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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1983

Effects of core perturbations on the structure of the sun

The effects of perturbing the inner part of the solar core where the hydrogen abundance has been partially depleted by nuclear burning are investigated. Small regions are mixed within the core and the evolution of the resulting luminosity and radius perturbations is followed. The sensitivity of the solar luminosity and radius to mixing events of different sizes and at different locations in the core is determined and several relationships between the luminosity and radius perturbations are examined to see if the value of one of these perturbations can be inferred from a measurement of the other. It is found that any core perturbation which alters the hydrostatic structures will immediately affect the solar luminosity and radius. The behavior of these perturbations depends on the location of the mixing event within the core. Mixing events cannot produce the decrease in the solar radius without leading to a homogeneous evolution of the solar core and/or to a prohibitively large change in the solar luminosity.

Sweigart, A. V.↗
DOE OSTI2024

High-resolution source imaging and moment tensor estimation of acoustic emissions during brittle creep of basalt undergoing carbonation

SUMMARY As the high-frequency analogue to field-scale earthquakes, acoustic emissions (AEs) provide a valuable complement to study rock deformation mechanisms. During the load-stepping creep experiments with CO2-saturated water injection into a basaltic sample from Carbfix site in Iceland, 8791 AE events are detected by at least one of the seven piezoelectric sensors. Here, we apply a cross-correlation-based source imaging method, called geometric-mean reverse-time migration (GmRTM) to locate those AE events. Besides the attractive picking-free feature shared with other waveform-based methods (e.g. time-reversal imaging), GmRTM is advantageous in generating high-resolution source images with reduced imaging artefacts, especially for experiments with relatively sparse receivers. In general, the imaged AE locations are found to be scattered across the sample, suggesting a complicated fracture network rather than a well-defined major shear fracture plane, in agreement with X-ray computed tomography imaging results after retrieval of samples from the deformation apparatus. Clustering the events in space and time using the nearest-neighbour approach revealed a group of ‘repeaters’, which are spatially co-located over an elongated period of time and likely indicate crack, or shear band growth. Furthermore, we select 2196 AE events with high signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) and conduct moment tensor estimation using the adjoint (backpropagated) strain tensor fields at the locations of AE sources. The resulting AE locations and focal mechanisms support our previously assertion that creep of basalt at the experimental conditions is accommodated dominantly by distributed microcracking.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1992

Ulysses/BATSE observations of cosmic gamma ray bursts

The gamma ray burst detector aboard the ESA-NASA Ulysses spacecraft, in operation since Nov. 1990, has detected numerous gamma bursts in conjunction with the BATSE experiment aboard the Compton Observatory. Initial results are presented on burst locations for three events (21 April, 2 May, and 3 May, 1991) obtained by arrival time analysis, and they are compared with the BATSE locations. The arrival time analysis annuli have typical widths of 5'. The preliminary analysis indicates that both experiments are likely to have unresolved systematic errors, but that further work will improve the location accuracy substantially.

Hurley, K.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Location of the gamma-ray transient event of 1979 March 5

The paper discusses the gamma event of Mar. 5, 1979, the most intense burst of nonsolar high-energy photons ever recorded, which was observed by 12 gamma burst instruments on nine spacecraft. The fast rise time of the event and ephemeris and absolute time information from the spacecraft are considered, and a unique and redundantly determined 1 x 2 arcmin error box centered at R.A. = 5h 25.95m, decl. = -66 deg 07.1 arcmin (equinox 1950.0) is found. Statistical arguments favor identification with the SNR N49, located within the box. It is suggested that if N49 was the source of the transient, then peak gamma-ray and hard X-5ay luminosity was between 10 to the 44th and 10 to the 45th ergs/s, and the total radiated energy was between 10 to the 43rd and 10 to the 44th ergs.

Evans, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Search for gamma-ray events in the BATSE data base

We find large location errors and error radii in the locations of channel 1 Cygnus X-1 events. These errors and their associated uncertainties are a result of low signal-to-noise ratios (a few sigma) in the two brightest detectors for each event. The untriggered events suffer from similarly low signal-to-noise ratios, and their location errors are expected to be at least as large as those found for Cygnus X-1 with a given signal-to-noise ratio. The statistical error radii are consistent with those found for Cygnus X-1 and with the published estimates. We therefore expect approximately 20 - 30 deg location errors for the untriggered events. Hence, many of the untriggered events occurring within a few months of the triggered activity from SGR 1900 plus 14 are indeed consistent with the SGR source location, although Cygnus X-1 is also a good candidate.

