IR-spectroscopy of ionosphere from stratospheric balloons

The radiation spectra of the ionosphere in the 4–5 μm region have been determined from stratospheric balloons by means of the specially elaborated method of the registration of angular and spectral distribution of the radiation. The radiation bands of 4.4 μm and 4.8 μm which have 0.1–0.2 erg cm^?2 sr^?1s^?1. brightness obtained in two flights, are identified with the vibration-rotation transitions of the ion NO⁺ (0 - 1) and the molecules N¹⁴N¹⁵ (0 - 1) and CO (0 - 1) and (3 - 2) from altitudes between 120 and 500 km.     

Estimated errors in a global gravity wave climatology from GPS radio occultation temperature profiles

In a previous paper by Schmidt et al. (2008), from CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation data, a comparison was made between a Gaussian filter applied to the “complete” temperature profile and to its “separate” tropospheric and stratospheric height intervals, for gravity wave analyses. It was found that the separate filtering method considerably reduces a wave activity artificial enhancement near the tropopause, presumably due to the isolation process of the wave component. We now propose a simple approach to estimate the uncertainty in the calculation of the mean specific wave potential energy content, due exclusively to the filtering process of vertical temperature profiles, independently of the experimental origin of the data. The approach is developed through a statistical simulation, built up from the superposition of synthetic wave perturbations. These are adjusted by a recent gravity wave (GW) climatology and temperature profiles from reanalyses. A systematic overestimation of the mean specific wave potential energy content is detected and its variability with latitude, altitude, season and averaging height interval is highlighted.     

Variability and climatology of precipitable water vapor from 12-year GPS observations in Taiwan

Because of global warming, global sea levels have risen, the frequency of drought in Taiwan is much more frequent in winter and spring, and rainfall tends to concentrate in summer. The probability of disaster-type weather has also increased significantly. Estimating precipitable water vapor (PWV) through GPS signals, related studies and analyses of weather conditions, and the effective use of meteorological forecasts have been valued by many meteorological research organizations and officials. In this study, PWV data from 2006 to 2017 and rainfall data were used for long-term harmonic analysis. PWV data calculated by ECMWF (ECMWF-PWV) and PWV data calculated by GPS (GPS-PWV) were subjected to regression analysis to verify the reliability of the GPS-PWV data. The research results show that GPS-PWV and ECMWF-PWV have extremely high correlations; however, the climatic characteristics of some regions and the high spatial resolution of GPS-PWV are able to accurately calculate the high topographic relief of small areas. It is judged that the GPS-PWV is more accurate than the ECMWF-PWV. It is worth noting that the PWV trend of the regions during the 6-year-before period has not changed very much, but the rainfall trend has changed obviously. Except for the eastern region, most of the regions show a decreasing trend year by year. More long-term observations are still needed to prove whether this phenomenon relates to global warming. Long-term rainfall analysis showed that the topography blocked water vapor to the western, southern, and mountainous regions, making them distinctly wet or dry. The harmonic curve showed great consistency with the peaks of PWV and rainfall. However, in the northern and eastern parts of the windward side, the time when maximum rainfall occurred each year may be one month later than the time when the maximum PWV value occurred each year. The reason for this difference is likely to be a decrease in the number of autumn typhoons, resulting in a nearly one-month difference in PWV peaks and rainfall peaks. Finally, we analyzed the linear trend of GPS-PWV and temperature for all regions in Taiwan, and found that annual increasing rate of GPS-PWV and temperature of all regions are within 0.4–0.5 mm/year and 0.04–0.11 C°/year, respectively.     

First results of a stratospheric experiment using a montgolfiere infra-rouge (MIR)

An original stratospheric experiment in the tropics has been performed on board the new long duration balloon system developped by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales in France. The experiment together with the performances reached in flight are presented.     

The effect of aerosols on climate and aerosol climatology on the basis of observations from space

Principal aspects of the effect of aerosols on climate are discussed and the possibilities of obtaining a climatic data set of global aerosols are analyzed. Based on the analysis of space images, new data have been obtained on gigantic dust outbreaks in various regions of the Earth. It has been shown that dust outbreaks can propagate over hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers. The western Sahara - Atlantic Ocean is the major region of propagation of these outbreaks. The continent-to-continent trajectories of dust clouds have been discovered (from Africa to the coast of America, from Central Asia to the Pacific Ocean). Maps of the sources of strong dust transformations have been studied and drawn. In particular, an anthropogenic dust source has been found out on the northeastern coast of the Aral Sea. A striped mesostructure of dust formations has been analyzed, determined by both the inhomogeneous surface and peculiarities of the eddy dust transport. The techniques have been discussed in detail for retrieving the parameters of aerosol size distribution and the vertical profiles of the coefficients of aerosol extinction in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere from the data on the brightness of the twilight and daytime horizon as well as occultation measurements of solar radiation attenuation by the atmosphere.The difficulty of reliably predicting possible environmental changes arises both from the problems of estimating complex interactions of numerous processes and from a lack of information concerning various environmental parameters. For example, an important factor in present day climatic changes is the increased dust content of the atmosphere due to man's activities. However, a reliable estimate of this influence is found to be impossible due to the absence of definitive data on the global distribution of atmospheric dust and the properties of dust in various parts of the world [4,5,13–15]. The impact of aerosols on climate has been discussed in detail in a number of monographs [12–15].Observations from space have opened up new possibilities for studying atmospheric dust. For this purpose, both the imagery and spectrometry of the Earth's atmosphere from space are used. Rather attractive are the prospects for laser sounding [1].     

