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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluating the Impact of Agricultural Soil NOx Emissions on Air Quality Using Advanced Satellite, Ground-based, and Model Data

Soil moisture can also influence the concentration of atmospheric trace gases by moderating the emission of nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) from agricultural fields. Human activities can play an important role in controlling the available soil moisture depending on irrigation demand and agricultural management. To further complicate matters, nitrogen fertilizer use has also been found to be a significant source of NOx emissions in agricultural areas. In fact, some of the highest emissions have been reported from fertilized soils in high-temperature agricultural regions, such as the Imperial Valley of California. Since NO2 is an important precursor to ozone formation in the troposphere, which is a leading cause of premature death in humans, it is critical to understand how natural and anthropogenic factors contribute to NOx emissions in these areas. O3 pollution is also a growing threat to global food security due to its detrimental impacts on crop production. This work uses a suite of satellite, ground-based, and model data to investigate how agricultural soil NOx emissions from natural (rainfall) and anthropogenic factors (irrigation, nitrogen fertilizer) govern air quality over California. We evaluate the capabilities of using SMAP retrievals and SMAP Land Information System (LIS) output for monitoring irrigation activities over the major agricultural areas of California by conducting intensive analyses of soil moisture and precipitation data. High-resolution trace gas observations from the new generation TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) sensor are used to characterize and monitor the variability of trace gases and air quality conditions associated with soil NOx emissions. We also synthesize satellite, ground-based, and agriculture data to estimate the separate contributions from rainfall, irrigation, and nitrogen fertilizer practices on soil NOx emissions and associated air quality conditions. Finally, unprecedented hourly trace gas retrievals from the NASA Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) geostationary satellite sensor are used to monitor the diurnal evolution of NO2 and O3 concentrations from soil NOx emissions.

Aaron R Naeger↗
DOE OSTI2024

Determining Unabated Airborne Radionuclide Emissions Monitoring Requirements Using Inventory-Based Methods

Compliance with the airborne radionuclide emission monitoring requirements in the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP; Title 40 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 61, Subpart H) and State requirements in Washington Administrative Code 246–247: Radiation Protection – Air Emissions and 173-480: Ambient Air Quality Standards and Emission Limits for Radionuclides were evaluated for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) operations. Additional guidance may be found in the U.S. Department of Energy Handbook, Environmental Radiological Effluent Monitoring and Environmental Surveillance. To meet regulatory requirements, reviews of planned or proposed projects and activities provide the basis for implementing necessary monitoring adjustments or for implementing changes to projects and activities in a timely manner. Potential unabated off-site doses were evaluated for emission locations managed by PNNL and licensed to the Department of Energy. These locations were at facilities in Richland, Washington (i.e., the Hanford Site and PNNL–Richland campus) and in Sequim, Washington, (PNNL–Sequim campus). This report describes the inventory-based methods and provides the results for the NESHAP assessment performed in January 2024 for calendar year ending 2023.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗
DOE OSTI2025

EMP - Environmental Radiological Air Monitoring Plan: PNNL Operations in Washington

The Environmental Radiological Air Monitoring Plan (EMP) for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) describes systems/processes/practices related to radiological operations in Richland and Sequim, Washington, that are associated with environmental radiological air monitoring and surveillance activities. The activities described support the lab’s responsibility to maintain safe operations and minimize negative impacts to both onsite and offsite persons and environment. Dose assessments required by regulations and DOE Orders for the public and biota are described. PNNL conducts environmental air surveillance monitoring as part of the PNNL Site Radioactive Air Emissions License (RAEL)-005 for Richland Campus, issued in 2010 with its most recent renewal effective in January 2021. The radioactive air emissions license for the PNNL-Sequim campus (RAEL-014) was issued to the U.S. Department of Energy in 2012 with its most recent renewal effective in January 2023. The EMP is a compilation of the following four documents: - Environmental Radiological Air Monitoring Plan (this main document) (PNNL-20919) - Sampling and Analysis Plan (Attachment 1) (PNNL-20919-1) - Data Management Plan (Attachment 2) (PNNL-20919-2) - Dose Assessment Guidance (Attachment 3) (PNNL-20919-3).

