Charles A. Barth
Memorial Symposium
Program
May 15, 2015
CU-LASP, Boulder, Colorado
Charles A. Barth Memorial Symposium
May 15, 2015
University of Colorado-LASP, 3665, Discovery Drive, Boulder, Colorado
Space Science (SPSC) Building, Room W120
Welcome
The symposium includes invited and contributed talks on topics to which Barth made significant
contributions, including Earth and planetary atmospheres, UV spectroscopy, rocket studies, solar
UV irradiance, Nitric Oxide, mission operations, student and PI-led missions. Given Barth’s long
commitment to education, we solicited talks and posters from current students, former Barth
students, and students of his former students. The symposium closes with a dinner and
recognition of the first Barth Scholarship recipient. (Attendees will be able to make contributions
to the Barth Scholarship fund at the dinner.)
Invited talks are 20 minutes for each presentation plus five minutes for discussion. Contributed
talks are 10 minutes plus two minutes for discussion. Posters will be up all day and attended
from 4:15 to 4:45 during coffee break.
The Organizing Committee
Chair, Larry Esposito and members Scott Bailey, Fran Bagenal, Mary Barth, Frank Eparvier,
Amanda Hendrix, Bill Possel, Dave Rusch, Karen Simmons and Tom Woods.
Table of Contents
WELCOME ................................................................................................................................................. 1 SCHEDULE ................................................................................................................................................. 2 ABSTRACTS ............................................................................................................................................... 4 Invited Talks ............................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Contributed Talks – Barth legacy .................................................................................................................................. 6 Contributed Talks – Barth Legacy, Nitric Oxide ................................................................................................... 11 Posters ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 LASP WIRELESS ACCESS .................................................................................................................... 15 DINNER AND SCHOLARSHIP AWARD............................................................................................. 15 1
Schedule
Friday May 15
Check-in
8:30-9:00am
Invited Talks
9:00
(Chair: Larry W. Esposito)
Welcome
Housekeeping
Nitric oxide in the upper atmosphere:
The current understanding as provided
by Charles Barth and colleagues
Rocket studies of the atmosphere
Ultraviolet spectroscopy of planets
Coffee break
10:45-11:00
Student involvement in PI-led mission
operations
The vision, development and success of the
Solar Mesosphere Explorer
From Lyman-alpha photons to operational
space weather: a legacy of Charles A.
Barth
(Load presentations)
Larry W. Esposito
Laura Bloom
Scott Bailey
Philip Eberspeaker
Paul Feldman
(Load presentations)
Bill Possel
Gary Rottman
Kent Tobiska
Group Photo
12:15pm
Gather out front of building
Lunch
12:30-1:30
Buffet (Load presentations)
Contributed Talks: Barth Legacy
(Chair: Frank Eparvier)
Thunderstorms and atmospheric chemistry
Considerations of radiative transfer
The legacy of a LASP sounding rocket
training
Using underwater robotic gliders to explore
and understand our planet ocean
Ultraviolet characteristics of moons in the
Solar System
The role of vehicle automation and
intelligent transportation systems in
sustainable transportation: Issues
and research opportunities
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Mary Barth
Bill Sharp
Don Hassler
Jack Barth
Amanda Hendrix
Matthew Barth
Coffee break
2:45 – 3:00
(Chair: Scott Bailey)
Charles Barth: Through the eyes of a
frequent visitor to LASP
My experience with Charlie Barth and his
Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME)
project: cheaper, faster, good enough
Observations of Mercury’s exosphere from
MESSENGER’s MASCS-UVVS
Ultraviolet remote sensing for the DoD –
a legacy of Charles Barth
MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph
and the legacy of Charles Barth
Feedbacks in the climate structure that set
the timescale for irreversible change:
Coupling climate forcing and catalytic
chemistry
(Load presentations)
Poster Session and Coffee Break
(Chair: Fran Bagenal)
(Load presentations)
4:15 – 4:45
Contributed Talks: Barth Legacy, Nitric Oxide
(Chair: Amanda Hendrix)
Preparing for discovery: The scientific roots of
Charles A. Barth
The other side of NO; Nitric oxide in
the infrared
Contribution of chemical processes to
infrared emissions from nitric oxide in
the thermosphere
Adjourn
5:30
DINNER
Cash bar mingle 6:30, dinner 7pm
6:30
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John Olivero
James Stuart
Aimee Merkel
Bob McCoy
Nick Schneider
Jim Anderson
Justin Yonker
Jeremy Winick
Karthik Venkataramani
Hotel Boulderado-Columbine
Room
Abstracts
Invited Talks
Nitric oxide in the upper atmosphere: The current understanding as provided by Charles
Barth and colleagues
S. M. Bailey, J. N. Yonker, and K. Venkataramani
Nitric Oxide (NO) is one of the most important species of the upper atmosphere. As a catalytic destroyer of ozone,
the importance of NO to stratospheric chemistry has long been recognized. Interest in this role has increased in
recent years as large amounts of thermospheric NO have been observed to descend to the stratosphere and impact
ozone there. NO is an efficient radiator in the infrared and thus provides a key source of cooling in the
thermosphere. Because its formation is caused by the highly variable solar energy sources, soft X-rays and solar
energetic particles, the abundance and radiance of NO has been used as indicators of solar energy deposition. NO
also provides the terminal ion in the lower ionosphere. One other relevant attribute of NO in the upper atmosphere is
that it held the interest of Charles Barth for the entirety of his career. As a graduate student he studied the pioneering
work of Marcel Nicolet who recognized early the importance NO might hold. Later, just before moving to Colorado,
Charles Barth made the first observations of NO in the upper atmosphere and made the then surprising discovery of
large NO abundances. For more than four decades following, Barth, his students, and even some of their students,
through further observations and modeling, unraveled the physics of NO. In this talk we discuss the understanding
illuminated primarily by Charles Barth and colleagues. We focus on current studies of NO and why NO remains and
important topic of observations and modeling.
