Temperature sensitivity of Eppley broadband radiometers

Broadband radiometers manufactured by Eppley Laboratories Inc. are commonly used to measure irradiance from both ground-based and aircraft platforms. Namely, the pyranometer (Model PSP) measures irradiance in the .3 to 3.0 micron spectral region while the pyrgeometer (Model PIR) senses energy in the 4 to 50 micron region. The two instruments have a similar thermopile construction but different filters to achieve the appropriate spectral selection. During the fall of 1986, the First ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) Regional Experiment (FIRE) commenced with the first cirrus Intensive Field Observation (IFO) conducted in Central Wisconsin. Due to the nature of this field project, pyranometers and pyrgeometers manufactured by Eppley were flown on NCAR's high altitude research aircraft, the Sabreliner. Inherent in the construction of these radiometers is temperature compensation circuitry designed to make the instrument sensitivity nominally constant over a temperature range from -20 to +40 C. Because the Sabreliner flew at high altitudes where temperatures were as cold as -70 C, it was necessary to determine the radiometers relative sensitivity to temperatures below -20 C and apply appropriate corrections to the FIRE radiation data set. A procedure to perform this calibration is outlined. It is meant to serve as a supplement to calibration procedures

Radiative properties of cirrus clouds inferred from broadband measurements during FIRE

It is well known that clouds are significant modulators of weather and climate because of their effects on the radiation field and thus on the energy balance of the earth atmosphere system. As a result, the accurate prediction of weather and climate depends to a significant degree on the accuracy with which cloud radiation interactions can be described. The broadband radiative and microphysical properties of five cirrus cloud systems are reported, as observed from the NCAR Sabreliner during the FIRE first Cirrus IFO, in order to better understand cirrus cloud-radiation interactions. A broadband infrared (BBIR) radiative transfer model is used to deduce BBIR absorption coefficients in order to assess the impact of the cirrus clouds on infrared radiation. The relationships of these absorption coefficients to temperature and microphysical characteristics are explored

4-D Cloud Water Content Fields Derived from Operational Satellite Data

In order to improve operational safety and efficiency, the transportation industry, including aviation, has an urgent need for accurate diagnoses and predictions of clouds and associated weather conditions. Adverse weather accounts for 70% of all air traffic delays within the U.S. National Airspace System. The Federal Aviation Administration has determined that as much as two thirds of weather-related delays are potentially avoidable with better weather information and roughly 20% of all aviation accidents are weather related. Thus, it is recognized that an important factor in meeting the goals of the Next Generation Transportation System (NexGen) vision is the improved integration of weather information. The concept of a 4-D weather cube is being developed to address that need by integrating observed and forecasted weather information into a shared 4-D database, providing an integrated and nationally consistent weather picture for a variety of users and to support operational decision support systems. Weather analyses and forecasts derived using Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models are a critical tool that forecasters rely on for guidance and also an important element in current and future decision support systems. For example, the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) and the recently implemented Rapid Refresh (RR) Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) models provide high frequency forecasts and are key elements of the FAA Aviation Weather Research Program. Because clouds play a crucial role in the dynamics and thermodynamics of the atmosphere, they must be adequately accounted for in NWP models. The RUC, for example, cycles at full resolution five cloud microphysical species (cloud water, cloud ice, rain, snow, and graupel) and has the capability of updating these fields from observations. In order to improve the models initial state and subsequent forecasts, cloud top altitude (or temperature, T(sub c)) derived from operational satellite data, surface observations of cloud base altitude, radar reflectivity, and lightning data are used to help build and remove clouds in the models assimilation system. Despite this advance and the many recent advances made in our understanding of cloud physical processes and radiative effects, many problems remain in adequately representing clouds in models. While the assimilation of cloud top information derived from operational satellite data has merit, other information is available that has not yet been exploited. For example, the vertically integrated cloud water content (CWC) or cloud water path (CWP) and cloud geometric thickness (delta Z) are standard products being derived routinely from operational satellite data. These and other cloud products have been validated under a variety of conditions. Since the uncertainties have generally been found to be less than those found in model analyses and forecasts, the satellite products should be suitable for data assimilation, provided an appropriate strategy can be developed that links the satellite-derived cloud parameters with cloud parameters specified in the model. In this paper, we briefly outline such a strategy and describe a methodology to retrieve cloud water content profiles from operational satellite data. Initial results and future plans are presented. It is expected that the direct assimilation of this new product will provide the most accurate depiction of the vertical distribution of cloud water ever produced at the high spatial and temporal resolution needed for short term weather analyses and forecasts

