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At least 433 records · Page 24
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Use of physics to improve solar forecast: Part III, impacts of different cloud types

Cloud-type impacts present a great challenge to solar forecasting due to diverse and complex cloud-radiation interactions. This third part of our paper sequence seeks to address this challenge by quantifying the forecast accuracies under eight cloud types: cumulus (Cu), stratified clouds (St), altocumulus (Ac), altostratus (As), cirrostratus/anvil (Cr), cirrus (Ci), congestus (Co), deep convective clouds (Dc) across four physics-informed persistence models reported in Part I. To generalize the cloud impacts, the eight cloud types are further grouped into three cloud categories based on their common features: weak convective clouds, stratiform clouds, and strong convective clouds. Here, the decade-long (2001 ~ 2014) collocated measurements of irradiances and cloud types at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program South Great Plain (SGP) Central Facility site are used for model evaluation. Results reveal a clear performance hierarchy for global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and direct normal irradiance (DNI): best for weak convective clouds and cirrus, intermediate for stratiform clouds, and worst for strong convective clouds. Performance for diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI) is less influenced by cloud types. Cloud albedo dominates all three irradiances for Dc, while both cloud albedo and cloud fraction are influential for other cloud types. A 12 %~33 % improvement in accuracy at 6-hour lead time compared to the benchmark smart model confirms the effectiveness of incorporating physics into the models for various cloud types; further improvements are expected by directly integrating cloud type information into forecasting models by modifying the physical formulation of cloud-radiation interaction, and/or using more advanced machine learning models.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Multi-year analysis of physical interactions between solar PV arrays and underlying soil-plant complex in vegetated utility-scale systems

Concerns over the land use changes impacts of solar photovoltaic (PV) development are increasing as PV energy development expands. Co-locating utility-scale solar energy with vegetation may maintain or rehabilitate the land's ability to provide ecosystem services. Previous studies have shown that vegetation under and around the panels may improve the performance of the co-located PV and that PV may create a favorable environment for the growth of vegetation. While there have been some pilot-scale experiments, the existence and magnitude of these benefits of vegetation has not been confirmed in a utility-scale PV facility over multiple years. In this study we use power output data coupled with microclimatic measurements in temperate climates to assess these potential benefits. Here this study combines multi-year microclimatic measurements to analyze the physical interactions between PV arrays and the underlying soil-vegetation system in three utility-scale PV facilities in Minnesota, USA. No significant cooling of PV panels or increased power production was observed in PV arrays with underlying vegetation. Fine soil particle fraction was the highest in soils within PV arrays with the vegetation which was attributable to the lowest wind speeds from the compounding suppression of wind by vegetation and PV arrays. Soil moisture and soil nutrient response to re-vegetation varied between PV facilities, which could be attributed to differing soil texture. No statistically significant vegetation-driven panel cooling was observed in this climate. This finding prompts a need for site-specific studies to identify contributing factors for environmental co-benefits in co-located systems.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1972

Physical properties of solar chromospheric plages. I - Line profiles of the CaII H, K, and infrared triplet lines.

Double pass photoelectric observations are presented of five CaII lines (H, K, 8498 A, 8542 A, and 8662 A) in a number of solar plages of different degrees of activity, quiet regions, and a sunspot. The data are compared with previous work. All five lines show increasing emission together in plages, and the least opaque of the infrared triplet lines appears to exhibit core emission prior to the more opaque members of the multiplet. The question of source function equality is considered and the differences and similarities among plage profiles and between plage and quiet profiles are shown qualitatively and quantitatively.

Shine, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Physical properties of solar chromospheric plages. II - Chromospheric plage models

Chromospheric models of plages are proposed to explain profiles of the Ca II H, K, 8498-A, 8542-A, and 8662-A lines. These models are consistent with boundary conditions imposed by the photosphere and the Lyman continuum. It is found that increasing emission in these lines is consistent with a picture of increasing temperature gradient in the low chromosphere and the resulting increase in pressure and electron density at similar line optical depths. With this picture it is shown how the distribution of chromospheric parameters across the solar disk can be empirically determined directly from Ca II filtergrams. It is also proposed that the high-density aspects of solar activity are produced by steep temperature gradients in the low chromosphere and thus by the enhanced heating mechanisms that steepen these gradients.

