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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Dependence of wind-farm-induced gravity waves and wind farm performance on non-dimensional atmospheric parameters and simulation configuration

This large-eddy simulation (LES) study examines how wind-farm-induced atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs) and wind farm performance depend on non-dimensional atmospheric parameters and simulation configuration. A hypothetical aligned wind farm of actuator disks is simulated under neutral surface conditions, with a stable capping inversion and a mildly stable free atmosphere, to assess the effects of stratification beyond the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) on ABL flow. Simulation set-ups fully resolving AGWs are validated to minimize spurious wave generation and reflection from the domain boundaries. The validated set-up is then used to analyze AGW types and characteristics, as well as stratification impacts under conventionally neutral boundary layer (CNBL) conditions. These conditions are governed by four non-dimensional parameters: the Froude numbers of the free atmosphere and capping inversion (Fr, Fr i ), and the aspect ratios of the ABL and wind farm (H̃ i , S h ). Simulation configurations that fully resolve AGWs – capturing at least one wavelength both horizontally and vertically – yield the most realistic stratification effects on ABL flow, whereas partial or unresolved configurations produce non-physical, channel-like behavior. A coherent description of the AGW phenomena is provided, highlighting the central role of capping inversion displacement in linking ABL fluctuations with AGWs. Trapped waves are confined within the capping inversion, while interfacial and internal waves aloft are identified as the AGW types most relevant to wind farm performance. The wavy inversion, analogous to an interfacial wave, forms converging and diverging zones that drive power fluctuations across the farm. The interfacial wavelength, measured over the wind farm, corresponds to one diverging, one converging, and one mildly diverging zone. As the interfacial wavelength decreases with Fr i , multiple convergence–divergence zones develop under sub-critical conditions (Fr i <1.0), while for super-critical conditions (Fr i > 1.0), the wavelength approaches the farm length. Wave amplitude increases with decreasing H̃ i (i.e., shallower capping inversions). Wind farm performance is most sensitive to H̃ i : shallow boundary layers increase blockage and reduce efficiency, while deeper layers enhance efficiency. Increasing Fr and Fr i mitigates blockage, and increasing S h mainly improves wake recovery. Although local power fluctuations arise from AGWs, overall wind farm efficiency remains nearly constant with Fr and Fr i , improving primarily with larger H̃ i and S h .

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2004

Molecular Oxygen Mixing Ratio and Its Seasonal Variability in the Martian Atmosphere

The mixing ratio of molecular oxygen and other species that do not condense at martian ambient conditions will vary as the mass of atmosphere oscillates over a martian year due to alternate condensation and vaporization of carbon dioxide at the poles. This variation can be estimated utilizing measurements of mixing ratio made in-situ together with multi-year measurements of atmospheric pressure, both available from the Viking landers starting in 1976. The concentration of non-condensables, on average, will be approximately an inverse function of the atmospheric pressure.

England, Christopher↗
DOE OSTI2024

Development of the tangent linear and adjoint models of the global online chemical transport model MPAS-CO 2 v7.3

