Some results of rocket experiments in the quiet d region

Electron density profiles for quiet day mid- latitude d region using nike-apache sounding rocket

Space-borne measurements of mesospheric magnesium species ? a retrieval algorithm and preliminary profiles

International audienceWe present a joint retrieval as well as first results for mesospheric air density and mesospheric Magnesium species (Mg and Mg+) using limb data from the SCIAMACHY instrument on board the European ENVISAT satellite.considered. These species feature Metallic species like neutral Mg, ionized Mg+ and others (Fe, Si, Li, etc.) ablate from meteoric dust, enter the gas phase and occur at high altitudes (?70 km). Emissions from these species are clearly observed in the SCIAMACHY limb measurements. These emissions are used to retrieve total and thermospheric column densities as well as preliminary profiles of metallic species in the altitude range of 70?92 km. In this paper, neutral Magnesium as well as its ionized counterpart Mg+ is considered. These species feature resonance fluorescence in the wavelength range 279 and 285 nm and thus have a rather simple excitation process. A radiative transfer model (RTM) for the mesosphere has been developed and validated. Based on a ray tracing kernel, radiances in a large wavelength range from 240?300 nm covering limb as well as nadir geometry can be calculated. The forward model has been validated and shows good agreement with established models in the given wavelength range and a large altitude range. The RTM has been coupled to a retrieval based on Optimal Estimation. Air density is retrieved from Rayleigh backscattered light. Mesospheric Mg and Mg+ number densities are retrieved from their emission signals observed in the limb scans of SCIAMACHY. Other species like iron, silicon, OH and NO can be investigated in principle with the same algorithm. Based on the retrieval presented here, SCIAMACHY offers the opportunity to investigate mesospheric species on a global scale and with good vertical resolution for the first time

Controlled Thermal Expansion Coat for Thermal Barrier Coatings

A improved thermal barrier coating and method for producing and applying such is disclosed herein. The thermal barrier coating includes a high temperature substrate, a first bond coat layer applied to the substrate of MCrAlX, and a second bond coat layer of MCrAlX with particles of a particulate dispersed throughout the MCrAlX and the preferred particulate is Al2O3. The particles of the particulate dispersed throughout the second bond coat layer preferably have a diameter of less then the height of the peaks of the second bond coat layer, or a diameter of less than 5 microns. The method of producing the second bond coat layer may either include the steps of mechanical alloying of particles throughout the second bond coat layer, attrition milling the particles of the particulate throughout the second bond coat layer, or using electrophoresis to disperse the particles throughout the second bond coat layer. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the first bond coat layer is applied to the substrate, and then the second bond coat layer is thermally sprayed onto the first bond coat layer. Further, in a preferred embodiment of die invention, a ceramic insulating layer covers the second bond coat layer

Ozone and alkyl nitrate formation from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill atmospheric emissions

Ozone (O3), alkyl nitrates (RONO2), and other photochemical products were formed in the atmosphere downwind from the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill by photochemical reactions of evaporating hydrocarbons with NOx (=NO+NO2) emissions from spill response activities. Reactive nitrogen species and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured from an instrumented aircraft during daytime flights in the marine boundary layer downwind from the area of surfacing oil. A unique VOC mixture, where alkanes dominated the hydroxyl radical (OH) loss rate, was emitted into a clean marine environment, enabling a focused examination of O3 and RONO 2 formation processes. In the atmospheric plume from DWH, the OH loss rate, an indicator of potential O3 formation, was large and dominated by alkanes with between 5 and 10 carbons per molecule (C 5-C10). Observations showed that NOx was oxidized very rapidly with a 0.8h lifetime, producing primarily C6-C10 RONO2 that accounted for 78% of the reactive nitrogen enhancements in the atmospheric plume 2.5h downwind from DWH. Both observations and calculations of RONO2 and O3 production rates show that alkane oxidation dominated O3 formation chemistry in the plume. Rapid and nearly complete oxidation of NOx to RONO2 effectively terminated O3 production, with O3 formation yields of 6.0±0.5 ppbv O3 per ppbv of NOx oxidized. VOC mixing ratios were in large excess of NOx, and additional NOx would have formed additional O3 in this plume. Analysis of measurements of VOCs, O3, and reactive nitrogen species and calculations of O3 and RONO2 production rates demonstrate that NOx-VOC chemistry in the DWH plume is explained by known mechanisms. Copyright 2012 by the American Geophysical Union

Degree-scale Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Measurements from Three Years of BICEP1 Data

BICEP1 is a millimeter-wavelength telescope designed specifically to measure the inflationary B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background at degree angular scales. We present results from an analysis of the data acquired during three seasons of observations at the South Pole (2006-2008). This work extends the two-year result published in Chiang et al., with additional data from the third season and relaxed detector-selection criteria. This analysis also introduces a more comprehensive estimation of band power window functions, improved likelihood estimation methods, and a new technique for deprojecting monopole temperature-to-polarization leakage that reduces this class of systematic uncertainty to a negligible level. We present maps of temperature, E- and B-mode polarization, and their associated angular power spectra. The improvement in the map noise level and polarization spectra error bars are consistent with the 52% increase in integration time relative to Chiang et al. We confirm both self-consistency of the polarization data and consistency with the two-year results. We measure the angular power spectra at 21 ≤ ℓ ≤ 335 and find that the EE spectrum is consistent with Lambda cold dark matter cosmology, with the first acoustic peak of the EE spectrum now detected at 15σ. The BB spectrum remains consistent with zero. From B-modes only, we constrain the tensor-to-scalar ratio to r = 0.03^(+0.27)_(-0.23), or r < 0.70 at 95% confidence level

