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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Seasonal and Morphological Controls on Nitrate Retention in Arctic Deltas

Abstract Estimates of nitrate loading to the Arctic Ocean are limited by the lack of field observations within deltas partly due to logistical constraints. To overcome this limitation, we use a remote sensing framework to estimate retention of nitrate in Arctic deltas. We achieve this by coupling hydrological and biogeochemical process models at the network scale for five major Arctic deltas. Binary masks of delta channels were used to simulate flow direction and magnitude through networks. Models were parameterized using historical and seasonal observations. Simulated nitrate retention ranged from 2.9% to 15% of the incoming load. Retention rates were largest during winter but smallest during spring conditions when increased discharges export large nitrate masses to the coast. Under future climate scenarios, retention rates fall by ∼1%–10%. Arctic deltas have an important effect on the magnitude of nitrate entering Arctic seas and the inclusion of processing in deltas can improve flux estimates.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Radium Inputs Into the Arctic Ocean From Rivers: A Basin‐Wide Estimate

Abstract Radium isotopes have been used to trace nutrient, carbon, and trace metal fluxes inputs from ocean margins. However, these approaches require a full accounting of radium sources to the coastal ocean including rivers. Here, we aim to quantify river radium inputs into the Arctic Ocean for the first time for 226 Ra and to refine the estimates for 228 Ra. Using new and existing data, we find that the estimated combined (dissolved plus desorbed) annual 226 Ra and 228 Ra fluxes to the Arctic Ocean are [7.0–9.4] × 10 14 dpm y −1 and [15–18] × 10 14 dpm y −1 , respectively. Of these totals, 44% and 60% of the river 226 Ra and 228 Ra, respectively are from suspended sediment desorption, which were estimated from laboratory incubation experiments. Using Ra isotope data from 20 major rivers around the world, we derived global annual 226 Ra and 228 Ra fluxes of [7.4–17] × 10 15 and [15–27] × 10 15 dpm y −1 , respectively. As climate change spurs rapid Arctic warming, hydrological cycles are intensifying and coastal ice cover and permafrost are diminishing. These river radium inputs to the Arctic Ocean will serve as a valuable baseline as we attempt to understand the changes that warming temperatures are having on fluxes of biogeochemically important elements to the Arctic coastal zone.

Bullock, Emma J.↗
DOE OSTI2024

A New Ecosystem Model for Arctic Phytoplankton Phenology From Ice‐Covered to Open‐Water Periods: Implications for Future Sea Ice Retreat Scenarios

Abstract To predict ecosystem change in the Arctic Ocean, understanding Arctic phytoplankton phenology is essential. We develop a marine ecosystem model focusing on phytoplankton dynamics and the competition for multiple resources based on knowledge from in situ data obtained in the Chukchi Sea. The model is designed to include the unique ecological characteristics of the Arctic Ocean. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first model successfully simulating the current paradigm for Arctic phytoplankton phenology, including both under‐ice blooms and succession of phytoplankton groups. Sensitivity experiments show that the dominance of diatoms can be sustained by lateral transport of a high‐silicate water mass (Pacific Winter Water). Experiments for future scenarios show that sea ice retreat drives a decrease in large diatoms and an increase in the other relatively small non‐diatom groups. These results suggest that dominant phytoplankton groups can be shifted from diatoms to non‐diatoms under ongoing Arctic Ocean sea ice retreat.

Choi, Jang‐Geun↗
DOE OSTI2026

Evaluating Atmospheric River Impacts on Energy and Moisture Transport in the Arctic Using Different Detection Algorithms

