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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 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Controls on aggradation and incision in the NE Negev, Israel, since the middle Pleistocene

Here, we investigated the mid-Pleistocene to recent aggradation-incision pattern of two drainage systems (Nahal Peres and Nahal Tahmas) in the hyperarid north eastern Negev desert, southern Israel. Although these drainage systems drain into the tectonically active Dead Sea basin, lake level fluctuations cannot account for the aggradation-incision pattern as bedrock knickpoints disconnect the investigated parts of these drainage systems from base level influence. We applied geomorphic mapping, soil stratigraphy, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and cosmogenic (in situ 10 Be) exposure dating to reconstruct cycles of aggradation and incision of alluvial terraces and to study their temporal association with regional periods of humidity and aridity and global glacial-interglacial cycles. The spatial and temporal relationships between the alluvial units suggest changes in the drainage system behavior since the middle Pleistocene, and show a pattern in which prolonged periods of sediment aggradation alternated with short periods of rapid and intense degradation through erosion and incision into sediment and bedrock. We obtain ages for several Pleistocene-Holocene periods of incision: ~ 1.1 Ma, ~ 300 ka, ~ 120 ka, ~ 20 ka, ~ 12 ka and ~ 2 ka. Although broadly synchronous, the Nahal Peres and Nahal Tahmas systems exhibit temporal differences in aggradation and incision.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Towards successful cleaning of chert samples for improved 10Be and 26Al measurements

In situ-produced cosmogenic 10 Be and 26 Al measurements are widely applied in geomorphological studies and in archaeology and paleoanthropology as a chronologic tool applicable to the past 5 Ma. While most of these measurements are made from concentrates of quartz, a ubiquitous and resistant mineral, it is of great interest to extend this method to other silicates and particularly to the amorphous silicates whose purification may not be as straightforward. This paper presents a cleaning procedure that has been applied on ten samples of various siliceous rocks (chert, granite and quartzolite). The aim is to monitor the 10 Be, 27 Al and 26 Al concentration evolution as a function of cleaning steps. While this protocol appears suitable for 10 Be, when measuring 26 Al careful attention should be paid to 27 Al, whose concentration should be measured regularly to ensure that a constant value is achieved and most important, allowing measuring 26 Al/ 27 Al by AMS.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Near-surface seismic anisotropy in Antarctic glacial snow and ice revealed by high-frequency ambient noise

Ambient seismic recordings taken at broad locations across Ross Ice Shelf and a dense array near West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide, Antarctica, show pervasive temporally variable resonance peaks associated with trapped seismic waves in near-surface firn layers. These resonance peaks feature splitting on the horizontal components, here interpreted as frequency-dependent anisotropy in the firn and underlying ice due to several overlapping mechanisms driven by ice flow. Frequency peak splitting magnitudes and fast/slow axes were systematically estimated at single stations using a novel algorithm and compared with good agreement with active source anisotropy measurements at WAIS Divide determined via active sources recorded on a 1 km circular array. The approach was further applied to the broad Ross Ice Shelf (RIS) array, where anisotropy axes were directly compared with visible surface features and ice shelf flow lines. The near-surface firn, depicted by anisotropy above 30 Hz, was shown to exhibit a novel plastic stretching mechanism of anisotropy, whereby the fast direction in snow aligns with accelerating ice shelf flow.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Projected Seismic Activity at the Tiger Stripe Fractures on Enceladus, Saturn, From an Analog Study of Tidally Modulated Icequakes Within the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Abstract Dissipation of tidal energy is expected to generate seismicity on icy‐ocean worlds; however, the distribution and timing of this seismic activity throughout an orbital cycle is not known. We used new observations from an icy‐ocean‐world analog environment on Earth to examine the relationship between tidally driven tensile stress and seismic activity within an ice shell. We investigated a pair of rifts within Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf which are tidally stressed in a manner analogous to the orbital cycle of tidal stress experienced by Enceladus' Tiger Stripe Fractures. We found that seismic activity at the Antarctic rifts is sensitive to both the amplitude and the rate of tensile stress across the rifts. We combined these findings with calculated stress values along Enceladus' Tiger Stripe Fractures to predict seismic‐activity levels expected along the ice‐shell fractures. We predict a peak in seismicity along the four Tiger Stripe Fractures when Enceladus is 90°–120° past pericenter in its orbit around Saturn, at which point tensile stresses would reach ∼2/3 of their maximum value. We also used the magnitude distribution of icequakes along Antarctic rifts to investigate implications for the likely size of stick‐slip rupture patches along icy faults on Enceladus. Our findings predict that the Tiger Stripe Fractures should produce sustained, low‐magnitude seismic events that involve rupture along discrete portions of each fracture's total length. We predict that seismicity would fall to 50% of peak levels when stresses across the Tiger Stripe Fractures are dominantly compressional.

