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At least 253 records · Page 14

Combined Optical and Radio–Frequency Perspectives on the Time Evolution of Lightning Measured by the FORTE Satellite

We use a cluster feature data set for the Fast On-orbit Recording of Transient Events (FORTE) satellite that combines detections from its pixelated Lightning Locating System (LLS), photodiode detector (PDD) and Radio-Frequency (RF) instrumentation to generate statistics describing the frequency and timing of lightning events detected by each instrument during lightning flashes. Coincident observations from the same vantage point allow us to directly compare flash details that can be resolved by the wide Field of View (FOV) instruments relative to the pixelated LLS—whose design is based on NASA's Lightning Imaging Sensor. We find that both the PDD and RF system typically generate more detections than the lightning imager (mean: 1.5 PDD events per LLS group, 2 RF events per LLS group) from pulses that are either not sufficiently bright in the optical band (in the case of RF) or that lack the optical energy density (in the case of the PDD) required to trigger one of the pixels on the LLS imaging array. This includes additional activity before the first LLS group or after the final LLS group. These FORTE results demonstrate that certain lightning processes would be better resolved by wide-FOV optical and RF instruments than lightning imagers. Current/future space-based missions that use/plan to use similar instruments will improve our understanding of flash evolution by resolving details missed by lightning imagers.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Estimated timescales for wet deposition of organic compounds as a function of Henry's law constants

Atmospheric organic compounds may deposit to Earth's surfaces via dry deposition, driven by concentration gradients, and wet deposition, driven by the scavenging of compounds by precipitation. Their removal by deposition has downstream impacts on concentrations of secondary organic aerosol by removing potential aerosol precursors that would otherwise oxidize to form particulate matter. The impact of deposition processes can consequently be considered as competition between rates of oxidation and deposition, but timescales for deposition are not well constrained. While timescales for dry deposition have been estimated and experimentally validated in the past, understanding of wet deposition of organics is still very limited. In this work, we estimate the wet deposition timescale for gas-phase organic compounds in the atmosphere as a function of Henry's law constants, H, using real-world precipitation frequency and size distributions at five globally-distributed sites. The wet deposition timescale decreases significantly with the increase of H until reaching a stable minimum for compounds with H > 10 5 M per atm. We estimate that the median wet deposition timescale for highly soluble gases is approximately 5 hours during a continuous rain event for all sites. However, median estimated timescales ranged from 80 to 200 hours, depending on location. Timescales are found to depend primarily on the frequency and duration of precipitation events rather than their intensity or size characteristics. Based on these data, we demonstrate that timescales for wet deposition of gases can be estimated at any given location using only basic precipitation information, without detailed or high-precision measurements.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Three‐Dimensional Broadband Interferometric Mapping and Polarization (BIMAP‐3D) Observations of Lightning Discharge Processes

Abstract Following on our earlier single‐station, 2‐dimensional (2D) broadband interferometric mapping and polarization (BIMAP) observations of lightning discharges, we recently deployed two BIMAP stations at Los Alamos National Laboratory to map the lightning sources and their polarization in full 3‐dimensional (3D) space (BIMAP‐3D). The two stations are separated by 11.5‐km and each station consists of four antenna sets (instead of three for the original BIMAP) that form a Y ‐shaped array for improved interferometric performance. In this paper, we report the BIMAP‐3D system design, a generalized and analytical 2D interferometry technique for noncoplanar antenna array, a two‐stage 3D mapping technique based on geometric triangulation and baseline‐based differential time of arrival, and a technique to reconstruct the polarization orientation in 3D space by combining the 2D polarization results from the two‐station observations. Along with description of the techniques, we demonstrate and discuss the initial lightning results, including 3D maps for a hybrid intracloud and cloud‐to‐ground flash and for a normal intracloud flash, development of abnormal K‐change leaders, and polarization signatures for a K‐change leader. We find that with the two‐stage 3D mapping techniques, the sources can be located to meters accuracy for a favorable event that occurs between the two stations. We also find the polarization vectors for the example K leader are mostly orthogonal to the leader channel after the full 3D polarization analysis. The main purpose of this paper is to report the BIMAP‐3D techniques and capabilities. Detailed analysis of more specific discharge processes will be reported in later studies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Assessing the complex influences of water management on hydrological drought characteristics in Texas

