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At least 253 records · Page 14

International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI)

The International Heliophysical Year (IHY), an international program of scientific collaboration to understand the external drivers of planetary environments, has come to an end. The IHY was a major international event of great interest to the member States, which involved the deployment of new instrumentation, new observations from the ground and in space, and an education component. We propose to continue the highly successful collaboration between the heliophysics science community and the United Nations Basic Space Science (UNBSS) program. One of the major thrust of the IHY was to deploy arrays of small instruments such as magnetometers, radio antennas, GPS receivers, all-sky cameras, particle detectors, etc. around the world to provide global measurements of heliospheric phenomena. The United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative (UNBSSI) played a major role in this effort. Scientific teams were organized through UNBSS, which consisted of a lead scientist who provided the instruments or fabrication plans for instruments in the array. As a result of the this program, scientists from UNBSS member states now participate in the instrument operation, data collection, analysis, and publication of scientific results, working at the forefront of science research. As part of this project, support for local scientists, facilities and data acquisition is provided by the host nation. In addition, support at the Government level is provided for local scientists to participate. Building on momentum of the IHY, we propose to continue the highly successful collaboration with the UNBSS program to continue the study of universal processes in the solar system that affect the interplanetary and terrestrial environments, and to continue to coordinate the deployment and operation of new and existing instrument arrays aimed at understanding the impacts of Space Weather on Earth and the near-Earth environment. Toward this end, we propose a new program, the International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI).

Davila, Joseph↗

Universal programmable quantum circuit schemes to emulate an operator

Unlike fixed designs, programmable circuit designs support an infinite number of operators. The functionality of a programmable circuit can be altered by simply changing the angle values of the rotation gates in the circuit. Here, we present a new quantum circuit design technique resulting in two general programmable circuit schemes. The circuit schemes can be used to simulate any given operator by setting the angle values in the circuit. This provides a fixed circuit design whose angles are determined from the elements of the given matrix-which can be non-unitary-in an efficient way. We also give both the classical and quantum complexity analysis for these circuits and show that the circuits require a few classical computations. For the electronic structure simulation on a quantum computer, one has to perform the following steps: prepare the initial wave function of the system; present the evolution operator U=e{sup -iHt} for a given atomic and molecular Hamiltonian H in terms of quantum gates array and apply the phase estimation algorithm to find the energy eigenvalues. Thus, in the circuit model of quantum computing for quantum chemistry, a crucial step is presenting the evolution operator for the atomic and molecular Hamiltonians in terms of quantum gate arrays. Since the presented circuit designs are independent from the matrix decomposition techniques and the global optimization processes used to find quantum circuits for a given operator, high accuracy simulations can be done for the unitary propagators of molecular Hamiltonians on quantum computers. As an example, we show how to build the circuit design for the hydrogen molecule.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Hybrid Synthetic/Real Aperture Antenna for High Resolution Microwave Imaging

Observations of key hydrological parameters at the spatial and temporal scales required in the post-2002 era face significant technological challenges. These measurements are based on relatively low frequency thermal microwave emission (at 1.4 GHz for soil moisture and salinity, 10 GHz and up for precipitation, and 19 and 37 GHz for snow). The long wavelengths at these frequencies coupled with the high spatial and radiometric resolutions required by the various global hydrology missions necessitate the use of very large apertures. Two-dimensional Synthetic Thinned Array Radiometry (2-D STAR), though promising in the long term, has many technical challenges in the areas of power, and sensitivity for very large apertures (i.e. greater than 300 wavelengths). This paper will discuss an alternative approach to the pure 2-D STAR, which uses an offset parabolic cylinder reflector fed by multiple elements to form a 1-D STAR. In essence a single STAR element is composed of a feedhorn and parabolic cylinder reflector. The elements are sparsely arrayed and thus can share a single reflector. This antenna would have no moving parts once deployed, have much higher sensitivity than a Y-shaped 2-D STAR of equivalent size, many fewer receivers than that 2-D STAR, and the reflector could be made of a thin film and lightweight deployment system for high packing density. The instrument using this approach would be a cross track push broom imager. An overview of the design parameters, potential deployment mechanisms and applications will be presented.

