University Of Alabama In Huntsville Research Articles

Preface

The Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and Maison de la Simulation, a joint laboratory at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), University of Paris-Saclay, and University of Versailles-St Quentin, organized the 15th International Conference on Numerical Modeling of Space Plasma Flows (ASTRONUM-2023) on June 26—30, 2023 in Pasadena, California, USA.The Program Committee consisted of Nikolai Pogorelov (University of Alabama in Huntsville/CSPAR, USA, chair), Edouard Audit (CEA Maison de la Simulation, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, co-chair), Wes Bethel (San Francisco State University, USA), Amitava Bhattacharjee (Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, USA), Phillip Colella (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA), Tomoyuki Hanawa (Chiba University, Japan), Maria Elena Innocenti (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany), Kanya Kusano (Nagoya University, Japan), Dongwook Lee (University of California, Santa Cruz), Jon Linker (Predictive Science Inc., USA), Anthony Mezzacappa (University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA), Ewald Müller (Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, Germany), Dongsu Ryu (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Korea), James Stone (Princeton University), and Gary P. Zank (University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA).The conference attracted over 90 scientists from 15 countries representing different branches of the plasma simulation community. The distinctive feature of this conference is a combination of diverse research topics, all of which are essential for performing high-resolution, continuum mechanics and particle, simulations of physical phenomena in space physics and astrophysics. Among such topics were software packages for modeling and analyzing plasma flows; advanced numerical methods for space and astrophysical flows; large-scale fluid-based, kinetic, and hybrid simulations; turbulence and cosmic ray transport; and magnetohydrodynamics. The discussed applications included cosmology and galaxy formation, supernova explosions, physics of the Sun-heliosphere-magnetosphere environments, space weather, the interstellar medium and star formation, stellar physics, experimental plasma physics, astrophysical accretion, numerical methods for ideal and non-ideal, relativistic and nonrelativistic MHD, etc. The proceedings volume is structured so that it covers all of these topics.The structure of the ASTRONUM conference series is based on the idea that modelers working in seemingly distant fields should have an opportunity to share their scientific achievements with the broad community of computational scientists performing numerical experiments. As in previous ASTRONUM meetings, we were interested in physical systems that are coupled across a multiplicity of spatial and temporal that incorporate diverse physical processes.The contributors to this volume are both young researchers and renowned experts in space physics and astrophysics, applied mathematics, and computational physics. This volume describes the application of numerical methods and the algorithms themselves, allowing us to discuss the challenges that theory imposes on numerical schemes for solving partial differential equations describing collisional and collisionless processes in space and astrophysical plasmas.We would like to thank the participants who submitted their papers to Proceedings of ASTRONUM-2023 and especially to those who reviewed manuscripts thus ensuring the high quality of this publication. We also are grateful to Adele Corona (ICNSMeetings.com) for the excellent management of the conference.This publication will be useful to graduate and postgraduate students majoring in space physics, astrophysics, numerical, engineering, and applied mathematics. It is also aimed at specialists in applied mathematics and various fields of physics that involve flows of partially ionized plasmas at both the collisional and collisionless levels.Nikolai V. Pogorelov, Edouard Audit, and Gary P. ZankMarch 3, 2024

Peer Review Statement

All papers published in this volume have been reviewed through processes administered by the Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing.• Type of peer review: Single Anonymous• Conference submission management system: Morressier• Number of submissions received: 28• Number of submissions sent for review: 28• Number of submissions accepted: 28• Acceptance Rate (Submissions Accepted / Submissions Received × 100): 100• Average number of reviews per paper: 1.04• Total number of reviewers involved: 27• Contact person for queries: Name: Nikolai Pogorelov Email: np0002@uah.edu Affiliation: The University of Alabama in Huntsville

Critical care nurse leaders' moral distress: A qualitative descriptive study.