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗
DOE OSTI2024

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Facility Radionuclide Emission Points and Sampling Systems

Battelle–Pacific Northwest Division operates numerous research and development laboratories in Washington State. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contracts to Battelle at Richland facilities on both the DOE Hanford Site and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)-Richland campus. These facilities have the potential for radionuclide air emissions. The PNNL contract with DOE also includes operations at the PNNL-Sequim campus in Sequim, where there is also the potential for radionuclide air emissions. This document is a periodic update that describes current PNNL facility emission units and sampling systems.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

EMP, Attachment 2: Data Management Plan

This Data Management Plan (DMP) is an attachment to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Environmental Radiological Air Monitoring Plan (EMP). PNNL is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory. Radioactive effluent monitoring and environmental surveillance for PNNL operations in Washington State are the responsibility of the PNNL Environmental Protection and Regulatory Programs division and are conducted by the Environmental Radiation Task staff. This DMP describes the data management processes for PNNL radioactive air emissions (stack) monitoring and environmental radiological ambient air surveillance activities.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗
DOE OSTI2024

EMP, Attachment 1: Sampling and Analysis Plan (Rev.1)

This Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP) is written for the Environmental Radiation Task activities related to radioactive air emissions (stack) monitoring and environmental radiological ambient air surveillance of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) operations at the PNNL-Richland campus and PNNL-Sequim campus. PNNL is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory in Richland, Washington. This plan is an attachment to PNNL’s Environmental Radiological Air Monitoring Plan (EMP) (PNNL-20919) and addresses a discrete, vital subject area that is subject to revision independent of the main text of the EMP document. This SAP provides the requirements for planning sampling events and the requirements imposed on the services provided by the analytical laboratory to the PNNL Environmental Radiation Task.

40 CFR 61 Subpart H↗
NASA NTRS2019

Desert Dust, Industrialization and Agricultural Fires: Health Impacts of Outdoor Air Pollution in Africa

The African continent continuously experiences extreme aerosol load conditions, during which the World Health Organizational (WHO) clean air standard of 10 μgm(exp ‐3) of PM(2.5) mass is systematically exceeded. Africa holds the world largest source of desert dust emissions, undergoes strong industrial growth, and produces approximately a third of the Earth's biomass burning aerosol particles. Sub‐Saharan biomass burning is driven by agricultural practices, such as burning fields and bushes in the post‐harvest season for fertilization, land management and pest control. Thus, these emissions are predominantly anthropogenic. Here we use global atmospheric composition, climate, and health models to simulate the chemical composition of the atmosphere and calculate the mortality rates for Africa by distinguishing between purely natural, industrial/domestic and biomass burning emissions. Air quality related deaths in Africa rank within the top leading causes of death in Africa. Our results of ~780,000 premature deaths annually point to the extensive health impacts of natural emissions, high mortality rate caused by industrialization in Nigeria and South Africa, and to a smaller extent by fire emissions in Central and West Africa. 43,000 premature deaths in Africa are linked to biomass burning mainly driven by agriculture. Our results also show that natural sources, in particular windblown dust emissions, have large impacts on air quality and human health in Africa.

fires↗
NASA NTRS1972

Electric discharges in air - Near infrared emission spectrum.

The emission from glow discharges in flowing air has been investigated in the 1- to 5-micron wavelength region with a vacuum spectrometer. Most of the spectral features observed in the pressure range of .5 to 10 torr are identified, including atomic lines of OI, NI, and HI and molecular bands of N2, NO, N2O, CO2, and CO. The spectra are presented as a function of pressure and a table compiled of the atomic lines. Of particular interest are the contrasts between the emission of the air discharge and that of the pure gases, nitrogen and oxygen. In addition, the results of studies of several discharge modes, employing steady voltages and pulsed, provide data on details of the energy flow within the plasma.

Benesch, W. M.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Extreme Smog Challenge of India Intensified by Increasing Lower Tropospheric Stability

Extreme smog in India widely impacts air quality in late autumn and winter months. While the links between emissions, air quality and health impacts are well-recognized, the association of smog and its intensification with climatic trends in the lower troposphere, where aerosol pollution and its radiative effects manifest, are not understood well. Here we use long-term satellite data to show a significant increase in aerosol exceedances over northern India, resulting in sustained atmospheric warming and surface cooling trends over the last two decades. We find several lines of evidence suggesting these aerosol radiative effects have induced a multidecadal (1980–2019) strengthening of lower tropospheric stability and increase in relative humidity, leading to over fivefold increase in poor visibility days. Given this crucial aerosol-radiation-meteorological feedback driving the smog intensification, results from this study would help inform mitigation strategies supporting stronger region-wide measures, which are critical for solving the smog challenge in India.