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) significantly impact the Arctic climate system by enhancing atmospheric heat and moisture transport and altering the local energy budget. Developing AR detection tools (ARDTs) is critical yet challenging. This study evaluates 12 ARDTs in the Arctic to assess their performance in representing atmospheric heat (represented by moist static energy) and moisture transport, as well as surface downward longwave radiation (LWD) and precipitation impacts, spanning 2000 to 2019 using ERA5 reanalysis. We find that AR occurrence frequency in the Arctic varies widely, from less than 1% to over 13%, depending on the ARDT. This variability leads to differences in contributions to poleward atmospheric heat (<1%–33%) and moisture (<1%–49%) transport. The highest AR frequency, and corresponding contributions to atmospheric heat and moisture transport, occurs over the Atlantic sector during non-summer seasons for most ARDTs. This region aligns with the primary poleward moisture pathway and the end of climatological mid-latitude storm tracks, highlighting strong connections between Arctic ARs and mid-latitude cyclones. ARs induce significant LWD anomalies, largest in winter, smallest in summer, and also substantially contribute to the seasonal precipitation. Global ARDTs detect fewer ARs with larger anomalies (>100 W m−2 in higher Arctic), but contribute <1% to seasonal climatological LWD and precipitation. In contrast, polar-specific ARDTs detect higher AR occurrences and account for up to 16% of seasonal LWD and 41% precipitation. This suggests that algorithms emphasizing extreme events with large anomalies do not necessarily indicate a large climate radiative and precipitation impact.

Zhang, Chen [University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (↗
DOE OSTI2022

A central arctic extreme aerosol event triggered by a warm air-mass intrusion

Frequency and intensity of warm and moist air-mass intrusions into the Arctic have increased over the past decades and have been related to sea ice melt. During our year-long expedition in the remote central Arctic Ocean, a record-breaking increase in temperature, moisture and downwelling-longwave radiation was observed in mid-April 2020, during an air-mass intrusion carrying air pollutants from northern Eurasia. The two-day intrusion, caused drastic changes in the aerosol size distribution, chemical composition and particle hygroscopicity. Here we show how the intrusion transformed the Arctic from a remote low-particle environment to an area comparable to a central-European urban setting. Additionally, the intrusion resulted in an explosive increase in cloud condensation nuclei, which can have direct effects on Arctic clouds’ radiation, their precipitation patterns, and their lifetime. Thus, unless prompt actions to significantly reduce emissions in the source regions are taken, such intrusion events are expected to continue to affect the Arctic climate.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Spatial variability in Arctic–boreal fire regimes influenced by environmental and human factors

Abstract Wildfire activity in Arctic and boreal regions is rapidly increasing, with severe consequences for climate and human health. Regional long-term variations in fire frequency and intensity characterize fire regimes. The spatial variability in Arctic–boreal fire regimes and their environmental and anthropogenic drivers, however, remain poorly understood. Here we present a fire tracking system to map the sub-daily evolution of all circumpolar Arctic–boreal fires between 2012 and 2023 using 375 m Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite active fire detections and the resulting dataset of the ignition time, location, size, duration, spread and intensity of individual fires. We use this dataset to classify the Arctic–boreal biomes into seven distinct ‘pyroregions’ with unique climatic and geographic environments. We find that these pyroregions exhibit varying responses to environmental drivers, with boreal North America, eastern Siberia and northern tundra regions showing the highest sensitivity to climate and lightning density. In addition, anthropogenic factors play an important role in influencing fire number and size, interacting with other factors. Understanding the spatial variability of fire regimes and its interconnected drivers in the Arctic–boreal domain is important for improving future predictions of fire activity and identifying areas at risk for extreme events.

Geology↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cloud radiative effect dominates variabilities of surface energy budget in the dark Arctic

Climate models simulate a wide range of temperatures in the Arctic. Here we investigate one of the main drivers of changes in surface temperature: the net surface heat flux in the models. We show that in the winter months of the dark Arctic, there is a more than two-fold difference in the net surface heat fluxes among the models, and this difference is dominated by the downward infrared radiation from clouds. Owing to the small amount of water vapor in the winter Arctic, infrared radiation from clouds transmits more easily to the surface in the Arctic than at other latitudes, resulting in large cloud radiative effect at the surface. The dominant role of the cloud effect is also found in the transient variability of the net surface heat flux. Results demonstrate that accurate simulation of clouds is crucial for determining the net surface heat flux, which in turn affects surface temperature and sea ice properties in the Arctic.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Arctic sea-ice loss drives a strong regional atmospheric response over the North Pacific and North Atlantic on decadal scales

