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International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This student paper was produced as part of the team design competition in the University of Arizona course ECE 485, Radiowaves and Telemetry. It describes a telemetering system design recommendation for a small satellite capable of conducting scientific research regarding atmospheric water content. This paper focuses on the subsystems required to send the scientific data and monitored operational conditions from the satellite to, and commands to the satellite from, a ground station. A companion paper (Hittle, et. al.) focuses on the cross-link subsystem required to make the scientific measurements and on the power generation and distribution subsystem for the satellite.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This student paper was produced as part of the team design competition in the University of Arizona course ECE 485, Radiowaves and Telemetry. It describes a telemetering system design recommendation for a small satellite capable of conducting scientific research regarding atmospheric water content. This paper focuses on the cross-link subsystem required to make the scientific measurements and on the power generation and distribution subsystem for the satellite. A companion paper (Cramer, et. al.) focuses on the subsystems required to send the scientific data and monitored operational conditions from the satellite to, and commands to the satellite from, a ground station. The central objective is to validate a new technique for precisely measuring water vapor profiles of clouds throughout the troposphere. This method involves the detection of 4 SHF tones sent out from the International Space Station (ISS), providing high-resolution amplitude and phase delay data.

The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer uses a near-infrared camera to measure the optical path length variations between the two AO-corrected apertures and provide high-angular resolution observations for all its science channels (1.5-13 microns). There is however a wavelength dependent component to the atmospheric turbulence, which can introduce optical path length errors when observing at a wavelength different from that of the fringe sensing camera. Water vapor in particular is highly dispersive and its effect must be taken into account for high-precision infrared interferometric observations as described previously for VLTI/MIDI or the Keck Interferometer Nuller. In this paper, we describe the new sensing approach that has been developed at the LBT to measure and monitor the optical path length fluctuations due to dry air and water vapor separately. After reviewing the current performance of the system for dry air seeing compensation, we present simultaneous H-, K-, and N-band observations that illustrate the feasibility of our feedforward approach to stabilize the path length fluctuations seen by the LBTI nuller.

There is a growing need for the clean generation of electricity in the world, and increased efficiency is one way to achieve cleaner generation. Increased efficiency may be achieved through an improved understanding of the heat flux of participating media in combustion environments. Real-time in-situ optical measurements of gas temperature and concentrations in combustion environments is needed. Optical methods do not disturb the flow characteristics and are not subject to the temperature limitation of current methods. Simpler, less-costly optical measurements than current methods would increase the ability to apply them in more circumstances. This work explores the ability to simultaneously measure gas temperature and H2O concentration via integrated spectral intensity ratios in regions where H2O is the dominant participating gas. This work considered combustion flows with and without fuel and soot particles, and is an extension of work previously performed by Ellis et al. [1]. Five different combustion regimes were used to investigate the robustness of the infrared intensity integral method first presented by Ellis et al. [1]. These included Post-Flame Natural Gas (PFNG), Post-Flame Medium Wood (PFMW), Post-Flame Fine Wood (PFFW), In-Flame Natural Gas (IFNG), and In-Flame Fine Wood (IFFW). Optical spectra were collected as a function of path length for each regime. Methods for processing the spectra to obtain gas temperature, gas concentration, broadband temperature, and broadband emissivity were developed. A one-dimensional spectral intensity model that allowed for specular reflection, and investigated differences between measured and modeled spectral intensities was created. It was concluded that excellent agreement (within 2.5%) was achieved between optical and suction pyrometer gas temperatures as long as 1) the optical probe and cold target used were well-aligned 2) the path length was greater than 0.3 m and 3) the intensity from broadband emitters within the path was smaller than the gas intensity. Shorter path lengths between 0.15 – 0.3 m produced reasonable temperatures with 7 % error while path lengths of 0.05 m or less were as much as 15% in error or the signal would not effectively process. Water vapor concentration was less accurate being at best within 20% (relative) of expected values. The accurate determination of concentration requires first an accurate temperature concentration as well low broadband participation. Some optical concentrations were in error as much as 85%. The 1-D model was compared to the measurement and it was found that the model peaks were sharper and shifted 0.167 cm-1 compared to the measured data. The reason for the shift can be attributed to the uncertainty of the reference laser frequency used in the FTIR. No conclusion was found for the cause of the sharper peaks in the model. The integrated area of bands used to find temperature and concentration matched well between the model and measured spectrum being typically within 3%.