__________________________________________________
Rocket studies of the atmosphere
P. Eberspeaker
Chief, NASA Sounding Rockets Program Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Wallops Flight Facility
The NASA Sounding Rockets Program has had, and is still creating, a long and exciting history of support for
atmospheric research using suborbital rockets. The history of rocket borne atmospheric research actually predates
the NASA Sounding Rockets Program. Early experiments attempted by Robert Goddard in 1929, and the eventual
conversion of captured V2 “vengeance” weapons into atmospheric research vehicles in 1949 marked the beginning
of atmospheric research at very high altitudes. Aerobee rockets emerged on the scene in the early 1960’s when they
were used to conduct aeronomy and ionospheric research. The NASA sounding rockets program emerged from
these early programs and is now capable of pushing the boundaries of “atmospheric” research to heights of 1,400 km
or more. This briefing will summarize a small sampling of missions over the years with the intent to demonstrate the
varied types of atmospheric research that has been conducted using sounding rockets. It will also address how the
capabilities have evolved over the years to enable new atmospheric research to be conducted. Simple air samplers
gave way to single instruments, and missions flying a single instrument evolved into missions with multiple
detectors. Now, missions involve simultaneous, multi-point measurements with multiple payloads and data links
exceeding 20 mb/sec. Higher resolution measurements and more complex missions are envisioned that will
challenge the capabilities of the NASA Sounding Rockets Program. Swarms of ejected chemical tracer subpayloads
and small rocket propelled instrumented subpayloads are just two of many concepts that will continue to expand the
rich history of rocket borne atmospheric research.
__________________________________________________
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Ultraviolet spectroscopy of planets
P. D. Feldman
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
The talk will focus on the early days of robotic planetary exploration. The collaboration between Charles Barth and
William G. Fastie, of the Johns Hopkins University, led to the development of the robust Ebert-Fastie scanning
monochromator that flew on several Mariner missions to Mars and opened up the rich field of ultraviolet
spectroscopy of planetary atmospheres. Subsequent missions to all of the planets led to the development of
improved lightweight spectroscopic instrumentation and the training of a generation of planetary spectroscopists.
__________________________________________________
Student involvement in PI-led mission operations
B. Possel
Director, Mission Operations and Data Systems, LASP
LASP is world renowned for its space research and space engineering, and especially for its deep involvement of
undergraduate and graduate students in all aspects of its endeavors. At the core of this remarkable space engineering
framework exists a remarkable hands-on educational training program. LASP integrates students into all facets:
conception, design, development, testing, integration, and operation of space systems. Students acquire a more
profound training experience than they could ever hope to obtain in a classroom alone. The shining jewel at LASP is
the Flight Operations student program. LASP is unique in the world as a research university institute that has, for
more than three decades, integrated students into the operations of flying NASA spacecraft. LASP began operating
spacecraft with student support in 1981. Today we operate Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT), SOlar Radiation and
Climate Experiment (SORCE), Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM), and the Kepler spacecraft searching for
planets around other stars. With the current missions, LASP is responsible for operating over a billion dollars of onorbit space hardware. Today, student operators, in partnership with their professionals, send the commands and
monitor the health of on-board systems from the satellites and their instruments. More than 150 students have gone
through this unique program. LASP students are highly sought after by NASA, DoD, NOAA, and aerospace
contractors. LASP’s innovative educational program is generating strong engineering leaders with several years of
hands-on spacecraft operations experience before they enter the workforce.
__________________________________________________
The vision, development and success of the Solar Mesosphere Explorer
G. Rottman
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder (retired)
The Solar Mesosphere Explorer, SME, was launched thirty-four years ago and operated successfully for over seven
years. The Mission was a LASP/University of Colorado response to a 1974 NASA Announcement of Opportunity.
