Compact thermal imager: a flight demonstration of infrared technology for Earth observations.

During 2019, an infrared camera, the compact thermal imager (CTI), recorded 15 million images of the Earth from the International Space Station. CTI is based on strained-layer superlattice (SLS) detector technology. The camera covered the spectral range from 3 to 11 µm in two spectral channels, 3.3-5.4 and 7.8-10.7 µm. Individual image frames were 26×21km2 projected on the ground, with 82 m pixel resolution. A frame time of 2.54 s created continuous image swaths with a 13% along-track image overlap. Upper limits determined on the ground and in flight for the electronic offset, read noise, and dark current demonstrated the stability of the SLS detector and camera over many months. Temperature calibration was established using a combination of preflight and in-flight measurements. A narrowband approximation of temperature as a function of photon counts produced an analytic relationship covering a temperature range of 0°-400°C. Examples of CTI images illustrate temperature retrievals over sea ice, urban and agricultural areas, desert, and wildfires.

Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth.

The outer Solar System object (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU69) has been largely undisturbed since its formation. We studied its surface composition using data collected by the New Horizons spacecraft. Methanol ice is present along with organic material, which may have formed through irradiation of simple molecules. Water ice was not detected. This composition indicates hydrogenation of carbon monoxide-rich ice and/or energetic processing of methane condensed on water ice grains in the cold, outer edge of the early Solar System. There are only small regional variations in color and spectra across the surface, which suggests that Arrokoth formed from a homogeneous or well-mixed reservoir of solids. Microwave thermal emission from the winter night side is consistent with a mean brightness temperature of 29 ± 5 kelvin.

The geology and geophysics of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth.

The Cold Classical Kuiper Belt, a class of small bodies in undisturbed orbits beyond Neptune, is composed of primitive objects preserving information about Solar System formation. In January 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft flew past one of these objects, the 36-kilometer-long contact binary (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU69). Images from the flyby show that Arrokoth has no detectable rings, and no satellites (larger than 180 meters in diameter) within a radius of 8000 kilometers. Arrokoth has a lightly cratered, smooth surface with complex geological features, unlike those on previously visited Solar System bodies. The density of impact craters indicates the surface dates from the formation of the Solar System. The two lobes of the contact binary have closely aligned poles and equators, constraining their accretion mechanism.

SEASONAL EVOLUTION OF TITAN'S STRATOSPHERE NEAR THE POLES.

In this paper we report the monitoring of seasonal evolution near Titan's poles. We find Titan's south pole to exhibit since 2010 a strong temperature decrease and a dramatic enhancement of several trace species such as complex hydrocarbons and nitriles (HC3N and C6H6 in particular) previously only observed at high northern latitudes (Coustenis et al. 2016 and references therein). This results from the seasonal change on Titan going from winter (2002) to summer (2017) in the north and, at the same time, the onset of winter in the south pole. During this transition period atmospheric components with longer chemical lifetimes linger in the north undergoing slow photochemical destruction, while those with shorter lifetimes decrease and reappear in the south. An opposite effect was expected in the north, but not observed with certainty until now. We present here an analysis of high-resolution nadir spectra acquired by Cassini/CIRS at in the past years and describe the temperature and composition variations near Titan's poles. From 2013 until 2016, the northern polar region has shown a temperature increase of 10 K, while the south has shown a more significant decrease (up to 25 K) in a similar period of time. While the south polar region is continuously enhanced since about 2012, the chemical content in the north is finally showing a clear depletion for most molecules only since 2015. This is indicative of a non-symmetrical response to the seasons in Titan's stratosphere that can set constraints on photochemical and GCM models.

Composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) on Cassini.

The Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn carries the composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) designed to study thermal emission from Saturn and its rings and moons. CIRS, a Fourier transform spectrometer, is an indispensable part of the payload providing unique measurements and important synergies with the other instruments. It takes full advantage of Cassini's 13-year-long mission and surpasses the capabilities of previous spectrometers on Voyager 1 and 2. The instrument, consisting of two interferometers sharing a telescope and a scan mechanism, covers over a factor of 100 in wavelength in the mid and far infrared. It is used to study temperature, composition, structure, and dynamics of the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and Titan, the rings of Saturn, and surfaces of the icy moons. CIRS has returned a large volume of scientific results, the culmination of over 30 years of instrument development, operation, data calibration, and analysis. As Cassini and CIRS reach the end of their mission in 2017, we expect that archived spectra will be used by scientists for many years to come.

Composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) on Cassini: publisher's note.

This publisher's note renumbers the reference list in Appl. Opt.56, 5274 (2017)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.56.005274.

The small satellites of Pluto as observed by New Horizons.

The New Horizons mission has provided resolved measurements of Pluto's moons Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. All four are small, with equivalent spherical diameters of ~40 kilometers for Nix and Hydra and ~10 kilometers for Styx and Kerberos. They are also highly elongated, with maximum to minimum axis ratios of ~2. All four moons have high albedos (~50 to 90%) suggestive of a water-ice surface composition. Crater densities on Nix and Hydra imply surface ages of at least 4 billion years. The small moons rotate much faster than synchronous, with rotational poles clustered nearly orthogonal to the common pole directions of Pluto and Charon. These results reinforce the hypothesis that the small moons formed in the aftermath of a collision that produced the Pluto-Charon binary.

Surface compositions across Pluto and Charon.

The New Horizons spacecraft mapped colors and infrared spectra across the encounter hemispheres of Pluto and Charon. The volatile methane, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen ices that dominate Pluto's surface have complicated spatial distributions resulting from sublimation, condensation, and glacial flow acting over seasonal and geological time scales. Pluto's water ice "bedrock" was also mapped, with isolated outcrops occurring in a variety of settings. Pluto's surface exhibits complex regional color diversity associated with its distinct provinces. Charon's color pattern is simpler, dominated by neutral low latitudes and a reddish northern polar region. Charon's near-infrared spectra reveal highly localized areas with strong ammonia absorption tied to small craters with relatively fresh-appearing impact ejecta.

Seasonal and Geographic Variation in Biodiversity of Forensically Important Blow Flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in New Jersey, USA.

Determining the time of colonization of human or other animal remains by blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) can play an important role in criminal investigations. However, blow fly presence in a given area is strongly influenced by abiotic and biotic variables such as temperature and habitat. We wanted to assess the biodiversity of adult blow flies in New Jersey, USA, where very little is known about these taxa. Toward that end we collected adult blow flies biweekly from traps baited with bovine liver and placed across three regions in New Jersey over a 2-yr period (2011-2013). We collected and identified 9,257 adult calliphorids, comprising six genera and 12 species. Blow fly assemblages composed of these species varied by season, but community composition did not vary among regions within a given season. Three species, Lucilia coeruleiviridis (Macquart), Lucilia sericata (Meigen), and Phormia regina (Meigen) comprised 88.5% of all adult blow flies collected (42.6, 25.9, 20.0%, respectively). Combining all regions, the dominant species for both spring and summer was L. coeruleiviridis comprising 35.1% of all adults caught in spring and 64.1% in summer. P. regina was the dominant species in fall, totaling 40.1% of all adults caught and Calliphora vicina (Robineau-Desvoidy) was the dominant species for winter, totaling 44.8% of all adults caught. Our findings provide the first assessment of blow fly communities in New Jersey, and these results can be applied to surrounding states where data are severely lacking for forensic application.

Biotic mortality factors affecting emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) are highly dependent on life stage and host tree crown condition.

Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, is a serious invasive forest pest in North America responsible for killing tens to hundreds of millions of ash trees since it was accidentally introduced in the 1990 s. Although host-plant resistance and natural enemies are known to be important sources of mortality for EAB in Asia, less is known about the importance of different sources of mortality at recently colonized sites in the invaded range of EAB, and how these relate to host tree crown condition. To further our understanding of EAB population dynamics, we used a large-scale field experiment and life-table analyses to quantify the fates of EAB larvae and the relative importance of different biotic mortality factors at 12 recently colonized sites in Maryland. We found that the fates of larvae were highly dependent on EAB life stage and host tree crown condition. In relatively healthy trees (i.e., with a low EAB infestation) and for early instars, host tree resistance was the most important mortality factor. Conversely, in more unhealthy trees (i.e., with a moderate to high EAB infestation) and for later instars, parasitism and predation were the major sources of mortality. Life-table analyses also indicated how the lack of sufficient levels of host tree resistance and natural enemies contribute to rapid population growth of EAB at recently colonized sites. Our findings provide further evidence of the mechanisms by which EAB has been able to successfully establish and spread in North America.

Jupiter cloud composition, stratification, convection, and wave motion: a view from new horizons.

Several observations of Jupiter's atmosphere made by instruments on the New Horizons spacecraft have implications for the stability and dynamics of Jupiter's weather layer. Mesoscale waves, first seen by Voyager, have been observed at a spatial resolution of 11 to 45 kilometers. These waves have a 300-kilometer wavelength and phase velocities greater than the local zonal flow by 100 meters per second, much higher than predicted by models. Additionally, infrared spectral measurements over five successive Jupiter rotations at spatial resolutions of 200 to 140 kilometers have shown the development of transient ammonia ice clouds (lifetimes of 40 hours or less) in regions of strong atmospheric upwelling. Both of these phenomena serve as probes of atmospheric dynamics below the visible cloud tops.

Titan's atmospheric temperatures, winds, and composition.

Temperatures obtained from early Cassini infrared observations of Titan show a stratopause at an altitude of 310 kilometers (and 186 kelvin at 15 degrees S). Stratospheric temperatures are coldest in the winter northern hemisphere, with zonal winds reaching 160 meters per second. The concentrations of several stratospheric organic compounds are enhanced at mid- and high northern latitudes, and the strong zonal winds may inhibit mixing between these latitudes and the rest of Titan. Above the south pole, temperatures in the stratosphere are 4 to 5 kelvin cooler than at the equator. The stratospheric mole fractions of methane and carbon monoxide are (1.6 +/- 0.5) x 10(-2) and (4.5 +/- 1.5) x 10(-5), respectively.

Temperatures, winds, and composition in the saturnian system.

Stratospheric temperatures on Saturn imply a strong decay of the equatorial winds with altitude. If the decrease in winds reported from recent Hubble Space Telescope images is not a temporal change, then the features tracked must have been at least 130 kilometers higher than in earlier studies. Saturn's south polar stratosphere is warmer than predicted from simple radiative models. The C/H ratio on Saturn is seven times solar, twice Jupiter's. Saturn's ring temperatures have radial variations down to the smallest scale resolved (100 kilometers). Diurnal surface temperature variations on Phoebe suggest a more porous regolith than on the jovian satellites.

Jupiter's atmospheric composition from the Cassini thermal infrared spectroscopy experiment.

The Composite Infrared Spectrometer observed Jupiter in the thermal infrared during the swing-by of the Cassini spacecraft. Results include the detection of two new stratospheric species, the methyl radical and diacetylene, gaseous species present in the north and south auroral infrared hot spots; determination of the variations with latitude of acetylene and ethane, the latter a tracer of atmospheric motion; observations of unexpected spatial distributions of carbon dioxide and hydrogen cyanide, both considered to be products of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts; characterization of the morphology of the auroral infrared hot spot acetylene emission; and a new evaluation of the energetics of the northern auroral infrared hot spot.

An intense stratospheric jet on Jupiter.

