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At least 325 records · Page 18

Application of the Global Precipitation Forecast dataset for Global Landslide Forecasting System

Landslides are extremely damaging, pervasive and cause fatalities and economic impacts. Extreme rainfall events, coupled with inopportune surface conditions, are the primary triggers of landslides around the world. Forecasting landslide events represent an area of open research. A global Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness (LHASA) model has been created that provides near real-time dynamic landslide characterization using Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for Global Precipitation Mission (IMERG). However, it does not provide information on prediction of landslides into future. This study considers how global precipitation forecast data compares to satellite rainfall at different spatiotemporal scales and outlines the potential for its use in landslide hazard prediction/forecasting system. NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS)-Forecast model assimilates new observations every 6 hours, at 00, 06, 12, and 18 UTC. The GEOS-Forecast model is initialized at 00 UTC and is evaluated with IMERG Early, using Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor gauge corrected (MRMS-GC) precipitation product as a reference over contiguous United States (CONUS). Categorical and continuous statistics along with probability density functions and cumulative distribution functions are considered to assess the performance of the precipitation products, with a focus on landslide hotspots. Seasonality appears to influence the performance of both the GEOS-Forecast and IMERG Early product. Moreover, the global comparison between the GEOS-Forecast and IMERG Early is carried out in terms of percentile difference, correlation, and bias maps. For extreme rainfall events in regions such as Mekong, Colombia, and Tajikistan, GEOS-Forecast appears to resolve high rainfall relative to IMERG Early more frequently. Validation over landslide points reveal that for 24hr rainfall accumulations > 100mm, GEOS-Forecast and IMERG coincide. GEOS-Forecast and IMERG Early precipitation matches more closely for tropical cyclones than other types of storms. Overall, the performance varies with respect to location, rainfall intensities, and type of precipitation events.

Sana Khan↗

Comparison of time-frequency-analysis techniques applied in building energy data noise cancellation for building load forecasting: A real-building case study

Time-frequency analysis that disaggregates a signal in both time and frequency domain is an important supporting technique for building energy analysis such as noise cancellation in data-driven building load forecasting. There is a gap in the literature related to comparing various time–frequency-analysis techniques, especially discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and empirical mode decomposition (EMD), to guide the selection and tuning of time–frequency-analysis techniques in data-driven building load forecasting. This article provides a framework to conduct a comprehensive comparison among thirteen DWT/EMD techniques with various parameters in a load forecasting modeling task. A real campus building is used as a case study for illustration. The DWT and EMD techniques are also compared under various data-driven modeling algorithms for building load forecasting. The results in the case study show that the load forecasting models trained with noise-cancelled energy data have increased their accuracy to 9.6% on average tested under unseen data. This study also shows that the effectiveness of DWT/EMD techniques depends on the data-driven algorithms used for load forecasting modeling and the training data. Hence, DWT/EMD-based noise cancellation needs customized selection and tuning to optimize their performance for data-driven building load forecasting modeling.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

ARPA-E PERFORM datasets

Time-coincident load, wind, and solar data including actual and probabilistic forecast datasets at 5-min resolution for ERCOT, MISO, NYISO, and SPP. Wind and solar profiles are supplied for existing sites as well as planned sites based on interconnection queue projects as of 2021. For ERCOT actuals are provided for 2017 and 2018 and forecasts for 2018, and for the remaining ISOs actuals are provided for 2018 and 2019 and forecasts for 2019. There datasets were produced by NREL as part of the ARPA-E PERFORM project, an ARPA-E funded program that aim to use time-coincident power and load seeks to develop innovative management systems that represent the relative delivery risk of each asset and balance the collective risk of all assets across the grid. For more information on the datasets and methods used to generate them see https://github.com/PERFORM-Forecasts/documentation.