Doiron, Terence A.↗

Enhancing Discovery, Search, and Access of NASA Hydrological Data by Leveraging GEOSS

An ongoing NASA-funded project has removed a longstanding barrier to accessing NASA data (i.e., accessing archived time-step array data as point-time series) for selected variables of the North American and Global Land Data Assimilation Systems (NLDAS and GLDAS, respectively) and other EOSDIS (Earth Observing System Data Information System) data sets (e.g., precipitation, soil moisture). These time series (data rods) are pre-generated. Data rods Web services are accessible through the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) and the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) but are not easily discoverable by users of other non-NASA data systems. The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) is a logical mechanism for providing access to the data rods. An ongoing GEOSS Water Services project aims to develop a distributed, global registry of water data, map, and modeling services cataloged using the standards and procedures of the Open Geospatial Consortium and the World Meteorological Organization. The ongoing data rods project has demonstrated the feasibility of leveraging the GEOSS infrastructure to help provide access to time series of model grid information or grids of information over a geographical domain for a particular time interval. A recently-begun, related NASA-funded ACCESS-GEOSS project expands on these prior efforts. Current work is focused on both improving the performance of the generation of on-the-fly (OTF) data rods and the Web interfaces from which users can easily discover, search, and access NASA data.

GEOSS↗

Enhancement of Mutual Discovery, Search, and Access of Data for Users of NASA and GEOSS-Cataloged Data Systems

An ongoing NASA-funded Data Rods (time series) project has demonstrated the removal of a longstanding barrier to accessing NASA data (i.e., accessing archived time-step array data as point-time series) for selected variables of the North American and Global Land Data Assimilation Systems (NLDAS and GLDAS, respectively) and other NASA data sets. Data rods are pre-generated or generated on-the-fly (OTF), leveraging the NASA Simple Subset Wizard (SSW), a gateway to NASA data centers. Data rods Web services are accessible through the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) and the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) but are not easily discoverable by users of other non-NASA data systems. An ongoing GEOSS Water Services project aims to develop a distributed, global registry of water data, map, and modeling services cataloged using the standards and procedures of the Open Geospatial Consortium and the World Meteorological Organization. Preliminary work has shown GEOSS can be leveraged to help provide access to data rods. A new NASA-funded project is extending this early work.

data access↗

Maya Forest Water Resources II: Mapping Inundation Below the Forest Canopy in the Maya Tri-National Forest

To monitor seasonal flooding within the tri-National Maya Forest the team completed the methodology started by the Summer 2021 term to analyze changes in inundation dynamic throughout 2017. The team analyzed inundation dynamics in Google Earth Engine (GEE) using Earth observation products from the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) 2, and International Space Station (ISS) Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation LiDAR (GEDI). The team improved the landcover classification using the Random Forest algorithm in GEE by adding canopy height data derived from GEDI, elevation and slope data from Copernicus, and additional multi-spectral band ratios from Landsat 8. The pixel-based land cover classification produced an overall accuracy of 88%. Experiments measuring inundation extent using L-band SAR included comparing results with a priori knowledge, topography datasets, and auxiliary datasets. We iteratively tested and found threshold values for identifying forested inundation using the ratio for HH divided by HV. The resulting methodology and products helped end users from Belize’s Land Information Center (LIC) and Forest Department, Guatemala’s Center for Monitoring and Evaluation (CEMEC), and Mexico’s El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) manage land and water resources and protect communities.

Stephanie Jiménez↗

The Case for Custom TMYs: Examples Using the NSRDB: Preprint

A typical meteorological year (TMY) essentially represents an hourly compilation of median months constructed using multiyear data sets. Although TMYs are generated from global horizontal irradiance, they are used in photovoltaic (PV) modeling for various plane-of-array (POA) representations. This paper demonstrates that a POA TMY generated with corresponding POA irradiance time-series information produces significantly different results than a POA TMY generated by transposing a TMY data set. In some months, the differences can be more than 3%. These results point to the need for generating TMYs using POA irradiance time series representing the orientation at which PV panels will be deployed.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Development of a Two Dimensional Synthetic Aperture Radiometer at L-Band

A radiometer that uses aperture synthesis in two dimensions is being built as part of research under NASA's Instrument Incubator Program. The instrument development team consists of engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Massachusetts and Quadrant Engineering. This will be an aircraft instrument operating at L-band which builds on the heritage of Electronically Steered Thinned Array Radiometer (ESTAR). This instrument is a next step in the development of aperture synthesis (STAR technology) to meet the goal of a future mission to monitor soil moisture globally from space. The instrument will be designed to fly on the NASA P-3 aircraft in a nadir pointing mode, although other options are possible. The antenna will consist of an array of modules in a rectangular grid. Each module will be comprised of a printed circuit dual-polarized patch and integrated receiver. The distribution of modules within the rectangular array will be adjustable so that several different imaging configurations (e.g. '+', 'Y', 'T') can be employed. The integrated receiver will provide amplification and conversion to infrared (IF). The IF signal will be routed to a processor where the required correlations performed. The I and Q channels will be created digitally and the correlations will be done digitally in this processor. The digitization will be done with sufficient bits to study the effects of quantization on radiometer performance. A computer/controller will store the data for conversion to an image and will also perform temperature control and other data interfacing and housekeeping tasks. The design of critical components has been completed and hardware is being assembled to test the individual elements. It is expected that a complete two-channel correlator will be tested by the end of 2000 and that the complete instrument will be ready for flight tests the following summer (2001).

