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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 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Multi-Functional Distributed Fiber Sensors for Pipeline Monitoring and Methane Detections. Final Report

As an abundant and cheap fossil energy source, natural gas has become a significant energy supply to support the United States’ economy. However, the large-scale extraction and utilization of natural gas also impose significant challenges on methane leakage. This problem is exacerbated by aging gas utility delivery systems, including interstate high-pressure pipelines, storage, and transmission facilities. This project aims to develop a cost-effective fiber optical sensing method that can perform multi-parameter real-time measurements of natural gas pipelines across long interrogation distances up to 100 km with 1-meter spatial resolution. This sensing tool can evaluate overall pipeline efficiency and reduce methane emissions for mid-stream methane infrastructures. To accomplish this objective, research and development efforts funded by this project have resulted in the following accomplishments: This project successfully has developed new functional sensory polymer materials using Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) that can be coated on optical fiber through the reel-to-reel coating process. Functional polymer-coated optical fibers can perform sensitive methane detection through evanescence wave interaction and strain-based measurements to achieve 1% detection sensitivities. The new sensors fibers support both distributed measurements and multiplexed fiber sensors array for multi-point measurements. This project developed and optimized a new multi-core optical fiber that supports simultaneous and distributed measurements of strain and temperatures with 1-meter spatial resolutions across up to 100-km interrogation distance. This new fiber, combined with sensory polymercoated fiber, could perform both distributed temperature and methane detections. This project developed a new artificial intelligence big data algorithm approach that can effectively analyze high-resolution data harnessed by distributed fiber sensors to protect natural gas pipelines against external threats and detect internal defects induced by corrosion. Working with our industry partner, this project developed new optical fibers that support fiber sensor fabrications through polymer coating after the fibers are drawn. These new fibers eliminate the need for direct sensor fabrication when the fiber is fabricated on a fiber draw tower, which drastically expands fiber sensors' applicability. This research project has significantly advanced the distributed fiber sensing technology. It will dramatically increase the applicability and adaptability of distributed fiber sensors for a wide array of applications in energy, sustainability, and environmental science, including structural health monitoring of natural gas pipelines, oil infrastructures, hydrogen facilities, and environmental monitoring of carbon storage sites, water supply systems, and others.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
NASA NTRS1996

Curriculum Development in Remote Sensing at California State University, Monterery, Seaside, California 93955

The NASA-Ames Research Center and the California State University, Monterey Bay, California (CSUMB), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop and provide cooperative programs between the Ecosystem Science and Technology Branch of NASA (ECOSAT) and the University (CSUMB). The agreement is to carry out educational, research, and technology goals in ecological and environmental sciences and related disciplines, with particular emphasis on changing environmental and climatic conditions occurring worldwide due to the anthropogenic causes affecting the balance within ecological systems and the health and well-being of humans. The preparation of the Curriculum for Remote Sensing at CSUMB was undertaken at the request of the Center as a result of the above agreement.

Sinha, Ravi↗
DOE OSTI2025

Advancing the understanding of coastal disturbances with a network-of-networks approach

Coastal ecosystems are at the nexus of many high priority challenges in environmental sciences, including predicting the influences of compounding disturbances exacerbated by climate change on biogeochemical cycling. Extreme events such as hurricanes, flooding, landslides, and wildfires influence biogeochemical cycling in these systems. However, while research in coastal science is fundamentally transdisciplinary – as drivers of biogeochemical and ecological processes often span scientific and environmental domains – traditional place-based approaches are still often employed to understand coastal ecosystems. In this perspective, we argue that integration among distributed research sites from a macrosystem perspective is crucial to understand how compounding disturbances affect coastal ecosystems. We identify a roadmap for the implementation of an integrated network-of-networks framework that leverages existing research network sites in coastal ecosystems to advance continental-scale process understanding for studying extreme events and global change. We also identify specific ways that existing research efforts can maximize mutual benefit, and where additional infrastructure investments might increase return-on-investment along the coast, using the coastal continental US as a case study.

