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At least 415 records · Page 23

Modeling the Worst-Case-Scenario of Soil Drydown for Agricultural Drought Monitoring in Kansas Using NASA Earth Observations and In-situ Parameters

Climatologists in Kansas have observed rapid shifts from wet to dry conditions and rapid intensification of drought conditions for the state in recent years. As a leading state in agricultural production, drought events can lead to decreased crop yields and impact the state’s economy. The exponential decay of soil moisture content is a major consequence of drought and can exacerbate these impacts on agricultural production. This study examined the rate of soil moisture drydown in Kansas to understand and monitor the worst-case-scenario of short-term soil water shortage. Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) L-band Radiometer rootzone soil moisture imagery from March 2015 to June 2019 was used to estimate the minimum and maximum soil moisture capacity throughout the state. In situ soil moisture parameters, such as the exponential decay constant, were approximated from the Kansas Mesonet system. These variables were inputs into an exponential decay model that forecasted gridded rootzone soil moisture in a scenario that assumed no precipitation for a user-identified period of time. The forecasts were output on the order of weeks to capture the rapid shifts in soil moisture content. Another model was used to identify areas in Kansas currently below a given percentage of the relative soil moisture saturation, measured as a function of minimum, maximum, and current soil moisture. This model forecasted the number of days until each cell in the soil moisture grid reached the input percentage of relative soil moisture saturation. The gridded model outputs and workflow were developed in partnership with the Kansas Water Office and Kansas Office of the State Climatologist at Kansas State University, as a part of their drought monitoring efforts.

NASA DEVELOP↗

Blind to Chemistry: Molecular Contaminant Films We Could Be Missing During Visual Inspections and the Potential Impact to System Performance

Throughout the assembly, integration and test process, molecular contamination levels of space mission hardware are monitored to meet system performance requirements. Qualitatively, reflective surfaces and witness mirrors are continuously inspected for the visible presence of molecular contaminant films. Quantitatively, periodic reflectance measurements of witness mirrors indicate changes of mirror reflectivity over time due to the accumulation of molecular contaminant films. However, both methods only consider the presence of a contaminant film and not the molecular composition. Additionally, there is a risk that hardware may appear to be “visibly clean” even with a molecular contaminant film present on critical surfaces. To address these issues, experiments were performed to quantify the maximum molecular contaminant film that could be missed in visual inspections on witness mirrors with five different contaminants present. The corresponding changes in mirror reflectivity were modeled using the program STACK to determine the impact to space mission hardware performance. The results of this study not only show the criticality in considering the chemical make-up of molecular contaminant films on system performance, but also the need to recognize and understand the limitations of traditional visual inspection techniques on detecting molecular contaminant films.

Seasly, Elaine↗

Impact of Water Withdrawals from Groundwater and Surface Water on Continental Water Storage Variations

Humans have strongly impacted the global water cycle, not only water flows but also water storage. We have performed a first global-scale analysis of the impact of water withdrawals on water storage variations, using the global water resources and use model WaterGAP. This required estimation of fractions of total water withdrawals from groundwater, considering five water use sectors. According to our assessment, the source of 35% of the water withdrawn worldwide (4300 cubic km/yr during 1998-2002) is groundwater. Groundwater contributes 42%, 36% and 27% of water used for irrigation, households and manufacturing, respectively, while we assume that only surface water is used for livestock and for cooling of thermal power plants. Consumptive water use was 1400 cubic km/yr during 1998-2002. It is the sum of the net abstraction of 250 cubic km/yr of groundwater (taking into account evapotranspiration and return flows of withdrawn surface water and groundwater) and the net abstraction of 1150 km3/yr of surface water. Computed net abstractions indicate, for the first time at the global scale, where and when human water withdrawals decrease or increase groundwater or surface water storage. In regions with extensive surface water irrigation, such as Southern China, net abstractions from groundwater are negative, i.e. groundwater is recharged by irrigation. The opposite is true for areas dominated by groundwater irrigation, such as in the High Plains aquifer of the central USA, where net abstraction of surface water is negative because return flow of withdrawn groundwater recharges the surface water compartments. In intensively irrigated areas, the amplitude of seasonal total water storage variations is generally increased due to human water use; however, in some areas, it is decreased. For the High Plains aquifer and the whole Mississippi basin, modeled groundwater and total water storage variations were compared with estimates of groundwater storage variations based on groundwater table observations, and with estimates of total water storage variations from the GRACE satellites mission. Due to the difficulty in estimating area-averaged seasonal groundwater storage variations from point observations of groundwater levels, it is uncertain whether WaterGAP underestimates actual variations or not. We conclude that WaterGAP possibly overestimates water withdrawals in the High Plains aquifer where impact of human water use on water storage is readily discernible based on WaterGAP calculations and groundwater observations. No final conclusion can be drawn regarding the possibility of monitoring water withdrawals in the High Plains aquifer using GRACE. For the less intensively irrigated Mississippi basin, observed and modeled seasonal groundwater storage reveals a discernible impact of water withdrawals in the basin, but this is not the case for total water storage such that water withdrawals at the scale of the whole Mississippi basin cannot be monitored by GRACE.