Dr. Charles Barth led a team of scientists and engineers who developed this low cost, fast response, and highly
successful program. The satellite carried five instruments and made major contributions to our understanding of
atmospheric science with special emphasis on ozone processes. Dr. Barth’s vision and leadership introduced new
and unique concepts for managing and operating small satellites. The Mission Operations were conducted from the
University — the first time NASA allowed MOS anywhere other than a NASA Center. Students made major
contributions to all aspects of the program — science, engineering and operations — and they used their SME
experience as a steppingstone to future careers. This talk emphasizes the SME science plan and scientific results,
while sharing special moments and achievements of the entire program.
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From Lyman-alpha photons to operational space weather: a legacy of Charles A. Barth
W. K. Tobiska
President and Chief Scientist. Space Environment Technologies
Charles A. Barth was an exemplary scientist. He was able to not only uniquely develop tools for obtaining a
fundamental understanding of scientific problems but was able to apply those tools in a way that showed us new
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insights into fundamental science topics. In Donald Stokes’ paradigm of Pasteur's Quadrant, Barth was a Bohr-level
scientist who enabled Pasteur and Edison-type advances in our society. My own experience with Barth started as a
graduate student working with the Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME) satellite – the first University-led NASA
mission that not only made history by bringing students into the process of creating science and engineering space
history, but allowed discoveries of solar and upper atmosphere processes that helped our global society reverse the
destruction of the atmosphere by human-made ozone. Barth’s supervision of my own dissertation work on solar
irradiance modeling, atmospheric physics and satellite orbits provided me with a solid scientific foundation in space
physics. However, his out-of-the-box world-view inspired me to apply space physics knowledge toward solving
major problems on Earth. While I participated in a decade of fundamental and applied scientific research at NOAA
Space Environment Laboratory (SEL), University of California Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) and the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) during the 1990s, I found myself, as many did at the beginning of the 21st Century,
with a new interest – space weather. It was an arena in which scientific research could build fundamental
understanding as well as provide benefit to society. With the formation of Space Environment Technologies in 2001,
we helped move from a world of simply trying to understand space physics into a universe where science-driven
knowledge provides operational solutions to government, academic, industry, and consumer sectors. Our goal is to
use space assets for improving life on Earth. The current state of operational space weather applied to areas such as
helping satellites avoid collisions with debris, retaining communication links under disrupted ionosphere conditions,
and providing commercial air crew members a way to manage their radiation exposure risk from galactic cosmic
rays and solar proton events will be described in this talk as one of the legacies left by Charles A. Barth.
Contributed Talks – Barth legacy
Thunderstorms and atmospheric chemistry
M. C. Barth
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
Results from the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) field experiment are presented to illustrate how
thunderstorms affect atmospheric chemistry. By using ground-based radars, lightning mapping arrays, weather
balloon soundings and three aircraft during DC3, we were able to characterize storm properties as well as the
composition of the inflow and outflow regions of a variety of thunderstorms in northeast Colorado, West Texas to
central Oklahoma, and northern Alabama. A unique aspect of the DC3 strategy was to locate and sample the
convective outflow a day after active convection in order to measure the chemical transformations within the UT
convective plume. The DC3 data analyses show that severe thunderstorms are often an avenue for exchange of water
vapor and trace gases between the troposphere and stratosphere. The storms sampled removed some, but not all,
soluble trace gases that are key ingredients for producing ozone in the upper troposphere where ozone acts as a
greenhouse gas. By combining measurements of lightning, storm properties, and nitrogen oxides concentrations,
estimates of the amount of nitrogen oxides produced per lightning flash range from 100-400 moles NO per flash and
suggest that this production depends on the lightning flash extent. Measurements downwind of these storms during
the next day showed ozone production to be 15-20 ppbv over a 10 or so hour period.
__________________________________________________
Considerations of radiative transfer
W. E. Sharp
Sharp Technologies LLC, Ann Arbor, Michigan
In the summer of 1968 I took a directed study from Dr. Barth on the airglow and aurora. For a portion of this study,
Dr. Barth explained the importance of radiative transfer (RT) in planetary atmospheres as well as the sun and stars.
His lucid explanation of the RT equation along with its emission and absorption functions I found challenging. 45
years later I had occasion to consider these equations when I was contracted by NASA/LaRC to examine the impact
of the 1.27 micron airglow from O2(a1Δg) on a laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS) experiment being designed for a
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space based mission to deduce the dry atmospheric surface pressure from a molecular oxygen column content
measurement. This quantity is necessary to finding CO2 mixing ratio columns from space when a simultaneous
measurement using LAS of CO2 number density column is also performed. The presence of a permanent but
spatially variable natural source of airglow from the O2(1Δ) state, from which daytime ozone can be deduced as
LASP’s SME satellite ably demonstrated, as well as the upwelling surface-reflected solar radiation in the 1.27
micron region are complicating factors in the LAS O2 measurement. In addition, the laser radiation can induce
stimulated emission from the ambient O2(1Δ) state and also cause stimulated absorption and emission from the
ground state O2 molecules as the laser beam passes through the atmosphere. The effects of these additional radiation
sources on the LAS measurement of O2 are examined. The surface-reflected solar radiation produces the largest
background at 3 orders of magnitude more intense than the laser backscatter signal, while the airglow is of the same
order of magnitude as the laser backscatter. Both are slowly varying and can be easily discriminated using a code
modulated CW laser. However, the stimulated emission from ambient O2(a1Δg) is found to be about the same order
of magnitude as the laser radiation. Since the stimulated emission is in the same direction and in phase with the laser
signal, its contamination of the LAS O2 measurement prevents a determination of surface pressure in sunlight1. Time
permitting, an estimate of the contamination by 762 nm radiation from the b1S state will also be discussed where
that state is used for the O2 column measurement.
