolution (R ˜ 1500) spectra of 752 M (and late K) dwarfs mostly fainter than J = 9 mag with CAFOS. For all of them, we derived spectral types with 0.5 subtypes accuracy. We also studied metallicity and surface gravity through spectral indices, and activity from pEW(Hα). Next, we observed over 600 M dwarfs at higher resolution (R = 30 000-48 000) with FEROS, CAFE and HRS. We determined rotational velocities, v sin{i} (±0.2-0.5 km s^{-1}), and radial velocities, V_r (±0.1-0.2 km s^{-1}), of the observed stars. From our observations, we identified high-activity, low-metallicity and low-gravity stars, single- and double-lined spectroscopic binaries and, specially, fast rotators, which should be discarded from any target list for exoplanet searches. Here we present preliminary results.

  17. Contradictions about Fine Structures in Meson Spectra and Proposed High-Resolution Hadron Spectrometer Using ``Interactive'' Solid-State Hydrogen Target

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maglich, Bogdan C.

    2004-08-01

    High resolution has been discouraged in meson spectrometry for 4 decades by the Doctrine of Experiments Incompatible with Theory (DEIT). DEIT a priori rejects narrow hadron resonances on the paradigm that only broad hadron peaks, Γ⩾ 100 MeV, can exist — in spite of the accumulated evidence to the contrary. The facts are: Mesons 2 orders of magnitude narrower than `allowed' for hadrons, have been confirmed; a new one was announced at this conference. Narrow meson structures have been repeatedly reported at high momentum transfer, |t| >0.2, while they are absent at the low transfer, |t| ˜0.01, where 99% of the experiments are performed. Modification of meson mass and width as a function of the density of nuclear matter in which they are produced, have been recently reported. We postulate for meson spectra: (1) Intrinsic (`true') width, Γ, is different from the observable (`apparent') width, Γ': Γ< Γ' (2) Γ of all meson states are narrow and can be observed only at or near the maximum |t| reachable in the reaction, and (3) Γ of all meson resonances are subject to broadening as |t| decreases. Since both Γ' and the production σ are inversely proportional to |t|, most of the observed spectra are produced at the lowest |t| <0.01 and thus the peaks appear broad. We have conceptually designed a novel type hadron spectrometer with an order of magnitude better resolution (0.1 MeV). It would operate at 2 orders of magnitude higher |t| (0.3< |t| <1 (GeV/c)2, than most experiments to date (|t| <0.01). Mesons in the mass region 0.5 target' consisting of an array of plastic scintillator fibers, CH; collisions with C are electronically rejected. Missing mass of P is measured in the region of the maximum recoil angle. Story of the suppression by DEIT for 17 years of the observation of a theoretically unexplained narrow peak, which turned out to be ω→2π, and the related

  18. The study of brain activity during the observation of commercial advertising by using high resolution EEG techniques.

    PubMed

    Vecchiato, Giovanni; Astolfi, Laura; De Vico Fallani, Fabrizio; Salinari, Serenella; Cincotti, Febo; Aloise, Fabio; Mattia, Donatella; Marciani, Maria Grazia; Bianchi, Luigi; Soranzo, Ramon; Babiloni, Fabio

    2009-01-01

    In this paper we illustrate the capability of tracking brain activity during the observation of commercial TV spots by using advanced high resolution EEG statistical techniques in time and frequency domains. In particular, we analyzed the statistically significant cortical spectral power activity in different frequency bands during the observation of a commercial video clip related to the use of a beer in a group of 13 normal subjects. In addition, a TV speech of the prime minister of Italy was analyzed in two groups of swing and "supporter" voters. Results suggested that the cortical activity during the observation of commercial spots could vary consistently across the spot. This fact suggest the possibility to remove the part of the spot that are not particularly attractive by using those cerebral indexes. The cortical activity during the observation of the political speech indicated a major cortical activity in the supporters group when compared to the swing voters. In this case, it is possible to conclude that the communication proposed has failed to raise attention or interest on swing voters. In conclusions, high resolution EEG have been proved able to generate useful insights about the particular fruition of TV messages, related to both commercial as well as political fields.

  19. MISTiC Winds, a Micro-Satellite Constellation Approach to High Resolution Observations of the Atmosphere Using Infrared Sounding and 3D Winds Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Maschhoff, K. R.; Polizotti, J. J.; Aumann, H. H.; Susskind, J.

    2016-01-01

    MISTiC(TM) Winds is an approach to improve short-term weather forecasting based on a miniature high resolution, wide field, thermal emission spectrometry instrument that will provide global tropospheric vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and humidity at high (3-4 km) horizontal and vertical ( 1 km) spatial resolution. MISTiCs extraordinarily small size, payload mass of less than 15 kg, and minimal cooling requirements can be accommodated aboard a 27U-class CubeSat or an ESPA-Class micro-satellite. Low fabrication and launch costs enable a LEO sunsynchronous sounding constellation that would collectively provide frequent IR vertical profiles and vertically resolved atmospheric motion vector wind observations in the troposphere. These observations are highly complementary to present and emerging environmental observing systems, and would provide a combination of high vertical and horizontal resolution not provided by any other environmental observing system currently in operation. The spectral measurements that would be provided by MISTiC Winds are similar to those of NASA's AIRS that was built by BAE Systems and operates aboard the AQUA satellite. These new observations, when assimilated into high resolution numerical weather models, would revolutionize short-term and severe weather forecasting, save lives, and support key economic decisions in the energy, air transport, and agriculture arenasat much lower cost than providing these observations from geostationary orbit. In addition, this observation capability would be a critical tool for the study of transport processes for water vapor, clouds, pollution, and aerosols. Key remaining technical risks are being reduced through laboratory and airborne testing under NASA's Instrument Incubator Program.

  20. MISTiC Winds, a Micro-Satellite Constellation Approach to High Resolution Observations of the Atmosphere using Infrared Sounding and 3D Winds Measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maschhoff, K. R.; Polizotti, J. J.; Susskind, J.; Aumann, H. H.

    2015-12-01

    MISTiCTM Winds is an approach to improve short-term weather forecasting based on a miniature high resolution, wide field, thermal emission spectrometry instrument that will provide global tropospheric vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and humidity at high (3-4 km) horizontal and vertical ( 1 km) spatial resolution. MISTiC's extraordinarily small size, payload mass of less than 15 kg, and minimal cooling requirements can be accommodated aboard a 27U-class CubeSat or an ESPA-Class micro-satellite. Low fabrication and launch costs enable a LEO sun-synchronous sounding constellation that would collectively provide frequent IR vertical profiles and vertically resolved atmospheric motion vector wind observations in the troposphere. These observations are highly complementary to present and emerging environmental observing systems, and would provide a combination of high vertical and horizontal resolution not provided by any other environmental observing system currently in operation. The spectral measurements that would be provided by MISTiC Winds are similar to those of NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder that was built by BAE Systems and operates aboard the AQUA satellite. These new observations, when assimilated into high resolution numerical weather models, would revolutionize short-term and severe weather forecasting, save lives, and support key economic decisions in the energy, air transport, and agriculture arenas-at much lower cost than providing these observations from geostationary orbit. In addition, this observation capability would be a critical tool for the study of transport processes for water vapor, clouds, pollution, and aerosols. Key technical risks are being reduced through laboratory and airborne testing under NASA's Instrument Incubator Program.

  1. MISTiC Winds: A micro-satellite constellation approach to high resolution observations of the atmosphere using infrared sounding and 3D winds measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maschhoff, K. R.; Polizotti, J. J.; Aumann, H. H.; Susskind, J.

    2016-09-01

    MISTiCTM Winds is an approach to improve short-term weather forecasting based on a miniature high resolution, wide field, thermal emission spectrometry instrument that will provide global tropospheric vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and humidity at high (3-4 km) horizontal and vertical ( 1 km) spatial resolution. MISTiC's extraordinarily small size, payload mass of less than 15 kg, and minimal cooling requirements can be accommodated aboard a 27U-class CubeSat or an ESPA-Class micro-satellite. Low fabrication and launch costs enable a LEO sunsynchronous sounding constellation that would collectively provide frequent IR vertical profiles and vertically resolved atmospheric motion vector wind observations in the troposphere. These observations are highly complementary to present and emerging environmental observing systems, and would provide a combination of high vertical and horizontal resolution not provided by any other environmental observing system currently in operation. The spectral measurements that would be provided by MISTiC Winds are similar to those of NASA's AIRS that was built by BAE Systems and operates aboard the AQUA satellite. These new observations, when assimilated into high resolution numerical weather models, would revolutionize short-term and severe weather forecasting, save lives, and support key economic decisions in the energy, air transport, and agriculture arenas-at much lower cost than providing these observations from geostationary orbit. In addition, this observation capability would be a critical tool for the study of transport processes for water vapor, clouds, pollution, and aerosols. Key remaining technical risks are being reduced through laboratory and airborne testing under NASA's Instrument Incubator Program.

  2. Generation of real-time mode high-resolution water vapor fields from GPS observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Chen; Penna, Nigel T.; Li, Zhenhong

    2017-02-01

    Pointwise GPS measurements of tropospheric zenith total delay can be interpolated to provide high-resolution water vapor maps which may be used for correcting synthetic aperture radar images, for numeral weather prediction, and for correcting Network Real-time Kinematic GPS observations. Several previous studies have addressed the importance of the elevation dependency of water vapor, but it is often a challenge to separate elevation-dependent tropospheric delays from turbulent components. In this paper, we present an iterative tropospheric decomposition interpolation model that decouples the elevation and turbulent tropospheric delay components. For a 150 km × 150 km California study region, we estimate real-time mode zenith total delays at 41 GPS stations over 1 year by using the precise point positioning technique and demonstrate that the decoupled interpolation model generates improved high-resolution tropospheric delay maps compared with previous tropospheric turbulence- and elevation-dependent models. Cross validation of the GPS zenith total delays yields an RMS error of 4.6 mm with the decoupled interpolation model, compared with 8.4 mm with the previous model. On converting the GPS zenith wet delays to precipitable water vapor and interpolating to 1 km grid cells across the region, validations with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer near-IR water vapor product show 1.7 mm RMS differences by using the decoupled model, compared with 2.0 mm for the previous interpolation model. Such results are obtained without differencing the tropospheric delays or water vapor estimates in time or space, while the errors are similar over flat and mountainous terrains, as well as for both inland and coastal areas.

  3. Coastal High-resolution Observations and Remote Sensing of Ecosystems (C-HORSE)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Guild, Liane

    2016-01-01

    Coastal benthic marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, seagrass beds, and kelp forests are highly productive as well as ecologically and commercially important resources. These systems are vulnerable to degraded water quality due to coastal development, terrestrial run-off, and harmful algal blooms. Measurements of these features are important for understanding linkages with land-based sources of pollution and impacts to coastal ecosystems. Challenges for accurate remote sensing of coastal benthic (shallow water) ecosystems and water quality are complicated by atmospheric scattering/absorption (approximately 80+% of the signal), sun glint from the sea surface, and water column scattering (e.g., turbidity). Further, sensor challenges related to signal to noise (SNR) over optically dark targets as well as insufficient radiometric calibration thwart the value of coastal remotely-sensed data. Atmospheric correction of satellite and airborne remotely-sensed radiance data is crucial for deriving accurate water-leaving radiance in coastal waters. C-HORSE seeks to optimize coastal remote sensing measurements by using a novel airborne instrument suite that will bridge calibration, validation, and research capabilities of bio-optical measurements from the sea to the high altitude remote sensing platform. The primary goal of C-HORSE is to facilitate enhanced optical observations of coastal ecosystems using state of the art portable microradiometers with 19 targeted spectral channels and flight planning to optimize measurements further supporting current and future remote sensing missions.

  4. Physical characteristics of faint meteors by light curve and high-resolution observations, and the implications for parent bodies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Subasinghe, Dilini; Campbell-Brown, Margaret D.; Stokan, Edward

    2016-04-01

    Optical observations of faint meteors (10-7 < mass < 10-4 kg) were collected by the Canadian Automated Meteor Observatory between 2010 April and 2014 May. These high-resolution (metre scale) observations were combined with two-station light-curve observations and the meteoroid orbit to classify meteors and attempt to answer questions related to meteoroid fragmentation, strength, and light-curve shape. The F parameter was used to classify the meteor light-curve shape; the observed morphology was used to classify the fragmentation mode; and the Tisserand parameter described the origin of the meteoroid. We find that most meteor light curves are symmetric (mean F parameter 0.49), show long distinct trails (continuous fragmentation), and are cometary in origin. Meteors that show no obvious fragmentation (presumably single body objects) show mostly symmetric light curves, surprisingly, and this indicates that light-curve shape is not an indication of fragility or fragmentation behaviour. Approximately 90 per cent of meteors observed with high-resolution video cameras show some form of fragmentation. Our results also show, unexpectedly, that meteors which show negligible fragmentation are more often on high-inclination orbits (I > 60°) than low-inclination ones. We also find that dynamically asteroidal meteors fragment as often as dynamically cometary meteors, which may suggest mixing in the early Solar system, or contamination between the dynamic groups.

  5. Coupling physics and biogeochemistry thanks to high-resolution observations of the phytoplankton community structure in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marrec, Pierre; Grégori, Gérald; Doglioli, Andrea M.; Dugenne, Mathilde; Della Penna, Alice; Bhairy, Nagib; Cariou, Thierry; Hélias Nunige, Sandra; Lahbib, Soumaya; Rougier, Gilles; Wagener, Thibaut; Thyssen, Melilotus

    2018-03-01

    Fine-scale physical structures and ocean dynamics strongly influence and regulate biogeochemical and ecological processes. These processes are particularly challenging to describe and understand because of their ephemeral nature. The OSCAHR (Observing Submesoscale Coupling At High Resolution) campaign was conducted in fall 2015 in which a fine-scale structure (1-10 km/1-10 days) in the northwestern Mediterranean Ligurian subbasin was pre-identified using both satellite and numerical modeling data. Along the ship track, various variables were measured at the surface (temperature, salinity, chlorophyll a and nutrient concentrations) with ADCP current velocity. We also deployed a new model of the CytoSense automated flow cytometer (AFCM) optimized for small and dim cells, for near real-time characterization of the surface phytoplankton community structure of surface waters with a spatial resolution of a few kilometers and an hourly temporal resolution. For the first time with this optimized version of the AFCM, we were able to fully resolve Prochlorococcus picocyanobacteria in addition to the easily distinguishable Synechococcus. The vertical physical dynamics and biogeochemical properties of the studied area were investigated by continuous high-resolution CTD profiles thanks to a moving vessel profiler (MVP) during the vessel underway associated with a high-resolution pumping system deployed during fixed stations allowing sampling of the water column at a fine resolution (below 1 m). The observed fine-scale feature presented a cyclonic structure with a relatively cold core surrounded by warmer waters. Surface waters were totally depleted in nitrate and phosphate. In addition to the doming of the isopycnals by the cyclonic circulation, an intense wind event induced Ekman pumping. The upwelled subsurface cold nutrient-rich water fertilized surface waters and was marked by an increase in Chl a concentration. Prochlorococcus and pico- and nano-eukaryotes were more

  6. High-resolution 3D simulations of NIF ignition targets performed on Sequoia with HYDRA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marinak, M. M.; Clark, D. S.; Jones, O. S.; Kerbel, G. D.; Sepke, S.; Patel, M. V.; Koning, J. M.; Schroeder, C. R.

    2015-11-01

    Developments in the multiphysics ICF code HYDRA enable it to perform large-scale simulations on the Sequoia machine at LLNL. With an aggregate computing power of 20 Petaflops, Sequoia offers an unprecedented capability to resolve the physical processes in NIF ignition targets for a more complete, consistent treatment of the sources of asymmetry. We describe modifications to HYDRA that enable it to scale to over one million processes on Sequoia. These include new options for replicating parts of the mesh over a subset of the processes, to avoid strong scaling limits. We consider results from a 3D full ignition capsule-only simulation performed using over one billion zones run on 262,000 processors which resolves surface perturbations through modes l = 200. We also report progress towards a high-resolution 3D integrated hohlraum simulation performed using 262,000 processors which resolves surface perturbations on the ignition capsule through modes l = 70. These aim for the most complete calculations yet of the interactions and overall impact of the various sources of asymmetry for NIF ignition targets. This work was performed under the auspices of the Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, (LLNS) under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344.

  7. FDR-controlled metabolite annotation for high-resolution imaging mass spectrometry.

    PubMed

    Palmer, Andrew; Phapale, Prasad; Chernyavsky, Ilya; Lavigne, Regis; Fay, Dominik; Tarasov, Artem; Kovalev, Vitaly; Fuchser, Jens; Nikolenko, Sergey; Pineau, Charles; Becker, Michael; Alexandrov, Theodore

    2017-01-01

    High-mass-resolution imaging mass spectrometry promises to localize hundreds of metabolites in tissues, cell cultures, and agar plates with cellular resolution, but it is hampered by the lack of bioinformatics tools for automated metabolite identification. We report pySM, a framework for false discovery rate (FDR)-controlled metabolite annotation at the level of the molecular sum formula, for high-mass-resolution imaging mass spectrometry (https://github.com/alexandrovteam/pySM). We introduce a metabolite-signal match score and a target-decoy FDR estimate for spatial metabolomics.

  8. Characterizing the Diurnal Cycle of Land Surface Temperature and Evapotranspiration at High Spatial Resolution Using Thermal Observations from sUAS.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dutta, D.; Drewry, D.; Johnson, W. R.

    2017-12-01

    The surface temperature of plant canopies is an important indicator of the stomatal regulation of plant water use and the associated water flux from plants to atmosphere (evapotranspiration (ET)). Remotely sensed thermal observations using compact, low-cost, lightweight sensors from small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) have the potential to provide surface temperature (ST) and ET estimates at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions, allowing us to characterize the intra-field diurnal variations in canopy ST and ET for a variety of vegetation systems. However, major challenges exist for obtaining accurate surface temperature estimates from low-cost uncooled microbolometer-type sensors. Here we describe the development of calibration methods using thermal chamber experiments, taking into account the ambient optics and sensor temperatures, and applying simple models of spatial non-uniformity correction to the sensor focal-plane-array. We present a framework that can be used to derive accurate surface temperatures using radiometric observations from low-cost sensors, and demonstrate this framework using a sUAS-mounted sensor across a diverse set of calibration and vegetation targets. Further, we demonstrate the use of the Surface Temperature Initiated Closure (STIC) model for computing spatially explicit, high spatial resolution ET estimates across several well-monitored agricultural systems, as driven by sUAS acquired surface temperatures. STIC provides a physically-based surface energy balance framework for the simultaneous retrieval of the surface and atmospheric vapor conductances and surface energy fluxes, by physically integrating radiometric surface temperature information into the Penman-Monteith equation. Results of our analysis over agricultural systems in Ames, IA and Davis, CA demonstrate the power of this approach for quantifying the intra-field spatial variability in the diurnal cycle of plant water use at sub-meter resolutions.

  9. High Resolution Full-Aperture ISAR Processing through Modified Doppler History Based Motion Compensation

    PubMed Central

    Song, Jung-Hwan; Lee, Kee-Woong; Lee, Woo-Kyung; Jung, Chul-Ho

    2017-01-01

    A high resolution inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) technique is presented using modified Doppler history based motion compensation. To this purpose, a novel wideband ISAR system is developed that accommodates parametric processing over extended aperture length. The proposed method is derived from an ISAR-to-SAR approach that makes use of high resolution spotlight SAR and sub-aperture recombination. It is dedicated to wide aperture ISAR imaging and exhibits robust performance against unstable targets having non-linear motions. We demonstrate that the Doppler histories of the full aperture ISAR echoes from disturbed targets are efficiently retrieved with good fitting models. Experiments have been conducted on real aircraft targets and the feasibility of the full aperture ISAR processing is verified through the acquisition of high resolution ISAR imagery. PMID:28555036

  10. NASA-SETI microwave observing project: Targeted Search Element (TSE)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Webster, L. D.

    1991-01-01

    The Targeted Search Element (TSE) performs one of two complimentary search strategies of the NASA-SETI Microwave Observing Project (MOP): the targeted search. The principle objective of the targeted search strategy is to scan the microwave window between the frequencies of one and three gigahertz for narrowband microwave emissions eminating from the direction of 773 specifically targeted stars. The scanning process is accomplished at a minimum resolution of one or two Hertz at very high sensitivity. Detectable signals will be of a continuous wave or pulsed form and may also drift in frequency. The TSE will possess extensive radio frequency interference (RFI) mitigation and verification capability as the majority of signals detected by the TSE will be of local origin. Any signal passing through RFI classification and classifiable as an extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) candidate will be further validated at non-MOP observatories using established protocol. The targeted search will be conducted using the capability provided by the TSE. The TSE provides six Targeted Search Systems (TSS) which independently or cooperatively perform automated collection, analysis, storage, and archive of signal data. Data is collected in 10 megahertz chunks and signal processing is performed at a rate of 160 megabits per second. Signal data is obtained utilizing the largest radio telescopes available for the Targeted Search such as those at Arecibo and Nancay or at the dedicated NASA-SETI facility. This latter facility will allow continuous collection of data. The TSE also provides for TSS utilization planning, logistics, remote operation, and for off-line data analysis and permanent archive of both the Targeted Search and Sky Survey data.

  11. The Impact of Horizontal and Temporal Resolution on Convection and Precipitation with High-Resolution GEOS-5

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Putman, William P.

    2012-01-01

    Using a high-resolution non-hydrostatic version of GEOS-5 with the cubed-sphere finite-volume dynamical core, the impact of spatial and temporal resolution on cloud properties will be evaluated. There are indications from examining convective cluster development in high resolution GEOS-5 forecasts that the temporal resolution within the model may playas significant a role as horizontal resolution. Comparing modeled convective cloud clusters versus satellite observations of brightness temperature, we have found that improved. temporal resolution in GEOS-S accounts for a significant portion of the improvements in the statistical distribution of convective cloud clusters. Using satellite simulators in GEOS-S we will compare the cloud optical properties of GEOS-S at various spatial and temporal resolutions with those observed from MODIS. The potential impact of these results on tropical cyclone formation and intensity will be examined as well.

  12. Observations from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE): Martian dust devils in Gusev and Russell craters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Verba, Circe A.; Geissler, Paul E.; Titus, Timothy N.; Waller, Devin

    2010-09-01

    Two areas targeted for repeated imaging by detailed High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) observations allow us to examine morphological differences and monitor seasonal variations of Martian dust devil tracks at two quite different locations. Russell crater (53.3°S, 12.9°E) is regularly imaged to study seasonal processes including deposition and sublimation of CO2 frost. Gusev crater (14.6°S, 175.4°E) has been frequently imaged in support of the Mars Exploration Rover mission. Gusev crater provides the first opportunity to compare “ground truth” orbital observations of dust devil tracks to surface observations of active dust plumes. Orbital observations show that dust devil tracks are rare, forming at a rate <1/110 that of the occurrence of active dust plumes estimated from Spirit's surface observations. Furthermore, the tracks observed from orbit are wider than typical plume diameters observed by Spirit. We conclude that the tracks in Gusev are primarily formed by rare, large dust devils. Smaller dust devils fail to leave tracks that are visible from orbit, perhaps because of limited surface excavation depths. Russell crater displays more frequent, smaller sinuous tracks than Gusev. This may be due to the thin dust cover in Russell, allowing smaller dust devils to penetrate through the bright dust layer and leave conspicuous tracks. The start of the dust devil season and peak activity are delayed in Russell in comparison to Gusev, likely because of its more southerly location. Dust devils in both sites travel in directions consistent with general circulation model (GCM)-predicted winds, confirming a laboratory-derived approach to determining dust devil travel directions based on track morphology.

  13. CARMENES at PPVI. High-Resolution Spectroscopy of M Dwarfs with FEROS, CAFE and HRS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alonso-Floriano, F. J.; Montes, D.; Jeffers, S.; Caballero, J. A.; Zechmeister, M.; Mundt, R.; Reiners, A.; Amado, P. J.; Casal, E.; Cortés-Contreras, M.; Modroño, Z.; Ribas, I.; Rodríguez-López, C.; Quirrenbach, A.

    2013-07-01

    To ensure an efficient use of CARMENES observing time, and the highest chances of success, it is necessary first to select the most promising targets. To achieve this, we are observing ~500 M dwarfs at high-resolution (R = 30,000-48,000), from which we determine the projected rotational velocity vsini with an accuracy better than 0.5-0.2 km/s and radial-velocity stability better than 0.2-0.1 km/s. Our aim is to have at least two spectra at different epochs of the final 300 CARMENES targets. Our observations with FEROS at ESO/MPG 2.2m La Silla , CAFE at 2.2m Calar Alto and HRS at Hobby Eberly Telescope allow us to identify single- and double-line spectroscopic binaries and, especially, fast rotators, which should be discarded from the target list for exoplanet searches. Here we present preliminary results.

  14. MISTiC Winds, a Micro-Satellite Constellation Approach to High Resolution Observations of the Atmosphere using Infrared Sounding and 3D Winds Measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maschhoff, K. R.; Polizotti, J. J.; Aumann, H. H.; Susskind, J.

    2017-12-01

    MISTiCTM Winds is an approach to improve short-term weather forecasting based on a miniature high resolution, wide field, thermal emission spectrometry instrument that will provide global tropospheric vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and humidity at high (3-4 km) horizontal and vertical ( 1 km) spatial resolution. MISTiC's extraordinarily small size, payload mass of less than 15 kg, and minimal cooling requirements can be accommodated aboard a ESPA-Class (50 kg) micro-satellite. Low fabrication and launch costs enable a LEO sun-synchronous sounding constellation that would provide frequent IR vertical profiles and vertically resolved atmospheric motion vector wind observations in the troposphere. These observations are highly complementary to present and emerging environmental observing systems, and would provide a combination of high vertical and horizontal resolution not provided by any other environmental observing system currently in operation. The spectral measurements that would be provided by MISTiC Winds are similar to those of NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder. These new observations, when assimilated into high resolution numerical weather models, would revolutionize short-term and severe weather forecasting, save lives, and support key economic decisions in the energy, air transport, and agriculture arenas-at much lower cost than providing these observations from geostationary orbit. In addition, this observation capability would be a critical tool for the study of transport processes for water vapor, clouds, pollution, and aerosols. In this third year of a NASA Instrument incubator program, the compact infrared spectrometer has been integrated into an airborne version of the instrument for high-altitude flights on a NASA ER2. The purpose of these airborne tests is to examine the potential for improved capabilities for tracking atmospheric motion-vector wind tracer features, and determining their height using hyper-spectral sounding and

  15. High-resolution radio and X-ray observations of the supernova remnant W28

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Andrews, M. D.; Basart, J. P.; Lamb, R. C.; Becker, R. H.

    1983-01-01

    The present study has the objective to report the first high resolution radio and X-ray observations of the central part of the galactic supernova remnant, W28, taking into account the possible association of the remnant with the unidentified gamma-ray source, 2CG 006-00. This gamma-ray source is approximately two-thirds as bright as the Crab pulsar above 100 MeV, and has a somewhat flatter spectrum. Both the radio and X-ray observations reveal previously unknown aspects of W28 which support the possibility of W28 being a gamma-ray source. The radio data show a flat-spectrum, nonthermal component reminiscent of the Crab Nebula and Vela, both of which are confirmed gamma-ray sources. The X-ray observations reveal a compact source within W28, again suggestive of both the Crab and Vela. If the similarities among W28, the Crab Nebula, and the Vela remnant are valid, the gamma-ray source 2CG 00-00 should be studied for periodicity, the conclusive signature of a compact source of emission.

  16. NIOZ high-resolution moored temperature observations: benefits and new challenges.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cimatoribus, Andrea; Gostiaux, Louis; Cyr, Frederic; van Haren, Hans

    2016-04-01

    The Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research has been developing for several years a family of temperature sensors (NIOZ1 to NIOZ5). In the latest iterations of this project, these instruments are precise (10-3 K or better), have a very low noise level (below 10-3 K), are relatively fast (sampling rate of 1Hz) and can measure for extended periods of time (several months). Being also compact and lightweight, several thermistors can be attached on a single line at a fine vertical spacing (20cm or more). When mounted on a cable, the instruments are all synchronised to a single clock, thus providing simultaneous measurements throughout the depth range of the mooring (usually in the order of 100m). Recently, the instruments have also been deployed in a group of 5 lines approximately 5m apart from each other, providing a unique view on the three-dimensional temperature field. After almost 10 years of successful deployments at sea, we try to draw some conclusions from this effort, from the scientific and technical point of view. This observational system provides temperature measurements with vertical spatial resolution comparable to that of microstructure profilers, but in comparison to ship-borne systems it offers some distinctive features: providing instantaneous measurements throughout the mooring, observations of waves and overturning structures are not influenced by the time delay between measurements at different depths; the very low noise level and high precision enables the study of the deep, weakly stratified ocean; by using a heavy ballast at the bottom and a high net buoyancy at the top of the mooring, Eulerian measurements are effectively obtained; continuous, high sampling rate Eulerian measurements enable to assess the intermittent, sporadic nature of turbulence and wave activity in the ocean; the large range of time scales included in the observations (100 - 106 s) allows to study a large portion of the turbulence inertial range, the full internal wave

  17. High-resolution FISH on super-stretched flow-sorted plant chromosomes.

    PubMed

    Valárik, M; Bartos, J; Kovárová, P; Kubaláková, M; de Jong, J H; Dolezel, J

    2004-03-01

    A novel high-resolution fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) strategy, using super-stretched flow-sorted plant chromosomes as targets, is described. The technique that allows longitudinal extension of chromosomes of more than 100 times their original metaphase size is especially attractive for plant species with large chromosomes, whose pachytene chromosomes are generally too long and heterochromatin patterns too complex for FISH analysis. The protocol involves flow cytometric sorting of metaphase chromosomes, mild proteinase-K digestion of air-dried chromosomes on microscopic slides, followed by stretching with ethanol:acetic acid (3 : 1). Stretching ratios were assessed in a number of FISH experiments with super-stretched chromosomes from barley, wheat, rye and chickpea, hybridised with 45S and 5S ribosomal DNAs and the [GAA]n microsatellite, the [TTTAGGG]n telomeric repeat and a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone as probes. FISH signals on stretched chromosomes were brighter than those on the untreated control, resulting from better accessibility of the stretched chromatin and maximum observed sensitivity of 1 kbp. Spatial resolution of neighbouring loci was improved down to 70 kbp as compared to 5-10 Mbp after FISH on mitotic chromosomes, revealing details of adjacent DNA sequences hitherto not obtained with any other method. Stretched chromosomes are advantageous over extended DNA fibres from interphase nuclei as targets for FISH studies because they still retain chromosomal integrity. Although the method is confined to species for which chromosome flow sorting has been developed, it provides a unique system for controlling stretching degree of mitotic chromosomes and high-resolution bar-code FISH.

  18. Statistical Analyses of High-Resolution Aircraft and Satellite Observations of Sea Ice: Applications for Improving Model Simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Farrell, S. L.; Kurtz, N. T.; Richter-Menge, J.; Harbeck, J. P.; Onana, V.

    2012-12-01

    Satellite-derived estimates of ice thickness and observations of ice extent over the last decade point to a downward trend in the basin-scale ice volume of the Arctic Ocean. This loss has broad-ranging impacts on the regional climate and ecosystems, as well as implications for regional infrastructure, marine navigation, national security, and resource exploration. New observational datasets at small spatial and temporal scales are now required to improve our understanding of physical processes occurring within the ice pack and advance parameterizations in the next generation of numerical sea-ice models. High-resolution airborne and satellite observations of the sea ice are now available at meter-scale resolution or better that provide new details on the properties and morphology of the ice pack across basin scales. For example the NASA IceBridge airborne campaign routinely surveys the sea ice of the Arctic and Southern Oceans with an advanced sensor suite including laser and radar altimeters and digital cameras that together provide high-resolution measurements of sea ice freeboard, thickness, snow depth and lead distribution. Here we present statistical analyses of the ice pack primarily derived from the following IceBridge instruments: the Digital Mapping System (DMS), a nadir-looking, high-resolution digital camera; the Airborne Topographic Mapper, a scanning lidar; and the University of Kansas snow radar, a novel instrument designed to estimate snow depth on sea ice. Together these instruments provide data from which a wide range of sea ice properties may be derived. We provide statistics on lead distribution and spacing, lead width and area, floe size and distance between floes, as well as ridge height, frequency and distribution. The goals of this study are to (i) identify unique statistics that can be used to describe the characteristics of specific ice regions, for example first-year/multi-year ice, diffuse ice edge/consolidated ice pack, and convergent

  19. Ship detection from high-resolution imagery based on land masking and cloud filtering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jin, Tianming; Zhang, Junping

    2015-12-01

    High resolution satellite images play an important role in target detection application presently. This article focuses on the ship target detection from the high resolution panchromatic images. Taking advantage of geographic information such as the coastline vector data provided by NOAA Medium Resolution Coastline program, the land region is masked which is a main noise source in ship detection process. After that, the algorithm tries to deal with the cloud noise which appears frequently in the ocean satellite images, which is another reason for false alarm. Based on the analysis of cloud noise's feature in frequency domain, we introduce a windowed noise filter to get rid of the cloud noise. With the help of morphological processing algorithms adapted to target detection, we are able to acquire ship targets in fine shapes. In addition, we display the extracted information such as length and width of ship targets in a user-friendly way i.e. a KML file interpreted by Google Earth.

  20. First results from the faint object camera - High-resolution observations of the central object R136 in the 30 Doradus nebula

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Weigelt, G.; Albrecht, R.; Barbieri, C.; Blades, J. C.; Boksenberg, A.; Crane, P.; Deharveng, J. M.; Disney, M. J.; Jakobsen, P.; Kamperman, T. M.

    1991-01-01

    R136 is the luminous central object of the giant H II region 30 Doradus in the LMC. The first high-resolution observations of R136 with the Faint Object Camera on board the Hubble Space Telescope are reported. The physical nature of the brightest component R136a has been a matter of some controversy over the last few years. The UV images obtained show that R136a is a very compact star cluster consisting of more than eight stars within 0.7 arcsec diameter. From these high-resolution images a mass upper limit can be derived for the most luminous stars observed in R136.

  1. High-resolution Observations of Hα Spectra with a Subtractive Double Pass

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beck, C.; Rezaei, R.; Choudhary, D. P.; Gosain, S.; Tritschler, A.; Louis, R. E.

    2018-02-01

    High-resolution imaging spectroscopy in solar physics has relied on Fabry-Pérot interferometers (FPIs) in recent years. FPI systems, however, become technically challenging and expensive for telescopes larger than the 1 m class. A conventional slit spectrograph with a diffraction-limited performance over a large field of view (FOV) can be built at much lower cost and effort. It can be converted into an imaging spectro(polari)meter using the concept of a subtractive double pass (SDP). We demonstrate that an SDP system can reach a similar performance as FPI-based systems with a high spatial and moderate spectral resolution across a FOV of 100^'' ×100^' ' with a spectral coverage of 1 nm. We use Hα spectra taken with an SDP system at the Dunn Solar Telescope and complementary full-disc data to infer the properties of small-scale superpenumbral filaments. We find that the majority of all filaments end in patches of opposite-polarity fields. The internal fine-structure in the line-core intensity of Hα at spatial scales of about 0.5'' exceeds that in other parameters such as the line width, indicating small-scale opacity effects in a larger-scale structure with common properties. We conclude that SDP systems in combination with (multi-conjugate) adaptive optics are a valid alternative to FPI systems when high spatial resolution and a large FOV are required. They can also reach a cadence that is comparable to that of FPI systems, while providing a much larger spectral range and a simultaneous multi-line capability.

  2. Ultra-high resolution computed tomography imaging

    DOEpatents

    Paulus, Michael J.; Sari-Sarraf, Hamed; Tobin, Jr., Kenneth William; Gleason, Shaun S.; Thomas, Jr., Clarence E.

    2002-01-01

    A method for ultra-high resolution computed tomography imaging, comprising the steps of: focusing a high energy particle beam, for example x-rays or gamma-rays, onto a target object; acquiring a 2-dimensional projection data set representative of the target object; generating a corrected projection data set by applying a deconvolution algorithm, having an experimentally determined a transfer function, to the 2-dimensional data set; storing the corrected projection data set; incrementally rotating the target object through an angle of approximately 180.degree., and after each the incremental rotation, repeating the radiating, acquiring, generating and storing steps; and, after the rotating step, applying a cone-beam algorithm, for example a modified tomographic reconstruction algorithm, to the corrected projection data sets to generate a 3-dimensional image. The size of the spot focus of the beam is reduced to not greater than approximately 1 micron, and even to not greater than approximately 0.5 microns.

  3. HST/FGS High Angular Resolution Observations of Binary Asteroids

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hestroffer, Daniel; Tanga, P.; Cellino, A.; Kaasalainen, M.; Torppa, J.; Marchis, F.; Richardson, D. C.; Elankumaran, P.; Berthier, J.; Colas, F.; Lounis, S.

    2006-09-01

    Binary or multiple asteroids are important bodies that provide insight into the physical properties of asteroids in general. The knowledge of the components orbit in a binary provides the total mass with high accuracy and generally permits a rough bulk-density estimate [1,2]. We have observed 10 selected binary or multiple asteroids (22 Kalliope, 45 Eugenia, 87 Sylvia, 90 Antiope, 107 Camilla, 121 Hermione, 283 Emma, 379 Huenna, 617 Patroclus, 762 Pulcova) with the HST/FGS interferometer in order to obtain high resolution data on the size and shape of their primaries (HST proposal ID 10614). All these systems except the Jupiter Trojan 617 Patroclus are located in the main-belt of asteroids. Combining these HST/FGS data to topographic models obtained from lightcurve inversion [3,4] yields the volume and hence the bulk density of these bodies with unprecedented accuracy [5]. This work will allow us to obtain important information on their internal structure, and insight into the possible gravitational re-accumulation process after a catastrophic disruptive collision [e.g. 6,7,8].In particular, one can see whether or not the surfaces of theses bodies closely follow an effective equipotential surface, and under what circumstances such a correspondence is or is not attained . We will present the preliminary results for the data reduction and the size and bulk density determination. [1] Merline et al. (2003). In: Asteroids III, pp 289. [2] Marchis et al. (2005) ACM 2005, Buzios, Brazil. [3] Kaasalainen et al. (2002) Icarus 159, 359. [4] Torppa et al. (2003) Icarus 164, 346. [5] Hestroffer et al. (2003) ACM 2002, ESA-SP 500, 493. [6] Michel et al. (2004) P&SS 52, 1109. [7] Durda et al. (2004) Icarus 167, 342. [8] Paolicchi et al. (1993) Cel. Mech., 57, 49.

  4. Ultra-High Resolution Observations Of Selected Blazars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hodgson, Jeffrey A.

    2015-01-01

    (VLBA), γ-ray light curves from the Fermi/LAT space telescope and cm to mm-wave total-intensity light curves. In one source, OJ 287, the source has additionally been analysed with monthly imaging at 7 mm with the VLBA and near-in-time 2 cm VLBI maps. We use these resources to analyse high angular resolution structural and spectral changes and see if they correlate with flaring (both radio and γ-ray) activity and with VLBI component ejections. By spectrally decomposing sources, we can determine the spatially resolved magnetic field structure in the jets at the highest yet performed resolutions and at frequencies that are near or above the turnover frequency for synchrotron self-absorption (SSA). We compute the magnetic field estimates from SSA theory and by assuming equipartition between magnetic fields and relativistic particle energies. All sources analysed exhibit downstream quasi-stationary features which sometimes exhibit higher brightness temperatures and flux density variability than the VLBI "core", which we interpret as being recollimation or oblique shocks. We find that γ-ray flaring, mm-wave radio flaring and changes in opacity from optically thick to optically thin, is in many cases consistent with component ejections past both the VLBI "core" and these quasi-stationary downstream features. We find decreasing apparent brightness temperatures and Doppler factors as a function of increased "core" separation, which is interpreted as consistent with a slowly accelerating jet over the de-projected inner ˜10-20 pc. Assuming equipartition between magnetic energy and relativistic particle energy, the magnetic field strengths within the jets at these scales are, on average, between B ˜ 0.3 - 0.9 G, with the highest strengths found within the VLBI "core". From the observed gradient in magnetic field strengths, we can place the mmwave "core" ˜1-3 pc downstream of the base of the jet. Additionally, we estimate the the magnetic field is Bapex ˜ 3000 - 18000 G at

  5. MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE): Polar Science Expectations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    McEwen, A.; Herkenhoff, K.; Hansen, C.; Bridges, N.; Delamere, W. A.; Eliason, E.; Grant, J.; Gulick, V.; Keszthelyi, L.; Kirk, R.

    2003-01-01

    The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is expected to launch in August 2005, arrive at Mars in March 2006, and begin the primary science phase in November 2006. MRO will carry a suite of remote-sensing instruments and is designed to routinely point off-nadir to precisely target locations on Mars for high-resolution observations. The mission will have a much higher data return than any previous planetary mission, with 34 Tbits of returned data expected in the first Mars year in the mapping orbit (255 x 320 km). The HiRISE camera features a 0.5 m telescope, 12 m focal length, and 14 CCDs. We expect to acquire approximately 10,000 observations in the primary science phase (approximately 1 Mars year), including approximately 2,000 images for 1,000 stereo targets. Each observation will be accompanied by a approximately 6 m/pixel image over a 30 x 45 km region acquired by MRO s context imager. Many HiRISE images will be full resolution in the center portion of the swath width and binned (typically 4x4) on the sides. This provides two levels of context, so we step out from 0.3 m/pixel to 1.2 m/pixel to 6 m/pixel (at 300 km altitude). We expect to cover approximately 1% of Mars at better than 1.2 m/pixel, approximately 0.1% at 0.3 m/pixel, approximately 0.1% in 3 colors, and approximately 0.05% in stereo. Our major challenge is to find the dey contacts, exposures and type morphologies to observe.

  6. Non-Cooperative Target Recognition by Means of Singular Value Decomposition Applied to Radar High Resolution Range Profiles †

    PubMed Central

    López-Rodríguez, Patricia; Escot-Bocanegra, David; Fernández-Recio, Raúl; Bravo, Ignacio

    2015-01-01

    Radar high resolution range profiles are widely used among the target recognition community for the detection and identification of flying targets. In this paper, singular value decomposition is applied to extract the relevant information and to model each aircraft as a subspace. The identification algorithm is based on angle between subspaces and takes place in a transformed domain. In order to have a wide database of radar signatures and evaluate the performance, simulated range profiles are used as the recognition database while the test samples comprise data of actual range profiles collected in a measurement campaign. Thanks to the modeling of aircraft as subspaces only the valuable information of each target is used in the recognition process. Thus, one of the main advantages of using singular value decomposition, is that it helps to overcome the notable dissimilarities found in the shape and signal-to-noise ratio between actual and simulated profiles due to their difference in nature. Despite these differences, the recognition rates obtained with the algorithm are quite promising. PMID:25551484

  7. Combination of AUV high resolution mapping and submersible visual observations on the Guaymas Hydrothermal Fields (Southern Trough Ridge)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ondreas, H.; Fouquet, Y.; Normand, A.; Rouxel, O.; Godfroy, A.

    2011-12-01

    The BIG cruise -leg I- was carried out on the Guaymas basin in June 2010 on board the French research vessel L'Atalante. An AUV high-resolution survey was made on the southern trough ridge to gather fine-scale bathymetry and acoustic imagery data. The results of the high resolution survey were used, the next days, to explore the vent's area during several Nautile dives. The southern trough hydrothermal fields of the Guaymas basin have often been studied. However, the local geological context was not really well-defined. During the AUV surveys, maps at 70 m above the seafloor were done over the hydrothermal area. The data were gridded at 2 m spacing. During the same cruise, Nautile dives help us to compare the field observations and the geological features revealed by the high resolution mapping and to investigate the fine-scale relationships between the vents and their geological environment. Integration of these data is made easier by the use of the GIS software technology. It helps us perpetuate data, undertake comparisons, combine different types of data, realize fine-scale geological mapping. Even if some problems are recurrent (precision of positioning, integration of old data...), such combinations of high resolution mapping and visual observations and sampling have changed our vision of hydrothermal geological context. In the Guaymas sedimented spreading axis, our new data show that major hydrothermal sites, in the south part of the southern trough only, are located inside or at the border of 100 to 250 m long, 60 to 150 m wide, 6 to 12 m deep small collapsed sub-circular depressions. The direction of the collapse is variable. Curved faults at the outer border of these depressions control the largest and mature edifices. Smaller, possibly younger, immature chimneys are located at the centre of some depressions. The mature hydrothermal structures appear as mounds up to 80 m in diameter, 20 m in high, each hydrothermal edifice being very-well identified on the

  8. Lineshape spectroscopy with a very high resolution, very high signal-to-noise crystal spectrometer

    DOE PAGES

    Beiersdorfer, P.; Magee, E. W.; Brown, G. V.; ...

    2016-06-06

    Here, we have developed a high-resolution x-ray spectrometer for measuring the shapes of spectral lines produced from laser-irradiated targets on the Orion laser facility. The instrument utilizes a spherically bent crystal geometry to spatially focus and spectrally analyze photons from foil or microdot targets. The high photon collection efficiency resulting from its imaging properties allows the instrument to be mounted outside the Orion chamber, where it is far less sensitive to particles, hard x-rays, or electromagnetic pulses than instruments housed close to the target chamber center in ten-inch manipulators. Moreover, Bragg angles above 50° are possible, which provide greatly improvedmore » spectral resolution compared to radially viewing, near grazing-incidence crystal spectrometers. These properties make the new instrument an ideal lineshape diagnostic for determining plasma temperature and density. We describe its calibration on the Livermore electron beam ion trap facility and present spectral data of the K-shell emission from highly charged sulfur produced by long-pulse as well as short-pulse beams on the Orion laser in the United Kingdom.« less

  9. Lineshape spectroscopy with a very high resolution, very high signal-to-noise crystal spectrometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beiersdorfer, P.; Magee, E. W.; Brown, G. V.; Chen, H.; Emig, J.; Hell, N.; Bitter, M.; Hill, K. W.; Allan, P.; Brown, C. R. D.; Hill, M. P.; Hoarty, D. J.; Hobbs, L. M. R.; James, S. F.

    2016-06-01

    We have developed a high-resolution x-ray spectrometer for measuring the shapes of spectral lines produced from laser-irradiated targets on the Orion laser facility. The instrument utilizes a spherically bent crystal geometry to spatially focus and spectrally analyze photons from foil or microdot targets. The high photon collection efficiency resulting from its imaging properties allows the instrument to be mounted outside the Orion chamber, where it is far less sensitive to particles, hard x-rays, or electromagnetic pulses than instruments housed close to the target chamber center in ten-inch manipulators. Moreover, Bragg angles above 50° are possible, which provide greatly improved spectral resolution compared to radially viewing, near grazing-incidence crystal spectrometers. These properties make the new instrument an ideal lineshape diagnostic for determining plasma temperature and density. We describe its calibration on the Livermore electron beam ion trap facility and present spectral data of the K-shell emission from highly charged sulfur produced by long-pulse as well as short-pulse beams on the Orion laser in the United Kingdom.

  10. Lineshape spectroscopy with a very high resolution, very high signal-to-noise crystal spectrometer

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Beiersdorfer, P.; Magee, E. W.; Brown, G. V.

    2016-06-15

    We have developed a high-resolution x-ray spectrometer for measuring the shapes of spectral lines produced from laser-irradiated targets on the Orion laser facility. The instrument utilizes a spherically bent crystal geometry to spatially focus and spectrally analyze photons from foil or microdot targets. The high photon collection efficiency resulting from its imaging properties allows the instrument to be mounted outside the Orion chamber, where it is far less sensitive to particles, hard x-rays, or electromagnetic pulses than instruments housed close to the target chamber center in ten-inch manipulators. Moreover, Bragg angles above 50° are possible, which provide greatly improved spectralmore » resolution compared to radially viewing, near grazing-incidence crystal spectrometers. These properties make the new instrument an ideal lineshape diagnostic for determining plasma temperature and density. We describe its calibration on the Livermore electron beam ion trap facility and present spectral data of the K-shell emission from highly charged sulfur produced by long-pulse as well as short-pulse beams on the Orion laser in the United Kingdom.« less

  11. Gravitational Microlensing Observations of Two New Exoplanets Using the Deep Impact High Resolution Instrument

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barry, Richard K.; Bennett, D. P.; Klaasen, K.; Becker, A. C.; Christiansen, J.; Albrow, M.

    2014-01-01

    We have worked to characterize two exoplanets newly detected from the ground: OGLE-2012-BLG-0406 and OGLE-2012-BLG-0838, using microlensing observations of the Galactic Bulge recently obtained by NASA’s Deep Impact (DI) spacecraft, in combination with ground data. These observations of the crowded Bulge fields from Earth and from an observatory at a distance of ~1 AU have permitted the extraction of a microlensing parallax signature - critical for breaking exoplanet model degeneracies. For this effort, we used DI’s High Resolution Instrument, launched with a permanent defocus aberration due to an error in cryogenic testing. We show how the effects of a very large, chromatic PSF can be reduced in differencing photometry. We also compare two approaches to differencing photometry - one of which employs the Bramich algorithm and another using the Fruchter & Hook drizzle algorithm.

  12. Potential for added value in precipitation simulated by high-resolution nested Regional Climate Models and observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    di Luca, Alejandro; de Elía, Ramón; Laprise, René

    2012-03-01

    Regional Climate Models (RCMs) constitute the most often used method to perform affordable high-resolution regional climate simulations. The key issue in the evaluation of nested regional models is to determine whether RCM simulations improve the representation of climatic statistics compared to the driving data, that is, whether RCMs add value. In this study we examine a necessary condition that some climate statistics derived from the precipitation field must satisfy in order that the RCM technique can generate some added value: we focus on whether the climate statistics of interest contain some fine spatial-scale variability that would be absent on a coarser grid. The presence and magnitude of fine-scale precipitation variance required to adequately describe a given climate statistics will then be used to quantify the potential added value (PAV) of RCMs. Our results show that the PAV of RCMs is much higher for short temporal scales (e.g., 3-hourly data) than for long temporal scales (16-day average data) due to the filtering resulting from the time-averaging process. PAV is higher in warm season compared to cold season due to the higher proportion of precipitation falling from small-scale weather systems in the warm season. In regions of complex topography, the orographic forcing induces an extra component of PAV, no matter the season or the temporal scale considered. The PAV is also estimated using high-resolution datasets based on observations allowing the evaluation of the sensitivity of changing resolution in the real climate system. The results show that RCMs tend to reproduce relatively well the PAV compared to observations although showing an overestimation of the PAV in warm season and mountainous regions.

  13. Four-arm variable-resolution x-ray detector for CT target imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    DiBianca, Frank A.; Gulabani, Daya; Jordan, Lawrence M.; Vangala, Sravanthi; Rendon, David; Laughter, Joseph S.; Melnyk, Roman; Gaber, M. W.; Keyes, Gary S.

    2005-04-01

    The basic VRX technique boosts spatial resolution of a CT scanner in the scan plane by two or more orders of magnitude by reducing the angle of incidence of the x-ray beam with respect to the detector surface. A four-arm Variable-Resolution X-ray (VRX) detector has been developed for CT scanning. The detector allows for "target imaging" in which an area of interest is scanned at higher resolution than the remainder of the subject, yielding even higher resolution for the focal area than that obtained from the basic VRX technique. The new VRX-CT detector comprises four quasi-identical arms each containing six 24-cell modules (576 cells total). The modules are made of individual custom CdWO4 scintillators optically-coupled to custom photodiode arrays. The maximum scan field is 40 cm for a magnification of 1.4. A significant advantage of the four-arm geometry is that it can transform quickly to the two-arm, or even the single-arm geometry, for comparison studies. These simpler geometries have already been shown experimentally to yield in-plane CT detector resolution exceeding 60 cy/mm (<8μ) for small fields of view. Geometrical size and resolution limits of the target VRX field are calculated. Two-arm VRX-CT data are used to simulate and establish the feasibility of VRX CT target imaging. A prototype target VRX-CT scanner has been built and is undergoing initial testing.

  14. A Compact Airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar for Observations of Aerosol and Cloud Optical Properties

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hostetler, Chris A.; Hair, John W.; Cook, Anthony L.

    2002-01-01

    We are in the process of developing a nadir-viewing, aircraft-based high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) at NASA Langley Research Center. The system is designed to measure backscatter and extinction of aerosols and tenuous clouds. The primary uses of the instrument will be to validate spaceborne aerosol and cloud observations, carry out regional process studies, and assess the predictions of chemical transport models. In this paper, we provide an overview of the instrument design and present the results of simulations showing the instrument's capability to accurately measure extinction and extinction-to-backscatter ratio.

  15. High resolution telescope and spectrograph observations of solar fine structure in the 1600 A region

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cook, J. W.; Brueckner, G. E.; Bartoe, J.-D. F.

    1983-01-01

    High spatial resolution spectroheliograms of the 1600 A region obtained during the HRTS rocket flight of 1978 February 13 are presented. The morphology, fine structure, and temporal behavior of emission bright points (BPs) in active and quiet regions are illustrated. In quiet regions, network elements persist as morphological units, although individual BPs may vary in intensity while usually lasting the flight duration. In cell centers, the BPs are highly variable on a 1 minute time scale. BPs in plages remain more constant in brightness over the observing sequence. BPs cover less than 4 percent of the quiet surface. The lifetime and degree of packing of BPs vary with the local strength of the magnetic field.

  16. Very high resolution observations of waves in the OH airglow at low latitudes.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Franzen, Christoph; Espy, Patrick J.; Hibbins, Robert E.; Djupvik, Amanda A.

    2017-04-01

    Vibrationally excited hydroxyl (OH) is produced in the mesosphere by the reaction of atomic hydrogen and ozone. This excited OH radiates a strong, near-infrared airglow emission in a thin ( 8 km thick) layer near 87 km. In the past, remote sensing of perturbations in the OH Meinel airglow has often been used to observe gravity, tidal and planetary waves travelling through this region. However, information on the highest frequency gravity waves is often limited by the temporal and spatial resolution of the available observations. In an effort to expand the wave scales present near the mesopause, we present a series of observations of the OH Meinel (9,7) transition that were executed with the Nordic Optical Telescope on La Palma (18°W, 29°N). These measurements are taken with a 10 s integration time (24 s repetition rate), and the spatial resolution at 87 km is as small as 10 m, allowing us to quantify the transition between the gravity and acoustic wave domains in the mesosphere.

  17. High Resolution CryoFESEM of Microbial Surfaces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Erlandsen, Stanley; Lei, Ming; Martin-Lacave, Ines; Dunny, Gary; Wells, Carol

    2003-08-01

    The outer surfaces of three microorganisms, Giardia lamblia, Enterococcus faecalis, and Proteus mirabilis, were investigated by cryo-immobilization followed by sublimation of extracellular ice and cryocoating with either Pt alone or Pt plus carbon. Cryocoated samples were examined at [minus sign]125°C in either an in-lens field emission SEM or a below-the-lens field emission SEM. Cryocoating with Pt alone was sufficient for low magnification observation, but attempts to do high-resolution imaging resulted in radiolysis and cracking of the specimen surface. Double coating with Pt and carbon, in combination with high resolution backscatter electron detectors, enabled high-resolution imaging of the glycocalyx of bacteria, revealing a sponge-like network over the surface. High resolution examination of bacterial flagella also revealed a periodic substructure. Common artifacts included radiolysis leading to “cracking” of the surface, and insufficient deposition of Pt resulting in the absence of detectable surface topography.

  18. North American vegetation patterns observed with the NOAA-7 advanced very high resolution radiometer. [North America

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goward, S. N.; Tucker, C. J.; Dye, D. G.

    1985-01-01

    Spectral vegetation index measurements derived from remotely sensed observations show great promise as a means to improve knowledge of land vegetation patterns. The daily, global observations acquired by the advanced very high resolution radiometer, a sensor on the current series of U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorological satellites, may be particularly well suited for global studies of vegetation. Preliminary results from analysis of North American observations, extending from April to November 1982, show that the vegetation index patterns observed correspond to the known seasonality of North American natural and cultivated vegetation. Integration of the observations over the growing season produced measurements that are related to net primary productivity patterns of the major North American natural vegetation formations. Regions of intense cultivation were observed as anomalous areas in the integrated growing season measurements. Significant information on seasonality, annual extent and interannual variability of vegetation photosynthetic activity at continental and global scales can be derived from these satellite observations.

  19. PUCHEROS: a cost-effective solution for high-resolution spectroscopy with small telescopes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vanzi, L.; Chacon, J.; Helminiak, K. G.; Baffico, M.; Rivinius, T.; Štefl, S.; Baade, D.; Avila, G.; Guirao, C.

    2012-08-01

    We present PUCHEROS, the high-resolution echelle spectrograph, developed at the Center of Astro-Engineering of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile to provide an effective tool for research and teaching of astronomy. The instrument is fed by a single-channel optical fibre and it covers the visible range from 390 to 730 nm in one shot, reaching a spectral resolution of about 20 000. In the era of extremely large telescopes our instrument aims to exploit the capabilities offered by small telescopes in a cost-effective way, covering the observing needs of a community of astronomers, in Chile and elsewhere, which do not necessarily need large collecting areas for their research. In particular the instrument is well suited for long-term spectroscopic monitoring of bright variable and transient targets down to a V magnitude of about 10. We describe the instrument and present a number of text case examples of observations obtained during commissioning and early science.

