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January 7, 2012
Articles Global Change Leave a comment
J.R.G. Townshend and S. I. Rasool
COSPAR report to the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), Volume 7, Issue 1, Codata Bulletin, 24 (4) (special issue on Data for Global Change), 1-14, 1993
Published for the Committee on Space Research by Pergamon Press
January 7, 2012
Articles Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Leave a comment
S.I. Rasool
Memoires SOC. R. Sc. Liege, Fifth Serie, tome IX, Extract 1963
For the purposes of studying radiative properties of the atmospheres of the other planets, Venus and Mars for example, where the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere may be greater than in the earth’s by several orders of magnitude, these bands become important (Jastrow and Rasool, 1963). Therefore, in the absence of generally accepted values of the intensities of 9.4 p and 10.4 p bands, they have attempted to estimate them independently.
Publisher: NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Institute for Space Studies.
December 31, 2011
Articles sahel Leave a comment
M.F.Courel; R.S. Kandel ; S.I. Rasool
Nature 307, 528 – 531 (09 February 1984)
The persistence of the Sahel drought, which reached a peak in 1973, appears to be typical for such dry episodes over past decades and centuries. Such strong persistence can be understood if a strong positive feedback mechanism is operating, partly driven by changes in surface properties. The key factors in the mechanisms thus far studied are the surface albedo and the soil moisture, both of which affect the radiation balance at the surface, the first directly, the second indirectly through its influence on the latent heat flux. We have now studied the evolution of the albedo of this region since 1972. We find that dry season albedo in the Sahel (notably Ferlo and Gondo regions) declined from a maximum close to 0.30 in 1973 to values close to 0.20 in 1979. This decline is consistent with changes in plant cover determined by analysis of spectral changes in the Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS) data and field studies.
December 31, 2011
Articles radiation Leave a comment
S. I. Rasool
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NASA, New York, N.Y.
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, volume 21, pages 152–156.
Radiation data obtained from TIROS III has been analyzed, separately for day and for night, for the period July through September 1961. The global distribution of the average effective temperatures measured by the 8–12 μ channel of the satellite radiometer shows a close correlation with the cloud cover data.
An estimate of the latitudinal distribution of cloud heights has been obtained using the TIROS radiation data for daytime and the distribution of cloud cover recently obtained from the TIROS photographs. Combining these values of the cloud heights with the nighttime radiation data determines the latitudinal distribution of nighttime cloud cover.
The results indicate that in the Southern Hemisphere the percentage cloudiness at night is considerably higher than in the day, while in the case of the Northern Hemisphere the cloudiness appears to decrease at night.
December 26, 2011
Uncategorized NASA Leave a comment
Dr Rasool received a one year fellowship, extendable for three years, to work with Dr. R. Jastrow in 1961.
The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is a laboratory in NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Earth Science Division, which is part of GSFC’s Sciences and Exploration Directorate. Following approval by NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan in December 1960, the institute was established by Dr. Robert Jastrow in May 1961 as a New York City office of GSFC’s Theoretical Division to do basic research in space sciences in support of Goddard programs. Much of the institute’s early work involved study of planetary atmospheres using data collected by telescopes and space probes, and in time that led to GISS becoming a leading center of atmospheric modeling and of climate change.
December 26, 2011
Books Solar System; Lunar Orbit;Solar Physics Leave a comment
Introduction to Solar Physics
Internal Rotation of the Sun
A History of Solar Rotation
Dynamics of the Outer Solar Atmosphere
The Interplanetary Plasma Lower Atmospheres of the Planets
The Composition of Planetary Atmospheres
Interior Structure of Giant Planets
Radar and Radio Exploration of the Planets
Nature and Interpretation of the Apollo 11
Lunar Samples
Origin of the Solar System
Evolution of Planetary Atmospheres
History of the Lunar Orbit
Publisher: University Press of the Pacific (February 14, 2005)
Author: NASA
Editor: S.I. Rasool
December 26, 2011
Papers cloud-seeding; Punjab Leave a comment
D’albe, E. M. F., Lateef, A. M. A., Rasool, S. I. and Zaidi, I. H. (1955)
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 81: 574–581
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Expirements to test the influence of dispersal of salt particles from the ground on rainfall amount and distribution were carried out in the Central Punjab between July 16 and September 15, 1954.
December 23, 2011
Books Climate Change, climate change science Leave a comment
The vast majority of climate scientists now agree that human-induced climate change is a reality, but there is much ongoing research and debate. Nevertheless, our global society is confronted with the urgent need for a wise response to potential climate change. This volume brings together scientists from the US and Europe to review the state of the art in climate change science. It draws from the most recent assessment reports of the IPCC, but scientific jargon has been minimized for readers from different backgrounds. Each chapter provides a description of a particular aspect of the climate problem, its role in current climate change, its potential future impacts, and its societal importance. This book is written for scientists and students in a wide range of fields, such as atmospheric science, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, geology and socioeconomics, who are seeking a coherent and broad review of climate change issues.
Cambridge University Press 2008
Edited by Catherine Gautier,University of California, Santa Barbara
Jean-Louis Fellous, European Space Agency
Conclusions S. Ichtiaque Rasool and Jean-Claude Duplessy
December 23, 2011
Uncategorized Caltech, visiting scientist Leave a comment
The mission of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education. They investigate the most challenging, fundamental problems in science and technology in a singularly collegial, interdisciplinary atmosphere, while educating outstanding students to become creative members of society.
With an outstanding faculty, including five Nobel laureates, and such off-campus facilities as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the W.M. Keck and Palomar observatories, the California Institute of Technology is one of the world’s preeminent institutions of science and engineering.
Ichtiaque Rasool was a distinguished visiting Scientist at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a visiting associate in planetary science on the campus.
December 23, 2011
Articles greenhouse, Venus Leave a comment
S.I. Rasool and C. De Bergh, 1970
Nature, volume 226, pages 1037-1039
Although Venus and the Earth are similar in size and mass, are adjacent in the solar system and were probably formed out of the same homogenous mix of gas and dust about 4.5 billion years ago, their atmospheres and surface conditions differ markedly. For example, the atmosphere of Venus is ~75 times more massive than that of the Earth and is largely composed of carbon dioxide, a gas which constitutes only 0.03 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. The Venus atmosphere seems to be deficient in water, with respect to Earth, by as much as a factor of 104. The surface temperature of Venus is 700 K.
We believe that the chief differences can be explained by the single circumstance that venus was formed 30 percent closer to the Sun. If the Earth had formed only 6 to 10 million km nearer to the Sun, it may also have become a hot and sterile planet. As for Mars, it seems that is the relative smallness of its size and mass — a weaker internal activity — which has slowed its progress towards accumulating an Earth-type atmosphere and oceans.
Ichtiaque S. Rasool 