Olsen, Kira G.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Achievements and Prospects of Global Broadband Seismographic Networks After 30 Years of Continuous Geophysical Observations

Global seismographic networks (GSNs) emerged during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, facilitated by seminal international developments in theory, technology, instrumentation, and data exchange. The mid- to late-twentieth century saw the creation of the World-Wide Standardized Seismographic Network (1961) and International Deployment of Accelerometers (1976), which advanced global geographic coverage as seismometer bandwidth increased greatly allowing for the recording of the Earth's principal seismic spectrum. The modern era of global observations and rapid data access began during the 1980s, and notably included the inception of the GEOSCOPE initiative (1982) and GSN (1988). Through continual improvements, GEOSCOPE and the GSN have realized near-real time recording of ground motion with state-of-art data quality, dynamic range, and timing precision to encompass 180 seismic stations, many in very remote locations. Data from GSNs are increasingly integrated with other geophysical data (e.g., space geodesy, infrasound and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar). Globally distributed seismic data are critical to resolving crust, mantle, and core structure; illuminating features of the plate tectonic and mantle convection system; rapid characterization of earthquakes; identification of potential tsunamis; global nuclear test verification; and provide sensitive proxies for environmental changes. As the global geosciences community continues to advance our understanding of Earth structure and processes controlling elastic wave propagation, GSN infrastructure offers a springboard to realize increasingly multi-instrument geophysical observatories. Here, we review the historical, scientific, and monitoring heritage of GSNs, summarize key discoveries, and discuss future associated opportunities for Earth Science.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Synchrotron X-ray microfluorescence measurement of metal distributions in Phragmites australis root system in the Yangtze River intertidal zone

This study investigates the distributions of Br, Ca, Cl, Cr, Cu, K, Fe, Mn, Pb, Ti, V and Zn in Phragmites australis root system and the function of Fe nanoparticles in scavenging metals in the root epidermis using synchrotron X-ray microfluorescence, synchrotron transmission X-ray microscope measurement and synchrotron X-ray absorption near-edge structure techniques. The purpose of this study is to understand the mobility of metals in wetland plant root systems after their uptake from rhizosphere soils. Phragmites australis samples were collected in the Yangtze River intertidal zone in July 2013. The results indicate that Fe nanoparticles are present in the root epidermis and that other metals correlate significantly with Fe, suggesting that Fe nanoparticles play an important role in metal scavenging in the epidermis.

Feng, Huan↗
DOE OSTI2012

Remotely Sensed Thermal Anomalies in Western Colorado

This layer contains the areas identified as areas of anomalous surface temperature from Landsat satellite imagery in Western Colorado. Data was obtained for two different dates. The digital numbers of each Landsat scene were converted to radiance and the temperature was calculated in degrees Kelvin and then converted to degrees Celsius for each land cover type using the emissivity of that cover type. And this process was repeated for each of the land cover types (open water, barren, deciduous forest and evergreen forest, mixed forest, shrub/scrub, grassland/herbaceous, pasture hay, and cultivated crops). The temperature of each pixel within each scene was calculated using the thermal band. In order to calculate the temperature an average emissivity value was used for each land cover type within each scene. The NLCD 2001 land cover classification raster data of the zones that cover Colorado were downloaded from USGS site and used to identify the land cover types within each scene. Areas that had temperature residual greater than 2o, and areas with temperature equal to 1o to 2o, were considered Landsat modeled very warm and warm surface exposures (thermal anomalies), respectively. Note: 'o' is used in this description to represent lowercase sigma.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

The seismic noise environment of Antarctica

Seismographic coverage of Antarctica prior to 2007 consisted overwhelmingly of a handful of long running and sporadically deployed transient stations, many of which were principally collocated with scientific research stations. Thus, despite very cold temperatures, sunless winters, challenging logistics, and extreme storms, recent developments in polar instrumentation driven by new scientific objectives have opened up the entirety of Antarctica to year–round and continuous seismological observation (e.g., Nyblade et al., 2012).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Climate seasonality limits leaf carbon assimilation and wood productivity in tropical forests

Here, the seasonal climate drivers of the carbon cycle in tropical forests remain poorly known, although these forests account for more carbon assimilation and storage than any other terrestrial ecosystem. Based on a unique combination of seasonal pan-tropical data sets from 89 experimental sites (68 include aboveground wood productivity measurements and 35 litter productivity measurements), their associated canopy photosynthetic capacity (enhanced vegetation index, EVI) and climate, we ask how carbon assimilation and aboveground allocation are related to climate seasonality in tropical forests and how they interact in the seasonal carbon cycle. We found that canopy photosynthetic capacity seasonality responds positively to precipitation when rainfall is < 2000 mm yr -1 (water-limited forests) and to radiation otherwise (light-limited forests). On the other hand, independent of climate limitations, wood productivity and litterfall are driven by seasonal variation in precipitation and evapotranspiration, respectively. Consequently, light-limited forests present an asynchronism between canopy photosynthetic capacity and wood productivity. First-order control by precipitation likely indicates a decrease in tropical forest productivity in a drier climate in water-limited forest, and in current light-limited forest with future rainfall < 2000 mm yr -1 .

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1979

SAMICS: Input data preparation

The Solar Array Manufacturing Industry Costing Standards (SAMICS) provide standard formats, data, assumptions, and procedures for estimating the price that a manufacturer would have to charge for the product of a specified manufacturing process sequence. A line-by-line explanation is given of those standard formats which describe the economically important characteristics of the manufacturing processes and the technological structure of the companies and the industry. This revision provides an updated presentation of Format A Process Description, consistent with the October 1978 version of that form. A checklist of items which should be entered on Format A as direct expenses is included.

Chamberlain, R. G.↗