Previous studies have suggested that Arctic sea-ice loss can have a profound influence on atmospheric circulation far away from the Arctic. However, there is little scientific consensus on the features of these remote responses, with the opposite impacts reported. Here we present a multi-model analysis of the decadal climate response to Arctic sea-ice loss using state-of-the-art energy conserving methodologies to isolate the impacts of sea-ice decline. We observe weakening of the Aleutian Low and development of a geopotential ridge in the North Pacific, associated with drier winter conditions over the southwest United States. Over the Atlantic, a negative NAO-like response drives wetter winter conditions across the western Mediterranean. These decadal-scale impacts substantially differ from reported centennial-scale responses to Arctic sea-ice loss simulated using non-energy conserving methodologies. Factors such as the timescale of the response and methodologies used to isolate the impacts of disappearing sea-ice cover should be carefully considered when consolidating scientific understanding on the future impacts of changing Arctic.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Arctic

Arctic observations in 2023 provided clear evidence of rapid and pronounced climate and environmental change, shaped by past and ongoing human activities that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and push the broader Earth system into uncharted territory. This chapter provides a snapshot of 2023 and summarizes decades-long trends observed across the Arctic, including warming surface air and sea-surface temperatures, decreasing snow cover, diminishing sea ice, thawing permafrost, and continued mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet and Arctic glaciers. These changes are driving a transition to a wetter, greener, and less frozen Arctic, with serious implications for Arctic peoples and ecosystems, as well as for low- and midlatitudes

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Secondary Aerosol Formation in an Arctic Oil Field (Campaign Report)

Atmospheric aerosols contribute significantly to arctic warming, yet significant differences in aerosol concentration levels and seasonal cycles often exist between models and observations. Recent studies of cloud properties across the North Slope of Alaska show the significant, regional influence of oil field emissions. Development across the Arctic motivates the need to characterize these oilfield emissions to further predict their roles in changing future arctic climate. Our previous August-September 2016 Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility field campaign resulted in improved understanding of atmospheric particles emitted within the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) oil fields, as well as the aging of sea spray aerosol. Following Polar Sunrise during arctic spring, chlorine chemistry is active, and we hypothesize that oxidation of oil field hydrocarbons by chlorine atoms (Cl) generates oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) leading to springtime arctic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

NGEE Arctic LANL Overview [Slides]

The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE Arctic) project has a goal to "deliver a process-rich ecosystem model, extending from bedrock to the top of the vegetative canopy/atmospheric interface, in which the evolution of Arctic ecosystems in a changing climate can be modeled at the scale of a high resolution Earth System Model (ESM) grid cell." LANL works across multiple NGEE Arctic science questions, such as: Q1. How does the structure and organization of the landscape control permafrost evolution and associated carbon and nutrient fluxes in a changing climate? Q5. Where, when, and why will the Arctic become wetter or drier, and what are the implications for climate forcing? and Q6. What controls the vulnerability of Arctic ecosystems to disturbance, and how do disturbances alter the structure and function of these ecosystems? This report features LANL's research summaries.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Powering Arctic Observations with Marine Energy

Energy derivation from renewable marine sources is a rapidly expanding field of research with large and small-scale applications. Large-scale applications such as tidal turbines supplying grid scale power are under development in several locations around the world but small-scale applications such as powering ocean observations with renewable energy have not received the same attention. Ocean observations such as temperature measurements are becoming increasingly valuable, especially in the Arctic where the effects of climate change are most dramatic. The marine environment of the Arctic poses unique opportunities and challenges for powering observations with renewable energy, and the technology to power sensors operating in the Arctic with marine renewable energy does not exist yet. This report discusses the power usage and requirements of instruments currently being used in the Arctic and how marine renewable energy could be used to power these instruments. Wave motion, tidal currents, and thermal gradients all are explored as having potential to be used for energy extraction and the powering of sensors at sea. These resources are investigated for Arctic locations and recommendations are made for future studies of specific use cases.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2024

NOAA Arctic Report Card 2024 : Tundra Greenness

The Arctic tundra biome occupies Earth’s northernmost lands, covering a 5.1 million km 2 area that encircles the Arctic Ocean and is bound to the south by the boreal forest biome. Arctic tundra ecosystems are experiencing profound changes as vegetation and underlying permafrost soils are strongly influenced by rising air temperatures and the rapid decline of sea ice (see essays Surface Air Temperature and Sea Ice). By the late 1990s, an increase in the productivity of tundra vegetation became evident in global satellite observations, a phenomenon that continued and soon became known as “the greening of the Arctic.” Arctic greening is dynamically linked with Earth’s changing climate, seasonal snow, permafrost, and sea-ice cover, and remains a focus of multidisciplinary scientific research.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Atmospheric teleconnection processes linking winter air stagnation and haze extremes in China with regional Arctic sea ice decline