Unit-based critical care nurse leaders (UBCCNL) play a role in exemplifying ethical leadership, addressing moral distress, and mitigating contributing factors to moral distress on their units. Despite several studies examining the experience of moral distress by bedside nurses, knowledge is limited regarding the UBCCNL's experience. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of Alabama UBCCNLs regarding how they experience, cope with, and address moral distress. A qualitative descriptive design and inductive thematic analysis guided the investigation. A screening and demographics questionnaire and a semi-structured interview protocol were the tools of data collection. Data were collected from 10 UBCCNLs from seven hospitals across the state of Alabama from February to July 2023. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Informed consent was obtained from participants prior to data collection. UBCCNLs experience moral distress frequently due to a variety of systemic and organizational barriers. Feelings of powerlessness tended to precipitate moral distress among UBCCNLs. Despite moral distress resulting in increased advocacy and empathy, UBCCNLs may experience a variety of negative responses resulting from moral distress. UBCCNLs may utilize internal and external mechanisms to cope with and address moral distress. The UBCCNL's experience of moral distress is not dissimilar from bedside staff; albeit, moral distress does occur as a result of the responsibilities of leadership and the associated systemic barriers that UBCCNLs are privier to. When organizations allocate resources for addressing moral distress, they should be convenient to leaders and staff. The UBCCNL perspective should be considered in the development of future moral distress measurement tools and interventions. Future research exploring the relationship between empathy and moral distress among nurse leaders is needed.

Utilizing LiDAR to quantify aboveground tree biomass within an urban university

Universities, often situated at the heart of metropolitan areas, have the unique opportunity to leverage effective urban forestry methods to promote ecological and economic conservation. Simply identifying what trees to plant where can have major effects such as reducing temperature, flood impacts, habitat fragmentation, and carbon emissions in urban areas. Detailed mapping of tree biomass allows researchers to spatially identify carbon sinks and analyze the associated ecological benefits at an urban or intra-urban level. This study utilizes non-destructive field measurements and aerial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing to estimate biomass on the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) campus. A field survey of campus trees was performed to calculate the observed biomass through allometry. These values were then used as an input in a regression analysis along with LiDAR-derived canopy metrics to evaluate LiDAR’s ability to estimate biomass. The result yielded biomass equations specific to 14 tree species found on the UAH campus. It was found that the regression models showed a high fit (R2 = 0.62–0.98) for most species. Some trees such as the Pinus taeda, Pinus echinata, and Lagerstroemia indica had lower R2 values (0.26–0.43) most likely due to overlapping tree canopies; a known limitation in urban biomass studies that can be solved with more intricate segmentation methods. Nonetheless, this methodology is an avenue for urban planners to estimate biomass without intensive and costly field surveys, particularly in north Alabama where there is a lack of urban biomass research.

Diversity in the space physics community: an overview of collaborative efforts led by The University of Alabama in Huntsville

The field of Space Physics has significant recruitment potential. Almost everyone has been fascinated by space in one way or another since their early childhood. From this perspective, Space Physics might be expected to exhibit considerable diversity as a discipline. Regrettably, as in many STEM fields, the reality is quite different. Numerous reasons have been advanced about why the reality and the expectation diverge but one observation we have made over the years stands out, and, that is, that when students are given the opportunity, they are very eager to learn about Space Physics and enthusiastic about working on space physics projects. At The University of Alabama in Huntsville, we have developed a series of outreach programs, including summer programs, that are aimed at bringing students not typically exposed to space physics into the Space Physics community through working on real research projects that have the potential to produce journal publication results. These programs have been very effective in creating interest in Space Physics and have led to the recruitment of students that have been underrepresented historically into our research programs. In this paper, we summarize the various summer programs that the Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research and Department of Space Science at The University of Alabama in Huntsville have been organizing in Space Physics for years and how these programs have contributed to increasing diversity in the field.

Effects of dusting film cooling placement and configuration on surface heat transfer characteristics of a transonic turbine squealer blade tip

