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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Tall Tower Vertical Profiles and Diurnal Trends of Ammonia in the Colorado Front Range: Tall Tower Vertical Profiles of Ammonia

Ammonia (NH 3 ) mixing ratios were measured between the surface and 280 m aboveground level from a moveable carriage at the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory tower in summer 2014 as part of the Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Éxperiment. The campaign median mixing ratio was 3.3 ppb, ranging from below detection limits to 192 ppb. Median vertical profiles show an overall increase in NH 3 mixing ratios toward the surface of 6.7 ppb (89%) during the day and 3.9 ppb (141%) at night. In contrast to the overall increasing trend, some individual profiles show decreasing NH 3 in the lowest 10 m. This suggests that the local surface is capable of acting as either a source or a sink, depending on the relative amounts of NH 3 at the surface, and in advected air parcels. We further use this data set to investigate the variation in diurnal patterns of NH 3 as a function of height above the surface. At higher altitudes (100 ± 5 and 280 ± 5 m), NH 3 mixing ratios reach a gradual maximum during the day between 9:00 and 16:00 local time, likely driven by changes in source region. At lower altitudes (10 ± 5 m), the daytime maximum begins earlier at about 7:00 local time, followed by a sharper increase at 9:00 local time. At this height we also observe a peak in NH3 mixing ratios during the night, likely driven by the trapping of emitted NH 3 within the shallower nocturnal boundary layer.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

A Comparison of the Diel Cycle of Modeled and Measured Latent Heat Flux During the Warm Season in a Colorado Subalpine Forest

Abstract Precipitation changes the physiological characteristics of an ecosystem. Because land‐surface models are often used to project changes in the hydrological cycle, modeling the effect of precipitation on the latent heat flux λE is an important aspect of land‐surface models. Here we contrast conditionally sampled diel composites of the eddy‐covariance fluxes from the Niwot Ridge Subalpine Forest AmeriFlux tower with the Community Land Model (CLM, version 4.5). With respect to measured λE during the warm season: for the day following above‐average precipitation, λE was enhanced at midday by ≈40 W m −2 (relative to dry conditions), and nocturnal λE increased from ≈10 W m −2 in dry conditions to over 20 W m −2 in wet conditions. With default settings, CLM4.5 did not successfully model these changes. By increasing the amount of time that rainwater was retained by the canopy/needles, CLM was able to match the observed midday increase in λE on a dry day following a wet day. Stable nighttime conditions were problematic for CLM4.5. Nocturnal CLM λE had only a small (≈3 W m −2 ) increase during wet conditions, CLM nocturnal friction velocity u ∗ was smaller than observed u ∗ , and CLM canopy air temperature was 2°C less than those measured at the site. Using observed u ∗ as input to CLM increased λE ; however, this caused CLM λE to be increased during both wet and dry periods. We suggest that sloped topography and the ever‐present drainage flow enhanced nocturnal u ∗ and λE . Such phenomena would not be properly captured by topographically blind land‐surface models, such as CLM.

Burns, Sean P.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Chapter 9: 30 Years of Living in a Solar House in Colorado

Having met in 1980 while working at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, we were inspired by the vision of a renewable energy future to raise our family in a passive solar home. A basic, factory-cut, trilevel house design was selected in 1985 and intentionally sited and modified according to passive solar design principles to optimize conservation and solar gain, with a plan to add photovoltaics as soon as feasible.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Soil Respiration Response to Rainfall Modulated by Plant Phenology in a Montane Meadow, East River, Colorado, USA