1
Sharp, William E., T. Scott Zaccheo, Edward V. Browell, Syed Ismail, Jeremy T. Dobler, and Edward J.
Llewellyn, Impact of ambient O2(a1Δg) on satellite-based laser remote sensing of O2 columns using absorption lines
in the 1.27Δµm region (2014), J. Geophys. Res., 119, 12, 7757–7772 , 27 June. DOI: 10.1002/2013JD021324
__________________________________________________
The legacy of a LASP sounding rocket training
D. Hassler
Director, Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France
The leadership of Charles Barth and his commitment to both education and pushing the limits of sounding rocket
and space technology has provided LASP with a long line of alumni that received their initial training in Boulder.
Having received a PhD in Physics at CU, but my sounding rocket training at LASP during the late 1980s has opened
doors for me, and molded my philosophy of the way in which student training (both undergraduate and graduate)
can be successfully combined with flying sounding rockets and building space flight hardware. I believe this
paradigm is still valid, and as important today as it was when I was at LASP. In this talk, I will talk about my
experiences at LASP, during the days of Charlie Barth, and how these experiences have molded and guided my
career and my direction since then, from being PI of my own UV sounding rocket program to PI of an instrument on
the Mars Science Laboratory.
__________________________________________________
Using underwater robotic gliders to explore and understand our planet ocean
J. Barth
Professor and Associate Dean for Research, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State
University
Autonomous underwater robots are now being used to explore and understand Earth’s coastal oceans due to
advances in small, low-power sensors and computers, GPS, and satellite cell phone communication. For nearly a
decade, we have flown underwater gliders in Oregon’s coastal ocean, covering over 60,000 km, in an effort to
understand a variety of physical oceanographic and ocean ecosystem phenomena. Of particular interest is the
increasing occurrence of low-oxygen zones, where dissolved oxygen concentrations can become low enough to
harm marine organisms (hypoxia) and, on occasion, reach zero (anoxia). Low-oxygen zones negatively impact
coastal ocean ecosystems, leading to the absence of fish and invertebrate die-offs. Underwater glider data help us to
understand the temporal and spatial distributions of dissolved oxygen off Oregon. For present day offshore dissolved
oxygen concentrations, hypoxia near the coast during summer is observed about 50% of the time. Given the recent
declining trend in offshore dissolved oxygen concentrations, in 50 years the frequency of hypoxia near the coast is
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predicted to be about 90%. Underwater gliders and other autonomous robots are now being used routinely to explore
and understand our planet ocean.
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Ultraviolet characteristics of moons in the Solar System
A. Hendrix
Planetary Science Institute
With Earth-orbiting telescopes such as the International Ultraviolet Explorer and the Hubble Space Telescope,
significant advances have been made in the area of ultraviolet observations of solar system objects. More in-depth
studies have been made using interplanetary probes such as Galileo and Cassini. While the UV spectral range has
traditionally been used to study atmospheric and auroral processes, there is much to be learned by examining solid
surfaces in the UV, including surface composition, weathering processes and effects, and the generation of thin
atmospheres. Here we focus on moons in the solar system, including Earth’s moon and the Galilean and Saturnian
satellites.
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The role of vehicle automation and intelligent transportation systems in sustainable
transportation: issues and research opportunities
M. Barth
Yeager Families Chair, Director, Center for Environmental Research and Technology. Professor, Electrical and
Computer Engineering, University of California-Riverside, 1084 Columbia Avenue, Riverside, CA 92507
There has been an increased emphasis worldwide on sustainable transportation in recent years, with the drive to
improve vehicle fuel economy and to reduce CO2 emissions from the transportation sector. Most of this effort is
being applied at the vehicle level, where a variety of technology is being developed to improve overall vehicle fuel
efficiency. To a lesser extent, programs are going into place to reduce the amount of driving and to improve overall
transportation system efficiency. Intelligent transportation system technology can certainly play a major role in these
areas, including the introduction of connected and automated vehicles, intelligent navigation systems, eco-friendly
traffic light signalization, and multi-modal traffic management. This presentation will discuss the complex issues
and trade-offs with eco-friendly transportation systems, describe some of the latest work on how connected and
automated vehicles can reduce fuel consumption and vehicle emissions, and identify many research opportunities in
this field.
__________________________________________________
Charles Barth: Through the eyes of a frequent visitor to LASP
J. Olivero
Director, Center for Space & Atmospheric Research, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
These are the personal recollections and impressions of an aeronomer who visited LASP frequently over the past 32years. Charles Barth played a key role in enabling these extended collaborations. I am happy to share my memories
of Charles as a scientist, a leader, and as a man.
