Determination of sea surface conditions using Skylab L-band and Radscat passive microwave radiometers

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Low-frequency microwave radiometer for N-ROSS

The all weather, global determination of sea surface temperature (SST) has been identified as a requirement needed to support naval operations. The target SST accuracy is + or - 1.0 K with a surface resolution of 10 km. Investigations of the phenomenology and technology of remote passive microwave sensing of the ocean environment over the past decade have demonstrated that this objective is presently attainable. Preliminary specification and trade off studies were conducted to define the frequency, polarization, scan geometry, antenna size, and other esstential parameters of the low frequency microwave radiometer (LFMR). It will be a dual polarized, dual frequency system at 5.2 and 10.4 GHz using a 4.9 meter deployable mesh surface antenna. It is to be flown on the Navy-Remote Ocean Sensing System (N-ROSS) satellite scheduled to be launched in late 1988

Quantitative leak test design guide

Calibrated enclosure technique for rapid and accurate determination of leak rate

Analysis of microwave radiometric measurements from Skylab

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Intravital Microscopic Evidence that Polylactide-Polyglycolide (PLGA) Delays Neo-Osteogenesis and Neo-Angiogenesis in Healing Bone

The bone chamber implant (BCI) has allowed monitoring a healing bone defect as well as the effect of an eroding implant on the healing process. The BCI is a useful tool and intravital microscopy a valuable technique for obtaining quantitative data chronicling osseous wound healing. The physiological parameters that form the initial data base documenting healing are neo-osteogenesis and neo-angiogenesis. This review compares and characterizes osseous wound healing in a BCI loaded with an erodible copolymer, PLGA (polylactide-polyglycolide). To determine if a statistically significant deviation from normal healing had occurred, the results were compared with present and historical controls. In the BCI PLGA erosion was accompanied by a delay in the onset of neo-osteogenesis, as measured by trabecular apposition. Concurrently, neo-angiogenesis was both detained and retarded. The neo-angiogenesis delay was interpreted as a direct consequence of the neo-osteogenesis delay since the major part of the vasculature was carried by the apposing trabeculae. Angiogenesis inhibition is more difficult to interpret until data are further analyzed to determine if apposing trabeculae in the presence of eroding PLGA carry less vasculature

Near-surface remote sensing of spatial and temporal variation in canopy phenology

There is a need to document how plant phenology is responding to global change factors, particularly warming trends. “Near-surface” remote sensing, using radiometric instruments or imaging sensors, has great potential to improve phenological monitoring because automated observations can be made at high temporal frequency. Here we build on previous work and show how inexpensive, networked digital cameras (“webcams”) can be used to document spatial and temporal variation in the spring and autumn phenology of forest canopies. We use two years of imagery from a deciduous, northern hardwood site, and one year of imagery from a coniferous, boreal transition site. A quantitative signal is obtained by splitting images into separate red, green, and blue color channels and calculating the relative brightness of each channel for “regions of interest” within each image. We put the observed phenological signal in context by relating it to seasonal patterns of gross primary productivity, inferred from eddy covariance measurements of surface–atmosphere CO2 exchange. We show that spring increases, and autumn decreases, in canopy greenness can be detected in both deciduous and coniferous stands. In deciduous stands, an autumn red peak is also observed. The timing and rate of spring development and autumn senescence varies across the canopy, with greater variability in autumn than spring. Interannual variation in phenology can be detected both visually and quantitatively; delayed spring onset in 2007 compared to 2006 is related to a prolonged cold spell from day 85 to day 110. This work lays the foundation for regional- to continental-scale camera-based monitoring of phenology at network observatory sites, e.g., National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) or AmeriFlux

Influence of the Soret effect on convection of binary fluids

Convection in horizontal layers of binary fluids heated from below and in particular the influence of the Soret effect on the bifurcation properties of extended stationary and traveling patterns that occur for negative Soret coupling is investigated theoretically. The fixed points corresponding to these two convection structures are determined for realistic boundary conditions with a many mode Galerkin scheme for temperature and concentration and an accurate one mode truncation of the velocity field. This solution procedure yields the stable and unstable solutions for all stationary and traveling patterns so that complete phase diagrams for the different convection types in typical binary liquid mixtures can easily be computed. Also the transition from weakly to strongly nonlinear states can be analyzed in detail. An investigation of the concentration current and of the relevance of its constituents shows the way for a simplification of the mode representation of temperature and concentration field as well as for an analytically manageable few mode description.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figure