Collaborative Research: CEDAR: High-Resolution Imaging of Instability Dynamics and Breakdown

Information

• NSF Award
• 1450660

Owner

• The Aerospace Corporation

• Award Id

  1450660

• Award Effective Date

  7/15/2015 - 11 years ago

• Award Expiration Date

  6/30/2018 - 8 years ago

• Award Amount

  $ 160,000.00

• Award Instrument

  Continuing grant

This is a 3-year collaborative investigation between The Aerospace Corporation and GATS Inc. to place a new airglow camera at the Andes Lidar Observatory (ALO) in Chile and use those data to study turbulent processes near the mesopause. Turbulent viscosity is a critical unknown parameter in numerical models of the 80 to 100 km altitude region. It is notoriously very difficult to measure. This project will provide a method of measuring this parameter in this important atmospheric region where turbulent viscosity may vary by 3 orders of magnitude. The results of this study will also contribute to a more general understanding of fluid dynamics accompanying flow instabilities. <br/> Specifically, this project will utilize the Aerospace Corporation?s new high-resolution infrared camera (AIC2) that uses fast optics and a 2048 x 2048 IR detector to image the OH airglow at 30 m pixel size with a 2 s image cadence. The ALO site also includes a Na wind-temperature lidar and a meteor radar. Data from the AIC2 and the other ALO instruments will be used to investigate the breakdown into turbulence of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities (KHIs) and to measure the turbulent viscosity. This new technique will allow characterization of the turbulent viscosity for a variety of background conditions and over daily and seasonal timescales. The measurements will be combined with high-resolution direct numerical simulations to produce the most complete picture to date of KHI breakdown and its evolution into turbulence.

• Program Officer

  Ruth S. Lieberman

• Min Amd Letter Date

  7/12/2015 - 11 years ago

• Max Amd Letter Date

  6/10/2016 - 10 years ago

• ARRA Amount

• Name

  Aerospace Corporation

• City

  Los Angeles

• State

  CA

• Country

  United States

• Address

  P.O. Box 92957

• Postal Code

  900092957

• Phone Number

  3103367608

• First Name

  Lynette

• Last Name

  Gelinas

• Email Address

  Lynette.J.Gelinas@aero.org

• Start Date

  7/12/2015 12:00:00 AM

• First Name

  James

• Last Name

  Hecht

• Email Address

  James.H.Hecht@aero.org

• Start Date

  7/12/2015 12:00:00 AM

• First Name

  Richard

• Last Name

  Rudy

• Email Address

  richard.j.rudy@aero.org

• Start Date

  7/12/2015 12:00:00 AM

• First Name

  Richard

• Last Name

  Walterscheid

• Email Address

  richard.walterscheid@aero.org

• Start Date

  7/12/2015 12:00:00 AM

• Text

  AERONOMY

• Code

  1521

• Text

  COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH

• Code

  7298