We describe the development of the tangent linear (TL) and adjoint models of the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS)-CO 2 transport model, which is a global online chemical transport model developed upon the non-hydrostatic Model for Prediction Across Scales – Atmosphere (MPAS-A). The primary goal is to make the model system a valuable research tool for investigating atmospheric carbon transport and inverse modeling. First, we develop the TL code, encompassing all CO 2 transport processes within the MPAS-CO 2 forward model. Then, we construct the adjoint model using a combined strategy involving re-calculation and storage of the essential meteorological variables needed for CO 2 transport. This strategy allows the adjoint model to undertake a long-period integration with moderate memory demands. To ensure accuracy, the TL and adjoint models undergo vigorous verifications through a series of standard tests. The adjoint model, through backward-in-time integration, calculates the sensitivity of atmospheric CO 2 observations to surface CO 2 fluxes and the initial atmospheric CO 2 mixing ratio. To demonstrate the utility of the newly developed adjoint model, we conduct simulations for two types of atmospheric CO 2 observations, namely the tower-based in situ CO 2 mixing ratio and satellite-derived column-averaged CO 2 mixing ratio (X CO 2 ). A comparison between the sensitivity to surface flux calculated by the MPAS-CO 2 adjoint model with its counterpart from CarbonTracker–Lagrange (CT-L) reveals a spatial agreement but notable magnitude differences. These differences, particularly evident for X CO 2 , might be attributed to the two model systems' differences in the simulation configuration, spatial resolution, and treatment of vertical mixing processes. Moreover, this comparison highlights the substantial loss of information in the atmospheric CO 2 observations due to CT-L's spatial domain limitation. Furthermore, the adjoint sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the sensitivities to both surface flux and initial CO 2 conditions spread out throughout the entire Northern Hemisphere within a month. MPAS-CO 2 forward, TL, and adjoint models stand out for their calculation efficiency and variable-resolution capability, making them competitive in computational cost. In conclusion, the successful development of the MPAS-CO 2 TL and adjoint models, and their integration into the MPAS-CO 2 system, establish the possibility of using MPAS's unique features in atmospheric CO 2 transport sensitivity studies and in inverse modeling with advanced methods such as variational data assimilation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2019

Fifty Years of Exploring Pluto: from Telescopes to the New Horizons Mission

Pluto was discovered in 1930 at Lowell Observatory in the belated resumption of a wide-field photographic search originally be-gun at Percival Lowell’s direction prior to his death in 1916. Photometry in the 1950s established the rotation period of 6.4 hours and a color redder than the Sun, but the mass, density, size and albedo were unknown. Near-infrared photometry in 1976 indicated the presence of CH4 frost, suggestive of a relatively high surface albedo and a diameter comparable to the Moon. The large satellite Charon was discovered in 1978, followed by an epoch of mutual transits and occultations of Pluto and Charon from 1985 to 1990, as viewed from Earth. These events resulted in reliable sizes and masses of the two bodies, as well as the orbit of Charon. The mutual events also demonstrated that Pluto and Charon are in locked synchronous rotation and revolution, a configuration unique among the planets. The atmosphere of Pluto was discovered in 1988 from a stellar occultation observed from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory and ground stations, with indications of a haze layer (or a temperature inversion) in the lower atmosphere. Sub-sequent stellar occultations showed that the extent of the atmosphere is variable on a timescale of a few years. The spectroscopic detection of N2 and CO ice in 1993 demonstrated that the atmosphere must be primarily composed of N2, with CH4 and CO as minor components; the spectroscopic detection of gaseous CH4 was reported in 1994.

Cruikshank, D. P.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Revisiting matrix-based inversion of scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) data

Abstract. Tikhonov regularization is a tool for reducing noise amplification during data inversion. This work introduces RegularizationTools.jl, a general-purpose software package for applying Tikhonov regularization to data. The package implements well-established numerical algorithms and is suitable for systems of up to ∼ 1000 equations. Included is an abstraction to systematically categorize specific inversion configurations and their associated hyperparameters. A generic interface translates arbitrary linear forward models defined by a computer function into the corresponding design matrix. This obviates the need to explicitly write out and discretize the Fredholm integral equation, thus facilitating fast prototyping of new regularization schemes associated with measurement techniques. Example applications include the inversion involving data from scanning mobility particle sizers (SMPSs) and humidified tandem differential mobility analyzers (HTDMAs). Inversion of SMPS size distributions reported in this work builds upon the freely available software DifferentialMobilityAnalyzers.jl. The speed of inversion is improved by a factor of ∼ 200, now requiring between 2 and 5 ms per SMPS scan when using 120 size bins. Previously reported occasional failure to converge to a valid solution is reduced by switching from the L-curve method to generalized cross-validation as the metric to search for the optimal regularization parameter. Higher-order inversions resulting in smooth, denoised reconstructions of size distributions are now included in DifferentialMobilityAnalyzers.jl. This work also demonstrates that an SMPS-style matrix-based inversion can be applied to find the growth factor frequency distribution from raw HTDMA data while also accounting for multiply charged particles. The outcome of the aerosol-related inversion methods is showcased by inverting multi-week SMPS and HTDMA datasets from ground-based observations, including SMPS data obtained at Bodega Marine Laboratory during the CalWater 2/ACAPEX campaign and co-located SMPS and HTDMA data collected at the US Department of Energy observatory located at the Southern Great Plains site in Oklahoma, USA. Results show that the proposed approaches are suitable for unsupervised, nonparametric inversion of large-scale datasets as well as inversion in real time during data acquisition on low-cost reduced-instruction-set architectures used in single-board computers. The included software implementation of Tikhonov regularization is freely available, general, and domain-independent and thus can be applied to many other inverse problems arising in atmospheric measurement techniques and beyond.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2016