Radiative properties of Cirrus clouds: FIRE IFO case October 28, 1986

A description of the radiative properties of two cirrus clouds sampled on 10/28/88 in the FIRE cirrus IFO is presented. The clouds are characterized in terms of the broadband infrared effective emittance, cloud fractional absorptance, shortwave heating rate, cloud albedo and vertical velocity. The broadband fluxes used in these calculations were obtained from measurements made by pyranometers and pyrgeometers. The shortwave irradiances were corrected to a horizontal plane and normalized to the same time by taking into account Sabreliner flight information (i.e., pitch, roll, heading and angle of attack), as well as sun-earth geometry considerations. Since only one aircraft was used, broadband fluxes at different levels in the cloud were not measured simultaneously. As a result, sampling errors may occur due to the nonsteady state of the cloud field or due to the possibility that the flight legs were not flown directly above or below each other. To minimize these errors and to simplify the analysis, the necessary variables were averaged and the averages used in the calculations. The downwelling shortwave and longwave irradiances were used as selection criteria to remove cloud free data encountered along the data sampling leg

Fusion of Surface Ceilometer Data and Satellite Cloud Retrievals in 2D Mesh Interpolating Model with Clustering

For accurate cloud ceiling information, a data fusion approach is proposed that utilizes satellite data to extend surface station information to much wider areas. Cloud base height (CBH) retrieved from satellite observations provides for much larger spatial coverage and higher resolution. The direct comparison of GOES-16 CBH with surface station ceiling yields a local bias that has to be corrected for in the initial GOES-16 cloud base information. This sparsely sampled bias correction presents an irregular 2D mesh of control points, which is then interpolated by constructing a continuous smooth field using polyharmonic splines. The influence of remote stations is restricted by grouping the control points into clusters depending on an effective distance. This cluster-based approach allows for constructing separate spline surfaces corresponding to physically different clouds. The obtained continuous bias correction function is then applied to the entire GOES-16 pixel level CBH except for areas far away from surface stations in data sparse regions such as offshore. The described method is currently being tested using daytime-only observations over the central and eastern United States. Overall, this approach has potential to provide more accurate, high spatial resolution cloud ceiling information for the aviation community

Effect of metal-complexing agents on the oxygenase activity of sheep vesicular glands

A variety of agents that are known to complex copper can reversibly inhibit the oxygenation of unsaturated fatty acids by particulate preparations from sheep vesicular glands. The time-dependent activation of the oxygenase preparation by phenol, on the other hand, was not affected by the copper chelator, diethyldithiocarbamate. The results suggest that protein-bound copper could play a role in the interaction of the oxygenase enzyme with oxygen and the fatty acid substrates. Other findings indicate that phenanthroline type compounds may inhibit both the oxygenation reaction and phenol activation by binding to an hydrophobic site on the oxygenase.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33775/1/0000028.pd

Method and Apparatus for Transferring a Person

A method and vehicle preferably a wheelchair (10) for transporting and transferring an invalid person is described. The wheelchair has first and second frames (12 and 48) with drive wheels (18) between which is provided a chair (82) or support (83). The first frame has top and bottom sliding mechanisms (34 and 36) which are mounted by I-beam extensions (38 and 40) to the bars (24 and 26) of the first frame. The second frame has top and bottom rails (54 and 56) which are slidably connected to the sliding mechanisms of the first frame. The rails have slots (78) through which extend the center portions (38C and 40C) of the extensions which allow the first frame to move along the length of the rails. The bottom rails have front wheels (60), intermediate wheels (68) and stabilizing wheels (70). The chair is connected to the second frame by belts (84) and ratchets (86) and has a lifting system (90). In use, the wheelchair is moved adjacent the open doorway (104) of the automotive vehicle (100) and the second frame with the chair and person are slid over the seat (102). As the second frame moves, the second frame tilts such that the intermediate wheels touch the ground surface (72). The seat is lowered using the ratchets and removed from the wheelchair

