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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

Comparing the cooling effectiveness of operationalisable urban surface combination scenarios for summer heat mitigation

Extreme summer heat in cities exacerbates the vulnerability of urban communities to heatwaves. Vegetative and reflective urban surfaces can help reduce urban heat. This study investigated the impacts of urban trees, green roofs and cool roofs on heat mitigation during average and extreme summer conditions in temperate oceanic Melbourne, Australia. We simulated the city climate using ‘The Air Pollution Model’ (TAPM) at a 1 km spatial resolution over 10 years, which according to our review of the literature, was the most prolonged period for simulation in Melbourne. During a widespread heatwave event, some of the tested scenarios with combined surface parameters could reduce the extreme values of the energy budget components- sensible heat, latent heat, and storage heat fluxes up to seasonal averages compared to the existing situation for Melbourne (control). The scenario with the highest (reasonable maximum) ground-level vegetation, green roofs, and cool roofs could reduce air temperatures up to 2.4 °C. The simulations suggest that a combined strategy with vegetative and high-albedo surfaces will deliver higher effectiveness with maximum cooling benefits and cost-effectiveness than individual strategies in cities. These results suggest the importance of collaborative strategic planning of urban surfaces to make cities healthier, sustainable, and liveable.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Optimizing the Orientation of Solar Photovoltaic Systems Considering the Effects of Irradiation and Cell Temperature Models with Dust Accumulation

To cope with the growing installation capacities of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in desert areas, it is necessary to revisit the energy production models and the optimal angles of PV panels given the significant impacts of ambient temperature, wind speed, dust accumulation, and cleaning frequency. In this study, these four factors are examined for four PV technologies (polycrystalline, microcrystalline, monocrystalline, and thin-film) at three cities in Jordan, Egypt, and Tunisia using precise ground-level meteo-solar measurements. Different models are compared to estimate the diffuse irradiance, as well as account for the effects of operating temperature, wind speed, and dust accumulation on energy production and optimal tilt and azimuth angles of the panels. The results reveal 1.5 % higher energy production estimates using the isotropic model, compared to the anisotropic model in the summer months. Considering the cooling effect of wind speed decreases the operating cell temperature drops by up to 7.05 % for thin film panels. The annually produced energy decreases by 24 % when the panels are cleaned bi-monthly. When the dust accumulation rate doubles, the energy production decreases by ~10 % for all studied cases. Also, the variations in optimal tilt and azimuth angles with dust accumulation rate are within ~3.0 degrees .

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Hypoxia-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension augments lung injury and airway reactivity caused by ozone exposure

Ozone (O{sub 3})-related cardiorespiratory effects are a growing public health concern. Ground level O{sub 3} can exacerbate pre-existing respiratory conditions; however, research regarding therapeutic interventions to reduce O{sub 3}-induced lung injury is limited. In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypoxia-associated pulmonary hypertension (HPH) is a frequent comorbidity that is difficult to treat clinically, yet associated with increased mortality and frequency of exacerbations. In this study, we hypothesized that established HPH would confer vulnerability to acute O{sub 3} pulmonary toxicity. Additionally, we tested whether improvement of pulmonary endothelial barrier integrity via rho-kinase inhibition could mitigate pulmonary inflammation and injury. To determine if O{sub 3} exacerbated HPH, male C57BL/6 mice were subject to either 3 weeks continuous normoxia (20.9% O{sub 2}) or hypoxia (10.0% O{sub 2}), followed by a 4-h exposure to either 1 ppm O{sub 3} or filtered air (FA). As an additional experimental intervention fasudil (20 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally prior to and after O{sub 3} exposures. As expected, hypoxia significantly increased right ventricular pressure and hypertrophy. O{sub 3} exposure in normoxic mice caused lung inflammation but not injury, as indicated by increased cellularity and edema in the lung. However, in hypoxic mice, O{sub 3} exposure led to increased inflammation and edema, along with a profound increase in airway hyperresponsiveness to methacholine. Fasudil administration resulted in reduced O{sub 3}-induced lung injury via the enhancement of pulmonary endothelial barrier integrity. These results indicate that increased pulmonary vascular pressure may enhance lung injury, inflammation and edema when exposed to pollutants, and that enhancement of pulmonary endothelial barrier integrity may alleviate such vulnerability. - Highlights: • Environmental exposures can exacerbate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). • It is unknown if comorbid pulmonary hypertension may influence such effects in COPD patients. • Pulmonary hypertension in a mouse model significantly exacerbated ozone-induced lung injury. • Adverse ozone outcomes were largely attenuated by a rho kinase inhibitor, fasudil. • Therapeutic benefit from rho kinase inhibition may be related to endothelial barrier integrity.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Human Health Trade-Offs of Organic Waste Management Strategies