Lewin, Walter↗
DOE OSTI2023

Geometric Event-Based Quantum Mechanics

In this work, we propose a special relativistic framework for quantum mechanics. It is based on introducing a Hilbert space for events. Events are taken as primitive notions (as customary in relativity), whereas quantum systems (e.g. fields and particles) are emergent in the form of joint probability amplitudes for position and time of events. Textbook relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory can be recovered by dividing the event Hilbert spaces into space and time (a foliation) and then conditioning the event states onto the time part. Our theory satisfies the full Lorentz symmetry as a ‘geometric’ unitary transformation, and possesses relativistic observables for space (location of an event) and time (position in time of an event).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS1986

Historical seismicity near Chagos - A complex deformation zone in the equatorial Indian Ocean

The historical seismicity of the Chagos region of the Indian Ocean is analyzed, using earthquake relocation methods and a moment variance technique to determine the focal mechanisms of quakes occurring before 1964. Moment variance analysis showed a thrust faulting mechanism associated with the earthquake of 1944 near the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge; a strike-slip mechanism was associated with a smaller 1957 event occurring west of the Chagos Bank. The location of the 1944 event, one of the largest intraplate earthquakes known (1.4 x 10 to the 27th dyne/cm), would imply that the Chagos seismicity is due to a zone of tectonic deformation stretching across the equatorial Indian Ocean. The possibility of a slow diffuse boundary extending west of the Central Indian Ridge is also discussed. This boundary is confirmed by recent plate motion studies which suggest that it separates the Australian plate from a single Indo-Arabian plate.

Wiens, D. A.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Register-Like Block RAM: Implementation, Testing in FPGA and Applications for High Energy Physics Trigger Systems

In high energy physics experiment trigger systems, block memories are utilized for various purposes, especially in indexed searching algorithms. It is often demanded to globally reset all memory locations between different events which is a feature not supported in regular block memories. Another common demand is to be able to update the contents in any memory location in a single clock cycle. These two demands can be fulfilled with registers but the cost of using registers for large memory is unaffordable. In this paper, a register-like block memory design scheme is described, which allows updating memory locations in single clock cycle and effectively refreshing entire memory within a single clock. The implementation and test results are presented.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS1999

A LIS Validation Study at the KSC-ER using LDAR and Field Mill Data

The chance of having the TRMM satellite pass over east central Florida when there is lightning over the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and USAF Eastern Range (ER) is small; however, such a condition did occur on September 21, 1998 (Day 264). Starting at about 20:40 GMT, the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) reported 5 flashes during a 90 second interval that the KSC-ER was within the sensor field of view. Ground-based instrumentation, the Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR) system and a network of electric field mills (FM), detected 6 flashes in the same interval. In this paper, we will compare the times and locations of the optical pulses that were detected by LIS with the times and locations of RF sources (LDAR) and the charges that were deposited by the flash (FM network). We will show that LIS responded to all flashes that the LDAR and FM network detected; however, two discharges that were separated by less than 1 second in time and by about 10 km in space were grouped as one flash by the LIS data processing algorithm. In spite of the fact that all flashes occurred near the edge of the LIS field of view, the locations of the LIS events were consistent with both the LDAR and FM locations (the latter are usually within 1-2 kilometers of each other and often are co-located). Two of the 5 flashes reported by LIS were shifted north by about 8 km from the corresponding LDAR and FM locations. The LIS flash times tended to be after the first LDAR pulse was detected and before the last, and the integrated light signal (per LIS event) was surprisingly constant over the 5 flashes that were detected by LIS. In the future, we plan to study more correlated events and will try to determine whether and how the LIS light signal is related to the charge transfer in the flash and/or the number and spatial extent of RF sources.

Koshak, William J.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Drop Shapes Versus Fall Velocities in Rain: 2 Contrasting Examples