  20. High-resolution monitoring of marine protists based on an observation strategy integrating automated on-board filtration and molecular analyses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Metfies, Katja; Schroeder, Friedhelm; Hessel, Johanna; Wollschläger, Jochen; Micheller, Sebastian; Wolf, Christian; Kilias, Estelle; Sprong, Pim; Neuhaus, Stefan; Frickenhaus, Stephan; Petersen, Wilhelm

    2016-11-01

    Information on recent biomass distribution and biogeography of photosynthetic marine protists with adequate temporal and spatial resolution is urgently needed to better understand the consequences of environmental change for marine ecosystems. Here we introduce and review a molecular-based observation strategy for high-resolution assessment of these protists in space and time. It is the result of extensive technology developments, adaptations and evaluations which are documented in a number of different publications, and the results of the recently completed field testing which are introduced in this paper. The observation strategy is organized at four different levels. At level 1, samples are collected at high spatiotemporal resolution using the remotely controlled automated filtration system AUTOFIM. Resulting samples can either be preserved for later laboratory analyses, or directly subjected to molecular surveillance of key species aboard the ship via an automated biosensor system or quantitative polymerase chain reaction (level 2). Preserved samples are analyzed at the next observational levels in the laboratory (levels 3 and 4). At level 3 this involves molecular fingerprinting methods for a quick and reliable overview of differences in protist community composition. Finally, selected samples can be used to generate a detailed analysis of taxonomic protist composition via the latest next generation sequencing technology (NGS) at level 4. An overall integrated dataset of the results based on the different analyses provides comprehensive information on the diversity and biogeography of protists, including all related size classes. At the same time the cost of the observation is optimized with respect to analysis effort and time.

  1. High resolution near-bed observations in winter near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Martini, Marinna A.; Armstrong, Brandy N.; Warner, John C.

    2010-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, is leading an effort to understand the regional sediment dynamics along the coastline of North and South Carolina. As part of the Carolinas Coastal Change Processes Project, a geologic framework study in June of 2008 by the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center's Sea Floor Mapping Group focused on the seaward limit of Diamond Shoals and provided high resolution bathymetric data, surficial sediment characteristics, and subsurface geologic stratigraphy. These data also provided unprecedented guidance to identify deployment locations for tripods and moorings to investigate the processes that control sediment transport at Diamond Shoals. Equipment was deployed at three sites from early January, 2009 through early May, 2009: north and south of the shoals at 15 m depth, and at the tip at 24 m depth. Many strong storm systems were recorded during that time period. Mounted on the tripods were instruments to measure surface waves, pressure, current velocity, bottom turbulence, suspended-sediment profiles, and sea-floor sand-ripple bedforms. Many instruments were designed and programmed to sample in high resolution in time and space, as fast as 8 Hz hourly bursts and as small as 6 cm bin sizes in near bottom profiles. A second tripod at the north site also held a visual camera system and sonar imaging system which document seafloor bedforms. The region is known for its dynamics, and one of the tripods tipped over towards the end of the experiment. A preliminary look at the data suggests the region is characterized by high energy. Raw data from a burst recorded at the south site on Mar. 26th show instantaneous flow speed at 150 cm/s at 0.5 m above the seabed. This paper reports preliminary highlights of the observations, based on raw data, and lessons learned from a deployment of large tripod systems in such a dynamic location.

  2. High resolution near-bed observations in winter near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Martini, M.; Armstrong, B.; Warner, J.C.

    2009-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, is leading an effort to understand the regional sediment dynamics along the coastline of North and South Carolina. As part of the Carolinas Coastal Change Processes Project, a geologic framework study in June of 2008 by the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center's Sea Floor Mapping Group focused on the seaward limit of Diamond Shoals and provided high resolution bathymetric data, surficial sediment characteristics, and subsurface geologic stratigraphy. These data also provided unprecedented guidance to identify deployment locations for tripods and moorings to investigate the processes that control sediment transport at Diamond Shoals. Equipment was deployed at three sites from early January, 2009 through early May, 2009: north and south of the shoals at 15 m depth, and at the tip at 24 m depth. Many strong storm systems were recorded during that time period. Mounted on the tripods were instruments to measure surface waves, pressure, current velocity, bottom turbulence, suspended-sediment profiles, and sea-floor sand-ripple bedforms. Many instruments were designed and programmed to sample in high resolution in time and space, as fast as 8 Hz hourly bursts and as small as 6 cm bin sizes in near bottom profiles. A second tripod at the north site also held a visual camera system and sonar imaging system which document seafloor bedforms. The region is known for its dynamics, and one of the tripods tipped over towards the end of the experiment. A preliminary look at the data suggests the region is characterized by high energy. Raw data from a burst recorded at the south site on Mar. 26th show instantaneous flow speed at 150 cm/s at 0.5 m above the seabed. This paper reports preliminary highlights of the observations, based on raw data, and lessons learned from a deployment of large tripod systems in such a dynamic location. ??2009 MTS.

  3. ISED: Constructing a high-resolution elevation road dataset from massive, low-quality in-situ observations derived from geosocial fitness tracking data.

    PubMed

    McKenzie, Grant; Janowicz, Krzysztof

    2017-01-01

    Gaining access to inexpensive, high-resolution, up-to-date, three-dimensional road network data is a top priority beyond research, as such data would fuel applications in industry, governments, and the broader public alike. Road network data are openly available via user-generated content such as OpenStreetMap (OSM) but lack the resolution required for many tasks, e.g., emergency management. More importantly, however, few publicly available data offer information on elevation and slope. For most parts of the world, up-to-date digital elevation products with a resolution of less than 10 meters are a distant dream and, if available, those datasets have to be matched to the road network through an error-prone process. In this paper we present a radically different approach by deriving road network elevation data from massive amounts of in-situ observations extracted from user-contributed data from an online social fitness tracking application. While each individual observation may be of low-quality in terms of resolution and accuracy, taken together they form an accurate, high-resolution, up-to-date, three-dimensional road network that excels where other technologies such as LiDAR fail, e.g., in case of overpasses, overhangs, and so forth. In fact, the 1m spatial resolution dataset created in this research based on 350 million individual 3D location fixes has an RMSE of approximately 3.11m compared to a LiDAR-based ground-truth and can be used to enhance existing road network datasets where individual elevation fixes differ by up to 60m. In contrast, using interpolated data from the National Elevation Dataset (NED) results in 4.75m RMSE compared to the base line. We utilize Linked Data technologies to integrate the proposed high-resolution dataset with OpenStreetMap road geometries without requiring any changes to the OSM data model.

  4. Calibration of Herschel SPIRE FTS observations at different spectral resolutions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marchili, N.; Hopwood, R.; Fulton, T.; Polehampton, E. T.; Valtchanov, I.; Zaretski, J.; Naylor, D. A.; Griffin, M. J.; Imhof, P.; Lim, T.; Lu, N.; Makiwa, G.; Pearson, C.; Spencer, L.

    2017-01-01

    The SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer on-board the Herschel Space Observatory had two standard spectral resolution modes for science observations: high resolution (HR) and low resolution (LR), which could also be performed in sequence (H+LR). A comparison of the HR and LR resolution spectra taken in this sequential mode revealed a systematic discrepancy in the continuum level. Analysing the data at different stages during standard pipeline processing demonstrates that the telescope and instrument emission affect HR and H+LR observations in a systematically different way. The origin of this difference is found to lie in the variation of both the telescope and instrument response functions, while it is triggered by fast variation of the instrument temperatures. As it is not possible to trace the evolution of the response functions using housekeeping data from the instrument subsystems, the calibration cannot be corrected analytically. Therefore, an empirical correction for LR spectra has been developed, which removes the systematic noise introduced by the variation of the response functions.

  5. Merging thermal and microwave satellite observations for a high-resolution soil moisture data product

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Many societal applications of soil moisture data products require high spatial resolution and numerical accuracy. Current thermal geostationary satellite sensors (GOES Imager and GOES-R ABI) could produce 2-16km resolution soil moisture proxy data. Passive microwave satellite radiometers (e.g. AMSR...

  6. High-Resolution Audio with Inaudible High-Frequency Components Induces a Relaxed Attentional State without Conscious Awareness.

    PubMed

    Kuribayashi, Ryuma; Nittono, Hiroshi

    2017-01-01

    High-resolution audio has a higher sampling frequency and a greater bit depth than conventional low-resolution audio such as compact disks. The higher sampling frequency enables inaudible sound components (above 20 kHz) that are cut off in low-resolution audio to be reproduced. Previous studies of high-resolution audio have mainly focused on the effect of such high-frequency components. It is known that alpha-band power in a human electroencephalogram (EEG) is larger when the inaudible high-frequency components are present than when they are absent. Traditionally, alpha-band EEG activity has been associated with arousal level. However, no previous studies have explored whether sound sources with high-frequency components affect the arousal level of listeners. The present study examined this possibility by having 22 participants listen to two types of a 400-s musical excerpt of French Suite No. 5 by J. S. Bach (on cembalo, 24-bit quantization, 192 kHz A/D sampling), with or without inaudible high-frequency components, while performing a visual vigilance task. High-alpha (10.5-13 Hz) and low-beta (13-20 Hz) EEG powers were larger for the excerpt with high-frequency components than for the excerpt without them. Reaction times and error rates did not change during the task and were not different between the excerpts. The amplitude of the P3 component elicited by target stimuli in the vigilance task increased in the second half of the listening period for the excerpt with high-frequency components, whereas no such P3 amplitude change was observed for the other excerpt without them. The participants did not distinguish between these excerpts in terms of sound quality. Only a subjective rating of inactive pleasantness after listening was higher for the excerpt with high-frequency components than for the other excerpt. The present study shows that high-resolution audio that retains high-frequency components has an advantage over similar and indistinguishable digital sound

  7. Operation of MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE): Maximizing Science Participation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Eliason, E.; Hansen, C. J.; McEwen, A.; Delamere, W. A.; Bridges, N.; Grant, J.; Gulich, V.; Herkenhoff, K.; Keszthelyi, L.; Kirk, R.

    2003-01-01

    Science return from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) will be optimized by maximizing science participation in the experiment. MRO is expected to arrive at Mars in March 2006, and the primary science phase begins near the end of 2006 after aerobraking (6 months) and a transition phase. The primary science phase lasts for almost 2 Earth years, followed by a 2-year relay phase in which science observations by MRO are expected to continue. We expect to acquire approx. 10,000 images with HiRISE over the course of MRO's two earth-year mission. HiRISE can acquire images with a ground sampling dimension of as little as 30 cm (from a typical altitude of 300 km), in up to 3 colors, and many targets will be re-imaged for stereo. With such high spatial resolution, the percent coverage of Mars will be very limited in spite of the relatively high data rate of MRO (approx. 10x greater than MGS or Odyssey). We expect to cover approx. 1% of Mars at approx. 1m/pixel or better, approx. 0.1% at full resolution, and approx. 0.05% in color or in stereo. Therefore, the placement of each HiRISE image must be carefully considered in order to maximize the scientific return from MRO. We believe that every observation should be the result of a mini research project based on pre-existing datasets. During operations, we will need a large database of carefully researched 'suggested' observations to select from. The HiRISE team is dedicated to involving the broad Mars community in creating this database, to the fullest degree that is both practical and legal. The philosophy of the team and the design of the ground data system are geared to enabling community involvement. A key aspect of this is that image data will be made available to the planetary community for science analysis as quickly as possible to encourage feedback and new ideas for targets.

  8. The silicon drift detector for the IXO high-time resolution spectrometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lechner, Peter; Amoros, Carine; Barret, Didier; Bodin, Pierre; Boutelier, Martin; Eckhardt, Rouven; Fiorini, Carlo; Kendziorra, Eckhard; Lacombe, Karine; Niculae, Adrian; Pouilloux, Benjamin; Pons, Roger; Rambaud, Damien; Ravera, Laurent; Schmid, Christian; Soltau, Heike; Strüder, Lothar; Tenzer, Christoph; Wilms, Jörn

    2010-07-01

    The High Time Resolution Spectrometer (HTRS) is one of six scientific payload instruments of the International X-ray Observatory (IXO). HTRS is dedicated to the physics of matter at extreme density and gravity and will observe the X-rays generated in the inner accretion flows around the most compact massive objects, i.e. black holes and neutron stars. The study of their timing signature and in addition the simultaneous spectroscopy of the gravitationally shifted and broadened iron line allows for probing general relativity in the strong field regime and understanding the inner structure of neutron stars. As the sources to be observed by HTRS are the brightest in the X-ray sky and the studies require good photon statistics the instrument design is driven by the capability to operate at extremely high count rates. The HTRS instrument is based on a monolithic array of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) with 31 cells in a circular envelope and a sensitive volume of 4.5 cm2 × 450 μm. The SDD principle uses fast signal charge collection on an integrated amplifier by a focusing internal electrical field. It combines a large sensitive area and a small capacitance, thus facilitating good energy resolution and high count rate capability. The HTRS is specified to provide energy spectra with a resolution of 150 eV (FWHM at 6 keV) at high time resolution of 10 μsec and with high count rate capability up to a goal of 2.106 counts per second, corresponding to a 12 Crab equivalent source. As the HTRS is a non-imaging instrument and will target only point sources it is placed on axis but out of focus so that the spot is spread over the array of 31 SDD cells. The SDD array is logically organized in four independent 'quadrants', a dedicated 8-channel quadrant readout chip is in development.

  9. Multi-wavelength and High-resolution Observations of Solar Eruptive Activities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shen, Y. D.

    2014-09-01

    In recent years, various solar eruptive activities have been observed in the solar atmosphere, such as solar flares, filament eruptions, jets, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) waves. Previous observations have indicated that solar magnetic field plays a dominant role in the processes of all kinds of solar activities. Since many large-scale solar eruptive activities can cause significant effects on the space environment of the Earth as well as the human life, studying and forecasting the solar activities are urgent tasks for us. In addition, the Sun is the nearest star to the Earth, so that people can directly observe and study it in detail. Hence, studying the Sun can also provide a reference to study other stars in the universe. This thesis focuses on the multi-wavelength and high-resolution observations of three types of solar eruptive activities: filament eruptions, coronal jets, and coronal MHD waves. By analyzing various observations taken by ground-based and space-borne instruments, we try to understand the inherent physical mechanisms, and construct models to interpret different kinds of solar eruptive activities. The triggering mechanism and the cause of a failed filament eruption are studied in Chapter 3, which indicates that the energy released in the flare is a key factor to the fate of the filament. Two successive filament eruptions are studied in Chapter 4, which indicates that the magnetic implosion could be the physical linkage between them, and the structures of coronal magnetic fields are important for producing sympathetic eruptions. A magnetic unwinding jet and a blowout jet are studied in Chapters 5 and 6, respectively. The former exhibits obvious radial expansion, which undergoes three distinct phases: the slow expansion phase, the fast expansion phase, and the steady phase. In addition, calculation indicates that the non-potential magnetic field in the jet can supply sufficient energy for producing the unwinding

  10. High-resolution Observations of Downflows at One End of a Pre-eruption Filament

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Li, Qin; Deng, Na; Jing, Ju

    Studying the dynamics of filaments at the pre-eruption phase can shed light on the precursor of eruptive events. Such high-resolution studies (of the order of 0.″1) are highly desirable yet very rare. In this work, we present a detailed observation of a pre-eruption evolution of a filament obtained by the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope (NST) at the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). One end of the filament is anchored at the sunspot in the NOAA active region (AR) 11515, which is well observed by NST H α off-bands from four hours before to one hour after the filament eruption.more » A M1.6 flare is associated with the eruption. We observed persistent downflowing materials along the H α multi-threaded component of the loop toward the AR end during the pre-eruption phase. We traced the trajectories of plasma blobs along the H α threads and obtained a plane-of-sky velocity of 45 km s{sup −1} on average. Furthermore, we estimated the real velocities of the downflows and the altitude of the filament by matching the observed H α threads with magnetic field lines extrapolated from a nonlinear force-free field model. Observations of chromospheric brightenings at the footpoints of the falling plasma blobs are also presented. The lower limit of the kinetic energy per second of the downflows through the brightenings is found to be ∼10{sup 21} erg. Larger FOV observations from BBSO full-disk H α images show that the AR end of the filament started ascending four hours before the flare. We attribute the observed downflows at the AR end of the filament to the draining effect of the filament rising prior to its eruption. During the slow-rise phase, the downflows continuously drained away ∼10{sup 15}g mass from the filament over a few hours, which is believed to be essential for the instability, and could be an important precursor of eruptive events.« less

  11. High resolution Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) sequencing reveals novel bindings targets and prognostic role for SOX11 in Mantle cell lymphoma

    PubMed Central

    Kuo, Pei-Yu; Leshchenko, Violetta V.; Fazzari, Melissa J.; Perumal, Deepak; Gellen, Tobias; He, Tianfang; Iqbal, Javeed; Baumgartner-Wennerholm, Stefanie; Nygren, Lina; Zhang, Fan; Zhang, Weijia; Suh, K. Stephen; Goy, Andre; Yang, David T.; Chan, Wing-Chung; Kahl, Brad S.; Verma, Amit K.; Gascoyne, Randy D.; Kimby, Eva; Sander, Birgitta; Ye, B. Hilda; Melnick, Ari M.; Parekh, Samir

    2015-01-01

    SOX11 (Sex determining region Y-box 11) expression is specific for MCL as compared to other Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. However, the function and direct binding targets of SOX11 in MCL are largely unknown. We used high-resolution ChIP-Seq to identify the direct target genes of SOX11 in a genome-wide, unbiased manner and elucidate its functional significance. Pathway analysis identified WNT, PKA and TGF-beta signaling pathways as significantly enriched by SOX11 target genes. qCHIP and promoter reporter assays confirmed that SOX11 directly binds to individual genes and modulates their transcription activities in these pathways in MCL. Functional studies using RNA interference demonstrate that SOX11 directly regulates WNT in MCL. We analyzed SOX11 expression in three independent well-annotated tissue microarrays from the University of Wisconsin (UW), Karolinska Institute and British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA). Our findings suggest that high SOX11 expression is associated with improved survival in a subset of MCL patients, particularly those treated with intensive chemotherapy. Transcriptional regulation of WNT and other biological pathways affected by SOX11 target genes may help explain the impact of SOX11 expression on patient outcomes. PMID:24681958

  12. A High-Resolution Study of Quasiperiodic Radio Emissions Observed by the Galileo Plasma Wave Instrument

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Menietti, J. D.; Christopher, I.; Granroth, L. J.

    2001-01-01

    We have conducted a study of quasiperiodic emission observed by the plasma wave instrument on board the Galileo spacecraft. These emissions appear as broadband bursts with dominant periods ranging from 10 min to over 40 min. For these emissions we have explicitly analyzed the high-resolution (waveform) data to determine the presence of impulsive, solitary signatures. Our investigations have indicated that the broadband bursts, as well as the background more narrowband continuum emission, are composed of a highly turbulent spectrum. Within the broadband burst, however, there are higher-frequency components present, but no impulsive electrostatic signatures. Also significantly, the broadband bursts show no low-frequency dispersion. We conclude that the bursts are consistent with a distant, electromagnetic source, probably in the near-Jupiter vicinity.

  13. Observing Campaign for Potential Deep Impact Flyby Target 163249 (2002 GT)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pittichova, Jana; Chesley, S. R.; Abell, P. A.; Benner, L. A. M.

    2012-01-01

    The Deep Impact spacecraft is currently on course for a Jan. 4, 2020 flyby of the sub-kilometer near-Earth asteroid 163249 (2002 GT). The re-targeting will be complete with a final small maneuver scheduled for Oct. 4, 2012. 2002 GT, which is also designated as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA), has a well-determined orbit and is approx 800 m in diameter (H=18.3). Little more is known about the nature of this object, but in mid-2013 it will pass near the Earth, affording an exceptional opportunity for ground-based characterization. At this apparition 2002 GT will be in range of Arecibo. In addition to Doppler measurements, radar delay observations with precisions of a few microseconds are expected and have a good chance of revealing whether the system is binary or not. The asteroid will be brighter than 16th mag., which will facilitate a host of observations at a variety of wavelengths. Light curve measurements across a wide range of viewing perspectives will reveal the rotation rate and ultimately lead to strong constraints on the shape and pole orientation. Visible and infrared spectra will constrain the mineralogy, taxonomy, albedo and size. Along with the radar observations, optical astrometry will further constrain the orbit, both to facilitate terminal guidance operations and to potentially reveal nongravitational forces acting on the asteroid. Coordinating all of these observations will be a significant task and we encourage interested observers to collaborate in this effort. The 2013 apparition of 2002 GT represents a unique opportunity to characterize a potential flyby target, which will aid interpretation of the high-resolution flyby imagery and aid planning and development of the flyby imaging sequence. The knowledge gained from this flyby will be highly relevant to the human exploration program at NASA, which desires more information on the physical characteristics of sub-kilometer near-Earth asteroids.

  14. High-Resolution Ultrasound-Switchable Fluorescence Imaging in Centimeter-Deep Tissue Phantoms with High Signal-To-Noise Ratio and High Sensitivity via Novel Contrast Agents.

    PubMed

    Cheng, Bingbing; Bandi, Venugopal; Wei, Ming-Yuan; Pei, Yanbo; D'Souza, Francis; Nguyen, Kytai T; Hong, Yi; Yuan, Baohong

    2016-01-01

    For many years, investigators have sought after high-resolution fluorescence imaging in centimeter-deep tissue because many interesting in vivo phenomena-such as the presence of immune system cells, tumor angiogenesis, and metastasis-may be located deep in tissue. Previously, we developed a new imaging technique to achieve high spatial resolution in sub-centimeter deep tissue phantoms named continuous-wave ultrasound-switchable fluorescence (CW-USF). The principle is to use a focused ultrasound wave to externally and locally switch on and off the fluorophore emission from a small volume (close to ultrasound focal volume). By making improvements in three aspects of this technique: excellent near-infrared USF contrast agents, a sensitive frequency-domain USF imaging system, and an effective signal processing algorithm, for the first time this study has achieved high spatial resolution (~ 900 μm) in 3-centimeter-deep tissue phantoms with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and high sensitivity (3.4 picomoles of fluorophore in a volume of 68 nanoliters can be detected). We have achieved these results in both tissue-mimic phantoms and porcine muscle tissues. We have also demonstrated multi-color USF to image and distinguish two fluorophores with different wavelengths, which might be very useful for simultaneously imaging of multiple targets and observing their interactions in the future. This work has opened the door for future studies of high-resolution centimeter-deep tissue fluorescence imaging.

  15. A new high-resolution electromagnetic method for subsurface imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Feng, Wanjie

    For most electromagnetic (EM) geophysical systems, the contamination of primary fields on secondary fields ultimately limits the capability of the controlled-source EM methods. Null coupling techniques were proposed to solve this problem. However, the small orientation errors in the null coupling systems greatly restrict the applications of these systems. Another problem encountered by most EM systems is the surface interference and geologic noise, which sometimes make the geophysical survey impossible to carry out. In order to solve these problems, the alternating target antenna coupling (ATAC) method was introduced, which greatly removed the influence of the primary field and reduced the surface interference. But this system has limitations on the maximum transmitter moment that can be used. The differential target antenna coupling (DTAC) method was proposed to allow much larger transmitter moments and at the same time maintain the advantages of the ATAC method. In this dissertation, first, the theoretical DTAC calculations were derived mathematically using Born and Wolf's complex magnetic vector. 1D layered and 2D blocked earth models were used to demonstrate that the DTAC method has no responses for 1D and 2D structures. Analytical studies of the plate model influenced by conductive and resistive backgrounds were presented to explain the physical phenomenology behind the DTAC method, which is the magnetic fields of the subsurface targets are required to be frequency dependent. Then, the advantages of the DTAC method, e.g., high-resolution, reducing the geologic noise and insensitive to surface interference, were analyzed using surface and subsurface numerical examples in the EMGIMA software. Next, the theoretical advantages, such as high resolution and insensitive to surface interference, were verified by designing and developing a low-power (moment of 50 Am 2) vertical-array DTAC system and testing it on controlled targets and scaled target coils. At last, a

  16. Target-oriented retrieval of subsurface wave fields - Pushing the resolution limits in seismic imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vasconcelos, Ivan; Ozmen, Neslihan; van der Neut, Joost; Cui, Tianci

    2017-04-01

    Travelling wide-bandwidth seismic waves have long been used as a primary tool in exploration seismology because they can probe the subsurface over large distances, while retaining relatively high spatial resolution. The well-known Born resolution limit often seems to be the lower bound on spatial imaging resolution in real life examples. In practice, data acquisition cost, time constraints and other factors can worsen the resolution achieved by wavefield imaging. Could we obtain images whose resolution beats the Born limits? Would it be practical to achieve it, and what are we missing today to achieve this? In this talk, we will cover aspects of linear and nonlinear seismic imaging to understand elements that play a role in obtaining "super-resolved" seismic images. New redatuming techniques, such as the Marchenko method, enable the retrieval of subsurface fields that include multiple scattering interactions, while requiring relatively little knowledge of model parameters. Together with new concepts in imaging, such as Target-Enclosing Extended Images, these new redatuming methods enable new targeted imaging frameworks. We will make a case as to why target-oriented approaches to reconstructing subsurface-domain wavefields from surface data may help in increasing the resolving power of seismic imaging, and in pushing the limits on parameter estimation. We will illustrate this using a field data example. Finally, we will draw connections between seismic and other imaging modalities, and discuss how this framework could be put to use in other applications

  17. Marine Boundary Layer Cloud Property Retrievals from High-Resolution ASTER Observations: Case Studies and Comparison with Terra MODIS

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Werner, Frank; Wind, Galina; Zhang, Zhibo; Platnick, Steven; Di Girolamo, Larry; Zhao, Guangyu; Amarasinghe, Nandana; Meyer, Kerry

    2016-01-01

    A research-level retrieval algorithm for cloud optical and microphysical properties is developed for the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) aboard the Terra satellite. It is based on the operational MODIS algorithm. This paper documents the technical details of this algorithm and evaluates the retrievals for selected marine boundary layer cloud scenes through comparisons with the operational MODIS Data Collection 6 (C6) cloud product. The newly developed, ASTERspecific cloud masking algorithm is evaluated through comparison with an independent algorithm reported in Zhao and Di Girolamo (2006). To validate and evaluate the cloud optical thickness (tau) and cloud effective radius (r(sub eff)) from ASTER, the high-spatial-resolution ASTER observations are first aggregated to the same 1000m resolution as MODIS. Subsequently, tau(sub aA) and r(sub eff, aA) retrieved from the aggregated ASTER radiances are compared with the collocated MODIS retrievals. For overcast pixels, the two data sets agree very well with Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficients of R greater than 0.970. However, for partially cloudy pixels there are significant differences between r(sub eff, aA) and the MODIS results which can exceed 10 micrometers. Moreover, it is shown that the numerous delicate cloud structures in the example marine boundary layer scenes, resolved by the high-resolution ASTER retrievals, are smoothed by the MODIS observations. The overall good agreement between the research-level ASTER results and the operational MODIS C6 products proves the feasibility of MODIS-like retrievals from ASTER reflectance measurements and provides the basis for future studies concerning the scale dependency of satellite observations and three-dimensional radiative effects.

  18. Marine boundary layer cloud property retrievals from high-resolution ASTER observations: case studies and comparison with Terra MODIS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Werner, Frank; Wind, Galina; Zhang, Zhibo; Platnick, Steven; Di Girolamo, Larry; Zhao, Guangyu; Amarasinghe, Nandana; Meyer, Kerry

    2016-12-01

    A research-level retrieval algorithm for cloud optical and microphysical properties is developed for the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) aboard the Terra satellite. It is based on the operational MODIS algorithm. This paper documents the technical details of this algorithm and evaluates the retrievals for selected marine boundary layer cloud scenes through comparisons with the operational MODIS Data Collection 6 (C6) cloud product. The newly developed, ASTER-specific cloud masking algorithm is evaluated through comparison with an independent algorithm reported in [Zhao and Di Girolamo(2006)]. To validate and evaluate the cloud optical thickness (τ) and cloud effective radius (reff) from ASTER, the high-spatial-resolution ASTER observations are first aggregated to the same 1000 m resolution as MODIS. Subsequently, τaA and reff, aA retrieved from the aggregated ASTER radiances are compared with the collocated MODIS retrievals. For overcast pixels, the two data sets agree very well with Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficients of R > 0.970. However, for partially cloudy pixels there are significant differences between reff, aA and the MODIS results which can exceed 10 µm. Moreover, it is shown that the numerous delicate cloud structures in the example marine boundary layer scenes, resolved by the high-resolution ASTER retrievals, are smoothed by the MODIS observations. The overall good agreement between the research-level ASTER results and the operational MODIS C6 products proves the feasibility of MODIS-like retrievals from ASTER reflectance measurements and provides the basis for future studies concerning the scale dependency of satellite observations and three-dimensional radiative effects.

  19. Advancing Access to New Technology for Sustained High Resolution Observations of Plankton: From Bloom Dynamics to Climate Change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sosik, H. M.; Olson, R. J.

    2012-12-01

    The combination of ocean observatory infrastructure and automated submersible flow cytometry can provide unprecedented capability for sustained high resolution time series of plankton, including taxa that are harmful or early indicators of ecosystem response to environmental change. Over the past decade, we have developed the FlowCytobot series of instruments that exemplify this capability. FlowCytobot and Imaging FlowCytobot use a combination of laser-based scattering and fluorescence measurements and video imaging of individual particles to enumerate and characterize cells ranging from picocyanobacteria to large chaining-forming diatoms. The process of developing these complex instruments was streamlined by access to the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO), a cabled facility on the New England Shelf, where real time two-way communications and access to shore power expedited cycles of instrument evaluation and design refinement. Repeated deployments at MVCO, typically 6 months in duration, have produced multi-year high resolution (hourly to daily) time series that are providing new insights into dynamics of community structure such as blooms, seasonality, and possibly even trends linked to regional climate change. The high temporal resolution observations of single cell properties make it possible not only to characterize taxonomic composition and size structure, but also to quantify taxon-specific growth rates. To meet the challenge of broadening access to this enabling technology, we have taken a two-step approach. First, we are partnering with a few scientific collaborators interested in using the instruments in different environments and to address different applications, notably the detection and characterization of harmful algal bloom events. Collaboration at this stage ensured that these first users outside the developers' lab had access to technical know-how required for successful outcomes; it also provided additional feedback that could be

  20. High-resolution diffusion tensor imaging of the human kidneys using a free-breathing, multi-slice, targeted field of view approach.

    PubMed

    Chan, Rachel W; Von Deuster, Constantin; Stoeck, Christian T; Harmer, Jack; Punwani, Shonit; Ramachandran, Navin; Kozerke, Sebastian; Atkinson, David

    2014-11-01

    Fractional anisotropy (FA) obtained by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can be used to image the kidneys without any contrast media. FA of the medulla has been shown to correlate with kidney function. It is expected that higher spatial resolution would improve the depiction of small structures within the kidney. However, the achievement of high spatial resolution in renal DTI remains challenging as a result of respiratory motion and susceptibility to diffusion imaging artefacts. In this study, a targeted field of view (TFOV) method was used to obtain high-resolution FA maps and colour-coded diffusion tensor orientations, together with measures of the medullary and cortical FA, in 12 healthy subjects. Subjects were scanned with two implementations (dual and single kidney) of a TFOV DTI method. DTI scans were performed during free breathing with a navigator-triggered sequence. Results showed high consistency in the greyscale FA, colour-coded FA and diffusion tensors across subjects and between dual- and single-kidney scans, which have in-plane voxel sizes of 2 × 2 mm(2) and 1.2 × 1.2 mm(2) , respectively. The ability to acquire multiple contiguous slices allowed the medulla and cortical FA to be quantified over the entire kidney volume. The mean medulla and cortical FA values were 0.38 ± 0.017 and 0.21 ± 0.019, respectively, for the dual-kidney scan, and 0.35 ± 0.032 and 0.20 ± 0.014, respectively, for the single-kidney scan. The mean FA between the medulla and cortex was significantly different (p < 0.001) for both dual- and single-kidney implementations. High-spatial-resolution DTI shows promise for improving the characterization and non-invasive assessment of kidney function. © 2014 The Authors. NMR in Biomedicine published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  1. Observation of human embryonic behavior in vitro by high-resolution time-lapse cinematography.

    PubMed

    Iwata, Kyoko; Mio, Yasuyuki

    2016-07-01

    Assisted reproductive technology (ART) has yielded vast amounts of information and knowledge on human embryonic development in vitro; however, still images provide limited data on dynamic changes in the developing embryos. Using our high-resolution time-lapse cinematography (hR-TLC) system, we were able to describe normal human embryonic development continuously from the fertilization process to the hatched blastocyst stage in detail. Our hR-TLC observation also showed the embryonic abnormality of a third polar body (PB)-like substance likely containing a small pronucleus being extruded and resulting in single-pronucleus (1PN) formation, while our molecular biological investigations suggested the possibility that some 1PN embryos could be diploid, carrying both maternal and paternal genomes. Furthermore, in some embryos the extruded third PB-like substance was eventually re-absorbed into the ooplasm resulting in the formation of an uneven-sized, two-PN zygote. In addition, other hR-TLC observations showed that cytokinetic failure was correlated with equal-sized, multi-nucleated blastomeres that were also observed in the embryo showing early initiation of compaction. Assessment combining our hR-TLC with molecular biological techniques enables a better understanding of embryonic development and potential improvements in ART outcomes.

  2. SOFIA/EXES High Spectral Resolution Observations of the Orion Hot Core

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rangwala, Naseem; Colgan, Sean; Le Gal, Romane; Acharya, Kinsuk; Huang, Xinchuan; Herbst, Eric; Lee, Timothy J.; Richter, Matthew J.; Boogert, Adwin

    2018-01-01

    The Orion hot core has one of the richest molecular chemistries observed in the ISM. In the MIR, the Orion hot core composition is best probed by the closest, compact, bright background continuum source in this region, IRc2. We present high-spectral resolution observations from 12.96 - 13.33 μm towards Orion IRc2 using the mid-infrared spectrograph, EXES, on SOFIA, to probe the physical and chemical conditions of the Orion hot core. All ten of the rovibrational C2H2 transitions expected in our spectral coverage, are detected with high S/N, yielding continuous coverage of the R-branch lines from J=9-8 to J=18-17, including both ortho and para species. Eight of these rovibrational transitions are newly reported detections. These data show distinct ortho and para ladders towards the Orion hot core for the first time, with an ortho to para ratio (OPR) of only 0.6 - much lower than the high temperature equilibrium value of 3. A non-equilibrium OPR is a further indication of the Orion hot core being heated externally by shocks likely resulting from a well-known explosive event which occurred 500 yrs ago. The OPR conversion timescales are much longer than the 500 yr shock timescale and thus a low OPR might be a remnant from an earlier colder pre-stellar phase before the density enhancement (now the hot core) was impacted by shocks.We will also present preliminary results from an on-going SOFIA Cycle-5 impact program to use EXES to conduct an unbiased, high-S/N, continuous, molecular line survey of the Orion hot core from 12.5 - 28.3 microns. This survey is expected to be 50 times better than ISO in detecting isolated, narrow lines to (a) resolve the ro-vibrational structure of the gas phase molecules and their kinematics, (b) detect new gas phase molecules missed by ISO, and (c) provide useful constraints on the hot core chemistry and the source of Orion hot core excitation. This survey will greatly enhance the inventory of resolved line features in the MIR for hot cores

  3. Description of surface transport in the region of the Belizean Barrier Reef based on observations and alternative high-resolution models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lindo-Atichati, D.; Curcic, M.; Paris, C. B.; Buston, P. M.

    2016-10-01

    The gains from implementing high-resolution versus less costly low-resolution models to describe coastal circulation are not always clear, often lacking statistical evaluation. Here we construct a hierarchy of ocean-atmosphere models operating at multiple scales within a 1 × 1° domain of the Belizean Barrier Reef (BBR). The various components of the atmosphere-ocean models are evaluated with in situ observations of surface drifters, wind and sea surface temperature. First, we compare the dispersion and velocity of 55 surface drifters released in the field in summer 2013 to the dispersion and velocity of simulated drifters under alternative model configurations. Increasing the resolution of the ocean model (from 1/12° to 1/100°, from 1 day to 1 h) and atmosphere model forcing (from 1/2° to 1/100°, from 6 h to 1 h), and incorporating tidal forcing incrementally reduces discrepancy between simulated and observed velocities and dispersion. Next, in trying to understand why the high-resolution models improve prediction, we find that resolving both the diurnal sea-breeze and semi-diurnal tides is key to improving the Lagrangian statistics and transport predictions along the BBR. Notably, the model with the highest ocean-atmosphere resolution and with tidal forcing generates a higher number of looping trajectories and sub-mesoscale coherent structures that are otherwise unresolved. Finally, simulations conducted with this model from June to August of 2013 show an intensification of the velocity fields throughout the summer and reveal a mesoscale anticyclonic circulation around Glovers Reef, and sub-mesoscale cyclonic eddies formed in the vicinity of Columbus Island. This study provides a general framework to assess the best surface transport prediction from alternative ocean-atmosphere models using metrics derived from high frequency drifters' data and meteorological stations.

  4. High-resolution wavefront control of high-power laser systems

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Brase, J; Brown, C; Carrano, C

    1999-07-08

    Nearly every new large-scale laser system application at LLNL has requirements for beam control which exceed the current level of available technology. For applications such as inertial confinement fusion, laser isotope separation, laser machining, and laser the ability to transport significant power to a target while maintaining good beam quality is critical. There are many ways that laser wavefront quality can be degraded. Thermal effects due to the interaction of high-power laser or pump light with the internal optical components or with the ambient gas are common causes of wavefront degradation. For many years, adaptive optics based on thing deformablemore » glass mirrors with piezoelectric or electrostrictive actuators have be used to remove the low-order wavefront errors from high-power laser systems. These adaptive optics systems have successfully improved laser beam quality, but have also generally revealed additional high-spatial-frequency errors, both because the low-order errors have been reduced and because deformable mirrors have often introduced some high-spatial-frequency components due to manufacturing errors. Many current and emerging laser applications fall into the high-resolution category where there is an increased need for the correction of high spatial frequency aberrations which requires correctors with thousands of degrees of freedom. The largest Deformable Mirrors currently available have less than one thousand degrees of freedom at a cost of approximately $1M. A deformable mirror capable of meeting these high spatial resolution requirements would be cost prohibitive. Therefore a new approach using a different wavefront control technology is needed. One new wavefront control approach is the use of liquid-crystal (LC) spatial light modulator (SLM) technology for the controlling the phase of linearly polarized light. Current LC SLM technology provides high-spatial-resolution wavefront control, with hundreds of thousands of degrees of

  5. Toward observationally constrained high space and time resolution CO2 urban emission inventories

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maness, H.; Teige, V. E.; Wooldridge, P. J.; Weichsel, K.; Holstius, D.; Hooker, A.; Fung, I. Y.; Cohen, R. C.

    2013-12-01

    The spatial patterns of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and sequestration are currently studied primarily by sensor networks and modeling tools that were designed for global and continental scale investigations of sources and sinks. In urban contexts, by design, there has been very limited investment in observing infrastructure, making it difficult to demonstrate that we have an accurate understanding of the mechanism of emissions or the ability to track processes causing changes in those emissions. Over the last few years, our team has built a new high-resolution observing instrument to address urban CO2 emissions, the BErkeley Atmospheric CO2 Observing Network (BEACON). The 20-node network is constructed on a roughly 2 km grid, permitting direct characterization of the internal structure of emissions within the San Francisco East Bay. Here we present a first assessment of BEACON's promise for evaluating the effectiveness of current and upcoming local emissions policy. Within the next several years, a variety of locally important changes are anticipated--including widespread electrification of the motor vehicle fleet and implementation of a new power standard for ships at the port of Oakland. We describe BEACON's expected performance for detecting these changes, based on results from regional forward modeling driven by a suite of projected inventories. We will further describe the network's current change detection capabilities by focusing on known high temporal frequency changes that have already occurred; examples include a week of significant freeway traffic congestion following the temporary shutdown of the local commuter rail (the Bay Area Rapid Transit system).

  6. High Temporal Resolution Tropospheric Wind Profile Observations at NASA Kennedy Space Center During Hurricane Irma

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Decker, Ryan K.; Barbre, Robert E., Jr.; Huddleston, Lisa; Brauer, Thomas; Wilfong, Timothy

    2018-01-01

    The NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) operates a 48-MHz Tropospheric/Stratospheric Doppler Radar Wind Profiler (TDRWP) on a continual basis generating wind profiles between 2-19 km in the support of space launch vehicle operations. A benefit of the continual operability of the system is the ability to provide unique observations of severe weather events such as hurricanes. Over the past two Atlantic Hurricane seasons the TDRWP has made high temporal resolution wind profile observations of Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Hurricane Irma was responsible for power outages to approximately 2/3 of Florida's population during its movement over the state(Stein,2017). An overview of the TDRWP system configuration, brief summary of Hurricanes Irma and Matthew storm track in proximity to KSC, characteristics of the tropospheric wind observations from the TDRWP during both events, and discussion of the dissemination of TDRWP data during the event will be presented.

  7. An Experiment Quantifying The Effect Of Clutter On Target Detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weathersby, Marshall R.; Schmieder, David E.

    1985-01-01

    Experiments were conducted to determine the influence of background clutter on target detection criteria. The experiment consisted of placing observers in front of displayed images on a TV monitor. Observer ability to detect military targets embedded in simulated natural and manmade background clutter was measured when there was unlimited viewing time. Results were described in terms of detection probability versus target resolution for various signal to clutter ratios (SCR). The experiments were preceded by a search for a meaningful clutter definition. The selected definition was a statistical measure computed by averaging the standard deviation of contiguous scene cells over the whole scene. The cell size was comparable to the target size. Observer test results confirmed the expectation that the resolution required for a given detection probability was a continuum function of the clutter level. At the lower SCRs the resolution required for a high probability of detection was near 6 lines pairs per target (LP/TGT), while at the higher SCRs it was found that a resolution of less than 0.25 LP/TGT would yield a high probability of detection. These results are expected to aid in target acquisition performance modeling and to lead to improved specifications for imaging automatic target screeners.

  8. ON ASYMMETRY OF MAGNETIC HELICITY IN EMERGING ACTIVE REGIONS: HIGH-RESOLUTION OBSERVATIONS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tian Lirong; Alexander, David; Zhu Chunming

    We employ the DAVE (differential affine velocity estimator) tracking technique on a time series of Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI)/1 minute high spatial resolution line-of-sight magnetograms to measure the photospheric flow velocity for three newly emerging bipolar active regions (ARs). We separately calculate the magnetic helicity injection rate of the leading and following polarities to confirm or refute the magnetic helicity asymmetry, found by Tian and Alexander using MDI/96 minute low spatial resolution magnetograms. Our results demonstrate that the magnetic helicity asymmetry is robust, being present in the three ARs studied, two of which have an observed balance of the magneticmore » flux. The magnetic helicity injection rate measured is found to depend little on the window size selected, but does depend on the time interval used between the two successive magnetograms being tracked. It is found that the measurement of the magnetic helicity injection rate performs well for a window size between 12 x 10 and 18 x 15 pixels and at a time interval {Delta}t = 10 minutes. Moreover, the short-lived magnetic structures, 10-60 minutes, are found to contribute 30%-50% of the magnetic helicity injection rate. Comparing with the results calculated by MDI/96 minute data, we find that the MDI/96 minute data, in general, can outline the main trend of the magnetic properties, but they significantly underestimate the magnetic flux in strong field regions and are not appropriate for quantitative tracking studies, so provide a poor estimate of the amount of magnetic helicity injected into the corona.« less

  9. A Residual Kriging method for the reconstruction of 3D high-resolution meteorological fields from airborne and surface observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laiti, Lavinia; Zardi, Dino; de Franceschi, Massimiliano; Rampanelli, Gabriele

    2013-04-01

    Manned light aircrafts and remotely piloted aircrafts represent very valuable and flexible measurement platforms for atmospheric research, as they are able to provide high temporal and spatial resolution observations of the atmosphere above the ground surface. In the present study the application of a geostatistical interpolation technique called Residual Kriging (RK) is proposed for the mapping of airborne measurements of scalar quantities over regularly spaced 3D grids. In RK the dominant (vertical) trend component underlying the original data is first extracted to filter out local anomalies, then the residual field is separately interpolated and finally added back to the trend; the determination of the interpolation weights relies on the estimate of the characteristic covariance function of the residuals, through the computation and modelling of their semivariogram function. RK implementation also allows for the inference of the characteristic spatial scales of variability of the target field and its isotropization, and for an estimate of the interpolation error. The adopted test-bed database consists in a series of flights of an instrumented motorglider exploring the atmosphere of two valleys near the city of Trento (in the southeastern Italian Alps), performed on fair-weather summer days. RK method is used to reconstruct fully 3D high-resolution fields of potential temperature and mixing ratio for specific vertical slices of the valley atmosphere, integrating also ground-based measurements from the nearest surface weather stations. From RK-interpolated meteorological fields, fine-scale features of the atmospheric boundary layer developing over the complex valley topography in connection with the occurrence of thermally-driven slope and valley winds, are detected. The performance of RK mapping is also tested against two other commonly adopted interpolation methods, i.e. the Inverse Distance Weighting and the Delaunay triangulation methods, comparing the results

  10. High-spatial-resolution nanoparticle x-ray fluorescence tomography

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Larsson, Jakob C.; Vâgberg, William; Vogt, Carmen; Lundström, Ulf; Larsson, Daniel H.; Hertz, Hans M.

    2016-03-01

    X-ray fluorescence tomography (XFCT) has potential for high-resolution 3D molecular x-ray bio-imaging. In this technique the fluorescence signal from targeted nanoparticles (NPs) is measured, providing information about the spatial distribution and concentration of the NPs inside the object. However, present laboratory XFCT systems typically have limited spatial resolution (>1 mm) and suffer from long scan times and high radiation dose even at high NP concentrations, mainly due to low efficiency and poor signal-to-noise ratio. We have developed a laboratory XFCT system with high spatial resolution (sub-100 μm), low NP concentration and vastly decreased scan times and dose, opening up the possibilities for in-vivo small-animal imaging research. The system consists of a high-brightness liquid-metal-jet microfocus x-ray source, x-ray focusing optics and an energy-resolving photon-counting detector. By using the source's characteristic 24 keV line-emission together with carefully matched molybdenum nanoparticles the Compton background is greatly reduced, increasing the SNR. Each measurement provides information about the spatial distribution and concentration of the Mo nanoparticles. A filtered back-projection method is used to produce the final XFCT image.

  11. High-spatial resolution and high-spectral resolution detector for use in the measurement of solar flare hard X-rays

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Desai, U. D.; Orwig, Larry E.

    1988-01-01

    In the areas of high spatial resolution, the evaluation of a hard X-ray detector with 65 micron spatial resolution for operation in the energy range from 30 to 400 keV is proposed. The basic detector is a thick large-area scintillator faceplate, composed of a matrix of high-density scintillating glass fibers, attached to a proximity type image intensifier tube with a resistive-anode digital readout system. Such a detector, combined with a coded-aperture mask, would be ideal for use as a modest-sized hard X-ray imaging instrument up to X-ray energies as high as several hundred keV. As an integral part of this study it was also proposed that several techniques be critically evaluated for X-ray image coding which could be used with this detector. In the area of high spectral resolution, it is proposed to evaluate two different types of detectors for use as X-ray spectrometers for solar flares: planar silicon detectors and high-purity germanium detectors (HPGe). Instruments utilizing these high-spatial-resolution detectors for hard X-ray imaging measurements from 30 to 400 keV and high-spectral-resolution detectors for measurements over a similar energy range would be ideally suited for making crucial solar flare observations during the upcoming maximum in the solar cycle.

  12. High resolution time interval meter

    DOEpatents

    Martin, A.D.

    1986-05-09

    Method and apparatus are provided for measuring the time interval between two events to a higher resolution than reliability available from conventional circuits and component. An internal clock pulse is provided at a frequency compatible with conventional component operating frequencies for reliable operation. Lumped constant delay circuits are provided for generating outputs at delay intervals corresponding to the desired high resolution. An initiation START pulse is input to generate first high resolution data. A termination STOP pulse is input to generate second high resolution data. Internal counters count at the low frequency internal clock pulse rate between the START and STOP pulses. The first and second high resolution data are logically combined to directly provide high resolution data to one counter and correct the count in the low resolution counter to obtain a high resolution time interval measurement.

  13. A high-resolution regional reanalysis for Europe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ohlwein, C.

    2015-12-01

    Reanalyses gain more and more importance as a source of meteorological information for many purposes and applications. Several global reanalyses projects (e.g., ERA, MERRA, CSFR, JMA9) produce and verify these data sets to provide time series as long as possible combined with a high data quality. Due to a spatial resolution down to 50-70km and 3-hourly temporal output, they are not suitable for small scale problems (e.g., regional climate assessment, meso-scale NWP verification, input for subsequent models such as river runoff simulations). The implementation of regional reanalyses based on a limited area model along with a data assimilation scheme is able to generate reanalysis data sets with high spatio-temporal resolution. Within the Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research (HErZ), the climate monitoring branch concentrates efforts on the assessment and analysis of regional climate in Germany and Europe. In joint cooperation with DWD (German Meteorological Service), a high-resolution reanalysis system based on the COSMO model has been developed. The regional reanalysis for Europe matches the domain of the CORDEX EURO-11 specifications, albeit at a higher spatial resolution, i.e., 0.055° (6km) instead of 0.11° (12km) and comprises the assimilation of observational data using the existing nudging scheme of COSMO complemented by a special soil moisture analysis with boundary conditions provided by ERA-Interim data. The reanalysis data set covers the past 20 years. Extensive evaluation of the reanalysis is performed using independent observations with special emphasis on precipitation and high-impact weather situations indicating a better representation of small scale variability. Further, the evaluation shows an added value of the regional reanalysis with respect to the forcing ERA Interim reanalysis and compared to a pure high-resolution dynamical downscaling approach without data assimilation.

  14. Microbleed and microinfarct detection in amyloid angiopathy: a high-resolution MRI-histopathology study

    PubMed Central

    van Veluw, Susanne J.; Charidimou, Andreas; van der Kouwe, Andre J.; Lauer, Arne; Reijmer, Yael D.; Costantino, Isabel; Gurol, M. Edip; Biessels, Geert Jan; Frosch, Matthew P.; Viswanathan, Anand; Greenberg, Steven M.

    2016-01-01

    Cerebral amyloid angiopathy is a common neuropathological finding in the ageing human brain, associated with cognitive impairment. Neuroimaging markers of severe cerebral amyloid angiopathy are cortical microbleeds and microinfarcts. These parenchymal brain lesions are considered key contributors to cognitive impairment. Therefore, they are important targets for therapeutic strategies and may serve as surrogate neuroimaging markers in clinical trials. We aimed to gain more insight into the pathological basis of magnetic resonance imaging-defined microbleeds and microinfarcts in cerebral amyloid angiopathy, and to explore the pathological burden that remains undetected, by using high and ultra-high resolution ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging, as well as detailed histological sampling. Brain samples from five cases (mean age 85 ± 6 years) with pathology-proven cerebral amyloid angiopathy and multiple microbleeds on in vivo clinical magnetic resonance imaging were subjected to high-resolution ex vivo 7 T magnetic resonance imaging. On the obtained high-resolution (200 μm isotropic voxels) ex vivo magnetic resonance images, 171 microbleeds were detected compared to 66 microbleeds on the corresponding in vivo magnetic resonance images. Of 13 sampled microbleeds that were matched on histology, five proved to be acute and eight old microhaemorrhages. The iron-positive old microhaemorrhages appeared approximately four times larger on magnetic resonance imaging compared to their size on histology. In addition, 48 microinfarcts were observed on ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging in three out of five cases (two cases exhibited no microinfarcts). None of them were visible on in vivo 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging after a retrospective analysis. Of nine sampled microinfarcts that were matched on histology, five were confirmed as acute and four as old microinfarcts. Finally, we explored the proportion of microhaemorrhage and microinfarct burden that is beyond the detection

  15. Quadruplex MAPH: improvement of throughput in high-resolution copy number screening.

    PubMed

    Tyson, Jess; Majerus, Tamsin Mo; Walker, Susan; Armour, John Al

    2009-09-28

    Copy number variation (CNV) in the human genome is recognised as a widespread and important source of human genetic variation. Now the challenge is to screen for these CNVs at high resolution in a reliable, accurate and cost-effective way. Multiplex Amplifiable Probe Hybridisation (MAPH) is a sensitive, high-resolution technology appropriate for screening for CNVs in a defined region, for a targeted population. We have developed MAPH to a highly multiplexed format ("QuadMAPH") that allows the user a four-fold increase in the number of loci tested simultaneously. We have used this method to analyse a genomic region of 210 kb, including the MSH2 gene and 120 kb of flanking DNA. We show that the QuadMAPH probes report copy number with equivalent accuracy to simplex MAPH, reliably demonstrating diploid copy number in control samples and accurately detecting deletions in Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC) samples. QuadMAPH is an accurate, high-resolution method that allows targeted screening of large numbers of subjects without the expense of genome-wide approaches. Whilst we have applied this technique to a region of the human genome, it is equally applicable to the genomes of other organisms.

  16. Dynamical Studies of the Middle Atmosphere Using High Resolution Doppler Imager Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Skinner, Wilbert

    2002-01-01

    This report summarizes the activities of NASA grant NAG5-11068, "Dynamicai Studies of the Middle Atmosphere Using High Resolution Doppler Imager Observations." The High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) has been providing direct measurements of the Earth's horizontal wind field in the stratosphere, mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Mesospheric temperatures, ozone, and O((sup 1) D) densities, and stratospheric aerosol extinctions coefficients, are also retrieved. The goal of HRDI is to measure the vector winds in the stratosphere (10-40 km), mesosphere, and lower thermosphere (approximately 50-120 km) during the day, and the lower thermosphere at night (approximately 95 km) to an accuracy of 5 m/s. The horizontal wind vector is measured by observing the Doppler shift of rotational lines of molecular oxygen along two lines of sight. In addition to winds, temperatures and volume emission rates are determined in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, from which ozone and O((sup 1) D) concentrations can be derived, and aerosol scattering coefficients are determined in the stratosphere. UARS was launched on September 12, 1991, into a 585-km circular orbit inclined 57 degrees to the equator HRDI was activated September 28, 1991 and following a period of checkout and adjustment of the instrument parameters, scientific observations began November 2, 199 1. HRDI operated nearly continuously from launch until April 1995. At that time the UARS solar array drive failed, forcing the instruments to time-share the available power. From July 1995 to July 1996 HRDI operated approximately 50% of the time. At that point, one of the three spacecraft batteries failed and from then until September 1998 the duty cycle was less than 20% per month, At that time it was determined that HRDI could operate during each daytime pass, which increased the daytime duty cycle to close to l00%, while nighttime operations were limited to about a week

  17. Towards High Spa-Temporal Resolution Estimates of Surface Radiative Fluxes from Geostationary Satellite Observations for the Tibetan Plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Niu, X.; Yang, K.; Tang, W.; Qin, J.

    2014-12-01

    Surface Solar Radiation (SSR) plays an important role of the hydrological and land process modeling, which particularly contributes more than 90% to the total melt energy for the Tibetan Plateau (TP) ice melting. Neither surface measurement nor existing remote sensing products can meet that requirement in TP. The well-known satellite products (i.e. ISCCP-FD and GEWEX-SRB) are in relatively low spatial resolution (0.5º-2.5º) and temporal resolution (3-hourly, daily, or monthly). The objective of this study is to develop capabilities to improved estimates of SSR in TP based on geostationary satellite observations from the Multi-functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT) with high spatial (0.05º) and temporal (hourly) resolution. An existing physical model, the UMD-SRB (University of Maryland Surface Radiation Budget) which is the basis of the GEWEX-SRB model, is re-visited to improve SSR estimates in TP. The UMD-SRB algorithm transforms TOA radiances into broadband albedos in order to infer atmospheric transmissivity which finally determines the SSR. Specifically, main updates introduced in this study are: implementation at 0.05º spatial resolution at hourly intervals integrated to daily and monthly time scales; and improvement of surface albedo model by introducing the most recently developed Global Land Surface Broadband Albedo Product (GLASS) based on MODIS data. This updated inference scheme will be evaluated against ground observations from China Meteorological Administration (CMA) radiation stations and three TP radiation stations contributed from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research.

  18. THz holography in reflection using a high resolution microbolometer array.

    PubMed

    Zolliker, Peter; Hack, Erwin

    2015-05-04

    We demonstrate a digital holographic setup for Terahertz imaging of surfaces in reflection. The set-up is based on a high-power continuous wave (CW) THz laser and a high-resolution (640 × 480 pixel) bolometer detector array. Wave propagation to non-parallel planes is used to reconstruct the object surface that is rotated relative to the detector plane. In addition we implement synthetic aperture methods for resolution enhancement and compare Fourier transform phase retrieval to phase stepping methods. A lateral resolution of 200 μm and a relative phase sensitivity of about 0.4 rad corresponding to a depth resolution of 6 μm are estimated from reconstructed images of two specially prepared test targets, respectively. We highlight the use of digital THz holography for surface profilometry as well as its potential for video-rate imaging.

  19. First High-resolution Spectroscopic Observations by IRIS of a Fast, Helical Prominence Eruption Associated with a Coronal Mass Ejection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, W.; De Pontieu, B.; Okamoto, T. J.; Vial, J. C.; Title, A. M.; Antolin, P.; Berger, T. E.; Uitenbroek, H.