The mesopause region wind field over Central Europe in 2003 and comparison with a long-term climatology

Using the D1 method in the LF range, monthly mean zonal and meridional winds in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere height range are measured continuously at Collm, Germany. The wind data are accompanied by reference height measurements since 1983, allowing the construction of an empirical long-term climatology of mean winds and tidal amplitudes and phases at 52N, 15E, which covers the height range of 80–110 km in winter, and about 83–107 km in summer. The climatology includes the time interval from 1983 to date, thus covering nearly two solar cycles. Vertical wind parameter profiles can also be constructed for individual years, so that from the time series interannual variability and long-term trends can be deduced. Here, we present the results for 2003 in comparison with the climatological means.     

Performance and early results from the stratospheric and mesospheric sounder (SAMS) on Nimbus 7

The design and performance of SAMS, an infrared limb-scanning instrument for sounding the temperature and composition of the atmosphere from 15 to 150 km altitude, are reviewed. Some examples of preliminary results on temperature and water vapour and nitrous oxide abundance versus latitude and height are presented.     

Ionospheric and stratospheric effects of a proton flare during unusual solar activity — 22 November 1977

The effect of the proton flare of 22 November 1977 on the various levels in the middle atmosphere and the bottom-side ionosphere is studied in order to compare synchronous phenomena in the middle atmosphere with phenomena in upper regions and to investigate the response of middle atmosphere to the penetration of high energy solar particles and radiation.     

Climate studies from satellite observations: Special problems in the verification of earth radiation balance,cloud climatology,and related climate experiments

A body of techniques that have been developed and planned for use during the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP), and related climate experiments of the 1980's are reviewed. Validation and verification methods must apply for $\text{systems}$ of satellites. They include: (1) use of a normalization or intercalibration satellite, (2) special intensive observation areas located over ground-truth sites, and (3) monitoring of sun and earth by several satellites and/or several instruments at the same time. Since each climate application area has a hierarchy of user communities, validation techniques vary from very detailed methods to those that simply assure high relative accuracy in detecting space and time variations for climate studies. It is shown that climate experiments generally require more emphasis on long-term stability and internal consistency of satellite data sets than high absolute accuracy.     

发展我国的空间用高准确度原子钟

原子钟在科学技术、军事和商业中应用甚广,在空间任务,特别是卫星导航系统中起着决定性作用。目前我国还没有自己的空间用高准确度原子频标,发展适合空间应用的星载原子钟是我们面临的迫切任务。     

Developing a vitamin greenhouse for the life support system of the International Space Station and for future interplanetary missions.

In order to evaluate the effects of gravity on growing plants, we conducted ground based long-term experiments with dwarf wheat, cultivar Apogee and Chinese cabbage, cultivar Khibinskaya. The test crops had been grown in overhead position with HPS lamp below root module so gravity and light intensity gradients had been in opposite direction. Plants of the control crop grew in normal position under the same lamp. Both crops were grown on porous metallic membranes with stable -1 kPa matric potential on their surface. Results from these and other studies allowed us to examine the differences in growth and development of the plants as well as the root systems in relation to the value of the gravity force influence. Dry weight of the roots from test group was decreased in 2.5 times for wheat and in 6 times - at the Chinese cabbage, but shoot dry biomass was practically same for both test and control versions. A harvest index of the test plants increased substantially. The data shows, that development of the plants was essentially changed in microgravity. The experiments in the space greenhouse Svet aboard the Mir space station proved that it is possible to compensate the effects of weightlessness on higher plants by manipulating gradients of environmental parameters (i.e. photon flux, matric potential in the root zone, etc.). However, the average productivity of Svet concerning salad crops even in ground studies did not provide more than 14 g fresh biomass per day. This does not provide a sufficient level of supplemental nutrients to the crew of the ISS. A cylindrical design of a space plant growth chamber (SPGC) allows for maximal productivity in presence of very tight energy and volume limitations onboard the ISS and provides a number of operational advantages. Productivity from this type of SPGF with a 0.5 kW energy utilization when salad growing would provide approximately 100 g of edible biomass per day, which would almost satisfy requirements for a crew of two in vitamin C and carotene and partly vitamin B group as well as rough fiber.     