Smog, Lower tropospheric stability, India↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluation of Climate Fingerprinting Sounder Product (ClimFiSP) Air Temperature and H2O Trends

Climate fingerprinting Sounder Product (ClimFiSP) provides gridded (0.5x0.5) daily skin temperature, surface emissivity, air temperature, water vapor, trace gases, and cloud properties, which derived from IR hyper-spectral radiance measured by AIRS on Aqua and CrIS on SNPP and JPSS series. In this work, the ClimFiSP daily air temperature and H2O were retrieved on 98 pressure levels by applying the spectral fingerprint algorithm on 0.5x0.5 gridded daily mean radiances from Climate Hyperspectral Infrared Radiance Product (CHIRP). CHIRP is a stable climate-quality radiance time series spanning AIRS and CrIS. The air temperature and H2O monthly data and trends were calculated from the more than two decades long CHIRP AIRS data. Troposphere warming and stratosphere cooling can be seen in both ClimFiSP and ERA5 air temperature data. The ClimFiSP air temperature trends are also compared with the MW sounding air temperature trends to validate the ClimFiSP air temperature results. The H2O trends on upper troposphere are evaluated by comparing with the ERA5 H2O trends, and results show a reasonable agreement with two sets of results. The ClimFiSP algorithm provides a unique and fast way to retrieve the spatial-temporal change in climate variables from the corresponding change in radiances, gridded at the same spatial-temporal scale. This greatly facilitates the procession of long-term climate data records.

ClimFiSP↗
DOE OSTI2025

Long‐Term Impacts of Global Solid Biofuel Emissions on Ambient Air Quality and Human Health for 2000–2019

Globally, solid biofuels (SB) have been widely used for household cooking and energy production for decades due to electricity shortages and socio-economic barriers to adopting renewable energy alternatives. This has detrimental effects on air quality, human health, and climate through trace gas and aerosol emissions. Despite numerous studies, the long-term consequences of SB emissions remain poorly understood. Here, we use the Community Earth System Model and the Community Emissions Data System emission inventory to investigate the SB emission impacts on air quality and human health for 2000–2019. Global SB emission increased the ambient PM 2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters ≤2.5 μm) and ozone (O 3 ) concentrations up to 23.61 μg/m 3 and 13.69 ppbv, with significant effects found in India, China, and the Rest of Asia (ROA). Our study estimates total annual premature deaths (APDs) associated with global SB-attributable PM 2.5 and O 3 exposure as 1.11 million [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.00–1.22 million] in 2000 up to 1.43 million (95% CI: 1.30–1.56 million) in 2019. China's SB emissions and associated APDs have reduced substantially, whereas India and ROA had a major leap in both estimates in 2019 compared to 2000. China's progress in cutting residential SB emissions accounts for its improvements. Our study urges the reduction of SB usage and emissions to potentially improve overall air quality and human health conditions, especially in highly populated, low- and middle-income countries, where the poor air quality and associated health burden attributable to SB emissions are estimated to be higher.

O 3↗
NASA NTRS2003

Cost Effective Measures to Reduce CO2 Emissions in the Air Freight Sector

This paper presents cost effective measures to reduce CO2 emissions in the air freight sector. One door-to-door transport chain is studied in detail from a Scandinavian city to a city in southern Europe. The transport chain was selected by a group of representatives from the air freight sector in order to encompass general characteristics within the sector. Three different ways of shipping air cargo are studied, i.e., by air freighter, as belly freight (in passenger aircrafts) and trucking. CO2 emissions are calculated for each part of the transport chain and its relative importance towards the total amount CO2 emitted during the whole transport chain is shown. It is confirmed that the most CO2 emitting part of the transport chain is the actual flight and that it is in the take-off and climbing phases that most fuel are burned. It is also known that the technical development of aircraft implies a reduction in fuel consumption for each new generation of aircraft. Thus, the aircraft manufacturers have an important role in this development. Having confirmed these observations, this paper focuses on other factors that significantly affects the fuel consumption. Analyzed factors are, e.g., optimization of speed and altitude, traffic management, congestion on and around the airfields, tankering, "latest acceptance time" for goods and improving the load factor. The different factors relative contribution to the total emission levels for the transport chain has been estimated.