The atmosphere is a heterogeneous system which is rich in potential chemistry. The processes taking place within this system as well as at the interface of its constituents are of immense importance in understanding how the atmosphere in turn can impact the well-being of all living on the surface of earth. Thus, the heterogeneous chemistry of atmospheric aerosols has since long been subjected to extensive scientific investigation, in view of broadening our understanding of this imperative system. In this study, the heterogeneous interactions of water vapor and gaseous HNO3 on goethite (a-FeOOH), a prominent component of mineral dust aerosol is investigated with quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurements and attenuated total reflectance - Fourier transform IR (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Laboratory synthesized goethite samples of varying size (microrods of specific surface area 34 m2/g and nanorods of specific surface area 121 m2/g) were used in order to identify the size dependent interaction of goethite with H2O and HNO3. The study revealed that the exposure of goethite to gas phase H2O and HNO3 results in the uptake of these gases via surface adsorption. Additionally, this novel combined approach of QCM and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy allowed for quantification of the amount of uptake while the spectroscopic data provided information on the speciation of adsorbed products. Thus, with the QCM and spectroscopic data in hand, a precise interpretation of the reactivity as well as its size dependence was sought. In a general sense, the reactivity of a substance is believed to increase with decreasing particle size. The results of this investigation show that in the case of H2O, both microrods and nanorods take up water while the total amount of adsorbed water, when normalized to surface area, is similar for both particle sizes. However, for HNO3, the saturation coverage of total and irreversibly bound HNO3 on microrods was observed to be higher than that on nanorods. With supplementary analysis, this anomalous size effect was attributed to structural features such as the involvement of surface hydroxyl groups in determining the reactivity, which would be subjected to change as a function of particle size. Furthermore, an investigation of the behavior of HNO3 reacted goethite in aqueous media and the uptake of H2O and HNO3 at their mutual presence was carried out such as to better understand the effects of atmospheric processing upon dispersal within the hydrosphere. Further analysis is warranted before arriving at a general conclusion on the size-dependent reactivity of goethite. However, we may argue that goethite containing aerosols may indicate the same pattern of reactivity within the atmosphere as that observed here. Thus, the inference of this investigation proves to be significant in broadening our understanding of this atmosphere as well as the entire biosphere as a whole.

The tropical cyclone (TC) and environmental interaction is not fully understood. Previous studies have demonstrated that this interaction affects intensity change. The studies found that intensification is favored in low shear, moist environments, with high sea surface temperatures (SST). However, little precise quantification was provided, especially in terms of the impact of environmental water vapor on TC intensity change. This work addresses the TC interaction with the environmental water vapor. Results from a comprehensive statistical study show that TC intensification is more likely to occur in an anomalously moist environment than a dry environment. However, only a small amount of the total variance is explained. When assessing the effect of vertical wind shear along with environmental water vapor, more of the variance is explained. Water vapor not only affects TC intensity. Prior modeling studies have demonstrated impacts from environmental water vapor on TC structure. These impacts can also affect intensity change. Specifically, enhanced water vapor content within the TC enhances the rainbands, which can lead to an eyewall replacement cycle, causing a temporary weakening, followed by re-intensification. This thesis evaluates observational and high resolution MM5 model output from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita from the Hurricane Rainband and Intensity Experiment (RAINEX) to evaluate the effects of varying water vapor distributions on TC structure. While the two hurricanes were of similar intensity, they had different water vapor distributions and structures. Rita underwent an eyewall replacement cycle while under RAINEX surveillance while Katrina did not. Rita was also located within a dry environment and had a strong horizontal moisture gradient, while Katrina was in a moist environment and had a weak moisture gradient. Results suggest that a strong horizontal water vapor gradient, with a moist TC and dry outer environment may confine the hurricanes into a pattern that causes them to have high circularity, promoting the formation of a secondary eyewall. The dry outer environment had strong atmospheric stability and was less favorable for deep convection far from the center in the Rita case. The moist environment in the Katrina case was more unstable. This may have allowed for the rainbands to be farther from the center in a less circular pattern than Rita. The results presented in this thesis suggest that this pattern is less favorable for an eyewall replacement cycle.

