Spectral irradiance of total and spectral energy standards

Spectral irradiance measurements of tungsten and carbon filament lamps for energy standards and accuracy limits used in space simulator

Geology and Geohydrology of the East Texas Basin

The investigations in the East Texas Basin are part of the broader salt dome studies underway in the Gulf Coast Interior Salt Basin of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, constituting one regional element of the national Nuclear Waste Repository Program. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) aims to select one salt site for site-specific evaluation as a nuclear waste repository. This report focuses on the salt dome program in East Texas and outlines some preliminary conclusions reached on dome suitability during FY1980. The 1980 program to investigate the tectonic, geologic, and hydrogeologic stability of salt domes in the East Texas Basin was divided into four subprograms: 1. Subsurface geology. 2. Surficial geology, remote sensing, and geomorphology. 3. Hydrogeology. 4. Salt dome characteristics. Integration of the results from these four subprograms will determine the general suitability of salt domes in the East Texas Basin for further evaluation as a potential nuclear waste repository and will provide information on specific candidate domes in the East Texas Basin.Bureau of Economic Geolog

Characterization of Polar Stratospheric Clouds With Spaceborne Lidar: CALIPSO and the 2006 Antarctic Season

The role of polar stratospheric clouds in polar ozone loss has been well documented. The CALIPSO satellite mission offers a new opportunity to characterize PSCs on spatial and temporal scales previously unavailable. A PSC detection algorithm based on a single wavelength threshold approach has been developed for CALIPSO. The method appears to accurately detect PSCs of all opacities, including tenuous clouds, with a very low rate of false positives and few missed clouds. We applied the algorithm to CALIPSO data acquired during the 2006 Antarctic winter season from 13 June through 31 October. The spatial and temporal distribution of CALIPSO PSC observations is illustrated with weekly maps of PSC occurrence. The evolution of the 2006 PSC season is depicted by time series of daily PSC frequency as a function of altitude. Comparisons with virtual solar occultation data indicate that CALIPSO provides a different view of the PSC season than attained with previous solar occultation satellites. Measurement-based time series of PSC areal coverage and vertically-integrated PSC volume are computed from the CALIPSO data. The observed area covered with PSCs is significantly smaller than would be inferred from a temperature-based proxy such as TNAT but is similar in magnitude to that inferred from TSTS. The potential of CALIPSO measurements for investigating PSC microphysics is illustrated using combinations of lidar backscatter coefficient and volume depolarization to infer composition for two CALIPSO PSC scenes

Bottom-up effects of a no-take zone on endangered penguin demographics.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from The Royal Society via the DOI in this record.Marine no-take zones can have positive impacts for target species and are increasingly important management tools. However, whether they indirectly benefit higher order predators remains unclear. The endangered African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) depends on commercially exploited forage fish. We examined how chick survival responded to an experimental 3-year fishery closure around Robben Island, South Africa, controlling for variation in prey biomass and fishery catches. Chick survival increased by 18% when the closure was initiated, which alone led to a predicted 27% higher population compared with continued fishing. However, the modelled population continued to decline, probably because of high adult mortality linked to poor prey availability over larger spatial scales. Our results illustrate that small no-take zones can have bottom-up benefits for highly mobile marine predators, but are only one component of holistic, ecosystem-based management regimes.We thank the Earthwatch Institute, Bristol Zoological Society, Leiden Conservation Foundation and National Research Foundation

Prospectus for a Design Well in the Blessing Area Matagorda County, Texas

In recent years, the Bureau of Economic Geology has conducted regional subsurface studies of the Wilcox Group and Frio Formation of Texas as part of the U. S. Department of Energy's assessment of deep geopressured geothermal resources along the Gulf Coast. These studies resulted in two reports (Bebout and others, 1978; 1979) that describe several areas in Texas where temperatures are greater than 300°F and where the geology and reservoir conditions are suitable for resource testing by a design well. Throughout the Texas Coastal Plain, the 300°F isotherm generally occurs at depths ranging from 12,000 to 16,000 ft. The overlying geopressured sediments represent a substantial portion of the sedimentary column that contains significant quantities of entrained methane, making them a significant portion of the resource base (Gregory and others, 1980). The lower temperatures and pressures of these shallow geopressured sediments result in lower methane solubility, but drilling costs would be substantially lower, and perhaps reservoir quality would be better in comparison to the deep geopressured intervals. Although the latter condition has not been substantiated, several areas that are geologically favorable for testing shallow geopressured aquifers with temperatures less than 300°F were identified in a recently completed study (Weise and others, 1980) funded by the Gas Research Institute. The Blessing Prospect (fig. 1), one of the shallow prospects in Matagorda County, Texas, is presented in this prospectus as a candidate for the DOE design well program. The prospectus focuses on the geological and engineering aspects of the test site. Although legal and environmental considerations are mentioned, they have not been studied in detail and additional work would necessarily follow if the prospect is approved for drilling and testing. Likewise, a drilling program and an economic analysis would be necessary before final approval of a design well.Bureau of Economic Geolog

The 48-inch lidar aerosol measurements taken at the Langley Research Center

This report presents lidar data taken between July 1991 and December 1992 using a ground-based 48-inch lidar instrument at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Seventy lidar profiles (approximately one per week) were obtained during this period, which began less than 1 month after the eruption of the Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines. Plots of backscattering ratio as a function of altitude are presented for each data set along with tables containing numerical values of the backscattering ratio and backscattering coefficient versus altitude. The enhanced aerosol backscattering seen in the profiles highlights the influence of the Mount Pinatubo eruption on the stratospheric aerosol loading over Hampton. The long-term record of the profiles gives a picture of the evolution of the aerosol cloud, which reached maximum loading approximately 8 months after the eruption and then started to decrease gradually. NASA RP-1209 discusses 48-inch lidar aerosol measurements taken at the Langley Research Center from May 1974 to December 1987