Waste-to-energy systems can play an important role in diverting organic waste from landfills. However, real-world waste management can differ from idealized practices, and emissions driven by microbial communities and complex chemical processes are poorly understood. This study presents a comprehensive life-cycle assessment, using reported and measured data, of competing management alternatives for organic municipal solid waste including landfilling, composting, dry anaerobic digestion (AD) for the production of renewable natural gas (RNG), and dry AD with electricity generation. Landfilling is the most greenhouse gas (GHG)-intensive option, emitting nearly 400 kg CO 2e per tonne of organic waste. Composting raw organics resulted in the lowest GHG emissions, at -41 kg CO 2e per tonne of waste, while upgrading biogas to RNG after dry AD resulted in -36 to -2 kg CO 2e per tonne. Monetizing the results based on social costs of carbon and other air pollutant emissions highlights the importance of ground-level NH3 emissions from composting nitrogen-rich organic waste or post-AD solids. However, better characterization of material-specific NH 3 emissions from landfills and land-application of digestate is essential to fully understand the trade-offs between alternatives.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Magnetic Properties of Tetravalent Pu in the Perovskites BaPuO 3 and SrPuO 3

BaPuO 3 and SrPuO 3 were synthesized, and their structures were refined in the orthorhombic space group Pbnm , a common distortion from the classic $Pm\bar{3}$m over barm cubic perovskite. Magnetic-susceptibility measurements, obtained as a function of temperature over the range of 1.8-320 K, exhibit temperature-dependent behavior, with evidence of long-range magnetic order at temperatures higher than their lanthanide and actinide analogues: BaPuO 3 below 164(1) K and SrPuO 3 below 76(1) K. Effective moments of 1.66(10)μ B for BaPuO 3 and 1.84(8)μ B for SrPuO 3 were obtained by fitting their paramagnetic susceptibilities using the Curie-Weiss law. Further, both are below the free-ion value of 2.68 μ B expected for a Pu 4+ 5 $\mid$ 4 ground level. Ab initio wave function calculations, performed at the relativistic complete active space level including spin-orbit coupling and with an embedded cluster approach that neglects interactions between Pu centers, were used to generate embedded-cluster Pu 4+ magnetic susceptibilities. The calculations agree well with experimental data at higher temperatures, providing evidence that a single-ion representation is sufficient to account for the observed paramagnetic behavior without the need to invoke charge transfer, disproportionation, strong covalent bonding, or other more complex electronic behavior.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Reactions of Th + + H 2 , D 2 , and HD Studied by Guided Ion Beam Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Quantum Chemical Calculations