Rainfall retrievals from polarimetric radar measurements require the knowledge of four fundamental rain microstructure parameters, namely, drop size distribution, drop shape distribution, canting angles and drop fall velocities. Some recent measurements of all four parameters in natural rain are summarized in [1]. In this paper, we perform an in-depth analysis of two events, using two co-located 2D video disdrometers (2DVD; see [2]) both with high calibration accuracy, and a C-band polarimetric radar [3], located 15 km away. The two events, which occurred 7 days apart (on the 18th and the 25th of Dec 2009), had moderate-to-intense rainfall rates, but the second event had an embedded convection line within the storm. The line had passed over the 2DVD site, thus enabling the shapes and fall velocities to be determined as the line crossed the site. The first event was also captured in a similar manner by both the 2DVDs as well as the C-band radar. Drop fall velocity measurements for, say, the 3 mm drops show noticeable differences between the two events. Whereas for the first event, the velocity distribution showed a narrow and symmetric distribution, with a mode at the expected value (7.95 m/s, as given by the formula in [4]), the second event produced a wider distribution with a significant skewness towards lower velocities (although its mode too was close to the expected value). Moreover, the slower 3 mm drops in the second event occurred when the convection line was directly over the 2DVD site (03:35-03:45 utc), and not before nor after. A similar trend was observed in terms of the horizontal dimensions of the 3 mm drops, i.e. large fluctuations during the same time period, but not outside the period. Vertical dimensions of the drops also fluctuated but not to the same extent. Interestingly, the horizontal dimensions tended towards larger values during the 10-minute period, implying an increase in drop oblateness, which in turn indicates the possibility of the horizontal mode oscillation, one of the three fundamental modes of drop oscillations [5], albeit the most difficult one to excite.

Thurai, M.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Dual-Polarimetric Radar-Based Tornado Debris Signatures and Paths Associated with Tornadoes Over Northern Alabama During the Historic Outbreak of 27 April 2011

A historic tornado and severe weather outbreak devastated much of the southeastern United States between 25 and 28 April 2011. On 27 April 2011, northern Alabama was particularly hard hit by 40 tornadoes, including 6 that reached EF-4 to EF-5 on the Enhanced Fujita damage scale. In northern Alabama alone, there were approximately 100 fatalities and hundreds of people who were injured or lost their homes during the havoc caused by these violent tornadic storms. Many of these tornadoes occurred within range of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville) Advanced Radar for Meteorological and Operational Research (ARMOR, C-band dual-polarimetric). A unique capability of dual-polarimetric radar is the near-real time identification of lofted debris associated with ongoing tornadoes. The focus of this paper is to analyze the dual-polarimetric radar-inferred tornado debris signatures in 6 tornadoes in North Alabama on April 27, 2011. Several of these debris signatures were disseminated in real-time to the NWS Huntsville and local media to confirm storm spotter reports, confidence to enhance wording within warnings, and accurately pinpoint the locations of tornadoes for residents downstream of the storm. Also, the debris signature locations were used in post-event storm surveys to help locate areas of damage in regions where damage went unreported, or to help separate tornado tracks that were in close proximity to each other. Furthermore, the relative locations of the debris and damage paths for long track EF-4 and EF-5 tornadoes will be ascertained by careful comparison of the ARMOR analysis with NASA MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) satellite imagery of the tornado damage scenes and the National Weather Service tornado damage surveys.

Carey, Lawrence D.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Investigation into Scalable and Detection-Enhanced Satellite Conjunction Assessment

Imaging opportunities (viewable conjunctions) of Resident Space Objects (RSOs) by satellites are not continuously discovered. We propose to continuously produce and report viewable conjunctions among objects in orbit. Viewable conjunctions are events in space and time when a satellite may favorably view a Resident Space Object (RSO). Favorability is defined by a set of constraints, e.g., solar illumination, distance between observer and target, orbital location for viewable event. Computing viewable conjunctions requires calculation of orbital propagation while considering constraints based on the state vectors of position, velocity, with covariance for both satellite and RSO. We propose two parallel lanes of effort: acceleration and research. The objective of acceleration is to avoid missed opportunities and reduce latency for satellite maneuver requests through continuous prediction and reporting of viewable conjunctions. The effort will begin by deploying currently available software on dedicated systems and continue with optimizing the code for high performance computing hardware. The research lane aims to expand RSO inspection and modeling capabilities. Among our current research ideas are spectral characterization of RSO materials and planning multiple observations to recover RSO 3D form. Computing resources at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are available for the acceleration work. Laika, Maxar conjunction prediction dashboard software, and Bluesim, Maxar orbital propagation software, are expected to be the first software in the acceleration lane. Laike and Bluesim are to be provided by the sponsor, and output will be made accessible through its dashboard. Deliverables will follow a gated schedule to the sponsor. ORNL will provide progressively more robust viewable conjunction assessments from both modelled and actual ephemerides.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Deep Learning Approach for High-accuracy Electron Counting of Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor-type Direct Electron Detectors at Increased Electron Dose