Consistent Evaluation of ACOS-GOSAT, BESD-SCIAMACHY, CarbonTracker, and MACC Through Comparisons to TCCON

Consistent validation of satellite CO2 estimates is a prerequisite for using multiple satellite CO2 measurements for joint flux inversion, and for establishing an accurate long-term atmospheric CO2 data record. Harmonizing satellite CO2 measurements is particularly important since the differences in instruments, observing geometries, sampling strategies, etc. imbue different measurement characteristics in the various satellite CO2 data products. We focus on validating model and satellite observation attributes that impact flux estimates and CO2 assimilation, including accurate error estimates, correlated and random errors, overall biases, biases by season and latitude, the impact of coincidence criteria, validation of seasonal cycle phase and amplitude, yearly growth, and daily variability. We evaluate dry-air mole fraction (X(sub CO2)) for Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) (Atmospheric CO2 Observations from Space, ACOS b3.5) and SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) (Bremen Optimal Estimation DOAS, BESD v2.00.08) as well as the CarbonTracker (CT2013b) simulated CO2 mole fraction fields and the Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC) CO2 inversion system (v13.1) and compare these to Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) observations (GGG2012/2014). We find standard deviations of 0.9, 0.9, 1.7, and 2.1 parts per million vs. TCCON for CT2013b, MACC, GOSAT, and SCIAMACHY, respectively, with the single observation errors 1.9 and 0.9 times the predicted errors for GOSAT and SCIAMACHY, respectively. We quantify how satellite error drops with data averaging by interpreting according to (error(sup 2) equals a(sup 2) plus b(sup 2) divided by n (with n being the number of observations averaged, a the systematic (correlated) errors, and b the random (uncorrelated) errors). a and b are estimated by satellites, coincidence criteria, and hemisphere. Biases at individual stations have year-to-year variability of 0.3 parts per million, with biases larger than the TCCON predicted bias uncertainty of 0.4 parts per million at many stations. We find that GOSAT and CT2013b under-predict the seasonal cycle amplitude in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) between 46 and 53 degrees North latitude, MACC over-predicts between 26 and 37 degrees North latitude, and CT2013b under-predicts the seasonal cycle amplitude in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). The seasonal cycle phase indicates whether a data set or model lags another data set in time. We find that the GOSAT measurements improve the seasonal cycle phase substantially over the prior while SCIAMACHY measurements improve the phase significantly for just two of seven sites. The models reproduce the measured seasonal cycle phase well except for at Lauder_125HR (CT2013b) and Darwin (MACC). We compare the variability within 1 day between TCCON and models in June-July-August; there is correlation between 0.2 and 0.8 in the NH, with models showing 10-50 percent the variability of TCCON at different stations and CT2013b showing more variability than MACC. This paper highlights findings that provide inputs to estimate flux errors in model assimilations, and places where models and satellites need further investigation, e.g., the SH for models and 45-67 degrees North latitude for GOSAT and CT2013b.

