68,455 research outputs found
Principal Components of Short-term Variability in Venus' UV Albedo
We explore the dominant modes of variability in the observed albedo at the
cloud tops of Venus using the Akatsuki UVI 283-nm and 365-nm observations,
which are sensitive to SO2 and unknown UV absorber distributions respectively,
over the period Dec 2016 to May 2018. The observations consist of images of the
dayside of Venus, most often observed at intervals of 2 hours, but interspersed
with longer gaps. The orbit of the spacecraft does not allow for continuous
observation of the full dayside, and the unobserved regions cause significant
gaps in the datasets. Each dataset is subdivided into three subsets for three
observing periods, the unobserved data are interpolated and each subset is then
subjected to a principal component analysis (PCA) to find six oscillating
patterns in the albedo. Principal components in all three periods show similar
morphologies at 283-nm but are much more variable at 365-nm. Some spatial
patterns and the time scales of these modes correspond to well known physical
processes in the atmosphere of Venus such as the ~4 day Kelvin wave, 5 day
Rossby waves and the overturning circulation, while others defy a simple
explanation. We also a find a hemispheric mode that is not well understood and
discuss its implications.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted in A&
Proceedings of the 2011 New York Workshop on Computer, Earth and Space Science
The purpose of the New York Workshop on Computer, Earth and Space Sciences is
to bring together the New York area's finest Astronomers, Statisticians,
Computer Scientists, Space and Earth Scientists to explore potential synergies
between their respective fields. The 2011 edition (CESS2011) was a great
success, and we would like to thank all of the presenters and participants for
attending. This year was also special as it included authors from the upcoming
book titled "Advances in Machine Learning and Data Mining for Astronomy". Over
two days, the latest advanced techniques used to analyze the vast amounts of
information now available for the understanding of our universe and our planet
were presented. These proceedings attempt to provide a small window into what
the current state of research is in this vast interdisciplinary field and we'd
like to thank the speakers who spent the time to contribute to this volume.Comment: Author lists modified. 82 pages. Workshop Proceedings from CESS 2011
in New York City, Goddard Institute for Space Studie
Asteroid Models from Multiple Data Sources
In the past decade, hundreds of asteroid shape models have been derived using
the lightcurve inversion method. At the same time, a new framework of 3-D shape
modeling based on the combined analysis of widely different data sources such
as optical lightcurves, disk-resolved images, stellar occultation timings,
mid-infrared thermal radiometry, optical interferometry, and radar
delay-Doppler data, has been developed. This multi-data approach allows the
determination of most of the physical and surface properties of asteroids in a
single, coherent inversion, with spectacular results. We review the main
results of asteroid lightcurve inversion and also recent advances in multi-data
modeling. We show that models based on remote sensing data were confirmed by
spacecraft encounters with asteroids, and we discuss how the multiplication of
highly detailed 3-D models will help to refine our general knowledge of the
asteroid population. The physical and surface properties of asteroids, i.e.,
their spin, 3-D shape, density, thermal inertia, surface roughness, are among
the least known of all asteroid properties. Apart for the albedo and diameter,
we have access to the whole picture for only a few hundreds of asteroids. These
quantities are nevertheless very important to understand as they affect the
non-gravitational Yarkovsky effect responsible for meteorite delivery to Earth,
or the bulk composition and internal structure of asteroids.Comment: chapter that will appear in a Space Science Series book Asteroids I
Remote sensing of earth terrain
Abstracts from 46 refereed journal and conference papers are presented for research on remote sensing of earth terrain. The topics covered related to remote sensing include the following: mathematical models, vegetation cover, sea ice, finite difference theory, electromagnetic waves, polarimetry, neural networks, random media, synthetic aperture radar, electromagnetic bias, and others
CalFUSE v3: A Data-Reduction Pipeline for the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
Since its launch in 1999, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE)
has made over 4600 observations of some 2500 individual targets. The data are
reduced by the Principal Investigator team at the Johns Hopkins University and
archived at the Multimission Archive at Space Telescope (MAST). The
data-reduction software package, called CalFUSE, has evolved considerably over
the lifetime of the mission. The entire FUSE data set has recently been
reprocessed with CalFUSE v3.2, the latest version of this software. This paper
describes CalFUSE v3.2, the instrument calibrations upon which it is based, and
the format of the resulting calibrated data files.Comment: To appear in PASP; 29 pages, 13 figures, uses aastex, emulateap
NASA Geodynamics Program
Activities and achievements for the period of May 1983 to May 1984 for the NASA geodynamics program are summarized. Abstracts of papers presented at the Conference are inlcuded. Current publications associated with the NASA Geodynamics Program are listed
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