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Satellite observations can play a very important role in airborne field campaigns, since they provide a comprehensive description of the environment that is essential for the experiment design, flight planning, and post-experiment scientific data analysis. In the past, it has been difficult to fully utilize data from multiple NASA satellites due to the large data volume, the complexity of accessing NASA s data in near-real-time (NRT), as well as the lack of software tools to interact with multi-sensor information. The JPL GRIP Portal is a Web portal that serves a comprehensive set of NRT observation data sets from NASA and NOAA satellites describing the atmospheric and oceanic environments related to the genesis and intensification of the tropical storms in the North Atlantic Ocean. Together with the model forecast data from four major global atmospheric models, this portal provides a useful tool for the scientists and forecasters in planning and monitoring the NASA GRIP field campaign during the 2010 Atlantic Ocean hurricane season. This portal uses the Google Earth plug-in to visualize various types of data sets, such as 2D maps, wind vectors, streamlines, 3D data sets presented at series of vertical cross-sections or pointwise vertical profiles, and hurricane best tracks and forecast tracks. Additionally, it allows users to overlap multiple data sets, change the opacity of each image layer, generate animations on the fly with selected data sets, and compare the observation data with the model forecast using two independent calendars. The portal also provides the capability to identify the geographic location of any point of interest. In addition to supporting the airborne mission planning, the NRT data and portal will serve as a very rich source of information during the post-field campaign analysis stage of the airborne experiment. By including a diverse set of satellite observations and model forecasts, it provides a good spatial and temporal context for the high-resolution, but limited in space and time, airborne observations.

Transient localized D region disturbances, such as those associated with lightning discharges, affect the characteristics of VLF waves propagating in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide. In particular, both phase and amplitude changes in the subionospheric signal can be observed at receiving sites as a result of the wave scattering that takes place in the disturbed region. In the present paper we present a multiple-mode three-dimensional model of VLF propagation in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide in the presence of localized D region disturbances. The model takes into account great circle (GC) propagation paths with realistic ground and ionospheric conductivity changes that result in mode conversion along the path. It is assumed that conductivity changes transverse to the GC paths are negligible except in the vicinity of the D region disturbance and that mode coupling is negligible within the disturbed region. This new model is applied to experimental observations and is found to be in general agreement. The diagnostics potential of the model for characterizing energetic particle precipitation events is discussed.

This survey was conducted to provide informational inputs for planning and establishing a community health education system in southwest New Mexico. Information was gathered concerning the opinions of typical area residents regarding needed health-medical care facilities, personnel training needs, services, personnel requisite to their well-being, and needed preferred health education. A modified random sample of households was selected according to rural and urban strata, and 400 personal interviews were conducted. Survey results included a reported need for more health/education training among 59 percent of the respondents. General household health care and emergency first aid were selected most frequently as preferred topics. Television and radio and adult education courses received the highest number of responses as preferred means of learning. Subjects also expressed concern about needs in the areas of increased manpower, physician-client relationship, improved physician service, cost of health care and services, facilities improvement, and diagnostic/preventive service manpower and education. (Author/DS)

A new type of discrete whistler mode emission has been observed in the magnetosphere at L below 4. The emission elements are confined to a bandwidth of 1-5 kHz, with the lower cutoff frequency of the band varying with L shell, being equal to about 0.2-0.5 f(Heq), where f(Heq) is the equatorial electron gyrofrequency. The discrete and burstlike nature of the emissions is similar to that of chorus emissions typically observed at higher L; however, dispersion of individual elements is often different from typical chorus, and the emissions are observed inside as well as outside the plasmapause. The phenomenon seems to occur mainly in the early morning local time sector and is well correlated with geomagnetic activity, occurring mostly at high gasmagnetic activity. The analysis of data from the low-altitude ISIS-2 and the high-altitude De-1 satellites indictes that the emissions may be generated near the equatorial plane at frequencies of about 0.2 f(Heq) inside and about 0.35 f(Heq) outside the plasmapause. The parallel energy of electrons for gyroresonance with the observed waves is found to be about 20-50 keV in both cases.