The IRAS Minor Planet Survey

This report documents the program and data used to identify known asteroids observed by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and to compute albedos and diameters from their IRAS fluxes. It also presents listings of the results obtained. These results supplant those in the IRAS Asteroid and Comet Survey, 1986. The present version used new and improved asteroid orbital elements for 4679 numbered asteroids and 2632 additional asteroids for which at least two-opposition elements were available as of mid-1991. It employed asteroid absolute magnitudes on the International Astronomical Union system adopted in 1991. In addition, the code was modified to increase the reliability of associating asteroids with IRAS sources and rectify several shortcomings in the final data products released in 1986. Association reliability was improved by decreasing the position difference between an IRAS source and a predicted asteroid position required for an association. The shortcomings addressed included the problem of flux overestimation for low SNR sources and the systematic difference in albedos and diameters among the three wavelength bands (12, 25, and 60 micrometers). Several minor bugs in the original code were also corrected

WISE/NEOWISE observations of Active Bodies in the Main Belt

We report results based on mid-infrared photometry of 5 active main belt objects (AMBOs) detected by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. Four of these bodies, P/2010 R2 (La Sagra), 133P/Elst-Pizarro, (596) Scheila, and 176P/LINEAR, showed no signs of activity at the time of the observations, allowing the WISE detections to place firm constraints on their diameters and albedos. Geometric albedos were in the range of a few percent, and on the order of other measured comet nuclei. P/2010 A2 was observed on April 2-3, 2010, three months after its peak activity. Photometry of the coma at 12 and 22 {\mu}m combined with ground-based visible-wavelength measurements provides constraints on the dust particle mass distribution (PMD), dlogn/dlogm, yielding power-law slope values of {\alpha} = -0.5 +/- 0.1. This PMD is considerably more shallow than that found for other comets, in particular inbound particle fluence during the Stardust encounter of comet 81P/Wild 2. It is similar to the PMD seen for 9P/Tempel 1 in the immediate aftermath of the Deep Impact experiment. Upper limits for CO2 & CO production are also provided for each AMBO and compared with revised production numbers for WISE observations of 103P/Hartley 2.Comment: 32 Pages, including 5 Figure

Annual Greenland accumulation rates (2009–2012) from airborne snow radar

Contemporary climate warming over the Arctic is accelerating mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet through increasing surface melt, emphasizing the need to closely monitor its surface mass balance in order to improve sea-level rise predictions. Snow accumulation is the largest component of the ice sheet's surface mass balance, but in situ observations thereof are inherently sparse and models are difficult to evaluate at large scales. Here, we quantify recent Greenland accumulation rates using ultra-wideband (2–6.5 GHz) airborne snow radar data collected as part of NASA's Operation IceBridge between 2009 and 2012. We use a semiautomated method to trace the observed radiostratigraphy and then derive annual net accumulation rates for 2009–2012. The uncertainty in these radar-derived accumulation rates is on average 14 %. A comparison of the radar-derived accumulation rates and contemporaneous ice cores shows that snow radar captures both the annual and long-term mean accumulation rate accurately. A comparison with outputs from a regional climate model (MAR) shows that this model matches radar-derived accumulation rates in the ice sheet interior but produces higher values over southeastern Greenland. Our results demonstrate that snow radar can efficiently and accurately map patterns of snow accumulation across an ice sheet and that it is valuable for evaluating the accuracy of surface mass balance models

The Scientific Investigation of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Using Multimodal Ground-based Observatories