ACOS-GOSAT↗
NASA NTRS1998

The Net Exchange Between Terrestrial Ecosystems and the Atmosphere as a Result of Changes in Land Use

The general purpose of this research was to improve and update (to 1990) estimates of the net flux of carbon between the world's terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere from changes in land use (e.g., deforestation and reforestation). The estimates are important for understanding the global carbon cycle, and for predicting future concentrations of atmospheric CO2 that will result from emissions. The emphasis of the first year's research was on the northern temperate zone and boreal forests, where the greatest discrepancy exists between estimates of flux. Forest inventories suggest net sinks of 0.6 PgC/yr; inversion analyses based on atmospheric data and models suggest much larger sinks 2-3.6 PgC/yr (e.g., Tans et al. 1990, Ciais et al. 1995). The work carried out with this grant calculated the flux attributable to changes in land use. The estimated flux was somewhat smaller than the flux calculated from inventory data suggesting that environmental changes have led to a small accumulation of carbon in forests that exceeds the accumulation expected from past rates of harvest. Two publications have described these results (Houghton 1996, 1998). The large difference between these estimates and those obtained with atmospheric data and models remains unexplained. The recent estimate of a 1.7 PgC/yr sink in North America, alone (Fan et al. 1998), is particularly difficult to explain. That part of the sink attributable to land-use change, however, is defined as a result of this grant.

Houghton, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

A generalized tensor formulation of atmosphere and seas dynamics

A generalized mathematical model was developed for simulation of the dynamics and transport of both the atmosphere and seas. A nearly horizontal bottom coordinate surface conforms to the land-to-air interface and the sea-floor-to-water interface, which simplifies computations. General vertical motion of the other quasi-horizontal coordinate surfaces is allowed; external gravity waves can be represented by the top coordinate surface, and meteorological fronts and inversion layers in the atmosphere and refractive layers in the seas can be represented with enhanced resolution by the internal quasi-horizontal coordinate surfaces. A tensor reformulation of the standard subgrid mixing theory departs significantly from the standard theory in allowing, as a solution under adiabatic conditions, rigid-body rotation of the atmosphere.

Avis, L. M.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Ray propagation in oblate atmospheres

Phinney and Anderson's (1968) exact theory for the inversion of radio-occultation data for planetary atmospheres breaks down seriously when applied to occultations by oblate atmospheres because of departures from Bouguer's law. It has been proposed that this breakdown can be overcome by transforming the theory to a local spherical symmetry which osculates a ray's point of closest approach. The accuracy of this transformation procedure is assessed by evaluating the size of terms which are intrinsic to an oblate atmosphere and which are not eliminated by a local spherical approximation. The departures from Bouguer's law are analyzed, and it is shown that in the lowest-order deviation from that law, the plane of refraction is defined by the normal to the atmosphere at closest approach. In the next order, it is found that the oblateness of the atmosphere 'warps' the ray path out of a single plane, but the effect appears to be negligible for most purposes. It is concluded that there seems to be no source of serious error in making an approximation of local spherical symmetry with the refraction plane defined by the normal at closest approach.

Hubbard, W. B.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Anthropogenic Impacts on Atmospheric Carbonyl Sulfide Since the 19th Century Inferred From Polar Firn Air and Ice Core Measurements

Carbonyl sulfide (COS) was measured in firn air collected during seven different field campaigns carried out at four different sites in Greenland and Antarctica between 2001 and 2015. A Bayesian probabilistic statistical model is used to conduct multisite inversions and to reconstruct separate atmospheric histories for Greenland and Antarctica. The firn air inversions cover most of the 20th century over Greenland and extend back to the 19th century over Antarctica. The derived atmospheric histories are consistent with independent surface air time series data from the corresponding sites and the Antarctic ice core COS records during periods of overlap. Atmospheric COS levels began to increase over preindustrial levels starting in the 19th century, and the increase continued for much of the 20th century. Atmospheric COS peaked at higher than present-day levels around 1975 CE over Greenland and around 1987 CE over Antarctica. An atmosphere/surface ocean box model is used to investigate the possible causes of observed variability. The results suggest that changes in the magnitude and location of anthropogenic sources have had a strong influence on the observed atmospheric COS variability.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1992