This thesis develops and evaluates a method to simulate energy consumption and water production for a novel sorption dehumidication pro-cess. The system consists of a chamber comprising a hygroscopic materialand a heating device. The process consists of an adsorption phase anda regeneration phase. For both the regeneration phase and the adsorp-tion phase the model considers the heat distribution by thermal diusionand convection and the water transport by diusion and convection. Forthe regeneration phase the radiation is also considered since the radia-tive power increases with temperature to the power of four. Further, amodel for the condensation process is implemented and a model for thecondensation is suggested. To model the properties of the hygroscopicmaterials, the adsorption curves for SiO2 and AlO2 are investigated. Themodel were evaluated by comparing the simulated values with experimen-tal measurements.The results from the the simulation of the regeneration phase showsa good agreement with experimental data for the power and the energyconsumption even though the simulated values are a bit underestimated,about 10%. The water production is simulated to be about 25% higherthan the measured values. This discrepancy could be explained by aleakage of water vapour that was found in the experimental set up, whichis not considered in the model. This could also explain the underestimatedenergy consumption since the condensation energy in the system is toogreat. To improve the accuracy for the model the water leakage wouldneed to be implemented. The overestimation of water seemed to be thesame for the measurements from the same apparatus.For the adsorption phase a developed model, from an article for ad-sorption in silica, was implemented and tuned for the specic system. Thesimulations are in good agreement with the measurements but could betested further for more certainty.

Removal of water vapor from humid streams is an energy-intensive process used widely in industry. Effective dehumidification has the potential to significantly reduce energy consumption and the overall cost of a process stream. Membrane-based separations, particularly dehumidification, are an emerging technology that can change the landscape of global energy usage because they have a small footprint, they are easy to scale up, to implement and to operate. The focus of this thesis is to evaluate new directions for the development and use of materials for membrane-based dehumidification processes. It will show advances in the synthesis of new copolymers, a surprising boost in performance with the addition of 2-D materials, propose the use of polybenzimidazole for challenging dehumidification applications, and show how by tuning the nanostructure of a commercially available block copolymer (BCP) it is possible to increase the performance. The design of novel amphiphilic ternary copolymers comprising P(AN-r-PEGMA-r-DMAEMA) allowed selective removal of water vapors from gaseous streams; the effect of varying PEGMA chain length on membrane performance was studied. The membranes showed an excellent performance when the content of the PEGMA segment was 2.9 mol% with a chain length of 950Da. In the mixed-matrix approach, the inclusion of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets in a different copolymer enhanced the membrane performance by creating selective tortuous pathways for inert gases. The well-distributed GO nanosheets in the defect-free composite membranes resulted in an 8 fold increase in water vapor/N2 selectivity compared to neat membranes. Thirdly, dense polybenzimidazole membranes showed good water vapor permeability, and the addition of TiO2-based fillers with varying chemistry and geometry enhanced the performance of PBI membranes. Lastly, the effect of tuning the morphology of commercially available BCP on dehumidification was demonstrated successfully. The self-assembled morphology formed with cylindrical hydrophobic cores, and the hydrophilic coronas, formed ion-rich highways for fast water vapor transport. Water vapor permeability improved up to 6-fold with the nanostructure modulation more than any membrane reported in the literature. In summary, the work reported in this dissertation has the potential to lay a framework towards tailor-made next-generation membranes aimed for water vapor removal in various dehumidification applications.

Thesis (M.S. - Hydrology and Water Resources)--University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 270-273).