    2014-12-01

    High-resolution spectroscopic observations of prominence eruptions and associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are rare but can provide valuable plasma and energy diagnostics. New opportunities have recently become available with the advent of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission equipped with high resolution of 0.33-0.4 arcsec in space and 1 km/s in velocity, together with the Hinode Solar Optical Telescope of 0.2 arcsec spatial resolution. We report the first result of joint IRIS-Hinode observations of a spectacular prominence eruption occurring on 2014-May-09. IRIS detected a maximum redshift of 450 km/s, which, combined with the plane-of-sky speed of 800 km/s, gives a large velocity vector of 920 km/s at 30 degrees from the sky plane. This direction agrees with the source location at 30 degrees behind the limb observed by STEREO-A and indicates a nearly vertical ejection. We found two branches of redshifts separated by 200 km/s appearing in all strong lines at chromospheric to transition-region temperatures, including Mg II k/h, C II, and Si IV, suggesting a hollow, rather than solid, cone in the velocity space of the ejected material. Opposite blue- and redshifts on the two sides of the prominence exhibit corkscrew variations both in space and time, suggestive of unwinding rotations of a left-handed helical flux rope. Some erupted material returns as nearly streamline flows, exhibiting distinctly narrow line widths (~10 km/s), about 50% of those of the nearby coronal rain at the apexes of coronal loops, where the rain material is initially formed out of cooling condensation. We estimate the mass and kinetic energy of the ejected and returning material and compare them with those of the associated CME. We will discuss the implications of these observations for CME initiation mechanisms.

  20. High-resolution observations of small-scale gravity waves and turbulence features in the OH airglow layer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sedlak, René; Hannawald, Patrick; Schmidt, Carsten; Wüst, Sabine; Bittner, Michael

    2016-12-01

    A new version of the Fast Airglow Imager (FAIM) for the detection of atmospheric waves in the OH airglow layer has been set up at the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) at Oberpfaffenhofen (48.09° N, 11.28° E), Germany. The spatial resolution of the instrument is 17 m pixel-1 in zenith direction with a field of view (FOV) of 11.1 km × 9.0 km at the OH layer height of ca. 87 km. Since November 2015, the system has been in operation in two different setups (zenith angles 46 and 0°) with a temporal resolution of 2.5 to 2.8 s. In a first case study we present observations of two small wave-like features that might be attributed to gravity wave instabilities. In order to spectrally analyse harmonic structures even on small spatial scales down to 550 m horizontal wavelength, we made use of the maximum entropy method (MEM) since this method exhibits an excellent wavelength resolution. MEM further allows analysing relatively short data series, which considerably helps to reduce problems such as stationarity of the underlying data series from a statistical point of view. We present an observation of the subsequent decay of well-organized wave fronts into eddies, which we tentatively interpret in terms of an indication for the onset of turbulence. Another remarkable event which demonstrates the technical capabilities of the instrument was observed during the night of 4-5 April 2016. It reveals the disintegration of a rather homogenous brightness variation into several filaments moving in different directions and with different speeds. It resembles the formation of a vortex with a horizontal axis of rotation likely related to a vertical wind shear. This case shows a notable similarity to what is expected from theoretical modelling of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities (KHIs). The comparatively high spatial resolution of the presented new version of the FAIM provides new insights into the structure of atmospheric wave instability and

  1. High Spectral Resolution Lidar Measurements of Multiple Scattering

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Eloranta, E. W.; Piironen, P.

    1996-01-01

    The University of Wisconsin High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) provides unambiguous measurements of backscatter cross section, backscatter phase function, depolarization, and optical depth. This is accomplished by dividing the lidar return into separate particulate and molecular contributions. The molecular return is then used as a calibration target. We have modified the HSRL to use an I2 molecular absorption filter to separate aerosol and molecular signals. This allows measurement in dense clouds. Useful profiles extend above the cloud base until the two way optical depth reaches values between 5 and 6; beyond this, photon counting errors become large. In order to observe multiple scattering, the HSRL includes a channel which records the combined aerosol and molecular lidar return simultaneously with the spectrometer channel measurements of optical properties. This paper describes HSRL multiple scattering measurements from both water and ice clouds. These include signal strengths and depolarizations as a function of receiver field of view. All observations include profiles of extinction and backscatter cross sections. Measurements are also compared to predictions of a multiple scattering model based on small angle approximations.

  2. Correlation between the radiological observation of isolated tertiary waves on an esophagram and findings on high-resolution esophageal manometry.

    PubMed

    Halland, M; Ravi, K; Barlow, J; Arora, A

    2016-01-01

    Barium esophagrams are a frequently performed test, and radiological observations about potential abnormal esophageal motility, such as tertiary contractions, are commonly reported. We sought to assess the correlation between tertiary waves, and in particular isolated tertiary waves, on esophagrams and findings on non-synchronous high-resolution esophageal manometry. We retrospectively reviewed reports of esophagrams performed at a tertiary referral center and identified patients in whom tertiary waves were observed and a high-resolution esophageal manometry had been performed. We defined two groups; group 1 was defined as patients with isolated tertiary waves, whereas group 2 had tertiary waves and evidence of achalasia or an obstructing structural abnormality on the esophagram. We collected data on demographics, dysphagia score, associated findings on esophagram, and need for intervention. We reviewed the reports of 2100 esophagrams of which tertiary waves were noted as an isolated abnormality in 92, and in association with achalasia or a structural obstruction in 61. High-resolution manometry was performed in 17 patients in group 1, and five had evidence of a significant esophageal motility disorder and 4 required any intervention. Twenty-one patients in group 2 underwent manometry, and 18 had a significant esophageal motility disorder. An isolated finding of tertiary waves on an esophagram is rarely associated with a significant esophageal motility disorder that requires intervention. All patients with isolated tertiary waves who required intervention had a dysphagia to liquids. Tertiary contractions, in the absence of dysphagia to liquids, indicate no significant esophageal motility disorder. © 2014 International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus.

  3. A cloud mask methodology for high resolution remote sensing data combining information from high and medium resolution optical sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sedano, Fernando; Kempeneers, Pieter; Strobl, Peter; Kucera, Jan; Vogt, Peter; Seebach, Lucia; San-Miguel-Ayanz, Jesús

    2011-09-01

    This study presents a novel cloud masking approach for high resolution remote sensing images in the context of land cover mapping. As an advantage to traditional methods, the approach does not rely on thermal bands and it is applicable to images from most high resolution earth observation remote sensing sensors. The methodology couples pixel-based seed identification and object-based region growing. The seed identification stage relies on pixel value comparison between high resolution images and cloud free composites at lower spatial resolution from almost simultaneously acquired dates. The methodology was tested taking SPOT4-HRVIR, SPOT5-HRG and IRS-LISS III as high resolution images and cloud free MODIS composites as reference images. The selected scenes included a wide range of cloud types and surface features. The resulting cloud masks were evaluated through visual comparison. They were also compared with ad-hoc independently generated cloud masks and with the automatic cloud cover assessment algorithm (ACCA). In general the results showed an agreement in detected clouds higher than 95% for clouds larger than 50 ha. The approach produced consistent results identifying and mapping clouds of different type and size over various land surfaces including natural vegetation, agriculture land, built-up areas, water bodies and snow.

  4. High Spatial Resolution Observations of Pores and the Formation of a Rudimentary Penumbra

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, G.; Xu, Y.; Wang, H.; Denker, C.

    2003-11-01

    We present high spatial resolution observation of small-scale magnetic activity in solar active region NOAA 9539. The observations were obtained on 2001 July 15 using the 65 cm vacuum reflector and 25 cm refractor of the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). The data sets include time series of speckle reconstructed continuum images at 5200 Å, Hα filtergrams (blue line wing, line center, and red line wing), and line-of-sight magnetograms. Two pores, separated by a light bridge, were located in the central part of NOAA 9539. The formation of penumbral filaments near the light bridge indicated a sudden change of the local magnetic field topology from almost vertical to strongly inclined magnetic fields, which allowed cool material previously suspended in a filament to stream downward. During the downward motion of the cool material, Hα Dopplergrams revealed twisted streamlines along the filament. Finally, there are several well-defined Hα brightenings, Ellerman bombs (EBs), occurred near the region where the downflow of materials fell in. The EBs reside near a magnetic inversion line and are stationary, as opposed to EBs associated with moving magnetic features. We also found that the horizontal flow field of the white-light images derived from local correlation tracking is different from the previous observations. The horizontal movements in the superpenumbrae of leading sunspot and the following sunspots are opposite.

  5. Assessment and application of AirMSPI high-resolution multiangle imaging photo-polarimetric observations for atmospheric correction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kalashnikova, O. V.; Xu, F.; Garay, M. J.; Seidel, F. C.; Diner, D. J.

    2016-02-01

    Water-leaving radiance comprises less than 10% of the signal measured from space, making correction for absorption and scattering by the intervening atmosphere imperative. Modern improvements have been developed in ocean color retrieval algorithms to handle absorbing aerosols such as urban particulates in coastal areas and transported desert dust over the open ocean. In addition, imperfect knowledge of the absorbing aerosol optical properties or their height distribution results in well-documented sources of error in the retrieved water leaving radiance. Multi-angle spectro-polarimetric measurements have been advocated as an additional tool to better understand and retrieve the aerosol properties needed for atmospheric correction for ocean color retrievals. The Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager-1 (AirMSPI-1) has been flying aboard the NASA ER-2 high altitude aircraft since October 2010. AirMSPI typically acquires observations of a target area at 9 view angles between ±67° at 10 m resolution. AirMSPI spectral channels are centered at 355, 380, 445, 470, 555, 660, and 865 nm, with 470, 660, and 865 reporting linear polarization. We have developed a retrieval code that employs a coupled Markov Chain (MC) and adding/doubling radiative transfer method for joint retrieval of aerosol properties and water leaving radiance from AirMSPI polarimetric observations. We tested prototype retrievals by comparing the retrieved aerosol concentration, size distribution, water-leaving radiance, and chlorophyll concentrations to values reported by the USC SeaPRISM AERONET-OC site off the coast of California. The retrieval then was applied to a variety of costal regions in California to evaluate variability in the water-leaving radiance under different atmospheric conditions. We will present results, and will discuss algorithm sensitivity and potential applications for future space-borne coastal monitoring.

  6. High-Resolution Ultrasound-Switchable Fluorescence Imaging in Centimeter-Deep Tissue Phantoms with High Signal-To-Noise Ratio and High Sensitivity via Novel Contrast Agents

    PubMed Central

    Cheng, Bingbing; Bandi, Venugopal; Wei, Ming-Yuan; Pei, Yanbo; D’Souza, Francis; Nguyen, Kytai T.; Hong, Yi; Yuan, Baohong

    2016-01-01

    For many years, investigators have sought after high-resolution fluorescence imaging in centimeter-deep tissue because many interesting in vivo phenomena—such as the presence of immune system cells, tumor angiogenesis, and metastasis—may be located deep in tissue. Previously, we developed a new imaging technique to achieve high spatial resolution in sub-centimeter deep tissue phantoms named continuous-wave ultrasound-switchable fluorescence (CW-USF). The principle is to use a focused ultrasound wave to externally and locally switch on and off the fluorophore emission from a small volume (close to ultrasound focal volume). By making improvements in three aspects of this technique: excellent near-infrared USF contrast agents, a sensitive frequency-domain USF imaging system, and an effective signal processing algorithm, for the first time this study has achieved high spatial resolution (~ 900 μm) in 3-centimeter-deep tissue phantoms with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and high sensitivity (3.4 picomoles of fluorophore in a volume of 68 nanoliters can be detected). We have achieved these results in both tissue-mimic phantoms and porcine muscle tissues. We have also demonstrated multi-color USF to image and distinguish two fluorophores with different wavelengths, which might be very useful for simultaneously imaging of multiple targets and observing their interactions in the future. This work has opened the door for future studies of high-resolution centimeter-deep tissue fluorescence imaging. PMID:27829050

  7. High resolution frequency to time domain transformations applied to the stepped carrier MRIS measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ardalan, Sasan H.

    1992-01-01

    Two narrow-band radar systems are developed for high resolution target range estimation in inhomogeneous media. They are reformulations of two presently existing systems such that high resolution target range estimates may be achieved despite the use of narrow bandwidth radar pulses. A double sideband suppressed carrier radar technique originally derived in 1962, and later abandoned due to its inability to accurately measure target range in the presence of an interfering reflection, is rederived to incorporate the presence of an interfering reflection. The new derivation shows that the interfering reflection causes a period perturbation in the measured phase response. A high resolution spectral estimation technique is used to extract the period of this perturbation leading to accurate target range estimates independent of the signal-to-interference ratio. A non-linear optimal signal processing algorithm is derived for a frequency-stepped continuous wave radar system. The resolution enhancement offered by optimal signal processing of the data over the conventional Fourier Transform technique is clearly demonstrated using measured radar data. A method for modeling plane wave propagation in inhomogeneous media based on transmission line theory is derived and studied. Several simulation results including measurement of non-uniform electron plasma densities that develop near the heat tiles of a space re-entry vehicle are presented which verify the validity of the model.

  8. Complex mean circulation over the inner shelf south of Martha's Vineyard revealed by observations and a high-resolution model

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Ganju, Neil K.; Lentz, Steven J.; Kirincich, Anthony R.; Farrar, J. Thomas

    2011-01-01

    Inner-shelf circulation is governed by the interaction between tides, baroclinic forcing, winds, waves, and frictional losses; the mean circulation ultimately governs exchange between the coast and ocean. In some cases, oscillatory tidal currents interact with bathymetric features to generate a tidally rectified flow. Recent observational and modeling efforts in an overlapping domain centered on the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO) provided an opportunity to investigate the spatial and temporal complexity of circulation on the inner shelf. ADCP and surface radar observations revealed a mean circulation pattern that was highly variable in the alongshore and cross-shore directions. Nested modeling incrementally improved representation of the mean circulation as grid resolution increased and indicated tidal rectification as the generation mechanism of a counter-clockwise gyre near the MVCO. The loss of model skill with decreasing resolution is attributed to insufficient representation of the bathymetric gradients (Δh/h), which is important for representing nonlinear interactions between currents and bathymetry. The modeled momentum balance was characterized by large spatial variability of the pressure gradient and horizontal advection terms over short distances, suggesting that observed inner-shelf momentum balances may be confounded. Given the available observational and modeling data, this work defines the spatially variable mean circulation and its formation mechanism—tidal rectification—and illustrates the importance of model resolution for resolving circulation and constituent exchange near the coast. The results of this study have implications for future observational and modeling studies near the MVCO and other inner-shelf locations with alongshore bathymetric variability.

  9. Effective resolution concepts for lidar observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Iarlori, M.; Madonna, F.; Rizi, V.; Trickl, T.; Amodeo, A.

    2015-12-01

    Since its establishment in 2000, EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar NETwork) has provided, through its database, quantitative aerosol properties, such as aerosol backscatter and aerosol extinction coefficients, the latter only for stations able to retrieve it independently (from Raman or high-spectral-resolution lidars). These coefficients are stored in terms of vertical profiles, and the EARLINET database also includes the details of the range resolution of the vertical profiles. In fact, the algorithms used in the lidar data analysis often alter the spectral content of the data, mainly acting as low-pass filters to reduce the high-frequency noise. Data filtering is described by the digital signal processing (DSP) theory as a convolution sum: each filtered signal output at a given range is the result of a linear combination of several signal input data samples (relative to different ranges from the lidar receiver), and this could be seen as a loss of range resolution of the output signal. Low-pass filtering always introduces distortions in the lidar profile shape. Thus, both the removal of high frequency, i.e., the removal of details up to a certain spatial extension, and the spatial distortion produce a reduction of the range resolution. This paper discusses the determination of the effective resolution (ERes) of the vertical profiles of aerosol properties retrieved from lidar data. Large attention has been dedicated to providing an assessment of the impact of low-pass filtering on the effective range resolution in the retrieval procedure.

  10. The Kepler Follow-up Observation Program. I. A Catalog of Companions to Kepler Stars from High-Resolution Imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Furlan, E.; Ciardi, D. R.; Everett, M. E.; Saylors, M.; Teske, J. K.; Horch, E. P.; Howell, S. B.; van Belle, G. T.; Hirsch, L. A.; Gautier, T. N., III; Adams, E. R.; Barrado, D.; Cartier, K. M. S.; Dressing, C. D.; Dupree, A. K.; Gilliland, R. L.; Lillo-Box, J.; Lucas, P. W.; Wang, J.

    2017-02-01

    We present results from high-resolution, optical to near-IR imaging of host stars of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs), identified in the original Kepler field. Part of the data were obtained under the Kepler imaging follow-up observation program over six years (2009-2015). Almost 90% of stars that are hosts to planet candidates or confirmed planets were observed. We combine measurements of companions to KOI host stars from different bands to create a comprehensive catalog of projected separations, position angles, and magnitude differences for all detected companion stars (some of which may not be bound). Our compilation includes 2297 companions around 1903 primary stars. From high-resolution imaging, we find that ˜10% (˜30%) of the observed stars have at least one companion detected within 1″ (4″). The true fraction of systems with close (≲4″) companions is larger than the observed one due to the limited sensitivities of the imaging data. We derive correction factors for planet radii caused by the dilution of the transit depth: assuming that planets orbit the primary stars or the brightest companion stars, the average correction factors are 1.06 and 3.09, respectively. The true effect of transit dilution lies in between these two cases and varies with each system. Applying these factors to planet radii decreases the number of KOI planets with radii smaller than 2 {R}\\oplus by ˜2%-23% and thus affects planet occurrence rates. This effect will also be important for the yield of small planets from future transit missions such as TESS.

  11. Image Quality in High-resolution and High-cadence Solar Imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Denker, C.; Dineva, E.; Balthasar, H.; Verma, M.; Kuckein, C.; Diercke, A.; González Manrique, S. J.

    2018-03-01

    Broad-band imaging and even imaging with a moderate bandpass (about 1 nm) provides a photon-rich environment, where frame selection (lucky imaging) becomes a helpful tool in image restoration, allowing us to perform a cost-benefit analysis on how to design observing sequences for imaging with high spatial resolution in combination with real-time correction provided by an adaptive optics (AO) system. This study presents high-cadence (160 Hz) G-band and blue continuum image sequences obtained with the High-resolution Fast Imager (HiFI) at the 1.5-meter GREGOR solar telescope, where the speckle-masking technique is used to restore images with nearly diffraction-limited resolution. The HiFI employs two synchronized large-format and high-cadence sCMOS detectors. The median filter gradient similarity (MFGS) image-quality metric is applied, among others, to AO-corrected image sequences of a pore and a small sunspot observed on 2017 June 4 and 5. A small region of interest, which was selected for fast-imaging performance, covered these contrast-rich features and their neighborhood, which were part of Active Region NOAA 12661. Modifications of the MFGS algorithm uncover the field- and structure-dependency of this image-quality metric. However, MFGS still remains a good choice for determining image quality without a priori knowledge, which is an important characteristic when classifying the huge number of high-resolution images contained in data archives. In addition, this investigation demonstrates that a fast cadence and millisecond exposure times are still insufficient to reach the coherence time of daytime seeing. Nonetheless, the analysis shows that data acquisition rates exceeding 50 Hz are required to capture a substantial fraction of the best seeing moments, significantly boosting the performance of post-facto image restoration.

  12. Microfabrication of High Resolution X-ray Magnetic Calorimeters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hsieh, Wen-Ting; Bandler, Simon R.; Kelly, Daniel P.; Porst, Jan P.; Rotzinger, Hannes; Seidel, George M.; Stevenson, Thomas R.

    2009-12-01

    Metallic magnetic calorimeter (MMC) is one of the most promising x-ray detector technologies for providing the very high energy resolution needed for future astronomical x-ray imaging spectroscopy. For this purpose, we have developed micro-fabricated 5×5 arrays of MMC of which each individual pixel has excellent energy resolution as good as 3.4 eV at 6 keV x-ray. Here we report on the fabrication techniques developed to achieve good resolution and high efficiency. These include: processing of a thin insulation layer for strong magnetic coupling between the AuEr sensor film and the niobium pick-up coil; production of overhanging absorbers for enhanced efficiency of x-ray absorption; fabrication on SiN membranes to minimize the effects on energy resolution from athermal phonon loss. We have also improved the deposition of the magnetic sensor film such that the film magnetization is nearly completely that is expected from the AuEr sputter target bulk material. In addition, we have included a study of a positional sensitive design, the Hydra design, which allows thermal coupling of four absorbers to a common MMC sensor and circuit.

  13. Scaling properties of Arctic sea ice deformation in high-resolution viscous-plastic sea ice models and satellite observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hutter, Nils; Losch, Martin; Menemenlis, Dimitris

    2017-04-01

    Sea ice models with the traditional viscous-plastic (VP) rheology and very high grid resolution can resolve leads and deformation rates that are localised along Linear Kinematic Features (LKF). In a 1-km pan-Arctic sea ice-ocean simulation, the small scale sea-ice deformations in the Central Arctic are evaluated with a scaling analysis in relation to satellite observations of the Envisat Geophysical Processor System (EGPS). A new coupled scaling analysis for data on Eulerian grids determines the spatial and the temporal scaling as well as the coupling between temporal and spatial scales. The spatial scaling of the modelled sea ice deformation implies multi-fractality. The spatial scaling is also coupled to temporal scales and varies realistically by region and season. The agreement of the spatial scaling and its coupling to temporal scales with satellite observations and models with the modern elasto-brittle rheology challenges previous results with VP models at coarse resolution where no such scaling was found. The temporal scaling analysis, however, shows that the VP model does not fully resolve the intermittency of sea ice deformation that is observed in satellite data.

  14. High resolution PFPE-based molding High resolution PFPE-based molding High resolution PFPE-based molding techniques for nanofabrication of high pattern density sub-20 nm features: A fundamental materials approach

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Williams, Stuart S; Samulski, Edward; Lopez, Renee

    2010-01-01

    ABSTRACT. Described herein is the development and investigation of PFPE-based elastomers for high resolution replica molding applications. The modulus of the elastomeric materials was increased through synthetic and additive approaches while maintaining relatively low surface energies (<25 mN/m). Using practically relevant large area master templates, we show that the resolution of the molds is strongly dependant upon the elastomeric mold modulus. A composite mold approach was used to form flexible molds out of stiff, high modulus materials that allow for replication of sub-20 nm post structures. Sub-100 nm line grating master templates, formed using e-beam lithography, were used to determinemore » the experimental stability of the molding materials. It was observed that as the feature spacing decreased, high modulus composite molds were able to effectively replicate the nano-grating structures without cracking or tear-out defects that typically occur with high modulus elastomers.« less

  15. High-resolution diffusion tensor imaging of the human kidneys using a free-breathing, multi-slice, targeted field of view approach

    PubMed Central

    Chan, Rachel W; Von Deuster, Constantin; Stoeck, Christian T; Harmer, Jack; Punwani, Shonit; Ramachandran, Navin; Kozerke, Sebastian; Atkinson, David

    2014-01-01

    Fractional anisotropy (FA) obtained by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can be used to image the kidneys without any contrast media. FA of the medulla has been shown to correlate with kidney function. It is expected that higher spatial resolution would improve the depiction of small structures within the kidney. However, the achievement of high spatial resolution in renal DTI remains challenging as a result of respiratory motion and susceptibility to diffusion imaging artefacts. In this study, a targeted field of view (TFOV) method was used to obtain high-resolution FA maps and colour-coded diffusion tensor orientations, together with measures of the medullary and cortical FA, in 12 healthy subjects. Subjects were scanned with two implementations (dual and single kidney) of a TFOV DTI method. DTI scans were performed during free breathing with a navigator-triggered sequence. Results showed high consistency in the greyscale FA, colour-coded FA and diffusion tensors across subjects and between dual- and single-kidney scans, which have in-plane voxel sizes of 2 × 2 mm2 and 1.2 × 1.2 mm2, respectively. The ability to acquire multiple contiguous slices allowed the medulla and cortical FA to be quantified over the entire kidney volume. The mean medulla and cortical FA values were 0.38 ± 0.017 and 0.21 ± 0.019, respectively, for the dual-kidney scan, and 0.35 ± 0.032 and 0.20 ± 0.014, respectively, for the single-kidney scan. The mean FA between the medulla and cortex was significantly different (p < 0.001) for both dual- and single-kidney implementations. High-spatial-resolution DTI shows promise for improving the characterization and non-invasive assessment of kidney function. © 2014 The Authors. NMR in Biomedicine published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. PMID:25219683

  16. High Resolution Rapid Response Observations of Compact Radio Sources with the Ceduna Hobart Interferometer (CHI)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Blanchard, Jay M.; Lovell, James E. J.; Ojha, Roopesh; Kadler, Matthias; Dickey, John M.; Edwards, Philip G.

    2011-01-01

    Context. Frequent, simultaneous observations across the electromagnetic spectrum are essential to the study of a range of astrophysical phenomena including Active Galactic Nuclei. A key tool of such studies is the ability to observe an object when it flares i.e. exhibits a rapid and significant increase in its flux density. Aims. We describe the specific observational procedures and the calibration techniques that have been developed and tested to create a single baseline radio interferometer. that can rapidly observe a flaring object. This is the only facility that is dedicated to rapid high resolution radio observations of an object south of -30 degrees declination. An immediate application is to provide rapid contemporaneous radio coverage of AGN flaring at y-ray frequencies detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Methods. A single baseline interferometer was formed with radio telescopes in Hobart, Tasmania and Ceduna, South Australia. A software correlator was set up at the University of Tasmania to correlate these data. Results. Measurements of the flux densities of flaring objects can be made using our observing strategy within half an hour of a triggering event. These observations can be calibrated with amplitude errors better than 20%. Lower limits to the brightness temperatures of the sources can also be calculated using CHI. Key words. instrumentation:interferometers - galaxies:active - galaxies:jets - galaxies:nuclei quasars:general gamma rays:galaxies- 1.

  17. Inference of Ice Cloud Properties from High-spectral Resolution Infrared Observations. Appendix 4

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Huang, Hung-Lung; Yang, Ping; Wei, Heli; Baum, Bryan A.; Hu, Yongxiang; Antonelli, Paolo; Ackerman, Steven A.

    2005-01-01

    The theoretical basis is explored for inferring the microphysical properties of ice crystal from high-spectral resolution infrared observations. A radiative transfer model is employed to simulate spectral radiances to address relevant issues. The extinction and absorption efficiencies of individual ice crystals, assumed as hexagonal columns for large particles and droxtals for small particles, are computed from a combination of the finite- difference time-domain (FDTD) technique and a composite method. The corresponding phase functions are computed from a combination of FDTD and an improved geometric optics method (IGOM). Bulk scattering properties are derived by averaging the single- scattering properties of individual particles for 30 particle size distributions developed from in situ measurements and for additional four analytical Gamma size distributions for small particles. The non-sphericity of ice crystals is shown to have a significant impact on the radiative signatures in the infrared (IR) spectrum; the spherical particle approximation for inferring ice cloud properties may result in an overest&ation of the optical thickness and an inaccurate retrieval of effective particle size. Furthermore, we show that the error associated with the use of the Henyey-Greenstein phase function can be as larger as 1 K in terms of brightness temperature for larger particle effective size at some strong scattering wavenumbers. For small particles, the difference between the two phase functions is much less, with brightness temperatures generally differing by less than 0.4 K. The simulations undertaken in this study show that the slope of the IR brightness temperature spectrum between 790-960/cm is sensitive to the effective particle size. Furthermore, a strong sensitivity of IR brightness temperature to cloud optical thickness is noted within the l050-1250/cm region. Based on this spectral feature, a technique is presented for the simultaneous retrieval of the visible

  18. Measurement Sets and Sites Commonly Used for High Spatial Resolution Image Product Characterization

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pagnutti, Mary

    2006-01-01

    Scientists within NASA's Applied Sciences Directorate have developed a well-characterized remote sensing Verification & Validation (V&V) site at the John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC). This site has enabled the in-flight characterization of satellite high spatial resolution remote sensing system products form Space Imaging IKONOS, Digital Globe QuickBird, and ORBIMAGE OrbView, as well as advanced multispectral airborne digital camera products. SSC utilizes engineered geodetic targets, edge targets, radiometric tarps, atmospheric monitoring equipment and their Instrument Validation Laboratory to characterize high spatial resolution remote sensing data products. This presentation describes the SSC characterization capabilities and techniques in the visible through near infrared spectrum and examples of calibration results.

  19. Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph Observations of Procyon and HR1099

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wood, Brian E.; Harper, Graham M.; Linsky, Jeffrey L.; Dempsey, Robert C.

    1996-01-01

    Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) observations have revealed the presence of broad wings in the transition-region lines of AU Mic and Capella. It has been proposed that these wings are signatures of microflares in the transition regions of these stars and that the solar analog for this phenomenon might be the 'transition region explosive events' discussed by Dere, Bartoe, & Brueckner. We have analyzed GHRS observations of Procyon (F5 IV-V) and HR 1099 (K1 IV + G5 IV) to search for broad wings in the UV emission lines of these stars. We find that the transition-region lines of HR 1099, which are emitted almost entirely by the K1 star, do indeed have broad wings that are even more prominent than those of AU Mic and Capella. This is consistent with the association of the broad wings with microflaring since HR 1099 is a very active binary system. In contrast, the transition-region lines of Procyon, a relatively inactive star, do not show evidence for broad wings, with the possible exception of N v lambda1239. However, Procyon's lines do appear to have excess emission in their blue wings. Linsky et al. found no evidence for broad wings in Capella's chromospheric lines, but we find that the Mg II resonance lines of HR 1099 do have broad wings. The striking resemblance between HR 1099's Mg II and C iv lines suggests that the Mg II line profiles may be regulated by turbulent processes similar to those that control the transition-region line profiles. If this is the case, microflaring may be occurring in the K1 star's chromosphere as well as in its transition region. However, radiative transfer calculations suggest that the broad wings of the Mg II lines can also result from normal chromospheric opacity effects rather than pure turbulence. The prominence of broad wings in the transition region and perhaps even chromospheric lines of active stars suggests that microflaring is very prevalent in the outer atmospheres of active stars.

  20. Quadruplex MAPH: improvement of throughput in high-resolution copy number screening

    PubMed Central

    Tyson, Jess; Majerus, Tamsin MO; Walker, Susan; Armour, John AL

    2009-01-01

    Background Copy number variation (CNV) in the human genome is recognised as a widespread and important source of human genetic variation. Now the challenge is to screen for these CNVs at high resolution in a reliable, accurate and cost-effective way. Results Multiplex Amplifiable Probe Hybridisation (MAPH) is a sensitive, high-resolution technology appropriate for screening for CNVs in a defined region, for a targeted population. We have developed MAPH to a highly multiplexed format ("QuadMAPH") that allows the user a four-fold increase in the number of loci tested simultaneously. We have used this method to analyse a genomic region of 210 kb, including the MSH2 gene and 120 kb of flanking DNA. We show that the QuadMAPH probes report copy number with equivalent accuracy to simplex MAPH, reliably demonstrating diploid copy number in control samples and accurately detecting deletions in Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC) samples. Conclusion QuadMAPH is an accurate, high-resolution method that allows targeted screening of large numbers of subjects without the expense of genome-wide approaches. Whilst we have applied this technique to a region of the human genome, it is equally applicable to the genomes of other organisms. PMID:19785739

  1. A normal incidence, high resolution X-ray telescope for solar coronal observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Golub, L.

    1984-01-01

    A Normal Incidence high resolution X-ray Telescope is reported. The design of a telescope assembly which, after fabrication, will be integrated with the mirror fabrication process is described. The assembly is engineered to fit into the Black Brant rocket skin to survive sounding rocket launch conditions. A flight ready camera is modified and tested.

  2. Simultaneous observations of structure function parameter of refractive index using a high-resolution radar and the DataHawk small airborne measurement system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scipión, Danny E.; Lawrence, Dale A.; Milla, Marco A.; Woodman, Ronald F.; Lume, Diego A.; Balsley, Ben B.

    2016-09-01

    The SOUSY (SOUnding SYstem) radar was relocated to the Jicamarca Radio Observatory (JRO) near Lima, Peru, in 2000, where the radar controller and acquisition system were upgraded with state-of-the-art parts to take full advantage of its potential for high-resolution atmospheric sounding. Due to its broad bandwidth (4 MHz), it is able to characterize clear-air backscattering with high range resolution (37.5 m). A campaign conducted at JRO in July 2014 aimed to characterize the lower troposphere with a high temporal resolution (8.1 Hz) using the DataHawk (DH) small unmanned aircraft system, which provides in situ atmospheric measurements at scales as small as 1 m in the lower troposphere and can be GPS-guided to obtain measurements within the beam of the radar. This was a unique opportunity to make coincident observations by both systems and to directly compare their in situ and remotely sensed parameters. Because SOUSY only points vertically, it is only possible to retrieve vertical radar profiles caused by changes in the refractive index within the resolution volume. Turbulent variations due to scattering are described by the structure function parameter of refractive index Cn2. Profiles of Cn2 from the DH are obtained by combining pressure, temperature, and relative humidity measurements along the helical trajectory and integrated at the same scale as the radar range resolution. Excellent agreement is observed between the Cn2 estimates obtained from the DH and SOUSY in the overlapping measurement regime from 1200 m up to 4200 m above sea level, and this correspondence provides the first accurate calibration of the SOUSY radar for measuring Cn2.

  3. High-Resolution Spectroscopic Observations of Potassium Emissions in the Lunar Exosphere

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Robertson, Sarena D.; Oliversen, Ronald J.; Mierkiewicz, Edwin J.; Kuruppuaratchi, Dona Chathuni P.; Derr, Nicholas James; Gallant, Margaret A.; McFarland, Christina G.; Sarantos, Menelaos

    2018-01-01

    We investigate lunar exospheric potassium D1 emissions (7698.9646 Å) using high-resolution (R = 180,000 or 1.7 km/s) spectroscopy with our dual-etalon Fabry-Perot instrument to measure line widths and radial velocities. The Field of View (FOV) is 2 arcmins (~224 km at the mean lunar distance of 384,400 km) positioned tangent to the sunlit limb. The FOV placements are at cardinal directions from a variety of reference craters. All observations are collected at the National Solar Observatory McMath-Pierce Telescope in Kitt Peak, Arizona. The data are from several observations from 2014 through 2017 at various times of the year. Results are produced via a newly created automated data reduction using Python. Python was chosen as an open-source alternative to the previously used IDL and MATLAB scripts to decrease the cost of software licenses and maintenance. The potassium spectral line profiles provide a direct method to track exospheric effective temperatures and velocities. By monitoring the state of the potassium emissions over different lunar phases, solar activity, and the influx of meteor streams, we can constrain physical processes of sources and sinks at the lunar surface. Mechanisms that create the exosphere include photon-stimulated desorption, thermal evaporation, meteoroid impact vaporization, and ion sputtering via solar wind. In contrast, the exosphere is diminished due to the low lunar escape velocity, solar radiation pressure, and neutral gas being ionized and swept away by the interplanetary and terrestrial magnetic field. Preliminary analysis of 2017 data (January through June, excluding February) indicates an average potassium temperature of 1140 K but varying over the range of 550 K to 2000 K. Preliminary results from 2014 data depict a similar range of temperatures to that of 2017. Further analysis is expected for additional data from 2014 to later observations in 2017 that were not included in the initial set of models.

  4. Photonics-based real-time ultra-high-range-resolution radar with broadband signal generation and processing.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Fangzheng; Guo, Qingshui; Pan, Shilong

    2017-10-23

    Real-time and high-resolution target detection is highly desirable in modern radar applications. Electronic techniques have encountered grave difficulties in the development of such radars, which strictly rely on a large instantaneous bandwidth. In this article, a photonics-based real-time high-range-resolution radar is proposed with optical generation and processing of broadband linear frequency modulation (LFM) signals. A broadband LFM signal is generated in the transmitter by photonic frequency quadrupling, and the received echo is de-chirped to a low frequency signal by photonic frequency mixing. The system can operate at a high frequency and a large bandwidth while enabling real-time processing by low-speed analog-to-digital conversion and digital signal processing. A conceptual radar is established. Real-time processing of an 8-GHz LFM signal is achieved with a sampling rate of 500 MSa/s. Accurate distance measurement is implemented with a maximum error of 4 mm within a range of ~3.5 meters. Detection of two targets is demonstrated with a range-resolution as high as 1.875 cm. We believe the proposed radar architecture is a reliable solution to overcome the limitations of current radar on operation bandwidth and processing speed, and it is hopefully to be used in future radars for real-time and high-resolution target detection and imaging.

  5. A manifold learning approach to target detection in high-resolution hyperspectral imagery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ziemann, Amanda K.

    Imagery collected from airborne platforms and satellites provide an important medium for remotely analyzing the content in a scene. In particular, the ability to detect a specific material within a scene is of high importance to both civilian and defense applications. This may include identifying "targets" such as vehicles, buildings, or boats. Sensors that process hyperspectral images provide the high-dimensional spectral information necessary to perform such analyses. However, for a d-dimensional hyperspectral image, it is typical for the data to inherently occupy an m-dimensional space, with m << d. In the remote sensing community, this has led to a recent increase in the use of manifold learning, which aims to characterize the embedded lower-dimensional, non-linear manifold upon which the hyperspectral data inherently lie. Classic hyperspectral data models include statistical, linear subspace, and linear mixture models, but these can place restrictive assumptions on the distribution of the data; this is particularly true when implementing traditional target detection approaches, and the limitations of these models are well-documented. With manifold learning based approaches, the only assumption is that the data reside on an underlying manifold that can be discretely modeled by a graph. The research presented here focuses on the use of graph theory and manifold learning in hyperspectral imagery. Early work explored various graph-building techniques with application to the background model of the Topological Anomaly Detection (TAD) algorithm, which is a graph theory based approach to anomaly detection. This led towards a focus on target detection, and in the development of a specific graph-based model of the data and subsequent dimensionality reduction using manifold learning. An adaptive graph is built on the data, and then used to implement an adaptive version of locally linear embedding (LLE). We artificially induce a target manifold and incorporate it into

  6. Smoke Dispersion Modeling Over Complex Terrain Using High-Resolution Meteorological Data and Satellite Observations: The FireHub Platform

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Solomos, S.; Amiridis, V.; Zanis, P.; Gerasopoulos, E.; Sofiou, F. I.; Herekakis, T.; Brioude, J.; Stohl, A.; Kahn, R. A.; Kontoes, C.

    2015-01-01

    A total number of 20,212 fire hot spots were recorded by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite instrument over Greece during the period 2002e2013. The Fire Radiative Power (FRP) of these events ranged from 10 up to 6000 MW at 1 km resolution, and many of these fire episodes resulted in long-range transport of smoke over distances up to several hundred kilometers. Three different smoke episodes over Greece are analyzed here using real time hot-spot observations from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) satellite instrument as well as from MODIS hot-spots. Simulations of smoke dispersion are performed with the FLEXPART-WRF model and particulate matter emissions are calculated directly from the observed FRP. The modeled smoke plumes are compared with smoke stereo-heights from the Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) instrument and the sensitivities to atmospheric and modeling parameters are examined. Driving the simulations with high resolution meteorology (4 4 km) and using geostationary satellite data to identify the hot spots allows the description of local scale features that govern smoke dispersion. The long-range transport of smoke is found to be favored over the complex coastline environment of Greece due to the abrupt changes between land and marine planetary boundary layers (PBL) and the decoupling of smoke layers from the surface.

  7. Constraining Stochastic Parametrisation Schemes Using High-Resolution Model Simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Christensen, H. M.; Dawson, A.; Palmer, T.

    2017-12-01

    Stochastic parametrisations are used in weather and climate models as a physically motivated way to represent model error due to unresolved processes. Designing new stochastic schemes has been the target of much innovative research over the last decade. While a focus has been on developing physically motivated approaches, many successful stochastic parametrisation schemes are very simple, such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) multiplicative scheme `Stochastically Perturbed Parametrisation Tendencies' (SPPT). The SPPT scheme improves the skill of probabilistic weather and seasonal forecasts, and so is widely used. However, little work has focused on assessing the physical basis of the SPPT scheme. We address this matter by using high-resolution model simulations to explicitly measure the `error' in the parametrised tendency that SPPT seeks to represent. The high resolution simulations are first coarse-grained to the desired forecast model resolution before they are used to produce initial conditions and forcing data needed to drive the ECMWF Single Column Model (SCM). By comparing SCM forecast tendencies with the evolution of the high resolution model, we can measure the `error' in the forecast tendencies. In this way, we provide justification for the multiplicative nature of SPPT, and for the temporal and spatial scales of the stochastic perturbations. However, we also identify issues with the SPPT scheme. It is therefore hoped these measurements will improve both holistic and process based approaches to stochastic parametrisation. Figure caption: Instantaneous snapshot of the optimal SPPT stochastic perturbation, derived by comparing high-resolution simulations with a low resolution forecast model.

  8. Structural anomalies in undoped Gallium Arsenide observed in high resolution diffraction imaging with monochromatic synchrotron radiation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Steiner, B.; Kuriyama, M.; Dobbyn, R. C.; Laor, U.; Larson, D.; Brown, M.

    1988-01-01

    Novel, streak-like disruption features restricted to the plane of diffraction have recently been observed in images obtained by synchrotron radiation diffraction from undoped, semi-insulating gallium arsenide crystals. These features were identified as ensembles of very thin platelets or interfaces lying in (110) planes, and a structural model consisting of antiphase domain boundaries was proposed. We report here the other principal features observed in high resolution monochromatic synchrotron radiation diffraction images: (quasi) cellular structure; linear, very low-angle subgrain boundaries in (110) directions, and surface stripes in a (110) direction. In addition, we report systematic differences in the acceptance angle for images involving various diffraction vectors. When these observations are considered together, a unifying picture emerges. The presence of ensembles of thin (110) antiphase platelet regions or boundaries is generally consistent not only with the streak-like diffraction features but with the other features reported here as well. For the formation of such regions we propose two mechanisms, operating in parallel, that appear to be consistent with the various defect features observed by a variety of techniques.

  9. Structural anomalies in undoped gallium arsenide observed in high-resolution diffraction imaging with monochromatic synchrotron radiation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Steiner, B.; Kuriyama, M.; Dobbyn, R. C.; Laor, U.; Larson, D.

    1989-01-01

    Novel, streak-like disruption features restricted to the plane of diffraction have recently been observed in images obtained by synchrotron radiation diffraction from undoped, semi-insulating gallium arsenide crystals. These features were identified as ensembles of very thin platelets or interfaces lying in (110) planes, and a structural model consisting of antiphase domain boundaries was proposed. We report here the other principal features observed in high resolution monochromatic synchrotron radiation diffraction images: (quasi) cellular structure; linear, very low-angle subgrain boundaries in (110) directions, and surface stripes in a (110) direction. In addition, we report systematic differences in the acceptance angle for images involving various diffraction vectors. When these observations are considered together, a unifying picture emerges. The presence of ensembles of thin (110) antiphase platelet regions or boundaries is generally consistent not only with the streak-like diffraction features but with the other features reported here as well. For the formation of such regions we propose two mechanisms, operating in parallel, that appear to be consistent with the various defect features observed by a variety of techniques.

  10. High-resolution regional climate model evaluation using variable-resolution CESM over California

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, X.; Rhoades, A.; Ullrich, P. A.; Zarzycki, C. M.

    2015-12-01

    Understanding the effect of climate change at regional scales remains a topic of intensive research. Though computational constraints remain a problem, high horizontal resolution is needed to represent topographic forcing, which is a significant driver of local climate variability. Although regional climate models (RCMs) have traditionally been used at these scales, variable-resolution global climate models (VRGCMs) have recently arisen as an alternative for studying regional weather and climate allowing two-way interaction between these domains without the need for nudging. In this study, the recently developed variable-resolution option within the Community Earth System Model (CESM) is assessed for long-term regional climate modeling over California. Our variable-resolution simulations will focus on relatively high resolutions for climate assessment, namely 28km and 14km regional resolution, which are much more typical for dynamically downscaled studies. For comparison with the more widely used RCM method, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model will be used for simulations at 27km and 9km. All simulations use the AMIP (Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project) protocols. The time period is from 1979-01-01 to 2005-12-31 (UTC), and year 1979 was discarded as spin up time. The mean climatology across California's diverse climate zones, including temperature and precipitation, is analyzed and contrasted with the Weather Research and Forcasting (WRF) model (as a traditional RCM), regional reanalysis, gridded observational datasets and uniform high-resolution CESM at 0.25 degree with the finite volume (FV) dynamical core. The results show that variable-resolution CESM is competitive in representing regional climatology on both annual and seasonal time scales. This assessment adds value to the use of VRGCMs for projecting climate change over the coming century and improve our understanding of both past and future regional climate related to fine

  11. High-Resolution Multibeam Sonar Survey and Interactive 3-D Exploration of the D-Day Wrecks off Normandy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mayer, L. A.; Calder, B.; Schmidt, J. S.

    2003-12-01

    Historically, archaeological investigations use sidescan sonar and marine magnetometers as initial search tools. Targets are then examined through direct observation by divers, video, or photographs. Magnetometers can demonstrate the presence, absence, and relative susceptibility of ferrous objects but provide little indication of the nature of the target. Sidescan sonar can present a clear image of the overall nature of a target and its surrounding environment, but the sidescan image is often distorted and contains little information about the true 3-D shape of the object. Optical techniques allow precise identification of objects but suffer from very limited range, even in the best of situations. Modern high-resolution multibeam sonar offers an opportunity to cover a relatively large area from a safe distance above the target, while resolving the true three-dimensional (3-D) shape of the object with centimeter-level resolution. The combination of 3-D mapping and interactive 3-D visualization techniques provides a powerful new means to explore underwater artifacts. A clear demonstration of the applicability of high-resolution multibeam sonar to wreck and artifact investigations occurred when the Naval Historical Center (NHC), the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (CCOM) at the University of New Hampshire, and Reson Inc., collaborated to explore the state of preservation and impact on the surrounding environment of a series of wrecks located off the coast of Normandy, France, adjacent to the American landing sectors The survey augmented previously collected magnetometer and high-resolution sidescan sonar data using a Reson 8125 high-resolution focused multibeam sonar with 240, 0.5° (at nadir) beams distributed over a 120° swath. The team investigated 21 areas in water depths ranging from about three -to 30 meters (m); some areas contained individual targets such as landing craft, barges, a destroyer, troop carrier, etc., while others contained multiple smaller

  12. Investigation of the Chromosphere-Corona Interface with the Upgraded Very High Angular Resolution Ultraviolet Telescope (VAULT2.0)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vourlidas, Angelos; Beltran, Samuel Tun; Chintzoglou, Georgios; Eisenhower, Kevin; Korendyke, Clarence; Feldman, Ronen; Moser, John; Shea, John; Johnson-Rambert, Mary; McMullin, Don; Stenborg, Guillermo; Shepler, Ed; Roberts, David

    2016-03-01

    Very high angular resolution ultraviolet telescope (VAULT2.0) is a Lyman-alpha (Lyα; 1216Å) spectroheliograph designed to observe the upper chromospheric region of the solar atmosphere with high spatial (<0.5‧‧) and temporal (8s) resolution. Besides being the brightest line in the solar spectrum, Lyα emission arises at the temperature interface between coronal and chromospheric plasmas and may, hence, hold important clues about the transfer of mass and energy to the solar corona. VAULT2.0 is an upgrade of the previously flown VAULT rocket and was launched successfully on September 30, 2014 from White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). The target was AR12172 midway toward the southwestern limb. We obtained 33 images at 8s cadence at arc second resolution due to hardware problems. The science campaign was a resounding success, with all space and ground-based instruments obtaining high-resolution data at the same location within the AR. We discuss the science rationale, instrument upgrades, and performance during the first flight and present some preliminary science results.

  13. High resolution observations of small-scale gravity waves and turbulence features in the OH airglow layer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sedlak, René; Hannawald, Patrick; Schmidt, Carsten; Wüst, Sabine; Bittner, Michael

    2017-04-01

    A new version of the Fast Airglow Imager (FAIM) for the detection of atmospheric waves in the OH airglow layer has been set up at the German Remote Sensing Data Centre (DFD) of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) at Oberpfaffenhofen (48.09 ° N, 11.28 ° E), Germany. The spatial resolution of the instrument is 17 m/pixel in zenith direction with a field of view (FOV) of 11.1 km x 9.0 km at the OH layer height of ca. 87 km. Since November 2015, the system has been in operation in two different setups (zenith angles 46 ° and 0 °) with a temporal resolution of 2.5 to 2.8 s. In a first case study we present observations of two small wave-like features that might be attributed to gravity wave instabilities. In order to spectrally analyse harmonic structures even on small spatial scales down to 550 m horizontal wavelength, we made use of the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) since this method exhibits an excellent wavelength resolution. MEM further allows analysing relatively short data series, which considerably helps to reduce problems such as stationarity of the underlying data series from a statistical point of view. We present an observation of the subsequent decay of well-organized wave fronts into eddies, which we tentatively interpret in terms of an indication for the onset of turbulence. Another remarkable event which demonstrates the technical capabilities of the instrument was observed during the night of 4th to 5th April 2016. It reveals the disintegration of a rather homogenous brightness variation into several filaments moving in different directions and with different speeds. It resembles the formation of a vortex with a horizontal axis of rotation likely related to a vertical wind shear. This case shows a notable similarity to what is expected from theoretical modelling of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities (KHIs). The comparatively high spatial resolution of the presented new version of the FAIM airglow imager provides new insights into the structure of

  14. The high-resolution regional reanalysis COSMO-REA6

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ohlwein, C.

    2016-12-01

    Reanalyses gain more and more importance as a source of meteorological information for many purposes and applications. Several global reanalyses projects (e.g., ERA, MERRA, CSFR, JMA9) produce and verify these data sets to provide time series as long as possible combined with a high data quality. Due to a spatial resolution down to 50-70km and 3-hourly temporal output, they are not suitable for small scale problems (e.g., regional climate assessment, meso-scale NWP verification, input for subsequent models such as river runoff simulations). The implementation of regional reanalyses based on a limited area model along with a data assimilation scheme is able to generate reanalysis data sets with high spatio-temporal resolution. Within the Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research (HErZ), the climate monitoring branch concentrates efforts on the assessment and analysis of regional climate in Germany and Europe. In joint cooperation with DWD (German Meteorological Service), a high-resolution reanalysis system based on the COSMO model has been developed. The regional reanalysis for Europe matches the domain of the CORDEX EURO-11 specifications, albeit at a higher spatial resolution, i.e., 0.055° (6km) instead of 0.11° (12km) and comprises the assimilation of observational data using the existing nudging scheme of COSMO complemented by a special soil moisture analysis with boundary conditions provided by ERA-Interim data. The reanalysis data set covers the past 20 years. Extensive evaluation of the reanalysis is performed using independent observations with special emphasis on precipitation and high-impact weather situations indicating a better representation of small scale variability. Further, the evaluation shows an added value of the regional reanalysis with respect to the forcing ERA Interim reanalysis and compared to a pure high-resolution dynamical downscaling approach without data assimilation.

  15. Advancements in medium and high resolution Earth observation for land-surface imaging: Evolutions, future trends and contributions to sustainable development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ouma, Yashon O.

    2016-01-01

    Technologies for imaging the surface of the Earth, through satellite based Earth observations (EO) have enormously evolved over the past 50 years. The trends are likely to evolve further as the user community increases and their awareness and demands for EO data also increases. In this review paper, a development trend on EO imaging systems is presented with the objective of deriving the evolving patterns for the EO user community. From the review and analysis of medium-to-high resolution EO-based land-surface sensor missions, it is observed that there is a predictive pattern in the EO evolution trends such that every 10-15 years, more sophisticated EO imaging systems with application specific capabilities are seen to emerge. Such new systems, as determined in this review, are likely to comprise of agile and small payload-mass EO land surface imaging satellites with the ability for high velocity data transmission and huge volumes of spatial, spectral, temporal and radiometric resolution data. This availability of data will magnify the phenomenon of ;Big Data; in Earth observation. Because of the ;Big Data; issue, new computing and processing platforms such as telegeoprocessing and grid-computing are expected to be incorporated in EO data processing and distribution networks. In general, it is observed that the demand for EO is growing exponentially as the application and cost-benefits are being recognized in support of resource management.

  16. High-resolution station-based diurnal ionospheric total electron content (TEC) from dual-frequency GPS observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    ćepni, Murat S.; Potts, Laramie V.; Miima, John B.

    2013-09-01

    electron content (TEC) estimates derived from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal delays provide a rich source of information about the Earth's ionosphere. Networks of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers data can be used to represent the ionosphere by a Global Ionospheric Map (GIM). Data input for GIMs is dual-frequency GNSS-only or a mixture of GNSS and altimetry observations. Parameterization of GNSS-only GIMs approaches the ionosphere as a single-layer model (SLM) to determine GPS TEC models over a region. Limitations in GNSS-only GIM TEC are due largely to the nonhomogenous global distribution of GPS tracking stations with large data gaps over the oceans. The utility of slant GPS ionospheric-induced path delays for high temporal resolution from a single-station data rate offers better representation of TEC over a small region. A station-based vertical TEC (TECV) approach modifies the traditional single-layer model (SLM) GPS TEC method by introducing a zenith angle weighting (ZAW) filter to capture signal delays from mostly near-zenith satellite passes. Comparison with GIMs shows the station-dependent TEC (SD-TEC) model exhibits robust performance under variable space weather conditions. The SD-TEC model was applied to investigate ionospheric TEC variability during the geomagnetic storm event of 9 March 2012 at midlatitude station NJJJ located in New Jersey, USA. The high temporal resolution TEC results suggest TEC production and loss rate differences before, during, and after the storm.

  17. A method for generating high resolution satellite image time series

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Tao

    2014-10-01

    There is an increasing demand for satellite remote sensing data with both high spatial and temporal resolution in many applications. But it still is a challenge to simultaneously improve spatial resolution and temporal frequency due to the technical limits of current satellite observation systems. To this end, much R&D efforts have been ongoing for years and lead to some successes roughly in two aspects, one includes super resolution, pan-sharpen etc. methods which can effectively enhance the spatial resolution and generate good visual effects, but hardly preserve spectral signatures and result in inadequate analytical value, on the other hand, time interpolation is a straight forward method to increase temporal frequency, however it increase little informative contents in fact. In this paper we presented a novel method to simulate high resolution time series data by combing low resolution time series data and a very small number of high resolution data only. Our method starts with a pair of high and low resolution data set, and then a spatial registration is done by introducing LDA model to map high and low resolution pixels correspondingly. Afterwards, temporal change information is captured through a comparison of low resolution time series data, and then projected onto the high resolution data plane and assigned to each high resolution pixel according to the predefined temporal change patterns of each type of ground objects. Finally the simulated high resolution data is generated. A preliminary experiment shows that our method can simulate a high resolution data with a reasonable accuracy. The contribution of our method is to enable timely monitoring of temporal changes through analysis of time sequence of low resolution images only, and usage of costly high resolution data can be reduces as much as possible, and it presents a highly effective way to build up an economically operational monitoring solution for agriculture, forest, land use investigation

  18. Improved SOT (Hinode mission) high resolution solar imaging observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goodarzi, H.; Koutchmy, S.; Adjabshirizadeh, A.

    2015-08-01

    We consider the best today available observations of the Sun free of turbulent Earth atmospheric effects, taken with the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard the Hinode spacecraft. Both the instrumental smearing and the observed stray light are analyzed in order to improve the resolution. The Point Spread Function (PSF) corresponding to the blue continuum Broadband Filter Imager (BFI) near 450 nm is deduced by analyzing (i) the limb of the Sun and (ii) images taken during the transit of the planet Venus in 2012. A combination of Gaussian and Lorentzian functions is selected to construct a PSF in order to remove both smearing due to the instrumental diffraction effects (PSF core) and the large-angle stray light due to the spiders and central obscuration (wings of the PSF) that are responsible for the parasitic stray light. A Max-likelihood deconvolution procedure based on an optimum number of iterations is discussed. It is applied to several solar field images, including the granulation near the limb. The normal non-magnetic granulation is compared to the abnormal granulation which we call magnetic. A new feature appearing for the first time at the extreme- limb of the disk (the last 100 km) is discussed in the context of the definition of the solar edge and of the solar diameter. A single sunspot is considered in order to illustrate how effectively the restoration works on the sunspot core. A set of 125 consecutive deconvolved images is assembled in a 45 min long movie illustrating the complexity of the dynamical behavior inside and around the sunspot.

  19. Three-dimensional estimates of tree canopies: Scaling from high-resolution UAV data to satellite observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sankey, T.; Donald, J.; McVay, J.

    2015-12-01

    High resolution remote sensing images and datasets are typically acquired at a large cost, which poses big a challenge for many scientists. Northern Arizona University recently acquired a custom-engineered, cutting-edge UAV and we can now generate our own images with the instrument. The UAV has a unique capability to carry a large payload including a hyperspectral sensor, which images the Earth surface in over 350 spectral bands at 5 cm resolution, and a lidar scanner, which images the land surface and vegetation in 3-dimensions. Both sensors represent the newest available technology with very high resolution, precision, and accuracy. Using the UAV sensors, we are monitoring the effects of regional forest restoration treatment efforts. Individual tree canopy width and height are measured in the field and via the UAV sensors. The high-resolution UAV images are then used to segment individual tree canopies and to derive 3-dimensional estimates. The UAV image-derived variables are then correlated to the field-based measurements and scaled to satellite-derived tree canopy measurements. The relationships between the field-based and UAV-derived estimates are then extrapolated to a larger area to scale the tree canopy dimensions and to estimate tree density within restored and control forest sites.