Investigated are the effects of dusting hole film cooling placement and configuration on the surface heat transfer characteristics of a transonic turbine squealer blade tip. Three different blade tip arrangements are investigated, which are denoted C1, C2, and C3. Data are provided which include spatially-resolved and line-averaged distributions of heat transfer coefficient ratio and adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. The University of Alabama in Huntsville SS/TS/WT (supersonic/transonic/wind tunnel) blow down facility is employed with a transonic test section containing a five blade linear cascade for the investigation. Spatially-resolved surface heat transfer characteristics are measured using time- and spatially-resolved infrared thermography, in conjunction with an impulse response transient measurement procedure. Film coolant is supplied with a carbon dioxide injection system. Results indicate that heat transfer coefficient and adiabatic film cooling effectiveness distributions vary significantly as dusting hole placement and configuration are altered. For example, heat transfer coefficients for the C1 and C2 blade configurations are substantially lower, compared to baseline values with no film cooling, within the squealer recess region downstream of the dusting holes. Smaller heat transfer coefficient deviations, relative to baseline values, are present when the C3 configuration is employed. In general, distributions and magnitudes of local adiabatic film cooling effectiveness indicate that all three dusting hole configurations provide reasonably good film coverage within portions of squealer recess regions. For downstream portions of the blades, the C1 and C3 configurations both provide good surface protection which are indicated by film cooling effectiveness values, whereas coverage provided by the C2 arrangement ends abruptly at the location of a structural rib which is located within the squealer recess region.

In Situ Propellant Alternatives for a Lunar Ascent/Descent Vehicle

Recently, NASA has pushed for returning humans to the moon sustainably with in situ resource utilization as the central focus. The moon has an abundance of water that is proposed to be electrolyzed into hydrogen and oxygen to be used as propellant. Other volatiles such as ammonia, carbon dioxide, and methane are also present. A mission architecture for a lunar ascent/descent vehicle (LADV) from the Polytechnic University of Turin and nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) engine models from the University of Alabama in Huntsville were used to compare in-situ-derived propellants for a LADV. This study considered a LADV originating from the lunar surface, delivering a payload in the lunar distant retrograde orbit, and returning to the lunar surface for retanking. This research analyzed the impacts on this mission of using hydrogen NTP, water/ammonia NTP, liquid-oxygen augmented nuclear thermal rocket, and Aeon 1 methane–oxygen engines using the selected architecture and tools. The results were compared to the reference hydrogen–oxygen RL10 engine. The propulsion system comparison analysis showed that combustion engines will offer better overall performance than NTP-based engines due to a 50% decrease in propellant volume, a 20% decrease in dry mass, and a lower propellant mass than the water and ammonia NTP systems. Both the hydrogen–oxygen and methane–oxygen propulsion systems will have similar propellant masses when compared to other systems. This is due to the order of magnitude higher mass of the NTP engines, with the highest mass contribution coming from the reactor. However, both water and ammonia alternative propellant NTP engines can still be viable candidates for the usage of these minimally processed propellants to satisfy this mission.

Revisiting causality using stochastics on atmospheric temperature and CO 2 concentration

Revisiting causality using stochastics on atmospheric temperature and CO ₂ concentration

Around the World They Go: Circumnavigating Balloon Satellites!

Abstract Students from the University of Alabama in Huntsville successfully deployed three micro superpressure balloon satellites in winter 2021. Students planned and implemented all phases of the project: obtaining funding, determining project timelines, preparing equipment, launching balloons, designing and implementing a website, writing daily blogs on the balloon progress, and analyzing the data. The objective of the flights was to use the balloons as a meteorological tool to study conditions in the lower stratosphere (12–14 km), as a tracer for evaluating modeled air parcel trajectories, and as an outreach and educational tool. The three balloons successfully traveled hundreds of thousands of kilometers, making an accumulated total of 16 global circumnavigations. Throughout the project, students made connections with hundreds of researchers, ham radio operators, STEM groups, and other students around the globe. The balloons provided velocity telemetry within many different weather regimes, including vigorous jets over the Himalayas, slow-moving equatorial air masses over the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and dense polar air masses over the Arctic Circle. This study has found that the accuracy of HYSPLIT-calculated trajectories using numerical weather predication (NWP) meteorological data can be quantified using parcel velocity, duration of trajectory forecast, and spatial resolution of the NWP model.

Report on the IEEE GRSS Workshop on Remote Sensing Data Management Technologies in Geoscience 2022 [Technical Committees

In recognition of emerging new data management technologies, the IEEE Earth Science Informatics (ESI) Technical Committee (TC) recently formed a new Working Group on Databases in Remote Sensing (DBRS). This is a report about the first workshop organized by the DBRS-WG to gather information about technologies that could effectively store, query, search, and analyze remote sensing data. This workshop called for research talks relevant to geoscience and remote data sensing technologies. The hybrid event, hosted at the Earth System Science Center (ESSC), University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), drew 16 submissions from around the world. The workshop also featured five invited speakers to talk about the advanced data management technologies and important application drivers. The WG believes that this inaugural event is a good start of a community around remote sensing data management.

