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At least 361 records · Page 20
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NASA NTRS2022

Assimilation of NASA's Airborne Snow Observatory Snow Measurements for Improved Hydrological Modeling: A Case Study Enabled by the Coupled LIS/WRF-Hydro System

The NASA LIS/WRF-Hydro system is a coupled modeling framework that combines the modeling and data assimilation (DA) capabilities of the NASA Land Information System (LIS) with the multi-scale surface hydrological modeling capabilities of the WRF-Hydro model, both of which are widely used in both operations and research. This coupled modeling framework builds on the linkage between land surface models (LSMs), which simulate surface boundary conditions in atmospheric models, and distributed hydrologic models, which simulate horizontal surface and sub-surface flow, adding new land DA capabilities. In the present study, we employ this modeling framework in the Tuolumne River basin in central California. We demonstrate the added value of the assimilation of NASA Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) snow water equivalent (SWE) estimates in the Tuolumne basin. This analysis is performed in both LIS as an LSM column model and LIS/WRF-Hydro, with hydrologic routing. Results demonstrate that ASO DA in the basin reduced snow bias by as much as 30% from an open-loop (OL) simulation compared to three independent datasets. It also reduces downstream streamflow runoff biases by as much as 40%, and improves streamflow skill scores in both wet and dry years. Analysis of soil moisture and evapotranspiration (ET) also reveals the impacts of hydrologic routing from WRF-Hydro in the simulations, which would otherwise not be resolved in an LSM column model. By demonstrating the beneficial impact of SWE DA on the improving streamflow forecasts, the article outlines the importance of such observational inputs for reservoir operations and related water management applications.

Timothy M. Lahmers↗
NASA NTRS2022

SMAP Soil Moisture Assimilation To Enhance Streamflow Estimates Across South Asia

Streamflow estimation across areas facing water scarcity is important considering the evolving climatic conditions. In this study, the impact of assimilating Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) soil moisture retrievals on the modeled streamflow across three main river basins in South Asia is explored. Model estimated runoff was hydraulically routed using the HYMAP routing model within the NASA Land Information System (LIS) framework. Streamflow estimates via soil moisture assimilation highlighted the potential improvements in streamflow across low-flow river tributaries in irrigated regions. Limited relative change was noted along high-flow river tributaries. Modeled streamflow tended to underestimate the flow magnitude at upstream stations and overestimated the streamflow at downstream stations within the Indus basin due to missing physics related to reservoir operation. Improvement of the modeling systems representativeness of the ground conditions by the inclusion of water management information would potentially improve the current streamflow modeling capability across South Asia.

Jawairia Ahmad↗
NASA NTRS2022

Evaluation of IMERG Satellite Precipitation Over the Land-Coast-Ocean Continuum – Part Ii: Quantification

To understand and manage water systems under a changing climate and meet an increasing demand for water, a quantitative understanding of precipitation is most important in coastal regions. The capabilities of the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG) V06B product for precipitation quantification are examined over three coastal regions of the United States: the West Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the East Coast, all of which are characterized by different topographies and precipitation climatologies. A novel uncertainty analysis of IMERG is proposed that considers environmental and physical parameters such as elevation and distance to the coastline. The IMERG performance is traced back to its components, i.e., passive microwave (PMW), infrared (IR), and morphing-based estimates. The analysis is performed using high-resolution, high-quality Ground Validation Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor (GV-MRMS) rainfall estimates as ground reference at the native resolution of IMERG of 30 min and 0.1°. IMERG Final (IM-F) quantification performance heavily depends on the respective contribution of PMW, IR, and morph components. IM-F and its components overestimate the contribution of light rainfall (<1 mm h−1) and underestimate the contribution of high rainfall rates (>10 mm h−1) to the total rainfall volume. Strong regional dependencies are highlighted, especially over the West Coast, where the proximity of complex terrain to the coastline challenges precipitation estimates. Other major drivers are the distance from the coastline, elevation, and precipitation types, especially over the land and coast surface types, that highlight the impact of precipitation regimes.