5-min data↗

Day-ahead photovoltaic power production forecasting methodology based on machine learning and statistical post-processing

A main challenge towards ensuring large-scale and seamless integration of photovoltaic systems is to improve the accuracy of energy yield forecasts, especially in grid areas of high photovoltaic shares. The scope of this paper is to address this issue by presenting a unified methodology for hourly-averaged day-ahead photovoltaic power forecasts with improved accuracy, based on data-driven machine learning techniques and statistical post-processing. More specifically, the proposed forecasting methodology framework comprised of a data quality stage, data-driven power output machine learning model development (artificial neural networks), weather clustering assessment (K-means clustering), post-processing output optimisation (linear regressive correction method) and the final performance accuracy evaluation. The results showed that the application of linear regression coefficients to the forecasted outputs of the developed day-ahead photovoltaic power production neural network improved the performance accuracy by further correcting solar irradiance forecasting biases. The resulting optimised model provided a mean absolute percentage error of 4.7% when applied to historical system datasets. Finally, the model was validated both, at a hot as well as a cold semi-arid climatic location, and the obtained results demonstrated close agreement by yielding forecasting accuracies of mean absolute percentage error of 4.7% and 6.3%, respectively. Finally, the validation analysis provides evidence that the proposed model exhibits high performance in both forecasting accuracy and stability.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Preliminary Results for Retrievals Using GFS Forecast as First Guess

Four days of retrievals in different years were performed using both a Neural Network first guess and also using the GFS forecast temperature profile, water vapor profile, and surface temperature as the first guess.Yield and temperature and water profile plots for days early and late in the AIRS mission follow.Yield is higher near the surface for forecast based retrievals.Statistical comparisons show that forecast based retrieval temperature RMS differences from ECMWF are smaller than those of the Neural Net based system. AIRS retrievals improve over the Neural Net but degrade the forecast.Statistical comparisons with ECMWF show that the bias structure of the forecast guess retrievals varies with time during the AIRS mission much more than those of the Neural Network based retrievals for both temperature and water vapor profiles.

Susskind, Joel↗

Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) Quarterly Report - Fourth Quarter FY-10

Three AMU tasks were completed in this Quarter, each resulting in a forecast tool now being used in operations and a final report documenting how the work was done. AMU personnel completed the following tasks (1) Phase II of the Peak Wind Tool for General Forecasting task by delivering an improved wind forecasting tool to operations and providing training on its use; (2) a graphical user interface (GUI) she updated with new scripts to complete the ADAS Update and Maintainability task, and delivered the scripts to the Spaceflight Meteorology Group on Johnson Space Center, Texas and National Weather Service in Melbourne, Fla.; and (3) the Verify MesoNAM Performance task after we created and delivered a GUI that forecasters will use to determine the performance of the operational MesoNAM weather model forecast.

Bauman, William↗

A Neural Optimizer With Decision-Focused Learning for Optimal Energy Storage Operation

Here, this article introduces a neural optimizer-based framework for optimizing battery energy storage system (BESS) control for grid services, including demand charge and energy cost reduction. By leveraging decision-focused learning (DFL), the proposed framework ensures seamless integration and adaptation, significantly enhancing control performance. A patch time-series transformer is employed for peak load forecasting, incorporating aleatoric uncertainty quantification to account for forecasting uncertainties within the decision-making process. The framework utilizes a solver-in-the-loop approach to generate optimal BESS actions, which are then used to train the neural optimizer-based agent. By co-optimizing both BESS operational modes and output power within the NN, the system achieves improved performance and robustness. After initial training, the forecasting and control models are jointly fine-tuned to account for forecasting errors, further improving decision precision and efficiency through DFL. Case studies are performed to validate the performance of the framework using multiple real-world datasets, demonstrating superior performance in monthly peak load forecasting compared to state-of-the-art models. In addition, the results are compared against existing decision-making approaches. The results demonstrate a reduction in monthly peak forecasting error by approximately 15% across various performance measures and achieve an optimization gap for BESS operation that is about three times smaller compared to existing methods.

Kim, Hyeonjin [Pacific Northwest National Laborato↗

Evaluation of Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) precipitation forecast from the North American Multi-Model ensemble phase II (NMME-2) over the contiguous U.S.

