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MEIDEX – ME DITERRANEAN I SRAELI D UST EX PERIMENT FOR THE FIRST ISRAELI ASTRONAUT FLIGHT

MEIDEX – ME DITERRANEAN I SRAELI D UST EX PERIMENT FOR THE FIRST ISRAELI ASTRONAUT FLIGHT An experiment on board the shuttle within the Hitchhiker program Under an agreement between NASA and ISA (Israeli Space Agency). WHY STUDY DUST STORMS?

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MEIDEX – ME DITERRANEAN I SRAELI D UST EX PERIMENT FOR THE FIRST ISRAELI ASTRONAUT FLIGHT

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  1. MEIDEX –MEDITERRANEAN ISRAELI DUST EXPERIMENT FOR THE FIRST ISRAELI ASTRONAUT FLIGHT • An experiment on board the shuttle within the Hitchhiker program • Under an agreement between NASA and ISA (Israeli Space Agency)

  2. WHY STUDY DUST STORMS? • Desert dust particles are a major component of natural aerosols in the atmosphere • They may help to cool or warm the atmosphere depending on their size and chemical composition • They affect clouds and precipitation • They are in the right particle size to affect our health being deposited in the lungs • They affect mechanical systems (e.g. jet engines, helicopters etc.) • They reduce the contrast in remote sensing measurements • They affect biological activity in the Ocean

  3. Dust storm over the Dead Sea Desert dust particles Dust in Sahara – view from space Desert dust in Tel Aviv

  4. Non-Absorbing Aerosols in the Atmosphere Major sources and transport routes of the desert dust

  5. The Effects of Dust Particles on Climate • They affect climate by changing the dolar albedo – direct effect • They affect climate by modifying cloud characteristics – indirect effect • They affect rainfall amounts and intensities (dust + sulfate + organic matter)

  6. Other Existing Experiments for Measuring Dust Aerosols TOMS - aboard Earth Probe satellite – uses UV wavelengths – mostly sensitive to dust at higher altitudes MODIS – instrument aboard TERRA satellite – was launched in January 2000

  7. MEIDEX Science Team • Principal Investigators: • Prof. Zev Levin • Prof. Joachim Joseph • Astronauts: • Col. Ilan Ramon • Lt-Col. Itzhak Mayo • Team members: • Dr. Adam Devir • Dr. Eliezer Ganor • Prof. Peter Israelevich • Mr. Edmund Klodzh • Prof. Yuri Mekler • Mr. Meir Moalem • Dr. Yoram Noter • Mr. David Shtivelman • Mr. Amit Teller • Dr. Yoav Yair – Project Manager • The team consists of scientists from different disciplines: • Remote sensing of the atmosphere • Radiative transfer • Aerosol measurements and analysis • Modeling of atmospheric processes • Instrumentation for remote sensing and for airborne aerosol sampling

  8. SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES • DAYTIME PRIMARY EXPERIMENTS: • Validate TOMS versus MODIS • Sources, Transport, Sinks and Properties of Desert Aerosol over the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean • Absolute calibration by ground and airborne measurements • DAYTIME SECONDARY EXPERIMENTS: • Spectral Sea Surface BRDF with emphasis on UV • Construct Visual Slant Visibility Model • NIGHT TIME EXPERIMENT (TERTIARY): • Sprites, Elves and other related phenomena

  9. The Regions of Interest • Preferred Seasons: • The best season is Spring (March to May) – we are scheduled to fly in spring 2001 • The secondary choice is the Fall (September to November)

  10. STS-107 • “Space Lab”- 33 Experiments • Fast Reaction Experiment Enabling Science, Technology Applications & Research - FREESTAR • Primary Experiment: MEIDEX • Launch: April 4, 2002