__________________________________________________
My experience with Charlie Barth and his Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME) project:
cheaper, faster, good enough
J. Stuart
Dr. James R. Stuart, CEO [or might use Chief Executive Officer], Space Tug Corp.
This Powerpoint will emphasize Charlie Barth’s critical decisions/thumbprints while telling the achievement story of
how Charlie and his SME project succeeded and got CU/LASP in the Mission Ops business, changed Ball and
GSFC projects development/execution, changed the NASA/JPL planetary program and changed my career.
Charlie arranged to have SME Phase B (design and costing) moved from GSFC to JPL when GSFC was overloaded
(≥ 20 Explorer AO7 phase B’s needed to be completed/competed for downselect to just few). Charlie worked the
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JPL management to get, instead of the usual career study lead, a young, eager Phase B leader. Sidebar: I had been at
JPL for only 5-6 years, was a systems engineer on Mariner’71 and Viking (got burned out doing Viking mission ops
transit to Mars – green/white screens in hexadecimal). I asked Tom Young and Pete Lyman (Viking project
managers) to get off . They recommended me to Don Rae (ALD) for new mission studies. Ran number of
conceptual studies (in the JPL mold) – none made it past Phase A. Charlie talked to me before I was assigned to
SME. He wanted to WIN. He could sell the science, but he needed me to nail/differentiate the SME design, cost and
risks (no schedule slips or overruns). To make it tougher, he wanted to set-up his own new mission ops at LASP to
avoid the JPL slow science planning cycle. He wanted to a fresh, new, low-risk “cheaper, faster, good enough”
project design to assure SME would make the final cut.
__________________________________________________
Observations of Mercury’s exosphere from MESSENGER’s MASCS-UVVS
Aimee Merkel
LASP
The Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer (UVVS) channel of the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition
Spectrometer (MASCS) aboard the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging
(MESSENGER) mission began routine orbital observations of both the dayside and nightside exosphere on March
29, 2011. We accumulated 16 Mercury years of exosphere data covering all local times; those observations allow
statistical analyses of both seasonal and local-time variability of key components of Mercury’s near-surface
exosphere: sodium, calcium, and magnesium. I will provide an overview of the UVVS exospheric observations and
discuss Dr. Barth’s influence on my education and career.
________________________________________________
Ultraviolet remote sensing for the DoD – a legacy of Charles Barth
B. McCoy
Director, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Charles Barth had a passion for the study of odd nitrogen in the upper atmosphere and devoted much of his career to
the aeronomy of this region. He was an observationalist and his favorite tool to study the upper atmosphere was
ultraviolet remote sensing using sounding rockets and satellites. He shared his enthusiasm and breadth of knowledge
and experience for remote sensing with every graduate student that he mentored. This talk focuses on how
ultraviolet remote sensing techniques he pioneered and taught were adapted and used to study problems of relevance
to the DoD. Within the DoD there have been long-standing requirements to measure and monitor the variability in
the ionosphere for a variety of applications including communication (HF through UHF), navigation (GPS), radar,
etc. Similarly, the neutral upper atmosphere impacts the drag on orbiting satellite. Ultraviolet instruments were
launched on several sounding rockets, experimental satellites, and ultimately, a series of operational ultraviolet
remote sensing sensors on Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellites. Ultraviolet remote sensing from
space has become a powerful tool used routinely and operationally by the DoD and much of the development can be
traced back to the passion Charles Barth held for studies of the aeronomy of the upper atmosphere.
__________________________________________________
MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph and the legacy of Charles Barth
N.M. Schneider, W.E. McClintock, A.I. Stewart, J. Deighan, S.K. Jain, A. Stiepen
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder
The Ultraviolet spectrometer onboard Mariner 6 and 7, provided the first ultraviolet spectrum of Mars upper
atmosphere. These groundbreaking observations were helpful in determining the composition and structure of
Martian upper atmosphere [1]. More than 40 years later, the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) onboard
MAVEN spacecraft has been observing Martian atmosphere, building on those initial Mariner observations. IUVS
instrument carries two detectors: FUV detector (115-190 nm) with a spectral resolution of ~0.6 nm and MUV
detector (180-340 nm) with a spectral resolution of ~1.2 nm [2]. In its limb-observing mode, IUVS measures the
Martian UV airglow layer in the altitude region of 80 to 220 km with vertical resolutions of ~5 km. Martian dayglow
spectra as seen by the IUVS show similar features as observed by Mariner 6 and 7 [1] more than four decade ago,
and recently by SPICAM onboard Mars Express [3]. Several atomic and molecular features are seen the detector
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images, e.g., H Lyman alpha, oxygen emissions at 130.4 and 135.6 nm, carbon emissions at 156.1 and 165.7 nm,
and CO Fourth Positive bands in the FUV, and CO Cameron, CO2+ UV doublet bands in MUV, and the OI 297.2 nm
line in the MUV. On night-side, IUVS observed widely distributed nitric oxide (NO) gamma and delta UV bands,
which can be used as a tracer to understand the day to night global circulation. These NO emissions are common
features in terrestrial airglow [4,5]. Figure 1 shows the comparison of ultraviolet dayglow spectra observed by IUVS
and Mariner 6 and 7. The observations made by IUVS along with the other instruments onboard MAVEN spacecraft
have started unraveling the mysteries of Martian atmosphere and its evolution.