Atmosphere↗
NASA NTRS2023

Drought and Deluge: the Recurrence of Hydroclimate Extremes During the Past 600 Years in Eastern Australia’s Natural Resource Management (NRM) Clusters

Recent extremes of flood and drought across Australia have raised questions about the recurrence of such rare events and highlighted the importance of understanding multi-decadal climate variability. However, instrumental records over the past century are too short to adequately characterise climate variability on multi-decadal and longer timescales or robustly determine extreme event frequencies and their duration. Palaeoclimate reconstructions can provide much-needed information to help address this problem. Here, we use the 600-year hydroclimate record captured in the eastern Australian and New Zealand Drought Atlas (ANZDA) to analyse drought and pluvial frequency trends for East Australian Natural Resource Management (NRM) clusters. This partitioning of the drought atlas grid points into recognised biophysical areas (i.e. NRM clusters) revealed their differences and similarities in drought intensity and pluvial events over time. We find sustained multi-decadal periods of a wet–dry geographic 'seesaw' between eastern to central and southern NRMs (e.g. 1550–1600 CE and 1700–1750 CE). In contrast, other periods reveal spatially consistent wetting (e.g. 1500–1550 CE) or drying (e.g. 1750–1800 CE). Emerging hot spot analysis further shows that some areas that appear naturally buffered from severe drought during the instrumental period have a greater exposure risk when the longer 600-year record is considered. These findings are particularly relevant to management plans when dealing with the impacts of climate extremes developed at regional scales. Our results demonstrate that integrating and extending instrumental records with palaeoclimate datasets will become increasingly important for developing robust and locally specific extreme event frequency information for managing water resources.

Australian hydroclimate↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Demonstration of Fluid Dynamics for Plant Growing Systems in Varied Gravity Environments Through Scaled Capillary Models

The development of reliable and bioregenerative crop growth production systems is vital for human exploration into deep space. As humans prepare for space travel beyond LEO, scientists need to find a way to provide reliable and adequate water delivery for all stages of the plant's life cycle. Past production systems struggled with this and often led to overwatering in the system. To better understand this issue, NASA's Plant Water Management (PWM) experiments were able to model fluid flow through granular substrates, specifically a clay-based material arcilite, in 0-G. The PWM study can help researchers to predict fluid flow through the systems, however their model only works for an arcilite based system and was unable to account for different stages of plant growth. For future missions, payload requirements to support crop production system will need to be limited, leading to the use of in situ resources. This project aims to validate the PWM experiments as well as incorporate various materials into the design for growth systems. To meet these objectives, a series of terrestrial experiments will be deployed to mimic all gravities. By modifying the material, fluid, and size of the test subjects, the effect of Earth's gravity can be minimized. This project will aid researchers in the design of future crop production systems for surface missions by creating a refined model that can be used at all stages of plant growth and utilize in situ resources.

Plant Biology↗
NASA NTRS2024

Influence of SMAP Soil Moisture Retrieval Assimilation on Runoff Estimation Across South Asia

This study was designed to characterize and quantify the influence of surface soil moisture assimilation on estimated runoff (surface flow and baseflow) and hydraulically-routed streamflow across three large river basins in South Asia that are at risk of impending water stress. Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) surface soil moisture retrievals were assimilated into the Noah-MP land surface model. The gridded runoff was hydraulically routed to obtain volumetric streamflow values for a river network using a runoff routing module (Hydrological Modeling and Analysis Platform, HyMAP). The open loop (OL, model-only) and data assimilated (DA, includes soil moisture retrieval assimilation) Noah-MP runoff estimates highlighted the improvements in estimated total runoff across irrigated areas. Soil moisture assimilation impacted baseflow more relative to surface runoff. The HyMAP-based OL and DA streamflow generally underestimated the streamflow at upstream stations and overestimated the streamflow at downstream stations within the Indus basin due to missing physics related to reservoir operations. For stations located in the Ganges–Brahmaputra basins, the OL and DA estimation performance varied. The OL and DA results showed that the assimilation of soil moisture retrievals improves gridded runoff and volumetric streamflow across irrigated areas. Considerable relative change in streamflow (>70% increase in magnitude relative to OL) is noted after assimilation across the highly irrigated lower Indus basin and high precipitation regions in Bangladesh. Improving the modeling system’s representativeness of ground conditions via inclusion of water management information could improve large-scale streamflow modeling across South Asia.

soil moisture↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluating the Performance of GPM IMERG Products for Extreme Precipitation Estimation in Volta River Basin of Ghana

The Volta River basin in West Africa, covering a substantial area of Ghana, faces significant water management challenges due to highly variable rainfall and limited availability of high temporal resolution rain gauges. This study, developed under the 2024 Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission mentorship program, evaluates precipitation in the Volta River basin using high-resolution satellite-derived data from the Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). In the absence of sub-daily rainfall data, comparisons were made between daily, monthly, and seasonal precipitation from local gauges and IMERG V06 and V07 (early and final) runs. Results indicated a very weak correlation between daily precipitation estimates from IMERG and gauge data, but a significantly improved correlation for monthly and seasonal estimates. Additionally, IMERG data were used to identify heavy rainfall events and drought periods, which were compared to known occurrences in the region. By addressing these objectives, this study contributes to more accurate extreme precipitation estimation in the Volta River basin, thereby enhancing disaster risk management and climate resilience in Ghana.