Abstract. Recent studies suggested significant impacts of boreal cryosphere changes on wintertime air stagnation and haze pollution extremes in China. However, the underlying mechanisms of such a teleconnection relationship remains unclear. Here we use the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) to investigate dynamic processes leading to atmospheric circulation and air stagnation responses to Arctic sea ice changes. We conduct four climate sensitivity experiments by perturbing sea ice concentrations (SIC) and corresponding sea surface temperature (SST) in autumn and early winter over the whole Arctic and three subregions in the climate model. The results indicate distinct responses in circulation patterns and regional ventilation to the region-specific Arctic changes, with the largest increase of both the probability (by 132 %) and the intensity (by 30 %) of monthly air stagnation extremes being found in the experiment driven by SIC and SST changes over the Pacific sector of the Arctic (the East Siberian and Chukchi seas). The increased air stagnation extremes are mainly driven by an amplified planetary-scale atmospheric teleconnection pattern that resembles the negative phase of the Eurasian (EU) pattern. Dynamical diagnostics suggest that convergence of transient eddy forcing in the vicinity of Scandinavia in winter is largely responsible for the amplification of the teleconnection pattern. Transient eddy vorticity fluxes dominate the transient eddy forcing and produce a barotropic anticyclonic anomaly near Scandinavia and wave train propagation across Eurasia to the downstream regions in East Asia. The piecewise potential vorticity inversion analysis reveals that this long-range atmospheric teleconnection of Arctic origin takes place primarily via the middle and upper troposphere. The anomalous ridge over East Asia in the middle and upper troposphere worsens regional ventilation conditions by weakening monsoon northwesterlies and enhancing temperature inversions near the surface, leading to more and stronger air stagnation and pollution extremes over eastern China in winter. Ensemble projections based on state-of-the-art climate models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) corroborate this teleconnection relationship between high-latitude environmental changes and midlatitude weather extremes, though the tendency and magnitude vary considerably among each participating model.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Assessing the vertical structure of Arctic aerosols using balloon-borne measurements

The rapidly warming Arctic is sensitive to perturbations in the surface energy budget, which can be caused by clouds and aerosols. However, the interactions between clouds and aerosols are poorly quantified in the Arctic, in part due to (1) limited observations of vertical structure of aerosols relative to clouds and (2) ground-based observations often being inadequate for assessing aerosol impacts on cloud formation in the characteristically stratified Arctic atmosphere. Here, we present a novel evaluation of Arctic aerosol vertical distributions using almost 3 years' worth of tethered balloon system (TBS) measurements spanning multiple seasons. The TBS was deployed at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program's facility at Oliktok Point, Alaska. Aerosols were examined in tandem with atmospheric stability and ground-based remote sensing of cloud macrophysical properties to specifically address the representativeness of near-surface aerosols to those at cloud base. Based on a statistical analysis of the TBS profiles, ground-based aerosol number concentrations were unequal to those at cloud base 86 % of the time. Intermittent aerosol layers were observed 63 % of the time due to poorly mixed below-cloud environments, mostly found in the spring, causing a decoupling of the surface from the cloud layer. A uniform distribution of aerosol below cloud was observed only 14 % of the time due to a well-mixed below-cloud environment, mostly during the fall. The equivalent potential temperature profiles of the below-cloud environment reflected the aerosol profile 89 % of the time, whereby a mixed or stratified below-cloud environment was observed during a uniform or layered aerosol profile, respectively. In general, a combination of aerosol sources, thermodynamic structure, and wet removal processes from clouds and precipitation likely played a key role in establishing observed aerosol vertical structures. Results such as these could be used to improve future parameterizations of aerosols and their impacts on Arctic cloud formation and radiative properties.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Physicochemical characterization and source apportionment of Arctic ice-nucleating particles observed in Ny-Ålesund in autumn 2019