  20. Construction of a High Temporal-spectral Resolution Spectrometer for Detection of Fast Transients from Observations of the Sun at 1.4 GHz.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Casillas-Perez, G. A.; Jeyakumar, S.; Perez-Enriquez, R.

    2014-12-01

    Transients explosive events with time durations from nanoseconds to several hours, are observed in the Sun at high energy bands such as gamma ray and xray. In the radio band, several types of radio bursts are commonly detected from the ground. A few observations of the Sun in the past have also detected a new class of fast transients which are known to have short-live electromagnetic emissions with durations less than 100 ms. The mechanisms that produce such fast transiets remain unclear. Observations of such fast transients over a wide bandwidth is necessary to uderstand the underlying physical process that produce such fast transients. Due to their very large flux densities, fast radio transients can be observed at high time resolution using small antennas in combination with digital signal processing techniques. In this work we report the progress of an spectrometer that is currently in construction at the Observatorio de la Luz of the Universidad de Guanajuato. The instrument which will have the purpose of detecting solar fast radio transients, involves the use of digital devices such as FPGA and ADC cards, in addition with a receiver with high temporal-spectral resolution centered at 1.4 GHz and a pair of 2.3 m satellite dish.

  1. The High Resolution Chandra X-Ray Spectrum of 3C273

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fruscione, Antonella; Lavoie, Anthony (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    The bright quasar 3C273 was observed by Chandra in January 2000 for 120 ksec as a calibration target. It was observed with all detector- plus-grating combinations (ACIS+HETG, ACIS+LETG, and HRC+LETG) yielding an X-ray spectrum across the entire 0.1-10 keV band with unprecedented spectral resolution. At about 10 arcsec from the nucleus, an X-ray jet is also clearly visible and resolved in the Oth order images. While the jet is much fainter than the nuclear source, the Chandra spatial resolution allows, for the first time, spectral analysis of both components separately. We will present detailed spectral analysis with particular emphasis on possible absorption features and comparison with simultaneous BeppoSAX data.

  2. SOUTHERN MASSIVE STARS AT HIGH ANGULAR RESOLUTION: OBSERVATIONAL CAMPAIGN AND COMPANION DETECTION

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sana, H.; Le Bouquin, J.-B.; Duvert, G.

    2014-11-01

    Multiplicity is one of the most fundamental observable properties of massive O-type stars and offers a promising way to discriminate between massive star formation theories. Nevertheless, companions at separations between 1 and 100 milliarcsec (mas) remain mostly unknown due to intrinsic observational limitations. At a typical distance of 2 kpc, this corresponds to projected physical separations of 2-200 AU. The Southern MAssive Stars at High angular resolution survey (SMaSH+) was designed to fill this gap by providing the first systematic interferometric survey of Galactic massive stars. We observed 117 O-type stars with VLTI/PIONIER and 162 O-type stars with NACO/Sparse Aperturemore » Masking (SAM), probing the separation ranges 1-45 and 30-250 mas and brightness contrasts of ΔH < 4 and ΔH < 5, respectively. Taking advantage of NACO's field of view, we further uniformly searched for visual companions in an 8'' radius down to ΔH = 8. This paper describes observations and data analysis, reports the discovery of almost 200 new companions in the separation range from 1 mas to 8'' and presents a catalog of detections, including the first resolved measurements of over a dozen known long-period spectroscopic binaries. Excluding known runaway stars for which no companions are detected, 96 objects in our main sample (δ < 0°; H < 7.5) were observed both with PIONIER and NACO/SAM. The fraction of these stars with at least one resolved companion within 200 mas is 0.53. Accounting for known but unresolved spectroscopic or eclipsing companions, the multiplicity fraction at separation ρ < 8'' increases to f {sub m} = 0.91 ± 0.03. The fraction of luminosity class V stars that have a bound companion reaches 100% at 30 mas while their average number of physically connected companions within 8'' is f {sub c} = 2.2 ± 0.3. This demonstrates that massive stars form nearly exclusively in multiple systems. The nine non-thermal radio emitters observed by SMaSH+ are all resolved

  3. O-space with high resolution readouts outperforms radial imaging.

    PubMed

    Wang, Haifeng; Tam, Leo; Kopanoglu, Emre; Peters, Dana C; Constable, R Todd; Galiana, Gigi

    2017-04-01

    While O-Space imaging is well known to accelerate image acquisition beyond traditional Cartesian sampling, its advantages compared to undersampled radial imaging, the linear trajectory most akin to O-Space imaging, have not been detailed. In addition, previous studies have focused on ultrafast imaging with very high acceleration factors and relatively low resolution. The purpose of this work is to directly compare O-Space and radial imaging in their potential to deliver highly undersampled images of high resolution and minimal artifacts, as needed for diagnostic applications. We report that the greatest advantages to O-Space imaging are observed with extended data acquisition readouts. A sampling strategy that uses high resolution readouts is presented and applied to compare the potential of radial and O-Space sequences to generate high resolution images at high undersampling factors. Simulations and phantom studies were performed to investigate whether use of extended readout windows in O-Space imaging would increase k-space sampling and improve image quality, compared to radial imaging. Experimental O-Space images acquired with high resolution readouts show fewer artifacts and greater sharpness than radial imaging with equivalent scan parameters. Radial images taken with longer readouts show stronger undersampling artifacts, which can cause small or subtle image features to disappear. These features are preserved in a comparable O-Space image. High resolution O-Space imaging yields highly undersampled images of high resolution and minimal artifacts. The additional nonlinear gradient field improves image quality beyond conventional radial imaging. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. The Track of Brain Activity during the Observation of TV Commercials with the High-Resolution EEG Technology

    PubMed Central

    Astolfi, Laura; Vecchiato, Giovanni; De Vico Fallani, Fabrizio; Salinari, Serenella; Cincotti, Febo; Aloise, Fabio; Mattia, Donatella; Marciani, Maria Grazia; Bianchi, Luigi; Soranzo, Ramon; Babiloni, Fabio

    2009-01-01

    We estimate cortical activity in normal subjects during the observation of TV commercials inserted within a movie by using high-resolution EEG techniques. The brain activity was evaluated in both time and frequency domains by solving the associate inverse problem of EEG with the use of realistic head models. In particular, we recover statistically significant information about cortical areas engaged by particular scenes inserted within the TV commercial proposed with respect to the brain activity estimated while watching a documentary. Results obtained in the population investigated suggest that the statistically significant brain activity during the observation of the TV commercial was mainly concentrated in frontoparietal cortical areas, roughly coincident with the Brodmann areas 8, 9, and 7, in the analyzed population. PMID:19584910

  5. High-Resolution Spectroscopic Observations of Potassium Emissions in the Lunar Exosphere

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Robertson, S. D.; Oliversen, R. J.; Mierkiewicz, E. J.; Kuruppuaratchi, D. C. P.; Derr, N. J.; Gallant, M. A.; McFarland, C. G.; Sarantos, M.

    2017-12-01

    We investigate lunar exospheric potassium D1 emissions (7698.9646 Å) using a high-resolution (R = 180,000 or 1.7 km/s) spectroscopy with our dual-etalon Fabry-Perot instrument to measure line widths and radial velocities. The Field of View (FOV) is 2 arcmin ( 224 km at the mean lunar distance of 384,400 km) positioned tangent to the sunlit limb. The FOV placements are at cardinal directions from a variety of reference craters. All observations are collected at the National Solar Observatory McMath-Pierce Telescope in Kitt Peak, Arizona. The data are from monthly observing runs in 2017 from January to June excluding February. Results are produced via a newly created automated data reduction using Python. Python was chosen as an open-source alternative to the previously used IDL and MATLAB scripts to decrease the cost of software licenses and maintenance. The potassium spectral line profiles provide a direct method to track exospheric effective temperatures and velocities. By monitoring the state of the potassium emissions over different lunar phases, solar activity, and influx of meteor streams, we can constrain physical processes of sources and sinks at the lunar surface. Mechanisms that create the exosphere include photon-stimulated desorption, thermal evaporation, meteoroid impact vaporization, and ion sputtering via solar wind. Whereas the exosphere is diminished due to the low lunar escape velocity, solar radiation pressure, and neutral gas being ionized and swept away by the interplanetary and terrestrial magnetic field. Preliminary analysis indicates an average potassium temperature of 1140 K but varying over the range of 550 K to 2000 K. Further analysis is expected for data from 2014 to 2017 to make month to month, as well as annual, comparisons of potassium emissions.

  6. High Frequency High Spectral Resolution Focal Plane Arrays for AtLAST

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baryshev, Andrey

    2018-01-01

    Large collecting area single dish telescope such as ATLAST will be especially effective for medium (R 1000) and high (R 50000) spectral resolution observations. Large focal plane array is a natural solution to increase mapping speed. For medium resolution direct detectors with filter banks (KIDs) and or heterodyne technology can be employed. We will analyze performance limits of comparable KID and SIS focal plane array taking into account quantum limit and high background condition of terrestrial observing site. For large heterodyne focal plane arrays, a high current density AlN junctions open possibility of large instantaneous bandwidth >40%. This and possible multi frequency band FPSs presents a practical challenge for spatial sampling and scanning strategies. We will discuss phase array feeds as a possible solution, including a modular back-end system, which can be shared between KID and SIS based FPA. Finally we will discuss achievable sensitivities and pixel co unts for a high frequency (>500 GHz) FPAs and address main technical challenges: LO distribution, wire counts, bias line multiplexing, and monolithic vs. discrete mixer component integration.

  7. High-resolution 3D laser imaging based on tunable fiber array link

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Sisi; Ruan, Ningjuan; Yang, Song

    2017-10-01

    Airborne photoelectric reconnaissance system with the bore sight down to the ground is an important battlefield situational awareness system, which can be used for reconnaissance and surveillance of complex ground scene. Airborne 3D imaging Lidar system is recognized as the most potential candidates for target detection under the complex background, and is progressing in the directions of high resolution, long distance detection, high sensitivity, low power consumption, high reliability, eye safe and multi-functional. However, the traditional 3D laser imaging system has the disadvantages of lower imaging resolutions because of the small size of the existing detector, and large volume. This paper proposes a high resolution laser 3D imaging technology based on the tunable optical fiber array link. The echo signal is modulated by a tunable optical fiber array link and then transmitted to the focal plane detector. The detector converts the optical signal into electrical signals which is given to the computer. Then, the computer accomplishes the signal calculation and image restoration based on modulation information, and then reconstructs the target image. This paper establishes the mathematical model of tunable optical fiber array signal receiving link, and proposes the simulation and analysis of the affect factors on high density multidimensional point cloud reconstruction.

  8. First Top-Down Estimates of Anthropogenic NOx Emissions Using High-Resolution Airborne Remote Sensing Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Souri, Amir H.; Choi, Yunsoo; Pan, Shuai; Curci, Gabriele; Nowlan, Caroline R.; Janz, Scott J.; Kowalewski, Matthew G.; Liu, Junjie; Herman, Jay R.; Weinheimer, Andrew J.

    2018-03-01

    A number of satellite-based instruments have become an essential part of monitoring emissions. Despite sound theoretical inversion techniques, the insufficient samples and the footprint size of current observations have introduced an obstacle to narrow the inversion window for regional models. These key limitations can be partially resolved by a set of modest high-quality measurements from airborne remote sensing. This study illustrates the feasibility of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) columns from the Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events Airborne Simulator (GCAS) to constrain anthropogenic NOx emissions in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria area. We convert slant column densities to vertical columns using a radiative transfer model with (i) NO2 profiles from a high-resolution regional model (1 × 1 km2) constrained by P-3B aircraft measurements, (ii) the consideration of aerosol optical thickness impacts on radiance at NO2 absorption line, and (iii) high-resolution surface albedo constrained by ground-based spectrometers. We characterize errors in the GCAS NO2 columns by comparing them to Pandora measurements and find a striking correlation (r > 0.74) with an uncertainty of 3.5 × 1015 molecules cm-2. On 9 of 10 total days, the constrained anthropogenic emissions by a Kalman filter yield an overall 2-50% reduction in polluted areas, partly counterbalancing the well-documented positive bias of the model. The inversion, however, boosts emissions by 94% in the same areas on a day when an unprecedented local emissions event potentially occurred, significantly mitigating the bias of the model. The capability of GCAS at detecting such an event ensures the significance of forthcoming geostationary satellites for timely estimates of top-down emissions.

  9. High time resolution observations of the drivers of Forbush decreases

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jordan, A. P.; Spence, H. E.; Blake, J. B.; Mulligan, T. L.; Shaul, D. N.

    2008-12-01

    The drivers of Forbush decreases in galactic cosmic ray (GCR) fluxes are thought to be magnetic turbulence in the sheath of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) and the closed magnetic field lines in the ICME itself. This model, however, is the result of studies utilizing hourly or longer time averaging. Such averaging can smooth over important correlations between variabilities in the GCR flux and those in the interplanetary medium. To test the validity of the current model of Forbush decreases, we analyze a number of Forbush decreases using high time resolution GCR data from the High Sensitivity Telescope (HIST) on Polar and the Spectrometer for INTEGRAL (SPI). We seek causal correlations between the onset of the decrease and structures in the solar wind plasma and interplanetary magnetic field, as measured concurrently with ACE and/or Wind. We find evidence that planar magnetic structures in the sheath preceding the ICME may be a factor in driving the decrease in at least one event.

  10. Super resolution for astronomical observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Zhan; Peng, Qingyu; Bhanu, Bir; Zhang, Qingfeng; He, Haifeng

    2018-05-01

    In order to obtain detailed information from multiple telescope observations a general blind super-resolution (SR) reconstruction approach for astronomical images is proposed in this paper. A pixel-reliability-based SR reconstruction algorithm is described and implemented, where the developed process incorporates flat field correction, automatic star searching and centering, iterative star matching, and sub-pixel image registration. Images captured by the 1-m telescope at Yunnan Observatory are used to test the proposed technique. The results of these experiments indicate that, following SR reconstruction, faint stars are more distinct, bright stars have sharper profiles, and the backgrounds have higher details; thus these results benefit from the high-precision star centering and image registration provided by the developed method. Application of the proposed approach not only provides more opportunities for new discoveries from astronomical image sequences, but will also contribute to enhancing the capabilities of most spatial or ground-based telescopes.

  11. High-resolution sensing for precision agriculture: from Earth-observing satellites to unmanned aerial vehicles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCabe, Matthew F.; Houborg, Rasmus; Lucieer, Arko

    2016-10-01

    With global population projected to approach 9 billion by 2050, it has been estimated that a 40% increase in cereal production will be required to satisfy the worlds growing nutritional demands. Any such increases in agricultural productivity are likely to occur within a system that has limited room for growth and in a world with a climate that is different from that of today. Fundamental to achieving food and water security, is the capacity to monitor the health and condition of agricultural systems. While space-agency based satellites have provided the backbone for earth observation over the last few decades, many developments in the field of high-resolution earth observation have been advanced by the commercial sector. These advances relate not just to technological developments in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), but also the advent of nano-satellite constellations that offer a radical shift in the way earth observations are now being retrieved. Such technologies present opportunities for improving our description of the water, energy and carbon cycles. Efforts towards developing new observational techniques and interpretative frameworks are required to provide the tools and information needed to improve the management and security of agricultural and related sectors. These developments are one of the surest ways to better manage, protect and preserve national food and water resources. Here we review the capabilities of recently deployed satellite systems and UAVs and examine their potential for application in precision agriculture.

  12. Very high resolution aerial films

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Becker, Rolf

    1986-11-01

    The use of very high resolution aerial films in aerial photography is evaluated. Commonly used panchromatic, color, and CIR films and their high resolution equivalents are compared. Based on practical experience and systematic investigations, the very high image quality and improved height accuracy that can be achieved using these films are demonstrated. Advantages to be gained from this improvement and operational restrictions encountered when using high resolution film are discussed.

  13. A High Resolution Spectroscopic Observation of CAL 83 with XMM-Newton/RGS

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Paerels, Frits; Rasmussen, Andrew P.; Hartmann, H. W.; Heise, J.; Brinkman, A. C.; deVries, C. P.; denHerder, J.-W.

    2000-01-01

    We present the first high resolution photospheric X-ray spectrum of a Supersoft X-ray Source, the famous CAL 83 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The spectrum was obtained with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer on XMM-Newton during the Calibration/Performance Verification phase of the observatory. The spectrum covers the range 20-40 A at an approximately constant resolution of 0.05 A, and shows very significant, intricate detail, that is very sensitive to the physical properties of the object. We present the results of an initial investigation of the spectrum, from which we draw the conclusion that the spectral structure is probably dominated by numerous absorption features due to transitions in the Gshells of the mid-2 elements and the M-shell of Fe, in addition to a few strong K-shell features due to CNO.

  14. High resolution multimodal clinical ophthalmic imaging system

    PubMed Central

    Mujat, Mircea; Ferguson, R. Daniel; Patel, Ankit H.; Iftimia, Nicusor; Lue, Niyom; Hammer, Daniel X.

    2010-01-01

    We developed a multimodal adaptive optics (AO) retinal imager which is the first to combine high performance AO-corrected scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) and swept source Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (SSOCT) imaging modes in a single compact clinical prototype platform. Such systems are becoming ever more essential to vision research and are expected to prove their clinical value for diagnosis of retinal diseases, including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and retinitis pigmentosa. The SSOCT channel operates at a wavelength of 1 µm for increased penetration and visualization of the choriocapillaris and choroid, sites of major disease activity for DR and wet AMD. This AO system is designed for use in clinical populations; a dual deformable mirror (DM) configuration allows simultaneous low- and high-order aberration correction over a large range of refractions and ocular media quality. The system also includes a wide field (33 deg.) line scanning ophthalmoscope (LSO) for initial screening, target identification, and global orientation, an integrated retinal tracker (RT) to stabilize the SLO, OCT, and LSO imaging fields in the presence of lateral eye motion, and a high-resolution LCD-based fixation target for presentation of visual cues. The system was tested in human subjects without retinal disease for performance optimization and validation. We were able to resolve and quantify cone photoreceptors across the macula to within ~0.5 deg (~100-150 µm) of the fovea, image and delineate ten retinal layers, and penetrate to resolve features deep into the choroid. The prototype presented here is the first of a new class of powerful flexible imaging platforms that will provide clinicians and researchers with high-resolution, high performance adaptive optics imaging to help guide therapies, develop new drugs, and improve patient outcomes. PMID:20589021

  15. Aircraft Detection in High-Resolution SAR Images Based on a Gradient Textural Saliency Map.

    PubMed

    Tan, Yihua; Li, Qingyun; Li, Yansheng; Tian, Jinwen

    2015-09-11

    This paper proposes a new automatic and adaptive aircraft target detection algorithm in high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of airport. The proposed method is based on gradient textural saliency map under the contextual cues of apron area. Firstly, the candidate regions with the possible existence of airport are detected from the apron area. Secondly, directional local gradient distribution detector is used to obtain a gradient textural saliency map in the favor of the candidate regions. In addition, the final targets will be detected by segmenting the saliency map using CFAR-type algorithm. The real high-resolution airborne SAR image data is used to verify the proposed algorithm. The results demonstrate that this algorithm can detect aircraft targets quickly and accurately, and decrease the false alarm rate.

  16. Aircraft Detection in High-Resolution SAR Images Based on a Gradient Textural Saliency Map

    PubMed Central

    Tan, Yihua; Li, Qingyun; Li, Yansheng; Tian, Jinwen

    2015-01-01

    This paper proposes a new automatic and adaptive aircraft target detection algorithm in high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of airport. The proposed method is based on gradient textural saliency map under the contextual cues of apron area. Firstly, the candidate regions with the possible existence of airport are detected from the apron area. Secondly, directional local gradient distribution detector is used to obtain a gradient textural saliency map in the favor of the candidate regions. In addition, the final targets will be detected by segmenting the saliency map using CFAR-type algorithm. The real high-resolution airborne SAR image data is used to verify the proposed algorithm. The results demonstrate that this algorithm can detect aircraft targets quickly and accurately, and decrease the false alarm rate. PMID:26378543

  17. Ultrathin high-resolution flexographic printing using nanoporous stamps

    PubMed Central

    Kim, Sanha; Sojoudi, Hossein; Zhao, Hangbo; Mariappan, Dhanushkodi; McKinley, Gareth H.; Gleason, Karen K.; Hart, A. John

    2016-01-01

    Since its invention in ancient times, relief printing, commonly called flexography, has been used to mass-produce artifacts ranging from decorative graphics to printed media. Now, higher-resolution flexography is essential to manufacturing low-cost, large-area printed electronics. However, because of contact-mediated liquid instabilities and spreading, the resolution of flexographic printing using elastomeric stamps is limited to tens of micrometers. We introduce engineered nanoporous microstructures, comprising polymer-coated aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs), as a next-generation stamp material. We design and engineer the highly porous microstructures to be wetted by colloidal inks and to transfer a thin layer to a target substrate upon brief contact. We demonstrate printing of diverse micrometer-scale patterns of a variety of functional nanoparticle inks, including Ag, ZnO, WO3, and CdSe/ZnS, onto both rigid and compliant substrates. The printed patterns have highly uniform nanoscale thickness (5 to 50 nm) and match the stamp features with high fidelity (edge roughness, ~0.2 μm). We derive conditions for uniform printing based on nanoscale contact mechanics, characterize printed Ag lines and transparent conductors, and achieve continuous printing at a speed of 0.2 m/s. The latter represents a combination of resolution and throughput that far surpasses industrial printing technologies. PMID:27957542

  18. Laser Beam Filtration for High Spatial Resolution MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zavalin, Andre; Yang, Junhai; Caprioli, Richard

    2013-07-01

    We describe an easy and inexpensive way to provide a highly defined Gaussian shaped laser spot on target of 5 μm diameter for imaging mass spectrometry using a commercial MALDI TOF instrument that is designed to produce a 20 μm diameter laser beam on target at its lowest setting. A 25 μm pinhole filter on a swivel arm was installed in the laser beam optics outside the vacuum ion source chamber so it is easily flipped into or out of the beam as desired by the operator. The resulting ion images at 5 μm spatial resolution are sharp since the satellite secondary laser beam maxima have been removed by the filter. Ion images are shown to demonstrate the performance and are compared with the method of oversampling to achieve higher spatial resolution when only a larger laser beam spot on target is available.

  19. High-frequency ultrasound-guided disruption of glycoprotein VI-targeted microbubbles targets atheroprogressison in mice.

    PubMed

    Metzger, Katja; Vogel, Sebastian; Chatterjee, Madhumita; Borst, Oliver; Seizer, Peter; Schönberger, Tanja; Geisler, Tobias; Lang, Florian; Langer, Harald; Rheinlaender, Johannes; Schäffer, Tilman E; Gawaz, Meinrad

    2015-01-01

    Targeted contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEU) using microbubble agents is a promising non-invasive imaging technique to evaluate atherosclerotic lesions. In this study, we decipher the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of targeted-CEU with soluble glycoprotein (GP)-VI in vivo. Microbubbles were conjugated with the recombinant fusion protein GPVI-Fc (MBGPVI) that binds with high affinity to atherosclerotic lesions. MBGPVI or control microbubbles (MBC) were intravenously administered into ApoE(-/-) or wild type mice and binding of the microbubbles to the vessel wall was visualized by high-resolution CEU. CEU molecular imaging signals of MBGPVI were substantially enhanced in the aortic arch and in the truncus brachiocephalicus in ApoE(-/-) as compared to wild type mice. High-frequency ultrasound (HFU)-guided disruption of MBGPVI enhanced accumulation of GPVI in the atherosclerotic lesions, which may interfere with atheroprogression. Thus, we establish targeted-CEU with soluble GPVI as a novel non-invasive molecular imaging method for atherosclerosis. Further, HFU-guided disruption of GPVI-targeted microbubbles is an innovate therapeutic approach that potentially prevents progression of atherosclerotic disease. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Visual short-term memory for high resolution associations is impaired in patients with medial temporal lobe damage.

    PubMed

    Koen, Joshua D; Borders, Alyssa A; Petzold, Michael T; Yonelinas, Andrew P

    2017-02-01

    The medial temporal lobe (MTL) plays a critical role in episodic long-term memory, but whether the MTL is necessary for visual short-term memory is controversial. Some studies have indicated that MTL damage disrupts visual short-term memory performance whereas other studies have failed to find such evidence. To account for these mixed results, it has been proposed that the hippocampus is critical in supporting short-term memory for high resolution complex bindings, while the cortex is sufficient to support simple, low resolution bindings. This hypothesis was tested in the current study by assessing visual short-term memory in patients with damage to the MTL and controls for high resolution and low resolution object-location and object-color associations. In the location tests, participants encoded sets of two or four objects in different locations on the screen. After each set, participants performed a two-alternative forced-choice task in which they were required to discriminate the object in the target location from the object in a high or low resolution lure location (i.e., the object locations were very close or far away from the target location, respectively). Similarly, in the color tests, participants were presented with sets of two or four objects in a different color and, after each set, were required to discriminate the object in the target color from the object in a high or low resolution lure color (i.e., the lure color was very similar or very different, respectively, to the studied color). The patients were significantly impaired in visual short-term memory, but importantly, they were more impaired for high resolution object-location and object-color bindings. The results are consistent with the proposal that the hippocampus plays a critical role in forming and maintaining complex, high resolution bindings. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Evaluation of applicability of high-resolution multiangle imaging photo-polarimetric observations for aerosol atmospheric correction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kalashnikova, Olga; Garay, Michael; Xu, Feng; Diner, David; Seidel, Felix

    2016-07-01

    Multiangle spectro-polarimetric measurements have been advocated as an additional tool for better understanding and quantifying the aerosol properties needed for atmospheric correction for ocean color retrievals. The central concern of this work is the assessment of the effects of absorbing aerosol properties on remote sensing reflectance measurement uncertainty caused by neglecting UV-enhanced absorption of carbonaceous particles and by not accounting for dust nonsphericity. In addition, we evaluate the polarimetric sensitivity of absorbing aerosol properties in light of measurement uncertainties achievable for the next generation of multi-angle polarimetric imaging instruments, and demonstrate advantages and disadvantages of wavelength selection in the UV/VNIR range. In this work a vector Markov Chain radiative transfer code including bio-optical models was used to quantitatively evaluate in water leaving radiances between atmospheres containing realistic UV-enhanced and non-spherical aerosols and the SEADAS carbonaceous and dust-like aerosol models. The phase matrices for the spherical smoke particles were calculated using a standard Mie code, while those for non-spherical dust particles were calculated using the numerical approach developed for modeling dust for the AERONET network of ground-based sunphotometers. As a next step, we have developed a retrieval code that employs a coupled Markov Chain (MC) and adding/doubling radiative transfer method for joint retrieval of aerosol properties and water leaving radiance from Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager-1 (AirMSPI-1) polarimetric observations. The AirMSPI-1 instrument has been flying aboard the NASA ER-2 high altitude aircraft since October 2010. AirMSPI typically acquires observations of a target area at 9 view angles between ±67° at 10 m resolution. AirMSPI spectral channels are centered at 355, 380, 445, 470, 555, 660, and 865 nm, with 470, 660, and 865 reporting linear polarization. We

  2. Point target detection utilizing super-resolution strategy for infrared scanning oversampling system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Longguang; Lin, Zaiping; Deng, Xinpu; An, Wei

    2017-11-01

    To improve the resolution of remote sensing infrared images, infrared scanning oversampling system is employed with information amount quadrupled, which contributes to the target detection. Generally the image data from double-line detector of infrared scanning oversampling system is shuffled to a whole oversampled image to be post-processed, whereas the aliasing between neighboring pixels leads to image degradation with a great impact on target detection. This paper formulates a point target detection method utilizing super-resolution (SR) strategy concerning infrared scanning oversampling system, with an accelerated SR strategy proposed to realize fast de-aliasing of the oversampled image and an adaptive MRF-based regularization designed to achieve the preserving and aggregation of target energy. Extensive experiments demonstrate the superior detection performance, robustness and efficiency of the proposed method compared with other state-of-the-art approaches.

  3. High-Resolution Assimilation of GRACE Terrestrial Water Storage Observations to Represent Local-Scale Water Table Depths

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stampoulis, D.; Reager, J. T., II; David, C. H.; Famiglietti, J. S.; Andreadis, K.

    2017-12-01

    Despite the numerous advances in hydrologic modeling and improvements in Land Surface Models, an accurate representation of the water table depth (WTD) still does not exist. Data assimilation of observations of the joint NASA and DLR mission, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) leads to statistically significant improvements in the accuracy of hydrologic models, ultimately resulting in more reliable estimates of water storage. However, the usually shallow groundwater compartment of the models presents a problem with GRACE assimilation techniques, as these satellite observations account for much deeper aquifers. To improve the accuracy of groundwater estimates and allow the representation of the WTD at fine spatial scales we implemented a novel approach that enables a large-scale data integration system to assimilate GRACE data. This was achieved by augmenting the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model, which is the core component of the Regional Hydrologic Extremes Assessment System (RHEAS), a high-resolution modeling framework developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for hydrologic modeling and data assimilation. The model has insufficient subsurface characterization and therefore, to reproduce groundwater variability not only in shallow depths but also in deep aquifers, as well as to allow GRACE assimilation, a fourth soil layer of varying depth ( 1000 meters) was added in VIC as the bottom layer. To initialize a water table in the model we used gridded global WTD data at 1 km resolution which were spatially aggregated to match the model's resolution. Simulations were then performed to test the augmented model's ability to capture seasonal and inter-annual trends of groundwater. The 4-layer version of VIC was run with and without assimilating GRACE Total Water Storage anomalies (TWSA) over the Central Valley in California. This is the first-ever assimilation of GRACE TWSA for the determination of realistic water table depths, at

  4. Immersion Gratings for Infrared High-resolution Spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sarugaku, Yuki; Ikeda, Yuji; Kobayashi, Naoto; Kaji, Sayumi; Sukegawa, Takashi; Sugiyama, Shigeru; Nakagawa, Takao; Arasaki, Takayuki; Kondo, Sohei; Nakanishi, Kenshi; Yasui, Chikako; Kawakita, Hideyo

    2016-10-01

    High-resolution spectroscopy in the infrared wavelength range is essential for observations of minor isotopologues, such as HDO for water, and prebiotic organic molecules like hydrocarbons/P-bearing molecules because numerous vibrational molecular bands (including non-polar molecules) are located in this wavelength range. High spectral resolution enables us to detect weak lines without spectral line confusion. This technique has been widely used in planetary sciences, e.g., cometary coma (H2O, CO, and organic molecules), the martian atmosphere (CH4, CO2, H2O and HDO), and the upper atmosphere of gas giants (H3+ and organic molecules such as C2H6). Spectrographs with higher resolution (and higher sensitivity) still have a potential to provide a plenty of findings. However, because the size of spectrographs scales with the spectral resolution, it is difficult to realize it.Immersion grating (IG), which is a diffraction grating wherein the diffraction surface is immersed in a material with a high refractive index (n > 2), provides n times higher spectral resolution compared to a reflective grating of the same size. Because IG reduces the size of spectrograph to 1/n compared to the spectrograph with the same spectral resolution using a conventional reflective grating, it is widely acknowledged as a key optical device to realize compact spectrographs with high spectral resolution.Recently, we succeeded in fabricating a CdZnTe immersion grating with the theoretically predicted diffraction efficiency by machining process using an ultrahigh-precision five-axis processing machine developed by Canon Inc. Using the same technique, we completed a practical germanium (Ge) immersion grating with both a reflection coating on the grating surface and the an AR coating on the entrance surface. It is noteworthy that the wide wavelength range from 2 to 20 um can be covered by the two immersion gratings.In this paper, we present the performances and the applications of the immersion

  5. High-Resolution Remote Sensing Image Building Extraction Based on Markov Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, W.; Yan, L.; Chang, Y.; Gong, L.

    2018-04-01

    With the increase of resolution, remote sensing images have the characteristics of increased information load, increased noise, more complex feature geometry and texture information, which makes the extraction of building information more difficult. To solve this problem, this paper designs a high resolution remote sensing image building extraction method based on Markov model. This method introduces Contourlet domain map clustering and Markov model, captures and enhances the contour and texture information of high-resolution remote sensing image features in multiple directions, and further designs the spectral feature index that can characterize "pseudo-buildings" in the building area. Through the multi-scale segmentation and extraction of image features, the fine extraction from the building area to the building is realized. Experiments show that this method can restrain the noise of high-resolution remote sensing images, reduce the interference of non-target ground texture information, and remove the shadow, vegetation and other pseudo-building information, compared with the traditional pixel-level image information extraction, better performance in building extraction precision, accuracy and completeness.

  6. Thin polymer etalon arrays for high-resolution photoacoustic imaging

    PubMed Central

    Hou, Yang; Huang, Sheng-Wen; Ashkenazi, Shai; Witte, Russell; O’Donnell, Matthew

    2009-01-01

    Thin polymer etalons are demonstrated as high-frequency ultrasound sensors for three-dimensional (3-D) high-resolution photoacoustic imaging. The etalon, a Fabry-Perot optical resonator, consists of a thin polymer slab sandwiched between two gold layers. It is probed with a scanning continuous-wave (CW) laser for ultrasound array detection. Detection bandwidth of a 20-μm-diam array element exceeds 50 MHz, and the ultrasound sensitivity is comparable to polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) equivalents of similar size. In a typical photoacoustic imaging setup, a pulsed laser beam illuminates the imaging target, where optical energy is absorbed and acoustic waves are generated through the thermoelastic effect. An ultrasound detection array is formed by scanning the probing laser beam on the etalon surface in either a 1-D or a 2-D configuration, which produces 2-D or 3-D images, respectively. Axial and lateral resolutions have been demonstrated to be better than 20 μm. Detailed characterizations of the optical and acoustical properties of the etalon, as well as photoacoustic imaging results, suggest that thin polymer etalon arrays can be used as ultrasound detectors for 3-D high-resolution photoacoustic imaging applications. PMID:19123679

  7. High-resolution Spectroscopic Observations of Single Red Giants in Three Open Clusters: NGC 2360, NGC 3680, and NGC 5822

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peña Suárez, V. J.; Sales Silva, J. V.; Katime Santrich, O. J.; Drake, N. A.; Pereira, C. B.

    2018-02-01

    Single stars in open clusters with known distances are important targets in constraining the nucleosynthesis process since their ages and luminosities are also known. In this work, we analyze a sample of 29 single red giants of the open clusters NGC 2360, NGC 3680, and NGC 5822 using high-resolution spectroscopy. We obtained atmospheric parameters, abundances of the elements C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Ca, Si, Ti, Ni, Cr, Y, Zr, La, Ce, and Nd, as well as radial and rotational velocities. We employed the local thermodynamic equilibrium atmospheric models of Kurucz and the spectral analysis code MOOG. Rotational velocities and light-element abundances were derived using spectral synthesis. Based on our analysis of the single red giants in these three open clusters, we could compare, for the first time, their abundance pattern with that of the binary stars of the same clusters previously studied. Our results show that the abundances of both single and binary stars of the open clusters NGC 2360, NGC 3680, and NGC 5822 do not have significant differences. For the elements created by the s-process, we observed that the open clusters NGC 2360, NGC 3680, and NGC 5822 also follow the trend already raised in the literature that young clusters have higher s-process element abundances than older clusters. Finally, we observed that the three clusters of our sample exhibit a trend in the [Y/Mg]-age relation, which may indicate the ability of the [Y/Mg] ratio to be used as a clock for the giants. Based on the observations made with the 2.2 m telescope at the European Southern Observatory (La Silla, Chile) under an agreement with Observatório Nacional and under an agreement between Observatório Nacional and Max-Planck Institute für Astronomie.

  8. Two-photon imaging of spatially extended neuronal network dynamics with high temporal resolution.

    PubMed

    Lillis, Kyle P; Eng, Alfred; White, John A; Mertz, Jerome

    2008-07-30

    We describe a simple two-photon fluorescence imaging strategy, called targeted path scanning (TPS), to monitor the dynamics of spatially extended neuronal networks with high spatiotemporal resolution. Our strategy combines the advantages of mirror-based scanning, minimized dead time, ease of implementation, and compatibility with high-resolution low-magnification objectives. To demonstrate the performance of TPS, we monitor the calcium dynamics distributed across an entire juvenile rat hippocampus (>1.5mm), at scan rates of 100 Hz, with single cell resolution and single action potential sensitivity. Our strategy for fast, efficient two-photon microscopy over spatially extended regions provides a particularly attractive solution for monitoring neuronal population activity in thick tissue, without sacrificing the signal-to-noise ratio or high spatial resolution associated with standard two-photon microscopy. Finally, we provide the code to make our technique generally available.

  9. Superconducting High Resolution Fast-Neutron Spectrometers

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hau, Ionel Dragos

    2006-01-01

    Superconducting high resolution fast-neutron calorimetric spectrometers based on 6LiF and TiB{sub 2} absorbers have been developed. These novel cryogenic spectrometers measure the temperature rise produced in exothermal (n, α) reactions with fast neutrons in 6Li and 10B-loaded materials with heat capacity C operating at temperatures T close to 0.1 K. Temperature variations on the order of 0.5 mK are measured with a Mo/Cu thin film multilayer operated in the transition region between its superconducting and its normal state. The advantage of calorimetry for high resolution spectroscopy is due to the small phonon excitation energies k BT on the order ofmore » μeV that serve as signal carriers, resulting in an energy resolution ΔE ~ (k BT 2C) 1/2, which can be well below 10 keV. An energy resolution of 5.5 keV has been obtained with a Mo/Cu superconducting sensor and a TiB 2 absorber using thermal neutrons from a 252Cf neutron source. This resolution is sufficient to observe the effect of recoil nuclei broadening in neutron spectra, which has been related to the lifetime of the first excited state in 7Li. Fast-neutron spectra obtained with a 6Li-enriched LiF absorber show an energy resolution of 16 keV FWHM, and a response in agreement with the 6Li(n, α) 3H reaction cross section and Monte Carlo simulations for energies up to several MeV. The energy resolution of order of a few keV makes this novel instrument applicable to fast-neutron transmission spectroscopy based on the unique elemental signature provided by the neutron absorption and scattering resonances. The optimization of the energy resolution based on analytical and numerical models of the detector response is discussed in the context of these applications.« less

  10. (Un)targeted Scanning of Locks of Hair for Drugs of Abuse by Direct Analysis in Real Time-High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

    PubMed

    Duvivier, Wilco F; van Putten, Marc R; van Beek, Teris A; Nielen, Michel W F

    2016-02-16

    Forensic hair evidence can be used to obtain retrospective timelines of drug use by analysis of hair segments. However, this is a laborious and time-consuming process, and mass spectrometric (MS) imaging techniques, which show great potential for single-hair targeted analysis, are less useful due to differences in hair growth rate between individual hairs. As an alternative, a fast untargeted analysis method was developed that uses direct analysis in real time-high-resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS) to longitudinally scan intact locks of hair without extensive sample preparation or segmentation. The hair scan method was validated for cocaine against an accredited liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method. The detection limit for cocaine in hair was found to comply with the cutoff value of 0.5 ng/mg recommended by the Society of Hair Testing; that is, the DART hair scan method is amenable to forensic cases. Under DART conditions, no significant thermal degradation of cocaine occurred. The standard DART spot size of 5.1 ± 1.1 mm could be improved to 3.3 ± 1.0 mm, corresponding to approximately 10 days of hair growth, by using a high spatial resolution exit cone. By use of data-dependent product ion scans, multiple drugs of abuse could be detected in a single drug user hair scan with confirmation of identity by both exact mass and MS/HRMS fragmentation patterns. Furthermore, full-scan high-resolution data were retrospectively interrogated versus a list of more than 100 compounds and revealed additional hits and temporal profiles in good correlation with reported drug use.

  11. Characterization of intermittency and statistical properties of high-resolution rainfall observations across a topographic transect in Northwest Mexico

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mascaro, G.; Vivoni, E. R.; Gochis, D. J.; Watts, C. J.; Rodriguez, J. C.

    2013-12-01

    In northwest Mexico, the statistical properties of rainfall at high temporal resolution (up to 1 min) have been poorly characterized, mainly due to a lack of observations. Under a combined effort of US and Mexican institutions initiated during the North American Monsoon-Soil Moisture Experiment in 2004 (NAME-SMEX04), a network of 8 tipping-bucket rain gauges were installed across a topographic transect in the Sierra Los Locos basin of Sonora, Mexico. The transect spans a distance of ~14 km and an elevation difference of 748 m, thus including valley, mid-elevation and ridge sites where rainfall generation mechanisms in the summer and winter seasons are potentially affected by orography. In this study, we used the data collected during the period of 2007-2010 to characterize the rainfall statistical properties in a wide range of time scales (1 min to ~45 days) and analyzed how these properties change as a function of elevation, the gauge separation distance, and the summer and winter seasons. We found that the total summer (winter) rainfall decreases (increases) with elevation, and that rainfall has a clear diurnal cycle in the summertime, with a peak around 9 pm at all gauges. The correlation structure across the transect indicates that: (i) when times series are aggregated at a resolution greater than 3 hours, the correlation distance is greater than the maximum separation distance (~14 km), while it dramatically decreases for lower time resolutions (e.g., it is ~1.5 km when the resolution is 10 min). Consistent with other semiarid regions, spectral and scale invariance analyses show the presence of different scaling regimes, which are associated to single convective events and larger stratiform systems, with different intermittency properties dependent on the rainfall season. Results of this work are useful for the interpretation of storm generation mechanisms and hydrologic response in the region, as well as for the calibration of high-resolution, stochastic

  12. Grooved Terrain on Ganymede: First Results from Galileo High-Resolution Imaging

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pappalardo, R.T.; Head, J.W.; Collins, G.C.; Kirk, R.L.; Neukum, G.; Oberst, J.; Giese, B.; Greeley, R.; Chapman, C.R.; Helfenstein, P.; Moore, Johnnie N.; McEwen, A.; Tufts, B.R.; Senske, D.A.; Herbert, Breneman H.; Klaasen, K.

    1998-01-01

    High-resolution Galileo imaging has provided important insight into the origin and evolution of grooved terrain on Ganymede. The Uruk Sulcus target site was the first imaged at high resolution, and considerations of resolution, viewing geometry, low image compression, and complementary stereo imaging make this region extremely informative. Contrast variations in these low-incidence angle images are extreme and give the visual impression of topographic shading. However, photometric analysis shows that the scene must owe its character to albedo variations. A close correlation of albedo variations to topography is demonstrated by limited stereo coverage, allowing extrapolation of the observed brightness and topographic relationships to the rest of the imaged area. Distinct geological units are apparent across the region, and ridges and grooves are ubiquitous within these units. The stratigraphically lowest and most heavily cratered units ("lineated grooved terrain") generally show morphologies indicative of horst-and-graben-style normal faulting. The stratigraphically highest groove lanes ("parallel ridged terrain") exhibit ridges of roughly triangular cross section, suggesting that tilt-block-style normal faulting has shaped them. These extensional-tectonic models are supported by crosscutting relationships at the margins of groove lanes. Thus, a change in tectonic style with time is suggested in the Uruk Sulcus region, varying from horst and graben faulting for the oldest grooved terrain units to tilt block normal faulting for the latest units. The morphologies and geometries of some stratigraphically high units indicate that a strike-slip component of deformation has played an important role in shaping this region of grooved terrain. The most recent tectonic episode is interpreted as right-lateral transtension, with its tectonic pattern of two contemporaneous structural orientations superimposed on older units of grooved terrain. There is little direct evidence for

  13. Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy at High Resolution

    PubMed Central

    Wall, J.; Langmore, J.; Isaacson, M.; Crewe, A. V.

    1974-01-01

    We have shown that a scanning transmission electron microscope with a high brightness field emission source is capable of obtaining better than 3 Å resolution using 30 to 40 keV electrons. Elastic dark field images of single atoms of uranium and mercury are shown which demonstrate this fact as determined by a modified Rayleigh criterion. Point-to-point micrograph resolution between 2.5 and 3.0 Å is found in dark field images of micro-crystallites of uranium and thorium compounds. Furthermore, adequate contrast is available to observe single atoms as light as silver. Images PMID:4521050

  14. Unraveling the martian water cycle with high-resolution global climate simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pottier, Alizée; Forget, François; Montmessin, Franck; Navarro, Thomas; Spiga, Aymeric; Millour, Ehouarn; Szantai, André; Madeleine, Jean-Baptiste

    2017-07-01

    Global climate modeling of the Mars water cycle is usually performed at relatively coarse resolution (200 - 300km), which may not be sufficient to properly represent the impact of waves, fronts, topography effects on the detailed structure of clouds and surface ice deposits. Here, we present new numerical simulations of the annual water cycle performed at a resolution of 1° × 1° (∼ 60 km in latitude). The model includes the radiative effects of clouds, whose influence on the thermal structure and atmospheric dynamics is significant, thus we also examine simulations with inactive clouds to distinguish the direct impact of resolution on circulation and winds from the indirect impact of resolution via water ice clouds. To first order, we find that the high resolution does not dramatically change the behavior of the system, and that simulations performed at ∼ 200 km resolution capture well the behavior of the simulated water cycle and Mars climate. Nevertheless, a detailed comparison between high and low resolution simulations, with reference to observations, reveal several significant changes that impact our understanding of the water cycle active today on Mars. The key northern cap edge dynamics are affected by an increase in baroclinic wave strength, with a complication of northern summer dynamics. South polar frost deposition is modified, with a westward longitudinal shift, since southern dynamics are also influenced. Baroclinic wave mode transitions are observed. New transient phenomena appear, like spiral and streak clouds, already documented in the observations. Atmospheric circulation cells in the polar region exhibit a large variability and are fine structured, with slope winds. Most modeled phenomena affected by high resolution give a picture of a more turbulent planet, inducing further variability. This is challenging for long-period climate studies.

  15. Evaluation of a High-Resolution Regional Reanalysis for Europe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ohlwein, C.; Wahl, S.; Keller, J. D.; Bollmeyer, C.

    2014-12-01

    Reanalyses gain more and more importance as a source of meteorological information for many purposes and applications. Several global reanalyses projects (e.g., ERA, MERRA, CSFR, JMA9) produce and verify these data sets to provide time series as long as possible combined with a high data quality. Due to a spatial resolution down to 50-70km and 3-hourly temporal output, they are not suitable for small scale problems (e.g., regional climate assessment, meso-scale NWP verification, input for subsequent models such as river runoff simulations). The implementation of regional reanalyses based on a limited area model along with a data assimilation scheme is able to generate reanalysis data sets with high spatio-temporal resolution. Within the Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research (HErZ), the climate monitoring branch concentrates efforts on the assessment and analysis of regional climate in Germany and Europe. In joint cooperation with DWD (German Meteorological Service), a high-resolution reanalysis system based on the COSMO model has been developed. The regional reanalysis for Europe matches the domain of the CORDEX EURO-11 specifications, albeit at a higher spatial resolution, i.e., 0.055° (6km) instead of 0.11° (12km) and comprises the assimilation of observational data using the existing nudging scheme of COSMO complemented by a special soil moisture analysis with boundary conditions provided by ERA-Interim data. The reanalysis data set covers 6 years (2007-2012) and is currently extended to 16 years. Extensive evaluation of the reanalysis is performed using independent observations with special emphasis on precipitation and high-impact weather situations indicating a better representation of small scale variability. Further, the evaluation shows an added value of the regional reanalysis with respect to the forcing ERA Interim reanalysis and compared to a pure high-resolution dynamical downscaling approach without data assimilation.

  16. Observer's Interface for Solar System Target Specification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roman, Anthony; Link, Miranda; Moriarty, Christopher; Stansberry, John A.

    2016-10-01

    When observing an asteroid or comet with HST, it has been necessary for the observer to manually enter the target's orbital elements into the Astronomer's Proposal Tool (APT). This allowed possible copy/paste transcription errors from the observer's source of orbital elements data. In order to address this issue, APT has now been improved with the capability to identify targets in and then download orbital elements from JPL Horizons. The observer will first use a target name resolver to choose the intended target from the Horizons database, and then download the orbital elements from Horizons directly into APT. A manual entry option is also still retained if the observer does not wish to use elements from Horizons. This new capability is available for HST observing, and it will also be supported for JWST observing. The poster shows examples of this new interface.

  17. Observer's Interface for Solar System Target Specification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roman, Anthony; Link, Miranda; Moriarty, Christopher; Stansberry, John A.

    2016-01-01

    When observing an asteroid or comet with HST, it has been necessary for the observer to manually enter the target's orbital elements into the Astronomer's Proposal Tool (APT). This allowed possible copy/paste transcription errors from the observer's source of orbital elements data. In order to address this issue, APT has now been improved with the capability to identify targets in and then download orbital elements from JPL Horizons. The observer will first use a target name resolver to choose the intended target from the Horizons database, and then download the orbital elements from Horizons directly into APT. A manual entry option is also still retained if the observer does not wish to use elements from Horizons. This new capability is available for HST observing, and it will also be supported for JWST observing. The poster shows examples of this new interface.

  18. High Temporal and Spatial Resolution Global GPS TEC Observations of the 2015 St. Patrick Day Storm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vierinen, J.

    2015-12-01

    High spatiotemperal resolution global GPS TEC measurements of the 2015 St. Patrick's day storm are presented. The high resolution data is useful, as it clearly shows the high latitude convection patterns, the equatorward progression of the auroral region, the tongue of ionization, as well as the increased electron density in the equatorial anomaly region. The measurements are compared with high power large aperture radar and passive radar measurements of coherent and incoherent scatter at Millstone Hill. Regions of fast convection identified in the GPS TEC data are found to coincide with coherent scatter in both radar data. Convection velocities determined from GPS TEC are compared with those obtained from incoherent scatter radar measurements.

  19. Performance of the high-resolution atmospheric model HRRR-AK for correcting geodetic observations from spaceborne radars

    PubMed Central

    Gong, W; Meyer, F J; Webley, P; Morton, D

    2013-01-01

    [1] Atmospheric phase delays are considered to be one of the main performance limitations for high-quality satellite radar techniques, especially when applied to ground deformation monitoring. Numerical weather prediction (NWP) models are widely seen as a promising tool for the mitigation of atmospheric delays as they can provide knowledge of the atmospheric conditions at the time of Synthetic Aperture Radar data acquisition. However, a thorough statistical analysis of the performance of using NWP production in radar signal correction is missing to date. This study provides a quantitative analysis of the accuracy in using operational NWP products for signal delay correction in satellite radar geodetic remote sensing. The study focuses on the temperate, subarctic, and Arctic climate regions due to a prevalence of relevant geophysical signals in these areas. In this study, the operational High Resolution Rapid Refresh over the Alaska region (HRRR-AK) model is used and evaluated. Five test sites were selected over Alaska (AK), USA, covering a wide range of climatic regimes that are commonly encountered in high-latitude regions. The performance of the HRRR-AK NWP model for correcting absolute atmospheric range delays of radar signals is assessed by comparing to radiosonde observations. The average estimation accuracy for the one-way zenith total atmospheric delay from 24 h simulations was calculated to be better than ∼14 mm. This suggests that the HRRR-AK operational products are a good data source for spaceborne geodetic radar observations atmospheric delay correction, if the geophysical signal to be observed is larger than 20 mm. PMID:25973360

  20. High-Resolution Wind Measurements for Offshore Wind Energy Development

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nghiem, Son V.; Neumann, Gregory

    2011-01-01

    A mathematical transform, called the Rosette Transform, together with a new method, called the Dense Sampling Method, have been developed. The Rosette Transform is invented to apply to both the mean part and the fluctuating part of a targeted radar signature using the Dense Sampling Method to construct the data in a high-resolution grid at 1-km posting for wind measurements over water surfaces such as oceans or lakes.

  1. Final Report: High Spectral Resolution Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Studies with the ARM UAV

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Revercomb, Henry E.

    1999-12-31

    The active participation in the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Unmanned Airborne Vehicle (UAV) science team that was anticipated in the grant proposal was indefinitely delayed after the first year due to a programmatic decision to exclude the high spectral resolution observations from the existing ARM UAV program. However, this report shows that substantial progress toward the science objectives of this grant have made with the help of separate funding from NASA and other agencies. In the four year grant period (including time extensions), a new high spectral resolution instrument has been flown and has successfully demonstrated the ability to obtainmore » measurements of the type needed in the conduct of this grant. In the near term, the third water vapor intensive observing period (WVIOP-3) in October 2000 will provide an opportunity to bring the high spectral resolution observations of upwelling radiance into the ARM program to complement the downwelling radiance observations from the existing ARM AERI instruments. We look forward to a time when the ARM-UAV program is able to extend its scope to include the capability for making these high spectral resolution measurements from a UAV platform.« less

  2. Ultra high resolution molecular beam cars spectroscopy with application to planetary atmospheric molecules

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Byer, R. L.

    1982-01-01

    The measurement of high resolution pulsed and continuous wave (CW) coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) measurements in pulsed and steady state supersonic expansions were demonstrated. Pulsed molecular beam sources were characterized, and saturation of a Raman transition and, for the first time, the Raman spectrum of a complex molecular cluster were observed. The observation of CW CARS spectra in a molecular expansion and the effects of transit time broadening is described. Supersonic expansion is established as a viable technique for high resolution Raman spectroscopy of cold molecules with resolutions of 100 MH2.

  3. Constructing a WISE High Resolution Galaxy Atlas

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jarrett, T. H.; Masci, F.; Tsai, C. W.; Petty, S.; Cluver, M.; Assef, Roberto J.; Benford, D.; Blain, A.; Bridge, C.; Donoso, E.; hide

    2012-01-01

    After eight months of continuous observations, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mapped the entire sky at 3.4 micron, 4.6 micron, 12 micron, and 22 micron. We have begun a dedicated WISE High Resolution Galaxy Atlas project to fully characterize large, nearby galaxies and produce a legacy image atlas and source catalog. Here we summarize the deconvolution techniques used to significantly improve the spatial resolution of WISE imaging, specifically designed to study the internal anatomy of nearby galaxies. As a case study, we present results for the galaxy NGC 1566, comparing the WISE enhanced-resolution image processing to that of Spitzer, Galaxy Evolution Explorer, and ground-based imaging. This is the first paper in a two-part series; results for a larger sample of nearby galaxies are presented in the second paper.

  4. Giant quiescent solar filament observed with high-resolution spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuckein, C.; Verma, M.; Denker, C.

    2016-05-01

    Aims: An extremely large filament was studied in various layers of the solar atmosphere. The inferred physical parameters and the morphological aspects are compared with smaller quiescent filaments. Methods: A giant quiet-Sun filament was observed with the high-resolution Echelle spectrograph at the Vacuum Tower Telescope at Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, Spain, on 2011 November 15. A mosaic of spectra (ten maps of 100″ × 182″) was recorded simultaneously in the chromospheric absorption lines Hα and Na I D2. Physical parameters of the filament plasma were derived using cloud model (CM) inversions and line core fits. The spectra were complemented with full-disk filtergrams (He I λ10830 Å, Hα, and Ca II K) of the Chromospheric Telescope (ChroTel) and full-disk magnetograms of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). Results: The filament had extremely large linear dimensions (~817 arcsec), which corresponds to about 658 Mm along a great circle on the solar surface. A total amount of 175119 Hα contrast profiles were inverted using the CM approach. The inferred mean line-of-sight (LOS) velocity, Doppler width, and source function were similar to previous works of smaller quiescent filaments. However, the derived optical thickness was higher. LOS velocity trends inferred from the Hα line core fits were in accord but weaker than those obtained with CM inversions. Signatures of counter-streaming flows were detected in the filament. The largest brightening conglomerates in the line core of Na I D2 coincided well with small-scale magnetic fields as seen by HMI. Mixed magnetic polarities were detected close to the ends of barbs. The computation of photospheric horizontal flows based on HMI magnetograms revealed flow kernels with a size of 5-8 Mm and velocities of 0.30-0.45 km s-1 at the ends of the filament. Conclusions: The physical properties of extremely large filaments are similar to their smaller counterparts, except for the optical thickness, which in

  5. Optical coherence microscope for invariant high resolution in vivo skin imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Murali, S.; Lee, K. S.; Meemon, P.; Rolland, J. P.

    2008-02-01

    A non-invasive, reliable and affordable imaging system with the capability of detecting skin pathologies such as skin cancer would be a valuable tool to use for pre-screening and diagnostic applications. Optical Coherence Microscopy (OCM) is emerging as a building block for in vivo optical diagnosis, where high numerical aperture optics is introduced in the sample arm to achieve high lateral resolution. While high numerical aperture optics enables realizing high lateral resolution at the focus point, dynamic focusing is required to maintain the target lateral resolution throughout the depth of the sample being imaged. In this paper, we demonstrate the ability to dynamically focus in real-time with no moving parts to a depth of up to 2mm in skin-equivalent tissue in order to achieve 3.5μm lateral resolution throughout an 8 cubic millimeter sample. The built-in dynamic focusing ability is provided by an addressable liquid lens embedded in custom-designed optics which was designed for a broadband laser source of 120 nm bandwidth centered at around 800nm. The imaging probe was designed to be low-cost and portable. Design evaluation and tolerance analysis results show that the probe is robust to manufacturing errors and produces consistent high performance throughout the imaging volume.

  6. Two-dimensional time-resolved ultra-high speed imaging of K-alpha emission from short-pulse-laser interactions to observe electron recirculation

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Nagel, S. R.; Chen, H.; Park, J.