Doell, Petra↗

Assessment of Southern California environment from ERTS-1

ERTS-1 imagery is a useful source of data for evaluation of earth resources in Southern California. The improving quality of ERTS-1 imagery, and our increasing ability to enhance the imagery has resulted in studies of a variety of phenomena in several Southern California environments. These investigations have produced several significant results of varying detail. They include the detection and identification of macro-scale tectonic and vegetational patterns, as well as detailed analysis of urban and agricultural processes. The sequential nature of ERTS-1 imagery has allowed these studies to monitor significant changes in the environment. In addiation, some preliminary work has begun directed toward assessing the impact of expanding recreation, agriculture and urbanization into the fragile desert environment. Refinement of enhancement and mapping techniques and more intensive analysis of ERTS-1 imagery should lead to a greater capability to extract detailed information for more precise evaluations and more accurate monitoring of earth resources in Southern California.

Bowden, L. W.↗

Advancing Wildfire Monitoring with TEMPO and ML tools: Hourly Smoke and Fire‑Front Mapping and Near‑Surface NO₂ Predictions

Wildfires impose substantial impacts on communities and regions downwind of wildfire smoke. We present a TEMPO‑enabled workflow that generates value‑added Level‑3 smoke‑plume masks and fire‑front maps for large wildfires, such as 2024 Park Fire, using the self‑supervised deep learning system SIT‑FUSE, along with near‑surface NO₂ predictions produced by a foundation model (Microsoft Aurora). We conclude by outlining a roadmap for expanding these capabilities to additional Western U.S. wildfire events and for delivering actionable tools to stakeholders. This open-source, reproducible workflow provides a scalable framework for cross-agency wildfire monitoring to overcome traditional limitations in smoke-cloud discrimination and air-quality forecasting by incorporating TEMPO data and beyond.

Xiaohua Pan↗

The Effect of Acoustic Disturbances on the Operation of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Fuel Flowmeter

The Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) uses a turbine fuel flowmeter (FFM) in its Low Pressure Fuel Duct (LPFD) to measure liquid hydrogen flowrates during engine operation. The flowmeter is required to provide accurate and robust measurements of flow rates ranging from 10000 to 18000 GPM in an environment contaminated by duct vibration and duct internal acoustic disturbances. Errors exceeding 0.5% can have a significant impact on engine operation and mission completion. The accuracy of each sensor is monitored during hot-fire engine tests on the ground. Flow meters which do not meet requirements are not flown. Among other parameters, the device is screened for a specific behavior in which a small shift in the flow rate reading is registered during a period in which the actual fuel flow as measured by a facility meter does not change. Such behavior has been observed over the years for specific builds of the FFM and must be avoided or limited in magnitude in flight. Various analyses of the recorded data have been made prior to this report in an effort to understand the cause of the phenomenon; however, no conclusive cause for the shift in the instrument behavior has been found. The present report proposes an explanation of the phenomenon based on interactions between acoustic pressure disturbances in the duct and the wakes produced by the FFM flow straightener. Physical insight into the effects of acoustic plane wave disturbances was obtained using a simple analytical model. Based on that model, a series of three-dimensional unsteady viscous flow computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed using the MSFC PHANTOM turbomachinery code. The code was customized to allow the FFM rotor speed to change at every time step according to the instantaneous fluid forces on the rotor, that, in turn, are affected by acoustic plane pressure waves propagating through the device. The results of the simulations show the variation in the rotation rate of the flowmeter due to the interaction of the flow straightener wakes and the upstream propagating acoustic waves. A detailed analysis of the acoustic disturbance effects is presented along with an assessment of the impact on measurement accuracy.