Kinetic energy dependent reactions of Th + with H 2 , D 2 , and HD were studied using a guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometer. Formation of ThH + and ThD + is endothermic in all cases with similar thresholds. Branching ratio results for the reaction with HD indicate that Th + reacts via a statistical mechanism, similar to Hf + . The kinetic energy dependent cross sections for formation of ThH + and ThD + were evaluated to determine a 0 K bond dissociation energy (BDE) of D 0 (Th + –H) = 2.45 ± 0.07 eV. This value is in good agreement with a previous result obtained from analysis of the Th + + CH 4 reaction. D 0 (Th + –H) is observed to be larger than its transition metal congeners, TiH + , ZrH + , and HfH + , believed to be a result of lanthanide contraction. The reactions with H 2 were also explored using quantum chemical calculations that include a semiempirical estimation and explicit calculation of spin–orbit contributions. These calculations agree nicely and indicate that ThH + most likely has a 3 Δ 1 ground level with a low-lying 1 Σ + excited state. As a result, theory also provides the reaction potential energy surfaces and BDEs that are in reasonable agreement with experiment.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Incorporating Diurnal and Meter-Scale Variations of Ambient CO 2 Concentrations in Development of Direct Air Capture Technologies

To be implemented on climate-relevant scales, direct air capture of CO 2 (DAC) will require large capital-intensive facilities and careful attention to cost minimization. In making decisions among potential sites for DAC facilities, all of the factors that will impact process cost and efficiency should be considered. In this paper we focus on a factor that has previously received little attention in the DAC community, namely variations in atmospheric conditions on hourly time scales and length scales of meters. We present data curated from extensive previous studies of biosphere-atmosphere fluxes with observations of CO 2 concentration, temperature, and relative humidity (RH) with hourly resolution from many sites in North America. These include locations where typical diurnal variations in CO 2 concentration during summer months exceeds 150 ppm. These variations are larger than the seasonal variations that exist between averaged CO 2 concentrations in winter and summer, and they are highly correlated with diurnal variations in temperature and RH. Diurnal variations are dependent on the height above ground at which CO 2 concentrations are measured, with smaller variations existing at heights of 10 m or more than at ground level. We illustrate the potential implications of these short-term variations for the operation and optimization of a DAC process with process-level calculations for a specific adsorption-based process using amine-rich adsorbents.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Future global mortality from changes in air pollution attributable to climate change

Ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are associated with premature human mortality(1-4); their future concentrations depend on changes in emissions, which dominate the near-term(5), and on climate change(6,7). Previous global studies of the air-quality-related health effects of future climate change(8,9) used single atmospheric models. But, in related studies, mortality results differ among models(10-12). Here we use an ensemble of global chemistry-climate models(13) to show that premature mortality from changes in air pollution attributable to climate change, under the high greenhouse gas scenario RCP8.5 (ref. 14), is probably positive. We estimate 3,340 (-30,300 to 47,100) ozone-related deaths in 2030, relative to 2000 climate, and 43,600 (-195,000 to 237,000) in 2100 (14% of the increase in global ozone-related mortality). For PM2.5, we estimate 55,600 (-34,300 to 164,000) deaths in 2030 and 215,000 (-76,100 to 595,000) in 2100 (countering by 16% the global decrease in PM2.5-related mortality). Premature mortality attributable to climate change is estimated to be positive in all regions except Africa, and is greatest in India and East Asia. Finally, most individual models yield increased mortality from climate change, but some yield decreases, suggesting caution in interpreting results from a single model. Climate change mitigation is likely to reduce air-pollution-related mortality.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Transforming US agriculture for carbon removal with enhanced weathering

Abstract Enhanced weathering (EW) with agriculture uses crushed silicate rocks to drive carbon dioxide removal (CDR) 1,2 . If widely adopted on farmlands, it could help achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 2–4 . Here we show, with a detailed US state-specific carbon cycle analysis constrained by resource provision, that EW deployed on agricultural land could sequester 0.16–0.30 GtCO 2 yr −1 by 2050, rising to 0.25–0.49 GtCO 2 yr −1 by 2070. Geochemical assessment of rivers and oceans suggests effective transport of dissolved products from EW from soils, offering CDR on intergenerational timescales. Our analysis further indicates that EW may temporarily help lower ground-level ozone and concentrations of secondary aerosols in agricultural regions. Geospatially mapped CDR costs show heterogeneity across the USA, reflecting a combination of cropland distance from basalt source regions, timing of EW deployment and evolving CDR rates. CDR costs are highest in the first two decades before declining to about US$100–150 tCO 2 −1 by 2050, including for states that contribute most to total national CDR. Although EW cannot be a substitute for emission reductions, our assessment strengthens the case for EW as an overlooked practical innovation for helping the USA meet net-zero 2050 goals 5,6 . Public awareness of EW and equity impacts of EW deployment across the USA require further exploration 7,8 and we note that mobilizing an EW industry at the necessary scale could take decades.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