    Time resolved x-ray images with 7 ps resolution are recorded on relativistic short-pulse laser-plasma experiments using the dilation x-ray imager, a high-speed x-ray framing camera, sensitive to x-rays in the range of ≈1-17 keV. Furthermore, this capability enables a series of 2D x-ray images to be recorded at picosecond scales, which allows for the investigation of fast electron transport within the target with unprecedented temporal resolution. With an increase in the Kα-emission spot size over time we found that targets were thinner than the recirculation limit and is absent for thicker targets. Together with the observed polarization dependence of themore » spot size increase, this indicates that electron recirculation is relevant for the x-ray production in thin targets.« less

  7. Two-dimensional time-resolved ultra-high speed imaging of K-alpha emission from short-pulse-laser interactions to observe electron recirculation

    DOE PAGES

    Nagel, S. R.; Chen, H.; Park, J.; ...

    2017-04-04

    Time resolved x-ray images with 7 ps resolution are recorded on relativistic short-pulse laser-plasma experiments using the dilation x-ray imager, a high-speed x-ray framing camera, sensitive to x-rays in the range of ≈1-17 keV. Furthermore, this capability enables a series of 2D x-ray images to be recorded at picosecond scales, which allows for the investigation of fast electron transport within the target with unprecedented temporal resolution. With an increase in the Kα-emission spot size over time we found that targets were thinner than the recirculation limit and is absent for thicker targets. Together with the observed polarization dependence of themore » spot size increase, this indicates that electron recirculation is relevant for the x-ray production in thin targets.« less

  8. NAOMI instrument: a product line of compact and versatile cameras designed for high resolution missions in Earth observation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luquet, Ph.; Chikouche, A.; Benbouzid, A. B.; Arnoux, J. J.; Chinal, E.; Massol, C.; Rouchit, P.; De Zotti, S.

    2017-11-01

    EADS Astrium is currently developing a new product line of compact and versatile instruments for high resolution missions in Earth Observation. First version has been developed in the frame of the ALSAT-2 contract awarded by the Algerian Space Agency (ASAL) to EADS Astrium. The Silicon Carbide Korsch-type telescope coupled with a multilines detector array offers a 2.5 m GSD in PAN band at Nadir @ 680 km altitude (10 m GSD in the four multispectral bands) with a 17.5 km swath width. This compact camera - 340 (W) x 460 (L) x 510 (H) mm3, 13 kg - is embarked on a Myriade-type small platform. The electronics unit accommodates video, housekeeping, and thermal control functions and also a 64 Gbit mass memory. Two satellites are developed; the first one is planned to be launched on mid 2009. Several other versions of the instrument have already been defined with enhanced resolution or/and larger field of view.

  9. Combat Identification with Sequential Observations, Rejection Option, and Out-of-Library Targets

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-09-01

    nature of the entities sharing the battlespace is unknown. Here CID characterizes those entities using information from a variety of sources. The goal...producing high-resolution returns with signif - icantly enhanced target to clutter (and noise) ratios through Doppler filtering and clutter...treat the subject from a natural science perspective. The following 43 subsections on the various model selection techniques are derived from these

  10. Live CLEM imaging to analyze nuclear structures at high resolution.

    PubMed

    Haraguchi, Tokuko; Osakada, Hiroko; Koujin, Takako

    2015-01-01

    Fluorescence microscopy (FM) and electron microscopy (EM) are powerful tools for observing molecular components in cells. FM can provide temporal information about cellular proteins and structures in living cells. EM provides nanometer resolution images of cellular structures in fixed cells. We have combined FM and EM to develop a new method of correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM), called "Live CLEM." In this method, the dynamic behavior of specific molecules of interest is first observed in living cells using fluorescence microscopy (FM) and then cellular structures in the same cell are observed using electron microscopy (EM). Following image acquisition, FM and EM images are compared to enable the fluorescent images to be correlated with the high-resolution images of cellular structures obtained using EM. As this method enables analysis of dynamic events involving specific molecules of interest in the context of specific cellular structures at high resolution, it is useful for the study of nuclear structures including nuclear bodies. Here we describe Live CLEM that can be applied to the study of nuclear structures in mammalian cells.

  11. High-resolution scanning Hall probe microscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hallen, Hans D.; Hess, H. F.; Chang, A. M.; Pfeiffer, Loren N.; West, Kenneth W.; Mitzi, David B.

    1993-06-01

    A high resolution scanning Hall probe microscope is used to spatially resolve vortices in high temperature superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+(delta) crystals. We observe a partially ordered vortex lattice at several different applied magnetic fields and temperatures. At higher temperatures, a limited amount of vortex re-arrangement is observed, but most vortices remain fixed for periods long compared to the imaging time of several hours even at temperatures as high as 75 degree(s)K (the superconducting transition temperature for these crystals is approximately 84 degree(s)K). A measure of these local magnetic penetration depth can be obtained from a fit to the surface field of several neighboring vortices, and has been measured as a function of temperature. In particular, we have measured the zero temperature penetration depth and found it to be 275 +/- 40 nm.

  12. Large-field high-resolution mosaic movies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hammerschlag, Robert H.; Sliepen, Guus; Bettonvil, Felix C. M.; Jägers, Aswin P. L.; Sütterlin, Peter; Martin, Sara F.

    2012-09-01

    Movies with fields-of-view larger than normal for high-resolution telescopes will give a better understanding of processes on the Sun, such as filament and active region developments and their possible interactions. New active regions can influence, by their emergence, their environment to the extent of possibly serving as an igniter of the eruption of a nearby filament. A method to create a large field-of-view is to join several fields-of-view into a mosaic. Fields are imaged quickly one after another using fast telescope-pointing. Such a pointing cycle has been automated at the Dutch Open Telescope (DOT), a high-resolution solar telescope located on the Canary Island La Palma. The observer can draw with the computer mouse the desired total field in the guider-telescope image of the whole Sun. The guider telescope is equipped with an H-alpha filter and electronic enhancement of contrast in the image for good visibility of filaments and prominences. The number and positions of the subfields are calculated automatically and represented by an array of bright points indicating the subfield centers inside the drawn rectangle of the total field on the computer screen with the whole-sun image. When the exposures start the telescope repeats automatically the sequence of subfields. Automatic production of flats is also programmed including defocusing and fast motion over the solar disk of the image field. For the first time mosaic movies were programmed from stored information on automated telescope motions from one field to the next. The mosaic movies fill the gap between whole-sun images with limited resolution of synoptic telescopes including space instruments and small-field high-cadence movies of high-resolution solar telescopes.

  13. High precision gas hydrate imaging of small-scale and high-resolution marine sparker multichannel seismic data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luo, D.; Cai, F.

    2017-12-01

    Small-scale and high-resolution marine sparker multi-channel seismic surveys using large energy sparkers are characterized by a high dominant frequency of the seismic source, wide bandwidth, and a high resolution. The technology with a high-resolution and high-detection precision was designed to improve the imaging quality of shallow sedimentary. In the study, a 20KJ sparker and 24-channel streamer cable with a 6.25m group interval were used as a seismic source and receiver system, respectively. Key factors for seismic imaging of gas hydrate are enhancement of S/N ratio, amplitude compensation and detailed velocity analysis. However, the data in this study has some characteristics below: 1. Small maximum offsets are adverse to velocity analysis and multiple attenuation. 2. Lack of low frequency information, that is, information less than 100Hz are invisible. 3. Low S/N ratio since less coverage times (only 12 times). These characteristics make it difficult to reach the targets of seismic imaging. In the study, the target processing methods are used to improve the seismic imaging quality of gas hydrate. First, some technologies of noise suppression are combined used in pre-stack seismic data to suppression of seismic noise and improve the S/N ratio. These technologies including a spectrum sharing noise elimination method, median filtering and exogenous interference suppression method. Second, the combined method of three technologies including SRME, τ-p deconvolution and high precision Radon transformation is used to remove multiples. Third, accurate velocity field are used in amplitude energy compensation to highlight the Bottom Simulating Reflector (short for BSR, the indicator of gas hydrates) and gas migration pathways (such as gas chimneys, hot spots et al.). Fourth, fine velocity analysis technology are used to improve accuracy of velocity analysis. Fifth, pre-stack deconvolution processing technology is used to compensate for low frequency energy and

  14. High-resolution electron microscopy and its applications.

    PubMed

    Li, F H

    1987-12-01

    A review of research on high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) carried out at the Institute of Physics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is presented. Apart from the direct observation of crystal and quasicrystal defects for some alloys, oxides, minerals, etc., and the structure determination for some minute crystals, an approximate image-contrast theory named pseudo-weak-phase object approximation (PWPOA), which shows the image contrast change with crystal thickness, is described. Within the framework of PWPOA, the image contrast of lithium ions in the crystal of R-Li2Ti3O7 has been observed. The usefulness of diffraction analysis techniques such as the direct method and Patterson method in HREM is discussed. Image deconvolution and resolution enhancement for weak-phase objects by use of the direct method are illustrated. In addition, preliminary results of image restoration for thick crystals are given.

  15. Double Bright Band Observations with High-Resolution Vertically Pointing Radar, Lidar, and Profiles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Emory, Amber E.; Demoz, Belay; Vermeesch, Kevin; Hicks, Michael

    2014-01-01

    On 11 May 2010, an elevated temperature inversion associated with an approaching warm front produced two melting layers simultaneously, which resulted in two distinct bright bands as viewed from the ER-2 Doppler radar system, a vertically pointing, coherent X band radar located in Greenbelt, MD. Due to the high temporal resolution of this radar system, an increase in altitude of the melting layer of approximately 1.2 km in the time span of 4 min was captured. The double bright band feature remained evident for approximately 17 min, until the lower atmosphere warmed enough to dissipate the lower melting layer. This case shows the relatively rapid evolution of freezing levels in response to an advancing warm front over a 2 h time period and the descent of an elevated warm air mass with time. Although observations of double bright bands are somewhat rare, the ability to identify this phenomenon is important for rainfall estimation from spaceborne sensors because algorithms employing the restriction of a radar bright band to a constant height, especially when sampling across frontal systems, will limit the ability to accurately estimate rainfall.

  16. Double bright band observations with high-resolution vertically pointing radar, lidar, and profilers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Emory, Amber E.; Demoz, Belay; Vermeesch, Kevin; Hicks, Micheal

    2014-07-01

    On 11 May 2010, an elevated temperature inversion associated with an approaching warm front produced two melting layers simultaneously, which resulted in two distinct bright bands as viewed from the ER-2 Doppler radar system, a vertically pointing, coherent X band radar located in Greenbelt, MD. Due to the high temporal resolution of this radar system, an increase in altitude of the melting layer of approximately 1.2 km in the time span of 4 min was captured. The double bright band feature remained evident for approximately 17 min, until the lower atmosphere warmed enough to dissipate the lower melting layer. This case shows the relatively rapid evolution of freezing levels in response to an advancing warm front over a 2 h time period and the descent of an elevated warm air mass with time. Although observations of double bright bands are somewhat rare, the ability to identify this phenomenon is important for rainfall estimation from spaceborne sensors because algorithms employing the restriction of a radar bright band to a constant height, especially when sampling across frontal systems, will limit the ability to accurately estimate rainfall.

  17. High-resolution clustered pinhole (131)Iodine SPECT imaging in mice.

    PubMed

    van der Have, Frans; Ivashchenko, Oleksandra; Goorden, Marlies C; Ramakers, Ruud M; Beekman, Freek J

    2016-08-01

    High-resolution pre-clinical (131)I SPECT can facilitate development of new radioiodine therapies for cancer. To this end, it is important to limit resolution-degrading effects of pinhole edge penetration by the high-energy γ-photons of iodine. Here we introduce, optimize and validate (131)I SPECT performed with a dedicated high-energy clustered multi-pinhole collimator. A SPECT-CT system (VECTor/CT) with stationary gamma-detectors was equipped with a tungsten collimator with clustered pinholes. Images were reconstructed with pixel-based OSEM, using a dedicated (131)I system matrix that models the distance- and energy-dependent resolution and sensitivity of each pinhole, as well as the intrinsic detector blurring and variable depth of interaction in the detector. The system performance was characterized with phantoms and in vivo static and dynamic (131)I-NaI scans of mice. Reconstructed image resolution reached 0.6mm, while quantitative accuracy measured with a (131)I filled syringe reaches an accuracy of +3.6±3.5% of the gold standard value. In vivo mice scans illustrated a clear shape of the thyroid and biodistribution of (131)I within the animal. Pharmacokinetics of (131)I was assessed with 15-s time frames from the sequence of dynamic images and time-activity curves of (131)I-NaI. High-resolution quantitative and fast dynamic (131)I SPECT in mice is possible by means of a high-energy collimator and optimized system modeling. This enables analysis of (131)I uptake even within small organs in mice, which can be highly valuable for development and optimization of targeted cancer therapies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. High-Resolution Autoradiography

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Towe, George C; Gomberg, Henry J; Freemen, J W

    1955-01-01

    This investigation was made to adapt wet-process autoradiography to metallurgical samples to obtain high resolution of segregated radioactive elements in microstructures. Results are confined to development of the technique, which was perfected to a resolution of less than 10 microns. The radioactive samples included carbon-14 carburized iron and steel, nickel-63 electroplated samples, a powder product containing nickel-63, and tungsten-185 in N-155 alloy.

  19. High resolution manometry findings in patients with esophageal epiphrenic diverticula.

    PubMed

    Vicentine, Fernando P P; Herbella, Fernando A M; Silva, Luciana C; Patti, Marco G

    2011-12-01

    The pathophysiology of esophageal epiphrenic diverticula is still uncertain even though a concomitant motility disorder is found in the majority of patients in different series. High resolution manometry may allow detection of motor abnormalities in a higher number of patients with esophageal epiphrenic diverticula compared with conventional manometry. This study aims to evaluate the high resolution manometry findings in patients with esophageal epiphrenic diverticula. Nine individuals (mean age 63 ± 10 years, 4 females) with esophageal epiphrenic diverticula underwent high resolution manometry. A single diverticulum was observed in eight patients and multiple diverticula in one. Visual analysis of conventional tracings and color pressure plots for identification of segmental abnormalities was performed by two researchers experienced in high resolution manometry. Upper esophageal sphincter was normal in all patients. Esophageal body was abnormal in eight patients; lower esophageal sphincter was abnormal in seven patients. Named esophageal motility disorders were found in seven patients: achalasia in six, diffuse esophageal spasm in one. In one patient, a segmental hypercontractile zone was noticed with pressure of 196 mm Hg. High resolution manometry demonstrated motor abnormalities in all patients with esophageal epiphrenic diverticula.

  20. Multi-component identification and target cell-based screening of potential bioactive compounds in toad venom by UPLC coupled with high-resolution LTQ-Orbitrap MS and high-sensitivity Qtrap MS.

    PubMed

    Ren, Wei; Han, Lingyu; Luo, Mengyi; Bian, Baolin; Guan, Ming; Yang, Hui; Han, Chao; Li, Na; Li, Tuo; Li, Shilei; Zhang, Yangyang; Zhao, Zhenwen; Zhao, Haiyu

    2018-04-28

    Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are undoubtedly treasured natural resources for discovering effective medicines in treating and preventing various diseases. However, it is still extremely difficult for screening the bioactive compounds due to the tremendous constituents in TCMs. In this work, the chemical composition of toad venom was comprehensively analyzed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with high-resolution LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometry and 93 compounds were detected. Among them, 17 constituents were confirmed by standard substances and 8 constituents were detected in toad venom for the first time. Further, a compound database of toad venom containing the fullest compounds was further constructed using UPLC coupled with high-sensitivity Qtrap MS. Then a target cell-based approach for screening potential bioactive compounds from toad venom was developed by analyzing the target cell extracts. The reliability of this method was validated by negative controls and positive controls. In total, 17 components in toad venom were discovered to interact with the target cancer cells. Further, in vitro pharmacological trials were performed to confirm the anti-cancer activity of four of them. The results showed that the six bufogenins and seven bufotoxins detected in our research represented a promising resource to explore bufogenins/bufotoxins-based anticancer agents with low cardiotoxic effect. The target cell-based screening method coupled with the compound database of toad venom constructed by UPLC-Qtrap-MS with high sensitivity provide us a new strategy to rapidly screen and identify the potential bioactive constituents with low content in natural products, which was beneficial for drug discovery from other TCMs. ᅟ Graphical abstract.

  1. Beyond the resolution limit: subpixel resolution in animals and now in silicon

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wilcox, M. J.

    2007-09-01

    Automatic acquisition of aerial threats at thousands of kilometers distance requires high sensitivity to small differences in contrast and high optical quality for subpixel resolution, since targets occupy much less surface area than a single pixel. Targets travel at high speed and break up in the re-entry phase. Target/decoy discrimination at the earliest possible time is imperative. Real time performance requires a multifaceted approach with hyperspectral imaging and analog processing allowing feature extraction in real time. Hyperacuity Systems has developed a prototype chip capable of nonlinear increase in resolution or subpixel resolution far beyond either pixel size or spacing. Performance increase is due to a biomimetic implementation of animal retinas. Photosensitivity is not homogeneous across the sensor surface, allowing pixel parsing. It is remarkably simple to provide this profile to detectors and we showed at least three ways to do so. Individual photoreceptors have a Gaussian sensitivity profile and this nonlinear profile can be exploited to extract high-resolution. Adaptive, analog circuitry provides contrast enhancement, dynamic range setting with offset and gain control. Pixels are processed in parallel within modular elements called cartridges like photo-receptor inputs in fly eyes. These modular elements are connected by a novel function for a cell matrix known as L4. The system is exquisitely sensitive to small target motion and operates with a robust signal under degraded viewing conditions, allowing detection of targets smaller than a single pixel or at greater distance. Therefore, not only is instantaneous feature extraction possible but also subpixel resolution. Analog circuitry increases processing speed with more accurate motion specification for target tracking and identification.

  2. Fusing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery with High Resolution Hydrologic Modeling (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vivoni, E. R.; Pierini, N.; Schreiner-McGraw, A.; Anderson, C.; Saripalli, S.; Rango, A.

    2013-12-01

    After decades of development and applications, high resolution hydrologic models are now common tools in research and increasingly used in practice. More recently, high resolution imagery from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that provide information on land surface properties have become available for civilian applications. Fusing the two approaches promises to significantly advance the state-of-the-art in terms of hydrologic modeling capabilities. This combination will also challenge assumptions on model processes, parameterizations and scale as land surface characteristics (~0.1 to 1 m) may now surpass traditional model resolutions (~10 to 100 m). Ultimately, predictions from high resolution hydrologic models need to be consistent with the observational data that can be collected from UAVs. This talk will describe our efforts to develop, utilize and test the impact of UAV-derived topographic and vegetation fields on the simulation of two small watersheds in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts at the Santa Rita Experimental Range (Green Valley, AZ) and the Jornada Experimental Range (Las Cruces, NM). High resolution digital terrain models, image orthomosaics and vegetation species classification were obtained from a fixed wing airplane and a rotary wing helicopter, and compared to coarser analyses and products, including Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). We focus the discussion on the relative improvements achieved with UAV-derived fields in terms of terrain-hydrologic-vegetation analyses and summer season simulations using the TIN-based Real-time Integrated Basin Simulator (tRIBS) model. Model simulations are evaluated at each site with respect to a high-resolution sensor network consisting of six rain gauges, forty soil moisture and temperature profiles, four channel runoff flumes, a cosmic-ray soil moisture sensor and an eddy covariance tower over multiple summer periods. We also discuss prospects for the fusion of high resolution models with novel

  3. The impact of clustering and angular resolution on far-infrared and millimeter continuum observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Béthermin, Matthieu; Wu, Hao-Yi; Lagache, Guilaine; Davidzon, Iary; Ponthieu, Nicolas; Cousin, Morgane; Wang, Lingyu; Doré, Olivier; Daddi, Emanuele; Lapi, Andrea

    2017-11-01

    Follow-up observations at high-angular resolution of bright submillimeter galaxies selected from deep extragalactic surveys have shown that the single-dish sources are comprised of a blend of several galaxies. Consequently, number counts derived from low- and high-angular-resolution observations are in tension. This demonstrates the importance of resolution effects at these wavelengths and the need for realistic simulations to explore them. We built a new 2 deg2 simulation of the extragalactic sky from the far-infrared to the submillimeter. It is based on an updated version of the 2SFM (two star-formation modes) galaxy evolution model. Using global galaxy properties generated by this model, we used an abundance-matching technique to populate a dark-matter lightcone and thus simulate the clustering. We produced maps from this simulation and extracted the sources, and we show that the limited angular resolution of single-dish instruments has a strong impact on (sub)millimeter continuum observations. Taking into account these resolution effects, we are reproducing a large set of observables, as number counts and their evolution with redshift and cosmic infrared background power spectra. Our simulation consistently describes the number counts from single-dish telescopes and interferometers. In particular, at 350 and 500 μm, we find that the number counts measured by Herschel between 5 and 50 mJy are biased towards high values by a factor 2, and that the redshift distributions are biased towards low redshifts. We also show that the clustering has an important impact on the Herschel pixel histogram used to derive number counts from P(D) analysis. We find that the brightest galaxy in the beam of a 500 μm Herschel source contributes on average to only 60% of the Herschel flux density, but that this number will rise to 95% for future millimeter surveys on 30 m-class telescopes (e.g., NIKA2 at IRAM). Finally, we show that the large number density of red Herschel sources

  4. Precision cosmology with time delay lenses: High resolution imaging requirements

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Meng, Xiao -Lei; Treu, Tommaso; Agnello, Adriano

    Lens time delays are a powerful probe of cosmology, provided that the gravitational potential of the main deflector can be modeled with sufficient precision. Recent work has shown that this can be achieved by detailed modeling of the host galaxies of lensed quasars, which appear as ``Einstein Rings'' in high resolution images. The distortion of these arcs and counter-arcs, as measured over a large number of pixels, provides tight constraints on the difference between the gravitational potential between the quasar image positions, and thus on cosmology in combination with the measured time delay. We carry out a systematic exploration ofmore » the high resolution imaging required to exploit the thousands of lensed quasars that will be discovered by current and upcoming surveys with the next decade. Specifically, we simulate realistic lens systems as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and ground based adaptive optics images taken with Keck or the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). We compare the performance of these pointed observations with that of images taken by the Euclid (VIS), Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) surveys. We use as our metric the precision with which the slope γ' of the total mass density profile ρ tot∝ r–γ' for the main deflector can be measured. Ideally, we require that the statistical error on γ' be less than 0.02, such that it is subdominant to other sources of random and systematic uncertainties. We find that survey data will likely have sufficient depth and resolution to meet the target only for the brighter gravitational lens systems, comparable to those discovered by the SDSS survey. For fainter systems, that will be discovered by current and future surveys, targeted follow-up will be required. Furthermore, the exposure time required with upcoming facilitites such as JWST, the Keck Next Generation Adaptive Optics System, and TMT, will

  5. Precision cosmology with time delay lenses: high resolution imaging requirements

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Meng, Xiao-Lei; Liao, Kai; Treu, Tommaso

    Lens time delays are a powerful probe of cosmology, provided that the gravitational potential of the main deflector can be modeled with sufficient precision. Recent work has shown that this can be achieved by detailed modeling of the host galaxies of lensed quasars, which appear as ''Einstein Rings'' in high resolution images. The distortion of these arcs and counter-arcs, as measured over a large number of pixels, provides tight constraints on the difference between the gravitational potential between the quasar image positions, and thus on cosmology in combination with the measured time delay. We carry out a systematic exploration ofmore » the high resolution imaging required to exploit the thousands of lensed quasars that will be discovered by current and upcoming surveys with the next decade. Specifically, we simulate realistic lens systems as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and ground based adaptive optics images taken with Keck or the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). We compare the performance of these pointed observations with that of images taken by the Euclid (VIS), Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) surveys. We use as our metric the precision with which the slope γ' of the total mass density profile ρ{sub tot}∝ r{sup −γ'} for the main deflector can be measured. Ideally, we require that the statistical error on γ' be less than 0.02, such that it is subdominant to other sources of random and systematic uncertainties. We find that survey data will likely have sufficient depth and resolution to meet the target only for the brighter gravitational lens systems, comparable to those discovered by the SDSS survey. For fainter systems, that will be discovered by current and future surveys, targeted follow-up will be required. However, the exposure time required with upcoming facilitites such as JWST, the Keck Next Generation Adaptive Optics System, and TMT

  6. An Ultra-high Resolution Synthetic Precipitation Data for Ungauged Sites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Hong-Joong; Choi, Kyung-Min; Oh, Jai-Ho

    2018-05-01

    Despite the enormous damage caused by record heavy rainfall, the amount of precipitation in areas without observation points cannot be known precisely. One way to overcome these difficulties is to estimate meteorological data at ungauged sites. In this study, we have used observation data over Seoul city to calculate high-resolution (250-meter resolution) synthetic precipitation over a 10-year (2005-2014) period. Furthermore, three cases are analyzed by evaluating the rainfall intensity and performing statistical analysis over the 10-year period. In the case where the typhoon "Meari" passed to the west coast during 28-30 June 2011, the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.93 for seven validation points, which implies that the temporal correlation between the observed precipitation and synthetic precipitation was very good. It can be confirmed that the time series of observation and synthetic precipitation in the period almost completely matches the observed rainfall. On June 28-29, 2011, the estimation of 10 to 30 mm h-1 of continuous strong precipitation was correct. In addition, it is shown that the synthetic precipitation closely follows the observed precipitation for all three cases. Statistical analysis of 10 years of data reveals a very high correlation coefficient between synthetic precipitation and observed rainfall (0.86). Thus, synthetic precipitation data show good agreement with the observations. Therefore, the 250-m resolution synthetic precipitation amount calculated in this study is useful as basic data in weather applications, such as urban flood detection.

  7. Multi-epoch observations with high spatial resolution of multiple T Tauri systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Csépány, Gergely; van den Ancker, Mario; Ábrahám, Péter; Köhler, Rainer; Brandner, Wolfgang; Hormuth, Felix; Hiss, Hector

    2017-07-01

    Context. In multiple pre-main-sequence systems the lifetime of circumstellar discs appears to be shorter than around single stars, and the actual dissipation process may depend on the binary parameters of the systems. Aims: We report high spatial resolution observations of multiple T Tauri systems at optical and infrared wavelengths. We determine whether the components are gravitationally bound and orbital motion is visible, derive orbital parameters, and investigate possible correlations between the binary parameters and disc states. Methods: We selected 18 T Tau multiple systems (16 binary and two triple systems, yielding 16 + 2 × 2 = 20 binary pairs) in the Taurus-Auriga star-forming region from a previous survey, with spectral types from K1 to M5 and separations from 0.22″ (31 AU) to 5.8″ (814 AU). We analysed data acquired in 2006-07 at Calar Alto using the AstraLux lucky imaging system, along with data from SPHERE and NACO at the VLT, and from the literature. Results: We found ten pairs to orbit each other, five pairs that may show orbital motion, and five likely common proper motion pairs. We found no obvious correlation between the stellar parameters and binary configuration. The 10 μm infra-red excess varies between 0.1 and 7.2 mag (similar to the distribution in single stars, where it is between 1.7 and 9.1), implying that the presence of the binary star does not greatly influence the emission from the inner disc. Conclusions: We have detected orbital motion in young T Tauri systems over a timescale of ≈ 20 yr. Further observations with even longer temporal baseline will provide crucial information on the dynamics of these young stellar systems.

  8. Using High Resolution Design Spaces for Aerodynamic Shape Optimization Under Uncertainty

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Li, Wu; Padula, Sharon

    2004-01-01

    This paper explains why high resolution design spaces encourage traditional airfoil optimization algorithms to generate noisy shape modifications, which lead to inaccurate linear predictions of aerodynamic coefficients and potential failure of descent methods. By using auxiliary drag constraints for a simultaneous drag reduction at all design points and the least shape distortion to achieve the targeted drag reduction, an improved algorithm generates relatively smooth optimal airfoils with no severe off-design performance degradation over a range of flight conditions, in high resolution design spaces parameterized by cubic B-spline functions. Simulation results using FUN2D in Euler flows are included to show the capability of the robust aerodynamic shape optimization method over a range of flight conditions.

  9. Using high spectral resolution spectrophotometry to study broad mineral absorption features on Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Blaney, D. L.; Crisp, D.

    1993-01-01

    Traditionally telescopic measurements of mineralogic absorption features have been made using relatively low to moderate (R=30-300) spectral resolution. Mineralogic absorption features tend to be broad so high resolution spectroscopy (R greater than 10,000) does not provide significant additional compositional information. Low to moderate resolution spectroscopy allows an observer to obtain data over a wide wavelength range (hundreds to thousands of wavenumbers) compared to the several wavenumber intervals that are collected using high resolution spectrometers. However, spectrophotometry at high resolution has major advantages over lower resolution spectroscopy in situations that are applicable to studies of the Martian surface, i.e., at wavelengths where relatively weak surface absorption features and atmospheric gas absorption features both occur.

  10. High Resolution Optical Imaging through the Atmosphere

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-12-28

    34Iterative Blind Deconvolution Method and its Applications’, Opt. Lett., 13, p.54 7 . Fienup, J.R. 1978, Opt. Lett., 3, 27. Karovska , M., Nisenson, P., and...Noyes, R. (1987), ’High Angular Resolution Speckle Imaging of Alpha Ori", BAAS, Vol.19, No. 2. Karovska , M., Koechlin, L., Nisenson, P., Papaliolios...Publishers. Karovska , M., Nisenson, P., Papaliolios, C., Stendley, C. (1989), "High Angular Speckle Observations of SN1987A. Days 40-580.", BAAS, Vol

  11. The Deep Western Boundary Current in the Labrador Sea From Observations and a High-Resolution Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Handmann, Patricia; Fischer, Jürgen; Visbeck, Martin; Karstensen, Johannes; Biastoch, Arne; Böning, Claus; Patara, Lavinia

    2018-04-01

    Long-term observations from a 17 year long mooring array at the exit of the Labrador Sea at 53°N are compared to the output of a high-resolution model (VIKING20). Both are analyzed to define robust integral properties on basin and regional scale, which can be determined and evaluated equally well. While both, the observations and the model, show a narrow DWBC cyclonically engulfing the Labrador Sea, the model's boundary current system is more barotropic than in the observations and spectral analysis indicates stronger monthly to interannual transport variability. Compared to the model, the observations show a stronger density gradient, hence a stronger baroclinicity, from center to boundary. Despite this, the observed temporal evolution of the temperature in the central Labrador Sea is reproduced. The model results yield a mean export of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) (33.0 ± 5.7 Sv), which is comparable to the observed transport (31.2 ± 5.5 Sv) at 53°N. The results also include a comparable spatial pattern and March mixed layer depth in the central Labrador Sea (maximum depth ˜2,000 m). During periods containing enhanced deep convection (1990s) our analyses show increased correlation between LSW and LNADW model transport at 53°N. Our results indicate that the transport variability in LSW and LNADW at 53°N is a result of a complex modulation of wind stress and buoyancy forcing on regional and basin wide scale.

  12. Analysis of the impact of spatial resolution on land/water classifications using high-resolution aerial imagery

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Enwright, Nicholas M.; Jones, William R.; Garber, Adrienne L.; Keller, Matthew J.

    2014-01-01

    Long-term monitoring efforts often use remote sensing to track trends in habitat or landscape conditions over time. To most appropriately compare observations over time, long-term monitoring efforts strive for consistency in methods. Thus, advances and changes in technology over time can present a challenge. For instance, modern camera technology has led to an increasing availability of very high-resolution imagery (i.e. submetre and metre) and a shift from analogue to digital photography. While numerous studies have shown that image resolution can impact the accuracy of classifications, most of these studies have focused on the impacts of comparing spatial resolution changes greater than 2 m. Thus, a knowledge gap exists on the impacts of minor changes in spatial resolution (i.e. submetre to about 1.5 m) in very high-resolution aerial imagery (i.e. 2 m resolution or less). This study compared the impact of spatial resolution on land/water classifications of an area dominated by coastal marsh vegetation in Louisiana, USA, using 1:12,000 scale colour-infrared analogue aerial photography (AAP) scanned at four different dot-per-inch resolutions simulating ground sample distances (GSDs) of 0.33, 0.54, 1, and 2 m. Analysis of the impact of spatial resolution on land/water classifications was conducted by exploring various spatial aspects of the classifications including density of waterbodies and frequency distributions in waterbody sizes. This study found that a small-magnitude change (1–1.5 m) in spatial resolution had little to no impact on the amount of water classified (i.e. percentage mapped was less than 1.5%), but had a significant impact on the mapping of very small waterbodies (i.e. waterbodies ≤ 250 m2). These findings should interest those using temporal image classifications derived from very high-resolution aerial photography as a component of long-term monitoring programs.

  13. The Coordinate Transformation Method of High Resolution dem Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, Chaode; Guo, Wang; Li, Aimin

    2018-04-01

    Coordinate transformation methods of DEM data can be divided into two categories. One reconstruct based on original vector elevation data. The other transforms DEM data blocks by transforming parameters. But the former doesn't work in the absence of original vector data, and the later may cause errors at joint places between adjoining blocks of high resolution DEM data. In view of this problem, a method dealing with high resolution DEM data coordinate transformation is proposed. The method transforms DEM data into discrete vector elevation points, and then adjusts positions of points by bi-linear interpolation respectively. Finally, a TIN is generated by transformed points, and the new DEM data in target coordinate system is reconstructed based on TIN. An algorithm which can find blocks and transform automatically is given in this paper. The method is tested in different terrains and proved to be feasible and valid.

  14. LROC Targeted Observations for the Next Generation of Scientific Exploration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jolliff, B. L.

    2015-12-01

    Imaging of the Moon at high spatial resolution (0.5 to 2 mpp) by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Cameras (NAC) plus topographic data derived from LROC NAC and WAC (Wide Angle Camera) and LOLA (Lunar Orbiting Laser Altimeter), coupled with recently obtained hyperspectral NIR and thermal data, permit studies of composition, mineralogy, and geologic context at essentially an outcrop scale. Such studies pave the way for future landed and sample return missions for high science priority targets. Among such targets are (1) the youngest volcanic rocks on the Moon, including mare basalts formed as recently as ~1 Ga, and irregular mare patches (IMPs) that appear to be even younger [1]; (2) volcanic rocks and complexes with compositions more silica-rich than mare basalts [2-4]; (3) differentiated impact-melt deposits [5,6], ancient volcanics, and compositional anomalies within the South Pole-Aitken basin; (4) exposures of recently discovered key crustal rock types in uplifted structures such as essentially pure anorthosite [7] and spinel-rich rocks [8]; and (5) frozen volatile-element-rich deposits in polar areas [9]. Important data sets include feature sequences of paired NAC images obtained under similar illumination conditions, NAC geometric stereo, from which high-resolution DTMs can be made, and photometric sequences useful for assessing composition in areas of mature cover soils. Examples of each of these target types will be discussed in context of potential future missions. References: [1] Braden et al. (2014) Nat. Geo. 7, 787-791. [2] Glotch et al. (2010) Science, 329, 1510-1513. [3] Greenhagen et al. (2010) Science, 329, 1507-1509. [4] Jolliff et al. (2011) Nat. Geo. 4, 566-571. [5] Vaughan et al (2013) PSS 91, 101-106. [6] Hurwitz and Kring (2014) J. Geophys. Res. 119, 1110-1133 [7] Ohtake et al. (2009) Nature, 461, 236-241 [8] Pieters et al. (2014) Am. Min. 99, 1893-1910. [9] Colaprete et al. (2010) Science 330, 463-468.

  15. Handling target obscuration through Markov chain observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kouritzin, Michael A.; Wu, Biao

    2008-04-01

    Target Obscuration, including foliage or building obscuration of ground targets and landscape or horizon obscuration of airborne targets, plagues many real world filtering problems. In particular, ground moving target identification Doppler radar, mounted on a surveillance aircraft or unattended airborne vehicle, is used to detect motion consistent with targets of interest. However, these targets try to obscure themselves (at least partially) by, for example, traveling along the edge of a forest or around buildings. This has the effect of creating random blockages in the Doppler radar image that move dynamically and somewhat randomly through this image. Herein, we address tracking problems with target obscuration by building memory into the observations, eschewing the usual corrupted, distorted partial measurement assumptions of filtering in favor of dynamic Markov chain assumptions. In particular, we assume the observations are a Markov chain whose transition probabilities depend upon the signal. The state of the observation Markov chain attempts to depict the current obscuration and the Markov chain dynamics are used to handle the evolution of the partially obscured radar image. Modifications of the classical filtering equations that allow observation memory (in the form of a Markov chain) are given. We use particle filters to estimate the position of the moving targets. Moreover, positive proof-of-concept simulations are included.

  16. High-resolution continuum and Br (gamma) imaging observations of M82

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Larkin, J. E.; Graham, J. R.; Matthews, K.; Soifer, B. T.; Beckwith, S.; Herbst, T. M.; Quillen, A. C.

    1994-01-01

    We report high angular resolution (about 0.6 sec), broad-band imaging at 1.2 microns (J band), 1.6 microns (H band), 2.2 microns (K band), and 3.7 microns (L' band) of the central 110 sec x 21 sec (1.65 kpc x 0.32 kpc) of the nearby starburst galaxy M82. We also present spectral imaging with 90 km/s resolution in the Br (gamma) (2.17 microns) hydrogen recombination line covering the central 16 sec x 16 sec (240 pc x 240 pc) of this edge-on, disk galaxy. The broad-band mosaics reveal two plateaus of emission indicative of an inner disk of stars and perhaps a larger bar structure. Color maps reveal an extinction ridge running along the central kiloparsec which is strongest at the nucleus and on the western side. The dust emission is more symmetric, suggesting that a dust lane is in front of the stellar population to the west of the nucleus, and behind the stars to the east; this is again suggestive of a stellar bar with leading dust lanes. Channel maps and a position-velocity image of the Br (gamma) reveal two lobes and are consistent with the interpretation that the ionized gas, and hence, the young massive stars are distributed in a toroid of H II regions surrounding the nucleus.

  17. High temperature plasma in beta Lyrae, observed from Copernicus

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kondo, Y.; Hack, M.; Hutchings, J. B.; Mccluskey, G. E., Jr.; Plavec, M.; Polidan, R. S.

    1975-01-01

    High-resolution UV spectrophotometry of the complex close binary system beta Lyrae was performed with a telescope spectrometer on board Copernicus. Observations were made at phases 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 with resolutions of 0.2 A (far-UV) and 0.4 A (mid-UV). The far-UV spectrum is completely dominated by emission lines indicating the existence of a high-temperature plasma in this binary. The spectrum of this object is unlike that of any other object observed from Copernicus. It is believed that this high-temperature plasma results from dynamic mass transfer taking place in the binary. The current results are compared with OAO-2 observations and other observational results. The possibility that the secondary component is a collapsed object is also discussed; the Copernicus observations are consistent with the hypothesis that the spectroscopically invisible secondary component is a black hole.

  18. ON THE IMPACT OF SUPER RESOLUTION WSR-88D DOPPLER RADAR DATA ASSIMILATION ON HIGH RESOLUTION NUMERICAL MODEL FORECASTS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Chiswell, S

    2009-01-11

    Assimilation of radar velocity and precipitation fields into high-resolution model simulations can improve precipitation forecasts with decreased 'spin-up' time and improve short-term simulation of boundary layer winds (Benjamin, 2004 & 2007; Xiao, 2008) which is critical to improving plume transport forecasts. Accurate description of wind and turbulence fields is essential to useful atmospheric transport and dispersion results, and any improvement in the accuracy of these fields will make consequence assessment more valuable during both routine operation as well as potential emergency situations. During 2008, the United States National Weather Service (NWS) radars implemented a significant upgrade which increased the real-timemore » level II data resolution to 8 times their previous 'legacy' resolution, from 1 km range gate and 1.0 degree azimuthal resolution to 'super resolution' 250 m range gate and 0.5 degree azimuthal resolution (Fig 1). These radar observations provide reflectivity, velocity and returned power spectra measurements at a range of up to 300 km (460 km for reflectivity) at a frequency of 4-5 minutes and yield up to 13.5 million point observations per level in super-resolution mode. The migration of National Weather Service (NWS) WSR-88D radars to super resolution is expected to improve warning lead times by detecting small scale features sooner with increased reliability; however, current operational mesoscale model domains utilize grid spacing several times larger than the legacy data resolution, and therefore the added resolution of radar data is not fully exploited. The assimilation of super resolution reflectivity and velocity data into high resolution numerical weather model forecasts where grid spacing is comparable to the radar data resolution is investigated here to determine the impact of the improved data resolution on model predictions.« less

  19. Remote sensing of mesospheric winds with the High-Resolution Doppler Imager

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hays, Paul B.; Abreu, V. J.; Burrage, M. D.; Gell, D. A.; Grassi, H. J.; Marshall, A. R.; Morton, Y. T.; Ortland, D. A.; Skinner, W. R.; Wu, D. L.

    1992-01-01

    Observations of the winds in the upper atmosphere obtained with the High-Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) are discussed. This instrument is a very stable high-resolution triple-etalon Fabry-Perot interferometer, which is used to observe the slight Doppler shifts of absorption and emission lines in the O2 Atmospheric bands induced by atmospheric motions. Preliminary observations indicate that the winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere are a mixture of migrating and non-migrating tides, and planetary-scale waves. The mean meridional winds are dominated by the 1,1 diurnal tide which is easily extracted from the daily zonal means of the satellite observations. The daily mean zonal winds are a mixture of the diurnal tide and a zonal flow which is consistent with theoretical expectations.

  20. Non-targeted glycosidic profiling of international wines using neutral loss-high resolution mass spectrometry.

    PubMed

    Barnaba, C; Dellacassa, E; Nicolini, G; Nardin, T; Serra, M; Larcher, R

    2018-07-06

    Many metabolites naturally occur as glycosides, since sugar moieties can be crucial for their biological activity and increase their water solubility. In the plant kingdom they may occur as glycosides or sugar esters, depending on precursor chemical structure, and in wine they have traditionally attracted attention due to their organoleptic properties, such as astringency and bitterness, and because they affect the colour and aroma of wines. A new approach directed at detailed description of glycosides in a large selection of monovarietal wines (8 samples each of Pinot Blanc, Muller Thurgau, Riesling, Traminer, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon) was developed by combining high performance liquid chromatography with high resolution tandem mass spectrometry. Analytical separation was performed on an Accucore™ Polar Premium LC column, while mass analysis was performed in negative ion mode with an non-targeted screening approach, using a Full MS/AIF/NL dd-MS 2 experiment at a resolving power of 140,000 FWHM. Over 280 glycoside-like compounds were detected, of which 133 (including low-molecular weight phenols, flavonoids and monoterpenols) were tentatively identified in the form of pentose (6), deoxyhexose (17), hexose (73), hexose-pentose (16), hexose-deoxyhexose (7), dihexose (5) and hexose ester (9) derivatives. It was not possible to univocally define the corresponding chemical structure for the remaining 149 glycosides. Non-parametric statistical analysis showed it was possible to well characterise the glycosylated profile of all red and Traminer wines, while the identified glycosides were almost entirely lacking in Pinot Blanc, Riesling and Muller Thurgau wines. Also Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference test (p < 0.05) and Principal Component Analysis confirmed that it was possible to almost entirely distinguish the selected red wines from each other according to their glycosylated profile. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. A Unitary Anesthetic Binding Site at High Resolution

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Vedula, L. Sangeetha; Brannigan, Grace; Economou, Nicoleta J.

    2009-10-21

    Propofol is the most widely used injectable general anesthetic. Its targets include ligand-gated ion channels such as the GABA{sub A} receptor, but such receptor-channel complexes remain challenging to study at atomic resolution. Until structural biology methods advance to the point of being able to deal with systems such as the GABA{sub A} receptor, it will be necessary to use more tractable surrogates to probe the molecular details of anesthetic recognition. We have previously shown that recognition of inhalational general anesthetics by the model protein apoferritin closely mirrors recognition by more complex and clinically relevant protein targets; here we show thatmore » apoferritin also binds propofol and related GABAergic anesthetics, and that the same binding site mediates recognition of both inhalational and injectable anesthetics. Apoferritin binding affinities for a series of propofol analogs were found to be strongly correlated with the ability to potentiate GABA responses at GABA{sub A} receptors, validating this model system for injectable anesthetics. High resolution x-ray crystal structures reveal that, despite the presence of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, anesthetic recognition is mediated largely by van der Waals forces and the hydrophobic effect. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the ligands undergo considerable fluctuations about their equilibrium positions. Finally, apoferritin displays both structural and dynamic responses to anesthetic binding, which may mimic changes elicited by anesthetics in physiologic targets like ion channels.« less

  2. A Unitary Anesthetic Binding Site at High Resolution

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    L Vedula; G Brannigan; N Economou

    2011-12-31

    Propofol is the most widely used injectable general anesthetic. Its targets include ligand-gated ion channels such as the GABA{sub A} receptor, but such receptor-channel complexes remain challenging to study at atomic resolution. Until structural biology methods advance to the point of being able to deal with systems such as the GABA{sub A} receptor, it will be necessary to use more tractable surrogates to probe the molecular details of anesthetic recognition. We have previously shown that recognition of inhalational general anesthetics by the model protein apoferritin closely mirrors recognition by more complex and clinically relevant protein targets; here we show thatmore » apoferritin also binds propofol and related GABAergic anesthetics, and that the same binding site mediates recognition of both inhalational and injectable anesthetics. Apoferritin binding affinities for a series of propofol analogs were found to be strongly correlated with the ability to potentiate GABA responses at GABA{sub A} receptors, validating this model system for injectable anesthetics. High resolution x-ray crystal structures reveal that, despite the presence of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, anesthetic recognition is mediated largely by van der Waals forces and the hydrophobic effect. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the ligands undergo considerable fluctuations about their equilibrium positions. Finally, apoferritin displays both structural and dynamic responses to anesthetic binding, which may mimic changes elicited by anesthetics in physiologic targets like ion channels.« less

  3. A Unitary Anesthetic-Binding Site at High Resolution

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Vedula, L.; Brannigan, G; Economou, N

    2009-01-01

    Propofol is the most widely used injectable general anesthetic. Its targets include ligand-gated ion channels such as the GABAA receptor, but such receptor-channel complexes remain challenging to study at atomic resolution. Until structural biology methods advance to the point of being able to deal with systems such as the GABA{sub A} receptor, it will be necessary to use more tractable surrogates to probe the molecular details of anesthetic recognition. We have previously shown that recognition of inhalational general anesthetics by the model protein apoferritin closely mirrors recognition by more complex and clinically relevant protein targets; here we show that apoferritinmore » also binds propofol and related GABAergic anesthetics, and that the same binding site mediates recognition of both inhalational and injectable anesthetics. Apoferritin binding affinities for a series of propofol analogs were found to be strongly correlated with the ability to potentiate GABA responses at GABA{sub A} receptors, validating this model system for injectable anesthetics. High resolution x-ray crystal structures reveal that, despite the presence of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, anesthetic recognition is mediated largely by van der Waals forces and the hydrophobic effect. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the ligands undergo considerable fluctuations about their equilibrium positions. Finally, apoferritin displays both structural and dynamic responses to anesthetic binding, which may mimic changes elicited by anesthetics in physiologic targets like ion channels.« less

  4. Observation of high-resolution wind fields and offshore wind turbine wakes using TerraSAR-X imagery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gies, Tobias; Jacobsen, Sven; Lehner, Susanne; Pleskachevsky, Andrey

    2014-05-01

    1. Introduction Numerous large-scale offshore wind farms have been built in European waters and play an important role in providing renewable energy. Therefore, knowledge of behavior of wakes, induced by large wind turbines and their impact on wind power output is important. The spatial variation of offshore wind turbine wake is very complex, depending on wind speed, wind direction, ambient atmospheric turbulence and atmospheric stability. In this study we demonstrate the application of X-band TerraSAR-X (TS-X) data with high spatial resolution for studies on wind turbine wakes in the near and far field of the offshore wind farm Alpha Ventus, located in the North Sea. Two cases which different weather conditions and different wake pattern as observed in the TS-X image are presented. 2. Methods The space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a unique sensor that provides two-dimensional information on the ocean surface. Due to their high resolution, daylight and weather independency and global coverage, SARs are particularly suitable for many ocean and coastal applications. SAR images reveal wind variations on small scales and thus represent a valuable means in detailed wind-field analysis. The general principle of imaging turbine wakes is that the reduced wind speed downstream of offshore wind farms modulates the sea surface roughness, which in turn changes the Normalized Radar Cross Section (NRCS, denoted by σ0) in the SAR image and makes the wake visible. In this study we present two cases at the offshore wind farm Alpha Ventus to investigate turbine-induced wakes and the retrieved sea surface wind field. Using the wind streaks, visible in the TS-X image and the shadow behind the offshore wind farm, induced by turbine wake, the sea surface wind direction is derived and subsequently the sea surface wind speed is calculated using the latest generation of wind field algorithm XMOD2. 3. Case study alpha ventus Alpha Ventus is located approximately 45 km from the

  5. The research of road and vehicle information extraction algorithm based on high resolution remote sensing image

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Tingting; Gu, Lingjia; Ren, Ruizhi; Cao, Qiong

    2016-09-01

    With the rapid development of remote sensing technology, the spatial resolution and temporal resolution of satellite imagery also have a huge increase. Meanwhile, High-spatial-resolution images are becoming increasingly popular for commercial applications. The remote sensing image technology has broad application prospects in intelligent traffic. Compared with traditional traffic information collection methods, vehicle information extraction using high-resolution remote sensing image has the advantages of high resolution and wide coverage. This has great guiding significance to urban planning, transportation management, travel route choice and so on. Firstly, this paper preprocessed the acquired high-resolution multi-spectral and panchromatic remote sensing images. After that, on the one hand, in order to get the optimal thresholding for image segmentation, histogram equalization and linear enhancement technologies were applied into the preprocessing results. On the other hand, considering distribution characteristics of road, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalized difference water index (NDWI) were used to suppress water and vegetation information of preprocessing results. Then, the above two processing result were combined. Finally, the geometric characteristics were used to completed road information extraction. The road vector extracted was used to limit the target vehicle area. Target vehicle extraction was divided into bright vehicles extraction and dark vehicles extraction. Eventually, the extraction results of the two kinds of vehicles were combined to get the final results. The experiment results demonstrated that the proposed algorithm has a high precision for the vehicle information extraction for different high resolution remote sensing images. Among these results, the average fault detection rate was about 5.36%, the average residual rate was about 13.60% and the average accuracy was approximately 91.26%.

  6. High-resolution Mapping of Permafrost and Soil Freeze/thaw Dynamics in the Tibetan Plateau Based on Multi-sensor Satellite Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, W.; Yi, Y.; Yang, K.; Kimball, J. S.

    2016-12-01

    The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is underlain by the world's largest extent of alpine permafrost ( 2.5×106 km2), dominated by sporadic and discontinuous permafrost with strong sensitivity to climate warming. Detailed permafrost distributions and patterns in most of the TP region are still unknown due to extremely sparse in-situ observations in this region characterized by heterogeneous land cover and large temporal dynamics in surface soil moisture conditions. Therefore, satellite-based temperature and moisture observations are essential for high-resolution mapping of permafrost distribution and soil active layer changes in the TP region. In this study, we quantify the TP regional permafrost distribution at 1-km resolution using a detailed satellite data-driven soil thermal process model (GIPL2). The soil thermal model is calibrated and validated using in-situ soil temperature/moisture observations from the CAMP/Tibet field campaign (9 sites: 0-300 cm soil depth sampling from 1997-2007), a multi-scale soil moisture and temperature monitoring network in the central TP (CTP-SMTMN, 57 sites: 5-40 cm, 2010-2014) and across the whole plateau (China Meteorology Administration, 98 sites: 0-320 cm, 2000-2015). Our preliminary results using the CAMP/Tibet and CTP-SMTMN network observations indicate strong controls of surface thermal and soil moisture conditions on soil freeze/thaw dynamics, which vary greatly with underlying topography, soil texture and vegetation cover. For regional mapping of soil freeze/thaw and permafrost dynamics, we use the most recent soil moisture retrievals from the NASA SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) sensor to account for the effects of temporal soil moisture dynamics on soil thermal heat transfer, with surface thermal conditions defined by MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) land surface temperature records. Our study provides the first 1-km map of spatial patterns and recent changes of permafrost conditions in the TP.

  7. Binary Cepheids From High-Angular Resolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gallenne, A.; Mérand, A.; Kervella, P.

    2015-12-01

    Optical interferometry is the only technique giving access to milli-arcsecond (mas) spatial resolution. This is a powerful and unique tool to detect the close orbiting companions of Cepheids, and offers an unique opportunity to make progress in resolving the Cepheid mass discrepancy. Our goal in studying binary Cepheids is to measure the astrometric position of the high-contrast companion, and then combine them with spectroscopic measurements to derive the orbital elements, distances, and dynamical masses. In the course of this program, we developed a new tool, CANDID, to search for high-contrast companions and set detection limits from interferometric observations

  8. High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP v1.0) for CMIP6

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haarsma, Reindert J.; Roberts, Malcolm J.; Vidale, Pier Luigi; Senior, Catherine A.; Bellucci, Alessio; Bao, Qing; Chang, Ping; Corti, Susanna; Fučkar, Neven S.; Guemas, Virginie; von Hardenberg, Jost; Hazeleger, Wilco; Kodama, Chihiro; Koenigk, Torben; Leung, L. Ruby; Lu, Jian; Luo, Jing-Jia; Mao, Jiafu; Mizielinski, Matthew S.; Mizuta, Ryo; Nobre, Paulo; Satoh, Masaki; Scoccimarro, Enrico; Semmler, Tido; Small, Justin; von Storch, Jin-Song

    2016-11-01

    Robust projections and predictions of climate variability and change, particularly at regional scales, rely on the driving processes being represented with fidelity in model simulations. The role of enhanced horizontal resolution in improved process representation in all components of the climate system is of growing interest, particularly as some recent simulations suggest both the possibility of significant changes in large-scale aspects of circulation as well as improvements in small-scale processes and extremes. However, such high-resolution global simulations at climate timescales, with resolutions of at least 50 km in the atmosphere and 0.25° in the ocean, have been performed at relatively few research centres and generally without overall coordination, primarily due to their computational cost. Assessing the robustness of the response of simulated climate to model resolution requires a large multi-model ensemble using a coordinated set of experiments. The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) is the ideal framework within which to conduct such a study, due to the strong link to models being developed for the CMIP DECK experiments and other model intercomparison projects (MIPs). Increases in high-performance computing (HPC) resources, as well as the revised experimental design for CMIP6, now enable a detailed investigation of the impact of increased resolution up to synoptic weather scales on the simulated mean climate and its variability. The High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP) presented in this paper applies, for the first time, a multi-model approach to the systematic investigation of the impact of horizontal resolution. A coordinated set of experiments has been designed to assess both a standard and an enhanced horizontal-resolution simulation in the atmosphere and ocean. The set of HighResMIP experiments is divided into three tiers consisting of atmosphere-only and coupled runs and spanning the period 1950-2050, with the

  9. High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP v1.0) for CMIP6

    DOE PAGES

    Haarsma, Reindert J.; Roberts, Malcolm J.; Vidale, Pier Luigi; ...

    2016-11-22

    Robust projections and predictions of climate variability and change, particularly at regional scales, rely on the driving processes being represented with fidelity in model simulations. The role of enhanced horizontal resolution in improved process representation in all components of the climate system is of growing interest, particularly as some recent simulations suggest both the possibility of significant changes in large-scale aspects of circulation as well as improvements in small-scale processes and extremes. However, such high-resolution global simulations at climate timescales, with resolutions of at least 50 km in the atmosphere and 0.25° in the ocean, have been performed at relativelymore » few research centres and generally without overall coordination, primarily due to their computational cost. Assessing the robustness of the response of simulated climate to model resolution requires a large multi-model ensemble using a coordinated set of experiments. The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) is the ideal framework within which to conduct such a study, due to the strong link to models being developed for the CMIP DECK experiments and other model intercomparison projects (MIPs). Increases in high-performance computing (HPC) resources, as well as the revised experimental design for CMIP6, now enable a detailed investigation of the impact of increased resolution up to synoptic weather scales on the simulated mean climate and its variability. The High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP) presented in this paper applies, for the first time, a multi-model approach to the systematic investigation of the impact of horizontal resolution. A coordinated set of experiments has been designed to assess both a standard and an enhanced horizontal-resolution simulation in the atmosphere and ocean. The set of HighResMIP experiments is divided into three tiers consisting of atmosphere-only and coupled runs and spanning the period 1950

  10. Multimodal adaptive optics for depth-enhanced high-resolution ophthalmic imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hammer, Daniel X.; Mujat, Mircea; Iftimia, Nicusor V.; Lue, Niyom; Ferguson, R. Daniel

    2010-02-01

    We developed a multimodal adaptive optics (AO) retinal imager for diagnosis of retinal diseases, including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The development represents the first ever high performance AO system constructed that combines AO-corrected scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) and swept source Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (SSOCT) imaging modes in a single compact clinical prototype platform. The SSOCT channel operates at a wavelength of 1 μm for increased penetration and visualization of the choriocapillaris and choroid, sites of major disease activity for DR and wet AMD. The system is designed to operate on a broad clinical population with a dual deformable mirror (DM) configuration that allows simultaneous low- and high-order aberration correction. The system also includes a wide field line scanning ophthalmoscope (LSO) for initial screening, target identification, and global orientation; an integrated retinal tracker (RT) to stabilize the SLO, OCT, and LSO imaging fields in the presence of rotational eye motion; and a high-resolution LCD-based fixation target for presentation to the subject of stimuli and other visual cues. The system was tested in a limited number of human subjects without retinal disease for performance optimization and validation. The system was able to resolve and quantify cone photoreceptors across the macula to within ~0.5 deg (~100-150 μm) of the fovea, image and delineate ten retinal layers, and penetrate to resolve targets deep into the choroid. In addition to instrument hardware development, analysis algorithms were developed for efficient information extraction from clinical imaging sessions, with functionality including automated image registration, photoreceptor counting, strip and montage stitching, and segmentation. The system provides clinicians and researchers with high-resolution, high performance adaptive optics imaging to help

  11. Construction and first atmospheric observations of a high spectral resolution lidar system in Argentina in the frame of a trinational Japanese-Argentinean-Chilean collaboration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Papandrea, S.; Jin, Y.; Ristori, P.; Otero, L.; Nishizawa, T.; Mizuno, A.; Sugimoto, N.; Quel, E.