LeVine, D. M.↗

SEPARATION OF THE RIBBON FROM GLOBALLY DISTRIBUTED ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOM FLUX USING THE FIRST FIVE YEARS OF IBEX OBSERVATIONS

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) observes the IBEX ribbon, which stretches across much of the sky observed in energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). The ribbon covers a narrow (∼20°-50°) region that is believed to be roughly perpendicular to the interstellar magnetic field. Superimposed on the IBEX ribbon is the globally distributed flux that is controlled by the processes and properties of the heliosheath. This is a second study that utilizes a previously developed technique to separate ENA emissions in the ribbon from the globally distributed flux. A transparency mask is applied over the ribbon and regions of high emissions. We then solve for the globally distributed flux using an interpolation scheme. Previously, ribbon separation techniques were applied to the first year of IBEX-Hi data at and above 0.71 keV. Here we extend the separation analysis down to 0.2 keV and to five years of IBEX data enabling first maps of the ribbon and the globally distributed flux across the full sky of ENA emissions. Our analysis shows the broadening of the ribbon peak at energies below 0.71 keV and demonstrates the apparent deformation of the ribbon in the nose and heliotail. We show global asymmetries of the heliosheath, including both deflection of the heliotail and differing widths of the lobes, in context of the direction, draping, and compression of the heliospheric magnetic field. We discuss implications of the ribbon maps for the wide array of concepts that attempt to explain the ribbon's origin. Thus, we present the five-year separation of the IBEX ribbon from the globally distributed flux in preparation for a formal IBEX data release of ribbon and globally distributed flux maps to the heliophysics community.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

An Improved Global Wind Resource Estimate for Integrated Assessment Models: Preprint

This paper summarizes initial steps to improving the robustness and accuracy of global renewable resource and techno-economic assessments for use in integrated assessment models. We outline a method to construct country-level wind resource supply curves, delineated by resource quality and other parameters. Using mesoscale reanalysis data, we generate estimates for wind quality, both terrestrial and offshore, across the globe. Because not all land or water area is suitable for development, appropriate database layers provide exclusions to reduce the total resource to its technical potential. We expand upon estimates from related studies by: using a globally consistent data source of uniquely detailed wind speed characterizations; assuming a non-constant coefficient of performance for adjusting power curves for altitude; categorizing the distance from resource sites to the electric power grid; and characterizing offshore exclusions on the basis of sea ice concentrations. The product, then, is technical potential by country, classified by resource quality as determined by net capacity factor. Additional classifications dimensions are available, including distance to transmission networks for terrestrial wind and distance to shore and water depth for offshore. We estimate the total global wind generation potential of 560 PWh for terrestrial wind with 90% of resource classified as low-to-mid quality, and 315 PWh for offshore wind with 67% classified as mid-to-high quality. These estimates are based on 3.5 MW composite wind turbines with 90 m hub heights, 0.95 availability, 90% array efficiency, and 5 MW/km2 deployment density in non-excluded areas. We compare the underlying technical assumption and results with other global assessments.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

MC{sup 2}: Multiwavelength and Dynamical Analysis of the Merging Galaxy Cluster ZwCl 0008.8+5215: An Older and Less Massive Bullet Cluster

We present and analyze a rich data set including Subaru/SuprimeCam, HST/Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3, Keck/DEIMOS, Chandra/ACIS-I, and JVLA/C and D array for the merging cluster of galaxies ZwCl 0008.8+5215. With a joint Subaru+HST weak gravitational lensing analysis, we identify two dominant subclusters and estimate the masses to be M{sub 200}=5.7{sub −1.8}{sup +2.8}×10{sup 14} M{sub ⊙} and 1.2{sub −0.6}{sup +1.4}×10{sup 14} M{sub ⊙}. We estimate the projected separation between the two subclusters to be 924{sub −206}{sup +243} kpc. We perform a clustering analysis of spectroscopically confirmed cluster member galaxies and estimate the line-of-sight velocity difference between the two subclusters to be 92±164 km s{sup −1}. We further motivate, discuss, and analyze the merger scenario through an analysis of the 42 ks of Chandra/ACIS-I and JVLA/C and D array polarization data. The X-ray surface brightness profile reveals a merging gas-core reminiscent of the Bullet Cluster. The global X-ray luminosity in the 0.5–7.0 keV band is 1.7±0.1×10{sup 44} erg s{sup −1} and the global X-ray temperature is 4.90 ± 0.13 keV. The radio relics are polarized up to 40%, and along with the masses, velocities, and positions of the two subclusters, we input these quantities into a Monte Carlo dynamical analysis and estimate the merger velocity at pericenter to be 1800{sub −300}{sup +400} km s{sup −1}. This is a lower-mass version of the Bullet Cluster and therefore may prove useful in testing alternative models of dark matter (DM). We do not find significant offsets between DM and galaxies, but the uncertainties are large with the current lensing data. Furthermore, in the east, the BCG is offset from other luminous cluster galaxies, which poses a puzzle for defining DM–galaxy offsets.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Performance Optimization Methods for a Memory-Bound, Unstructured-Grid CFD Application on Massively Parallel GPU Platforms

