Potential for Solar System Science with the ngVLA

Radio wavelength observations of solar system bodies are a powerful method of probing many characteristics of those bodies. From surface and subsurface, to atmospheres (including deep atmospheres of the giant planets), to rings, to the magnetosphere of Jupiter, these observations provide unique information on current state, and sometimes history, of the bodies. The ngVLA will enable the highest sensitivity and resolution observations of this kind, with the potential to revolutionize our understanding of some of these bodies. In this article, we present a review of state-of-the-art radio wavelength observations of a variety of bodies in our solar system, varying in size from ring particles and small near-Earth asteroids to the giant planets. Throughout the review we mention improvements for each body (or class of bodies) to be expected with the ngVLA. A simulation of a Neptune-sized object is presented in Section 6. Section 7 provides a brief summary for each type of object, together with the type of measurements needed for all objects throughout the Solar System

PICES Press, Vol. 25, No. 1, Winter 2017

PICES science in 2016: A note from the Science Board Chair (pp. 1-8); 2016 PICES awards (pp. 9-12); PICES calendar of events (pp. 13-13); Impressions of PICES from old friends (pp. 14-17); S-CCME Workshop W5, “Modeling effects of climate change on fish and fisheries (pp. 18-22); In memoriam: Professor Emeritus Paul J. Harrison (pp. 23-23); Workshop W9, “The role of the northern Bering Sea in modulating arctic environments” (pp. 24); A symposium to mark the 60th anniversary of Station Papa/Line P (pp. 28-29); To the interface and beyond: Results and legacy of SCOR Working Group 140 (pp. 30-31); Webcam monitoring and modeling of Japanese tsunami marine debris (pp. 32-35); Mapping patterns of marine debris in the main Hawaiian Islands using aerial imagery and spatial analysis (pp. 36-39); New leadership in PICES (pp. 40-44); PICES interns (pp. 45-45); The Bering Sea: Current status and recent trends (pp. 46-49); The state of the western North Pacific during the 2016 warm season (pp. 50-51

The NASA Roadmap to Ocean Worlds

In this article, we summarize the work of the NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds (ROW) group. The aim of this group is to assemble the scientific framework that will guide the exploration of ocean worlds, and to identify and prioritize science objectives for ocean worlds over the next several decades. The overarching goal of an Ocean Worlds exploration program as defined by ROW is to identify ocean worlds, characterize their oceans, evaluate their habitability, search for life, and ultimately understand any life we find. The ROW team supports the creation of an exploration program that studies the full spectrum of ocean worlds, that is, not just the exploration of known ocean worlds such as Europa but candidate ocean worlds such as Triton as well. The ROW team finds that the confirmed ocean worlds Enceladus, Titan, and Europa are the highest priority bodies to target in the near term to address ROW goals. Triton is the highest priority candidate ocean world to target in the near term. A major finding of this study is that, to map out a coherent Ocean Worlds Program, significant input is required from studies here on Earth; rigorous Research and Analysis studies are called for to enable some future ocean worlds missions to be thoughtfully planned and undertaken. A second finding is that progress needs to be made in the area of collaborations between Earth ocean scientists and extraterrestrial ocean scientists

Configuration and Assessment of the GISS ModelE2 Contributions to the CMIP5 Archive

We present a description of the ModelE2 version of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) General Circulation Model (GCM) and the configurations used in the simulations performed for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). We use six variations related to the treatment of the atmospheric composition, the calculation of aerosol indirect effects, and ocean model component. Specifically, we test the difference between atmospheric models that have noninteractive composition, where radiatively important aerosols and ozone are prescribed from precomputed decadal averages, and interactive versions where atmospheric chemistry and aerosols are calculated given decadally varying emissions. The impact of the first aerosol indirect effect on clouds is either specified using a simple tuning, or parameterized using a cloud microphysics scheme. We also use two dynamic ocean components: the Russell and HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) which differ significantly in their basic formulations and grid. Results are presented for the climatological means over the satellite era (1980-2004) taken from transient simulations starting from the preindustrial (1850) driven by estimates of appropriate forcings over the 20th Century. Differences in base climate and variability related to the choice of ocean model are large, indicating an important structural uncertainty. The impact of interactive atmospheric composition on the climatology is relatively small except in regions such as the lower stratosphere, where ozone plays an important role, and the tropics, where aerosol changes affect the hydrological cycle and cloud cover. While key improvements over previous versions of the model are evident, these are not uniform across all metrics