Figure 1: Comparison of Mariner FUV and MUV spectra (average of 120 individual spectra) with IUVS observed FUV
and MUV spectrum.
References: [1] Barth C.A., et al. (1971), J. Geophys. Res. 76, 2213-2227. [2] McClintock, W. E. et al. (2014),
Space Sci. Rev., doi: 10.1007/s11214-014-0098-7. [3] Leblanc, F. et al. (2006), JGR, 111, E09S11,
doi:10.1029/2005JE002664Lett., 40, 2529-2533, doi:10.1002/grl50435. [4] Barth C. A., et al. (2003), J. Geophys.
Res., 108(A1), 1027. [5] Barth, C. A. (2010) J. Geophys. Res., 115, A10305.
__________________________________________________
Feedbacks in the climate structure that set the timescale for irreversible change: coupling
cimate rorcing and catalytic chemistry
J. Anderson
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Rapid changes in the Arctic, accelerated by feedbacks resulting from the decrease in ice volume, couple into a
cascade of mechanisms that link emission of methane and carbon dioxide from clathrates and permafrost in the
Arctic basin to global scale changes in the climate structure. This includes the photochemical engagement of the
catalytic conversion of inorganic chlorine to free radical form resulting from deep convective injection of water
vapor into the stratosphere over the US in summer. The resulting formation of chlorine radicals initiate a network of
reactions engaging HOx, ClOx, BrOx and NOx radical families that in turn control the column concentration of ozone
over the US in summer. This issue is investigated in the context of (1) increased forcing of the climate by CO2
release, (2) growing pressure for climate engineering by solar radiation management, and (3) the advent of volcanic
injections into the stratosphere.
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Contributed Talks – Barth Legacy, Nitric Oxide
Preparing for discovery: The scientific roots of Charles A. Barth
J. Yonker, S. Bailey
Yonker: Postdoctoral Research Associate, NCAR-High Altitude Observatory (HAO) and CU-LASP
This talk will trace the path of Charles Barth’s work from roughly 1955-1970 and provide the context needed to
understand his discovery of the nitric oxide (NO) layer in the terrestrial lower thermosphere. It begins with a review
of his graduate work with Joseph Kaplan at UCLA, which focused on the spectroscopy of the oxygen molecule and
its connection to concurrent work by Gerhard Herzberg and Joseph Chamberlain on the ultraviolet nightglow. The
continuation of this work in his postdoctoral years at JPL (1959-1963) led to a new theory on ozone formation (i.e.
the Barth mechanism) and revealed a scientist fully aware of the potential of the digital computer. After presenting
this background, the motivation is then made clear for the 1964 rocket launch in which the NO dayglow was first
measured. The talk ends with a brief overview of Barth’s work during the early years at CU-LASP (1964-1970),
which found he and his students in search of an explanation for the unexpectedly large NO layer.
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The other side of NO; nitric oxide in the infrared
J. Winick
Anyone who has passed through LASP is familiar with the nitric oxide ultraviolet spectrum that Dr. Barth, his
coworkers, and students have to help characterize the upper atmosphere of the Earth and other planets. In this work
we will briefly highlight the properties of NO that can be determined by studying its infrared spectrum and how
remote sensing in the infrared further reveals important properties of the Earth's atmosphere. I will emphasize work
done by colleagues at AFRL that ranged from laboratory measurements of chemiluminescent spectra and production
rates of NO (v,J), modeling of the IR emission, and field measurements as well as the over 13 years of
TIMED/SABER data. NO(v,J) emission has two major components: A large emission in the 5.3 µm (1-0)
fundamental, and weaker emission in the red-shifted hot bands from v>1. Emission from 𝑣 ⩾ 2 will also produce the
overtone bands around 2.7 µm. CIRRIS 1A in 1991 revealed a number of surprises, non-equilibrium populations of
the spin orbit levels (3/2 and 1/2), and very high rotational states indicated by the appearance of band-heads.
Theoretical modeling of these features yielded further insight into the production processes. The NO (1-0) transition
at 5.3 µm is easily excited by collisions with atomic oxygen yielding efficient thermospheric cooling. Since NO
density responds rapidly to increased geomagnetic activity - the infrared emission correspondingly responds acting
as a thermostat that damps out the impulsive heating. We will show the correlation of NO emission with the solar
cycle as recorded by the SABER instrument on TIMED over more than a solar cycle (2002 until the present).