TOVS Pathfinder product validation and intercomparison

Validation and intercomparison is an essential part of the Pathfinder program. Since its organization within the International TOVS Working Group, the TOVS community has continuously emphasized this aspect of the product retrieval problem. In the previous sections of this report, the TOVS Pathfinder SWG has recommended a careful and coherent reorganization and archiving of TOVS radiance data, and three distinct pathways for deriving product variables from this TOVS radiance archive. The importance in taking this multiple path approach to creating climate datasets rests in our firm belief that there is now global 'absolute truth' data for any of the derived physical parameters. Each of the selected methods is based upon a different set of assumptions. The challenge in interpreting Pathfinder data is to determine what alterations in the physical attributes of the environment contribute to evidence of global change extracted from observed or derived Pathfinder datasets. The Pathfinder validation and intercomparison activity must include validation of the forward problem, by which one calculates an estimate of upwelling radiance information from given earth and atmospheric data, and validation of the inverse problem, by which one calculates estimates of earth and atmospheric information from given upwelling satellite spectral radiance data.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2024

Recommendations on setup in simulating atmospheric gravity waves under conventionally neutral boundary layer conditions

Wind farm-induced atmospheric gravity waves have been the subject of recent research as they can impact wind farm performance. Pressure variations associated with gravity waves can contribute to the global blockage effect and wind farm wake recovery. Therefore, accurate numerical simulation of flow fields, where wind-farm-induced gravity waves may be produced, is important. Three main considerations in such simulations are the overall domain size, the use of Rayleigh damping near domain boundaries to dampen gravity waves, and advection damping at the inlet to prevent spurious oscillations. Often these considerations are treated ad hoc rather than systematically. This work aims to test and extend the systematic modelling of internal gravity waves proposed in a preliminary investigation to modelling of both internal and trapped gravity waves. The preliminary study identifies the length scales to set the domain and damping layer sizes and the time scale to configure the Rayleigh damping coefficient but under linearly stratified conditions. Large eddy simulations of flow through a wind farm canopy are performed under conventionally neutral boundary layer (CNBL) conditions to test the validity of proposed setups for CNBL conditions. Background atmospheric parameters, such as Froude number (Fr), inversion height (H i ), and inversion layer Froude number (Fr i ) control most of the atmospheric gravity wave characteristics. We validated for CBNL conditions that the effective wavelengths of the internal gravity waves are the correct length scale to configure the domain size and damping layer thickness. Likewise, the optimum damping coefficient to dampen the internal gravity waves relates to the free atmosphere's buoyancy frequency or buoyant perturbations' time scale. We infer that the damping coefficient in the inversion layer may relate to the inversion buoyancy frequency to effectively dampen the trapped gravity waves. Moreover, the advection damping length is linked to the horizontal wavelength of the trapped gravity waves in the inversion layer to prevent spurious waves at the inlet by retaining wave energy accumulation.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2021

Spectral Fidelity of Earth's Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems

The Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) investigation will create global maps of spectral surface reflectance and emissivity at a cadence of 16 days or better, with coverage to address global questions about Earth's geology, cryosphere and ecosystems. The revolutionary potential poses a commensurate challenge: creating contiguous maps free from regional biases induced by atmosphere, observation geometry, or inversion error. This will require an accurate calibration with precise knowledge of each channel's spectral response. Here, we quantify the impact of spectral calibration on SBG's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem objectives. We find that contemporary algorithms for ecosystem trait retrieval demand more accurate spectral calibration than historical missions. Errors due to drift or spatial nonuniformity in the wavelength calibration that have previously been considered acceptable can cause systematic errors larger than the instrument noise and of the same order as the variability SBG aims to measure. Moreover, their impact on atmospheric correction can induce climate-dependent systematic errors that thwart comparisons between ecosystems. These results underscore the importance of spectral response accuracy in SBG mission design.

imaging spectroscopy↗
DOE OSTI2021

Spectral Fidelity of Earth's Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems

The Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) investigation will create global maps of spectral surface reflectance and emissivity at a cadence of 16 days or better, with coverage to address global questions about Earth's geology, cryosphere and ecosystems. The revolutionary potential poses a commensurate challenge: creating contiguous maps free from regional biases induced by atmosphere, observation geometry, or inversion error. This will require an accurate calibration with precise knowledge of each channel's spectral response. In this work, we quantify the impact of spectral calibration on SBG's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem objectives. We find that contemporary algorithms for ecosystem trait retrieval demand more accurate spectral calibration than historical missions. Errors due to drift or spatial nonuniformity in the wavelength calibration that have previously been considered acceptable can cause systematic errors larger than the instrument noise and of the same order as the variability SBG aims to measure. Moreover, their impact on atmospheric correction can induce climate-dependent systematic errors that thwart comparisons between ecosystems. These results underscore the importance of spectral response accuracy in SBG mission design.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evaluation of assumptions made by Hygroscopic Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer inversion routines

The Hygroscopic Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (H-TDMA) measures the hygroscopicity of atmospheric particles, and many atmospheric processes that change this hygroscopicity also change the atmospheric size distribution. Two assumptions made during H-TDMA inversion create spurious hygroscopic trends as a function of the changing inlet size distribution. These two assumptions—that the particles exiting the first Differential Mobility Analyzer (DMA1) are singly charged and that the inlet size distribution has a slope of zero (flat)— generate Multi-Charge Dispersion (MCD) bias and Slope bias, respectively. First, we use a model, named TAO, to show that the inlet size distribution could theoretically change the measured ammonium sulfate hygroscopicity by 10%–20% as a function of diameter or experimental time with no change in relative humidity. Secondly, we show experimentally that aerosol emitted from the flaming combustion of grass creates MCD bias. Here, in this experiment, we measure the CPC response of the first three charges and invert these responses using a new routine named Junior. Junior's inversion of each charge shows that one growth factor distribution describes all measured diameters (no growth dependence on diameter). As in the modeling study above, previous publications of this aerosol system, using traditional inversion assumptions, report a decrease in hygroscopicity as DMA1 diameter increases. Unlike traditional inversions, Junior's inversion does not assume the particles are singly charged nor does it make the flat inlet size distribution assumption. Instead, both the inlet size distribution and each charge's CPC response are measured quantities. Thus, the discrepancy between our inversion results and previous publications is likely due to the traditional inversion routine assumptions. This underscores the importance for accounting for Slope and MCD bias during inversions. Experimental results should be carefully analyzed when reporting hygroscopic trends with respect to diameter or experimental time when using the traditional inversion assumptions.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Deployment of a double scatter system for directional detection of background neutron radiation

The detection of special nuclear materials (SNM) requires the understanding of nuclear signatures that allow the discrimination against background. In particular, understanding neutron background characteristics such as count rates and energies and their correlations with environmental conditions and surroundings of measurement locations is important in enhancing SNM detection capabilities. The Mobile Imager of Neutrons for Emergency Responders (MINER) was deployed for 8 weeks in downtown San Francisco (CA) to study such neutron background characteristics in an urban environment. Of specific interest was the investigation of the impact of surrounding buildings on the neutron background count rates and to answer the question whether buildings act as absorber of neutrons or as sources via the so-called ship effect. MINER consists of 16 liquid scintillator detector elements and can be operated as a neutron spectrometer, as a neutron imager, or simply as a counter of fast neutrons. As expected, the neutron background rate was found to be inversely proportional to the atmospheric pressure. In the energy range where MINER is most sensitive, approximately 1–10 MeV, it was found that the shape of the detected background spectrum is similar to that of a detected fission spectrum, indicating the limited discrimination power of the neutron energy. The similarities between the detected background neutron spectrum and fission sources makes it difficult to discriminate SNM from background based solely on the energies observed. The images produced using maximum likelihood expectation maximization revealed that neutrons preferentially are coming from areas in the environment that have open sky, indicating that the surrounding buildings act as absorbers of neutrons rather than sources as expected by the ship effect. Here, the inherent properties of a neutron scatter camera limit the achievable image quality and the effective deployment to systematically map neutron background signatures due to the low count rate.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