Structure-based Design of Broadly Neutralizing HCV Antibody and Vaccine

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronically infects nearly 200 million people worldwide. Antibodies have the potential to prevent establishment of chronic HCV infection in individuals exposed to the virus. Several broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies capable of binding HCV surface glycoproteins have been identified, including HCV1 identified by MassBiologics at UMMS, which targets a highly conserved linear epitope. We utilized the recently solved structure of the HCV1-bound epitope to identify regions of the antibody that could be modified to potentially improve binding to a mutation (N415K) which facilitates escape from neutralization. Based on systematic in silico mutagenesis of HCV1 residues in the Rosetta protein modeling program, a number of single or double antibody mutants were selected for in vitro evaluation. The mutated antibodies were synthesized and their ability to neutralize HCV pseudoviruses expressing either wild-type epitope sequence or the N415K variant was evaluated. Antibodies with mutations on the heavy chain, R65Q and V50L, demonstrated improved neutralizing activity against the N415K escape mutant without impacting their ability to neutralize wild type virus. We also sought to design a novel HCV vaccine that could focus the response to a small conserved neutralizing epitope of the virus defined by HCV1. The HCV1 epitope structure was used to search a large dataset of known protein structures from the Protein Data Bank, resulting in designs of scaffolds that were predicted to stably accommodate the epitope. These epitope-presenting scaffold proteins have been made and will be screened in animal studies to determine their potential as vaccine candidates for HCV prevention

Offshore Radiation Observations for Climate Research at the CERES Ocean Validation Experiment

When radiometers on a satellite are pointed towards the planet with the goal of understanding a phenomenon quantitatively, rather than just creating a pleasing image, the task at hand is often problematic. The signal at the detector can be affected by scattering, absorption, and emission; and these can be due to atmospheric constituents (gases, clouds, and aerosols), the earth's surface, and subsurface features. When targeting surface phenomena, the remote sensing algorithm needs to account for the radiation associated with the atmospheric constituents. Likewise, one needs to correct for the radiation leaving the surface, when atmospheric phenomena are of interest. Rigorous validation of such remote sensing products is a real challenge. In visible and near infrared wavelengths, the jumble of effects on atmospheric radiation are best accomplished over dark surfaces with fairly uniform reflective properties (spatial homogeneity) in the satellite instrument's field of view (FOV). The ocean's surface meets this criteria; land surfaces - which are brighter, more spatially inhomogeneous, and more changeable with time - generally do not. NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project has used this backdrop to establish a radiation monitoring site in Virginia's coastal Atlantic Ocean. The project, called the CERES Ocean Validation Experiment (COVE), is located on a rigid ocean platform allowing the accurate measurement of radiation parameters that require precise leveling and pointing unavailable from ships or buoys. The COVE site is an optimal location for verifying radiative transfer models and remote sensing algorithms used in climate research; because of the platform's small size, there are no island wake effects; and suites of sensors can be simultaneously trained both on the sky and directly on ocean itself. This paper describes the site, the types of measurements made, multiple years of atmospheric and ocean surface radiation observations, and satellite validation results

The Geographically Contiguous and Expanding Coastal Range of the Northern Curlytail Lizard (Leiocephalus carinatus armouri ) in Florida

We surveyed for the presence of the Northern Curlytail Lizard, Leiocephalus carinatus armouri, from Port Salerno, Martin County, FL, northward to the Indian River-Brevard county line to determine the extent to which this species occurs along the Florida East Coast. The geographic range of L. c. armouri appears to be uninterrupted along the coast from northern Broward County through Palm Beach County. The heavily modified coastal habitat provided this species with the open sunny conditions and cement analogues to the rocky substratum to which it is adapted. Its ubiquity, rate of geographic expansion, combined with its carnivorous habits and large body size, have long since set the stage for an extensive restructuring of the indigenous and exotic lizard fauna in a way that has not been seen since its initial establishment in Palm Beach County almost one-half century ago. Urban heat island effects notwithstanding, frost isotherms predict instability of populations north of Fort Pierce and just below Sarasota on the West Coast