Brian C. Hicks

Increases in middle atmospheric water vapor as observed by the Halogen Occultation Experiment and the ground‐based Water Vapor Millimeter‐Wave Spectrometer from 1991 to 1997

Water vapor measurements made by the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) from 1991 to 1997 are compared with ground-based observations by the Water Vapor Millimeter-wave Spectrometers (WVMS) taken from 1992 to 1997 at Table Mountain, California (34.4°N, 242.3°E), and at Lauder, New Zealand (45.0°S, 169.7°E). The HALOE measurements show that an upward trend in middle atmospheric water vapor is present at all latitudes. The average trend in the HALOE water vapor retrievals at all latitudes in the 40–60 km range is 0.129 ppmv/yr, while the average trend observed by the WVMS instruments in this altitude range is 0.148 ppmv/yr. This trend is occurring below the altitude where changes in Lyman α associated with solar cycle variations should produce a significant increase in water vapor during this period, and is much larger than the ∼0.02 ppmv/yr trend in water vapor associated with increases in methane entering the stratosphere. In addition to the water vapor increase, HALOE measurements show that there is a temporal decrease in methane at altitudes between 40 and 70 km. This indicates an increase in the conversion of the available methane to water vapor, thus contributing to the observed increase in water vapor. The increase in water vapor observed by both instruments is larger than that which would be expected from the sum of all of the above effects. We therefore conclude that there has been a significant increase in the amount of water vapor entering the middle atmosphere. A temperature increase of ∼0.1 K/yr in regions of stratosphere-troposphere exchange could increase the saturation mixing ratio of water vapor by an amount consistent with the observed increase.

The LWA1 Radio Telescope

LWA1 is a new radio telescope operating in the frequency range 10-88 MHz, located in central New Mexico. The telescope consists of 258 pairs of dipole-type antennas whose outputs are individually digitized and formed into beams. Simultaneously, signals from all dipoles can be recorded using one of the instruments “all dipoles” modes, facilitating all-sky imaging. Notable features of the instrument include high intrinsic sensitivity (≈ 6 kJy zenith system equivalent flux density), large instantaneous bandwidth (up to 78 MHz), and four independently steerable beams utilizing digital “true time delay” beamforming. This paper summarizes the design of LWA1 and its performance as determined in commissioning experiments. We describe the method currently in use for array calibration, and report on measurements of sensitivity and beamwidth.

Measurements of water vapor in the middle atmosphere and implications for mesospheric transport

We present data obtained during more than 3 years of nearly continuous measurements of middle atmospheric water vapor. The data are obtained from ground-based measurements at 22 GHz taken at two sites, one in each hemisphere, using the Naval Research Laboratory water vapor millimeter-wave spectrometer (WVMS). With the construction of a second instrument, it has been possible to maintain continuous monitoring from both sites since January 1994. The measurements from both instruments show significant seasonal variability. There is a clear annual cycle, with the water vapor above ∼60 km increasing in summer and decreasing in winter. The observed amplitude of the annual oscillation is larger at 45.0°S than at 34.4°N, a result which is qualitatively consistent with the higher latitude of the southern hemisphere site. There is also an indication of a semiannual cycle, particularly at altitudes near 80 km. The annual cycle is consistent with transport due primarily to advection, while the weaker semiannual cycle may be indicative of the effect of gravity waves on diffusive transport.

A comparative study of mesospheric water vapor measurements from the ground-based water vapor millimeter-wave spectrometer and space-based instruments

We compare water vapor measurements from the Naval Research Laboratory ground-based Water Vapor Millimeter-wave Spectrometer (WVMS) instruments with measurements taken by five space-based instruments. For coincident measurements the retrievals from all of the instruments show qualitatively similar altitude profiles. The retrieved mixing ratios from most instruments generally differ from an average calculated using retrievals from all of the instruments by <1 ppmv at most altitudes from 40 km to 80 km. Comparisons with the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) allow for the validation of observed temporal variations. The observed variations show similar annual and semiannual cycles. A comparison of several years of data from HALOE and WVMS also shows that the instruments are detecting similar interannual variations. A regression analysis of the WVMS and HALOE data sets shows that the observed variability is consistent within the estimated errors in the mesosphere and that in the upper stratosphere, where the natural variability is small, there is a positive correlation between the WVMS and the HALOE data.

