Michelson Interferometer for Global High-Resolution Thermospheric Imaging (MIGHTI): Instrument Design and Calibration

The Michelson Interferometer for Global High-resolution Thermospheric Imaging (MIGHTI) instrument was built for launch and operation on the NASA Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission. The instrument was designed to measure thermospheric horizontal wind velocity profiles and thermospheric temperature in altitude regions between 90 km and 300 km, during day and night. For the wind measurements it uses two perpendicular fields of view pointed at the Earth’s limb, observing the Doppler shift of the atomic oxygen red and green lines at 630.0 nm and 557.7 nm wavelength. The wavelength shift is measured using field-widened, temperature compensated Doppler Asymmetric Spatial Heterodyne (DASH) spectrometers, employing low order échelle gratings operating at two different orders for the different atmospheric lines. The temperature measurement is accomplished by a multichannel photometric measurement of the spectral shape of the molecular oxygen A-band around 762 nm wavelength. For each field of view, the signals of the two oxygen lines and the A-band are detected on different regions of a single, cooled, frame transfer charge coupled device (CCD) detector. On-board calibration sources are used to periodically quantify thermal drifts, simultaneously with observing the atmosphere. The MIGHTI requirements, the resulting instrument design and the calibration are described.     

Microphysics of Cosmic Plasmas: Hierarchies of Plasma Instabilities from MHD to Kinetic

In this article, we discuss the idea of a hierarchy of instabilities that can rapidly couple the disparate scales of a turbulent plasma system. First, at the largest scale of the system, L, current carrying flux ropes can undergo a kink instability. Second, a kink instability in adjacent flux ropes can rapidly bring together bundles of magnetic flux and drive reconnection, introducing a new scale of the current sheet width, ?, perhaps several ion inertial lengths (δ _i ) across. Finally, intense current sheets driven by reconnection electric fields can destabilize kinetic waves such as ion cyclotron waves as long as the drift speed of the electrons is large compared to the ion thermal speed, v _D ?v _i . Instabilities such as these can couple MHD scales to kinetic scales, as small as the proton Larmor radius, ρ _i .     

Spectral quality may be used to alter plant disease development in CELSS.

Plants were grown under light emitting diode (LED) arrays with different spectral qualities to determine the effects of light on the development of tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) in peppers and powdery mildew on cucumbers. One LED array supplied 100% of the photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) at 660 nm, a second array supplied 90% of the PPF at 660 nm and 10% at 735 nm, and a third array supplied 98% of the PPF at 660 nm with 2% in the blue region (380-500 nm) supplied by blue fluorescent lamps. Control plants were grown under metal halide (MH) lamps. Pepper plants inoculated with ToMV and grown under 660 and 660/735 LED arrays showed marked increases in both the rate and the severity of symptoms as compared to inoculated plants grown under the MH lamp or 660/blue array. Pepper plants grown under the 660/blue array did not develop symptoms as rapidly as inoculated plants grown under the 660 or 660/735 arrays, but they did develop symptoms faster than inoculated plants grown under the MH lamp. The numbers of colonies of powdery mildew per leaf and the size of each colony were greatest on inoculated cucumber plants grown under the MH lamp.     

Instantaneous GPS attitude determination

A procedure for instantaneous GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) attitude determination, i.e., a solution for the GPS integrated carrier Doppler wavelength ambiguities using only measurements at a single epoch, is described. Most previous techniques to solve the phase ambiguity problem have required some form of time history processing relying on GPS satellite and/or user motion to provide enough geometry change to eliminate false solutions. The algorithm described assumes three noncollinear antennas and integrated carrier Doppler measurements from four or more satellites. Double-difference processing provides at least three independent observables for the two antenna separation vectors to compute the three attitude Euler angles     

Modeling Nonstationary Random Processes with an Application to Gyro Drift Rate

The problem of estimating the a priori statistics of a nonstationary process is considered using finite-time averages of experimental data. A model of the form of a linear time-invariant difference equation with a stationary independent random sequence driving function is proposed and investigated. Finite-time averages are calculated and then used in a steepest descent method to determine the coefficients of the difference nce equation. Methods are presented for transforming this model to the statespace pace format necessary for Kalman filtering, and an example is given using actual gyro drift-rate data.     

Multiple sensor geocoded data

The problem of integrating remotely sensed images acquired from different sensor systems is primarily associated with their registration into a common reference projection. This registration problem has to be considered not only between the image data themselves but also with other data already existing in various geographical data bases.The advent of the second generation of earth observation satellites is emphasizing this situation by providing imagery in different geometric configurations. Images will be acquired from many sensors at different spatial resolutions (LANDSAT MSS and TM, SPOT HRV MLA and PLA) on different dates and modes (panchromatic, multispectral, nadir and off-nadir).In order to provide image data in a geometric format compatible with the Canadian National Topographic System, Canada is developing a Multi-Observational Satellite Image Correction System (MOSAICS) that will provide geocoded data resampled into a common reference projection. This paper presents the characteristics of the geocoded products with examples from multiple sensors and different dates, and addresses the processing requirements of the satellite ground station. It also illustrates the use of digital processing techniques to derive digital elevation information from geocoded stereo imagery.     

Civilizations and Sea Level Change

Climate and sea level changes have been relatively stable for the last few centuries. The delicate balance between global and oceanic systems, however, may be altered due to the increased warming of the earth's average surface temperature. A few degrees increase could cause a 15-17 cm sea level rise by the year 2000, resulting in wide spread flooding of low lying areas. Recent studies indicate the global sea level is rising and extensive coastal flooding is anticipated. If these changes continue through the next century, we may be faced with a loss of our present culture. Oscillating sea levels since the late Pleistocene at times have left the floors of the continental margins and inland seas exposed, increasing the total earth's land surface by 8%. It was during these events that North America and island refugia including England, Indonesia, Japan and Australia were invaded and colonized by man. However, the swinging sea levels and shoreline displacements of as much as 120 m per year must have been very disruptive to the inhabitants of the coastal region and evidence of their cultures must have eroded away due to the relentless cycle of the coastal processes.