    2016-05-01

    Atmospheric monitoring stations are being developed in Argentina. The most important targets are volcanic ashes, desert aerosols in particular Patagonian dust and biomass burning aerosols. Six stations deployed in the Patagonian Region and Buenos Aires have lidar systems, sun photometers integrated to the AERONET/NASA monitoring network, in situ optical particle analyzers, four solar radiation sensors (pyranometer, UVA, UVB and GUV), and meteorological equipment. The stations are in the main international airports of the Regions (San Carlos de Bariloche, Comodoro Rivadavia, Neuquén, Rio Gallegos) and in Buenos Aires (Aeroparque Jorge Newbery and at CEILAP/CITEDEF). CEILAP and the National Institute of Environmental Studies (NIES) at Tsukuba, Japan developed the first iodine cell-based high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) in Argentina to add in the lidar network. We upgraded the standard CEILAP multi-wavelength Raman lidar adding the laser frequency tuning system and the 532 iodine-filtered channel at the reception to built the HSRL. HSRL will provide daytime and nighttime direct observation of the aerosol and cloud optical properties (backscatter and extinction) without the pre-assumption of the lidar ratio. This work shows the design and construction of the first Argentinean HSRL. We also show the first lidar observations done in the country with this kind of lidar.

  12. Borehole prototype for seismic high-resolution exploration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Giese, Rüdiger; Jaksch, Katrin; Krauß, Felix; Krüger, Kay; Groh, Marco; Jurczyk, Andreas

    2014-05-01

    Target reservoirs for the exploitation of hydrocarbons or hot water for geothermal energy supply can comprise small layered structures, for instance thin layers or faults. The resolution of 2D and 3D surface seismic methods is often not sufficient to determine and locate these structures. Borehole seismic methods like vertical seismic profiling (VSP) and seismic while drilling (SWD) use either receivers or sources within the borehole. Thus, the distance to the target horizon is reduced and higher resolution images of the geological structures can be achieved. Even these methods are limited in their resolution capabilities with increasing target depth. To localize structures more accuracy methods with higher resolution in the range of meters are necessary. The project SPWD -- Seismic Prediction While Drilling aims at s the development of a borehole prototype which combines seismic sources and receivers in one device to improve the seismic resolution. Within SPWD such a prototype has been designed, manufactured and tested. The SPWD-wireline prototype is divided into three main parts. The upper section comprises the electronic unit. The middle section includes the upper receiver, the upper clamping unit as well as the source unit and the lower clamping unit. The lower section consists of the lower receiver unit and the hydraulic unit. The total length of the prototype is nearly seven meters and its weight is about 750 kg. For focusing the seismic waves in predefined directions of the borehole axis the method of phased array is used. The source unit is equipped with four magnetostrictive vibrators. Each can be controlled independently to get a common wave front in the desired direction of exploration. Source signal frequencies up to 5000 Hz are used, which allows resolutions up to one meter. In May and September 2013 field tests with the SPWD-wireline prototype have been carried out at the KTB Deep Crustal Lab in Windischeschenbach (Bavaria). The aim was to proof the

  13. High resolution SETI: Experiences and prospects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Horowitz, Paul; Clubok, Ken

    Megachannel spectroscopy with sub-Hertz resolution constitutes an attractive strategy for a microwave search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), assuming the transmission of a narrowband radiofrequency beacon. Such resolution matches the properties of the interstellar medium, and the necessary Doppler corrections provide a high degree of interference rejection. We have constructed a frequency-agile receiver with an FFT-based 8 megachannel digital spectrum analyzer, on-line signal recognition, and multithreshold archiving. We are using it to conduct a meridian transit search of the northern sky at the Harvard-Smithsonian 26-m antenna, with a second identical system scheduled to begin observations in Argentina this month. Successive 400 kHz spectra, at 0.05 Hz resolution, are searched for features characteristic of an intentional narrowband beacon transmission. These spectra are centered on guessable frequencies (such as λ21 cm), referenced successively to the local standard of rest, the galactic barycenter, and the cosmic blackbody rest frame. This search has rejected interference admirably, but is greatly limited both in total frequency coverage and sensitivity to signals other than carriers. We summarize five years of high resolution SETI at Harvard, in the context of answering the questions "How useful is narrowband SETI, how serious are its limitations, what can be done to circumvent them, and in what direction should SETI evolve?" Increasingly powerful signal processing hardware, combined with ever-higher memory densities, are particularly relevant, permitting the construction of compact and affordable gigachannel spectrum analyzers covering hundreds of megahertz of instantaneous bandwidth.

  14. High resolution digital delay timer

    DOEpatents

    Martin, Albert D.

    1988-01-01

    Method and apparatus are provided for generating an output pulse following a trigger pulse at a time delay interval preset with a resolution which is high relative to a low resolution available from supplied clock pulses. A first lumped constant delay (20) provides a first output signal (24) at predetermined interpolation intervals corresponding to the desired high resolution time interval. Latching circuits (26, 28) latch the high resolution data (24) to form a first synchronizing data set (60). A selected time interval has been preset to internal counters (142, 146, 154) and corrected for circuit propagation delay times having the same order of magnitude as the desired high resolution. Internal system clock pulses (32, 34) count down the counters to generate an internal pulse delayed by an interval which is functionally related to the preset time interval. A second LCD (184) corrects the internal signal with the high resolution time delay. A second internal pulse is then applied to a third LCD (74) to generate a second set of synchronizing data (76) which is complementary with the first set of synchronizing data (60) for presentation to logic circuits (64). The logic circuits (64) further delay the internal output signal (72) to obtain a proper phase relationship of an output signal (80) with the internal pulses (32, 34). The final delayed output signal (80) thereafter enables the output pulse generator (82) to produce the desired output pulse (84) at the preset time delay interval following input of the trigger pulse (10, 12).

  15. A High-resolution Reanalysis for the European CORDEX Region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bentzien, Sabrina; Bollmeyer, Christoph; Crewell, Susanne; Friederichs, Petra; Hense, Andreas; Keller, Jan; Keune, Jessica; Kneifel, Stefan; Ohlwein, Christian; Pscheidt, Ieda; Redl, Stephanie; Steinke, Sandra

    2014-05-01

    A High-resolution Reanalysis for the European CORDEX Region Within the Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research (HErZ), the climate monitoring branch concentrates efforts on the assessment and analysis of regional climate in Germany and Europe. In joint cooperation with DWD (German Meteorological Service), a high-resolution reanalysis system based on the COSMO model has been developed. Reanalyses gain more and more importance as a source of meteorological information for many purposes and applications. Several global reanalyses projects (e.g., ERA, MERRA, CSFR, JMA9) produce and verify these data sets to provide time series as long as possible combined with a high data quality. Due to a spatial resolution down to 50-70km and 3-hourly temporal output, they are not suitable for small scale problems (e.g., regional climate assessment, meso-scale NWP verification, input for subsequent models such as river runoff simulations). The implementation of regional reanalyses based on a limited area model along with a data assimilation scheme is able to generate reanalysis data sets with high spatio-temporal resolution. The work presented here focuses on the regional reanalysis for Europe with a domain matching the CORDEX-EURO-11 specifications, albeit at a higher spatial resolution, i.e., 0.055° (6km) instead of 0.11° (12km). The COSMO reanalysis system comprises the assimilation of observational data using the existing nudging scheme of COSMO and is complemented by a special soil moisture analysis and boundary conditions given by ERA-interim data. The reanalysis data set currently covers 6 years (2007-2012). The evaluation of the reanalyses is done using independent observations with special emphasis on precipitation and high-impact weather situations. The development and evaluation of the COSMO-based reanalysis for the CORDEX-Euro domain can be seen as a preparation for joint European activities on the development of an ensemble system of regional reanalyses for Europe.

  16. High resolution earth observation from geostationary orbit by optical aperture synthesys

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mesrine, M.; Thomas, E.; Garin, S.; Blanc, P.; Alis, C.; Cassaing, F.; Laubier, D.

    2017-11-01

    In this paper, we describe Optical Aperture Synthesis (OAS) imaging instrument concepts studied by Alcatel Alenia Space under a CNES R&T contract in term of technical feasibility. First, the methodology to select the aperture configuration is proposed, based on the definition and quantification of image quality criteria adapted to an OAS instrument for direct imaging of extended objects. The following section presents, for each interferometer type (Michelson and Fizeau), the corresponding optical configurations compatible with a large field of view from GEO orbit. These optical concepts take into account the constraints imposed by the foreseen resolution and the implementation of the co-phasing functions. The fourth section is dedicated to the analysis of the co-phasing methodologies, from the configuration deployment to the fine stabilization during observation. Finally, we present a trade-off analysis allowing to select the concept wrt mission specification and constraints related to instrument accommodation under launcher shroud and in-orbit deployment.

  17. KINETIC ENERGY FROM SUPERNOVA FEEDBACK IN HIGH-RESOLUTION GALAXY SIMULATIONS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Simpson, Christine M.; Bryan, Greg L.; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.

    We describe a new method for adding a prescribed amount of kinetic energy to simulated gas modeled on a cartesian grid by directly altering grid cells’ mass and velocity in a distributed fashion. The method is explored in the context of supernova (SN) feedback in high-resolution (∼10 pc) hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation. Resolution dependence is a primary consideration in our application of the method, and simulations of isolated explosions (performed at different resolutions) motivate a resolution-dependent scaling for the injected fraction of kinetic energy that we apply in cosmological simulations of a 10{sup 9} M{sub ⊙} dwarf halo. Wemore » find that in high-density media (≳50 cm{sup −3}) with coarse resolution (≳4 pc per cell), results are sensitive to the initial kinetic energy fraction due to early and rapid cooling. In our galaxy simulations, the deposition of small amounts of SN energy in kinetic form (as little as 1%) has a dramatic impact on the evolution of the system, resulting in an order-of-magnitude suppression of stellar mass. The overall behavior of the galaxy in the two highest resolution simulations we perform appears to converge. We discuss the resulting distribution of stellar metallicities, an observable sensitive to galactic wind properties, and find that while the new method demonstrates increased agreement with observed systems, significant discrepancies remain, likely due to simplistic assumptions that neglect contributions from SNe Ia and stellar winds.« less

  18. Adaptive optics high-resolution IR spectroscopy with silicon grisms and immersion gratings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ge, Jian; McDavitt, Daniel L.; Chakraborty, Abhijit; Bernecker, John L.; Miller, Shane

    2003-02-01

    The breakthrough of silicon immersion grating technology at Penn State has the ability to revolutionize high-resolution infrared spectroscopy when it is coupled with adaptive optics at large ground-based telescopes. Fabrication of high quality silicon grism and immersion gratings up to 2 inches in dimension, less than 1% integrated scattered light, and diffraction-limited performance becomes a routine process thanks to newly developed techniques. Silicon immersion gratings with etched dimensions of ~ 4 inches are being developed at Penn State. These immersion gratings will be able to provide a diffraction-limited spectral resolution of R = 300,000 at 2.2 micron, or 130,000 at 4.6 micron. Prototype silicon grisms have been successfully used in initial scientific observations at the Lick 3m telescope with adaptive optics. Complete K band spectra of a total of 6 T Tauri and Ae/Be stars and their close companions at a spectral resolution of R ~ 3000 were obtained. This resolving power was achieved by using a silicon echelle grism with a 5 mm pupil diameter in an IR camera. These results represent the first scientific observations conducted by the high-resolution silicon grisms, and demonstrate the extremely high dispersing power of silicon-based gratings. New discoveries from this high spatial and spectral resolution IR spectroscopy will be reported. The future of silicon-based grating applications in ground-based AO IR instruments is promising. Silicon immersion gratings will make very high-resolution spectroscopy (R > 100,000) feasible with compact instruments for implementation on large telescopes. Silicon grisms will offer an efficient way to implement low-cost medium to high resolution IR spectroscopy (R ~ 1000-50000) through the conversion of existing cameras into spectrometers by locating a grism in the instrument's pupil location.

  19. Non-targeted workflow for identification of antimicrobial compounds in animal feed using bioassay-directed screening in combination with liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry.

    PubMed

    Wegh, Robin S; Berendsen, Bjorn J A; Driessen-Van Lankveld, Wilma D M; Pikkemaat, Mariël G; Zuidema, Tina; Van Ginkel, Leen A

    2017-11-01

    A non-targeted workflow is reported for the isolation and identification of antimicrobial active compounds using bioassay-directed screening and LC coupled to high-resolution MS. Suspect samples are extracted using a generic protocol and fractionated using two different LC conditions (A and B). The behaviour of the bioactive compound under these different conditions yields information about the physicochemical properties of the compound and introduces variations in co-eluting compounds in the fractions, which is essential for peak picking and identification. The fractions containing the active compound(s) obtained with conditions A and B are selected using a microbiological effect-based bioassay. The selected bioactive fractions from A and B are analysed using LC combined with high-resolution MS. Selection of relevant signals is automatically carried out by selecting all signals present in both bioactive fractions A and B, yielding tremendous data reduction. The method was assessed using two spiked feed samples and subsequently applied to two feed samples containing an unidentified compound showing microbial growth inhibition. In all cases, the identity of the compound causing microbiological inhibition was successfully confirmed.

  20. Witnessing magnetic twist with high-resolution observation from the 1.6-m New Solar Telescope

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Haimin; Cao, Wenda; Liu, Chang; Xu, Yan; Liu, Rui; Zeng, Zhicheng; Chae, Jongchul; Ji, Haisheng

    2015-01-01

    Magnetic flux ropes are highly twisted, current-carrying magnetic fields. They are crucial for the instability of plasma involved in solar eruptions, which may lead to adverse space weather effects. Here we present observations of a flaring using the highest resolution chromospheric images from the 1.6-m New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory, supplemented by a magnetic field extrapolation model. A set of loops initially appear to peel off from an overall inverse S-shaped flux bundle, and then develop into a multi-stranded twisted flux rope, producing a two-ribbon flare. We show evidence that the flux rope is embedded in sheared arcades and becomes unstable following the enhancement of its twists. The subsequent motion of the flux rope is confined due to the strong strapping effect of the overlying field. These results provide a first opportunity to witness the detailed structure and evolution of flux ropes in the low solar atmosphere. PMID:25919706

  1. CRISM's First 'Targeted' Observation of Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2006-01-01

    This shows the first site on Mars imaged by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) using its full-resolution hyperspectral capability, with a 'targeted image.'

    During a targeted image, CRISM's movable gimbal tracks a point on the surface, and slowly scans across it for about three minutes. The image is built up one line at a time, and each pixel in the image is measured in 544 colors covering 0.36-3.92 micrometers. During this time the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's range to the target starts at about 410 kilometers (250 miles), decreases to about 290 kilometers (190 miles) when the spacecraft makes its closest approach, and increases again to 410 kilometers at the end of the image. The change in geometry during image acquisition gives each CRISM targeted image a characteristic hourglass shape.

    This first targeted image was acquired at 1515 UTC (11:15 a.m. EDT) on Sept. 29, 2006, near 7.7 degrees south latitude, 270.5 degrees east longitude. Only minimal processing and map projection of the data have been done. At the center of the image the spatial resolution is as good as 18 meters (60 feet) per pixel. The three wavelengths shown here provide an approximate true color representation. The hourglass-shaped image covers an area about 13 kilometers (8 miles) north-south and, at the narrowest point, about 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) east-west. The upper left panel shows the image's regional context, on a mosaic from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft's Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) taken in infrared frequencies. This western part of the Valles Marineris canyon system is called Ius Chasma. The canyon system is about five kilometers (about three miles) deep and exposes ancient rocks from deep in the crust. The lower left panel shows local context, using a THEMIS visible-wavelengths image (THEMIS-VIS), which is comparable in resolution to CRISM data. Outcrops of light-toned layered rocks 1-2 kilometers (0.6-1.2 miles) across are

  2. Observing stellar coronae with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph. 1: The dMe star AU microscopoii

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maran, S. P.; Robinson, R. D.; Shore, S. N.; Brosius, J. W.; Carpenter, K. G.; Woodgate, B. E.; Linsky, J. L.; Brown, A.; Byrne, P. B.; Kundu, M. R.; White, S.; Brandt, J. C.; Shine, R. A.; Walter, F. M.

    1994-02-01

    We report on an observation of AU Mic taken with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. The data consist of a rapid sequence of spectra covering the wavelength range 1345-1375 A with a spectral resolution of 10,000. The observations were originally intended to search for spectral variations during flares. No flares were detected during the 3.5 hr of monitoring. A method of reducing the noise while combining the individual spectra in the time series is described which resulted in the elimination of half of the noise while rejecting only a small fraction of the stellar signal. The resultant spectrum was of sufficient quality to allow the detection of emission lines with an integrated flux of 10-15 ergs/sq cm(sec) or greater. Lines of C I, O I, O V, Cl I, and Fe XXI were detected. This is the first indisputable detection of the 1354 A Fe XXI line, formed at T approximately = 107 K, on a star other than the Sun. The line was well resolved and displayed no significant bulk motions or profile asymmetry. From the upper limit on the observed line width, we derive an upper limit of 38 km/s for the turbulent velocity in the 107 K plasma. An upper limit is derived for the flux of the 1349 A Fe XII line, formed at T approximately = 1.3 x 106 K. These data are combined with contemporaneous GHRS and International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) data to derive the volume emission measure distribution of AU Mic over the temperature range 104-107 K. Models of coronal loops in hydrostatic equilibrium are consistent with the observed volume emission measures of the coronal lines. The fraction of the stellar surface covered by the footprints of the loops depends upon the loop length and is less than 14% for lengths smaller than the stellar radius. From the upper limit to the estimated width of the Fe XXI line profile we find that the we cannot rule out Alfven wave dissipation as a possible contributor to the required quiescent loop heating rate.

  3. High-Resolution THz Measurements of BrO Generated in AN Inductively Coupled Plasma

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nemchick, Deacon J.; Drouin, Brian

    2017-06-01

    Building upon the foundation provided by previous work, the X_{1}^{2}Π_{3/2} and X_{2}^{2}Π_{1/2} states of the transient radical, BrO, were interrogated in previously unprobed spectral regions (0.5 to 1.7 THz) by employing JPL developed high-resolution cascaded frequency multiplier sources. Like other members of the halogen monoxides (XO), this species has been the target of several recent atmospheric remote sensing studies and is a known participant in a catalytic ozone degradation cycle. For the current work, BrO is generated in an inductively coupled plasma under dynamic flow conditions and rotational lines are observed directly at their Doppler-limited resolution. New spectral transitions including those owing to both the ground (ν=0) and excited (ν=1 and 2) vibrational states of isotopologues composed of permutations of natural abundance ^{16}O, ^{18}O, ^{79}Br, and ^{81}Br are fit to a global Hamiltonian containing both fine and hyperfine terms. In addition to further refining existing spectroscopic parameters, new observations will be made available to remote detection communities through addition to the JPL catalog. New findings will be discussed along with future plans to extend these studies to other halogen monoxides (X=Cl and I) and the more massive halogen dioxides (OXO & XOO).

  4. HIGH-RESOLUTION FOURIER-TRANSFORM MICROWAVE SPECTROSCOPY OF METHYL- AND DIMETHYLNAPTHALENES

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Schnitzler, Elijah G.; Zenchyzen, Brandi L. M.; Jäger, Wolfgang, E-mail: wolfgang.jaeger@ualberta.ca

    High-resolution pure rotational spectra of four alkylnaphthalenes were measured in the range of 6–15 GHz using a molecular-beam Fourier-transform microwave spectrometer. Both a- and b-type transitions were observed for 1-methylnaphthalene (1-MN), 1,2-dimethylnaphthalene (1,2-DMN), and 1,3-dimethylnaphthalene (1,3-DMN); only a-type transitions were observed for 2-methylnaphthalene (2-MN). Geometry optimization and vibrational analysis calculations at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory aided in the assignments of the spectra and the characterization of the structures. Differences between the experimental and predicted rotational constants are small, and they can be attributed in part to low-lying out-of-plane vibrations, which distort the alkylnaphthalenes out of their equilibrium geometries. Splittingsmore » of rotational lines due to methyl internal rotation were observed in the spectra of 2-MN, 1,2-DMN, and 1,3-DMN, and allowed for the determination of the barriers to methyl internal rotation, which are compared to values from density functional theory calculations. All four species are moderately polar, so they are candidate species for detection by radio astronomy, by targeting the transition frequencies reported here.« less

  5. High-intensity xenon plasma discharge lamp for bulk-sensitive high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy.

    PubMed

    Souma, S; Sato, T; Takahashi, T; Baltzer, P

    2007-12-01

    We have developed a highly brilliant xenon (Xe) discharge lamp operated by microwave-induced electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) for ultrahigh-resolution bulk-sensitive photoemission spectroscopy (PES). We observed at least eight strong radiation lines from neutral or singly ionized Xe atoms in the energy region of 8.4-10.7 eV. The photon flux of the strongest Xe I resonance line at 8.437 eV is comparable to that of the He Ialpha line (21.218 eV) from the He-ECR discharge lamp. Stable operation for more than 300 h is achieved by efficient air-cooling of a ceramic tube in the resonance cavity. The high bulk sensitivity and high-energy resolution of PES using the Xe lines are demonstrated for some typical materials.

  6. Observational constraints on earthquake source scaling: Understanding the limits in resolution

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hough, S.E.

    1996-01-01

    I examine the resolution of the type of stress drop estimates that have been used to place observational constraints on the scaling of earthquake source processes. I first show that apparent stress and Brune stress drop are equivalent to within a constant given any source spectral decay between ??1.5 and ??3 (i.e., any plausible value) and so consistent scaling is expected for the two estimates. I then discuss the resolution and scaling of Brune stress drop estimates, in the context of empirical Green's function results from recent earthquake sequences, including the 1992 Joshua Tree, California, mainshock and its aftershocks. I show that no definitive scaling of stress drop with moment is revealed over the moment range 1019-1025; within this sequence, however, there is a tendency for moderate-sized (M 4-5) events to be characterized by high stress drops. However, well-resolved results for recent M > 6 events are inconsistent with any extrapolated stress increase with moment for the aftershocks. Focusing on comer frequency estimates for smaller (M < 3.5) events, I show that resolution is extremely limited even after empirical Green's function deconvolutions. A fundamental limitation to resolution is the paucity of good signal-to-noise at frequencies above 60 Hz, a limitation that will affect nearly all surficial recordings of ground motion in California and many other regions. Thus, while the best available observational results support a constant stress drop for moderate-to large-sized events, very little robust observational evidence exists to constrain the quantities that bear most critically on our understanding of source processes: stress drop values and stress drop scaling for small events.

  7. PCA determination of the radiometric noise of high spectral resolution infrared observations from spectral residuals: Application to IASI

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Serio, C.; Masiello, G.; Camy-Peyret, C.; Jacquette, E.; Vandermarcq, O.; Bermudo, F.; Coppens, D.; Tobin, D.

    2018-02-01

    The problem of characterizing and estimating the instrumental or radiometric noise of satellite high spectral resolution infrared spectrometers directly from Earth observations is addressed in this paper. An approach has been developed, which relies on the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with a suitable criterion to select the optimal number of PC scores. Different selection criteria have been set up and analysed, which is based on the estimation theory of Least Squares and/or Maximum Likelihood Principle. The approach is independent of any forward model and/or radiative transfer calculations. The PCA is used to define an orthogonal basis, which, in turn, is used to derive an optimal linear reconstruction of the observations. The residual vector that is the observation vector minus the calculated or reconstructed one is then used to estimate the instrumental noise. It will be shown that the use of the spectral residuals to assess the radiometric instrumental noise leads to efficient estimators, which are largely independent of possible departures of the true noise from that assumed a priori to model the observational covariance matrix. Application to the Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer (IASI) has been considered. A series of case studies has been set up, which make use of IASI observations. As a major result, the analysis confirms the high stability and radiometric performance of IASI. The approach also proved to be efficient in characterizing noise features due to mechanical micro-vibrations of the beam splitter of the IASI instrument.

  8. High-Throughput Genome Editing and Phenotyping Facilitated by High Resolution Melting Curve Analysis

    PubMed Central

    Thomas, Holly R.; Percival, Stefanie M.; Yoder, Bradley K.; Parant, John M.

    2014-01-01

    With the goal to generate and characterize the phenotypes of null alleles in all genes within an organism and the recent advances in custom nucleases, genome editing limitations have moved from mutation generation to mutation detection. We previously demonstrated that High Resolution Melting (HRM) analysis is a rapid and efficient means of genotyping known zebrafish mutants. Here we establish optimized conditions for HRM based detection of novel mutant alleles. Using these conditions, we demonstrate that HRM is highly efficient at mutation detection across multiple genome editing platforms (ZFNs, TALENs, and CRISPRs); we observed nuclease generated HRM positive targeting in 1 of 6 (16%) open pool derived ZFNs, 14 of 23 (60%) TALENs, and 58 of 77 (75%) CRISPR nucleases. Successful targeting, based on HRM of G0 embryos correlates well with successful germline transmission (46 of 47 nucleases); yet, surprisingly mutations in the somatic tail DNA weakly correlate with mutations in the germline F1 progeny DNA. This suggests that analysis of G0 tail DNA is a good indicator of the efficiency of the nuclease, but not necessarily a good indicator of germline alleles that will be present in the F1s. However, we demonstrate that small amplicon HRM curve profiles of F1 progeny DNA can be used to differentiate between specific mutant alleles, facilitating rare allele identification and isolation; and that HRM is a powerful technique for screening possible off-target mutations that may be generated by the nucleases. Our data suggest that micro-homology based alternative NHEJ repair is primarily utilized in the generation of CRISPR mutant alleles and allows us to predict likelihood of generating a null allele. Lastly, we demonstrate that HRM can be used to quickly distinguish genotype-phenotype correlations within F1 embryos derived from G0 intercrosses. Together these data indicate that custom nucleases, in conjunction with the ease and speed of HRM, will facilitate future high

  9. What We Have Learned About Clusters From a Decade of Arcsecond Resolution X-ray Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Markevitch, Maxim

    2012-01-01

    This talk will briefly review the main findings from Chandra high angular resolution observations of galaxy clusters, emphasizing results on cluster astrophysics. Chandra has discovered shock fronts in merging systems, providing information on the shock Mach number and velocity, and for best-observed shocks, constraining the microphysical properties of the intracluster medium (ICM). Cold fronts, a Chandra discovery, are ubiquitous both in merging clusters and in the cool ccres of relaxed systems. They reveal the structure and strength of the intracluster magnetic fields and constrain the ICM viscosity a combined with radio data, these observations also shed light on the production of ultra-relativistic particles that are known to coexist with thermal plasma. Finally, in nearly all cool cores, Chandra observes cavities in the ICM that are produced by the central AGN. All these phenomena will be extremely interesting for high-resolution SZ studies.

  10. Wide-aperture aspherical lens for high-resolution terahertz imaging

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chernomyrdin, Nikita V.; Frolov, Maxim E.; Lebedev, Sergey P.; Reshetov, Igor V.; Spektor, Igor E.; Tolstoguzov, Viktor L.; Karasik, Valeriy E.; Khorokhorov, Alexei M.; Koshelev, Kirill I.; Schadko, Aleksander O.; Yurchenko, Stanislav O.; Zaytsev, Kirill I.

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, we introduce wide-aperture aspherical lens for high-resolution terahertz (THz) imaging. The lens has been designed and analyzed by numerical methods of geometrical optics and electrodynamics. It has been made of high-density polyethylene by shaping at computer-controlled lathe and characterized using a continuous-wave THz imaging setup based on a backward-wave oscillator and Golay detector. The concept of image contrast has been implemented to estimate image quality. According to the experimental data, the lens allows resolving two points spaced at 0.95λ distance with a contrast of 15%. To highlight high resolution in the THz images, the wide-aperture lens has been employed for studying printed electronic circuit board containing sub-wavelength-scale elements. The observed results justify the high efficiency of the proposed lens design.

  11. Dynamical downscaling inter-comparison for high resolution climate reconstruction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferreira, J.; Rocha, A.; Castanheira, J. M.; Carvalho, A. C.

    2012-04-01

    In the scope of the project: "High-resolution Rainfall EroSivity analysis and fORecasTing - RESORT", an evaluation of various methods of dynamic downscaling is presented. The methods evaluated range from the classic method of nesting a regional model results in a global model, in this case the ECMWF reanalysis, to more recently proposed methods, which consist in using Newtonian relaxation methods in order to nudge the results of the regional model to the reanalysis. The method with better results involves using a system of variational data assimilation to incorporate observational data with results from the regional model. The climatology of a simulation of 5 years using this method is tested against observations on mainland Portugal and the ocean in the area of the Portuguese Continental Shelf, which shows that the method developed is suitable for the reconstruction of high resolution climate over continental Portugal.

  12. Comparison of High-Resolution MR Imaging and Digital Subtraction Angiography for the Characterization and Diagnosis of Intracranial Artery Disease.

    PubMed

    Lee, N J; Chung, M S; Jung, S C; Kim, H S; Choi, C-G; Kim, S J; Lee, D H; Suh, D C; Kwon, S U; Kang, D-W; Kim, J S

    2016-12-01

    High-resolution MR imaging has recently been introduced as a promising diagnostic modality in intracranial artery disease. Our aim was to compare high-resolution MR imaging with digital subtraction angiography for the characterization and diagnosis of various intracranial artery diseases. Thirty-seven patients who had undergone both high-resolution MR imaging and DSA for intracranial artery disease were enrolled in our study (August 2011 to April 2014). The time interval between the high-resolution MR imaging and DSA was within 1 month. The degree of stenosis and the minimal luminal diameter were independently measured by 2 observers in both DSA and high-resolution MR imaging, and the results were compared. Two observers independently diagnosed intracranial artery diseases on DSA and high-resolution MR imaging. The time interval between the diagnoses on DSA and high-resolution MR imaging was 2 weeks. Interobserver diagnostic agreement for each technique and intermodality diagnostic agreement for each observer were acquired. High-resolution MR imaging showed moderate-to-excellent agreement (interclass correlation coefficient = 0.892-0.949; κ = 0.548-0.614) and significant correlations (R = 0.766-892) with DSA on the degree of stenosis and minimal luminal diameter. The interobserver diagnostic agreement was good for DSA (κ = 0.643) and excellent for high-resolution MR imaging (κ = 0.818). The intermodality diagnostic agreement was good (κ = 0.704) for observer 1 and moderate (κ = 0.579) for observer 2, respectively. High-resolution MR imaging may be an imaging method comparable with DSA for the characterization and diagnosis of various intracranial artery diseases. © 2016 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

  13. Targeted ENO schemes with tailored resolution property for hyperbolic conservation laws

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fu, Lin; Hu, Xiangyu Y.; Adams, Nikolaus A.

    2017-11-01

    In this paper, we extend the range of targeted ENO (TENO) schemes (Fu et al. (2016) [18]) by proposing an eighth-order TENO8 scheme. A general formulation to construct the high-order undivided difference τK within the weighting strategy is proposed. With the underlying scale-separation strategy, sixth-order accuracy for τK in the smooth solution regions is designed for good performance and robustness. Furthermore, a unified framework to optimize independently the dispersion and dissipation properties of high-order finite-difference schemes is proposed. The new framework enables tailoring of dispersion and dissipation as function of wavenumber. The optimal linear scheme has minimum dispersion error and a dissipation error that satisfies a dispersion-dissipation relation. Employing the optimal linear scheme, a sixth-order TENO8-opt scheme is constructed. A set of benchmark cases involving strong discontinuities and broadband fluctuations is computed to demonstrate the high-resolution properties of the new schemes.

  14. Multi-scale Observations of High-Energy Electron Precipitation in the Nightside Transition Region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weatherwax, A. T.; Donovan, E.

    2012-12-01

    In recent years, the riometer has experienced a renaissance as an important tool for tracking the spatio-temporal evolution of high-energy magnetospheric electron (e-) populations. Networks of single beam riometers give a sparsely sampled picture of the global evolution of magnetospheric high energy e- population; existing imaging riometers resolve smaller-scale processes, but because they are isolated from one another, that resolution cannot be applied to the ionospheric signature of mesoscale magnetospheric processes. With funding from an NSF MRI, we are developing an innovative new facility where, for the first time, absorption related to high energy precipitation will be imaged across a large enough region to allow for tracking the effects of mesoscale magnetospheric processes (such as the dispersionless injection, patchy pulsating aurora, and ULF waves) with high enough space and time resolution to address key unresolved geospace questions. We will deploy in central Canada, taking advantage of excellent coverage of our target region by existing and potential future complimentary networks. The figure shows present coverage spanning auroral latitudes in North American by ASIs (including THEMIS-ASI), the mid-latitude SuperDARN HF radars, Meridian Scanning Photometers (MSPs), and magnetometers. The ASI, SuperDARN, and magnetometer networks will provide significantly more extensive coverage than our target region, thus proving information about (lower energy) auroral precipitation, large-scale magnetospheric convection (as impressed on the ionosphere), and ionospheric currents around and within our target region. For the first time, we will simultaneously observe the coupled convection, auroral, and high-energy electron precipitation in this key geospace region. These observations will be important for RBSP, CEDAR, and GEM science.; Figure: Left: Target region for the new imaging riometer array, and FoVs of THEMIS-ASIs and Canadian Multi-Spectral ASIs. Middle: Scan

  15. Using high-resolution displays for high-resolution cardiac data.

    PubMed

    Goodyer, Christopher; Hodrien, John; Wood, Jason; Kohl, Peter; Brodlie, Ken

    2009-07-13

    The ability to perform fast, accurate, high-resolution visualization is fundamental to improving our understanding of anatomical data. As the volumes of data increase from improvements in scanning technology, the methods applied to visualization must evolve. In this paper, we address the interactive display of data from high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging scanning of a rabbit heart and subsequent histological imaging. We describe a visualization environment involving a tiled liquid crystal display panel display wall and associated software, which provides an interactive and intuitive user interface. The oView software is an OpenGL application that is written for the VR Juggler environment. This environment abstracts displays and devices away from the application itself, aiding portability between different systems, from desktop PCs to multi-tiled display walls. Portability between display walls has been demonstrated through its use on walls at the universities of both Leeds and Oxford. We discuss important factors to be considered for interactive two-dimensional display of large three-dimensional datasets, including the use of intuitive input devices and level of detail aspects.

  16. Suspected-target pesticide screening using gas chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry with high resolution deconvolution and retention index/mass spectrum library.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Fang; Wang, Haoyang; Zhang, Li; Zhang, Jing; Fan, Ruojing; Yu, Chongtian; Wang, Wenwen; Guo, Yinlong

    2014-10-01

    A strategy for suspected-target screening of pesticide residues in complicated matrices was exploited using gas chromatography in combination with hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-QTOF MS). The screening workflow followed three key steps of, initial detection, preliminary identification, and final confirmation. The initial detection of components in a matrix was done by a high resolution mass spectrum deconvolution; the preliminary identification of suspected pesticides was based on a special retention index/mass spectrum (RI/MS) library that contained both the first-stage mass spectra (MS(1) spectra) and retention indices; and the final confirmation was accomplished by accurate mass measurements of representative ions with their response ratios from the MS(1) spectra or representative product ions from the second-stage mass spectra (MS(2) spectra). To evaluate the applicability of the workflow in real samples, three matrices of apple, spinach, and scallion, each spiked with 165 test pesticides in a set of concentrations, were selected as the models. The results showed that the use of high-resolution TOF enabled effective extractions of spectra from noisy chromatograms, which was based on a narrow mass window (5 mDa) and suspected-target compounds identified by the similarity match of deconvoluted full mass spectra and filtering of linear RIs. On average, over 74% of pesticides at 50 ng/mL could be identified using deconvolution and the RI/MS library. Over 80% of pesticides at 5 ng/mL or lower concentrations could be confirmed in each matrix using at least two representative ions with their response ratios from the MS(1) spectra. In addition, the application of product ion spectra was capable of confirming suspected pesticides with specificity for some pesticides in complicated matrices. In conclusion, GC-QTOF MS combined with the RI/MS library seems to be one of the most efficient tools for the analysis of suspected-target pesticide residues

  17. Experimental evaluation of nonclassical correlations between measurement outcomes and target observable in a quantum measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Iinuma, Masataka; Suzuki, Yutaro; Nii, Taiki; Kinoshita, Ryuji; Hofmann, Holger F.

    2016-03-01

    In general, it is difficult to evaluate measurement errors when the initial and final conditions of the measurement make it impossible to identify the correct value of the target observable. Ozawa proposed a solution based on the operator algebra of observables which has recently been used in experiments investigating the error-disturbance trade-off of quantum measurements. Importantly, this solution makes surprisingly detailed statements about the relations between measurement outcomes and the unknown target observable. In the present paper, we investigate this relation by performing a sequence of two measurements on the polarization of a photon, so that the first measurement commutes with the target observable and the second measurement is sensitive to a complementary observable. While the initial measurement can be evaluated using classical statistics, the second measurement introduces the effects of quantum correlations between the noncommuting physical properties. By varying the resolution of the initial measurement, we can change the relative contribution of the nonclassical correlations and identify their role in the evaluation of the quantum measurement. It is shown that the most striking deviation from classical expectations is obtained at the transition between weak and strong measurements, where the competition between different statistical effects results in measurement values well outside the range of possible eigenvalues.

  18. Flexible Integration of Both High Imaging Resolution and High Power Arrays for Ultrasound-Induced Thermal Strain Imaging (US-TSI)

    PubMed Central

    Stephens, Douglas N.; Mahmoud, Ahmed M.; Ding, Xuan; Lucero, Steven; Dutta, Debaditya; Yu, Francois T.H.; Chen, Xucai

    2013-01-01

    Ultrasound-induced thermal strain imaging (US-TSI) for carotid artery plaque detection requires both high imaging resolution (<100 μm) and sufficient US induced heating to elevate the tissue temperature (~1-3°C within 1-3 cardiac cycles) in order to produce a noticeable change in sound speed in the targeted tissues. Since the optimization of both imaging and heating in a monolithic array design is particularly expensive and inflexible, a new integrated approach is presented that utilizes independent ultrasound arrays to meet the requirements for this particular application. This work demonstrates a new approach in dual-array construction. A 3D printed manifold was built to support both a high resolution 20 MHz commercial imaging array and 6 custom heating elements operating in the 3.5-4 MHz range. For the application of US-TSI on carotid plaque characterization, the tissue target site is 20 to 30 mm deep, with a typical target volume of 2 mm (elevation) × 8 mm (azimuthal) × 5 mm (depth). The custom heating array performance was fully characterized for two design variants (flat and spherical apertures), and can easily deliver 30 W of total acoustic power to produce intensities greater than 15 W/cm2 in tissue target region. PMID:24297029

  19. Flare Energy Release: Internal Conflict, Contradiction with High Resolution Observations, Possible Solutions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pustilnik, L.

    2017-06-01

    All accepted paradigm of solar and stellar flares energy release based on 2 whales: 1. Source of energy is free energy of non-potential force free magnetic field in atmosphere above active region; 2. Process of ultrafast dissipation of magnetic fields is Reconnection in Thin Turbulent Current Sheet (RTTCS). Progress in observational techniques in last years provided ultra-high spatial resolution and in physics of turbulent plasma showed that real situation is much more complicated and standard approach is in contradiction both with observations and with problem of RTTCS stability. We present critical analysis of classic models of pre-flare energy accumulation and its dissipation during flare energy release from pioneer works Giovanelli (1939, 1947) up to topological reconnection. We show that all accepted description of global force-free fields as source of future flare cannot be agreed with discovered in last years fine and ultra-fine current-magnetic structure included numerouse arcs-threads with diameters up to 100 km with constant sequence from photosphere to corona. This magnetic skeleton of thin current magnetic threads with strong interaction between them is main source of reserved magnetic energy insolar atmosphere. Its dynamics will be controlled by percolation of magnetic stresses through network of current-magnetic threads with transition to flare state caused by critical value of global current. We show that thin turbulent current sheet is absolutely unstable configuration both caused by splitting to numerous linear currents by dissipative modes like to tearing, and as sequence of suppress of plasma turbulence caused by anomalous heating of turbulent plasma. In result of these factors primary RTTCS will be disrupted in numerous turbulent and normal plasma domains like to resistors network. Current propagation through this network will have percolation character with all accompanied properties of percolated systems: self-organization with formation power

  20. Backthinned TDI CCD image sensor design and performance for the Pleiades high resolution Earth observation satellites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Materne, A.; Bardoux, A.; Geoffray, H.; Tournier, T.; Kubik, P.; Morris, D.; Wallace, I.; Renard, C.

    2017-11-01

    The PLEIADES-HR Earth observing satellites, under CNES development, combine a 0.7m resolution panchromatic channel, and a multispectral channel allowing a 2.8 m resolution, in 4 spectral bands. The 2 satellites will be placed on a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 695 km. The camera operates in push broom mode, providing images across a 20 km swath. This paper focuses on the specifications, design and performance of the TDI detectors developed by e2v technologies under CNES contract for the panchromatic channel. Design drivers, derived from the mission and satellite requirements, architecture of the sensor and measurement results for key performances of the first prototypes are presented.

  1. High Angular Resolution and Lightweight X-Ray Optics for Astronomical Missions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zhang, W. W.; Biskach, M. P.; Blake, P. N.; Chan, K. W.; Evans, T. C.; Hong, M.; Jones, W. D.; Jones, W. D.; Kolos, L. D.; Mazzarella, J. M.; hide

    2011-01-01

    X-ray optics with both high angular resolution and lightweight is essential for further progress in x-ray astronomy. High angular resolution is important in avoiding source confusion and reducing background to enable the observation of the most distant objects of the early Universe. It is also important in enabling the use of gratings to achieve high spectral resolution to study, among other things, the myriad plasmas that exist in planetary, stellar, galactic environments, as well as interplanetary, inter-stellar, and inter-galactic media. Lightweight is important for further increase in effective photon collection area, because x-ray observations must take place on space platforms and the amount of mass that can be launched into space has always been very limited and is expected to continue to be very limited. This paper describes an x-ray optics development program and reports on its status that meets these two requirements. The objective of this program is to enable Explorer type missions in the near term and to enable flagship missions in the long term.

  2. Fluorescent-Protein Stabilization and High-Resolution Imaging of Cleared, Intact Mouse Brains

    PubMed Central

    Schwarz, Martin K.; Scherbarth, Annemarie; Sprengel, Rolf; Engelhardt, Johann; Theer, Patrick; Giese, Guenter

    2015-01-01

    In order to observe and quantify long-range neuronal connections in intact mouse brain by light microscopy, it is first necessary to clear the brain, thus suppressing refractive-index variations. Here we describe a method that clears the brain and preserves the signal from proteinaceous fluorophores using a pH-adjusted non-aqueous index-matching medium. Successful clearing is enabled through the use of either 1-propanol or tert-butanol during dehydration whilst maintaining a basic pH. We show that high-resolution fluorescence imaging of entire, structurally intact juvenile and adult mouse brains is possible at subcellular resolution, even following many months in clearing solution. We also show that axonal long-range projections that are EGFP-labelled by modified Rabies virus can be imaged throughout the brain using a purpose-built light-sheet fluorescence microscope. To demonstrate the viability of the technique, we determined a detailed map of the monosynaptic projections onto a target cell population in the lateral entorhinal cortex. This example demonstrates that our method permits the quantification of whole-brain connectivity patterns at the subcellular level in the uncut brain. PMID:25993380

  3. Triggered O Star Formation in M20 via Cloud-Cloud Collision: Comparisons between High-resolution CO Observations and Simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Torii, K.; Hattori, Y.; Hasegawa, K.; Ohama, A.; Haworth, T. J.; Shima, K.; Habe, A.; Tachihara, K.; Mizuno, N.; Onishi, T.; Mizuno, A.; Fukui, Y.

    2017-02-01

    Understanding high-mass star formation is one of the top-priority issues in astrophysics. Recent observational studies have revealed that cloud-cloud collisions may play a role in high-mass star formation in several places in the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Trifid Nebula M20 is a well-known Galactic H II region ionized by a single O7.5 star. In 2011, based on the CO observations with NANTEN2, we reported that the O star was formed by the collision between two molecular clouds ˜0.3 Myr ago. Those observations identified two molecular clouds toward M20, traveling at a relative velocity of 7.5 {km} {{{s}}}-1. This velocity separation implies that the clouds cannot be gravitationally bound to M20, but since the clouds show signs of heating by the stars there they must be spatially coincident with it. A collision is therefore highly possible. In this paper we present the new CO J = 1-0 and J = 3-2 observations of the colliding clouds in M20 performed with the Mopra and ASTE telescopes. The high-resolution observations revealed that the two molecular clouds have peculiar spatial and velocity structures, I.e., a spatially complementary distribution between the two clouds and a bridge feature that connects the two clouds in velocity space. Based on a new comparison with numerical models, we find that this complementary distribution is an expected outcome of cloud-cloud collisions, and that the bridge feature can be interpreted as the turbulent gas excited at the interface of the collision. Our results reinforce the cloud-cloud collision scenario in M20.

  4. Observation of ionization shifts in K-shell emission from short-pulse laser irradiated micro-dot targets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Neumayer, Paul; Kritcher, Andrea; Landen, Otto; Lee, Haeja; Offerman, Dustin; Shipton, Eric; Glenzer, Siegfried

    2006-10-01

    X-ray Thomson scattering using short pulse laser generated intense line radiation has a great potential as a time-resolved temperature and density diagnostic for high-energy density states of matter. We present recent results characterizing Chlorine K-alpha and K-beta line emission obtained by irradiating Saran foil with 50 Terawatt laser pulses from the Callisto laser (Jupiter Laser Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory). Spectra from front and rear side emission are recorded simultaneously with high resolution HOPG spectrometers employing imaging plate detectors. Conversion efficiencies of laser pulse energy into x-ray line emission of several 10-5 are achieved and are maintained throughout up to 7 J of laser energy, thus constituting a short pulsed narrow band x-ray source of more than 10^11 photons. When the target size is reduced to 50 micrometer (``micro-dot'') a significant blue-shift of up to 5 eV is clearly observed. This can be attributed to higher ionization states of the target atoms indicating achievement of a high-temperature solid density state. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48 and LDRD 05-ERI-003.

  5. Sub-Millimeter Heterodyne Focal-Plane Arrays for High-Resolution Astronomical Spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goldsmith, Paul F.

    2017-09-01

    Spectral lines are vital tools for astronomy, particularly for studying the interstellar medium, which is widely distributed throughout the volume of our Milky Way and of other galaxies. Broadband emissions, including synchrotron, free-free, and thermal dust emissions give astronomers important information. However, they do not give information about the motions of, for example, interstellar clouds, the filamentary structures found within them, star-forming dense cores, and photon-dominated regions energized by massive young stars. For study of the interstellar medium, spectral lines at sub-millimeter wavelengths are particularly important, for two reasons. First, they offer the unique ability to observe a variety of important molecules, atoms, and ions, which are the most important gas coolants (fine-structure lines of ionized and neutral carbon, neutral oxygen), probes of physical conditions (high-J transitions of CO, HF, fine-structure lines of ionized nitrogen), and of obvious biogenic importance (H2O). In addition, high-resolution observations of spectral lines offer the unique ability to disentangle the complex motions within these regions and, in some cases, to determine their arrangement along the line of sight. To accomplish this, spectral resolution high enough to resolve the spectral lines of interest is required. We can measure the resolution of the spectrometer in terms of its resolution, R = f/δf, where f is the rest frequency of the line, and δJ is the frequency resolution of the spectrometer. More-active sources can be advantageously studied with R = 3 × 10^5, while more quiescent sources require R as high as 10^7.

  6. Optical coherence tomography guided microinjections in live mouse embryos: high-resolution targeted manipulation for mouse embryonic research

    PubMed Central

    Syed, Saba H.; Coughlin, Andrew J.; Garcia, Monica D.; Wang, Shang; West, Jennifer L.; Larin, Kirill V.; Larina, Irina V.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract. The ability to conduct highly localized delivery of contrast agents, viral vectors, therapeutic or pharmacological agents, and signaling molecules or dyes to live mammalian embryos is greatly desired to enable a variety of studies in the field of developmental biology, such as investigating the molecular regulation of cardiovascular morphogenesis. To meet such a demand, we introduce, for the first time, the concept of employing optical coherence tomography (OCT)-guide microinjections in live mouse embryos, which provides precisely targeted manipulation with spatial resolution at the micrometer scale. The feasibility demonstration is performed with experimental studies on cultured live mouse embryos at E8.5 and E9.5. Additionally, we investigate the OCT-guided microinjection of gold–silica nanoshells to the yolk sac vasculature of live cultured mouse embryos at the stage when the heart just starts to beat, as a potential approach for dynamic assessment of cardiovascular form and function before the onset of blood cell circulation. Also, the capability of OCT to quantitatively monitor and measure injection volume is presented. Our results indicate that OCT-guided microinjection could be a useful tool for mouse embryonic research. PMID:25581495

  7. Optical coherence tomography guided microinjections in live mouse embryos: high-resolution targeted manipulation for mouse embryonic research.

    PubMed

    Syed, Saba H; Coughlin, Andrew J; Garcia, Monica D; Wang, Shang; West, Jennifer L; Larin, Kirill V; Larina, Irina V

    2015-05-01

    The ability to conduct highly localized delivery of contrast agents, viral vectors, therapeutic or pharmacological agents, and signaling molecules or dyes to live mammalian embryos is greatly desired to enable a variety of studies in the field of developmental biology, such as investigating the molecular regulation of cardiovascular morphogenesis. To meet such a demand, we introduce, for the first time, the concept of employing optical coherence tomography (OCT)-guide microinjections in live mouse embryos, which provides precisely targeted manipulation with spatial resolution at the micrometer scale. The feasibility demonstration is performed with experimental studies on cultured live mouse embryos at E8.5 and E9.5. Additionally, we investigate the OCT-guided microinjection of gold–silica nanoshells to the yolk sac vasculature of live cultured mouse embryos at the stage when the heart just starts to beat, as a potential approach for dynamic assessment of cardiovascular form and function before the onset of blood cell circulation. Also, the capability of OCT to quantitatively monitor and measure injection volume is presented. Our results indicate that OCT-guided microinjection could be a useful tool for mouse embryonic research.

  8. High resolution through-the-wall radar image based on beamspace eigenstructure subspace methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yoon, Yeo-Sun; Amin, Moeness G.

    2008-04-01

    Through-the-wall imaging (TWI) is a challenging problem, even if the wall parameters and characteristics are known to the system operator. Proper target classification and correct imaging interpretation require the application of high resolution techniques using limited array size. In inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR), signal subspace methods such as Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) are used to obtain high resolution imaging. In this paper, we adopt signal subspace methods and apply them to the 2-D spectrum obtained from the delay-andsum beamforming image. This is in contrast to ISAR, where raw data, in frequency and angle, is directly used to form the estimate of the covariance matrix and array response vector. Using beams rather than raw data has two main advantages, namely, it improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and can correctly image typical indoor extended targets, such as tables and cabinets, as well as point targets. The paper presents both simulated and experimental results using synthesized and real data. It compares the performance of beam-space MUSIC and Capon beamformer. The experimental data is collected at the test facility in the Radar Imaging Laboratory, Villanova University.

  9. Intense energetic electron flux enhancements in Mercury's magnetosphere: An integrated view with high-resolution observations from MESSENGER.

    PubMed

    Baker, Daniel N; Dewey, Ryan M; Lawrence, David J; Goldsten, John O; Peplowski, Patrick N; Korth, Haje; Slavin, James A; Krimigis, Stamatios M; Anderson, Brian J; Ho, George C; McNutt, Ralph L; Raines, Jim M; Schriver, David; Solomon, Sean C

    2016-03-01

    The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission to Mercury has provided a wealth of new data about energetic particle phenomena. With observations from MESSENGER's Energetic Particle Spectrometer, as well as data arising from energetic electrons recorded by the X-Ray Spectrometer and Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer (GRNS) instruments, recent work greatly extends our record of the acceleration, transport, and loss of energetic electrons at Mercury. The combined data sets include measurements from a few keV up to several hundred keV in electron kinetic energy and have permitted relatively good spatial and temporal resolution for many events. We focus here on the detailed nature of energetic electron bursts measured by the GRNS system, and we place these events in the context of solar wind and magnetospheric forcing at Mercury. Our examination of data at high temporal resolution (10 ms) during the period March 2013 through October 2014 supports strongly the view that energetic electrons are accelerated in the near-tail region of Mercury's magnetosphere and are subsequently "injected" onto closed magnetic field lines on the planetary nightside. The electrons populate the plasma sheet and drift rapidly eastward toward the dawn and prenoon sectors, at times executing multiple complete drifts around the planet to form "quasi-trapped" populations.

  10. A high-resolution open biomass burning emission inventory based on statistical data and MODIS observations in mainland China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Y.; Fan, M.; Huang, Z.; Zheng, J.; Chen, L.

    2017-12-01

    Open biomass burning which has adverse effects on air quality and human health is an important source of gas and particulate matter (PM) in China. Current emission estimations of open biomass burning are generally based on single source (alternative to statistical data and satellite-derived data) and thus contain large uncertainty due to the limitation of data. In this study, to quantify the 2015-based amount of open biomass burning, we established a new estimation method for open biomass burning activity levels by combining the bottom-up statistical data and top-down MODIS observations. And three sub-category sources which used different activity data were considered. For open crop residue burning, the "best estimate" of activity data was obtained by averaging the statistical data from China statistical yearbooks and satellite observations from MODIS burned area product MCD64A1 weighted by their uncertainties. For the forest and grassland fires, their activity levels were represented by the combination of statistical data and MODIS active fire product MCD14ML. Using the fire radiative power (FRP) which is considered as a better indicator of active fire level as the spatial allocation surrogate, coarse gridded emissions were reallocated into 3km ×3km grids to get a high-resolution emission inventory. Our results showed that emissions of CO, NOx, SO2, NH3, VOCs, PM2.5, PM10, BC and OC in mainland China were 6607, 427, 84, 79, 1262, 1198, 1222, 159 and 686 Gg/yr, respectively. Among all provinces of China, Henan, Shandong and Heilongjiang were the top three contributors to the total emissions. In this study, the developed open biomass burning emission inventory with a high-resolution could support air quality modeling and policy-making for pollution control.

  11. Recovering NOAA 1,2,3,4 Infrared and visible high resolution data, 1974-1977.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Campbell, G. G.

    2017-12-01

    The NOAA satellites 1 to 4 (1974-1977) had high resolution visible and infrared detectors which made daily observations of the Earth from sun-synchronous orbits so both day and night observations were made. Here we describe the recovery of this data at 25 km resolution by digitizing the half tome prints from publication NOAA #54 which provides daily composites of the scan observations. The infrared images can be calibrated using the 280 km resolution digital archive still maintained by NOAA from this Scanning Radiometer data. This is an extension of our recovery of the ESSA 1,3,5,7 and 9 data from 1966 to 1974. This much higher resolution product provides much richer detail about the Earth in the 1970's. As a particular example we will discuss the large polynya in the sea ice in the Wedell sea first noted in the Electrically Scanned Microwave Radiometer observations from 1974 to 1976. The visible data verify the presence of the large open water region in the middle of the pack ice in the winters of 1974, 5 and 6. In addition we will discuss the cloud fields and motions over this region apparent from the recovered high resolution observations. One can also see hints of this phenomenon occurring in 2016 and 2017.

  12. Development of a high spatial resolution neutron imaging system and performance evaluation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cao, Lei

    The combination of a scintillation screen and a charged coupled device (CCD) camera is a digitized neutron imaging technology that has been widely employed for research and industry application. The maximum of spatial resolution of scintillation screens is in the range of 100 mum and creates a bottleneck for the further improvement of the overall system resolution. In this investigation, a neutron sensitive micro-channel plate (MCP) detector with pore pitch of 11.4 mum is combined with a cooled CCD camera with a pixel size of 6.8 mum to provide a high spatial resolution neutron imaging system. The optical path includes a high reflection front surface mirror for keeping the camera out of neutron beam and a macro lens for achieving the maximum magnification that could be achieved. All components are assembled into an aluminum light tight box with heavy radiation shielding to protect the camera as well as to provide a dark working condition. Particularly, a remote controlled stepper motor is also integrated into the system to provide on-line focusing ability. The best focus is guaranteed through use of an algorithm instead of perceptual observation. An evaluation routine not previously utilized in the field of neutron radiography is developed in this study. Routines like this were never previously required due to the lower resolution of other systems. Use of the augulation technique to obtain presampled MTF addresses the problem of aliasing associated with digital sampling. The determined MTF agrees well with the visual inspection of imaging a testing target. Other detector/camera combinations may be integrated into the system and their performances are also compared. The best resolution achieved by the system at the TRIGA Mark II reactor at the University of Texas at Austin is 16.2 lp/mm, which is equivalent to a minimum resolvable spacing of 30 mum. The noise performance of the device is evaluated in terms of the noise power spectrum (NPS) and the detective quantum

  13. A novel high resolution, high sensitivity SPECT detector for molecular imaging of cardiovascular diseases

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cusanno, F.; Argentieri, A.; Baiocchi, M.; Colilli, S.; Cisbani, E.; De Vincentis, G.; Fratoni, R.; Garibaldi, F.; Giuliani, F.; Gricia, M.; Lucentini, M.; Magliozzi, M. L.; Majewski, S.; Marano, G.; Musico, P.; Musumeci, M.; Santavenere, F.; Torrioli, S.; Tsui, B. M. W.; Vitelli, L.; Wang, Y.