Collaborative energy and land use planning

Energy models make projections for infrastructure, yet struggle to map deployment pathways at the ground level, where risks and benefits to human and natural systems materialize. Furthermore, a study now shows how blending in geospatial science can help to preserve natural capital while allowing for new infrastructure to be built.

Energy and society↗

Observation of Neutron Skyshine from an Accelerator Based Neutron Source

A key feature of neutron based interrogation systems is the need for adequate provision of shielding around the facility. Accelerator facilities adapted for fast neutron generation are not necessarily suitably equipped to ensure complete containment of the vast quantity of neutrons generated, typically >10{sup 11} n{center_dot}s{sup -1}. Simulating the neutron leakage from a facility is not a simple exercise since the energy and directional distribution can only be approximated. Although adequate horizontal, planar shielding provision is made for a neutron generator facility, it is sometimes the case that vertical shielding is minimized, due to structural and economic constraints. It is further justified by assuming the atmosphere above a facility functions as an adequate radiation shield. It has become apparent that multiple neutron scattering within the atmosphere can result in a measurable dose of neutrons reaching ground level some distance from a facility, an effect commonly known as skyshine. This paper describes a neutron detection system developed to monitor neutrons detected several hundred metres from a neutron source due to the effect of skyshine.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Evaluating the WFIP2 updates to the HRRR model using scanning Doppler lidar measurements in the complex terrain of the Columbia River Basin

The wind-energy (WE) industry relies on numerical weather prediction (NWP) forecast models as foundational or base models for many purposes, including wind-resource assessment and wind-power forecasting. During the Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2) in the Columbia River Basin of Oregon and Washington, a significant effort was made to improve NWP forecasts through focused model development, to include experimental refinements to the High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model physics and horizontal grid spacing. In this study, the performance of an experimental version of HRRR that includes these refinements is tested against a control version, which corresponds to that of the operational HRRR run by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Centers for Environmental Protection at the outset of WFIP2. Furthermore, the effects of horizontal grid resolution were also tested by comparing wind forecasts from the HRRR (with 3-km grid spacing) with those from a finer-resolution HRRR nest with 750-m grid spacing. Model forecasts are validated against accurate wind-profile measurements by three scanning, pulsed Doppler lidars at sites separated by a total distance of 71 km. Model skill and improvements in model skill, attributable to physics refinements and improved horizontal grid resolution, varied by season, by site, and during periods of atmospheric phenomena relevant to WE. In general, model errors were the largest below 150 m above ground level (AGL). Experimental HRRR refinements tended to reduce the mean absolute error (MAE) and other error metrics for many conditions, but degradation in skill (increased MAE) was noted below 150 m AGL at the two lowest-elevation sites at night. Finer resolution was found to produce the most significant reductions in the error metrics.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

On the subject of large-scale pool fires and turbulent boundary layer interactions