Abstract Electron counting can be performed algorithmically for monolithic active pixel sensor direct electron detectors to eliminate readout noise and Landau noise arising from the variability in the amount of deposited energy for each electron. Errors in existing counting algorithms include mistakenly counting a multielectron strike as a single electron event, and inaccurately locating the incident position of the electron due to lateral spread of deposited energy and dark noise. Here, we report a supervised deep learning (DL) approach based on Faster region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) to recognize single electron events at varying electron doses and voltages. The DL approach shows high accuracy according to the near-ideal modulation transfer function (MTF) and detector quantum efficiency for sparse images. It predicts, on average, 0.47 pixel deviation from the incident positions for 200 kV electrons versus 0.59 pixel using the conventional counting method. The DL approach also shows better robustness against coincidence loss as the electron dose increases, maintaining the MTF at half Nyquist frequency above 0.83 as the electron density increases to 0.06 e−/pixel. Thus, the DL model extends the advantages of counting analysis to higher dose rates than conventional methods.

Materials Science↗
NASA NTRS2021

Assateague Island National Seashore Ecological Forecasting: Characterizing Nearshore Suspended Sediments and Landcover Change Relative to Sediment Bypassing and Catastrophic Events

Assateague Island is located off the coast of Maryland and Virginia and serves as a home to sensitive species and habitats. However, infrastructure development disrupted the natural sediment transport processes of the barrier island, which accelerated erosion of the island’s shoreline. To counteract this, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) initiated semiannual sediment bypassing operations in 2004. Over time, financial constraints limited the amount of sediment deposition possible, leading to concerns over navigational issues in nearby channels and the possibility of the operations not providing their intended benefits. To address these issues, NASA DEVELOP partnered with the National Park Service NPS and USACE. The team performed time series analyses of nearshore suspended sediment from 2004-2020 and landcover change from 2006-2018 with satellite imagery from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), and Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI). The sediment transport analyses showed that suspended sediment levels are seasonally dependent. Meanwhile, historical land cover trends included a net increase in unconsolidated shore and a net decrease in open water. Land cover change was then forecast to 2021, 2031, and 2046 using the IDRISI TerrSet Land Change Modeler. The model predicted the most drastic land cover changes in the southern portion and the least on the eastern foreshore of the island. As a result, this project allows our partners to understand the impact of sediment bypassing operations more fully and make better-informed decisions regarding the island’s management.

M Colin Marvin↗
DOE OSTI2024

Investigating New Particle Formation and Growth Over an Urban Location in the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract This study investigates the new particle formation (NPF) events at an urban location in the Eastern Mediterranean. Particle size distribution, particulate chemical composition, and gaseous pollutants were monitored in Rehovot, Israel (31°53″N 34°48″E) during two campaigns: from April 29 to 3 May 2021 (Campaign 1) and from May 3 to 11 May 2023 (Campaign 2), coinciding with an intensive bonfire burning festival. The organic aerosols (OA) source apportionment identified two major factors—Hydrocarbon‐like OA and Biomass‐burning OA—as well as two secondary factors—MO‐OOA (more oxidized‐oxygenated OA) and LO‐OOA (low oxidized oxygenated OA). NPF events were frequently observed during the day (mostly well‐defined nucleation events) and at night (burst of ultrafine mode particles without any discernible growth). A condensation sink value of (9.4 ± 4.0) × 10 −3 s −1 during Campaign 1 and (14.2 ± 6.0) × 10 −3 s −1 during Campaign 2 was obtained. The daytime events were associated with enhanced sulfuric acid proxy concentrations of (2–12) × 10 6 molecules cm −3 , suggesting the role of gas‐phase photochemistry in promoting NPF. A novel approach of hybrid positive matrix factorization analysis was used to deconvolve the chemical species responsible for the observed events. The results suggest the involvement of multiple components, including ammonium sulfate and MO‐OOA, in the nucleation; Nitrate, HOA and LO‐OOA participate in the subsequent particle growth for the daytime events. Nighttime events involve only semi‐volatile species (LO‐OOA, HOA and nitrate) along with ammonium sulfate.

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences↗
DOE OSTI2024

Evolution of oxygen and stratification and their relationship in the North Pacific Ocean in CMIP6 Earth system models