The tropical Atlantic observing system

The tropical Atlantic is home to multiple coupled climate variations covering a wide range of timescales and impacting societally relevant phenomena such as continental rainfall, Atlantic hurricane activity, oceanic biological productivity, and atmospheric circulation in the equatorial Pacific. The tropical Atlantic also connects the southern and northern branches of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and receives freshwater input from some of the world’s largest rivers. To address these diverse, unique, and interconnected research challenges, a rich network of ocean observations has developed, building on the backbone of the Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA). This network has evolved naturally over time and out of necessity in order to address the most important outstanding scientific questions and to improve predictions of tropical Atlantic severe weather and global climate variability and change. The tropical Atlantic observing system is motivated by goals to understand and better predict phenomena such as tropical Atlantic interannual to decadal variability and climate change; multidecadal variability and its links to the meridional overturning circulation; air-sea fluxes of CO2 and their implications for the fate of anthropogenic CO2; the Amazon River plume and its interactions with biogeochemistry, vertical mixing, and hurricanes; the highly productive eastern boundary and equatorial upwelling systems; and oceanic oxygen minimum zones, their impacts on biogeochemical cycles and marine ecosystems, and their feedbacks to climate. Past success of the tropical Atlantic observing system is the result of an international commitment to sustained observations and scientific cooperation, a willingness to evolve with changing research and monitoring needs, and a desire to share data openly with the scientific community and operational centers. The observing system must continue to evolve in order to meet an expanding set of research priorities and operational challenges. This paper discusses the tropical Atlantic observing system, including emerging scientific questions that demand sustained ocean observations, the potential for further integration of the observing system, and the requirements for sustaining and enhancing the tropical Atlantic observing system

Agrometeorological forecasting

Agrometeorological forecasting covers all aspects of forecasting in agrometeorology. Therefore, the scope of agrometeorological forecasting very largely coincides with the scope of agrometeorology itself. All on-farm and regional agrometeorological planning implies some form of impact forecasting, at least implicitly, so that decision-support tools and forecasting tools largely overlap. In the current chapter, the focus is on crops, but attention is also be paid to sectors that are often neglected by the agrometeorologist, such as those occurring in plant and animal protection. In addition, the borders between meteorological forecasts for agriculture and agrometeorological forecasts are not always clear. Examples include the use of weather forecasts for farm operations such as spraying pesticides or deciding on trafficability in relation to adverse weather. Many forecast issues by various national institutions (weather, but also commodity prices or flood warnings) are vital to the farming community, but they do not constitute agrometeorological forecasts. (Modified From the introduction of the chapter: Scope of agrometeorological forecasting)JRC.H.4-Monitoring Agricultural Resource

Accretion: Building New Worlds Conference : August 15-18, 2017, Houston, Texas

The conference will focus on processes of star formation and of circumstellar disks that lead to planetary systems, like our own, with planetary bodies, both silicate-rich and volatile-rich. These planetary bodies and their subsequent evolutions provide the bases for habitable environments and for the origin of life as we know it. The goal of this topical conference is to integrate the disparate stories of planetary accretion, both physical and chemical, into a consistent (although understandably incomplete) whole.Lunar and Planetary Institute; Universities Space Research AssociationConveners, Jeff Cuzzi, NASA Ames Research Center, Christine Floss, Washington University, Harold Levison, Southwest Research Institute, Justin Simon, NASA Johnson Space Center, Allan Treiman, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Science Organizing Committee, Hans-Peter Gail, University of Heidelberg, Levke Kööp, University of Chicago, Sebastiaan Krijt, University of Chicago, Ryan Ogliore, Washington University, Saint Louis, Cristina Thomas, Planetary Science InstituteMeteoritic Constraints on Timescales of Planetesimal Accretion in the Early Solar System -- Utilizing Stable Isotopes and Isotopic Anomalies to Study Early Solar System Formation Processes -- Oxygen Isotope Systematics in Chondrules from Multiple Chondrite Groups: Implication to the Isotope Reservoirs in the Protoplanetary Disk -- Accretion and Processing of Presolar Components as Recorded by Nebular Materials--The Carbonaceous - Non-Carbonaceous Chondrite Reservoir Dichotomy and the Challenge of Ureilites -- Clustering of Inner Solar System Oxygen Isotopic Compositions: A Result of Gap Formation in the Protoplanetary Disk? -- The Current Solar System and Clues to Its Past--Hunting the Planetesimals Size Distribution Hidden in the Main Asteroid Belt -- History of the Solar Nebula from Meteorite Paleomagnetism -- Northwest Africa 11042: A Primitive Achondritic Melt from the L Chondrite Parent Body -- A New Model for Planetesimal Formation -- Constraints on Vesta’s and Ceres’ Origins from Dawn’s Observations -- Effects of Stochastic Charging on Micron Sized Grains in Protoplanetary Disks -- Water in the Early Solar System and Mantle Melting in Terrestrial Planets -- Constraints on the Time of Formation of Ceres and Ceres-Like Asteroids