The role to which a realistic inflow turbulent boundary layer (TBL) influences transient and mean large-scale pool fire quantities of interest (QoIs) is numerically investigated. High-fidelity, low-Mach large-eddy simulations that activate low-dissipation, unstructured numerics are conducted using an unsteady flamelet combustion modeling approach with mutiphysics coupling to soot and participating media radiation transport. Three inlet profile configurations are exercised for a large-scale, high-aspect rectangular pool that is oriented perpendicular to the flow direction: a time-varying, TBL inflow profile obtained from a periodic precursor simulation, the time-mean of the transient TBL, and a steady power-law inflow profile that replicates the mean TBL crosswind velocity of 10.0 m/s at a vertical height of 10 m. Results include both qualitative transient flame evolution and quantitative flame shape with ground-level temperature and convective/radiative heat flux profiles. While transient fire events, which are driven by burst-sweep TBL coupling, such as blow-off and reattachment are vastly different in the TBL case (contributing to increased root mean square QoI fluctuation prediction and disparate flame lengths), mean surface QoI magnitudes are similar. Quadrant analysis demonstrates that the TBL configuration modifies burst-sweep phenomena at windward pool locations, while leeward recovery is found. In conclusion, positive fluctuations of convective heat flux correlate with fast moving fluid away from the pool surface due to intermittent combustion events.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Source Characterization of Volatile Organic Compounds at Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Carlsbad Caverns National Park (CAVE), located in southeastern New Mexico, experiences elevated ground-level ozone (O 3 ) exceeding the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of 70 ppbv. It is situated adjacent to the Permian Basin, one of the largest oil and gas (O&G) producing regions in the US. In 2019, the Carlsbad Caverns Air Quality Study (CarCavAQS) was conducted to examine impacts of different sources on ozone precursors, including nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Here, we use positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of speciated VOCs to characterize VOC sources at CAVE during the study. Seven factors were identified. Three factors composed largely of alkanes and aromatics with different lifetimes were attributed to O&G development and production activities. VOCs in these factors were typical of those emitted by O&G operations. Associated residence time analyses (RTA) indicated their contributions increased in the park during periods of transport from the Permian Basin. These O&G factors were the largest contributor to VOC reactivity with hydroxyl radicals (62%). Two PMF factors were rich in photochemically generated secondary VOCs; one factor contained species with shorter atmospheric lifetimes and one with species with longer lifetimes. RTA of the secondary factors suggested impacts of O&G emissions from regions farther upwind, such as Eagle Ford Shale and Barnett Shale formations. The last two factors were attributed to alkenes likely emitted from vehicles or other combustion sources in the Permian Basin and regional background VOCs, respectively.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

STREAMING-LIMITED INTENSITIES OF SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES ON THE INTENSITY PLATEAU

We examine the energy spectra of H, He, O, and Fe ions on the temporal intensity plateau region in large solar energetic-particle (SEP) events, where intensities may be ''streaming limited.'' Upstream of shock waves near the Sun, equilibrium may occur when outwardly streaming protons amplify resonant Alfven waves that then scatter subsequent protons sufficiently to reduce the streaming. In the largest SEP events, the so-called ground-level events (GLEs), we find proton energy spectra that are peaked near {approx}10 MeV with the energy of similar peaks decreasing for heavier ions and for smaller events. These spectra contrast sharply with spectra near the time of shock passage which rise monotonically above the plateau spectra with decreasing energy. We suggest that strong suppression of upstream ion intensities near {approx}1 MeV amu{sup -1} on the plateau occurs when those ions resonate with waves amplified earlier by streaming protons of {approx}10 MeV and above. GLEs with much lower intensities of 10-100 MeV protons on the plateau show spectra of ions that rise monotonically toward low energies with no peaking and no suppression of low-energy ions. Wave amplification by streaming protons and the pitch-angle dependence of the resonance condition are essential factors in our understanding of the limiting behavior.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

