Fission decay of the isoscalar giant quadrupole resonance in 24Mg

The 24Mg(ot, a') 12C+12C reaction was studied by measuring 12C fragments in coincidence with inelastically scattered a-particles at E,=120 MeV. Both 12C fragments were identified using the AE-E technique. The measured angular correlations indicate that the 12Cg~ + 12Cg S decay channel is dominated by decay of L = 2 strength, which yields an integrated fraction of 0.14% of the E2 EWSR strength in comparison with 22.2% of the E2 EWSR strength observed in singles inelastic a-scattering experiments in the same excitation energy region

Community Support and Transition of Research to Operations for the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting Model

The Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting Model (HWRF) is an operational model used to provide numerical guidance in support of tropical cyclone forecasting at the National Hurricane Center. HWRF is a complex multicomponent system, consisting of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) atmospheric model coupled to the Princeton Ocean Model for Tropical Cyclones (POM-TC), a sophisticated initialization package including a data assimilation system and a set of postprocessing and vortex tracking tools. HWRF’s development is centralized at the Environmental Modeling Center of NOAA’s National Weather Service, but it incorporates contributions from a variety of scientists spread out over several governmental laboratories and academic institutions. This distributed development scenario poses significant challenges: a large number of scientists need to learn how to use the model, operational and research codes need to stay synchronized to avoid divergence, and promising new capabilities need to be tested for operational consideration. This article describes how the Developmental Testbed Center has engaged in the HWRF developmental cycle in the last three years and the services it provides to the community in using and developing HWRF

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer: Present and Future

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is an airborne passive microwave radiometer designed to provide high resolution, wide swath imagery of surface wind speed in tropical cyclones from a low profile planar antenna with no mechanical scanning. Wind speed and rain rate images from HIRAD's first field campaign (GRIP, 2010) are presented here followed, by a discussion on the performance of the newly installed thermal control system during the 2012 HS3 campaign. The paper ends with a discussion on the next generation dual polarization HIRAD antenna (already designed) for a future system capable of measuring wind direction as well as wind speed

Optimizing land use decision-making to sustain Brazilian agricultural profits, biodiversity and ecosystem services

AbstractDesigning landscapes that can meet human needs, while maintaining functioning ecosystems, is essential for long-term sustainability. To achieve this goal, we must better understand the trade-offs and thresholds in the provision of ecosystem services and economic returns. To this end, we integrate spatially explicit economic and biophysical models to jointly optimize agricultural profit (sugarcane production and cattle ranching), biodiversity (bird and mammal species), and freshwater quality (nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment retention) in the Brazilian Cerrado. We generate efficiency frontiers to evaluate the economic and environmental trade-offs and map efficient combinations of agricultural land and natural habitat under varying service importance. To assess the potential impact of the Brazilian Forest Code (FC), a federal policy that aims to promote biodiversity and ecosystem services on private lands, we compare the frontiers with optimizations that mimic the habitat requirements in the region. We find significant opportunities to improve both economic and environmental outcomes relative to the current landscape. Substantial trade-offs between biodiversity and water quality exist when land use planning targets a single service, but these trade-offs can be minimized through multi-objective planning. We also detect non-linear profit-ecosystem services relationships that result in land use thresholds that coincide with the FC requirements. Further, we demonstrate that landscape-level planning can greatly improve the performance of the FC relative to traditional farm-level planning. These findings suggest that through joint planning for economic and environmental goals at a landscape-scale, Brazil's agricultural sector can expand production and meet regulatory requirements, while maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem service provision

Noncommutative geometry and physics: a review of selected recent results

This review is based on two lectures given at the 2000 TMR school in Torino. We discuss two main themes: i) Moyal-type deformations of gauge theories, as emerging from M-theory and open string theories, and ii) the noncommutative geometry of finite groups, with the explicit example of Z_2, and its application to Kaluza-Klein gauge theories on discrete internal spaces.Comment: Based on lectures given at the TMR School on contemporary string theory and brane physics, Jan 26- Feb 2, 2000, Torino, Italy. To be published in Class. Quant. Grav. 17 (2000). 3 ref.s added, typos corrected, formula on exterior product of n left-invariant one-forms corrected, small changes in the Sect. on integratio

Observations During GRIP from HIRAD: Images of C-Band Brightness Temperatures and Ocean Surface Wind Speed and Rain Rate

No abstract availabl

New Observations of C-band Brightness Temperatures and Ocean Surface Wind Speed and Rain Rate From the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