Myers-Pigg, Allison N. [BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)]↗
DOE OSTI2021

The agglomeration and dispersion dichotomy of human settlements on Earth

Human settlements on Earth are scattered in a multitude of shapes, sizes and spatial arrangements. These patterns are often not random but a result of complex geographical, cultural, economic and historical processes that have profound human and ecological impacts. However, little is known about the global distribution of these patterns and the spatial forces that creates them. This study analyses human settlements from high-resolution satellite imagery and provides a global classification of spatial patterns. We find two emerging classes, namely agglomeration and dispersion. In the former, settlements are fewer than expected based on the predictions of scaling theory, while an unexpectedly high number of settlements characterizes the latter. To explain the observed spatial patterns, we propose a model that combines two agglomeration forces and simulates human settlements’ historical growth. Our results show that our model accurately matches the observed global classification (F1: 0.73), helps to understand and estimate the growth of human settlements and, in turn, the distribution and physical dynamics of all human settlements on Earth, from small villages to cities.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

An economic perspective of the circular bioeconomy in the food and agricultural sector

Transforming the agri-food system from a “take-make-waste”, or linear production system, to a circular bioeconomy that reduces, recycles, recovers, reuses, and regenerates wastes and transitions from fossil to biobased fuels and products is being hailed as critical for meeting a growing population’s food and fuel needs in environmentally sustainable ways. While a transformation towards a circular bioeconomy is an appealing strategy to achieve multiple environmental goals, we argue that this strategy needs to go beyond a techno-centric focus and adopt an economic value-based lens to balance the desire for circularity with its costs, benefits, and distributional effects on society. This perspective analyzes the mechanisms that sustain the existing linear economy and proposes a novel social cost-benefit framework to determine the optimal level and path to circularity. We present five critical pathways to achieve a sustainable circular bioeconomy in a market economy consisting of decentralized decision-makers.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Data for "Relative Reactivity and Bioavailability of Mercury Sorbed to or Coprecipitated with Aged Iron Sulfides"

The potential for inorganic mercury (Hg) to be converted to methylmercury depends, in part, on the chemical form of Hg and its bioavailability to anaerobic microorganisms that can methylate Hg. In anaerobic settings, Hg can be associated with sulfide phases, including ferrous iron sulfide (FeS), which can sorb or coprecipitated with Hg. The objective of this study was to determine if the aging state of FeS alters the Hg coordination environment as well as the reactivity and bioavailability of sorbed and coprecipitated Hg species. FeS particles were synthesized with and without Hg2+ and aged in anaerobic conditions for multiple time frames spanning from 1 hour to 1 month. For FeS particles synthesized without Hg, Hg2+ was subsequently sorbed to the FeS for 1 day. Analysis of Hg speciation of these materials by X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy revealed a predominance of 4-coodinate Hg-S species in the sorbed Hg-FeS solids and a mixture of 2- and 4-coordinate Hg-S in the coprecipitated Hg-FeS. The leaching potential of the Hg was assessed by exposing the particles to a solution of dissolved glutathione (a thiolate-based Hg chelator). As expected, the sorbed Hg-FeS released more soluble Hg compared to the co-precipitated Hg-FeS. However, when these particles were exposed to Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132 (a known Hg methylator), more Hg was methylated from the co-precipitated Hg-FeS than the sorbed Hg-FeS, consistent with expectations from the Hg-S coordination state and inconsistent with the selective leaching results. Overall, these results suggest that the bioavailability of particulate Hg cannot be easily discerned by leaching potential into bulk solution. Rather, bioavailability entails more subtle interactions at particle-cell interfaces and perhaps correlates with the local Hg-S coordination state in the particles. This data package contains data shown in the referenced publication, including all figures. Each figure is available in the respective *.csv file and a summary of all files are also included in the the xlsx file. Additional formatted data include X-ray diffraction data of the FeS solids are also available in a HPF format (Panalytical software), X-ray absorption spectroscopy data as *.prj files (Athena), and X-ray fluorescence data in its raw data form.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2020

UV/Vis+ Photochemistry Database: Structure, Content and Applications

The “science-softCon UV/Vis+ Photochemistry Database” (www.photochemistry.org) is a large and comprehensive collection of EUV-VUV-UV–Vis-NIR spectral data and other photochemical information assembled from published peer-reviewed papers. The database contains photochemical data including absorption, fluorescence, photoelectron, and circular and linear dichroism spectra, as well as quantum yields and photolysis related data that are critically needed in many scientific disciplines. This manuscript gives an outline regarding the structure and content of the “science-softCon UV/Vis+ Photochemistry Database”. The accurate and reliable molecular level information provided in this database is fundamental in nature and helps in proceeding further to understand photon, electron and ion induced chemistry of molecules of interest not only in spectroscopy, astrochemistry, astrophysics, Earth and planetary sciences, environmental chemistry, plasma physics, combustion chemistry but also in applied fields such as medical diagnostics, pharmaceutical sciences, biochemistry, agriculture, and catalysis. In order to illustrate this, we illustrate the use of the UV/Vis+ Photochemistry Database in four different fields of scientific endeavor.