The Earth's equatorial stratosphere shows oscillations in which the east-west winds reverse direction and the temperatures change cyclically with a period of about two years. This phenomenon, called the quasi-biennial oscillation, also affects the dynamics of the mid- and high-latitude stratosphere and weather in the lower atmosphere. Ground-based observations have suggested that similar temperature oscillations (with a 4-5-yr cycle) occur on Jupiter, but these data suffer from poor vertical resolution and Jupiter's stratospheric wind velocities have not yet been determined. Here we report maps of temperatures and winds with high spatial resolution, obtained from spacecraft measurements of infrared spectra of Jupiter's stratosphere. We find an intense, high-altitude equatorial jet with a speed of approximately 140 m s(-1), whose spatial structure resembles that of a quasi-quadrennial oscillation. Wave activity in the stratosphere also appears analogous to that occurring on Earth. A strong interaction between Jupiter and its plasma environment produces hot spots in its upper atmosphere and stratosphere near its poles, and the temperature maps define the penetration of the hot spots into the stratosphere.

Duration of effect of lansoprazole on gastric pH and acid secretion in normal male volunteers.

AIM: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study to assess the duration of effect of lansoprazole 30 mg o.m. on intragastric pH, acid secretion, gastrin levels, the potential for rebound acidity, and the relationship between gastric acid and drug pharmacokinetic parameters. METHODS: Sixteen subjects were treated with lansoprazole 30 mg daily or placebo for 14 days, followed by a 7-day post-dosing period and a post-study evaluation on day 28. Ambulatory 24-h pH was recorded and pentagastrin-stimulated acid secretion measured. Plasma kinetics of lansoprazole were determined. RESULTS: Mean intragastric pH in the lansoprazole group increased significantly (P < 0.05) from baseline to day 14 compared to placebo. After cessation of treatment, secretory activity, as measured by intragastric pH, basal acid output and stimulated acid output, returned to baseline in 2 to 4 days without any overshoot, indicating the absence of acid rebound. Lansoprazole's terminal disposition half-life was 1.11 h. Mean pH and serum gastrin returned to baseline with half-lives of 22 and 19 h, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Lansoprazole 30 mg daily significantly increases mean intragastric pH without producing acid rebound. Regeneration of acid production depends primarily on de novo synthesis of the acid pump.

Double-blind comparison of lansoprazole 15 mg, lansoprazole 30 mg and placebo as maintenance therapy in patients with healed duodenal ulcers resistant to H2-receptor antagonists.

BACKGROUND: Maintenance antisecretory therapy is often used to prevent duodenal ulcer recurrence and control symptoms. This study compared the efficacy and safety of lansoprazole 15 mg and 30 mg daily with placebo in preventing ulcer recurrence in patients with a recent history of duodenal ulcer disease. METHODS: Fifty-six patients were treated with either lansoprazole 15 mg, 30 mg or placebo o.m. RESULTS: Within 1 month of study initiation, 27% (four out of 15) of placebo-treated patients experienced ulcer recurrence as compared to 13% (two out of 15) and 6% (one out of 18) of lansoprazole 15 mg and 30 mg treated patients, respectively. Median time to first ulcer recurrence was > 12 months in lansoprazole patients. At Month 12, significantly (P < 0.001) more lansoprazole 15 mg patients (70%) and lansoprazole 30 mg patients (85%) remained healed. Eighty-two per cent of lansoprazole 15 mg and 76% of lansoprazole 30 mg patients remained asymptomatic during the entire study period. All placebo patients became symptomatic, experienced ulcer recurrence, or withdrew from the study by month six. The incidence of adverse events was comparable among the three treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS: Lansoprazole safely and effectively reduces duodenal ulcer recurrence and ulcer-related symptoms.

Dose-response relationship of lansoprazole to gastric acid antisecretory effects.