The state of Texas in the United States is highly susceptible to drought. Its major rivers are subject to extensive water management (WM) activities in order to sustain multisectoral water demands, particularly during drought conditions. However, the impact of WM on the propagation dynamics and characteristics of hydrological drought (HD) in Texas remains unclear. To fill this gap, this study quantifies the influence of WM across 32 streamflow gauges along the mainstems of seven major rivers in Texas by comparing a variety of drought metrics under natural and managed conditions. Notably, we leveraged an extensive, naturalized streamflow dataset constructed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, paired with gauge observations of managed conditions. Results indicate that at the multi-decadal scale, WM significantly reduced HD frequency across all seven rivers and at 81% of the gauges analyzed. Additionally, it increased the response timescale of HD across Texas’ major rivers by a median of 2.5 months. Conversely, the average-event duration and severity increased in most locations. Temporal analysis reveals that the WM impact on HD varied seasonally, with attenuation effects during mid-summer and early fall and intensification effects during late winter and spring. Additionally, WM was found to greatly increase the spatial variability of HD characteristics across the region. These findings emphasize the complexity of WM effects on HD and the necessity for nuanced strategies in managing HD under WM influences.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Spatial-Temporal Recurrent Graph Neural Networks for Fault Diagnostics in Power Distribution Systems

Fault diagnostics are extremely important to decide proper actions toward fault isolation and system restoration. The growing integration of inverter-based distributed energy resources imposes strong influences on fault detection using traditional overcurrent relays. This paper utilizes emerging graph learning techniques to build new temporal recurrent graph neural network models for fault diagnostics. The temporal recurrent graph neural network structures can extract the spatial-temporal features from data of voltage measurement units installed at the critical buses. From these features, fault event detection, fault type/phase classification, and fault location are performed. Compared with previous works, the proposed temporal recurrent graph neural networks provide a better generalization for fault diagnostics. Moreover, the proposed scheme retrieves the voltage signals instead of current signals so that there is no need to install relays at all lines of the distribution system. Therefore, the proposed scheme is generalizable and not limited by the number of relays installed. The effectiveness of the proposed method is comprehensively evaluated on the Potsdam microgrid and IEEE 123-node system in comparison with other neural network structures.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Analysis of Weather and Climate Extremes Impact on Power System Outage

This paper provides statistical analysis of the characteristics of power system outages to gain a better understanding of the impacts of the increasing severe weather conditions on the outages. 10-year historical power system outage data from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) were gathered together with co-located weather attributes and recorded extreme weather events in the service area, which are paired in comparable spatial and temporal scales, with a focus on each outage transmission line. Statistical frequency analysis and cross-tabular evaluation are performed to investigate the occurring frequency and duration of outages associated with extreme weather in this area of study. The study reveals that the weather-related outages can be mainly attributed to hail and thunderstorm events which correspond to up to 60% out of all failures in several transmission line types.

Ren, Huiying↗

Source Separation and Medium Change of Contained Chemical Explosions from Coda Wave Interferometry

Differences in the seismic coda of neighboring events can be used to investigate source location offsets and medium change with coda wave interferometry (CWI). We employ CWI to infer the known relative location between two chemical explosions in Phase I of the Source Physics Experiment (SPE). The inferred displacement between the first, SPE-1, and second, SPE-2, chemical explosion is between 6 and 18 m, with an expectation of 9.2 m, where the known separation is close to 9.4 m. We also employ CWI to find any velocity perturbation due to damage from SPE-2, by comparing its coda with the collocated third SPE chemical explosion, SPE-3. We find that damage due to SPE-2 must be confined to a spherical region with radius less than 10 m and velocity perturbation less than 25%.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Analysis of Superconducting Magnet Quench Antenna Data

Quenching poses a serious problem for superconducting magnets operating at high currents. It occurs when the material transitions from the superconducting to the normal state, which leads to heating and potential damage to the magnet. To understand and mitigate quenching, the Magnet Department at Fermilab is developing and testing superconducting magnet quench antenna arrays. This study delves into the anomalous events preceding the quench during magnet training by analyzing the collected data. With the moving average and Fast Fourier Transform techniques, we investigate the trends and frequency patterns of the data. Moreover, we introduce an unsupervised anomaly detection algorithm based on Principal Component Analysis and DBSCAN clustering. It can autonomously identify events within background noise, without relying on any predefined event features. Our analysis reveals that the spatio-temporal distribution of these anomalous events has little connection to the quench location, indicating that a majority of them bear no relation to the quenching process.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Implementation of a turbine farm model into the Energy Exascale Earth System Model for investigation and quantification of global climate impacts

Although there has been widespread deployment of wind farms in the United States, and plans to continue deployment into the future, the complete effects of wind farms on Earth systems are not well understood. The work performed here has incorporated wind farm models into the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) capable of simulating the effects of extracting momentum from the atmospheric flow field using power generating wind farms. This new capability will allow scientists to quantify the impacts of wind farm induced changes on Earth systems by exploiting E3SM’s ability to couple atmospheric, oceanic, and biogeochemical (BGC) models on a global scale and monitor precipitation levels, extreme weather events, soil moisture content and jet stream location over decades-long time periods. This tool will be used to inform decision making on wind farm citing and will contribute to the Lab’s ability to assess energy technology impacts on the environment and evaluate the trade-offs between energy infrastructure investments and their impacts on natural systems.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Poisson-response Tensor-on-Tensor Regression and Applications