Shine, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Physical properties of solar chromospheric plages. III - Models based on Ca II and Mg II observations

Solar plages are modeled using observations of both the Ca II K and the Mg II h and k lines. A partial-redistribution approach is employed for calculating the line profiles on the basis of a grid of five model chromospheres. The computed integrated emission intensities for the five atmospheric models are compared with observations of six regions on the sun as well as with models of active-chromosphere stars. It is concluded that the basic plage model grid proposed by Shine and Linsky (1974) is still valid when the Mg II lines are included in the analysis and the Ca II and Mg II lines are analyzed using partial-redistribution diagnostics.

Kelch, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Studies conducted as a search for physical mechanisms relating solar variability and the troposphere

Chains of causative mechanisms that are hypothesized to relate solar variability to the behavior of the Earth's lower atmosphere were assessed. Solar variations believed most likely to constitute the forcing functions in hypothesized solar terrestrial atmosphere chain, changes in the Earth's atmospheric electrical characteristics due to solar variability, and the observed variations in atmospheric behavior that are influenced by solar variability were also examined.

Wu, S. T.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Ultraviolet Al III emission lines and the physics of the solar transition region

Two lines of the solar UV spectrum were identified as due to 3p-3d Al III transitions near 1612 A; the ratios of these lines to the 3s-3p Al III doublet near 1855 A were found to be very sensitive to temperature. Thus, the temperatures of formation of the Al III lines could be determined by using one of the line ratios in two quiet sun regions, a coronal hole, and an active region. The results were found to be consistent with expectations based on the assumption of ionization equilibrium for Al III. It is suggested that S III lines near 1350 A and 1200 A may also serve as a temperature diagnostic.

Doschek, G. A.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Solar active region physical parameters inferred from a thermal cyclotron line and soft X-ray spectral lines

Simultaneous high-resolution observations of coronal loops were made at the 20-cm wavelength with the VLA and at soft X-ray wavelengths with the SMM FCS. The images obtained at both wavelengths have nearly identical sizes and ellipsoidal shapes, with the emission stretching between and across regions of opposite magnetic polarity in the underlying photosphere. The results indicate that the radiation at 20 cm and soft X-ray wavelengths originates from the same region, and that 20 cm maps can image X-ray coronal loops. The X-ray spectral lines were used to obtain values of electron temperature, T(e), of about 2.6 x 10 to the 6th K and electron density, N(e), of about 3.1 x 10 to the 9th/cu cm. These parameters were used to show that the layers emitting 20-cm radiation can be optically thick to either thermal bremsstrahlung or thermal gyroresonance radiation, depending upon unknown but plausible values of loop thickness, magnetic scale height, and magnetic field strength.

Lang, Kenneth R.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Solar Flares and Coronal Physics Using P/OF as a Research Tool

This NASA Conference Publication contains the proceedings of the Workshop on Solar High-Resolution Astrophysics Using the Pinhole/Occulter Facility held at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, on May 8 to 10, 1985. These proceedings include primarily the invited tutorial papers, extended abstracts of contributed poster papers, and summaries of subpanel (X-Ray and Coronal Physics) discussions. Both observational and theoretical results are presented. Although the emphasis of the Workshop was focused primarily on topics peculiar to solar physics, one paper is included that discusses the P/0F as a tool for X-ray astronomy.