Soil respiration is a primary component of the terrestrial carbon cycle. However, predicting the response of soil respiration to climate change remains a challenge due to the complex interactions between environmental drivers, especially plant phenology, temperature, and soil moisture. In this study, we use a 1-D diffusion-reaction model to calculate depth-resolved CO 2 production rates from soil CO 2 concentrations and surface efflux observations in a subalpine meadow in the East River watershed, CO. Modeled rates are compared to in situ soil temperature and moisture conditions and MODIS satellite enhanced vegetation index (EVI) representing plant phenology across three hydrologically distinct growing seasons from 2016-2018. While soil respiration correlated with temperature on diel timescales (p<0.05), seasonal variability was dominated by soil moisture and plant phenology (p<0.05). We observed significant respiration increases in response to precipitation events; however, magnitude and duration were significantly higher in 2017 than 2016 despite similar wetting characteristics. Based on MODIS EVI, we suggest the respiration response to rainfall is controlled by plant phenology, which in turn reflects the capacity of plants to respond to precipitation via increased photosynthesis and autotrophic respiration, behavior that is not captured in typical soil respiration pulse models. Projected changes in montane climate such as earlier snowmelt and prolonged fore-summer drought may decrease soil respiration fluxes by decreasing the overlap between peak productivity and the summer monsoon. Lastly, we observed significant late-season CO 2 fluxes from the deep sub-soil (>165 cm) that support growing evidence for the importance of sub-soil processes in driving integrated respiration fluxes.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evaluation and Optimization of Snow Albedo Scheme in Noah-MP Land Surface Model Using In Situ Spectral Observations in the Colorado Rockies

The Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS) ground snow albedo algorithm is commonly used in land-surface models (LSM), weather forecasting and research applications. This study addresses key uncertainties in BATS simulated ground snow albedo within the Noah-MP LSM framework through evaluation and optimization of the Noah-MP BATS ground snow albedo formulation using 2-band (visible and near-infrared (NIR)) in situ albedo observations at Rocky Mountain field stations. The Noah-MP BATS ground snow albedo scheme is extremely sensitive to its input parameters. Namely, an ensemble generated by varying BATS input parameters within potentially plausible ranges provides an average daily range (maximum ensemble member minus minimum ensemble member) of ground snow albedo exceeding 0.45 in visible and NIR bands. Parameter optimization improves agreement between simulated and in situ observed ground snow albedo in visible, NIR and broadband spectrums. Importantly, optimized parameters result in reduced biases relative to observed fresh-snow albedo and better agreement with observed albedo decay. Our analysis across different sites supports that the optimized BATS ground snow albedo parameters are appropriate to transfer in space and time, at least within the region studied (the central-southern Rocky Mountains). The primary error source remaining after parameter optimization is that observed fresh-snow albedo is highly variable, particularly in the NIR spectrum, whereas BATS fresh-snow albedo is constant, an issue which requires further investigation. This study shows significant correlations between observed fresh-snow albedo and surface meteorological conditions (e.g., downward shortwave radiation and temperature) which can support future model development that attempts to include a time-varying formulation for fresh-snow albedo.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Production of hydrogen peroxide in an intra-meander hyporheic zone at East River, Colorado.

The traditionally held assumption that photo-dependent processes are the predominant source of H 2 O 2 in natural waters has been recently questioned by an increasing body of evidence showing the ubiquitiousness of H 2 O 2 in dark water bodies and in groundwater. In this study, we conducted field measurement of H 2 O 2 in an intra-meander hyporheic zone and in surface water at East River, CO. On-site detection using a sensitive chemiluminescence method suggests H 2 O 2 concentrations in groundwater ranging from 6 nM (at the most reduced region) to ~ 80 nM (in a locally oxygen-rich area) along the intra-meander transect with a maxima of 186 nM detected in the surface water in an early afternoon, lagging the maximum solar irradiance by ~1.5 h. Our results suggest that the dark profile of H 2 O 2 in the hyporheic zone is closely correlated to local redox gradients, indicating that interactions between various redox sensitive elements could play an essential role. Due to its transient nature, the widespread presence of H 2 O 2 in the hyporheic zone indicates the existence of a sustained balance between H 2 O 2 production and consumption, which potentially involves a relatively rapid succession of various biogeochemically important processes (such as organic matter turnover, metal cycling and contaminant mobilization). More importantly, this study confirmed the occurrence of reactive oxygen species at a subsurface redox transition zone and further support our understanding of redox boundaries on reactive oxygen species generation and as key locations of biogeochemical activity.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