Jessica Sutton↗
NASA NTRS1977

AOIPS water resources data management system

The text and computer-generated displays used to demonstrate the AOIPS (Atmospheric and Oceanographic Information Processing System) water resources data management system are investigated. The system was developed to assist hydrologists in analyzing the physical processes occurring in watersheds. It was designed to alleviate some of the problems encountered while investigating the complex interrelationships of variables such as land-cover type, topography, precipitation, snow melt, surface runoff, evapotranspiration, and streamflow rates. The system has an interactive image processing capability and a color video display to display results as they are obtained.

Vanwie, P.↗
NASA NTRS1976

AOIPS water resources data management system

A geocoded data management system applicable for hydrological applications was designed to demonstrate the utility of the Atmospheric and Oceanographic Information Processing System (AOIPS) for hydrological applications. Within that context, the geocoded hydrology data management system was designed to take advantage of the interactive capability of the AOIPS hardware. Portions of the Water Resource Data Management System which best demonstrate the interactive nature of the hydrology data management system were implemented on the AOIPS. A hydrological case study was prepared using all data supplied for the Bear River watershed located in northwest Utah, southeast Idaho, and western Wyoming.

Merritt, E. S.↗
NASA NTRS2007

International Space Station Atmosphere Control and Supply, Atmosphere Revitalization, and Water Recovery and Management Subsystem - Verification for Node 1

The International Space Station (ISS) Node 1 Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) System is comprised of five subsystems: Atmosphere Control and Supply (ACS), Atmosphere Revitalization (AR), Fire Detection and Suppression (FDS), Temperature and Humidity Control (THC), and Water Recovery and Management (WRM). This paper provides a summary of the nominal operation of the Node 1 ACS, AR, and WRM design and detailed Element Verification methodologies utilized during the Qualification phase for Node 1.

Williams, David E.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Evapotranspiration as a Regional Climate Priority: Results from a NASA/USDA Workshop

On April 5 to 7, 2011, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) sponsored a Workshop on Evapotranspiration (ET) in Silver Spring Maryland. The workshop was a response to a recommendation in the 2009-2011 GEO (Group on Earth Observations) Work Plan that a workshop on ET should be held to discuss issues related to ET products and services and the potential for incorporating ET activities into the 2012-2015 GEO Work Plan. The workshop had a regional emphasis, although there were several excellent international and global presentations including one on the GEWEX LANDFLUX project. The different scales of these activities suggests that a framework is needed that can accommodate both regional and global ET activities. Despite limitations with the workshop's scheduling, it attracted 76 experts who contributed informative presentations and insightful discussions. The goals of the workshop involved the exchange of information and ideas and the development of plans for providing more visibility for ET issues. Specific objectives included 1) defining the needs and requirements for evapotranspiration data in weather and climate studies, in natural and agro-ecoystem monitoring, and in water resource management; 2) reviewing the methods used to measure and model evapotranspiration; 3) assessing surface and satellite observation systems required to support ET measurement, modeling and evaluation; 4) assessing the feasibility of developing a proposal for a task on evapotranspiration for the 2012-2015 GEO Work Plan, and 5) exploring the level of support and consensus for developing a strategy for establishing evapotranspiration as an Essential Climate Variable (ECV) within the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) framework The workshop featured a combination of oral presentations and breakout group sessions focused on the above objectives. There were also poster presentations providing opportunities for one-on-one discussions of ET modeling and measurement techniques. Presentations by users of ET data set the tone for the workshop. In the USA at the national and regional levels water rights issues represent a major opportunity for ET applications. ET data play a major role in estimating water loss due to irrigation, the largest cause of consumptive water loss in the USA, particularly in the West. Irrigation requirements are relatively specific since the needs are clearly defined by the geometry and number of the irrigation systems and can be monitored with high resolution satellite data. There was a strong consensus that land surface temperature (LST) at high resolution is critical for monitoring irrigation. State governments have made commitments to more efficient water management in the western US, but they need full access to improved and more timely ET data and applications to implement this plan. Water managers also reported that in spite of the recent development of. new techniques, the procedures used in some of the water balance calculations in some states are out of date and do not take advantage of new observational and data assimilation systems. The development of ET forecasts for water management is also seen as a priority. Although ET forecasts are currently being produced on an experimental basis these predictions could be improved by considering ET as a dynamic prediction variable in models and by increasing the time resolution of these ET predictions.

