Quantification of structural uncertainty in climate data records from GPS radio occultation

Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) has provided continuous observations of the Earth's atmosphere since 2001 with global coverage, all-weather capability, and high accuracy and vertical resolution in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). Precise time measurements enable long-term stability but careful processing is needed. Here we provide climate-oriented atmospheric scientists with multicenter-based results on the long-term stability of RO climatological fields for trend studies. We quantify the structural uncertainty of atmospheric trends estimated from the RO record, which arises from current processing schemes of six international RO processing centers, DMI Copenhagen, EUM Darmstadt, GFZ Potsdam, JPL Pasadena, UCAR Boulder, and WEGC Graz. Monthly-mean zonal-mean fields of bending angle, refractivity, dry pressure, dry geopotential height, and dry temperature from the CHAMP mission are compared for September 2001 to September 2008. We find that structural uncertainty is lowest in the tropics and mid-latitudes (50° S to 50° N) from 8 km to 25 km for all inspected RO variables. In this region, the structural uncertainty in trends over 7 yr is <0.03% for bending angle, refractivity, and pressure, <3 m for geopotential height of pressure levels, and <0.06 K for temperature; low enough for detecting a climate change signal within about a decade. Larger structural uncertainty above about 25 km and at high latitudes is attributable to differences in the processing schemes, which undergo continuous improvements. Though current use of RO for reliable climate trend assessment is bound to 50° S to 50° N, our results show that quality, consistency, and reproducibility are favorable in the UTLS for the establishment of a climate benchmark record

Observed temperature changes in the troposphere and stratosphere from 1979 to 2018

Temperature observations of the upper-air atmosphere are now available for more than 40 years from both ground- and satellite-based observing systems. Recent years have seen substantial improvements in reducing long-standing discrepancies among datasets through major reprocessing efforts. The advent of radio occultation (RO) observations in 2001 has led to further improvements in vertically resolved temperature measurements, enabling a detailed analysis of upper-troposphere/lower-stratosphere trends. This paper presents the current state of atmospheric temperature trends from the latest available observational records. We analyze observations from merged operational satellite measurements, radiosondes, lidars, and RO, spanning a vertical range from the lower troposphere to the upper stratosphere. The focus is on assessing climate trends and on identifying the degree of consistency among the observational systems. The results show a robust cooling of the stratosphere of about 1–3 K, and a robust warming of the troposphere of about 0.6–0.8 K over the last four decades (1979– 2018). Consistent results are found between the satellite-based layer-average temperatures and vertically resolved radiosonde records. The overall latitude–altitude trend patterns are consistent between RO and radiosonde records. Significant warming of the troposphere is evident in the RO measurements available after 2001, with trends of 0.25–0.35 K per decade. Amplified warming in the tropical upper-troposphere compared to surface trends for 2002–18 is found based on RO and radiosonde records, in approximate agreement with moist adiabatic lapse rate theory. The consistency of trend results from the latest upper-air datasets will help to improve understanding of climate changes and their drivers

Quench thresholds in operational superconducting magnets

Superconducting magnets exposed to intense primary proton beams in high energy physics applications are subject to potentially extreme heat deposition. The beam power density, its duration and spatial distribution, the current density in the superconductor and, potentially, in the normal metal substrate, as well as the construction and cooling details of the magnet, are all relevant parameters. An extension of some earlier work is discussed in which 28.5 GeV/c proton beams with up to 50 k joules of energy were targeted upstream from a 4 m long, 4 T dipole magnet used to deflect the protons through an angle of 8/sup 0/. Quench thresholds much greater than the enthalpy limit of the magnet materials were observed. In the beam exposure experiment described, intense beams of 1.5 GeV/c protons have been deflected directly into the magnet coil at relatively steep angles of incidence. The magnet quench threshold was studied by varying the beam currents and beam sizes

Beam transfer from the AGS to ISABELLE

The ISABELLE design current is built up by repetitive transfer of charge from the AGS. To do this, a momentum stacking method similar to the one used at the ISR has been chosen. The AGS beam bunches are synchronously transferred from the AGS into waiting rf buckets on the injection orbit at the ISA, and then slowly accelerated into the previously established debunched beam stack. This process is repeated until all the available momentum aperture in the ISA is filled up, whereupon the beam stack is rebunched and accelerated to the desired operating energy

THE AGS FAST KICKER MAGNET SYSTEM*

A new fast extraction system from the AGS will be implemented to improve the neutrino beam and to serve for ISABELLE injection. The fast kicker for the system is of an open C-type design with a field strength of 1.25 kG at 2650 amperes. The pulser system is a mismatched, discharge type PFN which is capable of delivering a pulse of 3000 amperes peak current at 30 kV dc, with a 2.7 ..mu..sec pulse width, 170 nsec rise time, and flat top ripple within +-1%. It also serves as a prototype for an ISA injection magnet, and is to be operated in UHV in the 10/sup -11/ Torr range. Special measures to achieve this goal are also discussed