Effects of pressure side film cooling hole placement and condition on adiabatic film cooling effectiveness characteristics of a transonic turbine blade tip

The effects of film cooling hole placement location along the upper pressure side of a transonic squealer are considered. The thermal performance of four different film cooling configurations; B1, B2, B3 and B4, are considered using the University of Alabama in Huntsville's SS/TS/WT (supersonic/transonic/wind tunnel) experimental facility and a simulated turbine blade row using a linear cascade. Surface-varying results are provided for both the squealer blade tip surface, and for the upper pressure side of the squealer blade. These results are given for blowing ratios ranging from 0.42 to 3.20 in the form of spatially-resolved and spatially-averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness distributions. Because local static pressure variations and gradients vary in a significant manner at different blade locations, coolant accumulations near surfaces (and the associated surface thermal protection and film effectiveness distributions) produced by the different film cooling configurations are vastly different along the squealer blade tip surface. The B1 and B3 film cooling configurations show that substantial magnitudes of adiabatic film cooling effectiveness are present along the pressure side rim and the suction side rim. Also present is a considerable region of locally increased film cooling effectiveness and a wider region of surface protection within the squealer recess region for the B2 film cooling configuration. The contributions are unique because of a deficit of experimental data for film cooled squealer blades which operate with transonic flow, and because the present investigation is the first to consider the effects of hole placement location for upper pressure side film cooling arrangements with transonic flow conditions.

Wearable and Mobile Technologies Create Innovations in Healthcare.

Author Affiliation: Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Professor, College of Nursing, The University of Alabama in Huntsville. The author reports no conflicts of interest. Correspondence: Karen H. Frith, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CNE, College of Nursing, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, 301 Sparkman Dr, Huntsville, AL 35899 ([email protected]).

3-D Printing for Task Training & Simulations: A Collaborative Process between Nurses and Engineers

This paper presents the process of developing 3D printed task trainers and simulators for healthcare education. The process is a collaborative effort between the College of Nursing at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and the UAH Systems Management and Production Center. The three year collaboration led to development of a five-phase feedback and development process which is continually refined and now used for the development of all 3D printed training simulations in the interprofessional center. The first phase consists of nursing faculty and center engineers conducting a needs assessment. The output of this phase is a prioritized list of potential simulations. The second phase consists of a team of engineering students developing the 3D training simulation. The third phase is evaluating the simulation. A number of iterations are generally necessary to have a simulation that satisfied nursing requirements. The nursing faculty is actively involved throughout the process to assure the desired characteristics and fullest medical design to include texture, elasticity, density, strength, color and realism. The fourth phase is implementing the simulation into the program. The fifth phase is to document and evaluate the process. During the past several years a number of 3-D products have been developed and are now implemented. As an example, a 3D printed brain with multiple sclerosis (MS) is discussed in this paper. The 3D printed brain is being used to assist nurses better understand and more easily visualize lesions in MS patients. The 3D printed trainers are being used to provide nursing students with much needed hands-on experiences, to allow students to practice specific skills at a lower cost and to gain these skills in a safe setting. Included in this paper are a description of the process used to develop the training simulators, the use of simulators in nurse training the results and benefits.

Notes on Contributors

Previous article FreeNotes on ContributorsFull TextPDF Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreMatthew Bennett is a senior research officer on the Competition and Competitiveness project at the University of Essex UK. He works in moral psychology, ethics, political philosophy, and the post-Kantian history of philosophy, with particular focus on Nietzsche and the limits of morality. [email protected]Sophia Dandelet is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the ways in which ethical considerations inform our second-order decisions as epistemic agents: not our decisions about what to believe, but our decisions about how to decide what to believe. [email protected]Jeremy Fischer is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. [email protected]Anca Gheaus is an assistant professor at the Central European University in Vienna. She is mostly interested in theories of justice and, in particular, in justice in child-rearing and gender justice. She coedited The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Childhood and Children (2018) and is currently working on a coauthored book on surrogacy and writing a monograph about child-centered child-rearing. [email protected]Jacob M. Nebel is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California. [email protected]Katherine Ritchie is an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. Her research is focused on the nature of social groups, social language, and the ways that a better understanding of our linguistic and mental representations can inform successful social-political projects. Previously, she taught at the City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center. She received her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. [email protected] Previous article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Ethics Volume 131, Number 3April 2021 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/712574 Views: 425 © 2021 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Spatial coherence of low-frequency unsteadiness associated with a normal shock wave

