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The NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) measures vertical profiles of aerosol extinction, backscatter, and depolarization at both 532 nm and 1064 nm. In March of 2006 the HSRL participated in the Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations (MILAGRO) campaign along with several other suites of instruments deployed on both aircraft and ground based platforms. This paper presents high spatial and vertical resolution HSRL measurements of aerosol extinction and optical depth from MILAGRO and comparisons of those measurements with similar measurements from other sensors and model predictions. HSRL measurements coincident with airborne in situ aerosol scattering and absorption measurements from two different instrument suites on the C-130 and G-1 aircraft, airborne aerosol optical depth (AOD) and extinction measurements from an airborne tracking sunphotometer on the J-31 aircraft, and AOD from a network of ground based Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sun photometers are presented as a validation of the HSRL aerosol extinction and optical depth products. Regarding the extinction validation, we find bias differences between HSRL and these instruments to be less than 3% (0.01 km−1) at 532 nm, the wavelength at which the HSRL technique is employed. The rms differences at 532 nm were less than 50% (0.015 km−1). To our knowledge this is the most comprehensive validation of the HSRL measurement of aerosol extinction and optical depth to date. The observed bias differences in ambient aerosol extinction between HSRL and other measurements is within 15–20% at visible wavelengths, found by previous studies to be the differences observed with current state-of-the-art instrumentation (Schmid et al., 2006).

The largest uncertainty in estimates of the effects of atmospheric aerosols on climate stems from uncertainties in the determination of their microphysical properties, including the aerosol complex index of refraction, which in turn determines their optical properties. A novel technique is used to estimate the aerosol complex index of refraction in distinct vertical layers from a combination of aerosol in situ size distribution and remote sensing measurements during the Tropospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing Observational Experiment (TARFOX). In particular, aerosol backscatter measurements using the NASA Langley LASE (Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment) instrument and in situ aerosol size distribution data are utilized to derive vertical profiles of the "effective" aerosol complex index of refraction at 815 nm (i.e., the refractive index that would provide the same backscatter signal in a forward calculation on the basis of the measured in situ particle size distributions for homogeneous, spherical aerosols). A sensitivity study shows that this method yields small errors in the retrieved aerosol refractive indices, provided the errors in the lidar-derived aerosol backscatter are less than 30% and random in nature. Absolute errors in the estimated aerosol refractive indices are generally less than 0.04 for the real part and can be as much as 0.042 for the imaginary part in the case of a 30% error in the lidar-derived aerosol backscatter. The measurements of aerosol optical depth from the NASA Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-6) are successfully incorporated into the new technique and help constrain the retrieved aerosol refractive indices. An application of the technique to two TARFOX case studies yields the occurrence of vertical layers of distinct aerosol refractive indices. Values of the estimated complex aerosol refractive index range from 1.33 to 1.45 for the real part and 0.001 to 0.008 for the imaginary part. The methodology devised in this study provides, for the first time, a complete set of vertically resolved aerosol size distribution and refractive index data. yielding the vertical distribution of aerosol optical properties required for the determination of aerosol-induced radiative flux changes.

We describe aerosol optical depth (AOD) measured during the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) experiment, conducted in North America in April and June–July 2008, focusing on vertical profiles, inter-comparison with correlative observations, fine-mode fraction and horizontal variability. The AOD spectra spanning 354–2139 nm measured with the 14-channel Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-14) are generally less wavelength-dependent below 2 km (499-nm Angstrom exponent 1.4 ± 0.3) than in 2–4 km (1.6–1.8) for Alaska in April 2008. Together with concurrent aerosol mass spectrometry and black carbon incandescence measurements, this corroborates the hypothesis that Arctic haze in these layers originates mainly from anthropogenic emission and biomass burning, respectively. The spectra are within 3%+0.02 of the vertical integral of local visible-light scattering and absorption for two thirds of the 55 vertical profiles examined. The horizontal structure of smoke plumes in central Canada in June and July 2008 explains most outliers. The differences in mid-visible Angstrom exponent are 0.1. The retrieved fine-mode fraction of AOD is mostly between 0.7 and 1.0, and its root mean square difference from column-integral submicron fraction (measured with nephelometers, absorption photometers and an impactor) is 0.12. These AOD measurements from the NASA P-3 aircraft, after compensation for below-aircraft light attenuation by vertical extrapolation, mostly fall within 0.02 of AERONET ground-based measurements for five overpass events. Evidently, the fresh local emission in Canada in June and July makes the horizontal distribution of AOD highly heterogeneous (standard deviation ~19% of the mean over 20 km) and random (autocorrelation r=0.37 across 20 km), in contrast to long-range transport to Alaska in April (std~2%, r=0.95). The variability observed over 6 km is noticeably smaller (std~9%, r=0.71). The decrease represents the reduction in collocation error that remote sensing can potentially achieve by improving resolution for ARCTAS Canada and similar environments.