Marcu, Bogdan↗

Impact of Lightning-NO Emissions on Summertime U.S. Photochemistry as Determined Using the CMAQ Model with NLDN-Constrained Flash Rates

Lightning-NO emissions are responsible for 15-30 ppbv enhancements in upper tropospheric ozone over the eastern United States during the summer time. Enhancements vary from year to year but were particularly large during the summer of 2006, a period during which meteorological conditions were particularly conducive to ozone formation. A lightning-NO parameterization has been developed that can be used with the CMAQ model. Lightning-NO emissions in this scheme are assumed to be proportional to convective precipitation rate and scaled so that monthly average flash rates in each grid box match National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) observed flash rates after adjusting for climatological intracloud to cloud-to-ground (IC/CG) ratios. The contribution of lightning-NO emissions to eastern United States NOx and ozone distributions during the summer of 2006 will be evaluated by comparing results of 12- km CMAQ simulations with and without lightning-NO emissions to measurements from the IONS field campaign and to satellite retrievals from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aboard the Aura satellite. Special attention will be paid to the impact of the assumed vertical distribution of emissions on upper tropospheric NOx and ozone amounts.

Allen, Dale↗

Thin-Film Embedded Sensors for Battery Health Monitoring

Hybrid or all-electric aircraft are being developed as the next generation of aircraft to both allow new forms of aviation and decrease environmental impact. Since these types of aircraft are based on high-capacity battery technology, safe operation of these batteries becomes increasingly important. In particular, the potential for battery failure due to uncontrolled chemical reactions resulting in thermal runaway, catastrophic failure, and battery fires must be addressed in order for such battery technology to have the level of safety needed for standard aviation implementation. Efforts to ensure battery safety often involve engineering solutions that seek to contain rather than prevent such events by early detection. Such approaches increase the system weight and decrease the power per unit mass provided by the battery system. Existing methods for measuring battery parameters to determine the battery state-of-health are limited. These methods include electrical measurements of the cell current and/or voltage output as well as temperature measurements taken externally on the cell surface. Such external temperature measurements are limited in their ability to provide early warning of impending battery failure. In response, an effort to develop sensors operating internal to battery for health monitoring has been ongoing in the NASA Sensor-based Prognostics to Avoid Runaway Reactions & Catastrophic Ignition (SPARRCI) project. The basic approach associated with this sensor work is the deposition of thin film sensors on the battery separator located between the anode and cathode of the battery. These thin film sensors are then monitored to determine changes in battery parameters and health. Microfabrication techniques are employed to minimize the overall impact of the sensors on battery operation through the implementation of sensors with minimal size, weight, and power consumption. The thickness of the films, which are fabricated through physical vapor deposition (sputtering), are on the order of thousands of angstroms and can have minimal surface area. Thin film sensors for system health management have been implemented for a many decades on complex components for aerospace applications. However, the application of thin films of this type on a battery separator for internal battery monitoring applications has not previously been demonstrated to our knowledge. This paper describes the development of sensors for the internal battery monitoring through the use of thin film sensor technology. Thin metal films were successfully deposited on a battery separator polymer material with good adherence and electrical continuity. Multiple types of sensors have been deposited, as well as lead connections from the sensor to the edge of the separator material. The ability of these thin film sensors immersed in electrolyte to perform multiple types of battery parameter measurements has been demonstrated. For example, a multiparameter sensor system measured multiple properties simultaneously inside of a pouch cell over a wide temperature range. Further, real time measurement of interior temperature changes in a battery pouch cell with an integrated interior temperature sensor was demonstrated. These changes include detecting a fault in the battery (shorting) in situ with rapid response time (less than a minute) corresponding to a more limited response by a temperature sensor mounted externally. Other aspects of monitoring battery health were also explored, such as real-time measurement of simulated dendrite growth/metal deposition by sensor on separator material demonstrated. Future efforts will include improvements in the durability of the sensor structure to allow introduction of the approach into standard battery fabrication techniques. Overall, this work is a step forward in providing a method to prevent catastrophic battery failures and provide a foundation for safer, lighter, and higher energy batteries for the electric aircraft industry.