Blinge, Magnus↗
DOE OSTI2026

Mechanistic Modeling of TEG Dehydrator Emissions in Oil and Gas Industry

This work presents a mechanistic modeling approach for simulating methane emissions from triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydrators used in oil & gas (O&G) operations. The model was developed as a modular component of the Mechanistic Air Emissions Simulator (MAES) tool, incorporating species-specific absorption and emission dynamics through two-level, second-order polynomial regression (PR) models trained on ProMax simulation data: (1) species-level regression models that track the transfer rates of individual gas species within the dehydrator unit streams, and (2) outlet flow stream regression models that predict the fraction of inlet gas distributed among the outlet streams of the dehydrator unit. These behaviors were characterized over a range of glycol circulation ratios, wet gas pressures, and temperatures. The model was validated using root mean square error (RMSE) analysis. The species-level PR achieved low root mean square error (RMSE) values (<0.03) for light hydrocarbon species across all dehydrator components, ranging from 0.0009 for methane to 0.029 for normal pentane. Similarly, the outlet-level PR yielded RMSE values below 0.002 for the dry gas fraction, 0.001 for the flash tank fraction, and 0.002 for the still vent fraction, demonstrating strong agreement between predicted and reference ProMax values. When deployed at field facilities, the model significantly improved MAES-simulated dehydrator emissions, revealing that gas-assisted glycol pump emissions are the dominant contributors to both dehydrator-level and site-level methane emissions under uncontrolled conditions. Further analysis of the 154 dehydrator units reported by operators under the AMI 2024 project showed that 54 units (31%) used gas-driven glycol pumps, of which 6 units (11%) operated with uncontrolled flash tanks, and 22 units (40.7%) were identified as potentially oversized. Of the six dehydrator units with uncontrolled gas-assisted pumps, pump emissions accounted for 90.25% of total dehydrator emissions and 63.10% of total site-level emissions. These findings highlight substantial opportunities for emissions mitigation through equipment upgrades.

MAES↗
NASA NTRS2005

Reduction of Flap Side Edge Noise - the Blowing Flap

A technique to reduce the noise radiating from a wing-flap side edge is being developed. As an airplane wing with an extended flap is exposed to a subsonic airflow, air is blown outward through thin rectangular chord-wise slots at various locations along the side edges and side surface of the flap to weaken and push away the vortices that originate in that region of the flap and are responsible for important noise emissions. Air is blown through the slots at up to twice the local flow velocity. The blowing is done using one or multiple slots, where a slot is located along the top, bottom or side surface of the flap along the side edge, or also along the intersection of the bottom (or top) and side surfaces.

Hutcheson, Florence V.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Improved Surface and Tropospheric Temperatures Determined Using Only Shortwave Channels: The AIRS Science Team Version-6 Retrieval Algorithm

The Goddard DISC has generated products derived from AIRS/AMSU-A observations, starting from September 2002 when the AIRS instrument became stable, using the AIRS Science Team Version-5 retrieval algorithm. The AIRS Science Team Version-6 retrieval algorithm will be finalized in September 2011. This paper describes some of the significant improvements contained in the Version-6 retrieval algorithm, compared to that used in Version-5, with an emphasis on the improvement of atmospheric temperature profiles, ocean and land surface skin temperatures, and ocean and land surface spectral emissivities. AIRS contains 2378 spectral channels covering portions of the spectral region 650 cm(sup -1) (15.38 micrometers) - 2665 cm(sup -1) (3.752 micrometers). These spectral regions contain significant absorption features from two CO2 absorption bands, the 15 micrometers (longwave) CO2 band, and the 4.3 micrometers (shortwave) CO2 absorption band. There are also two atmospheric window regions, the 12 micrometer - 8 micrometer (longwave) window, and the 4.17 micrometer - 3.75 micrometer (shortwave) window. Historically, determination of surface and atmospheric temperatures from satellite observations was performed using primarily observations in the longwave window and CO2 absorption regions. According to cloud clearing theory, more accurate soundings of both surface skin and atmospheric temperatures can be obtained under partial cloud cover conditions if one uses observations in longwave channels to determine coefficients which generate cloud cleared radiances R(sup ^)(sub i) for all channels, and uses R(sup ^)(sub i) only from shortwave channels in the determination of surface and atmospheric temperatures. This procedure is now being used in the AIRS Version-6 Retrieval Algorithm. Results are presented for both daytime and nighttime conditions showing improved Version-6 surface and atmospheric soundings under partial cloud cover.

Susskind, Joel↗