The present data illustrate a unique analysis approach to explore the physics of shock-wave-flow interactions, based upon correlation and spectral analysis of digitized shadowgraph visualization time-sequence data. As such, demonstration is provided of the use of high resolution, flow visualization data for quantitative correlation and spectral analysis. A shadowgraph system is employed to visualize time-varying, shock wave flow features within the test section of one leg of the transonic/supersonic wind tunnel (which is also referred to as the SS/TS/WT or SuperSonic/TranSonic/WindTunnel), located within the Propulsion Research Center of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Of interest is a flow field with a well-defined normal shock wave, lambda foot, and separated turbulent boundary layer near the entrance of the lower flow passage (which is part of the test section), produced with a test section inlet Mach number of 1.54. Shadowgraph flow visualization images are processed from different pixel locations to compute frequency spectra. Data associated with two separate pixel region locations, each from a different flow region, are employed to determine magnitude squared coherence values, and associated time lag magnitudes. The data associated with lower Strouhal numbers in vicinity of 0.0013 and 0.0039 (which correspond to respective frequencies of 5 Hz and 15 Hz) illustrate important and pronounced interactions between the normal shock wave and the boundary layer separation zone. As this zone breathes and oscillates, additional flow locations are affected in a subsequent and significant manner. With Strouhal numbers in the vicinity of 0.0091, 0.0104, and 0.0260 (which correspond to respective frequencies of 35, 40, and 100 Hz), the most pronounced and significant interactions between the normal shock wave occur with respect to the downstream boundary layer. When Str equals 0.0091, spatially-varying time lag data show events with significant coherence propagate from a range of locations within the downstream boundary layer to the normal shock wave location. As such, events which originate within the downstream boundary layer at these experimental conditions are far more important (compared to events which originate with the upstream boundary layer) in regard to their effects on shock wave unsteadiness and associated flow motions.

Collaboration and leadership

This is a guest editorial by Murrell Godfrey from the University of Mississippi, Renã A. S. Robinson from Vanderbilt University, and Emanuel Waddell from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. They are the president, president-elect, and immediate past president of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on the historical, long-standing, and still current issues of systemic racism and social injustice in the US. Since the inception of the pandemic, racial inequities have meant increased hospitalization and mortality rates for Black people and other people of color. George Floyd’s narration of his own death—which was made publicly available and shared widely through social media—was particularly revealing. Though we mourn his death and so many others, they have galvanized social movements. Floyd’s tragic death catalyzed change in the US across many facets of life, chemistry included. Within the field