Photochemistry↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Enhancing Dataset Discovery and Usage Tracking in Earth Sciences: Integrating Knowledge Graphs and Large Language Models

NASA's Data Active Archive Centers (DAACs) have played a crucial role in supporting a wide range of applied research in Earth and Environmental sciences. To date, over 20,000 publications have been collected, citing more than 3,000 NASA Earth science datasets. We present an innovative approach that links datasets and collected publications through a knowledge graph (KG). This KG enables the tracking of dataset citations throughout the dataset's lifecycle, revealing patterns of dataset usage across various applied research areas. We fine-tuned the pre-trained NASA IMPACT INDUS-Base Retriever Large Language Model (LLM) using a set of labeled publication abstracts. Our results indicate that 87% of the publications were classified into one of twenty applied research areas, while the remaining 13% were categorized into non-applied research areas. The classified publications linked to datasets are used to discover datasets by users interested in specific applied research and by dataset providers to determine dataset usage for applications.

open-source↗
DOE OSTI2023

Investigating the Impact of Irrigation on Malaria Vector Larval Habitats and Transmission Using a Hydrology‐Based Model

Abstract A combination of accelerated population growth and severe droughts has created pressure on food security and driven the development of irrigation schemes across sub‐Saharan Africa. Irrigation has been associated with increased malaria risk, but risk prediction remains difficult due to the heterogeneity of irrigation and the environment. While investigating transmission dynamics is helpful, malaria models cannot be applied directly in irrigated regions as they typically rely only on rainfall as a source of water to quantify larval habitats. By coupling a hydrologic model with an agent‐based malaria model for a sugarcane plantation site in Arjo, Ethiopia, we demonstrated how incorporating hydrologic processes to estimate larval habitats can affect malaria transmission. Using the coupled model, we then examined the impact of an existing irrigation scheme on malaria transmission dynamics. The inclusion of hydrologic processes increased the variability of larval habitat area by around two‐fold and resulted in reduction in malaria transmission by 60%. In addition, irrigation increased all habitat types in the dry season by up to 7.4 times. It converted temporary and semi‐permanent habitats to permanent habitats during the rainy season, which grew by about 24%. Consequently, malaria transmission was sustained all‐year round and intensified during the main transmission season, with the peak shifted forward by around 1 month. Lastly, we evaluated the spatiotemporal distribution of adult vectors under the effect of irrigation by resolving habitat heterogeneity. These findings could help larval source management by identifying transmission hotspots and prioritizing resources for malaria elimination planning.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Brown Dog Tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus Sensu Lato) Infection with Endosymbiont and Human Pathogenic Rickettsia spp., in Northeastern México

Of the documented tick-borne diseases infecting humans in México, Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii, is responsible for most fatalities. Given recent evidence of brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l., as an emerging vector of human RMSF, we aimed to evaluate dogs and their ticks for rickettsiae infections as an initial step in assessing the establishment of this pathosystem in a poorly studied region of northeastern México while evaluating the use of dogs as sentinels for transmission/human disease risk. We sampled owned dogs living in six disadvantaged neighborhoods of Reynosa, northeastern México to collect whole blood and ticks. Of 168 dogs assessed, tick infestation prevalence was 53%, composed of exclusively Rh. sanguineus s. l. (n = 2170 ticks). Using PCR and sequencing, we identified an overall rickettsiae infection prevalence of 4.1% (n = 12/292) in ticks, in which eight dogs harbored at least one infected tick. Rickettsiae infections included Rickettsia amblyommatis and Rickettsia parkeri, both of which are emerging human pathogens, as well as Candidatus Rickettsia andeanae. This is the first documentation of pathogenic Rickettsia species in Rh. sanguineus s.l. collected from dogs from northeastern México. Domestic dog infestation with Rickettsia-infected ticks indicates ongoing transmission; thus, humans are at risk for exposure, and this underscores the importance of public and veterinary health surveillance for these pathogens.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1995

AVIRIS user's guide

This paper serves as a brief overview of the AVIRIS instrument (Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer). The AVIRIS sensor collects data that will be used for quantitative characterization of the Earth's surface and atmosphere from geometrically coherent spectroradiometric measurements. This data can be applied to studies in the fields of oceanography, environmental science, snow hydrology, geology, volcanology, soil and land management, atmospheric and aerosol studies, agriculture, and limnology. Applications under development include the assessment and monitoring of environmental hazards such as toxic waste, oil spills, and land/air/water pollution. Mission planning and flight operations are discussed, and recommendations are given regarding the deployment of ground truth experiments.