Quantifying sources of methane using light alkanes in the Los Angeles basin, California

Methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and C2-C5 alkanes were measured throughout the Los Angeles (L.A.) basin in May and June 2010. We use these data to show that the emission ratios of CH4/CO and CH4/CO2 in the L.A. basin are larger than expected from population-apportioned bottom-up state inventories, consistent with previously published work. We use experimentally determined CH4/CO and CH4/CO2 emission ratios in combination with annual State of California CO and CO2 inventories to derive a yearly emission rate of CH4 to the L.A. basin. We further use the airborne measurements to directly derive CH4 emission rates from dairy operations in Chino, and from the two largest landfills in the L.A. basin, and show these sources are accurately represented in the California Air Resources Board greenhouse gas inventory for CH4. We then use measurements of C2-C5 alkanes to quantify the relative contribution of other CH4 sources in the L.A. basin, with results differing from those of previous studies. The atmospheric data are consistent with the majority of CH4 emissions in the region coming from fugitive losses from natural gas in pipelines and urban distribution systems and/or geologic seeps, as well as landfills and dairies. The local oil and gas industry also provides a significant source of CH4 in the area. The addition of CH4 emissions from natural gas pipelines and urban distribution systems and/or geologic seeps and from the local oil and gas industry is sufficient to account for the differences between the top-down and bottom-up CH4 inventories identified in previously published work. Key PointsTop-down estimates of CH4 emissions in L.A. are greater than inventory estimatesEstimates of CH4 emissions from landfills in L.A. agree with CARB inventoryPipeline natural gas and/or seeps, and landfills are main sources of CH4 in L.A. ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved

Tritium monitor calibration at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Tritium in air is monitored at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) with air breathing instruments based on ionization chambers. Stack emissions are continuously monitored from sample tubes which each connect to a Tritium bubble which differentially collects HTO and HT. A set of glass vials of glycol capture the HTO. The HT is oxidized with a palladium catalyst and the resultant HTO is captured in a second set of vials of glycol. The glycol is counted with a liquid scintillation counter. All calibrations are performed with tritium containing gas. The Radiation Instrumentation and Calibration (RIC) Team has constructed and maintains two closed loop gas handling systems based on femto TECH model U24 tritium ion chamber monitors: a fixed system housed in a fume hood and a portable system mounted on two two wheeled hand trucks. The U24 monitors are calibrated against tritium in nitrogen gas standards. They are used as standard transfer instruments to calibrate other ion chamber monitors with tritium in nitrogen, diluted with air. The gas handling systems include a circulation pump which permits a closed circulation loop to be established among the U24 monitor and typically two to four other monitors of a given model during calibration. Fixed and portable monitors can be calibrated. The stack bubblers are calibrated in the field by: blending a known concentration of tritium in air within the known volume of the two portable carts, coupled into a common loop; releasing that gas mixture into a ventilation intake to the stack; collecting oxidized tritium in the bubbler; counting the glycol; and using the stack and bubbler flow rates, computing the bubbler`s efficiency. Gas calibration has become a convenient and quality tool in maintaining the tritium monitors at LANL

The Warm Molecular Gas Around the Cloverleaf Quasar

We present the first broadband lambda = 1 mm spectrum toward the z=2.56 Cloverleaf Quasar, obtained with Z-Spec, a 1-mm grating spectrograph on the 10.4-meter Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. The 190-305 GHz observation band corresponds to rest-frame 272 to 444 microns, and we measure the dust continuum as well as all four transitions of carbon monoxide (CO) lying in this range. The power-law dust emission, F_nu = 14 mJy (nu/240GHz)^3.9 is consistent with the published continuum measurements. The CO J=6->5, J=8->7, and J=9->8 measurements are the first, and now provide the highest-J CO information in this source. Our measured CO intensities are very close to the previously-published interferometric measurements of J=7->6, and we use all available transitions and our 13CO upper limits to constrain the physical conditions in the Cloverleaf molecular gas disk. We find a large mass (2-50x10^9 Msun) of highly-excited gas with thermal pressure nT > 10^6 Kcm^-3. The ratio of the total CO cooling to the far-IR dust emission exceeds that in the local dusty galaxies, and we investigate the potential heating sources for this bulk of warm molecular gas. We conclude that both UV photons and X-rays likely contribute, and discuss implications for a top-heavy stellar initial mass function arising in the X-ray-irradiated starburst. Finally we present tentative identifications of other species in the spectrum, including a possible detection of the H20 2_0,2->1_1,1 transition at lambda_rest = 303 microns.Comment: ApJ in press, 12 pages in emulateAp