Water vapor measurements in the mesosphere from Mauna Loa over solar cycle 23

[1] The Water Vapor Millimeter-wave Spectrometer (WVMS) system has been making measurements from the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change site at Mauna Loa, Hawaii (19.5N, 204.4E), since 1996, covering nearly the complete period of solar cycle 23. The WVMS measurements are compared with Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) (1992–2005), Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) (2004 to present), and Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) Fourier transform spectrometer (2004 to present) measurements in the mesosphere. In the upper mesosphere Lyman a radiation photodissociates water vapor; hence, water vapor in the upper mesosphere varies with the solar cycle. We calculate fits to the WVMS and HALOE water vapor data in this region using the Lasp Interactive Solar Irradiance Datacenter Lyman a data set. This is, to our knowledge, the only published validation of the sensitivity of HALOE water vapor measurements to the solar cycle, and the HALOE and WVMS water vapor measurements show a very similar sensitivity to the solar cycle. Once the solar cycle variations are taken into account, the primary water vapor variations at all of these altitudes from 1992 to the present are an increase from 1992 to 1996, a maximum in water vapor in 1996, and small changes from 1997 to the present. Measurements from 2004 to 2008, which are available from WVMS, MLS, and ACE, show not only good agreement in interannual variations but also excellent agreement in their absolute measurements (to within better than 3%) of the water vapor mixing ratio from 50 to 80 km.

A comparison of middle atmospheric water vapor as measured by WVMS, EOS‐MLS, and HALOE

[1] We compare middle atmospheric water vapor measurements from the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE), Water Vapor Mm-wave Spectrometer (WVMS), and Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instruments from 40 to 70 km. The ground-based WVMS measurements shown here were taken at Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) sites at Mauna Loa, Hawaii (19.5°N, 204.4°E), and Lauder, New Zealand (45.0°S, 169.7°E). A comparison of measurements where HALOE, MLS, and WVMS are all available shows that the average HALOE water vapor retrievals are lower than those from MLS at all altitudes from 40 to 70 km and lower than the WVMS retrievals everywhere except above 64 km at Lauder. The average difference between all coincident WVMS and MLS water vapor profiles is within 0.2 ppmv over almost the entire 40-70 km altitude range, both at Lauder and Mauna Loa. The standard deviation of the difference between weekly WVMS retrievals and coincident MLS retrievals is ∼0.2 ppmv at Mauna Loa and ∼0.3-0.4 ppmv at Lauder. The interannual correlation between water vapor observed by MLS and WVMS is slightly improved by the use of MLS temperature measurements in the WVMS retrievals. The MLS and WVMS profiles at Mauna Loa show particularly good interannual agreement, including a clear QBO signature.

Measurements of middle atmospheric water vapor from low latitudes and midlatitudes in the northern hemisphere, 1995–1998

We present middle atmospheric water vapor measurements made at 22 GHz using two Naval Research Laboratory Water Vapor Millimeter-wave Spectrometers (WVMS2 and WVMS3). We include measurements from an intercomparison campaign at Table Mountain, California (34.4°N, 242.3°E), and measurements obtained since March 1996 from Table Mountain and from Mauna Loa, Hawaii (19.5°N, 204.4°E). The mesospheric data from Mauna Loa show both a mixing ratio peak at a higher altitude and smaller seasonal variations than those from the WVMS instrument at Table Mountain. These differences are qualitatively consistent with the changes in mixing ratio and the increase in mesospheric variability expected with decreasing latitude. The latitudinal variation in the mixing ratio profile observed in the WVMS data is very similar to that observed by the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere. The WVMS measurements generally show higher water vapor mixing ratios than HALOE does in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere but smaller mixing ratios in the upper mesosphere. The winter of 1997–1998 shows an unusually large decrease in mesospheric water vapor, a result that is consistent with measurements from HALOE throughout the Northern Hemisphere for this winter. There appears to be a slight overall decrease in water vapor for all seasons over the period of the WVMS observations from Mauna Loa. The relatively small seasonal variations, combined with the small amount of tropospheric water vapor above Mauna Loa, make this an ideal site for the monitoring of multiyear trends in water vapor.