  11. MEIDEX on FREESTAR@STS107 • Xybion IMC- 201 radiometric CCD camera • CCD Sensor: 756Hx581V • Sensitivity ≥10-6fc (~ 0.1 of typical night sky) • Spectral range: 340-860nm • 6 bands: 0.34, 0.38, 0.44, 0.56, 0.66, 0.86 nm • Exposure Times: 50 nsec - 4 msec in 50 nsec steps • WFOV SEKAI White Light video camera

  12. MEIDEX Optical Bench Mount • Cameras are mounted in a 1-axis gimbaled truss • Gimbal angular range: ± 22.5 Degrees • Scan direction: ± Y • FOV Xybion: 16o (68km at the altitude 256km - about 100m/pixel nominal resolution) • FOV SEKAI: 60o (270 km at the altitude 256 km)

  13. OVERALL MEIDEX CONFIGURATION Upper End Plate w/ Quartz Window Lens & Baffle Xybion Camera Gimbal Motor & Worm Drive Worm Gear SEKAI WFOV Camera Xybion camera Lower End Plate Avionics Mount Plate w/ electronics

  14. Airborne Measurements 5 6 3 • Wing mounted optical spectrometers (0.1 to 3 mm, and 0.3 to 47 mm) • Isokinetic sampling of aerosol particles on filtered and on EM grids • Ram collection of large (>2.5 mm) aerosols • Two albedometers • GPS • Temperature sensors 2 1 4 Flight base: Crete, or Sardinia, or Tenerife Radius: 500 miles

  15. FORECAST Dust Forecast with the TAU_ETA model and TOMS observations for April 23, 2001

  16. SLANT VISIBILITY • “VISIBILITY”: Ability of Human Eye to see a reflecting object • through a scattering, absorbing and turbulent atmosphere. • Depends on Complex Interaction of Multiple Component System: • Contrast Threshold of Human Eye, • Inherent Spectral Contrast of the Object versus its Background, • Atmospheric Spectral Extinction (x,y,h), • Atmospheric Turbulence (x,y,h), • Geometric Slant Path. • IMPOSSIBLE TO CONSTRUCT RELIABLE MODEL BY • INFORMATION TRANSFER FROM NON - HUMAN SYSTEMS. • Our Experiment: • Observation of designated targets along the shuttle footprint • as a function of time on a “Yes/No” Basis. • Correlation between KNOWN Optical Properties • of the Atmosphere and the SUBJECTIVE Detection • Capability of the Astronaut’s Eye.

  17. Observations of Sprites • Sprite observation by XYBION camera will be carried our over South America and the Tropics (crucial role of the Astronaut) • Simultaneous ground observa-tions will be carried out by teams from MIT and from Brazil • Measurements of VLF waves (in particular Schumann resonances) from TAU Mitzpe Ramon station will be correlated with the space and ground observations

  18. The MEIDEX Data Acquisition Scheme

  19. OPS ORG & DATA FLOW Plane in Flight Shuttle POCC (GSFC) Airport Crew JSC(Houston) FORECAST CENTER (TAU) Dust Sat Obs TOMS SEAWIFS MODIS (GSFC) Surface Obs. AERONET,(GSFC) Huelga, Spain Ilurin, Nigeria Forecast Data NEPC (NOAA) Airport Authority (BG Airport) IAF/MET

  20. Scientific Cooperation • Dr. Y. Kaufman and Staff, GSFC - DA’s, Analysis • Dr. B. Holben and Staff, GSFC - AERONET • Dr. E. Hilsenrath and Staff, GSFC - • Instrument Optical Properties, Calibrations. • Dr. D. Tanre, U. Lille, France - DA’s, CIMEL’s, 6s • Dr. Eric Vermote, UMD, US - Changes in 6s • Dr. R. Pinker, UMD, US - Calibrations in Nigeria • Dr. Victoria Cachorro, U.Valladolid - Calibration Site • Prof. P. Alpert, Dr. S. Krichak, Dr. M. Tsidulko, H. Shafir, TAU, Dr. B. Ziv, OU - Dust Forecast • Dr. Colin Price, TAU, Prof. Earle Williams, MIT & Many Others - Sprites & Related Measurements.

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