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Book reviews

Transnational Corporations and the Global Economy. Edited by Richard Kozul-Wright and Robert Rowthorn. Basingstoke: Macmillan (for United Nations University and World Institute for Development Economics Research), 1998. Pp.448. �55. ISBN 0 333 68957 7 The New Global Economy and Developing Countries: Making Openness Work. By Dani Rodrik. Washington, DC: Overseas Development Council, 1999. Pp.x + 168. $13.95. ISBN 1 56517 027 X Information, Management and Participation: A New Approach from Public Health in Brazil. By Francesco Notarbartolo Di Villarosa London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1998. Pp.xxiii + 145. �19.50/$24.50. ISBN 0 7146 4353 X Informal Politics: Street Vendors and the State in Mexico City. By John Cross. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998. Pp.x + 272. �35 and �11.95. ISBN 08047 3060 1 and 3062 8 Evaluation Frameworks for Development Programmes and Projects. By R. Dale. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1998. Pp.151. �25 and �11.99. ISBN 0 7619 9239 1 and 9240 5 Tourism, Development and Growth: The Challenge of Sustainability. Edited by Salah Wahab and John J. Pigram. London: Routledge, 1997. Pp.320. �50 and �15.99. ISBN 0 415 16001 4 and 16002 2 Tourism and Economic Development in Asia and Australasia. Edited by Frank M. Go and Carson L. Jenkins. London: Cassell, 1997. Pp.384. �60 and �18.99. ISBN 1 85567 417 3 and 567 6 Tourism and Sustainability: New Tourism in the Third World. By Martin Mowforth and Ian Munt. London: Routledge, 1997. Pp.384. �50 and �16.99. ISBN 0 415 13763 2 and 13764 0 Sustainable Rural Development By Andrew Shepherd.Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998. Pp.304. �40 and �12.99. ISBN 0333 66484 1 and 66485 X Collaboration in International Rural Development: A Practitioner's Handbook. By George H. Axinn and Nancy W. Axinn. London and New Delhi: Sage, 1997. Pp.336. �27.50 and �13. ISBN 0761 99200 6 and 92014 Learning from Somalia: The Lessons of Armed Humanitarian Intervention. Edited by Walter Clarke and Jeffrey Herbst. Oxford: Westview, 1997. Pp.xi + 276. �11.95 and �41.50. ISBN 0 8133 2794 6 and 2793 8 Between Development and Destruction: An Enquiry into the Causes of Conflict in Post-Colonial States. Edited by Luc Van de Goor, Kumar Rupesinghe and Paul Sciarone. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 1996. Pp.xx + 376. �14.99. ISBN 1 0333 65038 7

Southeast Greenland Winter Precipitation Strongly Linked to the Icelandic Low Position

Greenland's largest precipitation flux occurs in its southeast (SE) region during the winter, controlled primarily by easterly winds and frequent cyclogenesis in the North Atlantic. Several studies have attempted to link SE Greenland precipitation to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) but results are inconsistent. This work uses reanalysis, automatic weather station data, and regional climate model output to show that the east-west position of the Icelandic low is a better predictor of SE Greenland precipitation (average correlation of r equals -0.48 in DJF (December January February)) than climate indices such as the NAO (r equals -0.06 in DJF). In years when the Icelandic low is positioned extremely west, moisture transport increases up to approximately 40 percent (or up to 40 kilograms per meter per second) off the SE Greenland coast compared to when the low is in an extreme east position. Furthermore, in years when the Icelandic low is positioned extremely west, storm track density and intensity increase just off the SE coast of Greenland. Thus, the Icelandic low's longitudinal position dominates SE Greenland ice sheet's wintertime precipitation, a positive term in the ice sheet mass balance. Given SE Greenland's importance in the overall ice sheet mass balance, the position of the Icelandic low is therefore important for making projections of future sea level

Annual Greenland Accumulation Rates (2009-2012) from Airborne Snow Radar

Contemporary climate warming over the Arctic is accelerating mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet through increasing surface melt, emphasizing the need to closely monitor its surface mass balance in order to improve sea-level rise predictions. Snow accumulation is the largest component of the ice sheet's surface mass balance, but in situ observations thereof are inherently sparse and models are difficult to evaluate at large scales. Here, we quantify recent Greenland accumulation rates using ultra-wideband (2-6.5 gigahertz) airborne snow radar data collected as part of NASA's Operation IceBridge between 2009 and 2012. We use a semi-automated method to trace the observed radiostratigraphy and then derive annual net accumulation rates for 2009-2012. The uncertainty in these radar-derived accumulation rates is on average 14 percent. A comparison of the radarderived accumulation rates and contemporaneous ice cores shows that snow radar captures both the annual and longterm mean accumulation rate accurately. A comparison with outputs from a regional climate model (MAR - Modele Atmospherique Regional for Greenland and vicinity) shows that this model matches radar-derived accumulation rates in the ice sheet interior but produces higher values over southeastern Greenland. Our results demonstrate that snow radar can efficiently and accurately map patterns of snow accumulation across an ice sheet and that it is valuable for evaluating the accuracy of surface mass balance models