The second phase of the North America Multi-Model Ensemble (NMME-2) provides globally available Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) precipitation forecasts with a daily resolution. The S2S precipitation forecasts are getting increasing attention for their potentials in providing hydrometeorological forcing information for water resources planning at an extended range. However, the forecast skills of many existing S2S forecast products will significantly decrease when the lead time increases, hindering their applicability for watershed-scale hydrologic modeling. Therefore, forecast validation and large-scale evaluation are of great importance for water resources planning and hydrological applications. In this study, we comprehensively evaluate the S2S precipitation forecasts from the NMME-2 dataset over the contiguous United States (CONUS) and during the study period from 1982 to 2011. Three aspects of precipitation forecast capabilities are compared and analyzed: bias, skill scores, and the ability to predict extreme precipitation events. The Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) is used as ground truth reference. Differs from other regional forecast validation study, we further examined and analyzed the dependences of NMME-2 precipitation forecast skills according to different seasonality, geographical locations, and lead times. Results show that the forecast biases are not sensitive to lead times but are seasonally dependent of all NMME-2 models. Overestimations are found in the Western U.S. in cooler seasons while underestimations are observed in the central regions of the U.S. in warmer seasons. The forecast skill of all individual NMME-2 models generally decreases as increases of lead times. The simple model averaging (SMA) of five NMME-2 models demonstrates a higher forecast skill than any individual NMME-2 models. Spatially, the highest forecast skill scores are observed at coastal areas in the Western U.S. with an one-week lead time. As compared to the historical resampled forecasts, NMME-2 also shows better performance in predicting extreme precipitation events above 99% percentiles and below 1% percentiles with higher probability of detections and lower false alarm ratios. Finally, the obtained results suggest the great potentials of NMME-2 precipitation forecasts in assisting ensemble hydrologic forecasts at the S2S scale over the CONUS.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

AI for Extreme Volcanic Climate Forcing and Feedback Forecasting in the 21st century

Focal Areas: Our paradigm-shifting framework will apply machine learning and perform physical analysis of contemporary volcanoes to develop sound forecasts of extreme eruptions in the 21st century and their abrupt drying and cooling impacts on the warming climate. We will also bridge climate data driven regression models and earth system model output to trace teleconnections that exacerbate regional impacts such as Arctic amplification and western US droughts.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Weather related continuity and completeness on Deep Space Ka-band links: statistics and forecasting

In this paper the concept of link 'stability' as means of measuring the continuity of the link is introduced and through it, along with the distributions of 'good' periods and 'bad' periods, the performance of the proposed Ka-band link design method using both forecasting and long-term statistics has been analyzed. The results indicate that the proposed link design method has relatively good continuity and completeness characteristics even when only long-term statistics are used and that the continuity performance further improves when forecasting is employed. .

weather forcasting↗

NGHT-1X Pole Cover Erosion Measurements on Xenon and Krypton

Northrop Grumman’s NGHT-1X Hall thruster has completed the Engineering Model development phase and is progressing towards qualification and flight unit build and test. First flight of the NGHT-1X will occur in 2025 on Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Pod spacecraft. The NGHT-1X is a state of the art 1 kW-class Hall thruster which implements magnetic shielding to increase thruster lifetime by reducing discharge channel wall erosion. As a result, like other magnetically shielded Hall thrusters, the NGHT-1X exhibits erosion of the front-facing pole covers, which is the primary life-limiting failure mode of the thruster. During the development of the NGHT-1X, several Short Duration Wear Tests were performed to characterize erosion rates and forecast compliance to lifetime requirements in advance of the ongoing full-life Long Duration Wear Test. Erosion rate measurements from four tests at different operating conditions are presented and comparisons made between tests. Two tests were performed in the same background pressure environment at 700 W 300 V and 900 W 350 V throttle conditions, both using xenon propellant. A third test was performed again at 900 W 350 V with xenon propellant, but at a lower background pressure. Lastly, to assess the viability of potential future applications with alternate propellants, a wear test was conducted using krypton propellant at 900 W 250 V, the results of which are presented here. The erosion measurements from each test are compared with one another, and insights are discussed. All xenon wear tests support a thruster lifetime capability in excess of 16,000 hours, or 3.3 MNs at 900 W 350 V, which supports the Mission Extension Pod mission with margin as well as many other potential applications on small- to medium-sized spacecraft.

Hall↗

Evaluation of the 29-km Eta Model: Objective Verification at Three Selected Stations - Part 1