Johnson, Howell K.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Minority Universities Systems Engineering (MUSE) Program at the University of Texas at El Paso

In 1995, The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) responded to the suggestion of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) to form a consortium comprised of California State University at Los Angeles (CSULA), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University (NCAT), and UTEP from which developed the Minority Universities Systems Engineering (MUSE) Program. The mission of this consortium is to develop a unique position for minority universities in providing the nation's future system architects and engineers as well as enhance JPL's system design capability. The goals of this collaboration include the development of a system engineering curriculum which includes hands-on project engineering and design experiences. UTEP is in a unique position to take full advantage of this program since UTEP has been named a Model Institution for Excellence (MIE) by the National Science Foundation. The purpose of MIE is to produce leaders in Science, Math, and Engineering. Furthermore, UTEP has also been selected as the site for two new centers including the Pan American Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences (PACES) directed by Dr. Scott Starks and the FAST Center for Structural Integrity of Aerospace Systems directed by Dr. Roberto Osegueda. The UTEP MUSE Program operates under the auspices of the PACES Center.

Robbins, Mary Clare↗
NASA NTRS1988

Scientific investigations at a lunar base

Scientific investigations to be carried out at a lunar base can have significant impact on the location, extent, and complexity of lunar surface facilities. Among the potential research activities to be carried out are: (1) Lunar Science: Studies of the origin and history of the Moon and early solar system, based on lunar field investigations, operation of networks of seismic and other instruments, and collection and analysis of materials; (2) Space Plasma Physics: Studies of the time variation of the charged particles of the solar wind, solar flares and cosmic rays that impact the Moon as it moves in and out of the magnetotail of the Earth; (3) Astronomy: Utilizing the lunar environment and stability of the surface to emplace arrays of astronomical instruments across the electromagnetic spectrum to improve spectral and spatial resolution by several orders of magnitude beyond the Hubble Space Telescope and other space observatories; (4) Fundamental physics and chemistry: Research that takes advantage of the lunar environment, such as high vacuum, low magnetic field, and thermal properties to carry out new investigations in chemistry and physics. This includes material sciences and applications; (5) Life Sciences: Experiments, such as those that require extreme isolation, highly sterile conditions, or very low natural background of organic materials may be possible; and (6) Lunar environmental science: Because many of the experiments proposed for the lunar surface depend on the special environment of the Moon, it will be necessary to understand the mechanisms that are active and which determine the major aspects of that environment, particularly the maintenance of high-vacuum conditions. From a large range of experiments, investigations and facilities that have been suggested, three specific classes of investigations are described in greater detail to show how site selection and base complexity may be affected: (1) Extended geological investigation of a complex region up to 250 kilometers from the base requires long range mobility, with transportable life support systems and laboratory facilities for the analysis of rocks and soil. Selection of an optimum base site would depend heavily on an evaluation of the degree to which science objectives could be met. These objectives could include lunar cratering, volcanism, resource surveys or other investigations; (2) An astronomical observatory initially instrumented with a VLF radio telescope, but later expanding to include other instruments, requires site preparation capability, "line shack" life support systems, instrument maintenance and storage facilities, and sortie mode transportation. A site perpetually shielded from Earth is optimum for the advanced stages of a lunar observatory; (3) an experimental physics laboratory conducting studies requiring high vacuum facilities and heavily instrumented experiments, is not highly dependent on lunar location, but will require much more flexibility in experiment operation and EVA capability, and more sophisticated instrument maintenance and fabrication facilities.

Extraterrestrial Environment↗
NASA NTRS2016

Reanalyzing Environmental Lidar Data for Archaeology: Mesoamerican Applications and Implications

This paper presents a preliminary archaeological assessment of extensive transects of lidar recently collected by environmental scientists over southern Mexico using the G-LiHT system of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. In particular, this article offers the results of a first phase of research, consisting of: 1) characterization and classification of the cultural and ecological context of the samples, and 2) bare earth processing and visual inspection of a sample of the flight paths for identification of probable anthropogenic Precolumbian features. These initial results demonstrate that significant contributions to understanding variations in Precolumbian land-use and settlement patterns and change is possible with truly multi-regional lidar surveys not originally captured for archaeological prospection. We point to future directions for the development of archaeological applications of this robust data set. Finally, we offer the potential for enriching archaeological research through tightly coupled collaborations with environmental science and monitoring. Archaeologists in the neotropics can acquire more data, better realize the full potential of lidar surveys, and better contribute to interdisciplinary studies of human-environmental dynamic systems through regionally focused and collaborative scientific research.