thin film battery health↗

Analysis of STS-134 Hail Event at Pad 39A, March 30, 2011

During the late afternoon of March 30, 2011 at approximately 21:25 - 21:30 GMT, hail monitor stations at Pad 39A recorded rice to pea size hail. The duration of the event was approximately 5 minutes. The maximum size detected by the three hail monitors was 10 - 12 mm. The 12 mm marble size value was measured by the active impact sensor at site #2, which experienced high winds. This 12 mm measurement may be artificially higher by one or two mm due to the extra hail kinetic energy resulting from the extreme horizontal winds. High winds from the west produced a few notable long streak-like dents in the hail pads. High winds were also responsible for damage to facilities near hail monitor site #2 on the west side of pad A (a dumpster was overturned, and a picnic table roof was demolished). NWS radar volume scan (see Figure I) showed 60-65 dBZ reflectivity values in the lowest 4 scan elevations around and over the pad 39A area. Since the lowest 0.5 degree scan showed a definite 65 dBZ signature, it is unlikely that hail had an opportunity to melt before reaching the ground. Some of the larger passive hail pad dents were shallower than what would be expected from solid frozen ice hydrometeor dents. Therefore, it is possible that the larger pea size hail may have been softer than the smaller rice size hail. This would be consistent with some melting before reaching the ground.

Lane, John E.↗

Microbiological Monitoring for the Constellation Program: Current Requirements and Future Considerations

Microbiological requirements for spaceflight are based on assessments of infectious disease risk which could impact crew health or mission success. The determination of risk from infectious disease is composed of several factors including (1) crew susceptibility, (2) crew exposure to the infectious disease agent, (3) the concentration of the infectious agent, and (4) the characteristics of the infectious agent. As a result of the Health Stabilization Program, stringent monitoring, and cleaning protocols, in-flight environmental microbial monitoring is not necessary for short-duration spaceflights. However, risk factors change for long-duration missions, as exemplified by the presence of medically significant organisms in the environments of both the Mir and International Space Station (ISS). Based upon this historical evidence, requirements for short duration usage aboard the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and Lunar Lander Vehicle will not require in-flight monitoring; however, as mission duration increases with a Lunar Outpost, an ability to detect microbial hazard will be necessary. The nature of the detection requirements will depend on the maturity of technology in a rapidly evolving marketplace. Regardless, the hardware will still need to maximize information to discipline experts and the crew, while minimizing the size, mass, power consumption, and crew time usage. The refinement of these monitors will be a major goal in our efforts to travel successfully to Mars.

Ott, C. Mark↗

The Impact of Pixel Size on the Characterization of Deep Convective Clouds for Calibration

The NASA CERES project provides the scientific community the observed TOA SW and LW fluxes for climate monitoring and climate model validation. CERES utilizes hourly geostationary imager derived broadband fluxes, which rely on the channel radiances and associated cloud retrievals, are used to estimate the broadband fluxes between CERES observations. This requires stable and consistent cross-platform imager visible channel calibration. The CERES project utilizes deep convective clouds (DCC) as an invariant Earth target to both monitor the stability of sensors and for radiometric scaling. GSICS, an international collaboration, is also evaluating and implementing the DCC invariant target calibration methodology to provide consistent calibration coefficients across geostationary imagers anchored to the AquaMODIS or the NOAA-20 VIIRS calibration reference. Tropical DCC are the brightest, coldest, most Lambertian, top of the atmosphere Earth targets. The DCC invariant target calibration methodology relies on a large ensemble of tropical D CC-identified pixel-level reflectances, which are aggregated as probability density functions (PDF). By assuming the monthly PDF shape is otherwise consistent in time excepting shifts in reflectance caused by changes in the sensor calibration, the imager stability is monitored. Radiometric scaling is accomplished by ratioing the sensor pair DCC PDF reflectance values. The success of the DCC methodology relies on consistent PDF distributions. The goal of this study is to determine the impact of pixel resolution on the DCC reflectance distribution. Single SNPP-VIIRS 750-m and Landsat 8 OLI 30-m granules are aggregated to degrade the pixel resolution from the native level. The DCC pixels are identified using a BT threshold. Most of the brightest DCC pixels are also the coldest, although there are exceptions. It was found that increasing the BT threshold exponentially increased the number of darker pixels. The pixel resolution did not seem to impact the DCC reflectance PDF distribution for pixel resolutions less than 3 km, which suggests that imagers of varying pixel resolutions may be radiometrically scaled to each other using DCC targets.