Lawford, Richard↗
NASA NTRS2010

Lessons Learned from the Node 1 Atmosphere Control and Storage and Water Recovery and Management Subsystem Design

Node 1 flew to the International Space Station (ISS) on Flight 2A during December 1998. To date the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has learned a lot of lessons from this module based on its history of approximately two years of acceptance testing on the ground and currently its twelve years on-orbit. This paper will provide an overview of the ISS Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) design of the Node 1 Atmosphere Control and Storage (ACS) and Water Recovery and Management (WRM) subsystems and it will document some of the lessons that have been learned to date for these subsystems based on problems prelaunch, problems encountered on-orbit, and operational problems/concerns. It is hoped that documenting these lessons learned from ISS will help in preventing them in future Programs.

Williams, David E.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Lessons Learned from the Node 1 Atmosphere Control and Storage and Water Recovery and Management Subsystem Design

Node 1 flew to the International Space Station (ISS) on Flight 2A during December 1998. To date the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has learned a lot of lessons from this module based on its history of approximately two years of acceptance testing on the ground and currently its twelve years on-orbit. This paper will provide an overview of the ISS Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) design of the Node 1 Atmosphere Control and Storage (ACS) and Water Recovery and Management (WRM) subsystems and it will document some of the lessons that have been learned to date for these subsystems based on problems prelaunch, problems encountered on-orbit, and operational problems/concerns. It is hoped that documenting these lessons learned from ISS will help in preventing them in future Programs.

Williams, David E.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Trade study for water and waste management concepts. Task 7: Support special analysis

Cost analyses and tradeoff studies are given for waste management in the Space Station, Lunar Surface Bases, and interplanetary space missions. Crew drinking water requirements are discussed and various systems to recycle water are examined. The systems were evaluated for efficiency and weight savings. The systems considered effective for urine water recovery were vapor compression, flash evaporation, and air evaporation with electrolytic pretreatment. For wash water recovery, the system of multifiltration was selected. A wet oxidation system, which can process many kinds of wastes, is also considered.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2014

Peru Water Resources: Integrating NASA Earth Observations into Water Resource Planning and Management in Perus La Libertad Region

Developing countries often struggle with providing water security and sanitation services to their populations. An important aspect of improving security and sanitation is developing a comprehensive understanding of the country's water budget. Water For People, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing clean drinking water, is working with the Peruvian government to develop a water budget for the La Libertad region of Peru which includes the creation of an extensive watershed management plan. Currently, the data archive of the necessary variables to create the water management plan is extremely limited. Implementing NASA Earth observations has bolstered the dataset being used by Water For People, and the METRIC (Mapping EvapoTranspiration at High Resolution and Internalized Calibration) model has allowed for the estimation of the evapotranspiration values for the region. Landsat 8 imagery and the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor onboard Terra were used to derive the land cover information, and were used in conjunction with local weather data of Cascas from Peru's National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (SENAMHI). Python was used to combine input variables and METRIC model calculations to approximate the evapotranspiration values for the Ochape sub-basin of the Chicama River watershed. Once calculated, the evapotranspiration values and methodology were shared Water For People to help supplement their decision support tools in the La Libertad region of Peru and potentially apply the methodology in other areas of need.

Padgett-Vasquez, Steve↗
NASA NTRS2003

Demonstration of a Porous Tube Hydroponic System to Control Plant Moisture and Growth

Accurate remote detection of plant health indicators such as moisture, plant pigment concentrations, photosynthetic flux, and other biochemicals in canopies is a major goal in plant research. Influencing factors include complex interactions between wavelength dependent absorbing and scattering features from backgrounds as well as canopy biochemical and biophysical constituents. Accurately controlling these factors in outdoor field studies is difficult. Early testing of a porous tube plant culture system has indicated that plant biomass production, biomass partitioning, and leaf moisture of plants can be controlled by precisely managing the root water potential. Managing nutrient solution chemistry can also control plant pigments, biochemical concentrations, plant biomass production, and photosynthetic rates. A test bed was developed which utilized the porous tube technology with the intent of evaluating remote sensing systems, spectral analyses procedures, gas-exchange, and fluorescence measurements for their ability to detect small differences in plant water status. Spectral analysis was able to detect small differences in the mean leaf water content between the treatments. However these small differences were not detectable in the gas-exchange or fluorescence measurements.

Dreschel, T. W.↗