Computational performance of the FUN3D unstructured-grid computational fluid dynamics (CFD) application on massively parallel GPU environments is memory-bound and highly dependent upon efficient reads from and atomic updates to the irregular cell-, edge-, and node-based data structures. In this talk, we present recent efforts into optimizing select performance-critical kernels on NVIDIA Tesla V100 and A100 GPUs and AMD CDNA MI100 GPUs. A novel use of L2 cache residency controls and asynchronous loads into on-chip shared memory are explored on the A100 GPU for the sparse iterative solver, which is dominated by mixed-precision, sparse matrix vector multiplication. Demonstrations show that these methods improve global memory bandwidth utilization by 13.5% on the A100 GPU. Several techniques are also presented that use registers and/or shared memory to facilitate array transposition and aggregation which combine to reduce the frequency and increase the cache efficiency of floating-point atomic updates to the irregular data structures. These methods are demonstrated to improve the kernel throughput by nearly 500% on select kernels on the AMD MI100 over atomic updates directly to global memory. Overall, both V100 and A100 GPUs outperformed the MI100 GPU on kernels dominated by double-precision atomic updates; however, the techniques demonstrated here reduced the performance gap and improved the MI100 performance.

GPU CPU unstructured CFD memory↗

A review of hydrokinetic turbines and enhancement techniques for canal installations: Technology, applicability and potential

The hydrokinetic industry has advanced beyond its initial testing phase with full-scale projects being introduced, constructed and tested globally. However primary hurdles such as reducing the cost of these systems, optimizing individual systems and arrays and balancing energy extraction with environmental impact still requires attention prior to achieving commercial success. The present study addresses the advances and limitations of near-zero head hydrokinetic technologies and the possibility of increased potential and applicability when enhancement techniques within the design, implementation and operational phases are considered. Its goal is threefold: to review small-scale state-of-the-art near-zero hydrokinetic-current-energy-conversion-technologies, to assess barriers including gaps in knowledge, information and data as well as assess time and resource limitations of water-infrastructure owners and operators. A case study summarizes the design and implementation of the first permanent modern hydrokinetic installation in South Africa where improved outputs were achieved through optimization during each design and operation phase. Finally, an economic analysis validates a competitive levelized cost of energy and further emphasizes the broad potential that is relatively unexplored within existing water-infrastructure.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Multi-focus parallel detection of fluorescent molecules at picomolar concentration with photonic nanojets arrays

Fluorescence sensing and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) are powerful methods to detect and characterize single molecules; yet, their use has been restricted by expensive and complex optical apparatus. Here, we present a simple integrated design using a self-assembled bi-dimensional array of microspheres to realize multi-focus parallel detection scheme for FCS. We simultaneously illuminate and collect the fluorescence from several tens of microspheres, which all generate their own photonic nanojet to efficiently excite the molecules and collect the fluorescence emission. Each photonic nanojet contributes to the global detection volume, reaching FCS detection volumes of several tens of femtoliters while preserving the fluorescence excitation and collection efficiencies. The microspheres photonic nanojets array enables FCS experiments at low picomolar concentrations with a drastic reduction in apparatus cost and alignment constraints, ideal for microfluidic chip integration.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