Haywood et al. (2004) show that an aerosol layer above a cloud can cause a bias in the retrieved cloud optical thickness and effective radius. Monitoring for this potential bias is difficult because space ]based passive remote sensing cannot unambiguously detect or characterize aerosol above cloud. We show that cloud retrievals from aircraft measurements above cloud and below an overlying aerosol layer are a means to test this bias. The data were collected during the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment (INTEX-A) study based out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States, above extensive, marine stratus cloud banks affected by industrial outflow. Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR) irradiance measurements taken along a lower level flight leg above cloud and below aerosol were unaffected by the overlying aerosol. Along upper level flight legs, the irradiance reflected from cloud top was transmitted through an aerosol layer. We compare SSFR cloud retrievals from below ]aerosol legs to satellite retrievals from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in order to detect an aerosol ]induced bias. In regions of small variation in cloud properties, we find that SSFR and MODIS-retrieved cloud optical thickness compares within the uncertainty range for each instrument while SSFR effective radius tend to be smaller than MODIS values (by 1-2 microns) and at the low end of MODIS uncertainty estimates. In regions of large variation in cloud properties, differences in SSFR and MODIS ]retrieved cloud optical thickness and effective radius can reach values of 10 and 10 microns, respectively. We include aerosols in forward modeling to test the sensitivity of SSFR cloud retrievals to overlying aerosol layers. We find an overlying absorbing aerosol layer biases SSFR cloud retrievals to smaller effective radii and optical thickness while nonabsorbing aerosols had no impact.

Recent results from diverse air, ground, and laboratory studies using both radiometric and in situ techniques show that the fractions of black carbon, organic matter, and mineral dust in atmospheric aerosols determine the wavelength dependence of absorption (expressed as Absorption Angstrom Exponent, or AAE). Taken together, these results hold promise of improving information on aerosol composition from remote measurements. The purpose of this paper is to show that AAE values for Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) retrievals from Sun-sky measurements describing the full aerosol vertical column are also strongly correlated with aerosol composition or type. In particular, we find AAE values near 1 (the theoretical value for black carbon) for AERONET-measured aerosol columns dominated by urban-industrial aerosol, larger AAE values for biomass burning aerosols, and the largest AAE values for Sahara dust aerosols. Ambiguities in aerosol composition or mixtures thereof, resulting from intermediate AAE values, can be reduced via cluster analyses that supplement AAE with other variables, for example Extinction Angstrom Exponent (EAE), which is an indicator of particle size. Together with previous results, these results strengthen prospects for determining aerosol composition from space, for example using the Glory Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS), which promises retrievals of multiwavelength single-scattering albedo (SSA) and aerosol optical depth (and therefore aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) and AAE), as well as shape and other aerosol properties. Cluster analyses promise additional information content, for example by using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) to add AAOD in the near ultraviolet and CALIPSO aerosol layer heights to reduce height-absorption ambiguity.

The use of the active scattering spectrometer probe (ASAS-X) to measure sulfuric acid aerosols on U-2 and ER-2 research aircraft has yielded results that are at times ambiguous due to the dependence of particles' optical signatures on refractive index as well as physical dimensions. The calibration correction of the ASAS-X optical spectrometer probe for stratospheric aerosol studies is validated through an independent and simultaneous sampling of the particles with impactors; sizing and counting of particles on SEM images yields total particle areas and volumes. Upon correction of calibration in light of these data, spectrometer results averaged over four size distributions are found to agree with similarly averaged impactor results to within a few percent: indicating that the optical properties or chemical composition of the sample aerosol must be known in order to achieve accurate optical aerosol spectrometer size analysis.

Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children and the most frequent cause of hospitalization. Appropriate pharmacotherapy is a cornerstone of published national guidelines for the care of children with asthma.The goal was to compare the baseline pharmacotherapy and health care utilization from 1996 to 1997 in children with asthma at managed care organizations (MCOs).A common protocol was used to extract the study sample from 3 MCOs with automated claims and pharmacy databases. Children were selected if they were 3 to 15 years old as of June 1997 with 1 or more encounters (outpatient, emergency department visit, hospitalization) with an asthma diagnosis in the previous year.Of the 13,352 children studied, less than 40% were given controllers during the 12-month interval, with ranges of 15% to 77% by level of bronchodilator use, 31% to 44% by age, and 38% to 42% by MCO. Among children given 6 or more bronchodilators, controller dispensing ranged from 73% to 89% among the 3 MCOs. Variability was most evident for inhaled corticosteroids, for which dispensing ranged from 51% to 70%. Rates of asthma hospitalization and emergency department visits also differed among the MCOs, ranging from 21 to 37 per 1000 person-years and 37 to 142 per 1000 person-years, respectively.Five years after dissemination of national guidelines for care, the pattern of asthma therapy does not reflect guideline recommendations. Variation among health care organizations with respect to asthma therapy and utilization of health services exists. In addition, controller medications may not be used by all children who could benefit from them.

To determine if anti-inflammatory treatment for asthma reduces the risk of asthma hospitalization.Retrospective cohort study.A health maintenance organization (HMO) in eastern Massachusetts.Members of the HMO who were identified during the period October 1991 through September 1994 as having a diagnosis of asthma using a computerized medical record system.Hospitalization for asthma.Of the 16941 eligible persons, 742 (4.4%) were hospitalized for asthma. The overall relative risk (RR) of hospitalization among those who received inhaled steroids was 0.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.4-0.6) after adjustment for beta-agonist dispensing. Additional adjustment for age, race, other asthma medications, and amount and type of ambulatory care for asthma did not substantially affect the inverse relationship between use of inhaled steroids and hospitalization. Cromolyn was similarly associated with reduced risk, especially among children (RR,0.8; 95% CI, 0.7-0.9). In contrast, increasing beta-agonist use was associated with increasing hospitalization risk even after adjustment for other factors and medications. The steroid-associated protection was most marked among individuals who received the largest amount of beta-agonist.Inhaled steroids and, to a lesser extent, cromolyn confer significant protection against exacerbations of asthma leading to hospitalization. These results support the use of inhaled steroids by individuals who require more than occasional beta-agonist use to control asthma symptoms.

This study was designed to mimic conditions that could exist during an accidental spill of hydrazine, a fuel for missiles and jet engines. Twelve-day-old eggs of rainbow trout Salmo gairdneri were exposed to nominal hydrazine concentrations of 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, and 5.0 mg/liter. The eggs were exposed for 48 hours and subsequently maintained in a recirculating-flow system. Exposure to the various concentrations of hydrazine did not result in significant mortality or reduction in hatching. Aberrations in morphogenesis of larvae included loss of muscular control, reduced growth rates, and loss of tactile sensitivity at concentrations of 1.0 and 5.0 mg/liter.