Abstract. Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) initiate primary ice formation in Arctic mixed-phase clouds (MPCs), altering cloud radiative properties and modulating precipitation. For atmospheric INPs, the complexity of their spatiotemporal variations, heterogeneous sources, and evolution via intricate atmospheric interactions challenge the understanding of their impact on microphysical processes in Arctic MPCs and induce an uncertain representation in climate models. In this work, we performed a comprehensive analysis of atmospheric aerosols at the Arctic coastal site in Ny-Ålesund (Svalbard, Norway) from October to November 2019, including their ice nucleation ability, physicochemical properties, and potential sources. Overall, INP concentrations (NINP) during the observation season were approximately up to 3 orders of magnitude lower compared to the global average, with several samples showing degradation of NINP after heat treatment, implying the presence of proteinaceous INPs. Particle fluorescence was substantially associated with INP concentrations at warmer ice nucleation temperatures, indicating that in the far-reaching Arctic, aerosols of biogenic origin throughout the snow- and ice-free season may serve as important INP sources. In addition, case studies revealed the links between elevated NINP and heat lability, fluorescence, high wind speeds originating from the ocean, augmented concentration of coarse-mode particles, and abundant organics. Backward trajectory analysis demonstrated a potential connection between high-latitude dust sources and high INP concentrations, while prolonged air mass history over the ice pack was identified for most scant INP cases. The combination of the above analyses demonstrates that the abundance, physicochemical properties, and potential sources of INPs in the Arctic are highly variable despite its remote location.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

The characteristics of atmospheric boundary layer height over the Arctic Ocean during MOSAiC

The important roles that the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) plays in the central Arctic climate system have been recognized, but the atmospheric boundary layer height (ABLH), defined as the layer of continuous turbulence adjacent to the surface, has rarely been investigated. Using a year-round radiosonde dataset during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition, we improve a Richardson-number-based algorithm that takes cloud effects into consideration and subsequently analyze the characteristics and variability of the ABLH over the Arctic Ocean. The results reveal that the annual cycle is clearly characterized by a distinct peak in May and two respective minima in January and July. This annual variation in the ABLH is primarily controlled by the evolution of the ABL thermal structure. Temperature inversions in the winter and summer are intensified by seasonal radiative cooling and warm-air advection with the surface temperature constrained by melting, respectively, leading to the low ABLH at these times. Meteorological and turbulence variables also play a significant role in ABLH variation, including the near-surface potential temperature gradient, friction velocity, and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation rate. In addition, the MOSAiC ABLH is more suppressed than the ABLH during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) experiment in the summer, which indicates that there is large variability in the Arctic ABL structure during the summer melting season.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Impacts of sea ice leads on sea salt aerosols and atmospheric chemistry in the Arctic

Abstract. The processes contributing to Arctic cold-season (November–April) sea salt aerosols (SSAs) remain uncertain. Observations from coastal Alaska suggest that emissions from open leads in sea ice, which are not included in climate models, may play a dominant role. Their Arctic-wide significance has not yet been quantified. Here, we create an emission parameterization of SSAs from leads by combining satellite data of lead area (the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer–Earth Observation System (AMSR-E) product) and a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to quantify pan-Arctic SSA emissions from leads during the cold season from 2002 to 2008 and to predict their impacts on atmospheric chemistry, evaluating the results of our simulated SSAs against in situ observations. The AMSR-E product detects large leads with certainty (> 3 km in size), and, hence, our study is limited to quantifying emissions from large leads. Lead emissions vary seasonally and interannually. Simulated total monthly SSA emissions increase by 1.1 %–1.8 % (≥60° N latitude) and 5.6 %–7.5 % (≥75° N) for the 2002–2008 cold seasons. SSA concentrations primarily increase at the location of leads, where standard model concentrations are low. GEOS-Chem overestimates SSA concentrations at Arctic sites compared to ground observations, even when lead emissions are not included, suggesting underestimation of SSA sinks and/or uncertainties in SSA emissions from blowing snow and the open ocean. Multi-year monthly mean surface bromine atom (Br) concentrations increase by 2.8 %–8.8 % due to SSAs from leads for the 2002–2008 cold seasons. Changes in ozone concentrations are negligible. While leads contribute < 10 % to Arctic-wide SSA emissions in the years 2002–2008, these emissions occur in regions of low background aerosol concentrations. Leads may increase in frequency under future climate change, which could increase SSA emissions from leads.

Emme, Erin J. (ORCID:0000000268406352)↗