DCC↗

Assessment of the use of space technology in the monitoring of oil spills and ocean pollution: Technical volume. Executive summary

The potential of space systems and technology for detecting and monitoring ocean oil spills and waste pollution was assessed as well as the impact of this application on communication and data handling systems. Agencies charged with responsibilities in this area were identified and their measurement requirements were ascertained in order to determine the spatial resolution needed to characterize operational and accidental discharges. Microwave and optical sensors and sensing techniques were evaluated as candidate system elements. Capabilities are described for the following: synthetic aperture radar, microwave scatterometer, passive microwave radiometer, microwave altimeter, electro-optical sensors currently used in airborne detection, existing space-based optical sensors, the thematic mapper, and the pointable optical linear array.

Alvarado, U. R.↗

Secondary electron emission from a charged dielectric in the presence of normal and oblique electric fields

The secondary electron emission coefficient was obtained for a FEP-Teflon dielectric charged with monoenergetic electrons normally incident upon the surface of the specimen. Measurements of secondary emission coefficient were done for normal and oblique incidence with different primary beam energies in the presence of normal and oblique electric fields. A collimated probing beam was directed to different points on the surface of the specimen and the released or accumulated charge was monitored using an electrometer. The measured data for different probing beam energies, different impact points and different angles of incidence were plotted vs. impact energy and impact point. Data analyzed by computer simulations to find the potential distribution on the surface of the specimen and the electric field around it, is presented and discussed.

Javidi, B.↗

Novel method to assess gastric emptying in humans: the Pellet Gastric Emptying Test

To further validate the Pellet Gastric Emptying Test (PGET) as a marker of gastric emptying, a randomized, four-way crossover study was conducted with 12 healthy subjects. The study consisted of oral co-administration of enteric coated caffeine (CAFF) and acetaminophen (APAP) pellets in four treatment phases: Same Size (100 kcal), Fasted, Small Liquid Meal (100 kcal), and Standard Meal (847 kcal). The time of first appearance of measurable drug marker in plasma, t(initial), was taken as the emptying time for the markers. Co-administration of same size enteric coated pellets of CAFF and APAP (0.7 mm in diameter) revealed no statistically significant differences in t(initial) values indicating that emptying was dependent only on size and not on chemical make-up of the pellets. Co-administration of different size pellets indicated that the smaller 0.7-mm diameter (CAFF) pellets were emptied and absorbed significantly earlier than the larger 3.6-mm diameter (APAP) pellets with both the Small Liquid Meal (by 35 min) and the Standard Meal (by 33 min) (P<0.05). The differences in emptying of the pellets were not significant in the Fasted Phase. The results suggest that the pellet gastric emptying test could prove useful in monitoring changes in transit times in the fasted and fed states and their impact on drug absorption.

NASA Discipline Regulatory Physiology↗

Evaluation of Performance of Five Parallel Biological Water Proce

The objective of the work entitled Molecular Characterization of Eubacteria in a Biological Water Processor was to gain an understanding of the microbial diversity and species stability of the consortia that inhabit an anoxic bioreactor and to correlate those factors with functional performance, mechanical reliability, and stability. The evaluation was divided into four studies. During Study 1, replicate biological water processor (BWP) systems were operated to evaluate variability in the microbial diversity over time as a function of the initial consortia used for inoculation of the BWP reactors. Study 2 was designed to investigate the impact of an inoculum source on BWP performance. Study 3 was a modification of Study 2 where the impact of inoculum on BWP performance from inoculation until steady state operations was monitored. In Study 4, the reactors were divided into three different operational periods, based on the operational periods of the integrated water recovery test at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in 2001.