Long lasting energetic particle injection from a weak flare

A relatively weak solar cosmic ray event registered at the Earth orbit following the flare of December 17, 1976 is discussed. The main feature of the event is the existence of a prolonged unusually high proton and electron anisotropy; even at the end of the decay phase of the flare the motion of the particles were mainly directed away from the Sun. The durations of proton and electron anisotropies were different. If prolonged particle injection is neglected the value of the anisotropy considerable exceeds all diffusive estimates. Time-intensity and anisotropy profiles of electrons and protons are fitted by a diffusive model including prolonged particle injection at the Sun. The best agreement with the data is obtained if the duration of injection equals about 20 and 7 hours for protons and electrons, respectively.     

Multi-wavelength study of a coronal mass ejection: a flare event from AR#9393

The active region, AR#9393, produced a number of intense flares during March–April 2001. In this paper, we report the analysis of an X1.1 flare event of April 2, 2001 and its associated coronal mass ejection. The timing and location of the H_α eruption, radio burst activities, and the onset of mass ejection suggest an energy release that occurred close to the surface of the sun. At this region, as shown by the magnetogram, X-ray and EUV images, the field configuration was complex and the 3-D extrapolation revealed the presence of a magnetic null point. Results also suggest that the energy release is followed by the magnetic reconnection between the low-lying loops near the separator point and outlying loops. This study provides the support for the magnetic break-out process to trigger the energy release in eruptive flare event.     

Toluene removal from air by Dieffenbachia in a closed environment.

Higher plants are likely to play a major role in bioregeneration systems for food, air and water supplies. Plants may also contribute by the removal of toxic organic substances from the air of a closed environment. Dieffenbachia amoena plants were exposed to 0 to 1.2 x 10(6) micrograms toluene m-3 at light intensities of 35 and 90 micromoles m-2 s-1 in sealed chambers. Toluene removal, photosynthesis and respiration were measured. An increased light intensity increased the rate of toluene removal five-fold over the rate at the lower intensity; the kinetics suggest active regulation by the plant. The removal rate saturated at 2700 micrograms toluene h-1 at the lower intensity and failed to saturate at the higher intensity. Toluene exposure inhibited photosynthesis and respiration only transiently and without correlation to toluene concentration. These plants can act as efficient scavengers of toluene in a contaminated environment.     

Gamma-ray measurements from the space shuttle during a solar flare.

An X2/2B level solar flare occurred on 12 August, 1989, during the last day of the flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-28). Detectors on the GOES 7 satellite observed increased X-ray fluxes at approximately 1400 GMT and a solar particle event (SPE) at approximately 1600 GMT. Measurements with the bismuth germanate (BGO) detector of the Shuttle Activation Monitor (SAM) experiment on STS-28 showed factors of two to three increases in count rates at high latitudes comparable to those seen during South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) passages beginning at about 1100 GMT. That increased activity was observed at both north and south high latitudes in the 57 degrees, 300 kilometer orbit and continued until the detector was turned off at 1800 GMT. Measurements made earlier in the flight over the same geographic coordinates did not produce the same levels of activity. This increase in activity may not be entirely accounted for by observed geomagnetic phenomena which were not related to the solar flare.     

A simultaneous X-ray and radio observation of a flare from Algol

An X-ray flare was observed from Algol using the low and medium energy detectors on the European Space Agency's EXOSAT observatory. Spectra obtained during the flare are well fitted by thermal continua while an Fe XXV emission feature was also detected. The strength of this feature indicates a cosmic abundance for iron. The data indicate that the flare occurred in a loop of height approximately 0.25 of the K star radius & with a magnetic field >300 Gauss.     

GNSS-R open-loop difference phase altimetry: Results from a bridge experiment

The paper explores a method to obtain accurate lake surface heights using measurements of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) carrier phase reflected from the lake surface. The method is referred to as Global Navigation Satellite System-Reflection (GNSS-R) open-loop difference phase altimetry method. It consists of two key technologies: one is the open-loop tracking method to track the GNSS-R signals, where the direct GNSS signal’s frequency is used as a reference frequency to obtain the carrier phases of the GNSS-R signals; the other key technology is time difference phase altimetry method to invert the lake surface heights using two or more carrier phases of GNSS-R signals received simultaneously. A validation experiment is carried out on the SANYING bridge over GUANTING lake using a GNSS-R receiver developed by the Center for Space Science and Applied Research (CSSAR), processing the data with GNSS-R open-loop difference phase altimetry method. The lake surface height results are consistent with the height results of GPS dual-frequency differential positioning altimetry. The results show that we can achieve centimeter level height in one minute average, by using 11 minutes carrier phase data of three GNSS-R signals received simultaneously.     

Structure of plasma blobs injected into the ionosphere from a rocket

To study artificial disturbances in the ionosphere, caused by pulsed injection of plasma two MR-12 rockets with plasma guns were launched from Volgograd in 1978–1979. The pulsed plasma was ejected from the separated daughter payload, alternatively, along and transverse the magnetic field lines. The experimental and model data on structure and dynamics of the artificial plasma blobs in the ionosphere are discussed.