Golden, Charles↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Improving Regional Air Quality Forecasting Through Chemical Data Assimilation and Dynamic Emissions Adjustment

Poor air quality (AQ) is one of the most important human-health and environmental problems facing the United States (US). In addition to the detrimental impacts on human- and environmental-health, poor AQ has an economic cost of ~5% of the US gross domestic product (~$790 billion). AQ managers use AQ analyses and modeling to better understand, anticipate, and avoid poor AQ events. Our research focuses on improving AQ analysis/forecast skill, predictability, and emission estimates through improved and more efficient: (i) modeling and data assimilation strategies; (ii) dynamic emissions adjustment strategies; and (iii) use of satellite remote-sensing Earth observations (e.g., MOPITT, IASI, MODIS, OMI, TROPOMI, TEMPO, etc.). This seminar will review: (i) regional chemical weather forecasting/data assimilation with dynamic emissions adjustment with WRF-Chem/DART; (ii) strategies for efficiently assimilating satellite retrieval profiles with ‘compact phase space retrievals’ (CPSRs); (iii) results from joint assimilation of multiple satellite retrievals at medium (12 km × 12 km) and high (4 km × 4 km) spatial resolutions; and (iv) results from observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) to investigate whether we can recover COVID-period anthropogenic emissions by assimilating synthetic TEMPO NO2 tropospheric column retrievals with dynamic emissions adjustment. Biographical Sketch: Dr. Mizzi is a Senior Research Fellow working and Dr. Johnson at the NASA Ames Research Center. He holds BA and MS degrees in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia, MS and PhD degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Colorado at Boulder (CUB), and a JD degree (with an emphasis in Environmental Law) from the University of Colorado School of Law. He worked at the National Center for Atmospheric Research for nearly 25 years on global atmospheric modeling, dynamic and physical initialization, regional hybrid data assimilation, and most recently on regional chemical data assimilation. He also worked as an environmental attorney and consultant for nearly 15 years. He is an expert in numerical modeling and is recognized internationally as a leading expert in regional, chemical data assimilation with dynamic emissions adjustment. Dr. Mizzi became affiliated with NASA Ames in March 2020 to work on improving AQ analysis/forecast skill, predictability, and ‘top-down’ emissions adjustment though the assimilation of Earth observations. An emphasis of his current work is developing methods for assimilating synthetic TEMPO retrievals to quantify the expected benefits of TEMPO relative to existing AQ observations.

Arthur P. Mizzi↗
DOE OSTI2024

Triton Initiative: FY 2024 Communications, Outreach, and Engagement End-of-Year Report

The Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) Triton Initiative works to reduce barriers to permitting of marine energy testing and installation through environmental monitoring research that can help inform decision-makers on potential environmental effects associated with these systems. Communications, outreach, and engagement efforts are critical to Triton's success, which involves facilitating the effective communication and dissemination of environmental monitoring research information and results to end-users and fostering collaborations between researchers and industry partners to address the most pressing needs of this emerging industry. The Triton Initiative's communications, outreach, and engagement (TCOE) foundational goals are to educate and raise awareness of ME and the role of Triton's environmental monitoring research in supporting the industry, build trust with audiences through transparent communications and outreach, and evaluate and refine TCOE tactics based on feedback and metrics. The TCOE FY 2024-specific objectives were to (1) refine and grow Triton's audience network by reaching new individuals and communities within Triton's target audience base, and (2) improve the strategy and evaluation of TCOE efforts to demonstrate the value of communications and outreach for the ME community. This report presents the results and analysis of communications activities from September 1, 2023 through August 31, 2024. We assess the TCOE target audiences, highlight notable successes and lessons learned from FY2024, and identify the most effective channels and activities used to connect with those audiences to achieve the TCOE goals.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2020

Use of Tracer Elements for Estimating Community Exposure to Marcellus Shale Development Operations

Since 2009, unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) has significantly increased in Appalachia’s Marcellus Shale formation. Elevations of fine particulate matter <2.5 µm (PM2.5), have been documented in areas surrounding drilling operations during well stimulation. Furthermore, many communities are experiencing increased industrial activities and probable UNGD air pollutant exposures. Recent studies have associated UNGD emissions with health effects based on distances from well pads. In this study, PM2.5 filter samples were collected on an active gas well pad in Morgantown, West Virginia, and three locations downwind during hydraulic stimulation. Fine particulate samples were analyzed for major and trace elements. An experimental source identification model was developed to determine which elements appeared to be traceable downwind of the UNGD site and whether these elements corresponded to PM2.5 measurements. Results suggest that 1) magnesium may be useful for detecting the reach of UNGD point source emissions, 2) complex surface topographic and meteorological conditions in the Marcellus Shale region could be modeled and confounding sources discounted, and 3) well pad emissions may be measurable at distances of at least 7 km. If shown to be more widely applicable, future tracer studies could enhance epidemiological studies showing health effects of UNGD-associated emissions at ≥15 km.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