Abstract. This study examines the linkages between the upper-ocean (0–200 m) oxygen (O2) content and stratification in the North Pacific Ocean using four Earth system models (ESMs), an ocean hindcast simulation, and an ocean reanalysis. The trends and variability in oceanic O2 content are driven by the imbalance between physical supply and biological demand. Physical supply is primarily controlled by ocean ventilation, which is responsible for the transport of O2-rich surface waters to the subsurface. Isopycnic potential vorticity (IPV), a quasi-conservative tracer proportional to density stratification that can be evaluated from temperature and salinity measurements, is used herein as a dynamical proxy for ocean ventilation. The predictability potential of the IPV field is evaluated through its information entropy. The results highlight a strong O2–IPV connection and somewhat higher (as compared to the rest of the basin) predictability potential for IPV across the tropical Pacific, where the El Niño–Southern Oscillation occurs. This pattern of higher predictability and strong anticorrelation between O2 and stratification is robust across multiple models and datasets. In contrast, IPV at mid-latitudes has low predictability potential and its center of action differs from that of O2. In addition, the locations of extreme events or hotspots may or may not differ between the two fields, with a strong model dependency, which persists in future projections. On the one hand, these results suggest that it may be possible to monitor ocean O2 in the tropical Pacific based on a few observational sites co-located with the more abundant IPV measurements; on the other, they lead us to question the robustness of the IPV–O2 relationship in the extratropics. The proposed framework helps to characterize and interpret O2 variability in relation to physical variability and may be especially useful in the analysis of new observation-based data products derived from the BGC-Argo float array in combination with the traditional but far more abundant Argo data.

Novi, Lyuba↗
DOE OSTI2023

Analysis of the 2021 Milford, Utah earthquake swarm: Enhanced earthquake catalog and migration patterns

An earthquake swarm occurred in Spring 2021 in south-central Utah near the town of Milford. The University of Utah Seismograph Stations located 125 earthquakes between March 19 and May 10 with magnitudes ranging from 0.5 to 3.2. We implement a matched-filter technique in order to identify additional earthquakes that went undetected during the routine network location. The 125 network-located earthquakes are used as templates and are cross-correlated with continuous data for the dates Feb 17—June 10. This time period corresponds to approximately 1 month before the earthquake swarm began through 1 month after it ended. For the matched-filter analysis, we rely heavily on station FOR1, which is located within 5 km of most template events. Four other stations within 20–30 km of most template events provide a supplement to the closest station. The matched-filter implementation results in the detection of over 600 earthquakes in addition to the original 125 catalog events. This is one of the largest swarms ever recorded in Utah, and no previous large swarms have been recorded in this location. We use HypoDD to obtain relative double-difference locations of the catalog events. Both routine locations and HypoDD relocations of the catalog events suggest a fault dipping west beneath the mountain range, opposite of typical Basin and Range normal faults that dip beneath alluvial valleys. Moment tensors for the largest five events show normal faulting consistent with the west-dipping fault seen in the seismicity. Hydrothermal features in the area, including a geothermal power plant, suggest that fluids may be a contributing factor to the earthquake swarm triggering. We examine the role of fluids by exploring bounds on diffusion parameters and investigating spatial migration characteristics of the swarm seismicity. We conclude that this swarm is the result of heterogenous stress conditions in a prefractured region.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1998

Theoretical Investigation of the High-Altitude Cusp Region using Observations from Interball and ISTP Spacecraft

A fundamental goal of magnetospheric physics is to understand the transport of plasma through the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system. To attain such an understanding, we must determine the sources of the plasma, the trajectories of the particles through the magnetospheric electric and magnetic fields to the point of observation, and the acceleration processes they undergo enroute. This study employed plasma distributions observed in the near-Earth plasma sheet by Interball and Geotail spacecraft together with theoretical techniques to investigate the ion sources and the transport of plasma. We used ion trajectory calculations in magnetic and electric fields from a global Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation to investigate the transport and to identify common ion sources for ions observed in the near-Earth magnetotail by the Interball and Geotail spacecraft. Our first step was to examine a number of distribution functions and identify distinct boundaries in both configuration and phase space that are indicative of different plasma sources and transport mechanisms. We examined events from October 26, 1995, November 29-30, 1996, and December 22, 1996. During the first event Interball and Geotail were separated by approximately 10 R(sub E) in z, and during the second event the spacecraft were separated by approximately 4(sub RE). Both of these events had a strong IMF By component pointing toward the dawnside. On October 26, 1995, the IMF B(sub Z) component was northward, and on November 1-9-30, 1996, the IMF B sub Z) component was near 0. During the first event, Geotail was located near the equator on the dawn flank, while Interball was for the most part in the lobe region. The distribution function from the Coral instrument on Interball showed less structure and resembled a drifting Maxwellian. The observed distribution on Geotail, on the other hand, included a great number of structures at both low and high energies. During the third event (December 22, 1996) both spacecraft were in the plasma sheet and were separated bY approximately 20 R(sub E) in the y direction. During this event the IMF was southward.

Ashour-Abdalla, Maha↗