This paper describes an objective verification of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) 29-km eta model from May 1996 through January 1998. The evaluation was designed to assess the model's surface and upper-air point forecast accuracy at three selected locations during separate warm (May - August) and cool (October - January) season periods. In order to enhance sample sizes available for statistical calculations, the objective verification includes two consecutive warm and cool season periods. Systematic model deficiencies comprise the larger portion of the total error in most of the surface forecast variables that were evaluated. The error characteristics for both surface and upper-air forecasts vary widely by parameter, season, and station location. At upper levels, a few characteristic biases are identified. Overall however, the upper-level errors are more nonsystematic in nature and could be explained partly by observational measurement uncertainty. With a few exceptions, the upper-air results also indicate that 24-h model error growth is not statistically significant. In February and August 1997, NCEP implemented upgrades to the eta model's physical parameterizations that were designed to change some of the model's error characteristics near the surface. The results shown in this paper indicate that these upgrades led to identifiable and statistically significant changes in forecast accuracy for selected surface parameters. While some of the changes were expected, others were not consistent with the intent of the model updates and further emphasize the need for ongoing sensitivity studies and localized statistical verification efforts. Objective verification of point forecasts is a stringent measure of model performance, but when used alone, is not enough to quantify the overall value that model guidance may add to the forecast process. Therefore, results from a subjective verification of the meso-eta model over the Florida peninsula are discussed in the companion paper by Manobianco and Nutter. Overall verification results presented here and in part two should establish a reasonable benchmark from which model users and developers may pursue the ongoing eta model verification strategies in the future.

Nutter, Paul A.↗

Benchmark probabilistic solar forecasts: Characteristics and recommendations

We illustrate and compare commonly used benchmark, or reference, methods for probabilistic solar forecasting that researchers use to measure the performance of their proposed techniques. A thorough review of the literature indicates wide variation in the benchmarks implemented in probabilistic solar forecast studies. To promote consistent and sensible methodological comparisons, we implement and compare ten variants from six common benchmark classes at two temporal scales: intra-hourly forecasts and hourly resolution forecasts. Using open-source Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD) data from 2018, these benchmark methods are compared using proper probabilistic metrics and common diagnostic tools. Practical implementation issues, such as the impact of missing data and applicability for operational forecasting, are also discussed. Furthermore, we make recommendations for practitioners on the appropriate selection of benchmark methods to properly showcase state-of-the-art improvements in forecast reliability and sharpness. All code and open-source data are available on Github for reproducibility and for other researchers to apply the same benchmark methods to their own data.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

The EGS Collab Project – Stimulations at Two Depths

The EGS Collab project, supported by the US Department of Energy, is performing intensively monitored rock stimulation and flow tests at the 10-m scale in an underground research laboratory to address challenges in implementing enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). Data and observations from the field tests are compared to simulations to understand processes and build confidence in numerical modeling of the processes. We have completed Experiment 1 (of 3), which examined hydraulic fracturing in a well-characterized underground fractured phyllite test bed at a depth of approximately 1.5 km at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota. Testbed characterization included fracture mapping, borehole acoustic and optical televiewers, full waveform sonic, conductivity, resistivity, temperature, campaign p- and s-wave investigations and electrical resistance tomography. Borehole geophysical techniques including passive seismic, continuous active source seismic monitoring, electrical resistance tomography, fiber-based distributed strain, distributed temperature, and distributed acoustic monitoring, were used to carefully monitor stimulation events and flow tests. More than a dozen stimulations and nearly one year of flow tests were performed. Quality data and detailed observations were collected and analyzed during stimulation and water flow tests using ambient temperature and chilled water. We achieved adaptive control of the tests using real-time monitoring and rapid dissemination of data and near-real-time simulation. More detailed numerical simulation was performed to answer key experimental design questions, forecast fracture propagation trajectories and extents, and analyze and evaluate results. Data are freely available from the Geothermal Data Repository. Experiment 2 examines the potential for hydraulic shearing in amphibolite at a depth of about 1.25 km at SURF. This site has a different set of stress and fracture conditions than Experiment 1. The Experiment 2 testbed consists of nine subhorizontal boreholes configured in two fans of two boreholes which surround the testbed and contain grouted-in electrical resistance tomography, seismic sensors, active seismic sources and distributed fiber sensors. A “five-spot” set of test wells that extends from a custom mined alcove includes an injection well and four production/monitoring wells. The testbed was characterized geophysically and hydrologically, and three stimulations have been performed using the Step-Rate Injection Method for Fracture In-Situ Properties (SIMFIP) tool to measure strains, and a new strain quantifying tool (downhole robotic strain analysis tool -DORSA) was deployed in a monitoring hole during stimulation. Real-time data were broadcast during stimulations to allow real-time response to arising issues.

