Atmospheric Research 2012 Technical Highlights

NASA/TM–2013-217510 Atmospheric Research 2012 Technical Highlights <100 180 260 340 420 500> OZONE (DOBSON UNITS) July 2013 Cover Photo Captions UPPER LEFT HS3 Flight Tracks HS3 conducted seven flights of the environmental Global Hawk (GH) aircraft. The first flight was the ferry from Dryden to Wallops on September 6–7, during which time the GH flew along the outflow region of Hurricane Leslie. The next five flights were in Hurricane Nadine, the only storm to occur during the major portion of the deployment, but one that occurred virtually throughout the period. The last two flights, also in the Azores region on September 22–23 and 26–27, investigated Nadine’s interaction with an extratropical trough. Nadine re-intensified into a hurricane on September 28, 2012. The last flight consisted of two north-south tracks under the Aqua and NPP satellites. UPPER MIDDLE-RIGHT Ozone Hole Reduction The average area covered by the Antarctic ozone hole in 2012 was the second smallest in the last 20 years, according to data from NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites. Scientists attributed the change to warmer temperatures in the Antarctic’s lower stratosphere. In this comparison, the September 10, 2000 ozone hole (top) was the largest on record at 11.5 million square miles (29.9 million square kilometers). The average size of the 2012 ozone hole (bottom) was 6.9 million square miles (17.9 million square kilometers). LOWER LEFT Looking Into a Hurricane NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, or TRMM satellite, can measure rainfall rates and cloud heights in tropical cyclones, and was used to look into Hurricane Sandy on October 28, 2012. Owen Kelly of the Goddard’s Precipitation Processing System generated this image of Hurricane Sandy using TRMM data. LOWER RIGHT Dust on the Himalayas This Terra/MODIS image shows a major dust outbreak over South Asia on June 9, 2003. The outbreak led to dust-capped snow surfaces that darkened the western Himalayan snow (highlighted in red) as a result of absorbing the aerosol deposits. This could accelerate snowmelt and thereby potentially affecting the cryospheric reservoirs of the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau. Consequently, this snow albedo reduction may lead to a warmer regional climate with possible impacts on the summer monsoon circulation and rainfall distribution, and therefore, the overall hydrological cycle of southern and eastern Asia. Notice for Copyrighted Information This manuscript is a work of the United States Government authored as part of the official duties of employee(s) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. No copyright is claimed in the United States under Title 17, U.S. Code. All other rights are reserved by the United States Government. Any publisher accepting this manuscript for publication acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to prepare derivative works, publish, or reproduce this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. Trade names and trademarks are used in this report for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Level of Review: This material has been technically reviewed by technical management. NASA/TM–2013-217510 Atmospheric Research 2011 Technical Highlights National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 July 2013 NASA STI Program ... in Profile Since its founding, NASA has been dedicated to the • CONFERENCE PUBLICATION. Collected advancement of aeronautics and space science. 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Available from: NASA Center for AeroSpace Information National Technical Information Service 7115 Standard Drive 5285 Port Royal Road Hanover, MD 21076-1320 Springfield, VA 22161 Price Code: A17 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 Dear Reader: Welcome to the Atmospheric Research 2012 Atmospheric Research Highlights report. This report, as before, is intended for a broad audience. Our readers include colleagues within NASA, scientists outside the Agency, science graduate students, and members of the general public. Inside are descriptions of atmospheric research science highlights and summaries of our education and outreach accomplishments for calendar year 2012. The report covers research activities from the Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Laboratory, the Climate and Radiation Laboratory, the Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory, and the Wallops Field Support Office under the Office of Deputy Director for Atmospheres, Earth Sciences Division in the Sciences and Exploration Directorate of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The overall mission of the office is “advancing knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere.” Satellite missions, field campaigns, peer-reviewed publications, and successful proposals are essential to our continuing research. The following are some noteworthy events that took place during 2012. Congratulations to Paul Newman and Scott Braun for a successful Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) campaign that demonstrated a new way gather difficult-to-obtain measurements of wind speeds, precipitation, and cloud structures in and around tropical storms. HS3 used autonomously operated instruments on unmanned aircraft capable of flying for much longer periods of time than manned aircraft, thus allowing for collection of that was previously difficult to obtain. Scientists hope to use that data to gain new insights into how tropical storms form and, more importantly, how storms intensify into major Atlantic hurricanes— information that forecasters need to make better storm predictions, save lives. Kudos to the PMM science team for advancing the ability of the TRMM satellite to measure rainfall rates and cloud heights in tropical cyclones, and to Owen Kelly, the TRMM Precipitation Processing System Scientist, for creating the spectacular image to look into Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 28, 2012 (shown on cover). The TRMM radar data revealed a Category-1 hurricane comprised of a super-sized rainband that extended to the west and north of the center with vigorous storm cells. The cells eventually merged and with an impending extratropical storm and became invigorated, thus creating the most destructive hurricane to hit the northeastern Atlantic seaboard and the second most costly Atlantic hurricane on record, behind only Hurricane Katrina. Atmospheric scientists played key roles in numerous field campaigns other than HS3. These include validation and calibration of remote sensing techniques for snowfall in Canada (GPCEx); measurement of water vapor from Raman lidar in western Ontario (AlVICE); observations of aerosol-cloud interactions in Southeast Asia (7-SEAS); GPM ground validation studies in the Mediterranean; and Hydrology in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX). Atmospheric

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