Tandberg, E.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Technologies and Methods Used at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) to Serve Solar Irradiance Data

The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado in Boulder, USA operates the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) NASA mission, as well as several other NASA spacecraft and instruments. Dozens of Solar Irradiance data sets are produced, managed, and disseminated to the science community. Data are made freely available to the scientific immediately after they are produced using a variety of data access interfaces, including the LASP Interactive Solar Irradiance Datacenter (LISIRD), which provides centralized access to a variety of solar irradiance data sets using both interactive and scriptable/programmatic methods. This poster highlights the key technological elements used for the NASA SORCE mission ground system to produce, manage, and disseminate data to the scientific community and facilitate long-term data stewardship. The poster presentation will convey designs, technological elements, practices and procedures, and software management processes used for SORCE and their relationship to data quality and data management standards, interoperability, NASA data policy, and community expectations.

Pankratz, Chris↗
NASA NTRS1979

Solar-Planetary Relationships: Magnetospheric Physics

The quadrennium 1975-1978 was a period of great advance for solar-wind studies, a period that combined exploration of new regions with increased maturity in established fields of study. The Helios, Pioneer, and Voyager spacecraft have been exploring the inner and outer regions of the solar wind. There has been a rebirth of the study of possible relations between solar variability and Earth's climate and weather, stimulated largely by Eddy's investigation of the Maunder Minimum; the solar wind may well prove to be a significant link in solar-terrestrial relations. Unique coronal data from the SKYLAB 1973-1974 mission, in combination with satellite and ground-based observations, provided the basis for identification of coronal holes as the main source of highspeed solar wind. The interplanetary medium has continued to serve as a laboratory for the study of plasma processes that cannot yet be studied in terrestrial laboratories, providing insights of potential importance both for controlled fusion research and for astrophysics. It is ironic that such a productive period, the legacy of many past space missions, was also a time of severely limited opportunity for new space investigations; the outlook for the future is equally austere. Especially regrettable is the dearth of career opportunities for young scientists in this field; comparison of the bibliography of this report with that of its predecessor 4 years ago shows few new names. Despite such problems, research has continued with enthusiasm and much has been learned. The present report will survey selected topics related to the origin, expansion, and acceleration of the solar wind and the plasma physics of the interplanetary medium. Companion reports deal with a number of closely related topics, including the heliocentric distance and latitude variation of the solar wind and its fluctuations topology of the interplanetary magnetic field morphology of solar-wind streams and shocks, sunweather studies, and interplanetary manifestations of type-3 bursts. Of the subjects that fall within the scope of this report, the study of the relationship between coronal holes and solar-wind streams, and the associated revision of our ideas about solar wind acceleration and heating, have had the most impact; hence I review these topics in considerable detail. In addition, I discuss the topics of hydromagnetic waves and turbulence, and interplanetary electrons, as items of particular importance during the past quadrennium.

Barnes, Aaron↗
NASA NTRS1980

Current understanding of the physics of type III solar radio bursts

One of the most exciting plasma physics investigations of recent years has been connected with the understanding of a new strong turbulent plasma state excited by propagating electron beams. This new state is initiated on the linear level by parametric instabilities (OTS, modulational, etc.) and results in a very dynamic state composed of collective clusters of modes called solitons, cavitons, spikons, etc. Introduction of these concepts into the classic beam-plasma interaction problem has rendered quasi-linear and weak turbulence theories inapplicable over most of the interesting parameter range, and helped explain many paradoxes connected with the propagation of beams in the laboratory and space. Following a brief review of these nonlinear notions, the means by which their application to type III solar radiobursts has revolutionized understanding of their propagation, radioemission and scaling properties and has guided the in situ observations towards a more complete understanding are demonstrated. A particular burst (May 16, 1971) is analyzed in detail and compared with numerical predictions.

Papadopoulos, K.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The C I opacity and physical structure of cool, very dense plasma in the solar corona

The physical structure of the cool material in the volume of the solar corona is investigated. The observational evidence is summarized in a table giving the brightness contrast in optical and EUV radiations. The state of ionization and the opacity sources are discussed, and a physical model is described that is consistent with the EUV and optical data. It is noted that a comparison of the EUV raster pictures with H-alpha and Ca K photoheliograms indicates that the material is commonly injected from below into relatively low-lying magnetic loops (fibrils) seen near sunspots and plages.

Foukal, P.↗