We introduce Poisson-response tensor-on-tensor regression (PToTR), a novel regression framework designed to handle tensor responses composed element-wise of random Poisson-distributed counts. Tensors, or multi-dimensional arrays, composed of counts are common data in fields such as inter national relations, social networks, epidemiology, and medical imaging, where events occur across multiple dimensions like time, location, and dyads. PToTR accommodates such tensor responses alongside tensor covariates, providing a versatile tool for multi dimensional data analysis. We propose algorithms for maximum likelihood estimation under a canonical polyadic (CP) structure on the regression coefficient tensor that satisfy the positivity of Poisson parameters and then provide an initial theoretical error analysis for PToTR estimators. We also demonstrate the utility of PToTR through three concrete applications: longitudinal data analysis of the Integrated Crisis Early Warning System database, positron emission tomography (PET) image reconstruction, and change-point detection of communication patterns in longitudinal dyadic data. These applications highlight the versatility of PToTR in addressing complex, structured count data across various domains.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Characterizing Long Island’s Extreme Precipitation and Its Relationship to Tropical Cyclones

Since extreme precipitation impacts society on small scales (i.e., a few kilometers and smaller, it is worthwhile to explore extreme precipitation trends in localized regions, such as Long Island (LI), New York. Its coastal location makes it vulnerable to various extreme events, such as tropical cyclones (TCs). This work aimed to quantify the extreme precipitation events on LI that are caused by TCs, as well as the percentage of TCs passing close to LI that cause extreme precipitation events. Both gauge-based and satellite-based precipitation datasets of varying resolutions (DAYMET, IMERG, and CPC) were used to understand the impact of dataset selection. Results are shown for the common time period of 2001–2020, as well as the full time periods of each dataset. DAYMET shows the highest percentage of extreme precipitation events linked to TCs for 2001–2020 (a maximum of 7.2%) and the highest number of TCs that caused extreme precipitation events (36.5%), with IMERG showing similar results. For the full and common time periods, the highest percentage of extreme precipitation events caused by TCs was found in eastern LI. TC-related extreme precipitation averaged over LI varied year to year, and amounts were dependent on the resolution of the observational dataset, but most datasets showed an increasing trend in the last 19 years that is larger than the trend in mean precipitation. Current infrastructure in the region is likely inadequately prepared for future impacts from TC-related extreme precipitation events in such a population-dense region.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Security of Mobile Radiological Sources: Overview of Industry Applied Technologies

Small radiological sources used in industrial settings recurrently require transit between job sites. Securing these sources, while stationary, can be addressed with standard security approaches and equipment. Transport of these sources increases the risk and complexity of managing and maintaining control of these sources. Implementing methodologies to securely monitor and locate sources improves response and resolution of anomalous events during transit. The Mobile Source Transit Security (MSTS) system was developed to improve security and provide situational awareness of these mobile sources throughout their job cycle. The MSTS development effort focused on creating a set of systems that could be successfully implemented in industrial radiography and well-logging applications. The MSTS team worked to address source presence and location through use and storage. The MSTS system monitors radiological sources as they move from the base of operations to the job site and back. The system provides near-real-time monitoring of the mobile source location and status and early notification of source loss or theft by transmitting operational status and alerting anomalous conditions over telematic links worldwide. The MSTS system can trigger an armed response or initiation of search and recovery operations and will automatically alert management and responsible staff if a radioactive source is lost or stolen whether it is on-site, in transport, or in storage.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗

A Power Outage Data Informed Resilience Assessment Framework

Catastrophic impacts to power systems due to disruptive events have increased significantly during the last decade. These events highlight the need to develop approaches to assess the resilience of power systems against extreme events. However, the availability of data that capture power system performance during and after disruptive events is scarce. This paper proposes an assessment framework to evaluate the performance aspects of the grid system during extreme outage events using the Environment for Analysis of Geo-Located Energy Information (EAGLE-I) data. EAGLE-I includes information related to the number of impacted customers, duration, and location of power outages in the United States. Statistical analyses were conducted to extract resilient-based outage data and derive probability distribution functions of their impact and recovery characteristics. A list of extreme events is identified based on few predetermined threshold values. Metrics from other power outage assessments were used to measure the characteristics of each event, including impact rate and duration, recovery rate and duration, and impact level. A probability distribution function is obtained for each metric. The obtained results provide a representation of national grid performance during extreme events, which can be applied as a framework to evaluate various resilience enhancement techniques.