Vega, Leticia M.↗

Solutions Network Formulation Report. Landsat Data Continuity Mission Simulated Data Products for Bureau of Land Management and Environmental Protection Agency Abandoned Mine Lands Decision Support

Presently, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) has identified a multitude of abandoned mine sites in primarily Western states for cleanup. These sites are prioritized and appropriate cleanup has been called in to reclaim the sites. The task is great in needing considerable amounts of agency resources. For instance, in Colorado alone there exists an estimated 23,000 abandoned mines. The problem is not limited to Colorado or to the United States. Cooperation for reclamation is sought at local, state, and federal agency level to aid in identification, inventory, and cleanup efforts. Dangers posed by abandoned mines are recognized widely and will tend to increase with time because some of these areas are increasingly used for recreation and, in some cases, have been or are in the process of development. In some cases, mines are often vandalized once they are closed. The perpetrators leave them open, so others can then access the mines without realizing the danger posed. Abandoned mine workings often fill with water or oxygen-deficient air and dangerous gases following mining. If the workings are accidentally entered into, water or bad air can prove fatal to those underground. Moreover, mine residue drainage negatively impacts the local watershed ecology. Some of the major hazards that might be monitored by higher-resolution satellites include acid mine drainage, clogged streams, impoundments, slides, piles, embankments, hazardous equipment or facilities, surface burning, smoke from underground fires, and mine openings.

Estep, Leland↗

Functional Fault Model Development Process to Support Design Analysis and Operational Assessment

A functional fault model (FFM) is an abstract representation of the failure space of a given system. As such, it simulates the propagation of failure effects along paths between the origin of the system failure modes and points within the system capable of observing the failure effects. As a result, FFMs may be used to diagnose the presence of failures in the modeled system. FFMs necessarily contain a significant amount of information about the design, operations, and failure modes and effects. One of the important benefits of FFMs is that they may be qualitative, rather than quantitative and, as a result, may be implemented early in the design process when there is more potential to positively impact the system design. FFMs may therefore be developed and matured throughout the monitored system's design process and may subsequently be used to provide real-time diagnostic assessments that support system operations. This paper provides an overview of a generalized NASA process that is being used to develop and apply FFMs. FFM technology has been evolving for more than 25 years. The FFM development process presented in this paper was refined during NASA's Ares I, Space Launch System, and Ground Systems Development and Operations programs (i.e., from about 2007 to the present). Process refinement took place as new modeling, analysis, and verification tools were created to enhance FFM capabilities. In this paper, standard elements of a model development process (i.e., knowledge acquisition, conceptual design, implementation & verification, and application) are described within the context of FFMs. Further, newer tools and analytical capabilities that may benefit the broader systems engineering process are identified and briefly described. The discussion is intended as a high-level guide for future FFM modelers.

Verification↗

Effects of Autonomous sUAS Separation Methods on Subjective Workload, Situation Awareness, and Trust

The Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) concept was designed to support autonomous small UAS operations at a large-scale and without direct human intervention. However, human-autonomy interactions will be impacted by situation awareness, workload, and trust in the autonomy. Method: Nine participants monitored live small UAS operations in a representative UTM system during a series of traffic conflict scenarios and then provided subjective responses regarding situation awareness, workload, and trust in the autonomous separation method. The study employed a 3 (Separation Method: Autonomous Sense and Avoid, Geofence, Manual) × 2 (Incursion: High, Medium) within subjects design. Results: Situation awareness ratings for both autonomous separation methods were significantly lower than the manual condition. An interaction indicated differential workload ratings for the Autonomous Sense and Avoid separation ratings. Trust ratings significantly dropped when the Geofencing separation method failed. Conclusion: Subjective responses of remote operators in the UTM system are affected by the vehicle separation methods. Operators’ understanding of decisions made by the autonomous systems onboard the vehicle likely influence this effect

UAS↗