HIRAD flew on the WB-57 during NASA's GRIP (Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes) campaign in August September of 2010. HIRAD is a new C-band radiometer using a synthetic thinned array radiometer (STAR) technology to obtain cross-track resolution of approximately 3 degrees, out to approximately 60 degrees to each side of nadir. By obtaining measurements of emissions at 4, 5, 6, and 6.6 GHz, observations of ocean surface wind speed and rain rate can be retrieved. This technique has been used for many years by precursor instruments, including the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR), which has been flying on the NOAA and USAF hurricane reconnaissance aircraft for several years to obtain observations within a single footprint at nadir angle. Results from the flights during the GRIP campaign will be shown, including images of brightness temperatures, wind speed, and rain rate. Comparisons will be made with observations from other instruments on the GRIP campaign, for which HIRAD observations are either directly comparable or are complementary. Features such as storm eye and eyewall, location of storm wind and rain maxima, and indications of dynamical features such as the merging of a weaker outer wind/rain maximum with the main vortex may be seen in the data. Potential impacts on operational ocean surface wind analyses and on numerical weather forecasts will also be discussed

Observations of C-band Brightness Temperature from the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) During GRIP

HIRAD is a new technology developed by NASA/MSFC, in partnership with NOAA and the Universities of Central Florida, Michigan, and Alabama-Huntsville. HIRAD is designed to measure wind speed and rain rate over a wide swath in heavy-rain, strong-wind conditions. HIRAD is expected to eventually fly routinely on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as Global Hawk over hurricanes threatening the U.S. coast and other Atlantic basin areas, and possibly in the Western Pacific as well. HIRAD first flew on GRIP in 2010 and is planned to fly 2012-14 on the NASA Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) missions on the Global Hawk, a high-altitude UAV. HIRAD technology will eventually be used on a satellite platform to extend the dynamical range of Ocean Surface Wind (OSV) observations from space

Development, Capabilities, and Impact on Wind Analyses of the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is a new airborne microwave remote sensor for hurricane observations that is currently under development by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in partnership with the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory/Hurricane Research Division, the University of Central Florida, the University of Michigan, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The instrument is being test flown in January and is expected to participate in the tropical cyclone experiment GRIP (Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes) in the 2010 season. HIRAD is being designed to study the wind field in some detail within strong hurricanes and to enhance the real-time airborne ocean surface winds observation capabilities of NOAA and USAF Weather Squadron hurricane hunter aircraft currently using the operational Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR). Unlike SFMR, which measures wind speed and rain rate along the ground track at a single point directly beneath the aircraft, HIRAD will provide images of the surface wind and rain field over a wide swath (approximately 3 x the aircraft altitude) with approximately 2 km resolution. This paper describes the HIRAD instrument and the physical basis for its operations, including chamber test data from the instrument. The potential value of future HIRAD observations will be illustrated with a summary of Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) in which measurements from the new instrument as well as those from existing instruments (air, surface, and space-based) are simulated from the output of a detailed numerical model, and those results are used to construct simulated H*Wind analyses. Evaluations will be presented on the impact on H*Wind analyses of using the HIRAD instrument observations to replace those of the SFMR instrument, and also on the impact of a future satellite-based HIRAD in comparison to instruments with more limited capabilities for observing strong winds through heavy rain. Potential impact on numerical prediction of hurricane intensity will also be discussed

Observations During GRIP from HIRAD: Ocean Surface Wind Speed and Rain Rate

HIRAD (Hurricane Imaging Radiometer) flew on the WB-57 during NASA's GRIP (Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes) campaign in August - September of 2010. HIRAD is a new C-band radiometer using a synthetic thinned array radiometer (STAR) technology to obtain cross-track resolution of approximately 3 degrees, out to approximately 60 degrees to each side of nadir. By obtaining measurements of emissions at 4, 5, 6, and 6.6 GHz, observations of ocean surface wind speed and rain rate can be inferred. This technique has been used for many years by precursor instruments, including the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR), which has been flying on the NOAA and USAF hurricane reconnaissance aircraft for several years. The advantage of HIRAD over SFMR is that HIRAD can observe a +/- 60-degree swath, rather than a single footprint at nadir angle. Results from the flights during the GRIP campaign will be shown, including images of brightness temperatures, wind speed, and rain rate. To the extent possible, comparisons will be made with observations from other instruments on the GRIP campaign, for which HIRAD observations are either directly comparable or are complementary. Potential impacts on operational ocean surface wind analyses and on numerical weather forecasts will also be discussed