    2010-05-01

    Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in western countries. Understanding the rupture of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques and monitoring the effect of innovative therapies of heart failure is of fundamental importance. A flexible, high resolution, high sensitivity detector system for molecular imaging with radionuclides on small animal models has been designed for this aim. A prototype has been built using tungsten pinhole and LaBr3(Ce) scintillator coupled to Hamamatsu Flat Panel PMTs. Compact individual-channel readout has been designed, built and tested. Measurements with phantoms as well as pilot studies on mice have been performed, the results show that the myocardial perfusion in mice can be determined with sufficient precision. The detector will be improved replacing the Hamamatsu Flat Panel with Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) to allow integration of the system with MRI scanners. Application of LaBr3(Ce) scintillator coupled to photosensor with high photon detection efficiency and excellent energy resolution will allow dual-label imaging to monitor simultaneously the cardiac perfusion and the molecular targets under investigation during the heart therapy.

  14. High Resolution Near Surface 3D Seismic Experiments: A Carbonate Platform vs. a Siliciclastic Sequence

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Filippidou, N.; Drijkoningen, G.; Braaksma, H.; Verwer, K.; Kenter, J.

    2005-05-01

    Interest in high-resolution 3D seismic experiments for imaging shallow targets has increased over the past years. Many case studies presented, show that producing clear seismic images with this non-evasive method, is still a challenge. We use two test-sites where nearby outcrops are present so that an accurate geological model can be built and the seismic result validated. The first so-called natural field laboratory is located in Boulonnais (N. France). It is an upper Jurassic siliciclastic sequence; age equivalent of the source rock of N. Sea. The second one is located in Cap Blanc,to the southwest of the Mallorca island(Spain); depicting an excellent example of Miocene prograding reef platform (Llucmajor Platform); it is a textbook analog for carbonate reservoirs. In both cases, the multidisciplinary experiment included the use of multicomponent and quasi- or 3D seismic recordings. The target depth does not exceed 120m. Vertical and shear portable vibrators were used as source. In the center of the setups, boreholes were drilled and Vertical Seismic Profiles were shot, along with core and borehole measurements both in situ and in the laboratory. These two geologically different sites, with different seismic stratigraphy have provided us with exceptionally high resolution seismic images. In general seismic data was processed more or less following standard procedures, a few innovative techniques on the Mallorca data, as rotation of horizontal components, 3D F-K filter and addition of parallel profiles, have improved the seismic image. In this paper we discuss the basic differences as seen on the seismic sections. The Boulonnais data present highly continuous reflection patterns of extremenly high resolution. This facilitated a high resolution stratigraphic description. Results from the VSP showed substantial wave energy attenuation. However, the high-fold (330 traces ) Mallorca seismic experiment returned a rather discontinuous pattern of possible reflectors

  15. MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE): Education and Public Outreach Plans

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gulick, V.; McEwen, A.; Delamere, W. A.; Eliason, E.; Grant, J.; Hansen, C.; Herkenhoff, K.; Keszthelyi, L.; Kirk, R.; Mellon, M.

    2003-01-01

    The High Resolution Imaging Experiment, described by McEwen et al. and Delamere et al., will fly on the Mars 2005 Orbiter. In conjunction with the NASA Mars E/PO program, the HiRISE team plans an innovative and aggressive E/PO effort to complement the unique high-resolution capabilities of the camera. The team is organizing partnerships with existing educational outreach programs and museums and plans to develop its own educational materials. In addition to other traditional E/PO activities and a strong web presence, opportunities will be provided for the public to participate in image targeting and science analysis. The main aspects of our program are summarized.

  16. High Spectral Resolution Infrared and Raman Lidar Observations for the ARM Program: Clear and Cloudy Sky Applications

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Revercomb, Henry; Tobin, David; Knuteson, Robert

    2009-06-17

    This grant began with the development of the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) for ARM. The AERI has provided highly accurate and reliable observations of downwelling spectral radiance (Knuteson et al. 2004a, 2004b) for application to radiative transfer, remote sensing of boundary layer temperature and water vapor, and cloud characterization. One of the major contributions of the ARM program has been its success in improving radiation calculation capabilities for models and remote sensing that evolved from the multi-year, clear-sky spectral radiance comparisons between AERI radiances and line-by-line calculations (Turner et al. 2004). This effort also spurred us to play amore » central role in improving the accuracy of water vapor measurements, again helping ARM lead the way in the community (Turner et al. 2003a, Revercomb et al. 2003). In order to add high-altitude downlooking AERI-like observations over the ARM sites, we began the development of an airborne AERI instrument that has become known as the Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (Scanning-HIS). This instrument has become an integral part of the ARM Unmanned Aerospace Vehicle (ARM-UAV) program. It provides both a cross-track mapping view of the earth and an uplooking view from the 12-15 km altitude of the Scaled Composites Proteus aircraft when flown over the ARM sites for IOPs. It has successfully participated in the first two legs of the “grand tour” of the ARM sites (SGP and NSA), resulting in a very good comparison with AIRS observations in 2002 and in an especially interesting data set from the arctic during the Mixed-Phase Cloud Experiment (M-PACE) in 2004.« less

  17. High Spatiotemporal Resolution Prostate MRI

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-09-01

    1 AD AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-15-1-0341 TITLE: High Spatiotemporal Resolution Prostate MRI PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Stephen J. Riederer CONTRACTING...REPORT TYPE Annual 3. DATES COVERED 15 Aug 2015 - 14 Aug 2016 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE High Spatiotemporal Resolution Prostate MRI 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER...improved means using MRI for detecting prostate cancer with the potential for differentiating disease aggressiveness. The hypothesis is that dynamic

  18. Robust Hydrological Forecasting for High-resolution Distributed Models Using a Unified Data Assimilation Approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hernandez, F.; Liang, X.

    2017-12-01

    Reliable real-time hydrological forecasting, to predict important phenomena such as floods, is invaluable to the society. However, modern high-resolution distributed models have faced challenges when dealing with uncertainties that are caused by the large number of parameters and initial state estimations involved. Therefore, to rely on these high-resolution models for critical real-time forecast applications, considerable improvements on the parameter and initial state estimation techniques must be made. In this work we present a unified data assimilation algorithm called Optimized PareTo Inverse Modeling through Inverse STochastic Search (OPTIMISTS) to deal with the challenge of having robust flood forecasting for high-resolution distributed models. This new algorithm combines the advantages of particle filters and variational methods in a unique way to overcome their individual weaknesses. The analysis of candidate particles compares model results with observations in a flexible time frame, and a multi-objective approach is proposed which attempts to simultaneously minimize differences with the observations and departures from the background states by using both Bayesian sampling and non-convex evolutionary optimization. Moreover, the resulting Pareto front is given a probabilistic interpretation through kernel density estimation to create a non-Gaussian distribution of the states. OPTIMISTS was tested on a low-resolution distributed land surface model using VIC (Variable Infiltration Capacity) and on a high-resolution distributed hydrological model using the DHSVM (Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model). In the tests streamflow observations are assimilated. OPTIMISTS was also compared with a traditional particle filter and a variational method. Results show that our method can reliably produce adequate forecasts and that it is able to outperform those resulting from assimilating the observations using a particle filter or an evolutionary 4D variational

  19. Understanding reconstructed Dante spectra using high resolution spectroscopy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    May, M. J., E-mail: may13@llnl.gov; Widmann, K.; Kemp, G. E.

    2016-11-15

    The Dante is an 18 channel filtered diode array used at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to measure the spectrally and temporally resolved radiation flux between 50 eV and 20 keV from various targets. The absolute flux is determined from the radiometric calibration of the x-ray diodes, filters, and mirrors and a reconstruction algorithm applied to the recorded voltages from each channel. The reconstructed spectra are very low resolution with features consistent with the instrument response and are not necessarily consistent with the spectral emission features from the plasma. Errors may exist between the reconstructed spectra and the actual emissionmore » features due to assumptions in the algorithm. Recently, a high resolution convex crystal spectrometer, VIRGIL, has been installed at NIF with the same line of sight as the Dante. Spectra from L-shell Ag and Xe have been recorded by both VIRGIL and Dante. Comparisons of these two spectroscopic measurements yield insights into the accuracy of the Dante reconstructions.« less

  20. Effective resolution concepts for lidar observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Iarlori, M.; Madonna, F.; Rizi, V.; Trickl, T.; Amodeo, A.

    2015-05-01

    Since its first establishment in 2000, EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar NETwork) has been devoted to providing, through its database, exclusively quantitative aerosol properties, such as aerosol backscatter and aerosol extinction coefficients, the latter only for stations able to retrieve it independently (from Raman or High Spectral Resolution Lidars). As these coefficients are provided in terms of vertical profiles, EARLINET database must also include the details on the range resolution of the submitted data. In fact, the algorithms used in the lidar data analysis often alter the spectral content of the data, mainly working as low pass filters with the purpose of noise damping. Low pass filters are mathematically described by the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) theory as a convolution sum. As a consequence, this implies that each filter's output, at a given range (or time) in our case, will be the result of a linear combination of several lidar input data relative to different ranges (times) before and after the given range (time): a first hint of loss of resolution of the output signal. The application of filtering processes will also always distort the underlying true profile whose relevant features, like aerosol layers, will then be affected both in magnitude and in spatial extension. Thus, both the removal of noise and the spatial distortion of the true profile produce a reduction of the range resolution. This paper provides the determination of the effective resolution (ERes) of the vertical profiles of aerosol properties retrieved starting from lidar data. Large attention has been addressed to provide an assessment of the impact of low-pass filtering on the effective range resolution in the retrieval procedure.

  1. High-resolution modeling of indirectly driven high-convergence layered inertial confinement fusion capsule implosions

    DOE PAGES

    Haines, Brian M.; Aldrich, C. H.; Campbell, J. M.; ...

    2017-04-24

    In this study, we present the results of high-resolution simulations of the implosion of high-convergence layered indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion capsules of the type fielded on the National Ignition Facility using the xRAGE radiation-hydrodynamics code. In order to evaluate the suitability of xRAGE to model such experiments, we benchmark simulation results against available experimental data, including shock-timing, shock-velocity, and shell trajectory data, as well as hydrodynamic instability growth rates. We discuss the code improvements that were necessary in order to achieve favorable comparisons with these data. Due to its use of adaptive mesh refinement and Eulerian hydrodynamics, xRAGE is particularlymore » well suited for high-resolution study of multi-scale engineering features such as the capsule support tent and fill tube, which are known to impact the performance of high-convergence capsule implosions. High-resolution two-dimensional (2D) simulations including accurate and well-resolved models for the capsule fill tube, support tent, drive asymmetry, and capsule surface roughness are presented. These asymmetry seeds are isolated in order to study their relative importance and the resolution of the simulations enables the observation of details that have not been previously reported. We analyze simulation results to determine how the different asymmetries affect hotspot reactivity, confinement, and confinement time and how these combine to degrade yield. Yield degradation associated with the tent occurs largely through decreased reactivity due to the escape of hot fuel mass from the hotspot. Drive asymmetries and the fill tube, however, degrade yield primarily via burn truncation, as associated instability growth accelerates the disassembly of the hotspot. Finally, modeling all of these asymmetries together in 2D leads to improved agreement with experiment but falls short of explaining the experimentally observed yield degradation

  2. High Resolution Image Reconstruction from Projection of Low Resolution Images DIffering in Subpixel Shifts

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mareboyana, Manohar; Le Moigne-Stewart, Jacqueline; Bennett, Jerome

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we demonstrate a simple algorithm that projects low resolution (LR) images differing in subpixel shifts on a high resolution (HR) also called super resolution (SR) grid. The algorithm is very effective in accuracy as well as time efficiency. A number of spatial interpolation techniques using nearest neighbor, inverse-distance weighted averages, Radial Basis Functions (RBF) etc. used in projection yield comparable results. For best accuracy of reconstructing SR image by a factor of two requires four LR images differing in four independent subpixel shifts. The algorithm has two steps: i) registration of low resolution images and (ii) shifting the low resolution images to align with reference image and projecting them on high resolution grid based on the shifts of each low resolution image using different interpolation techniques. Experiments are conducted by simulating low resolution images by subpixel shifts and subsampling of original high resolution image and the reconstructing the high resolution images from the simulated low resolution images. The results of accuracy of reconstruction are compared by using mean squared error measure between original high resolution image and reconstructed image. The algorithm was tested on remote sensing images and found to outperform previously proposed techniques such as Iterative Back Projection algorithm (IBP), Maximum Likelihood (ML), and Maximum a posterior (MAP) algorithms. The algorithm is robust and is not overly sensitive to the registration inaccuracies.

  3. Nowcasting for a high-resolution weather radar network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ruzanski, Evan

    Short-term prediction (nowcasting) of high-impact weather events can lead to significant improvement in warnings and advisories and is of great practical importance. Nowcasting using weather radar reflectivity data has been shown to be particularly useful. The Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) radar network provides high-resolution reflectivity data amenable to producing valuable nowcasts. The high-resolution nature of CASA data requires the use of an efficient nowcasting approach, which necessitated the development of the Dynamic Adaptive Radar Tracking of Storms (DARTS) and sinc kernel-based advection nowcasting methodology. This methodology was implemented operationally in the CASA Distributed Collaborative Adaptive Sensing (DCAS) system in a robust and efficient manner necessitated by the high-resolution nature of CASA data and distributed nature of the environment in which the nowcasting system operates. Nowcasts up to 10 min to support emergency manager decision-making and 1--5 min to steer the CASA radar nodes to better observe the advecting storm patterns for forecasters and researchers are currently provided by this system. Results of nowcasting performance during the 2009 CASA IP experiment are presented. Additionally, currently state-of-the-art scale-based filtering methods were adapted and evaluated for use in the CASA DCAS to provide a scale-based analysis of nowcasting. DARTS was also incorporated in the Weather Support to Deicing Decision Making system to provide more accurate and efficient snow water equivalent nowcasts for aircraft deicing decision support relative to the radar-based nowcasting method currently used in the operational system. Results of an evaluation using data collected from 2007--2008 by the Weather Service Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) located near Denver, Colorado, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research Marshall Test Site near Boulder, Colorado, are presented. DARTS was also used to study the

  4. Ionospheric disturbances detected by high-resolution GPS-TEC observations after an earthquake and a tornado

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsugawa, Takuya; Otsuka, Yuichi; Saito, Akinori; Ishii, Mamoru; Nishioka, Michi

    Ionospheric disturbances following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and the 2013 Moore tornado were observed by high-resolution GPS total electron content (TEC) observations using dense GPS receiver networks. After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, concentric waves with short propagation distance propagated in the radial direction in the propagation velocity of 3,457, 783, 423 m/s for the first, second, third peak, respectively. Following these waves, concentric waves with long propagation distance appeared to propagate at the velocity of 138-288 m/s. In the vicinity of the epicenter, sudden TEC depletions and short-period oscillations with a period of approximately 4 minutes were also observed. The center of these ionospheric variations, termed the "ionospheric epicenter", corresponded to the tsunami source. Comparing to the results of a numerical simulation using non-hydrostatic compressible atmosphere-ionosphere model, the first peak of circular wave would be caused by the acoustic waves generated from the propagating Rayleigh wave. The second and third waves would be caused by atmospheric gravity waves excited in the lower ionosphere due to the acoustic wave propagations from the tsunami source. The fourth and following waves are considered to be caused by the atmospheric gravity waves induced by the wavefronts of traveling tsunami. After the EF5 tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma, USA, on 20 May 2013, clear concentric waves and short-period oscillations were observed. These concentric waves were non-dispersive waves with a horizontal wavelength of approximately 120 km and a period of approximately 13 minutes. They were observed for more than seven hours throughout North America. TEC oscillations with a period of approximately 4 minutes were also observed in the south of Moore for more than eight hours. Comparison between the GPS-TEC observations and the infrared cloud images from the GOES satellite indicates that the concentric waves and the short-period oscillations would be

  5. Localized high-resolution DTI of the human midbrain using single-shot EPI, parallel imaging, and outer-volume suppression at 7 T

    PubMed Central

    Wargo, Christopher J.; Gore, John C.

    2013-01-01

    Localized high-resolution diffusion tensor images (DTI) from the midbrain were obtained using reduced field-of-view (rFOV) methods combined with SENSE parallel imaging and single-shot echo planar (EPI) acquisitions at 7 T. This combination aimed to diminish sensitivities of DTI to motion, susceptibility variations, and EPI artifacts at ultra-high field. Outer-volume suppression (OVS) was applied in DTI acquisitions at 2- and 1-mm2 resolutions, b=1000 s/mm2, and six diffusion directions, resulting in scans of 7- and 14-min durations. Mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) values were measured in various fiber tract locations at the two resolutions and compared. Geometric distortion and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were additionally measured and compared for reduced-FOV and full-FOV DTI scans. Up to an eight-fold data reduction was achieved using DTI-OVS with SENSE at 1 mm2, and geometric distortion was halved. The localization of fiber tracts was improved, enabling targeted FA and ADC measurements. Significant differences in diffusion properties were observed between resolutions for a number of regions suggesting that FA values are impacted by partial volume effects even at a 2-mm2 resolution. The combined SENSE DTI-OVS approach allows large reductions in DTI data acquisition and provides improved quality for high-resolution diffusion studies of the human brain. PMID:23541390

  6. Object-oriented recognition of high-resolution remote sensing image

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Yongyan; Li, Haitao; Chen, Hong; Xu, Yuannan

    2016-01-01

    With the development of remote sensing imaging technology and the improvement of multi-source image's resolution in satellite visible light, multi-spectral and hyper spectral , the high resolution remote sensing image has been widely used in various fields, for example military field, surveying and mapping, geophysical prospecting, environment and so forth. In remote sensing image, the segmentation of ground targets, feature extraction and the technology of automatic recognition are the hotspot and difficulty in the research of modern information technology. This paper also presents an object-oriented remote sensing image scene classification method. The method is consist of vehicles typical objects classification generation, nonparametric density estimation theory, mean shift segmentation theory, multi-scale corner detection algorithm, local shape matching algorithm based on template. Remote sensing vehicles image classification software system is designed and implemented to meet the requirements .

  7. Monitoring of landslide deformation based on the coherent targets of high resolution InSAR data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fan, Jinghui; Xia, Ye; Zhao, Hongli; Li, Man; Wang, Yi; Guo, Xiaofang; Tu, Pengfei; Liu, Guang; Lin, Hao

    2014-05-01

    Landslides are a kind of typical natural disaster in China, which pose serious threats to civil lives, property and living environment. Therefore, the identification, monitoring and prevention of landslides have been considered as a long-term geological work for the public welfare. In this article, 8 TerraSAR-X high resolution strip-map mode images, acquired in the period from January to March 2012 and covering Fanjinping landslide in Zigui county, Hubei province, were used to test the usability in monitoring the deformation of single landslide. The results of two-pass DInSAR sketched the region and the shape of the deformation field of Fanjiaping landslide. Corner reflectors' linear deformation rate using CRInSAR method could be approximately validated by the in-situ GPS measurements. From the coherent pixels' linear deformation rate map, it was inferred that the deformation could be more obvious in the tail of the Muyubao landslide while the lowest frontier of this landslide might prevent the slide. Due to its shorter revisiting period and high bandwidth,,the high resolution TerraSAR-X images can keep better coherence than previous satellite SAR data in the test area and provide basic guarantee to monitor the deformation of single landslides.

  8. Genome-wide high-resolution aCGH analysis of gestational choriocarcinomas.

    PubMed

    Poaty, Henriette; Coullin, Philippe; Peko, Jean Félix; Dessen, Philippe; Diatta, Ange Lucien; Valent, Alexander; Leguern, Eric; Prévot, Sophie; Gombé-Mbalawa, Charles; Candelier, Jean-Jacques; Picard, Jean-Yves; Bernheim, Alain

    2012-01-01

    Eleven samples of DNA from choriocarcinomas were studied by high resolution CGH-array 244 K. They were studied after histopathological confirmation of the diagnosis, of the androgenic etiology and after a microsatellite marker analysis confirming the absence of contamination of tumor DNA from maternal DNA. Three cell lines, BeWo, JAR, JEG were also studied by this high resolution pangenomic technique. According to aCGH analysis, the de novo choriocarcinomas exhibited simple chromosomal rearrangements or normal profiles. The cell lines showed various and complex chromosomal aberrations. 23 Minimal Critical Regions were defined that allowed us to list the genes that were potentially implicated. Among them, unusually high numbers of microRNA clusters and imprinted genes were observed.

  9. Genome-Wide High-Resolution aCGH Analysis of Gestational Choriocarcinomas

    PubMed Central

    Poaty, Henriette; Coullin, Philippe; Peko, Jean Félix; Dessen, Philippe; Diatta, Ange Lucien; Valent, Alexander; Leguern, Eric; Prévot, Sophie; Gombé-Mbalawa, Charles; Candelier, Jean-Jacques; Picard, Jean-Yves; Bernheim, Alain

    2012-01-01

    Eleven samples of DNA from choriocarcinomas were studied by high resolution CGH-array 244 K. They were studied after histopathological confirmation of the diagnosis, of the androgenic etiology and after a microsatellite marker analysis confirming the absence of contamination of tumor DNA from maternal DNA. Three cell lines, BeWo, JAR, JEG were also studied by this high resolution pangenomic technique. According to aCGH analysis, the de novo choriocarcinomas exhibited simple chromosomal rearrangements or normal profiles. The cell lines showed various and complex chromosomal aberrations. 23 Minimal Critical Regions were defined that allowed us to list the genes that were potentially implicated. Among them, unusually high numbers of microRNA clusters and imprinted genes were observed. PMID:22253721

  10. High-Resolution X-Ray Telescopes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    ODell, Stephen L.; Brissenden, Roger J.; Davis, William; Elsner, Ronald F.; Elvis, Martin; Freeman, Mark; Gaetz, Terry; Gorenstein, Paul; Gubarev, Mikhail V.

    2010-01-01

    Fundamental needs for future x-ray telescopes: a) Sharp images => excellent angular resolution. b) High throughput => large aperture areas. Generation-X optics technical challenges: a) High resolution => precision mirrors & alignment. b) Large apertures => lots of lightweight mirrors. Innovation needed for technical readiness: a) 4 top-level error terms contribute to image size. b) There are approaches to controlling those errors. Innovation needed for manufacturing readiness. Programmatic issues are comparably challenging.

  11. Gaussian decomposition of high-resolution melt curve derivatives for measuring genome-editing efficiency

    PubMed Central

    Zaboikin, Michail; Freter, Carl

    2018-01-01

    We describe a method for measuring genome editing efficiency from in silico analysis of high-resolution melt curve data. The melt curve data derived from amplicons of genome-edited or unmodified target sites were processed to remove the background fluorescent signal emanating from free fluorophore and then corrected for temperature-dependent quenching of fluorescence of double-stranded DNA-bound fluorophore. Corrected data were normalized and numerically differentiated to obtain the first derivatives of the melt curves. These were then mathematically modeled as a sum or superposition of minimal number of Gaussian components. Using Gaussian parameters determined by modeling of melt curve derivatives of unedited samples, we were able to model melt curve derivatives from genetically altered target sites where the mutant population could be accommodated using an additional Gaussian component. From this, the proportion contributed by the mutant component in the target region amplicon could be accurately determined. Mutant component computations compared well with the mutant frequency determination from next generation sequencing data. The results were also consistent with our earlier studies that used difference curve areas from high-resolution melt curves for determining the efficiency of genome-editing reagents. The advantage of the described method is that it does not require calibration curves to estimate proportion of mutants in amplicons of genome-edited target sites. PMID:29300734

  12. New High-Resolution Marine Single-Channel Seismic Data From the Emperor Seamounts: Initial Observations From ODP Leg 197

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kerr, B. C.; Scholl, D. W.

    2001-12-01

    In July-August of 2001, ODP Leg 197 drilled Detroit, Nintoku, and Koko Seamounts of the Emperor seamount chain to obtain cores of basaltic lava flows. These basalt cores will provide radiometric age and paleomagnetic data to accurately and precisely constrain the paleolatitude of the Hawaiian hotspot. In addition, recovered cores will determine temporal changes in the geochemistry of Hawaiian hotspot volcanic products. Prior to drilling, the JOIDES Resolution, performed high-resolution single-channel seismic surveys in the vicinity of preliminary site locations to help confirm suitability for drilling, and to collect digital seismic data. Generally, at least two seismic lines (about 10 km in length) cross directly over each drill site. The acoustic source consisted of a single SSI 80 cubic-inch water gun with a peak output frequency of approximately 50 Hz. Compared to most SCS data, low ship speeds (4.5-7 knots) and higher than typical firing rates (4 or 6 seconds) helped maximize horizontal resolution, resulting in shot-point spacings between 9 and 21.5 m. A 60-phone, 100-m-long Teledyne oil-filled streamer recorded the water gun shots at near-zero offset. At the end of the leg, a calibrated hydrophone, suspended about 30 m below the water gun, recorded the gun's source signature for 11-30 consecutive shots at each of 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 m below the sea surface. Near-ideal weather conditions during each site survey produced data with high signal-to-noise ratios. The presence of volcaniclastic and/or soil interbeds, as well as highly vesicular lava flow units, significantly affected the seismic reflection character of the volcanic basement. Strong, laterally-coherent internal reflections in the volcanic basement indicate the presence of these layers, which exhibit low velocities and low bulk densities. Generally, laterally-coherent reflections cease where the number and thickness of the low-velocity interbeds diminish. Where the seamount sediment cap is underlain by

  13. CHARRON: Code for High Angular Resolution of Rotating Objects in Nature

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Domiciano de Souza, A.; Zorec, J.; Vakili, F.

    2012-12-01

    Rotation is one of the fundamental physical parameters governing stellar physics and evolution. At the same time, spectrally resolved optical/IR long-baseline interferometry has proven to be an important observing tool to measure many physical effects linked to rotation, in particular, stellar flattening, gravity darkening, differential rotation. In order to interpret the high angular resolution observations from modern spectro-interferometers, such as VLTI/AMBER and VEGA/CHARA, we have developed an interferometry-oriented numerical model: CHARRON (Code for High Angular Resolution of Rotating Objects in Nature). We present here the characteristics of CHARRON, which is faster (≃q10-30 s per model) and thus more adapted to model-fitting than the first version of the code presented by Domiciano de Souza et al. (2002).

  14. High-resolution TNG spectra of T Tauri stars. Near-IR GIANO observations of the young variables XZ Tauri and DR Tauri

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Antoniucci, S.; Nisini, B.; Biazzo, K.; Giannini, T.; Lorenzetti, D.; Sanna, N.; Harutyunyan, A.; Origlia, L.; Oliva, E.

    2017-10-01

    Aims: We aim to characterise the star-disk interaction region in T Tauri stars that show photometric and spectroscopic variability. Methods: We used the GIANO instrument at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo to obtain near-infrared high-resolution spectra (R 50 000) of XZ Tau and DR Tau, which are two actively accreting T Tauri stars classified as EXors. Equivalent widths and profiles of the observed features are used to derive information on the properties of the inner disk, the accretion columns, and the winds. Results: Both sources display composite H I line profiles, where contributions from both accreting gas and high-velocity winds can be recognised. These lines are progressively more symmetric and narrower with increasing upper energy which may be interpreted in terms of two components with different decrements or imputed to self-absorption effects. XZ Tau is observed in a relatively high state of activity with respect to literature observations. The variation of the He I 1.08 μm line blue-shifted absorption, in particular, suggests that the inner wind has undergone a dramatic change in its velocity structure, connected with a recent accretion event. DR Tau has a more stable wind as its He I 1.08 μm absorption does not show variations with time in spite of strong variability of the emission component. The IR veiling in the two sources can be interpreted as due to blackbody emission at temperatures of 1600 K and 2300 K for XZ Tau and DR Tau, respectively, with emitting areas 30 times larger than the central star. While for XZ Tau these conditions are consistent with emission from the inner rim of the dusty disk, the fairly high temperature inferred for DR Tau might suggest that its veiling originates from a thick gaseous disk located within the dust sublimation radius. Strong and broad metallic lines, mainly from C I and Fe I, are detected in XZ Tau, similar to those observed in other EXor sources during burst phases. At variance, DR Tau shows weaker and

  15. Variability of hydrological extreme events in East Asia and their dynamical control: a comparison between observations and two high-resolution global climate models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Freychet, N.; Duchez, A.; Wu, C.-H.; Chen, C.-A.; Hsu, H.-H.; Hirschi, J.; Forryan, A.; Sinha, B.; New, A. L.; Graham, T.; Andrews, M. B.; Tu, C.-Y.; Lin, S.-J.

    2017-02-01

    This work investigates the variability of extreme weather events (drought spells, DS15, and daily heavy rainfall, PR99) over East Asia. It particularly focuses on the large scale atmospheric circulation associated with high levels of the occurrence of these extreme events. Two observational datasets (APHRODITE and PERSIANN) are compared with two high-resolution global climate models (HiRAM and HadGEM3-GC2) and an ensemble of other lower resolution climate models from CMIP5. We first evaluate the performance of the high resolution models. They both exhibit good skill in reproducing extreme events, especially when compared with CMIP5 results. Significant differences exist between the two observational datasets, highlighting the difficulty of having a clear estimate of extreme events. The link between the variability of the extremes and the large scale circulation is investigated, on monthly and interannual timescales, using composite and correlation analyses. Both extreme indices DS15 and PR99 are significantly linked to the low level wind intensity over East Asia, i.e. the monsoon circulation. It is also found that DS15 events are strongly linked to the surface temperature over the Siberian region and to the land-sea pressure contrast, while PR99 events are linked to the sea surface temperature anomalies over the West North Pacific. These results illustrate the importance of the monsoon circulation on extremes over East Asia. The dependencies on of the surface temperature over the continent and the sea surface temperature raise the question as to what extent they could affect the occurrence of extremes over tropical regions in future projections.

  16. Real-time Data Processing and Visualization for the Airborne Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taylor, J. K.; Revercomb, H. E.; Hoese, D.; Garcia, R. K.; Smith, W. L.; Weisz, E.; Tobin, D. C.; Best, F. A.; Knuteson, R. O.; Sullivan, D. V.; Barnes, C. M.; Van Gilst, D. P.

    2015-12-01

    The Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) is a five-year NASA mission targeted to enhance the understanding of the formation and evolution of hurricanes in the Atlantic basin. Measurements were made from two NASA Global Hawk Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) during the 2012 through 2014 hurricane seasons, with flights conducted from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility. The Global Hawk aircraft are capable of high altitude flights with durations of up to 30 hours, which allow extensive observations over distant storms, not typically possible with manned aircraft. The two NASA Global Hawks were equipped with instrument suites to study the storm environment, and inner core structure and processes, respectively. The Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS), designed and built by the University of Wisconsin (UW) Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), measures emitted thermal radiation at high spectral resolution between 3.3 and 18 microns. The radiance measurements are used to obtain temperature and water vapor profiles of the Earth's atmosphere. The S-HIS spatial resolution is 2 km at nadir, across a 40 km ground swath from a nominal altitude of 20 kilometers. Since 1998, the S-HIS has participated in 33 field campaigns and has proven to be extremely dependable, effective, and highly accurate. It has flown on the NASA ER-2, DC-8, Proteus, WB-57, and Global Hawk airborne platforms. The UW S-HIS infrared sounder instrument is equipped with a real-time ground data processing system capable of delivering atmospheric profiles, radiance data, and engineering status to mission support scientists - all within less than one minute from the time of observation. This ground data processing system was assembled by a small team using existing software and proven practical techniques similar to a satellite ground system architecture. This summary outlines the design overview for the system and illustrates the data path, content, and outcomes.

  17. High-Resolution Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (HREELS) Using a Monochromated TEM/STEM

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sai, Z. R.; Bradley, J. P.; Erni, R.; Browning, N.

    2005-01-01

    A 200 keV FEI TF20 XT monochromated (scanning) transmission electron microscope funded by NASA's SRLIDAP program is undergoing installation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Instrument specifications in STEM mode are Cs =1.0 mm, Cc =1.2 mm, image resolution =0.18 nm, and in TEM mode Cs =1.3 mm, Cc =1.3 mm, information limit =0.14 nm. Key features of the instrument are a voltage-stabilized high tension (HT) supply, a monochromator, a high-resolution electron energy-loss spectrometer/energy filter, a high-resolution annular darkfield detector, and a solid-state x-ray energy-dispersive spectrometer. The high-tension tank contains additional sections for 60Hz and high frequency filtering, resulting in an operating voltage of 200 kV plus or minus 0.005V, a greater than 10-fold improvement over earlier systems. The monochromator is a single Wien filter design. The energy filter is a Gatan model 866 Tridiem-ERS high resolution GIF spec d for less than or equal to 0.15 eV energy resolution with 29 pA of current in a 2 nm diameter probe. 0.13 eV has already been achieved during early installation. The x-ray detector (EDAX/Genesis 4000) has a take-off angle of 20 degrees, an active area of 30 square millimeters, and a solid angle of 0.3 steradians. The higher solid angle is possible because the objective pole-piece allows the detector to be positioned as close as 9.47 mm from the specimen. The voltage-stabilized HT supply, monochromator and GIF enable high-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy (HREELS) with energy resolution comparable to synchrotron XANES, but with approximately 100X better spatial resolution. The region between 0 and 100 eV is called the low-loss or valence electron energy-loss spectroscopy (VEELS) region where features due to collective plasma oscillations and single electron transitions of valence electrons are observed. Most of the low-loss VEELS features we are detecting are being observed for the first time in IDPs. A major focus of

  18. Near-Infrared high resolution spectral survey of comets with GIANO/TNG: The CN red-system at 1.1 μm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Faggi, Sara; Villanueva, Geronimo Luis; Mumma, Michael J.; Tozzi, Gian-Paolo; Brucato, John Robert

    2016-10-01

    High-resolution spectroscopy in the near-infrared spectral range is a powerful tool to investigate chemical composition and isotopic fractionation.Comets are the best preserved relic of the enfant stages of the solar system. By targeting biologically relevant species in cometary comae and retrieving isotopic (e.g. D/H) and spin isomeric (e.g., ortho- and para- water) ratios, we can study the formation and evolution of solar system matter, address the origin of Earth's oceans and characterize the delivery of organic matter that was essential for the appearance of life on early Earth. We initiated the first high resolution spectral survey of comets ever conducted in the 0.9-2.5 μm range, targeting C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy), C/2013 US10 (Catalina) and C/2013 X1 (Panstarrs) with GIANO - the near-IR high resolution spectrograph on Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG). In comet Lovejoy, we detected eight ro-vibrational bands of H2O (Faggi et al., 2016, ApJ in press), emission from the red-system of CN, and many other emission lines whose precursors are now being identified. In this talk we will present a new quantum mechanical solar fluorescence model for the CN red system and the retrievals obtained with it from our cometary spectra. These observations open new pathways for cometary science in the near-infrared spectral range (0.9-2.5 μm) and establish the feasibility of astrobiology-related scientific investigations with future high resolution IR spectrographs on 30-m class telescopes, e.g., the HIRES spectrograph on the E-ELT telescope. This work is part of Sara Faggi's Ph.D. thesis project. NASA's Planetary Astronomy Program supported GLV and MJM through funding awarded under proposal 11-PAST11-0045 (M. J. Mumma, PI ).

  19. A high resolution ultraviolet Shuttle glow spectrograph

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carruthers, George R.

    1993-01-01

    The High Resolution Shuttle Glow Spectrograph-B (HRSGS-B) is a small payload being developed by the Naval Research Laboratory. It is intended for study of shuttle surface glow in the 180-400 nm near- and middle-ultraviolet wavelength range, with a spectral resolution of 0.2 nm. It will search for, among other possible features, the band systems of excited NO which result from surface-catalyzed combination of N and O. It may also detect O2 Hertzberg bands and N2 Vegard-Kaplan bands resulting from surface recombination. This wavelength range also includes possible N2+ and OH emissions. The HRSGS-B will be housed in a Get Away Special canister, mounted in the shuttle orbiter payload bay, and will observe the glow on the tail of the orbiter.

  20. Quantitative analysis of antibiotics in aquifer sediments by liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry.

    PubMed

    Tong, Lei; Liu, Hui; Xie, Cong; Li, Minjing

    2016-06-24

    A highly effective analytical method for multi-residue determination of antibiotics in aquifer sediments was first established in this study. Microwave-assisted solvent extraction (MASE) and solid-phase extraction were used for sample pre-concentration and purification, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to hybrid quadrupole-high resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap) was applied for detection. For high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), the target compounds were tentatively identified by retention time and accurate mass which was measured with precursor ions in Target-SIM scan, and then confirmed by the monitoring of daughter ion fragments which were generated in dd-MS(2) scan. The results provided good mass accuracy with mass deviations below 2ppm (except norfloxacin with -2.3ppm) for quantitative analysis of the compounds by HRMS. Reasonable recoveries of all analytes were obtained more than 60% (except doxytetracycline) in fortification samples at concentrations higher than 10μgkg(-1). Relative standard deviations of repeatability and inter-day precision were below 21% and 11%. Limits of detection (LOD) ranged from 0.1 to 3.8μgkg(-1), whereas limits of quantification (LOQ) were established between 0.3-9.0μgkg(-1). The method was applied to analyze real aquifer sediment samples in different aquifer depth of 4.0, 7.5, 13.0 and 18.0m. Chlorotetracycline and ofloxacin were observed at relative high concentrations of 53 and 19μgkg(-1) respectively in 18.0m deepness. The exposure to low doses of these compounds in subsurface environment increases concerns on long-term ecological security of underground system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. High-resolution scanning precession electron diffraction: Alignment and spatial resolution.

    PubMed

    Barnard, Jonathan S; Johnstone, Duncan N; Midgley, Paul A

    2017-03-01

    Methods are presented for aligning the pivot point of a precessing electron probe in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) and for assessing the spatial resolution in scanning precession electron diffraction (SPED) experiments. The alignment procedure is performed entirely in diffraction mode, minimising probe wander within the bright-field (BF) convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) disk and is used to obtain high spatial resolution SPED maps. Through analysis of the power spectra of virtual bright-field images extracted from the SPED data, the precession-induced blur was measured as a function of precession angle. At low precession angles, SPED spatial resolution was limited by electronic noise in the scan coils; whereas at high precession angles SPED spatial resolution was limited by tilt-induced two-fold astigmatism caused by the positive spherical aberration of the probe-forming lens. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Global significance of a sub-Moho boundary layer (SMBL) deduced from high-resolution seismic observations

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Fuchs, K.; Tittgemeyer, M.; Ryberg, T.; Wenzel, F.; Mooney, W.

    2002-01-01

    We infer the fine structure of a sub-Moho boundary layer (SMBL) at the top of the lithospheric mantle from high-resolution seismic observations of Peaceful Nuclear Explosions (PNE) on superlong-range profiles in Russia. Densely recorded seismograms permit recognition of previously unknown features of teleseismic propagation of the well known Pn and Sn phases, such as a band of incoherent, scattered, high-frequency seismic energy, developing consistently from station to station, apparent velocities of sub-Moho material, and high-frequency energy to distances of more than 3000 km with a coda band, incoherent at 10 km spacing and yet consistently observed to the end of the profiles. Estimates of the other key elements of the SMBL were obtained by finite difference calculations of wave propagation in elastic 2D models from a systematic grid search through parameter space. The SMBL consists of randomly distributed, mild velocity fluctuations of 2% or schlieren of high aspect ratios (???40) with long horizontal extent (???20 km) and therefore as thin as 0.5 km only; SMBL thickness is 60-100 km. It is suggested that the SMBL is of global significance as the physical base of the platewide observed high-frequency phases Pn and Sn. It is shown that wave propagation in the SMBL waveguide is insensitive to the background velocity distribution on which its schlieren are superimposed. This explains why the Pn and Sn phases traverse geological provinces of various age, heat flow, crustal thickness, and tectonic regimes. Their propagation appears to be independent of age. temperature, pressure, and stress. Dynamic stretching of mantle material during subduction or flow, possibly combined with chemical differentiation have to be considered as scale-forming processes in the upper mantle. However, it is difficult to distinguish with the present sets of Pn/Sn array data whether (and also where) the boundary layer is a frozen-in feature of paleo-processes or whether it is a response to

  3. New concept high-speed and high-resolution color scanner

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nakashima, Keisuke; Shinoda, Shin'ichi; Konishi, Yoshiharu; Sugiyama, Kenji; Hori, Tetsuya

    2003-05-01

    We have developed a new concept high-speed and high-resolution color scanner (Blinkscan) using digital camera technology. With our most advanced sub-pixel image processing technology, approximately 12 million pixel image data can be captured. High resolution imaging capability allows various uses such as OCR, color document read, and document camera. The scan time is only about 3 seconds for a letter size sheet. Blinkscan scans documents placed "face up" on its scan stage and without any special illumination lights. Using Blinkscan, a high-resolution color document can be easily inputted into a PC at high speed, a paperless system can be built easily. It is small, and since the occupancy area is also small, setting it on an individual desk is possible. Blinkscan offers the usability of a digital camera and accuracy of a flatbed scanner with high-speed processing. Now, about several hundred of Blinkscan are mainly shipping for the receptionist operation in a bank and a security. We will show the high-speed and high-resolution architecture of Blinkscan. Comparing operation-time with conventional image capture device, the advantage of Blinkscan will make clear. And image evaluation for variety of environment, such as geometric distortions or non-uniformity of brightness, will be made.

  4. Super-resolution reconstruction of hyperspectral images.

    PubMed

    Akgun, Toygar; Altunbasak, Yucel; Mersereau, Russell M

    2005-11-01

    Hyperspectral images are used for aerial and space imagery applications, including target detection, tracking, agricultural, and natural resource exploration. Unfortunately, atmospheric scattering, secondary illumination, changing viewing angles, and sensor noise degrade the quality of these images. Improving their resolution has a high payoff, but applying super-resolution techniques separately to every spectral band is problematic for two main reasons. First, the number of spectral bands can be in the hundreds, which increases the computational load excessively. Second, considering the bands separately does not make use of the information that is present across them. Furthermore, separate band super-resolution does not make use of the inherent low dimensionality of the spectral data, which can effectively be used to improve the robustness against noise. In this paper, we introduce a novel super-resolution method for hyperspectral images. An integral part of our work is to model the hyperspectral image acquisition process. We propose a model that enables us to represent the hyperspectral observations from different wavelengths as weighted linear combinations of a small number of basis image planes. Then, a method for applying super resolution to hyperspectral images using this model is presented. The method fuses information from multiple observations and spectral bands to improve spatial resolution and reconstruct the spectrum of the observed scene as a combination of a small number of spectral basis functions.

  5. The high-resolution Doppler imager on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hays, Paul B.; Abreu, Vincent J.; Dobbs, Michael E.; Gell, David A.; Grassl, Heinz J.; Skinner, Wilbert R.

    1993-01-01

    The high-resolution Doppler imager (HRDI) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite is a triple-etalon Fabry-Perot interferometer designed to measure winds in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere. Winds are determined by measuring the Doppler shifts of rotational lines of the O2 atmospheric band, which are observed in emission in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere and in absorption in the stratosphere. The interferometer has high resolution (0.05/cm), good offhand rejection, aud excellent stability. This paper provides details of the design and capabilities of the HRDI instrument.

  6. Target Super-Resolution Compensation for Coherent Airborne Radar Utilizing Spread Spectrum Waveforms.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-12-01

    effects of the transmitted waveform. This will be accomplished via comparisons of signal-to-noise ratios for non-coherent filtering vs. coherent narrowband...form of frequency or phase modulation. The simulation will assume we are processing the video (baseband) signal which resu fr i an enviroment (target...range, they can be resolved in doppler if AWD/2 > Fr where &wD is the doppler-shift difference. A similiar consideration of target resolution for a

  7. RoboTAP: Target priorities for robotic microlensing observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hundertmark, M.; Street, R. A.; Tsapras, Y.; Bachelet, E.; Dominik, M.; Horne, K.; Bozza, V.; Bramich, D. M.; Cassan, A.; D'Ago, G.; Figuera Jaimes, R.; Kains, N.; Ranc, C.; Schmidt, R. W.; Snodgrass, C.; Wambsganss, J.; Steele, I. A.; Mao, S.; Ment, K.; Menzies, J.; Li, Z.; Cross, S.; Maoz, D.; Shvartzvald, Y.

    2018-01-01

    Context. The ability to automatically select scientifically-important transient events from an alert stream of many such events, and to conduct follow-up observations in response, will become increasingly important in astronomy. With wide-angle time domain surveys pushing to fainter limiting magnitudes, the capability to follow-up on transient alerts far exceeds our follow-up telescope resources, and effective target prioritization becomes essential. The RoboNet-II microlensing program is a pathfinder project, which has developed an automated target selection process (RoboTAP) for gravitational microlensing events, which are observed in real time using the Las Cumbres Observatory telescope network. Aims: Follow-up telescopes typically have a much smaller field of view compared to surveys, therefore the most promising microlensing events must be automatically selected at any given time from an annual sample exceeding 2000 events. The main challenge is to select between events with a high planet detection sensitivity, with the aim of detecting many planets and characterizing planetary anomalies. Methods: Our target selection algorithm is a hybrid system based on estimates of the planet detection zones around a microlens. It follows automatic anomaly alerts and respects the expected survey coverage of specific events. Results: We introduce the RoboTAP algorithm, whose purpose is to select and prioritize microlensing events with high sensitivity to planetary companions. In this work, we determine the planet sensitivity of the RoboNet follow-up program and provide a working example of how a broker can be designed for a real-life transient science program conducting follow-up observations in response to alerts; we explore the issues that will confront similar programs being developed for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and other time domain surveys.

  8. Kalman filter data assimilation: targeting observations and parameter estimation.

    PubMed

    Bellsky, Thomas; Kostelich, Eric J; Mahalov, Alex

    2014-06-01

    This paper studies the effect of targeted observations on state and parameter estimates determined with Kalman filter data assimilation (DA) techniques. We first provide an analytical result demonstrating that targeting observations within the Kalman filter for a linear model can significantly reduce state estimation error as opposed to fixed or randomly located observations. We next conduct observing system simulation experiments for a chaotic model of meteorological interest, where we demonstrate that the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF) with targeted observations based on largest ensemble variance is skillful in providing more accurate state estimates than the LETKF with randomly located observations. Additionally, we find that a hybrid ensemble Kalman filter parameter estimation method accurately updates model parameters within the targeted observation context to further improve state estimation.

  9. Generating High-Temporal and Spatial Resolution TIR Image Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Herrero-Huerta, M.; Lagüela, S.; Alfieri, S. M.; Menenti, M.

    2017-09-01

    Remote sensing imagery to monitor global biophysical dynamics requires the availability of thermal infrared data at high temporal and spatial resolution because of the rapid development of crops during the growing season and the fragmentation of most agricultural landscapes. Conversely, no single sensor meets these combined requirements. Data fusion approaches offer an alternative to exploit observations from multiple sensors, providing data sets with better properties. A novel spatio-temporal data fusion model based on constrained algorithms denoted as multisensor multiresolution technique (MMT) was developed and applied to generate TIR synthetic image data at both temporal and spatial high resolution. Firstly, an adaptive radiance model is applied based on spectral unmixing analysis of . TIR radiance data at TOA (top of atmosphere) collected by MODIS daily 1-km and Landsat - TIRS 16-day sampled at 30-m resolution are used to generate synthetic daily radiance images at TOA at 30-m spatial resolution. The next step consists of unmixing the 30 m (now lower resolution) images using the information about their pixel land-cover composition from co-registered images at higher spatial resolution. In our case study, TIR synthesized data were unmixed to the Sentinel 2 MSI with 10 m resolution. The constrained unmixing preserves all the available radiometric information of the 30 m images and involves the optimization of the number of land-cover classes and the size of the moving window for spatial unmixing. Results are still being evaluated, with particular attention for the quality of the data streams required to apply our approach.

  10. Spatially detailed retrievals of spring phenology from single-season high-resolution image time series

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vrieling, Anton; Skidmore, Andrew K.; Wang, Tiejun; Meroni, Michele; Ens, Bruno J.; Oosterbeek, Kees; O'Connor, Brian; Darvishzadeh, Roshanak; Heurich, Marco; Shepherd, Anita; Paganini, Marc

    2017-07-01

    Vegetation indices derived from satellite image time series have been extensively used to estimate the timing of phenological events like season onset. Medium spatial resolution (≥250 m) satellite sensors with daily revisit capability are typically employed for this purpose. In recent years, phenology is being retrieved at higher resolution (≤30 m) in response to increasing availability of high-resolution satellite data. To overcome the reduced acquisition frequency of such data, previous attempts involved fusion between high- and medium-resolution data, or combinations of multi-year acquisitions in a single phenological reconstruction. The objectives of this study are to demonstrate that phenological parameters can now be retrieved from single-season high-resolution time series, and to compare these retrievals against those derived from multi-year high-resolution and single-season medium-resolution satellite data. The study focuses on the island of Schiermonnikoog, the Netherlands, which comprises a highly-dynamic saltmarsh, dune vegetation, and agricultural land. Combining NDVI series derived from atmospherically-corrected images from RapidEye (5 m-resolution) and the SPOT5 Take5 experiment (10m-resolution) acquired between March and August 2015, phenological parameters were estimated using a function fitting approach. We then compared results with phenology retrieved from four years of 30 m Landsat 8 OLI data, and single-year 100 m Proba-V and 250 m MODIS temporal composites of the same period. Retrieved phenological parameters from combined RapidEye/SPOT5 displayed spatially consistent results and a large spatial variability, providing complementary information to existing vegetation community maps. Retrievals that combined four years of Landsat observations into a single synthetic year were affected by the inclusion of years with warmer spring temperatures, whereas adjustment of the average phenology to 2015 observations was only feasible for a few pixels

  11. Laser ablated hydantoin: A high resolution rotational study.

    PubMed

    Alonso, Elena R; Kolesniková, Lucie; Alonso, José L

    2017-09-28

    Laser ablation techniques coupled with broadband and narrowband Fourier transform microwave spectroscopies have allowed the high resolution rotational study of solid hydantoin, an important target in astrochemistry as a possible precursor of glycine. The complicated hyperfine structure arising from the presence of two 14 N nuclei in non-equivalent positions has been resolved and interpreted in terms of the nuclear quadrupole coupling interactions. The results reported in this work provide a solid base for the interstellar searches of hydantoin in the astrophysical surveys. The values of the nuclear quadrupole coupling constants have been also discussed in terms of the electronic environment around the respective nitrogen atom.

  12. A dynamic aerodynamic resistance approach to calculate high resolution sensible heat fluxes in urban areas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Crawford, Ben; Grimmond, Sue; Kent, Christoph; Gabey, Andrew; Ward, Helen; Sun, Ting; Morrison, William

    2017-04-01

    Remotely sensed data from satellites have potential to enable high-resolution, automated calculation of urban surface energy balance terms and inform decisions about urban adaptations to environmental change. However, aerodynamic resistance methods to estimate sensible heat flux (QH) in cities using satellite-derived observations of surface temperature are difficult in part due to spatial and temporal variability of the thermal aerodynamic resistance term (rah). In this work, we extend an empirical function to estimate rah using observational data from several cities with a broad range of surface vegetation land cover properties. We then use this function to calculate spatially and temporally variable rah in London based on high-resolution (100 m) land cover datasets and in situ meteorological observations. In order to calculate high-resolution QH based on satellite-observed land surface temperatures, we also develop and employ novel methods to i) apply source area-weighted averaging of surface and meteorological variables across the study spatial domain, ii) calculate spatially variable, high-resolution meteorological variables (wind speed, friction velocity, and Obukhov length), iii) incorporate spatially interpolated urban air temperatures from a distributed sensor network, and iv) apply a modified Monte Carlo approach to assess uncertainties with our results, methods, and input variables. Modeled QH using the aerodynamic resistance method is then compared to in situ observations in central London from a unique network of scintillometers and eddy-covariance measurements.

  13. Mesosacle eddies in a high resolution OGCM and coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Y.; Liu, H.; Lin, P.

    2017-12-01

    The present study described high-resolution climate modeling efforts including oceanic, atmospheric and coupled general circulation model (GCM) at the state key laboratory of numerical modeling for atmospheric sciences and geophysical fluid dynamics (LASG), Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP). The high-resolution OGCM is established based on the latest version of the LASG/IAP Climate system Ocean Model (LICOM2.1), but its horizontal resolution and vertical resolution are increased to 1/10° and 55 layers, respectively. Forced by the surface fluxes from the reanalysis and observed data, the model has been integrated for approximately more than 80 model years. Compared with the simulation of the coarse-resolution OGCM, the eddy-resolving OGCM not only better simulates the spatial-temporal features of mesoscale eddies and the paths and positions of western boundary currents but also reproduces the large meander of the Kuroshio Current and its interannual variability. Another aspect, namely, the complex structures of equatorial Pacific currents and currents in the coastal ocean of China, are better captured due to the increased horizontal and vertical resolution. Then we coupled the high resolution OGCM to NCAR CAM4 with 25km resolution, in which the mesoscale air-sea interaction processes are better captured.

  14. A DVD Spectroscope: A Simple, High-Resolution Classroom Spectroscope

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wakabayashi, Fumitaka; Hamada, Kiyohito

    2006-01-01

    Digital versatile disks (DVDs) have successfully made up an inexpensive but high-resolution spectroscope suitable for classroom experiments that can easily be made with common material and gives clear and fine spectra of various light sources and colored material. The observed spectra can be photographed with a digital camera, and such images can…

  15. Monte Carlo Bayesian inference on a statistical model of sub-gridcolumn moisture variability using high-resolution cloud observations. Part 1: Method.

    PubMed

    Norris, Peter M; da Silva, Arlindo M

    2016-07-01

    A method is presented to constrain a statistical model of sub-gridcolumn moisture variability using high-resolution satellite cloud data. The method can be used for large-scale model parameter estimation or cloud data assimilation. The gridcolumn model includes assumed probability density function (PDF) intra-layer horizontal variability and a copula-based inter-layer correlation model. The observables used in the current study are Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud-top pressure, brightness temperature and cloud optical thickness, but the method should be extensible to direct cloudy radiance assimilation for a small number of channels. The algorithm is a form of Bayesian inference with a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach to characterizing the posterior distribution. This approach is especially useful in cases where the background state is clear but cloudy observations exist. In traditional linearized data assimilation methods, a subsaturated background cannot produce clouds via any infinitesimal equilibrium perturbation, but the Monte Carlo approach is not gradient-based and allows jumps into regions of non-zero cloud probability. The current study uses a skewed-triangle distribution for layer moisture. The article also includes a discussion of the Metropolis and multiple-try Metropolis versions of MCMC.

  16. Monte Carlo Bayesian Inference on a Statistical Model of Sub-Gridcolumn Moisture Variability Using High-Resolution Cloud Observations. Part 1: Method

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Norris, Peter M.; Da Silva, Arlindo M.

    2016-01-01

    A method is presented to constrain a statistical model of sub-gridcolumn moisture variability using high-resolution satellite cloud data. The method can be used for large-scale model parameter estimation or cloud data assimilation. The gridcolumn model includes assumed probability density function (PDF) intra-layer horizontal variability and a copula-based inter-layer correlation model. The observables used in the current study are Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud-top pressure, brightness temperature and cloud optical thickness, but the method should be extensible to direct cloudy radiance assimilation for a small number of channels. The algorithm is a form of Bayesian inference with a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach to characterizing the posterior distribution. This approach is especially useful in cases where the background state is clear but cloudy observations exist. In traditional linearized data assimilation methods, a subsaturated background cannot produce clouds via any infinitesimal equilibrium perturbation, but the Monte Carlo approach is not gradient-based and allows jumps into regions of non-zero cloud probability. The current study uses a skewed-triangle distribution for layer moisture. The article also includes a discussion of the Metropolis and multiple-try Metropolis versions of MCMC.

  17. Monte Carlo Bayesian inference on a statistical model of sub-gridcolumn moisture variability using high-resolution cloud observations. Part 1: Method

    PubMed Central

    Norris, Peter M.; da Silva, Arlindo M.