THE SPITZER INTERACTING GALAXIES SURVEY: A MID-INFRARED ATLAS OF STAR FORMATION

The Spitzer Interacting Galaxies Survey is a sample of 103 nearby galaxies in 48 systems, selected using association likelihoods and therefore free from disturbed morphology biases. All galaxies have been observed with Infrared Array Camera and MIPS 24 μm bands from the Spitzer Space Telescope. This catalog presents the global flux densities and colors of all systems and correlations between the interacting systems and their specific star formation rate (sSFR). This sample contains a wide variety of galaxy interactions with systems ranging in mass, mass ratios, and gas-content as well as interaction strength. This study seeks to identify the process of triggering star formation in galaxy interactions, therefore, we focus on the non-active galactic nucleus spiral galaxies only. From this subset of 70 spiral galaxies we have determined that this sample has enhanced sSFR compared to a sample of non-interacting field galaxies. Through optical data we have classified each system by “interaction strength”; the strongly interacting (Stage 4) galaxies have higher sSFR values than the weakly (Stage 2) and moderately (Stage 3) interacting systems. However, the Stage 2 and 3 systems have statistically identical sSFR properties, despite the lack of optical interaction signatures exhibited by the Stage 2 galaxies. We suggest that the similarity of sSFR in these stages could be a consequence of some of these Stage 2 systems actually being post-perigalactic and having had sufficient time for their tidal features to fade to undetectable levels. This interpretation is consistent with the correlation of sSFR with separation, which we have determined to have little variation up to 100 kpc.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Genome-Wide Analysis of RNA Decay in the Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. Strain PCC 7002

ABSTRACT RNA degradation is an important process that influences the ultimate concentration of individual proteins inside cells. While the main enzymes that facilitate this process have been identified, global maps of RNA turnover are available for only a few species. Even in these cases, there are few sequence elements that are known to enhance or destabilize a native transcript; even fewer confer the same effect when added to a heterologous transcript. To address this knowledge gap, we assayed genome-wide RNA degradation in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7002 by collecting total RNA samples after stopping nascent transcription with rifampin. We quantified the abundance of each position in the transcriptome as a function of time using RNA-sequencing data and later analyzed the global mRNA decay map using machine learning principles. Half-lives, calculated on a per-ORF (open reading frame) basis, were extremely short, with a median half-life of only 0.97 min. Despite extremely rapid turnover of most mRNA, transcripts encoding proteins involved in photosynthesis were both highly expressed and highly stable. Upon inspection of these stable transcripts, we identified an enriched motif in the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) that had similarity to Rho-independent terminators. We built statistical models for half-life prediction and used them to systematically identify sequence motifs in both 5′ and 3′ UTRs that correlate with stabilized transcripts. We found that transcripts linked to a terminator containing a poly(U) tract had a longer half-life than both those without a poly(U) tract and those without a terminator. IMPORTANCE RNA degradation is an important process that affects the final concentration of individual mRNAs, affecting protein expression and cellular physiology. Studies of how RNA is degraded increase our knowledge of this fundamental process as well as enable the creation of genetic tools to manipulate RNA stability. By studying global transcript turnover, we searched for sequence elements that correlated with transcript (in)stability and used these sequences to guide tool design. This study probes global RNA turnover in a cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7002, that both has a unique array of RNases that facilitate RNA degradation and is an industrially relevant strain that could be used to convert CO 2 and sunlight into useful products.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

An improved global wind resource estimate for integrated assessment models

This study summarizes initial steps to improving the robustness and accuracy of global renewable resource and techno-economic assessments for use in integrated assessment models. We outline a method to construct country-level wind resource supply curves, delineated by resource quality and other parameters. Using mesoscale reanalysis data, we generate estimates for wind quality, both terrestrial and offshore, across the globe. Because not all land or water area is suitable for development, appropriate database layers provide exclusions to reduce the total resource to its technical potential. We expand upon estimates from related studies by: using a globally consistent data source of uniquely detailed wind speed characterizations; assuming a non-constant coefficient of performance for adjusting power curves for altitude; categorizing the distance from resource sites to the electric power grid; and characterizing offshore exclusions on the basis of sea ice concentrations. The product, then, is technical potential by country, classified by resource quality as determined by net capacity factor. Additional classifications dimensions are available, including distance to transmission networks for terrestrial wind and distance to shore and water depth for offshore. We estimate the total global wind generation potential of 560 PWh for terrestrial wind with 90% of resource classified as low-to-mid quality, and 315 PWh for offshore wind with 67% classified as mid-to-high quality. These estimates are based on 3.5 MW composite wind turbines with 90 m hub heights, 0.95 availability, 90% array efficiency, and 5 MW/km 2 deployment density in non-excluded areas. We compare the underlying technical assumption and results with other global assessments.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Coordinated garbage collection for raid array of solid state disks

An optimized redundant array of solid state devices may include an array of one or more optimized solid-state devices and a controller coupled to the solid-state devices for managing the solid-state devices. The controller may be configured to globally coordinate the garbage collection activities of each of said optimized solid-state devices, for instance, to minimize the degraded performance time and increase the optimal performance time of the entire array of devices.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