The fungicides benomyl, chlorothalonil, thiabendazole, and fentin hydroxide were applied alone and in combination with methyl parathion or methomyl to soybeans. Larval population levels of Plathypena scabra (F.), Anticarsia gemmatalis (Hubner), and Pseudoplusia includens (Walker) were monitored as well as selected arthropod predators and the incidence of the fungal entomopathogens Nomuraea rileyi (Farlow) Samson and Entomophthora gammae (Weiser). Application of fungicides at the recommended rates failed to suppress an epizootic of E. gammae in P. includens populations. The incidence of N. rileyi was suppressed in a low density population of A. gemmatalis . When larval density increased, no difference was detected in the incidence of N. rileyi infection in treated and untreated plots. Differences in predator population levels were not observed in a 1976 P. includens test but generally lower predator populations were noted in the 1977 P. includens-A. gemmatalis test in fungicide and/or insecticide treated plots. Fentin hydroxide alone and treatments which included methyl parathion or methomyl reduced larval populations of P. scabra and A. gemmatalis . Only treatments containing methomyl reduced larval populations of P. includens. Pseudoplusia includens population resurgence was detected following treatments with benomyl and methyl parathion, chlorothalonil + methyl parathion and fentin hydroxide + methyl parathion. Anticarsia gemmatalis population resurgence followed treatment with fentin hydroxide + methomyl.

The acute toxicity of a variety of Air Force jet fuels was evaluated for several terrestrial insects. The most toxic fuel was a shale-derived JP-8. In general, shale fuels were more toxic than their petroleum-derived counterparts. The order of decreasing susceptibility to the current standard Air Force fuel, petroleum-derived JP-4, was earwigs, rice weevils, flour beetles, lady beetles, tenebrionid beetles, and cockroaches. However, species response varied with different jet fuel types.

Bluegills were exposed for one hour to 0.2 or 2.3 mg/liter water soluble fraction (WSF) of JP-4 in a testing chamber designed to contain individual fish. A strain gage paddle was used to monitor activity. Whole body movement of individual fish did not change appreciably during exposure to either 0.2 or 2.3 mg/liter WSF-JP-4. Strength of pectoral fin movement, accounting for the majority of the fish behavior, increased in six of ten individuals exposed to 2.3 mg/liter WSF-JP-4. Pectoral fanning may be a useful parameter to indirectly assess water quality.

Soil samples collected during 1975 and 1976 from United States Air Force installations in California, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah were analyzed for organochlorine pesticide residues. Sigma DDT, chlordane, and dieldrin were the pesticides most commonly found. In 1975, sigma DDT residues were significantly higher in samples from residential areas than in samples from golf courses or areas free of pesticide application. Chlordane residues in 1975 were significantly higher in both residential and golf course areas than in areas where pesticides had not been used. No significant differences were found in 1976 in residue levels of any pesticide monitored among various land use areas.

Family housing units at a midwestern Air Force base were evaluated for airborne chlordane contamination. The units had intra- or subslab heating ducts and many were treated with chlordane by subslab injection to control termites. Chlordane concentrations as high as 263.5 micrograms/cubic meters were detected in a preliminary survey in 1979. All 498 ground floor units were surveyed in 1980. The majority (77%) of the treated units had detectable levels of airborne chlordane. There was no correlation between chlordane concentration and inside or outside temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity or sampler location. Results of these studies indicate that chlordane contamination may be wide-spread in houses with intra- or subslab heating ducts that were treated for termites by high-pressure subslab injection.

Because stable plumes tend to have less impact at ground level, the behavior of plumes from elevated sources in stable air has not attracted the same interest that plume behavior in unstable air has. However, some aspects of stable-plume behavior hold great interest. For example, concentrations in the plume remain high for long periods of time, which increases the importance of chemical reactions taking place among plume constituents or between constituents and the ambient air. The nature of the stable plume also has its effect during periods of fumigation, when the high concentrations within the plume are mixed to ground level by the onset of unstable conditions.

An optimization technique has been developed which combines the practical features of hybrid simulation of the dynamic system under study with the systematic approach of modern control theory where a mathematically formulated design criterion is optimized by functional minimization. Standard hybrid computer optimization methods using high-speed repetitive simulations and gradient minimization schemes have been extended to obtain time-varying optimal gain schedules and reduce the sensitivity of the optimized system to parameter and disturbance uncertainties. In this approach the performance index is expressed in meaningful engineering terms that reflect the interactions among all major disciplines, structures, control/actuation system design, aerodynamics and performance. The basic optimization technique is developed and its application to current aerospace control problems including the space shuttle is presented in detail. In the discussion of the application, the controllers resulting from the technique are compared with controllers developed by conventional methods. The paper concludes with a review of the advantages and disadvantages of the technique and plans for future applications.