    2018-01-01

    A method is presented to constrain a statistical model of sub-gridcolumn moisture variability using high-resolution satellite cloud data. The method can be used for large-scale model parameter estimation or cloud data assimilation. The gridcolumn model includes assumed probability density function (PDF) intra-layer horizontal variability and a copula-based inter-layer correlation model. The observables used in the current study are Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud-top pressure, brightness temperature and cloud optical thickness, but the method should be extensible to direct cloudy radiance assimilation for a small number of channels. The algorithm is a form of Bayesian inference with a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach to characterizing the posterior distribution. This approach is especially useful in cases where the background state is clear but cloudy observations exist. In traditional linearized data assimilation methods, a subsaturated background cannot produce clouds via any infinitesimal equilibrium perturbation, but the Monte Carlo approach is not gradient-based and allows jumps into regions of non-zero cloud probability. The current study uses a skewed-triangle distribution for layer moisture. The article also includes a discussion of the Metropolis and multiple-try Metropolis versions of MCMC. PMID:29618847

  18. Monitoring and Modelling the Rapid Evolution of Earth's Newest Volcanic Island: Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (Tonga) Using High Spatial Resolution Satellite Observations

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Garvin, James B.; Slayback, Daniel A.; Ferrini, Vi

    2018-04-16

    We have monitored a newly-erupted surtseyan volcanic island in the Kingdom of Tonga, unofficially known as Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH), by means of very high-resolution satellite observations. The new ~1.8 km2 island formed as a tuff cone over the course of a month-long hydro-volcanic eruption in early 2015 in the Tonga-Kermadec Islands volcanic arc. Such tephra-dominated eruptions usually produce fragile subaerial landscapes that wash away rapidly due to marine abrasion, as documented in 2009. Our measured rates of erosion are five to twenty times greater than observed at Surtsey (Iceland). Preliminary measurements of the topographic expression of the primarymore » tuff cone from the past ~ 30 months suggest an extended lifetime of at least ~ 6.5 years (and potentially up to 29 years), documenting details of its landscape evolution using satellite and ship-based remote sensing approaches never-before available at such scales for this type of newly-formed island. A new volcanic island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean that formed by means of an eruption style similar to that of Surtsey (Iceland) was monitored and observed via high resolution satellite imaging for over ~30 months since its time of formation in early 2015. This island, unofficially named Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH), was not expected to persist as land for more than a few months, but our observations have documented its lifetime for 30 months. Using topography derived from high resolution satellite images, the above-sea-level volume of the island was measured over time, leading to a "volumetric" erosion rate that was compared with other oceanic islands. The HTHH island is disappearing five times (or more) faster than Surtsey, but much slower than typical models predict, allowing detailed measurement of its erosional history at new spatial scales. Regional submarine topography (bathymetry) shows that shallow-water topology may be an important factor in explaining the unexpected lifetime

  19. Monitoring and Modeling the Rapid Evolution of Earth's Newest Volcanic Island: Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (Tonga) Using High Spatial Resolution Satellite Observations

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Garvin, J. B.; Slayback, D. A.; Ferrini, V.

    We have monitored a newly-erupted surtseyan volcanic island in the Kingdom of Tonga, unofficially known as Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH), by means of very high-resolution satellite observations. The new ~1.8 km2 island formed as a tuff cone over the course of a month-long hydro-volcanic eruption in early 2015 in the Tonga-Kermadec Islands volcanic arc. Such tephra-dominated eruptions usually produce fragile subaerial landscapes that wash away rapidly due to marine abrasion, as documented in 2009. Our measured rates of erosion are five to twenty times greater than observed at Surtsey (Iceland). Preliminary measurements of the topographic expression of the primarymore » tuff cone from the past ~ 30 months suggest an extended lifetime of at least ~ 6.5 years (and potentially up to 29 years), documenting details of its landscape evolution using satellite and ship-based remote sensing approaches never-before available at such scales for this type of newly-formed island. A new volcanic island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean that formed by means of an eruption style similar to that of Surtsey (Iceland) was monitored and observed via high resolution satellite imaging for over ~30 months since its time of formation in early 2015. This island, unofficially named Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH), was not expected to persist as land for more than a few months, but our observations have documented its lifetime for 30 months. Using topography derived from high resolution satellite images, the above-sea-level volume of the island was measured over time, leading to a "volumetric" erosion rate that was compared with other oceanic islands. The HTHH island is disappearing five times (or more) faster than Surtsey, but much slower than typical models predict, allowing detailed measurement of its erosional history at new spatial scales. Regional submarine topography (bathymetry) shows that shallow-water topology may be an important factor in explaining the unexpected lifetime

  20. Global high-resolution simulations of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide using CHASER V4.0

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sekiya, Takashi; Miyazaki, Kazuyuki; Ogochi, Koji; Sudo, Kengo; Takigawa, Masayuki

    2018-03-01

    We evaluate global tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) simulations using the CHASER V4.0 global chemical transport model (CTM) at horizontal resolutions of 0.56, 1.1, and 2.8°. Model evaluation was conducted using satellite tropospheric NO2 retrievals from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) and aircraft observations from the 2014 Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Experiment (FRAPPÉ). Agreement against satellite retrievals improved greatly at 1.1 and 0.56° resolutions (compared to 2.8° resolution) over polluted and biomass burning regions. The 1.1° simulation generally captured the regional distribution of the tropospheric NO2 column well, whereas 0.56° resolution was necessary to improve the model performance over areas with strong local sources, with mean bias reductions of 67 % over Beijing and 73 % over San Francisco in summer. Validation using aircraft observations indicated that high-resolution simulations reduced negative NO2 biases below 700 hPa over the Denver metropolitan area. These improvements in high-resolution simulations were attributable to (1) closer spatial representativeness between simulations and observations and (2) better representation of large-scale concentration fields (i.e., at 2.8°) through the consideration of small-scale processes. Model evaluations conducted at 0.5 and 2.8° bin grids indicated that the contributions of both these processes were comparable over most polluted regions, whereas the latter effect (2) made a larger contribution over eastern China and biomass burning areas. The evaluations presented in this paper demonstrate the potential of using a high-resolution global CTM for studying megacity-scale air pollutants across the entire globe, potentially also contributing to global satellite retrievals and chemical data assimilation.

  1. High-emulation mask recognition with high-resolution hyperspectral video capture system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Feng, Jiao; Fang, Xiaojing; Li, Shoufeng; Wang, Yongjin

    2014-11-01

    We present a method for distinguishing human face from high-emulation mask, which is increasingly used by criminals for activities such as stealing card numbers and passwords on ATM. Traditional facial recognition technique is difficult to detect such camouflaged criminals. In this paper, we use the high-resolution hyperspectral video capture system to detect high-emulation mask. A RGB camera is used for traditional facial recognition. A prism and a gray scale camera are used to capture spectral information of the observed face. Experiments show that mask made of silica gel has different spectral reflectance compared with the human skin. As multispectral image offers additional spectral information about physical characteristics, high-emulation mask can be easily recognized.

  2. Cooperative Robots to Observe Moving Targets: Review.

    PubMed

    Khan, Asif; Rinner, Bernhard; Cavallaro, Andrea

    2018-01-01

    The deployment of multiple robots for achieving a common goal helps to improve the performance, efficiency, and/or robustness in a variety of tasks. In particular, the observation of moving targets is an important multirobot application that still exhibits numerous open challenges, including the effective coordination of the robots. This paper reviews control techniques for cooperative mobile robots monitoring multiple targets. The simultaneous movement of robots and targets makes this problem particularly interesting, and our review systematically addresses this cooperative multirobot problem for the first time. We classify and critically discuss the control techniques: cooperative multirobot observation of multiple moving targets, cooperative search, acquisition, and track, cooperative tracking, and multirobot pursuit evasion. We also identify the five major elements that characterize this problem, namely, the coordination method, the environment, the target, the robot and its sensor(s). These elements are used to systematically analyze the control techniques. The majority of the studied work is based on simulation and laboratory studies, which may not accurately reflect real-world operational conditions. Importantly, while our systematic analysis is focused on multitarget observation, our proposed classification is useful also for related multirobot applications.

  3. High-resolution echocardiography

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nathan, R.

    1979-01-01

    High resolution computer aided ultrasound system provides two-and three-dimensional images of beating heart from many angles. System provides means for determining whether small blood vessels around the heart are blocked or if heart wall is moving normally without interference of dead and noncontracting muscle tissue.

  4. High-resolution absorption measurements of NH3 at high temperatures: 2100-5500 cm-1

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barton, Emma J.; Yurchenko, Sergei N.; Tennyson, Jonathan; Clausen, Sønnik; Fateev, Alexander

    2017-03-01

    High-resolution absorption spectra of NH3 in the region 2100-5500 cm-1 at 1027 °C and approximately atmospheric pressure (1045±3 mbar) are measured. An NH3 concentration of 10% in volume fraction is used in the measurements. Spectra are recorded in a high-temperature gas-flow cell using a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer at a nominal resolution of 0.09 cm-1. The spectra are analysed by comparison to a variational line list, BYTe, and experimental energy levels determined using the MARVEL procedure. 2308 lines have been assigned to 45 different bands, of which 1755 and 15 have been assigned or observed for the first time in this work.

  5. High Resolution Land Use Land Cover Classification using Landsat Earth Observation Data for the Continental Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Midekisa, A.; Bennet, A.; Gething, P. W.; Holl, F.; Andrade-Pacheco, R.; Savory, D. J.; Hugh, S. J.

    2016-12-01

    Spatially detailed and temporally dynamic land use land cover data is necessary to monitor the state of the land surface for various applications. Yet, such data at a continental to global scale is lacking. Here, we developed high resolution (30 meter) annual land use land cover layers for the continental Africa using Google Earth Engine. To capture ground truth training data, high resolution satellite imageries were visually inspected and used to identify 7, 212 sample Landsat pixels that were comprised entirely of one of seven land use land cover classes (water, man-made impervious surface, high biomass, low biomass, rock, sand and bare soil). For model validation purposes, 80% of points from each class were used as training data, with 20% withheld as a validation dataset. Cloud free Landsat 7 annual composites for 2000 to 2015 were generated and spectral bands from the Landsat images were then extracted for each of the training and validation sample points. In addition to the Landsat spectral bands, spectral indices such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalized difference water index (NDWI) were used as covariates in the model. Additionally, calibrated night time light imageries from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were included as a covariate. A decision tree classification algorithm was applied to predict the 7 land cover classes for the periods 2000 to 2015 using the training dataset. Using the validation dataset, classification accuracy including omission error and commission error were computed for each land cover class. Model results showed that overall accuracy of classification was high (88%). This high resolution land cover product developed for the continental Africa will be available for public use and can potentially enhance the ability of monitoring and studying the state of the Earth's surface.

  6. Radiometric and spectral validation of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder observations with the aircraft-based Scanning High-Resolution Interferometer Sounder

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tobin, David C.; Revercomb, Henry E.; Knuteson, Robert O.; Best, Fred A.; Smith, William L.; Ciganovich, Nick N.; Dedecker, Ralph G.; Dutcher, Steven; Ellington, Scott D.; Garcia, Raymond K.; Howell, H. Benjamin; Laporte, Daniel D.; Mango, Stephen A.; Pagano, Thomas S.; Taylor, Joe K.; van Delst, Paul; Vinson, Kenneth H.; Werner, Mark W.

    2006-05-01

    The ability to accurately validate high-spectral resolution infrared radiance measurements from space using comparisons with a high-altitude aircraft spectrometer has been successfully demonstrated. The demonstration is based on a 21 November 2002 underflight of the AIRS on the NASA Aqua spacecraft by the Scanning-HIS on the NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft. A comparison technique which accounts for the different viewing geometries and spectral characteristics of the two sensors is introduced, and accurate comparisons are made for AIRS channels throughout the infrared spectrum. Resulting brightness temperature differences are found to be 0.2 K or less for most channels. Both the AIRS and the Scanning-HIS calibrations are expected to be very accurate (formal 3-sigma estimates are better than 1 K absolute brightness temperature for a wide range of scene temperatures), because high spectral resolution offers inherent advantages for absolute calibration and because they make use of high-emissivity cavity blackbodies as onboard radiometric references. AIRS also has the added advantage of a cold space view, and the Scanning-HIS calibration has recently benefited from the availability of a zenith view from high-altitude flights. Aircraft comparisons of this type provide a mechanism for periodically testing the absolute calibration of spacecraft instruments with instrumentation for which the calibration can be carefully maintained on the ground. This capability is especially valuable for assuring the long-term consistency and accuracy of climate observations, including those from the NASA EOS spacecraft (Terra, Aqua and Aura) and the new complement of NPOESS operational instruments. The validation role for accurately calibrated aircraft spectrometers also includes application to broadband instruments and linking the calibrations of similar instruments on different spacecraft. It is expected that aircraft flights of the Scanning-HIS and its close cousin the NPOESS Airborne

  7. High-resolution land cover classification using low resolution global data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carlotto, Mark J.

    2013-05-01

    A fusion approach is described that combines texture features from high-resolution panchromatic imagery with land cover statistics derived from co-registered low-resolution global databases to obtain high-resolution land cover maps. The method does not require training data or any human intervention. We use an MxN Gabor filter bank consisting of M=16 oriented bandpass filters (0-180°) at N resolutions (3-24 meters/pixel). The size range of these spatial filters is consistent with the typical scale of manmade objects and patterns of cultural activity in imagery. Clustering reduces the complexity of the data by combining pixels that have similar texture into clusters (regions). Texture classification assigns a vector of class likelihoods to each cluster based on its textural properties. Classification is unsupervised and accomplished using a bank of texture anomaly detectors. Class likelihoods are modulated by land cover statistics derived from lower resolution global data over the scene. Preliminary results from a number of Quickbird scenes show our approach is able to classify general land cover features such as roads, built up area, forests, open areas, and bodies of water over a wide range of scenes.

  8. Whole-animal imaging with high spatio-temporal resolution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chhetri, Raghav; Amat, Fernando; Wan, Yinan; Höckendorf, Burkhard; Lemon, William C.; Keller, Philipp J.

    2016-03-01

    We developed isotropic multiview (IsoView) light-sheet microscopy in order to image fast cellular dynamics, such as cell movements in an entire developing embryo or neuronal activity throughput an entire brain or nervous system, with high resolution in all dimensions, high imaging speeds, good physical coverage and low photo-damage. To achieve high temporal resolution and high spatial resolution at the same time, IsoView microscopy rapidly images large specimens via simultaneous light-sheet illumination and fluorescence detection along four orthogonal directions. In a post-processing step, these four views are then combined by means of high-throughput multiview deconvolution to yield images with a system resolution of ≤ 450 nm in all three dimensions. Using IsoView microscopy, we performed whole-animal functional imaging of Drosophila embryos and larvae at a spatial resolution of 1.1-2.5 μm and at a temporal resolution of 2 Hz for up to 9 hours. We also performed whole-brain functional imaging in larval zebrafish and multicolor imaging of fast cellular dynamics across entire, gastrulating Drosophila embryos with isotropic, sub-cellular resolution. Compared with conventional (spatially anisotropic) light-sheet microscopy, IsoView microscopy improves spatial resolution at least sevenfold and decreases resolution anisotropy at least threefold. Compared with existing high-resolution light-sheet techniques, such as lattice lightsheet microscopy or diSPIM, IsoView microscopy effectively doubles the penetration depth and provides subsecond temporal resolution for specimens 400-fold larger than could previously be imaged.

  9. Kalman filter data assimilation: Targeting observations and parameter estimation

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bellsky, Thomas, E-mail: bellskyt@asu.edu; Kostelich, Eric J.; Mahalov, Alex

    2014-06-15

    This paper studies the effect of targeted observations on state and parameter estimates determined with Kalman filter data assimilation (DA) techniques. We first provide an analytical result demonstrating that targeting observations within the Kalman filter for a linear model can significantly reduce state estimation error as opposed to fixed or randomly located observations. We next conduct observing system simulation experiments for a chaotic model of meteorological interest, where we demonstrate that the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF) with targeted observations based on largest ensemble variance is skillful in providing more accurate state estimates than the LETKF with randomly locatedmore » observations. Additionally, we find that a hybrid ensemble Kalman filter parameter estimation method accurately updates model parameters within the targeted observation context to further improve state estimation.« less

  10. Super-resolution imaging applied to moving object tracking

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Swalaganata, Galandaru; Ratna Sulistyaningrum, Dwi; Setiyono, Budi

    2017-10-01

    Moving object tracking in a video is a method used to detect and analyze changes that occur in an object that being observed. Visual quality and the precision of the tracked target are highly wished in modern tracking system. The fact that the tracked object does not always seem clear causes the tracking result less precise. The reasons are low quality video, system noise, small object, and other factors. In order to improve the precision of the tracked object especially for small object, we propose a two step solution that integrates a super-resolution technique into tracking approach. First step is super-resolution imaging applied into frame sequences. This step was done by cropping the frame in several frame or all of frame. Second step is tracking the result of super-resolution images. Super-resolution image is a technique to obtain high-resolution images from low-resolution images. In this research single frame super-resolution technique is proposed for tracking approach. Single frame super-resolution was a kind of super-resolution that it has the advantage of fast computation time. The method used for tracking is Camshift. The advantages of Camshift was simple calculation based on HSV color that use its histogram for some condition and color of the object varies. The computational complexity and large memory requirements required for the implementation of super-resolution and tracking were reduced and the precision of the tracked target was good. Experiment showed that integrate a super-resolution imaging into tracking technique can track the object precisely with various background, shape changes of the object, and in a good light conditions.

  11. High-Resolution Imaging of Polyethylene Glycol Coated Dendrimers via Combined Atomic Force and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

    PubMed Central

    Zhong, Qian; Yin, Nai-Ning; Karsai, Arpad; da Rocha, Sandro R. P.; Liu, Gang-yu

    2015-01-01

    Dendrimers have shown great promise as drug delivery vehicles in recent years because they can be synthesized with designed size and functionalities for optimal transportation, targeting, and biocompatibility. One of the most well-known termini used for biocompatibility is polyethylene glycol (PEG), whose performance is affected by its actual conformation. However, the conformation of individual PEG bound to soft materials such as dendrimers has not been directly observed. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), this work characterizes the structure adopted by PEGylated dendrimers with the highest resolution reported to date. AFM imaging enables visualization of the individual dendrimers, as well as the differentiation and characterization of the dendrimer core and PEG shell. STM provides direct imaging of the PEG extensions with high-resolution. Collectively, this investigation provides important insight into the structure of coated dendrimers, which is crucial for the design and development of better drug delivery vehicles. PMID:25685559

  12. High-resolution imaging of the supercritical antisolvent process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bell, Philip W.; Stephens, Amendi P.; Roberts, Christopher B.; Duke, Steve R.

    2005-06-01

    A high-magnification and high-resolution imaging technique was developed for the supercritical fluid antisolvent (SAS) precipitation process. Visualizations of the jet injection, flow patterns, droplets, and particles were obtained in a high-pressure vessel for polylactic acid and budesonide precipitation in supercritical CO2. The results show two regimes for particle production: one where turbulent mixing occurs in gas-like plumes, and another where distinct droplets were observed in the injection. Images are presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the method for examining particle formation theories and for understanding the underlying fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and mass transport in the SAS process.

  13. Global Monitoring of Mountain Glaciers Using High-Resolution Spotlight Imaging from the International Space Station

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Donnellan, A.; Green, J. J.; Bills, B. G.; Goguen, J.; Ansar, A.; Knight, R. L.; Hallet, B.; Scambos, T. A.; Thompson, L. G.; Morin, P. J.

    2013-12-01

    Mountain glaciers around the world are retreating rapidly, contributing about 20% to present-day sea level rise. Numerous studies have shown that mountain glaciers are sensitive to global environmental change. Temperate-latitude glaciers and snowpack provide water for over 1 billion people. Glaciers are a resource for irrigation and hydroelectric power, but also pose flood and avalanche hazards. Accurate mass balance assessments have been made for only 280 glaciers, yet there are over 130,000 in the World Glacier Inventory. The rate of glacier retreat or advance can be highly variable, is poorly sampled, and inadequately understood. Liquid water from ice front lakes, rain, melt, or sea water and debris from rocks, dust, or pollution interact with glacier ice often leading to an amplification of warming and further melting. Many mountain glaciers undergo rapid and episodic events that greatly change their mass balance or extent but are sparsely documented. Events include calving, outburst floods, opening of crevasses, or iceberg motion. Spaceborne high-resolution spotlight optical imaging provides a means of clarifying the relationship between the health of mountain glaciers and global environmental change. Digital elevation models (DEMs) can be constructed from a series of images from a range of perspectives collected by staring at a target during a satellite overpass. It is possible to collect imagery for 1800 targets per month in the ×56° latitude range, construct high-resolution DEMs, and monitor changes in high detail over time with a high-resolution optical telescope mounted on the International Space Station (ISS). Snow and ice type, age, and maturity can be inferred from different color bands as well as distribution of liquid water. Texture, roughness, albedo, and debris distribution can be estimated by measuring bidirectional reflectance distribution functions (BRDF) and reflectance intensity as a function of viewing angle. The non-sun-synchronous orbit

  14. Accessing High Spatial Resolution in Astronomy Using Interference Methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carbonel, Cyril; Grasset, Sébastien; Maysonnave, Jean

    2018-04-01

    In astronomy, methods such as direct imaging or interferometry-based techniques (Michelson stellar interferometry for example) are used for observations. A particular advantage of interferometry is that it permits greater spatial resolution compared to direct imaging with a single telescope, which is limited by diffraction owing to the aperture of the instrument as shown by Rueckner et al. in a lecture demonstration. The focus of this paper, addressed to teachers and/or students in high schools and universities, is to easily underline both an application of interferometry in astronomy and stress its interest for resolution. To this end very simple optical experiments are presented to explain all the concepts. We show how an interference pattern resulting from the combined signals of two telescopes allows us to measure the distance between two stars with a resolution beyond the diffraction limit. Finally this work emphasizes the breathtaking resolution obtained in state-of-the-art instruments such as the VLTi (Very Large Telescope interferometer).

  15. High Spectral Resolution SOFIA/EXES Observations of C2H2 toward Orion IRc2

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rangwala, Naseem; Colgan, Sean W. J.; Le Gal, Romane; Acharyya, Kinsuk; Huang, Xinchuan; Lee, Timothy J.; Herbst, Eric; deWitt, Curtis; Richter, Matt; Boogert, Adwin; McKelvey, Mark

    2018-03-01

    We present high spectral resolution observations from 12.96 to 13.33 microns toward Orion IRc2 using the mid-infrared spectrograph, Echelon-Cross-Echelle Spectrograph (EXES), at Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). These observations probe the physical and chemical conditions of the Orion hot core, which is sampled by a bright, compact, mid-infrared background continuum source in the region, IRc2. All 10 of the rovibrational C2H2 transitions expected in our spectral coverage are detected with high signal-to-noise ratios (S/Ns), yielding continuous coverage of the R-branch lines from J = 9–8 to J = 18–17, including both ortho and para species. Eight of these rovibrational transitions are newly reported detections. The isotopologue, 13CCH2, is clearly detected with a high S/N. This enabled a direct measurement of the 12C/13C isotopic ratio for the Orion hot core of 14 ± 1 and an estimated maximum value of 21. We also detected several HCN rovibrational lines. The ortho and para C2H2 ladders are clearly separate, and tracing two different temperatures, 226 K and 164 K, respectively, with a non-equilibrium ortho to para ratio (OPR) of 1.7 ± 0.1. Additionally, the ortho and para V LSR values differ by about 1.8 ± 0.2 km s‑1, while the mean line widths differ by 0.7 ± 0.2 km s‑1, suggesting that these species are not uniformly mixed along the line of sight to IRc2. We propose that the abnormally low C2H2 OPR could be a remnant from an earlier, colder phase, before the density enhancement (now the hot core) was impacted by shocks generated from an explosive event 500 years ago.

  16. High resolution near on-axis digital holography using constrained optimization approach with faster convergence

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pandiyan, Vimal Prabhu; Khare, Kedar; John, Renu

    2017-09-01

    A constrained optimization approach with faster convergence is proposed to recover the complex object field from a near on-axis digital holography (DH). We subtract the DC from the hologram after recording the object beam and reference beam intensities separately. The DC-subtracted hologram is used to recover the complex object information using a constrained optimization approach with faster convergence. The recovered complex object field is back propagated to the image plane using the Fresnel back-propagation method. The results reported in this approach provide high-resolution images compared with the conventional Fourier filtering approach and is 25% faster than the previously reported constrained optimization approach due to the subtraction of two DC terms in the cost function. We report this approach in DH and digital holographic microscopy using the U.S. Air Force resolution target as the object to retrieve the high-resolution image without DC and twin image interference. We also demonstrate the high potential of this technique in transparent microelectrode patterned on indium tin oxide-coated glass, by reconstructing a high-resolution quantitative phase microscope image. We also demonstrate this technique by imaging yeast cells.

  17. Search for extraterrestrial intelligence/High Resolution Microwave Survey team member

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Steffes, Paul G.

    1994-01-01

    This final report summarizes activities conducted during the three years of the NASA High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS). With primary interest in the Sky Survey activity, the principal investigator attended nine Working Group meetings and traveled independently to conduct experiments or present results at other meetings. The major activity involved evaluating the effects of spaceborne radio frequency interference (RFI) on both the SETI sky survey and targeted search. The development of a database of all unclassified earth or biting and deep space transmitters, along with accompanying search software, was a key accomplishment. The software provides information about potential sources of interference and gives complete information regarding the frequencies, positions and levels of interference generated by the spacecraft. A complete description of this search system (called HRS, or HRMS RFI Search) is provided. Other accomplishments include development of a 32,000 channel Fast-Fourier-Transform Spectrum analyzer for use in studies of interference from satellites and in a 1.4 mm SETI observational study. The latest revision of HRS has now been distributed to the extended radio astronomy and SETI community.

  18. Inefficient jet-induced star formation in Centaurus A. High resolution ALMA observations of the northern filaments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Salomé, Q.; Salomé, P.; Miville-Deschênes, M.-A.; Combes, F.; Hamer, S.

    2017-12-01

    NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) is one of the best targets to study AGN feedback in the local Universe. At 13.5 kpc from the galaxy, optical filaments with recent star formation lie along the radio jet direction. This region is a testbed for positive feedback, here through jet-induced star formation. Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) observations have revealed strong CO emission in star-forming regions and in regions with no detected tracers of star formation activity. In cases where star formation is observed, this activity appears to be inefficient compared to the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation. We used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to map the 12CO(1-0) emission all along the filaments of NGC 5128 at a resolution of 1.3'' 23.8pc. We find that the CO emission is clumpy and is distributed in two main structures: (i) the Horseshoe complex, located outside the HI cloud, where gas is mostly excited by shocks and where no star formation is observed, and (ii) the Vertical filament, located at the edge of the HI shell, which is a region of moderate star formation. We identified 140 molecular clouds using a clustering method applied to the CO data cube. A statistical study reveals that these clouds have very similar physical properties, such as size, velocity dispersion, and mass, as in the inner Milky Way. However, the range of radius available with the present ALMA observations does not enable us to investigate whether or not the clouds follow the Larson relation. The large virial parameter αvir of the clouds suggests that gravity is not dominant and clouds are not gravitationally unstable. Finally, the total energy injection in the northern filaments of Centaurus A is of the same order as in the inner part of the Milky Way. The strong CO emission detected in the northern filaments is an indication that the energy injected by the jet acts positively in the formation of dense molecular gas. The relatively high virial parameter of the molecular clouds

  19. A high-resolution x-ray spectrometer for a kaon mass measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Phelan, Kevin; Suzuki, Ken; Zmeskal, Johann; Tortorella, Daniele; Bühler, Matthias; Hertrich, Theo

    2017-02-01

    The ASPECT consortium (Adaptable Spectrometer Enabled by Cryogenic Technology) is currently constructing a generalised cryogenic platform for cryogenic detector work which will be able to accommodate a wide range of sensors. The cryogenics system is based on a small mechanical cooler with a further adiabatic demagnetisation stage and will work with cryogenic detectors at sub-Kelvin temperatures. The commercial aim of the consortium is to produce a compact, user-friendly device with an emphasis on reliability and portability which can easily be transported for specialised on-site work, such as beam-lines or telescope facilities. The cryogenic detector platform will accommodate a specially developed cryogenic sensor, either a metallic magnetic calorimeter or a magnetic penetration-depth thermometer. The detectors will be designed to work in various temperatures regions with an emphasis on optimising the various detector resolutions for specific temperatures. One resolution target is of about 10 eV at the energies range typically created in kaonic atoms experiments (soft x-ray energies). A following step will see the introduction of continuous, high-power, sub-Kelvin cooling which will bring the cryogenic basis for a high resolution spectrometer system to the market. The scientific goal of the project will produce an experimental set-up optimised for kaon-mass measurements performing high-resolution x-ray spectroscopy on a beam-line provided foreseeably by the J-PARC (Tokai, Japan) or DAΦNE (Frascati, Italy) facilities.

  20. Target geometry and rigidity determines laser-induced cavitation bubble transport and nanoparticle productivity - a high-speed videography study.

    PubMed

    Kohsakowski, Sebastian; Gökce, Bilal; Tanabe, Rie; Wagener, Philipp; Plech, Anton; Ito, Yoshiro; Barcikowski, Stephan

    2016-06-28

    Laser-induced cavitation has mostly been studied in bulk liquid or at a two-dimensional wall, although target shapes for the particle synthesis may strongly affect bubble dynamics and interfere with particle productivity. We investigated the dynamics of the cavitation bubble induced by pulsed-laser ablation in liquid for different target geometries with high-speed laser microsecond videography and focus on the collapse behaviour. This method enables us observations in a high time resolution (intervals of 1 μs) and single-pulse experiments. Further, we analyzed the nanoparticle productivity, the sizes of the synthesized nanoparticles and the evolution of the bubble volume for each different target shape and geometry. For the ablation of metal (Ag, Cu, Ni) wire tips a springboard-like behaviour after the first collapse is observed which can be correlated with vertical projectile motion. Its turbulent friction in the liquid causes a very efficient transport and movement of the bubble and ablated material into the bulk liquid and prevents particle redeposition. This effect is influenced by the degree of freedom of the wire as well as the material properties and dimensions, especially the Young's modulus. The most efficient and largest bubble movement away from the wire was observed for a thin (500 μm) silver wire with velocities up to 19.8 m s(-1) and for materials with a small Young's modulus and flexural rigidity. We suggest that these observations may contribute to upscaling strategies and increase of particle yield towards large synthesis of colloids based on targets that may continuously be fed.

  1. FPscope: a field-portable high-resolution microscope using a cellphone lens.

    PubMed

    Dong, Siyuan; Guo, Kaikai; Nanda, Pariksheet; Shiradkar, Radhika; Zheng, Guoan

    2014-10-01

    The large consumer market has made cellphone lens modules available at low-cost and in high-quality. In a conventional cellphone camera, the lens module is used to demagnify the scene onto the image plane of the camera, where image sensor is located. In this work, we report a 3D-printed high-resolution Fourier ptychographic microscope, termed FPscope, which uses a cellphone lens in a reverse manner. In our platform, we replace the image sensor with sample specimens, and use the cellphone lens to project the magnified image to the detector. To supersede the diffraction limit of the lens module, we use an LED array to illuminate the sample from different incident angles and synthesize the acquired images using the Fourier ptychographic algorithm. As a demonstration, we use the reported platform to acquire high-resolution images of resolution target and biological specimens, with a maximum synthetic numerical aperture (NA) of 0.5. We also show that, the depth-of-focus of the reported platform is about 0.1 mm, orders of magnitude longer than that of a conventional microscope objective with a similar NA. The reported platform may enable healthcare accesses in low-resource settings. It can also be used to demonstrate the concept of computational optics for educational purposes.

  2. A novel high-resolution chaotic lidar with optical injection to chaotic laser diode

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Yun-cai; Wang, An-bang

    2008-03-01

    A novel chaotic lidar with high resolution is proposed and studied theoretically. In chaotic lidar system, the chaotic laser emitted from chaotic laser diode is split into two beams: the probe and the reference light. The ranging is achieved by correlating the reference waveform with the delayed probe waveform backscattered from the target. In chaotic lidar systems presented previously, the chaotic signal source is laser diode with optical feedback or with optical injection by another one. The ranging resolution is limited by the bandwidth of chaotic laser which determined by the configuration of chaotic signal source. We proposed a novel chaotic lidar which ranging resolution is enhanced significantly by external optical injected chaotic laser diode. With the bandwidth-enhanced chaotic laser, the range resolution of the chaotic lidar system with optical injection is roughly two times compared with that of without optical injection. The resolution increases with injection strength increasing in a certain frequency detuning range.

  3. High-resolution imaging and near-infrared spectroscopy of penumbral decay

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Verma, M.; Denker, C.; Balthasar, H.; Kuckein, C.; Rezaei, R.; Sobotka, M.; Deng, N.; Wang, H.; Tritschler, A.; Collados, M.; Diercke, A.; González Manrique, S. J.

    2018-06-01

    Aims: Combining high-resolution spectropolarimetric and imaging data is key to understanding the decay process of sunspots as it allows us to scrutinize the velocity and magnetic fields of sunspots and their surroundings. Methods: Active region NOAA 12597 was observed on 2016 September 24 with the 1.5-meter GREGOR solar telescope using high-spatial-resolution imaging as well as imaging spectroscopy and near-infrared (NIR) spectropolarimetry. Horizontal proper motions were estimated with local correlation tracking, whereas line-of-sight (LOS) velocities were computed with spectral line fitting methods. The magnetic field properties were inferred with the "Stokes Inversions based on Response functions" (SIR) code for the Si I and Ca I NIR lines. Results: At the time of the GREGOR observations, the leading sunspot had two light bridges indicating the onset of its decay. One of the light bridges disappeared, and an elongated, dark umbral core at its edge appeared in a decaying penumbral sector facing the newly emerging flux. The flow and magnetic field properties of this penumbral sector exhibited weak Evershed flow, moat flow, and horizontal magnetic field. The penumbral gap adjacent to the elongated umbral core and the penumbra in that penumbral sector displayed LOS velocities similar to granulation. The separating polarities of a new flux system interacted with the leading and central part of the already established active region. As a consequence, the leading spot rotated 55° clockwise over 12 h. Conclusions: In the high-resolution observations of a decaying sunspot, the penumbral filaments facing the flux emergence site contained a darkened area resembling an umbral core filled with umbral dots. This umbral core had velocity and magnetic field properties similar to the sunspot umbra. This implies that the horizontal magnetic fields in the decaying penumbra became vertical as observed in flare-induced rapid penumbral decay, but on a very different time-scale.

  4. High Spatial Resolution Thermal Satellite Technologies

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ryan, Robert

    2003-01-01

    This document in the form of viewslides, reviews various low-cost alternatives to high spatial resolution thermal satellite technologies. There exists no follow-on to Landsat 7 or ASTER high spatial resolution thermal systems. This document reviews the results of the investigation in to the use of new technologies to create a low-cost useful alternative. Three suggested technologies are examined. 1. Conventional microbolometer pushbroom modes offers potential for low cost Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) thermal or ASTER capability with at least 60-120 ground sampling distance (GSD). 2. Backscanning could produce MultiSpectral Thermal Imager performance without cooled detectors. 3. Cooled detector could produce hyperspectral thermal class system or extremely high spatial resolution class instrument.

  5. TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS THAT METHANOL MASER RINGS TRACE CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS: HIGH-RESOLUTION NEAR-INFRARED AND MID-INFRARED IMAGING

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    De Buizer, James M.; Bartkiewicz, Anna; Szymczak, Marian, E-mail: jdebuizer@sofia.usra.edu

    2012-08-01

    Milliarcsecond very long baseline interferometry maps of regions containing 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission have lead to the recent discovery of ring-like distributions of maser spots and the plausible hypothesis that they may be tracing circumstellar disks around forming high-mass stars. We aimed to test this hypothesis by imaging these regions in the near- and mid-infrared at high spatial resolution and compare the observed emission to the expected infrared morphologies as inferred from the geometries of the maser rings. In the near-infrared we used the Gemini North adaptive optics system of ALTAIR/NIRI, while in the mid-infrared we used the combinationmore » of the Gemini South instrument T-ReCS and super-resolution techniques. Resultant images had a resolution of {approx}150 mas in both the near-infrared and mid-infrared. We discuss the expected distribution of circumstellar material around young and massive accreting (proto)stars and what infrared emission geometries would be expected for the different maser ring orientations under the assumption that the masers are coming from within circumstellar disks. Based upon the observed infrared emission geometries for the four targets in our sample and the results of spectral energy distribution modeling of the massive young stellar objects associated with the maser rings, we do not find compelling evidence in support of the hypothesis that methanol masers rings reside in circumstellar disks.« less

  6. Fast repurposing of high-resolution stereo video content for mobile use

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Karaoglu, Ali; Lee, Bong Ho; Boev, Atanas; Cheong, Won-Sik; Gotchev, Atanas

    2012-06-01

    3D video content is captured and created mainly in high resolution targeting big cinema or home TV screens. For 3D mobile devices, equipped with small-size auto-stereoscopic displays, such content has to be properly repurposed, preferably in real-time. The repurposing requires not only spatial resizing but also properly maintaining the output stereo disparity, as it should deliver realistic, pleasant and harmless 3D perception. In this paper, we propose an approach to adapt the disparity range of the source video to the comfort disparity zone of the target display. To achieve this, we adapt the scale and the aspect ratio of the source video. We aim at maximizing the disparity range of the retargeted content within the comfort zone, and minimizing the letterboxing of the cropped content. The proposed algorithm consists of five stages. First, we analyse the display profile, which characterises what 3D content can be comfortably observed in the target display. Then, we perform fast disparity analysis of the input stereoscopic content. Instead of returning the dense disparity map, it returns an estimate of the disparity statistics (min, max, meanand variance) per frame. Additionally, we detect scene cuts, where sharp transitions in disparities occur. Based on the estimated input, and desired output disparity ranges, we derive the optimal cropping parameters and scale of the cropping window, which would yield the targeted disparity range and minimize the area of cropped and letterboxed content. Once the rescaling and cropping parameters are known, we perform resampling procedure using spline-based and perceptually optimized resampling (anti-aliasing) kernels, which have also a very efficient computational structure. Perceptual optimization is achieved through adjusting the cut-off frequency of the anti-aliasing filter with the throughput of the target display.

  7. Development of silicon grisms and immersion gratings for high-resolution infrared spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ge, Jian; McDavitt, Daniel L.; Bernecker, John L.; Miller, Shane; Ciarlo, Dino R.; Kuzmenko, Paul J.

    2002-01-01

    We report new results on silicon grism and immersion grating development using photolithography and anisotropic chemical etching techniques, which include process recipe finding, prototype grism fabrication, lab performance evaluation and initial scientific observations. The very high refractive index of silicon (n=3.4) enables much higher dispersion power for silicon-based gratings than conventional gratings, e.g. a silicon immersion grating can offer a factor of 3.4 times the dispersion of a conventional immersion grating. Good transmission in the infrared (IR) allows silicon-based gratings to operate in the broad IR wavelength regions (~1- 10 micrometers and far-IR), which make them attractive for both ground and space-based spectroscopic observations. Coarser gratings can be fabricated with these new techniques rather than conventional techniques, allowing observations at very high dispersion orders for larger simultaneous wavelength coverage. We have found new etching techniques for fabricating high quality silicon grisms with low wavefront distortion, low scattered light and high efficiency. Particularly, a new etching process using tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) is significantly simplifying the fabrication process on large, thick silicon substrates, while providing comparable grating quality to our traditional potassium hydroxide (KOH) process. This technique is being used for fabricating inch size silicon grisms for several IR instruments and is planned to be used for fabricating ~ 4 inch size silicon immersion gratings later. We have obtained complete K band spectra of a total of 6 T Tauri and Ae/Be stars and their close companions at a spectral resolution of R ~ 5000 using a silicon echelle grism with a 5 mm pupil diameter at the Lick 3m telescope. These results represent the first scientific observations conducted by the high-resolution silicon grisms, and demonstrate the extremely high dispersing power of silicon- based gratings. The future of

  8. Note: Tandem Kirkpatrick-Baez microscope with sixteen channels for high-resolution laser-plasma diagnostics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yi, Shengzhen; Zhang, Zhe; Huang, Qiushi; Zhang, Zhong; Wang, Zhanshan; Wei, Lai; Liu, Dongxiao; Cao, Leifeng; Gu, Yuqiu

    2018-03-01

    Multi-channel Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB) microscopes, which have better resolution and collection efficiency than pinhole cameras, have been widely used in laser inertial confinement fusion to diagnose time evolution of the target implosion. In this study, a tandem multi-channel KB microscope was developed to have sixteen imaging channels with the precise control of spatial resolution and image intervals. This precise control was created using a coarse assembly of mirror pairs with high-accuracy optical prisms, followed by precise adjustment in real-time x-ray imaging experiments. The multilayers coated on the KB mirrors were designed to have substantially the same reflectivity to obtain a uniform brightness of different images for laser-plasma temperature analysis. The study provides a practicable method to achieve the optimum performance of the microscope for future high-resolution applications in inertial confinement fusion experiments.

  9. High-resolution near real-time drought monitoring in South Asia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aadhar, Saran; Mishra, Vimal

    2017-10-01

    Drought in South Asia affect food and water security and pose challenges for millions of people. For policy-making, planning, and management of water resources at sub-basin or administrative levels, high-resolution datasets of precipitation and air temperature are required in near-real time. We develop a high-resolution (0.05°) bias-corrected precipitation and temperature data that can be used to monitor near real-time drought conditions over South Asia. Moreover, the dataset can be used to monitor climatic extremes (heat and cold waves, dry and wet anomalies) in South Asia. A distribution mapping method was applied to correct bias in precipitation and air temperature, which performed well compared to the other bias correction method based on linear scaling. Bias-corrected precipitation and temperature data were used to estimate Standardized precipitation index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to assess the historical and current drought conditions in South Asia. We evaluated drought severity and extent against the satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) anomalies and satellite-driven Drought Severity Index (DSI) at 0.05°. The bias-corrected high-resolution data can effectively capture observed drought conditions as shown by the satellite-based drought estimates. High resolution near real-time dataset can provide valuable information for decision-making at district and sub-basin levels.

  10. High-Resolution Near Real-Time Drought Monitoring in South Asia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aadhar, S.; Mishra, V.

    2017-12-01

    Drought in South Asia affect food and water security and pose challenges for millions of people. For policy-making, planning and management of water resources at the sub-basin or administrative levels, high-resolution datasets of precipitation and air temperature are required in near-real time. Here we develop a high resolution (0.05 degree) bias-corrected precipitation and temperature data that can be used to monitor near real-time drought conditions over South Asia. Moreover, the dataset can be used to monitor climatic extremes (heat waves, cold waves, dry and wet anomalies) in South Asia. A distribution mapping method was applied to correct bias in precipitation and air temperature (maximum and minimum), which performed well compared to the other bias correction method based on linear scaling. Bias-corrected precipitation and temperature data were used to estimate Standardized precipitation index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to assess the historical and current drought conditions in South Asia. We evaluated drought severity and extent against the satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) anomalies and satellite-driven Drought Severity Index (DSI) at 0.05˚. We find that the bias-corrected high-resolution data can effectively capture observed drought conditions as shown by the satellite-based drought estimates. High resolution near real-time dataset can provide valuable information for decision-making at district and sub- basin levels.

  11. Exploring image data assimilation in the prospect of high-resolution satellite data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Verron, J. A.; Duran, M.; Gaultier, L.; Brankart, J. M.; Brasseur, P.

    2016-02-01

    Many recent works show the key importance of studying the ocean at fine scales including the meso- and submesoscales. Satellite observations such as ocean color data provide informations on a wide range of scales but do not directly provide information on ocean dynamics. Satellite altimetry provide informations on the ocean dynamic topography (SSH) but so far with a limited resolution in space and even more, in time. However, in the near future, high-resolution SSH data (e.g. SWOT) will give a vision of the dynamic topography at such fine space resolution. This raises some challenging issues for data assimilation in physical oceanography: develop reliable methodology to assimilate high resolution data, make integrated use of various data sets including biogeochemical data, and even more simply, solve the challenge of handling large amont of data and huge state vectors. In this work, we propose to consider structured information rather than pointwise data. First, we take an image data assimilation approach in studying the feasibility of inverting tracer observations from Sea Surface Temperature and/or Ocean Color datasets, to improve the description of mesoscale dynamics provided by altimetric observations. Finite Size Lyapunov Exponents are used as an image proxy. The inverse problem is formulated in a Bayesian framework and expressed in terms of a cost function measuring the misfits between the two images. Second, we explore the inversion of SWOT-like high resolution SSH data and more especially the various possible proxies of the actual SSH that could be used to control the ocean circulation at various scales. One focus is made on controlling the subsurface ocean from surface only data. A key point lies in the errors and uncertainties that are associated to SWOT data.

  12. Daily Estimation of High Resolution PM2.5 Concentrations over BTH area by Fusing MODIS AOD and Ground Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lyu, Baolei; Hu, Yongtao; Chang, Howard; Russell, Armistead; Bai, Yuqi

    2017-04-01

    The satellite-borne Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol optical depth (AOD) is often used to predict ground-level fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations. The associated estimation accuracy is always reduced by AOD missing values and by insufficiently accounting for the spatio-temporal PM2.5 variations. This study aims to estimate PM2.5 concentrations at a high resolution with enhanced accuracy by fusing MODIS AOD and ground observations in the polluted and populated Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) area of China in 2014 and 2015. A Bayesian-based statistical downscaler was employed to model the spatio-temporally varied AOD-PM2.5 relationships. We resampled a 3 km MODIS AOD product to a 4 km resolution in a Lambert conic conformal projection, to assist comparison and fusion with CMAQ predictions. A two-step method was used to fill the missing AOD values to obtain a full AOD dataset with complete spatial coverage. The downscaler has a relatively good performance in the fitting procedure (R2 = 0.75) and in the cross validation procedure (with two evaluation methods, R2 = 0.58 by random method and R2 = 0.47 by city-specific method). The number of missing AOD values was serious and related to elevated PM2.5 concentrations. The gap-filled AOD values corresponded well with our understanding of PM2.5 pollution conditions in BTH. The prediction accuracy of PM2.5 concentrations were improved in terms of their annual and seasonal mean. As a result of its fine spatio-temporal resolution and complete spatial coverage, the daily PM2.5 estimation dataset could provide extensive and insightful benefits to related studies in the BTH area. This may include understanding the formation processes of regional PM2.5 pollution episodes, evaluating daily human exposure, and establishing pollution controlling measures.

  13. High resolution telescope

    DOEpatents

    Massie, Norbert A.; Oster, Yale

    1992-01-01

    A large effective-aperture, low-cost optical telescope with diffraction-limited resolution enables ground-based observation of near-earth space objects. The telescope has a non-redundant, thinned-aperture array in a center-mount, single-structure space frame. It employs speckle interferometric imaging to achieve diffraction-limited resolution. The signal-to-noise ratio problem is mitigated by moving the wavelength of operation to the near-IR, and the image is sensed by a Silicon CCD. The steerable, single-structure array presents a constant pupil. The center-mount, radar-like mount enables low-earth orbit space objects to be tracked as well as increases stiffness of the space frame. In the preferred embodiment, the array has elemental telescopes with subaperture of 2.1 m in a circle-of-nine configuration. The telescope array has an effective aperture of 12 m which provides a diffraction-limited resolution of 0.02 arc seconds. Pathlength matching of the telescope array is maintained by an electro-optical system employing laser metrology. Speckle imaging relaxes pathlength matching tolerance by one order of magnitude as compared to phased arrays. Many features of the telescope contribute to substantial reduction in costs. These include eliminating the conventional protective dome and reducing on-site construction activites. The cost of the telescope scales with the first power of the aperture rather than its third power as in conventional telescopes.

  14. A high-resolution regional reanalysis for the European CORDEX region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bollmeyer, Christoph; Keller, Jan; Ohlwein, Christian; Wahl, Sabrina

    2015-04-01

    Within the Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research (HErZ), the climate monitoring branch concentrates efforts on the assessment and analysis of regional climate in Germany and Europe. In joint cooperation with DWD (German Weather Service), a high-resolution reanalysis system based on the COSMO model has been developed. Reanalyses gain more and more importance as a source of meteorological information for many purposes and applications. Several global reanalyses projects (e.g., ERA, MERRA, CSFR, JMA9) produce and verify these data sets to provide time series as long as possible combined with a high data quality. Due to a spatial resolution down to 50-70km and 3-hourly temporal output, they are not suitable for small scale problems (e.g., regional climate assessment, meso-scale NWP verification, input for subsequent models such as river runoff simulations, renewable energy applications). The implementation of regional reanalyses based on a limited area model along with a data assimilation scheme is able to generate reanalysis data sets with high spatio-temporal resolution. The work presented here focuses on two regional reanalyses for Europe and Germany. The European reanalysis COSMO-REA6 matches the CORDEX EURO-11 specifications, albeit at a higher spatial resolution, i.e., 0.055° (6km) instead of 0.11° (12km). Nested into COSMO-REA6 is COSMO-REA2, a convective-scale reanalysis with 2km resolution for Germany. COSMO-REA6 comprises the assimilation of observational data using the existing nudging scheme of COSMO and is complemented by a special soil moisture analysis and boundary conditions given by ERA-Interim data. COSMO-REA2 also uses the nudging scheme complemented by a latent heat nudging of radar information. The reanalysis data set currently covers 17 years (1997-2013) for COSMO-REA6 and 4 years (2010-2013) for COSMO-REA2 with a very large set of output variables and a high temporal output step of hourly 3D-fields and quarter-hourly 2D-fields. The evaluation

  15. Ultra-high resolution coded wavefront sensor.

    PubMed

    Wang, Congli; Dun, Xiong; Fu, Qiang; Heidrich, Wolfgang

    2017-06-12

    Wavefront sensors and more general phase retrieval methods have recently attracted a lot of attention in a host of application domains, ranging from astronomy to scientific imaging and microscopy. In this paper, we introduce a new class of sensor, the Coded Wavefront Sensor, which provides high spatio-temporal resolution using a simple masked sensor under white light illumination. Specifically, we demonstrate megapixel spatial resolution and phase accuracy better than 0.1 wavelengths at reconstruction rates of 50 Hz or more, thus opening up many new applications from high-resolution adaptive optics to real-time phase retrieval in microscopy.

  16. A high-resolution map of the three-dimensional chromatin interactome in human cells.

    PubMed

    Jin, Fulai; Li, Yan; Dixon, Jesse R; Selvaraj, Siddarth; Ye, Zhen; Lee, Ah Young; Yen, Chia-An; Schmitt, Anthony D; Espinoza, Celso A; Ren, Bing

    2013-11-14

    A large number of cis-regulatory sequences have been annotated in the human genome, but defining their target genes remains a challenge. One strategy is to identify the long-range looping interactions at these elements with the use of chromosome conformation capture (3C)-based techniques. However, previous studies lack either the resolution or coverage to permit a whole-genome, unbiased view of chromatin interactions. Here we report a comprehensive chromatin interaction map generated in human fibroblasts using a genome-wide 3C analysis method (Hi-C). We determined over one million long-range chromatin interactions at 5-10-kb resolution, and uncovered general principles of chromatin organization at different types of genomic features. We also characterized the dynamics of promoter-enhancer contacts after TNF-α signalling in these cells. Unexpectedly, we found that TNF-α-responsive enhancers are already in contact with their target promoters before signalling. Such pre-existing chromatin looping, which also exists in other cell types with different extracellular signalling, is a strong predictor of gene induction. Our observations suggest that the three-dimensional chromatin landscape, once established in a particular cell type, is relatively stable and could influence the selection or activation of target genes by a ubiquitous transcription activator in a cell-specific manner.

  17. High-resolution scanning electron microscopy of frozen-hydrated cells.

    PubMed

    Walther, P; Chen, Y; Pech, L L; Pawley, J B

    1992-11-01

    Cryo-fixed yeast Paramecia and sea urchin embryos were investigated with an in-lens type field-emission SEM using a cold stage. The goal was to further develop and investigate the processing of frozen samples for the low-temperature scanning electron microscope (LTSEM). Uncoated frozen-hydrated samples were imaged with the low-voltage backscattered electron signal (BSE). Resolution and contrast were sufficient to visualize cross-fractured membranes, nuclear pores and small vesicles in the cytoplasm. It is assumed that the resolution of this approach is limited by the extraction depth of the BSE which depends upon the accelerating voltage of the primary beam (V0). In this study, the lowest possible V0 was 2.6 kV because below this value the sensitivity of the BSE detector is insufficient. It is concluded that the resolution of the uncoated specimen could be improved if equipment were available for high-resolution BSE imaging at 0.5-2 kV. Higher resolution was obtained with platinum cryo-coated samples, on which intramembranous particles were easily imaged. These images even show the ring-like appearance of the hexagonally arranged intramembranous particles known from high-resolution replica studies. On fully hydrated samples at high magnification, the observation time for a particular area is limited by mass loss caused by electron irradiation. Other potential sources of artefacts are the deposition of water vapour contamination and shrinkage caused by the sublimation of ice. Imaging of partially dehydrated (partially freeze-dried) samples, e.g. high-pressure frozen Paramecium and sea urchin embryos, will probably become the main application in cell biology. In spite of possible shrinkage problems, this approach has a number of advantages compared with any other electron microscopy preparation method: no chemical fixation is necessary, eliminating this source of artefacts; due to partial removal of the water additional structures in the cytoplasm can be investigated

  18. Inter-observer agreement for diagnostic classification of esophageal motility disorders defined in high-resolution manometry.

    PubMed

    Fox, M R; Pandolfino, J E; Sweis, R; Sauter, M; Abreu Y Abreu, A T; Anggiansah, A; Bogte, A; Bredenoord, A J; Dengler, W; Elvevi, A; Fruehauf, H; Gellersen, S; Ghosh, S; Gyawali, C P; Heinrich, H; Hemmink, M; Jafari, J; Kaufman, E; Kessing, K; Kwiatek, M; Lubomyr, B; Banasiuk, M; Mion, F; Pérez-de-la-Serna, J; Remes-Troche, J M; Rohof, W; Roman, S; Ruiz-de-León, A; Tutuian, R; Uscinowicz, M; Valdovinos, M A; Vardar, R; Velosa, M; Waśko-Czopnik, D; Weijenborg, P; Wilshire, C; Wright, J; Zerbib, F; Menne, D

    2015-01-01

    High-resolution esophageal manometry (HRM) is a recent development used in the evaluation of esophageal function. Our aim was to assess the inter-observer agreement for diagnosis of esophageal motility disorders using this technology. Practitioners registered on the HRM Working Group website were invited to review and classify (i) 147 individual water swallows and (ii) 40 diagnostic studies comprising 10 swallows using a drop-down menu that followed the Chicago Classification system. Data were presented using a standardized format with pressure contours without a summary of HRM metrics. The sequence of swallows was fixed for each user but randomized between users to avoid sequence bias. Participants were blinded to other entries. (i) Individual swallows were assessed by 18 practitioners (13 institutions). Consensus agreement (≤ 2/18 dissenters) was present for most cases of normal peristalsis and achalasia but not for cases of peristaltic dysmotility. (ii) Diagnostic studies were assessed by 36 practitioners (28 institutions). Overall inter-observer agreement was 'moderate' (kappa 0.51) being 'substantial' (kappa > 0.7) for achalasia type I/II and no lower than 'fair-moderate' (kappa >0.34) for any diagnosis. Overall agreement was somewhat higher among those that had performed >400 studies (n = 9; kappa 0.55) and 'substantial' among experts involved in development of the Chicago Classification system (n = 4; kappa 0.66). This prospective, randomized, and blinded study reports an acceptable level of inter-observer agreement for HRM diagnoses across the full spectrum of esophageal motility disorders for a large group of clinicians working in a range of medical institutions. Suboptimal agreement for diagnosis of peristaltic motility disorders highlights contribution of objective HRM metrics. © 2014 International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus.

  19. Dynamics of Saturn’s 2010 Great White Spot from high-resolution Cassini ISS observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hueso, Ricardo; Sánchez-Lavega, A.; del Río-Gaztelurrutia, T.

    2012-10-01

    On December 5th 2010 a storm erupted in Saturn’s North Temperate latitudes which were experiencing early spring season. The storm quickly developed to a planet-wide disturbance of the Great White Spot type. The ISS instrument onboard Cassini acquired its first images of the storm on 23th December 2010 and performed repeated observations with a variety of spatial resolutions over the nearly 10 months period the storm continued active. Here we present an analysis of two of the image sequences with better spatial resolution of the mature storm when it was fully developed and very active. We used an image correlation algorithm to measure the cloud motions obtained from images separated 20 minutes and obtained 16,000 wind tracers in a domain of 60 degrees longitude per 20 degrees in latitude. Intense zonal and meridional motions accompanied the storm and reached values of 120 m/s in particular regions of the active storm. The storm released a chain of anticyclonic and cyclonic vortices at planetocentric latitudes of 36° and 32° respectively. The short time difference between the images results in estimated wind uncertainties of 15 m/s that did not allow to perform a complete analysis of the turbulence and kinetic spectrum of the motions. We identify locations of the updrafts and link those with the morphology in different observing filters. The global behaviour of the storm was examined in images separated by 10 hours confirming the intensity of the winds and the global behaviour of the vortices. Acknowledgments: This work was supported by the Spanish MICIIN project AYA2009-10701 with FEDER funds, by Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT-464-07 and by Universidad País Vasco UPV/EHU through program UFI11/55.

  20. Adaptation of the University of Wisconsin High Spectral Resolution Lidar for Polarization and Multiple Scattering Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Eloranta, E. W.; Piironen, P. K.

    1996-01-01

    Quantitative lidar measurements of aerosol scattering are hampered by the need for calibrations and the problem of correcting observed backscatter profiles for the effects of attenuation. The University of Wisconsin High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) addresses these problems by separating molecular scattering contributions from the aerosol scattering; the molecular scattering is then used as a calibration target that is available at each point in the observed profiles. While the HSRl approach has intrinsic advantages over competing techniques, realization of these advantages requires implementation of a technically demanding system which is potentially very sensitive to changes in temperature and mechanical alignments. This paper describes a new implementation of the HSRL in an instrumented van which allows measurements during field experiments. The HSRL was modified to measure depolarization. In addition, both the signal amplitude and depolarization variations with receiver field of view are simultaneously measured. This allows for discrimination of ice clouds from water clouds and observation of multiple scattering contributions to the lidar return.