(Hunt et al., 2013)
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Contribution of chemical processes to infrared emissions from nitric oxide in the
thermosphere
K. Venkataramani
Infrared emissions from nitric oxide, carbon dioxide and atomic oxygen are important sources of cooling in the
Earth’s upper atmosphere. The 5.3µm emission from NO is the dominant source of cooling between 100-200 km
and is produced as a consequence of creating vibrationally excited NO, either due to collisions between NO and O
or via the reaction of atomic nitrogen with molecular oxygen. While thermal collisions are the predominant source
of this emission, the chemical reactions are capable of populating the higher vibrational levels of NO which result in
the production of multiple photons whenever NO is produced. The production of NO in turn is sensitive to the
energy input from the sun and also varies as a function of local time, altitude, latitude. Using the ThermosphereIonosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM) and updated results for the vibrational yields
from atomic nitrogen, we model the chemically produced level populations for v≤10 and the consequent infrared
emissions from them. We validate our results by comparing our calculations of the first overtone emission with
measurements of the CIRRIS-1A instrument, and also present a parameterization scheme to reduce the
computational costs involved in introducing this model into a global general circulation model. It is seen that
chemiluminescence is a significant contributor to the NO emissions, particularly during periods of enhanced solar
energy input.
Posters
1: Dynamics of reactions between thermal barrier coatings and silicate melts
T. L. Barth
University of California, Santa Barbara
Ceramic coatings are used to provide thermal and environmental protection in the hot section of jet turbine engines
that are susceptible to degradation by molten silicate deposits. These deposits are generally composed of various
combinations of CaO, MgO, Al2O3, and SiO2, or “CMAS”. Because the CMAS deposits have a melting point below
that of the ceramic coatings, the CMAS is able to infiltrate the topcoat material and damage the coating structure,
which in turn reduces the turbine’s lifetime. Some coating materials are more resistant to CMAS deposits than
others due to reactions that convert the molten CMAS into a combination of crystalline phases, thus limiting the
deposit infiltration depth. However, information about the effects of oxide solubility, dissolution rate, and crystalline
phase equilibria on the reaction dynamics is limited. This research project aims to analyze the phase equilibrium
dynamics of the CMAS-coating interaction. Various CMAS and TBC oxide compositions were combined and
equilibrated in a furnace at 1300C for 50 hours, and then analyzed under a scanning electron microscope. It was
found that significant differences exist in phase formation with changes in glass composition.
__________________________________________________
2: Microorganisms in the stratosphere
T. Barth
University of Colorado, Boulder
In the Fall 2014 ASEN 1400 “Gateway to Space” class, team Red October’s mission was to record the presence of
Bacillus altitudinis, Bacillus stratosphericus, and Tardigrades in the stratosphere at altitude intervals of 24.3-27.3km
and 27.4-30.5km, where filters placed within a ventilation system built into a balloon satellite would capture
aforementioned bacterium. Once retrieved, team Red October would culture the filters in petri dishes for analysis
under microscopes to attempt to draw conclusions on the origins of life on Earth and in its lower atmosphere. After
86 days of planning, building, coding, testing, and analyzing, team Red October was successfully able to capture and
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culture Bacillus altitudinis: one of the desired microorganisms. Identification was achieved by visual comparison
to other known microorganisms. Arduino data gathered during the flight provided information regarding the
conditions of the environment that these microorganisms thrive in. Despite the fact that only one of three
desired species of microorganisms was found, team Red October’s findings are a testament to the persistence of life.
The data from the sensors incorporated on the payload showed that Bacillus altitudinus is capable of thriving at
a pressure of .32 to .21 psi, which is less than 2% the pressure of Colorado’s altitude. These bacteria also live at a
temperature well below freezing, at -20.7 to -25.1°C and a humidity of below 20%. This mission is an example of
the strength of single celled organisms and the extreme conditions in which life can persist.
__________________________________________________
3: Design and analysis of a titanium hip prosthesis
D. Brock
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California
In this laboratory our team designed a hip prosthesis to fit an average adult, and tested the design for several modes
of failure. The team created a program to test different cross-sections for the prosthesis, calculating the neutral and
centroidal axes at several points along the bend and using those calculations to analyze the stresses along the
prosthesis under a load typical of a hard misstep. The team used these data to choose a shape for the prosthesis, and
conducted a finite element analysis on a Solidworks model to confirm that the prosthesis would not fail or undergo
large deflections. The team also calculated the factors of safety for several different criteria, including buckling from
eccentric loading, stresses between the lip and the bone, stress concentrations in the neck, contact stresses between
the ball and acetabular cup, stresses from the shrink fit of the ball onto the head of the shaft, and stresses along the
shaft from the bone. The final design, made from titanium 1080T, had acceptable factors of safety in all areas, and
deflections from a worst-case scenario load were within tolerance.