Preface

The Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and Maison de la Simulation, a joint laboratory at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), University of Paris-Sud, and University of Versailles, organized the 14th International Conference on Numerical Modeling of Space Plasma Flows (ASTRONUM-2019) on July 1—5, 2019 in Paris, France.The Program Committee consisted of Tahar Amari (CNRS Ecole Polytechnique, France), Edouard Audit (CEA/CNRS Maison de la Simulation, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, co-chair), Amitava Bhattacharjee (Princeton University, USA), Phillip Colella (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA), Jon Linker (Predictive Science, Inc., USA), Anthony Mezzacappa (University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA), Ewald Müller (Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, Germany), Nikolai Pogorelov (University of Alabama in Huntsville/CSPAR, USA, chair), Kazunari Shibata (Kyoto University, Japan), James Stone (Princeton University, USA), and Gary P. Zank (University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA).The conference attracted 82 scientists from 17 countries representing different branches of the plasma simulation community. The distinctive feature of this conference is a combination of diverse research topics, all of which are essential for performing high-resolution, continuum mechanics and particle, simulations of physical phenomena in space physics and astrophysics. Among such topics were software packages for modeling and analyzing plasma flows; advanced numerical methods for space and astrophysical flows; large-scale fluid-based, kinetic, and hybrid simulations; turbulence and cosmic ray transport; and magnetohydrodynamics. The applications discussed included cosmology and galaxy formation, supernova explosions, physics of the Sun-heliosphere-magnetosphere environments, the interstellar medium and star formation, stellar physics, experimental plasma physics, astrophysical accretion, numerical methods for ideal and non-ideal, relativistic and nonrelativistic MHD, etc. The proceedings volume is structured so that it covers all of these topics.The structure of the ASTRONUM conference series is based on the idea that modelers working in seemingly distant fields should have an opportunity to share their scientific achievements with the broad community of computational scientists performing numerical experiments. As in previous ASTRONUM meetings, we were interested in physical systems that are coupled across a multiplicity of spatial and temporal that incorporate diverse physical processes.The contributors to this volume are both young researchers and renowned experts in space physics and astrophysics, applied mathematics, and computational physics. This volume describes the application of numerical methods and the algorithms themselves, allowing us to discuss the challenges that theory imposes on numerical schemes for solving partial differential equations describing collisional and collisionless processes in space and astrophysical plasmas.We would like to thank the participants who submitted their papers to Proceedings of ASTRONUM-2019 and especially to those who reviewed manuscripts thus ensuring the high quality of this publication. We also are grateful to Valerie Belle (CEA, Saclay), for the excellent management of the conference.The volume will be useful to graduate and postgraduate students majoring in space physics, astrophysics, numerical, engineering, and applied mathematics. It is also aimed at specialists in applied mathematics, and various fields of physics that involve flows of partially ionized plasmas at both the collisional and collisionless levels.Nikolai V. Pogorelov, Edouard Audit, and Gary P. ZankAugust 3, 2020

The Total Solar Eclipse of 2017: Meteorological Observations from a Statewide Mesonet and Atmospheric Profiling Systems

AbstractA total solar eclipse traversed the continental United States on 21 August 2017. It was the first such event in 99 years and provided a rare opportunity to observe the atmospheric response from a variety of instrumented observational platforms. This paper discusses the high-quality observations collected by the Kentucky Mesonet (www.kymesonet.org), a research-grade meteorological and climatological observation network consisting of 72 stations and measuring air temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, and wind direction. The network samples the atmosphere, for most variables, every 3 s and then calculates and records observations every 5 min. During the total solar eclipse, these observations were complemented by observations collected from three atmospheric profiling systems positioned in the path of the eclipse and operated by the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Observational data demonstrate that solar radiation at the surface dropped from >800 to 0 W m‒2, the air temperature decreased by about 4.5°C, and, most interestingly, a land-breeze–sea-breeze-type wind developed. In addition, due to the high density of observations, the network recorded a detailed representation of the spatial variation of surface meteorology. The UAH profiling system captured collapse and reformation of the planetary boundary layer and related changes during the total solar eclipse.

The ED Nurse Manager’s Guide to Utilizing SWOT Analysis for Performance Improvement

Angela Hollingsworth is Clinical Assistant Professor, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL. Mark Reynolds is Clinical Assistant Professor, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL.

Validation of GOES-Based Surface Insolation Retrievals and Its Utility for Model Evaluation

AbstractIncident solar radiation at Earth’s surface, also called surface insolation, plays an important role in the Earth system as it affects surface energy balance, weather, climate, water supply, biochemical emissions, photochemical reactions, etc. The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT) have been generating and archiving several products, including insolation, from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Imager for over a decade. The NASA/UAH insolation product has been used in studies to improve air quality simulations, biogenic emission estimates, correcting surface energy balance, and for cloud assimilation, but has not been thoroughly evaluated. In this study, the NASA/UAH insolation product is compared to surface pyranometer measurements from the Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD) and the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) for a 12-month period from March 2013 to February 2014. The insolation product has normalized bias values within 6% of the mean observation, a root-mean-square error between 6% and 16%, and correlation coefficients greater than 0.96 for hourly insolation estimates. It also shows better performance without the presence of clouds. However, erroneous estimates may be produced for persistent snow-covered surfaces. Further, this study attempts to demonstrate the use of such a satellite-based insolation product for model evaluation. The NASA/UAH insolation product is compared to the downward shortwave radiation from the Rapid Refresh, version 1 (RAPv1), and successfully captures the overestimation tendency in surface energy input as mentioned in previous studies. Finally, future plans for improving the retrieval algorithm and developing a GOES-16 insolation product are discussed.