EGS Collab, Enhanced Geothermal Systems, EGS, fiel↗

A Two-Level Model Predictive Control-Based Approach for Building Energy Management including Photovoltaics, Energy Storage, Solar Forecasting and Building Loads

This paper uses a two-level model predictive control-based approach for the coordinated control and energy management of an integrated system that includes photovoltaic (PV) generation, energy storage, and building loads. Novel features of the proposed local controller include (1) the ability to simultaneously manage building loads and energy storage to achieve different operational objectives such as energy efficiency, economic cost efficiency, demand response and grid optimization through the design of specific power trajectory tracking performance functionals, (2) an energy trim function that minimizes the impact of solar forecasting errors on system performance, and (3) the design of a state of charge controller that uses day-ahead forecast of solar power and building loads to intialize energy storage at the start of each day. The local controller is tested in simulation using an exemplary system with PV generation, energy storage and dispatchable building loads. Two sample days with different PV forecasts and multiple case scenarios are considered, and the performance of the algorithm in managing the real and reactive net building load trajectories and the ramp rate of PV injections into the utility network are evaluated. The simulations are based on actual forecasted and measured PV data, and the results show that the local controller meets the tracking requirements for real and reactive power within the operating constraints of the building.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Short-term solar radiation forecast using total sky imager via transfer learning

Ground-based sky cameras, which capture hemispherical images, have been extensively used for localized monitoring of clouds. This paper proposes a short-term forecasting approach based on transfer learning using Total Sky-Imager (TSI) images of the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site obtained from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) dataset. An accurate estimation of solar irradiance using TSI is key for short-term solar energy generation forecasting and optimal energy consumption planning. We make use of deep neural network architectures such as AlexNet and ResNet-101 to extract the underlying deep convolution features from TSI images and then train using an ensemble learning approach to model and forecast solar radiation. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach by showcasing the best and worst cases. Thus, the transfer learning approach significantly reduces the time and resources required for modeling solar radiation. We outperform with reference to another state-of-art technique for solar modeling using TSI images at different forecast lead times.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Synoptic scale forecast skill and systematic errors in the MASS 2.0 model

The synoptic scale performance characteristics of MASS 2.0 are determined by comparing filtered 12-24 hr model forecasts to same-case forecasts made by the National Meteorological Center's synoptic-scale Limited-area Fine Mesh model. Characteristics of the two systems are contrasted, and the analysis methodology used to determine statistical skill scores and systematic errors is described. The overall relative performance of the two models in the sample is documented, and important systematic errors uncovered are presented.

Koch, S. E.↗

Required Time of Arrival as a Control Mechanism to Mitigate Uncertainty in Arrival Traffic Demand Management

The objective of this study is to explore the use of Required Time of Arrival (RTA) capability on the flight deck as a control mechanism on arrival traffic management to improve traffic delivery accuracy by mitigating the effect of traffic demand uncertainty. The uncertainties are caused by various factors, such as departure error due to the difference between scheduled departure and the actual take-off time. A simulation study was conducted using the Multi Aircraft Control System (MACS) software, a comprehensive research platform developed in the Airspace Operations Laboratory (AOL) at NASA Ames Research Center. The Crossing Time (CT) performance (i.e. the difference between target crossing time and actual crossing time) of the RTA for uncertainty mitigation during cruise phase was evaluated under the influence of varying two main factors: wind severity (heavy wind vs. mild wind), and wind error (1 hour, 2 hours, and 5 hours wind forecast errors). To examine the CT performance improvement made by the RTA, the comparison to the CT of the aircraft that were not assigned with RTA (Non-RTA) under the influence of the selected factors was also made. The Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) was chosen for this study. A total 66 inbound traffic to the EWR (34 of them were airborne when the simulation was initiated, 32 were pre-departures at that time) was simulated, where the pre-scripted departure error was assigned to each pre-departure (61 conform to their Expected Departure Clearance Time, which is +-300 seconds of their scheduled departure time). The results of the study show that the delivery accuracy improvement can be achieved by assigning RTA, regardless of the influence of the selected two factors (the wind severity and the wind information inaccuracy). Across all wind variances, 66.9 (265 out of 396) of the CT performance of the RTA assigned aircraft was within +- 60 seconds (i.e. target tolerance range) and 88.9 (352 out of 396) aircraft met +-300 seconds marginal tolerance range, while only 33.6 (133 out of 396) of the Non-RTA assigned aircrafts CT performance achieved the target tolerance range and 75.5 (299 out of 396) stayed within the marginal. Examination of the impact of different error sources i.e. departure error, wind severity, and wind error suggest that although large departure errors can significantly impact the CT performance, the impacts of wind severity and errors were modest relative the targeted +- 60 second conformance range.

required time of arrival (RTA)↗