Observations of Crab Giant Pulses in 20-84 MHz using LWA1

We report the detection and observed characteristics of giant pulses from the Crab Nebula pulsar (B0531+21) in four frequency bands covering 20-84 MHz using the recently completed Long Wavelength Array Station 1 (LWA1) radio telescope. In 10 hr of observations distributed over a 72 day period in fall of 2012, 33 giant pulses having peak flux densities between 400 Jy and 2000 Jy were detected. Twenty-two of these pulses were detected simultaneously in channels of 16 MHz bandwidth centered at 44 MHz, 60 MHz, and 76 MHz, including one pulse which was also detected in a channel centered at 28 MHz. We quantify statistics of pulse amplitude and pulse shape characteristics, including pulse broadening. Amplitude statistics are consistent with expectations based on extrapolations from previous work at higher and lower frequencies. Pulse broadening is found to be relatively high, but not significantly greater than expected. We present procedures that have been found to be effective for observing giant pulses in this frequency range.

ASTROCAM: An Offner Re-imaging 1024 x 1024 InSb Camera for Near-Infrared Astrometry on the USNO 1.55-m Telescope

In order to extend the US Naval Observatory (USNO) small-angle astrometric capabilities to near infrared wavelengths we have designed and manufactured a 1024 x 1024 InSb re-imaging infrared camera equipped with an array selected from the InSb ALADDIN (Advanced Large Area Detector Development in InSb) development program and broadband and narrowband 0.8 - 3.8 μm filters. Since the USNO 1.55-m telescope is optimized for observations at visible wavelengths with an oversized secondary mirror and sky baffles, the straylight rejection capabilities of the ASTROCAM Lyot stop and baffles are of critical importance for its sensitivity and flat- fielding capabilities. An Offner relay was chosen for the heart of the system and was manufactured from the same melt of aluminum alloy to ensure homologous contraction from room temperature to 77 K. A blackened cone was installed behind the undersized hole (the Lyot stop) in the Offner secondary. With low distortion, a well-sampled point spread function, and a large field of view, the system is well suited for astrometry. It is telecentric, so any defocus will not result in a change of image scale. The DSP-based electronics allow readout of the entire array with double-correlated sampling in 0.19 seconds, but shorter readout is possible with single sampling or by reading out only small numbers of subarrays. In this paper we report on the optical, mechanical, and electronic design of the system and present images and results on the sensitivity and astrometric stability obtained with the system, now operating routinely at the 1.55-m telescope with a science-grade ALADDIN array.

Probing Jovian decametric emission with the long wavelength array station 1

New observations of Jupiters decametric radio emissions have been made with the Long Wavelength Array Station 1 (LWA1) which is capable of making high quality observations as low as 11 MHz. Full Stokes parameters were determined for bandwidths of 16 MHz. Here we present the first LWA1 results for the study of six Io-related events at temporal resolutions as fine as 0.25 ms. LWA1 data show excellent spectral detail in Jovian DAM such as simultaneous left hand circular (LHC) and right hand circular (RHC) polarized Io-related arcs and source envelopes, modulation lane features, S-bursts structures, narrow band N-events, and interactions between S-bursts and N-events. The sensitivity of the LWA1 combined with the low radio frequency interference environment allow us to trace the start of the LHC Io-C source region to much earlier CMLIII than typically found in the literature. We find the Io-C starts as early as CMLIII = 230 degrees at frequencies near 11 MHz. This early start of the Io-C emission may be valuable for refining models of the emission mechanism. We also detect modulation lane structures that appear continuous across LHC and RHC emissions, suggesting that both polarizations may originate from the same hemisphere of Jupiter. We present a study of rare S-bursts detected during an Io-D event and show drift rates are consistent with those from other Io-related sources. Finally, S-N burst events are seen in high spectral and temporal resolution and our data strongly support the co-spatial origins of these events.