THE 'TWIN-CME' SCENARIO AND LARGE SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLE EVENTS IN SOLAR CYCLE 23

Energetic particles in large solar energetic particle (SEP) events are a major concern for space weather. Recently, Li et al. proposed a 'twin-CME' scenario for ground-level events. Here we extend that study to large SEP events in solar cycle 23. Depending on whether preceding coronal mass ejections (CMEs) within 9 hr exist and whether ions >10 MeV nucleon{sup -1} exceed 10 pfu, we categorize fast CMEs with speed >900 km s{sup -1} and width >60 Degree-Sign from the western hemisphere source regions into four groups: groups I and II are 'twin' and single CMEs that lead to large SEPs; groups III and IV are 'twin' and single CMEs that do not lead to large SEPs. The major findings of this paper are: first, large SEP events tend to be 'twin-CME' events. Of 59 western large SEP events in solar cycle 23, 43 are 'twin-CME' (group I) events and 16 are single-CME (group II) events. Second, not all 'twin CMEs' produced large SEPs: 28 twin CMEs did not produce large SEPs (group III events). Some of them produced excesses of particles up to a few MeV nucleon{sup -1}. Third, there were 39 single fast CMEs that did not produce SEPs (group IV events). Some of these also showed an excess of particles up to a few MeV nucleon{sup -1}. For all four groups of events, we perform statistical analyses on properties such as the angular width, the speed, the existence of accompanying metric type II radio bursts, and the associated flare class for the main CMEs and the preceding CMEs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Squeezing of particle distributions by expanding magnetic turbulence and space weather variability

Among the space weather effects due to gradual solar storms, greatly enhanced high-energy ion fluxes contribute to radiation damage to satellites, spacecraft, and astronauts and dominate the hazards to air travelers, which motivates examination of the transport of high-energy solar ions to Earth's orbit. Ions of low kinetic energy (up to ∼2 MeV nucleon{sup –1}) from impulsive solar events exhibit abrupt changes due to filamentation of the magnetic connection from the Sun, indicating that anisotropic, field-aligned magnetic flux tubelike structures persist to Earth's orbit. By employing a corresponding spherical two-component model of Alfvénic (slab) and two-dimensional magnetic fluctuations to trace simulated trajectories in the solar wind, we show that the distribution of high-energy (E ≥ 1 GeV) protons from gradual solar events is squeezed toward magnetic flux structures with a specific polarity because of the conical shape of the flux structures. Conical flux structures and the squeezing of energetic particle distributions should occur in any astrophysical wind or jet with expanding, magnetized, turbulent plasma. This transport phenomenon contributes to event-to-event variability in ground level enhancements of GeV-range ions from solar storms, presenting a fundamental uncertainty in space weather prediction.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

ESTIMATING THE HEIGHT OF CMEs ASSOCIATED WITH A MAJOR SEP EVENT AT THE ONSET OF THE METRIC TYPE II RADIO BURST DURING SOLAR CYCLES 23 AND 24

We studied the coronal mass ejection (CME) height at the onset of 59 metric type II radio bursts associated with major solar energetic particle (SEP) events, excluding ground level enhancements (GLEs), during solar cycles 23 and 24. We calculated CME heights using a simple flare-onset method used by Gopalswamy et al. to estimate CME heights at the metric type II onset for cycle 23 GLEs. We found the mean CME height for non-GLE events (1.72 R{sub ☉}) to be ∼12% greater than that (1.53 R{sub ☉}) for cycle 23 GLEs. The difference could be caused by more impulsive acceleration of the GLE-associated CMEs. For cycle 24 non-GLE events, we compared the CME heights obtained using the flare-onset method and the three-dimensional spherical-shock fitting method and found the correlation to be good (CC = 0.68). We found the mean CME height for cycle 23 non-GLE events (1.79 R{sub ☉}) to be greater than that for cycle 24 non-GLE events (1.58 R{sub ☉}), but statistical tests do not definitely reject the possibility of coincidence. We suggest that the lower formation height of the shocks during cycle 24 indicates a change in the Alfvén speed profile because solar magnetic fields are weaker and plasma density levels are closer to the surface than usual during cycle 24. We also found that complex type III bursts showing diminution of type III emission in the 7–14 MHz frequency range are more likely associated with events with a CME height at the type II onset above 2 R{sub ☉}, supporting suggestions that the CME/shock structure causes the feature.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