__________________________________________________
4: Hydrogen corona temperature and density retrievals from solar Lyman-alpha
occultation measurements of the Mars hydrogen corona
E.M.B. Thiemann1, F.G. Eparvier1, M.S. Chaffin1, J.T. Clarke2
1
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 2 Center for Space Physics,
Boston University, Boston, MA
Although its primary mission is to characterize the solar EUV input into the Mars atmosphere, the MAVEN EUV
instrument has proven sufficiently sensitive to characterize the Mars hydrogen corona from 100 km to above 6000
km via solar hydrogen Lyman-α occultation measurements. An occultation measurement can be made when a
planetary atmosphere passes between the point of observation and an astronomical light source such as the Sun, a
star or a moon. A major advantage of the occultation technique is that it is independent of absolute calibration, and
the accuracy is primarily contingent on knowing the spectral passband and relative instrument sensitivity during a
scan. Since hydrogen has a scattering cross-section eight orders of magnitude larger than any other species present,
all of the scattering can be essentially attributed to hydrogen. These scattering profiles can be inverted by forward
modeling an assumed atmosphere to retrieve density profiles, scale heights and ultimately the temperature of the
hydrogen exosphere. The primary disadvantage of solar occultation measurements is that they are inherently
constrained to the terminator. We will present latest results of the occultation measurements demonstrating the
capability and limitations of using a sensor intended to measure the Sun to probe a planetary atmosphere.
__________________________________________________
5: First results of the Martian plasma environment below 500 km from the Langmuir
Probe and Waves Instrument on the MAVEN mission.
C. M. Fowler1, R. E. Ergun1, L. Andersson1, M. W. Mooroka1, G. T. Delory2, T. McEnulty1, T. Weber1, A. I.
Eriksson3, D. Andrews3, D. L. Mitchell2, J. P. McFadden2, J. S. Halekas4 , D. Larson2, J. E. P. Connerney5, J.
Espley5, and F. Eparvier1,
1
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 2Space Sciences Laboratory,
University of California, Berkeley CA, 3Swedish Institute for Spacephysics, Uppsala, Sweden, 4Department of
Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 5NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD.
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Electron temperature and density are critical quantities in understanding an upper atmosphere. Approximately 40
years ago, the Viking landers reached the Martian surface, measuring the first (and only) two temperature profiles
during descent. All spacecraft that have visited the red planet thereafter have had limited plasma packages and
’high’ altitude orbits, preventing those missions from gaining detailed information about Mars’ upper atmosphere.
The MAVEN mission was designed to characterize the upper atmosphere and included the Langmuir Probe and
Waves (LPW) instrument to provide fundamental measurements of the basic atmospheric dynamics at Mars.
MAVEN reached Mars in the fall of 2014 and the first months of data from the LPW instrument have provided
exciting information from an interesting planet. The Martian ionosphere is generally observed below ~ 500km.
There has been discussion as to the existence of an ionopause at Mars. At lower altitudes the plasma environment is
dominated by cold high-density plasma. At higher altitudes, hotter plasma populations contribute significantly to
currents measured by the Langmuir Probe and to spacecraft charging processes. This paper investigates the first few
months of data from the MAVEN mission to evaluate where and when this hot component becomes significant and
if an ionopause can be identified. The study identifies the altitude at which the assumption of only one cold electron
population holds. It is based on measurements of densities and temperatures from the LPW instrument with
supporting measurements from the other PF instruments.
__________________________________________________
6: Flare Response of the FUV Continuum from SORCE SOLSTICE
Willow Reed and Martin Snow
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
Solar flares are energetic events on the Sun that radiate at all wavelengths. However, the spectral distribution in the
ultraviolet of this energy is not well known. Using data from the SOLar-STellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment
(SOLSTICE) on the SOlar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), we looked into how the spectral
distribution in the Far Ultraviolet (FUV) irradiance spectrum (115 nm to 180 nm) is affected by X-class flares. In
particular, we looked at the response of the FUV continuum to the flares from 2003. Currently, we are analyzing the
SOLSTICE observations from flares throughout the SORCE mission to get better statistical sampling.
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LASP Wireless Access
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Dinner and Scholarship Award
Pre-registration, payment and ticket required
Friday, May 15
6:30pm
Hotel Boulderado, Columbine Room –2115 13th Street, at Spruce Street, a block north of the
Pearl Street Mall
Please bring your ticket(s) to the dinner. They are in your badge holder.
Pre-registered guests will meet at the Hotel Boulderado’s Columbine Room for a buffet
symposium dinner. Soft drinks and alcohol will be available through a cash bar. There will be a
recognition of the first Barth Scholarship recipient. Attendees will be able to make contributions
to the Barth Scholarship fund at the dinner.
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Photos of Dr. Barth
In the Rocket Lab. 1970s
In the Mariner 9 Operations Room, 1971-1972
LSTB Groundbreaking, May 10, 1990
LASP Web Page December 2011
With an SME Terminal, 1984-1989
LSTB Annex Groundbreaking, July 19, 2004
With Jeff Pearce, Charlie Hord, holding Mariner spectrometer. ~1970
LSTB Annex Groundbreaking, July 19, 2004
Gary Rottman’s Retirement Party, Sept. 29,
2005