EAGLE-I↗

Creation of a Mixed-Mode Fracture Network at Mesoscale Through Hydraulic Fracturing and Shear Stimulation

Enhanced Geothermal Systems could provide a substantial contribution to the global energy demand if their implementation could overcome inherent challenges. Examples are insufficient created permeability, early thermal breakthrough, and unacceptable induced seismicity. In this study we report on the seismic response of a mesoscale hydraulic fracturing experiment performed at 1.5-km depth at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. We have measured the seismic activity by utilizing a 100-kHz, continuous seismic monitoring system deployed in six 60-m length monitoring boreholes surrounding the experimental domain in 3-D. The achieved location uncertainty was on the order of 1 m and limited by the signal-to-noise ratio of detected events. These uncertainties were corroborated by detections of fracture intersections at the monitoring boreholes. Three intervals of the dedicated injection borehole were hydraulically stimulated by water injection at pressures up to 33 MPa and flow rates up to 5 L/min. We located 1,933 seismic events during several injection periods. The recorded seismicity delineates a complex fracture network comprised of multistrand hydraulic fractures and shear-reactivated, preexisting planes of weakness that grew unilaterally from the point of initiation. We find that heterogeneity of stress dictates the seismic outcome of hydraulic stimulations, even when relying on theoretically well-behaved hydraulic fractures. Once hydraulic fractures intersected boreholes, the boreholes acted as a pressure relief and fracture propagation ceased. In order to create an efficient subsurface heat exchanger, production boreholes should not be drilled before the end of hydraulic stimulations.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Integrated control of individual plasma scalars with simultaneous neoclassical tearing-mode suppression

A novel integrated-control architecture has been tested in nonlinear, one-dimensional simulations using the control-oriented transport simulator (COTSIM©) and in DIII-D experiments. Integrated architectures that can perform continuous-mission control while also handling off-normal events will be vital in future reactor-grade tokamaks. Continuous-mission controllers for individual magnetic and kinetic scalars (thermal stored-energy (W), volume-average toroidal rotation (Ω Φ ), and safety factor profile (q) at different spatial locations) have been integrated in this work with event-triggered neoclassical tearing-mode (NTM) suppression controllers by combining them into an architecture augmented by a supervisory and exception handling (S&EH) system and an actuator management (AM) system. Here, the AM system, which enables the integration of competing controllers, solves in real time a nonlinear optimization problem that takes into account the high-level control priorities dictated by the S&EH system. The resulting architecture offers a high level of integration and some of the functionalities that will be required to fulfill the advanced-control requirements anticipated for ITER. Initial simulations using COTSIM suggest that the plasma performance and its MHD stability may be improved under integrated feedback control. In addition, the integrated-control architecture has been implemented in the DIII-D plasma control system and tested experimentally for the first time ever in DIII-D in a high-q min scenario, which is a candidate for steady-state operation in ITER.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Impact of Surface Recombination on Single-Event Charge Collection in an SOI Technology

Semiconductor–insulator interfaces play an important role in the reliability of integrated devices; however, the impact of these interfaces on the physical mechanisms related to single-event effects has not been previously reported. We present experimental data that demonstrate that single-event charge collection can be impacted by changes in interface quality. The experimental data, combined with simulations, show that single-event response may depend on surface recombination at interface defects. The effect depends on strike location and increases with increasing linear energy transfer (LET). Surface recombination can affect single-event charge collection for interfaces with a surface recombination velocity (SRV) of 1000 cm/s and is a dominant charge collection mechanism with SRV >10 5 cm/s.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Characterization of damage processes in Montney siltstone under triaxial compression using acoustic emission and diagnostic imaging

SUMMARY Crack nucleation and rock failure processes in a fine-grained siltstone (Montney Formation) under triaxial compression are investigated using combined diagnostic techniques, including ultrasonic-wave measurement, acoustic-emission (AE) monitoring, computed tomography (CT) scanning, and thin-section imaging. The sample displays a weak-to-moderate inherent seismic anisotropy and noticeable stress-induced anisotropy prior to failure. No AE event was detected until the applied axial stress reached 95 per cent of the peak value. The signal-to-noise ratio is relatively low, however, and detectable AE events are more diffuse than those observed in highly brittle rocks. The AE locations correlate with a shear fracture zone imaged by CT scanning. AE moment-tensor analysis reveals that events with larger relative magnitudes are characterized by high volumetric (tensile or compressive) components, and the initiation of the failure zone is dominated by combined shear-tensile (ST) failure. Stress inversion of the AE events with high tensile components is in good agreement with the known applied stress. Microscopic imaging of thin sections from the failed sample shows that the failure zone is an en echelon structure consisting of a major fracture with branching micro and minor cracks. This failure mechanism is consistent with a ST source mechanism and is interpreted to be associated with the fine granular structure and mineral composition of Montney siltstone.

Jia, Suzie Q. (ORCID:0000000326496190)↗