BACKGROUND: Proton pump inhibitors have been found to be effective in numerous studies in patients with peptic ulcer disease, particularly associated with Helicobacter pylori and gastro-oesophogeal reflux disorders. Optimal healing rates of antisecretory therapy for peptic acid disease is dependent upon the degree and duration of acid suppression and the length of treatment. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the extent and duration of gastric acid suppression of several lansoprazole regimens, administered for 5 consecutive days in 32 healthy adult male subjects. METHODS: Intragastric 24-h pH monitoring was performed in 32 healthy subjects in a randomized, double-blind, four-way crossover study. Sixteen subjects (Group 1) received lansoprazole 30 mg o.d. (once daily), 15 mg b.d. (twice daily), 30 mg b.d. and 30 mg t.d.s. (three times a day) for 5 days; and 16 subjects (Group 2) received lansoprazole 30 mg o.d., 60 mg o.d., 60 mg b.d. and 60 mg t.d.s. for 5 days. RESULTS: Mean 24-h intragastric pH values for lansoprazole 30 mg o.d., 15 mg b.d., 30 mg b.d. and 30 mg t.d.s. were 4.47, 4.57, 5.07 and 5.63, respectively. Multiple-dose regimens of lansoprazole 30 mg b.d. and t.d.s. produced greater acid suppression compared to lansoprazole 30 mg o.d. and 15 mg b.d. There was no significant difference in acid suppression between lansoprazole 30 mg o.d. and 15 mg b.d. Mean 24-h intragastric pH values for lansoprazole 30 mg o.d., 60 mg o.d., 60 mg b.d. and 60 mg t.d.s. were 4.13, 4.45, 5.19 and 5.13, respectively. Multiple-dose regimens of lansoprazole 60 mg b.d. and t.d.s. produced significantly greater acid suppression compared to lansoprazole 30 mg o.d. and 60 mg o.d. There was no significant difference in acid suppression between lansoprazole 30 mg o.d. and 60 mg o.d. Lansoprazole 30 mg t.d.s., 60 mg b.d. and 60 mg t.d.s. produced significantly greater percentage time above pH 3, 4, 5 and 6 than did lansoprazole 30 mg o.d. Post-regimen serum gastrin values increased by 50-130% from pre-study mean values but remained within normal range and returned to pre-study values 7-14 days post-dosing. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple-dose regimens of lansoprazole (> or =30 mg b.d. for 5 days) produce significantly increased intragastric pH and significantly longer duration of increased intragastric pH than does lansoprazole 30 mg administered once daily.

Double-blind comparison of lansoprazole 15 mg, lansoprazole 30 mg, and placebo in the maintenance of healed gastric ulcer.

Our purpose was to compare the safety and efficacy of lansoprazole 15 mg and 30 mg with placebo in preventing recurrence in 49 patients with a history of gastric ulcer. Within one month, 40% of patients receiving placebo experienced ulcer recurrence compared to 0% and 7% of patients receiving lansoprazole 15 mg and 30 mg, respectively. All placebo patients became symptomatic, experienced ulcer recurrence or withdrew from the study by month 9. As compared to placebo, a significantly (P < 0.001) higher percentage of patients treated with lansoprazole 15 mg (83%) and lansoprazole 30 mg (93%) with healed gastric ulcer disease remained healed at month 12. Of patients asymptomatic at baseline, 100% and 59% of those treated with lansoprazole 15 mg and 30 mg, respectively, remained asymptomatic at month 12. The incidence of adverse events was comparable among the treatment groups. Lansoprazole safely and effectively reduces ulcer recurrence in patients with a history of gastric ulcer disease.

Water in Betelgeuse and Antares.

Absorption lines of hot water have been identified in the infrared spectra of Betelgeuse (alpha Orionis) and Antares (alpha Scorpii) near 12.3 micrometers (811 to 819 wavenumbers). The water lines originate in the atmospheres of the stars, not in their circumstellar material. The spectra are similar in structure to umbral sunspot spectra. Pure rotation water lines of this type will occur throughout the spectra of cool stars at wavelengths greater than 10 micrometers. From the water spectra, the upper limit for the temperature in the line formation region in both stars is 2800 kelvin. The water column density in both stars is (3 +/- 2) x 10(18) molecules per square centimeter, yielding an abundance relative to atomic hydrogen of n(H2O)/n(H) approximately 10(-)7.