Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “data conversion”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 451 records · Page 25

Post Access Report: Initial testing of wave energy powered UV-C LED anti-biofouling system

In the experiment entitled “Initial Testing of Wave Energy Powered UV-C LED Anti-Biofouling System,” a UV-C LED was used to treat platinum-coated titanium coupons emulating CTD electrode material. An additional control set of coupons were exposed to seawater without the LED treatment. The experimental setup was deployed in seawater tanks at PNNL-Sequim’s Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory (MCRL) for the duration of six months. Tank seawater temperature data were collected for the duration of the experimental campaign. At two-month intervals triplicate sets of coupons were removed from both treatment and control test chambers and weighed to characterize biomass accumulation. After weighing, the coupons were photographed in initial condition, with a stain applied to highlight biofouling growth, and after rinsing off excess stain. These photographs were analyzed using PNNL’s Biofouling Growth Index (BGI) software and with a calculation of percentage dark pixels after conversion to grayscale. Additionally, at the final 6-month datapoint triplicate sets of control and test coupons were sent to PNNL-Richland’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) for scanning electron microscopy. All data organization and collection methods are described in further detail in the document “TEAMER_3newable_Data_Guide.pdf.” Biomass accumulation increased over time on both sets of coupons, and percent area biofouled demonstrated a similar trend. Analysis of the collected data resulted in the findings that treatment method has an impact on biofouling growth, though to a much less significant extent than time does. Additionally, qualitative findings included the presence of advanced life forms such as worms in the control test chamber, but not in the treated test chamber.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

Improving Cost and Efficiency of the Scalable Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Power System

The objective of this project was to design and develop a 20kW range small-scale solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) power system for applications such as data centers and commercial buildings. The original plan included a 5,000 hours demonstration and a Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) which were dropped as part of project termination. The original project plan was to use a stack with a cross-flow cell design which had previously been tested for 500 hours at a community college in Malta, NY. However, it was decided to move to the advanced R-SOFC co-flow cell developed under Department of Energy Award DE-FE0031971. The advanced cell design has the advantage of a larger active area for the same manufacturing footprint which results in fewer required cells for the same stack power, hence a higher volumetric power density (kW/L) and lower cost per kW than the original cross-flow cell design. A full SOFC system Simulink model was developed and calibrated with testing data from a fuel cell stack and BOP (balance of plant) components. The simulation results from the calibrated model showed an acceptable match with the experimental data. A structural analysis conducted for various load scenarios indicated no high stress areas for all spatial directions. Major electrical system components were acquired, built and successfully tested. System sensors were verified and validated against controls. Safety checks, a diagnostic check, PID tuning, and control software commissioning tasks were also conducted. The power electronics prototype was delivered and trial testing completed. Balance of Plant component testing and simulation work was conducted to characterize Reformer-Heat Exchanger heat transfer and backpressure and reformer catalyst methane conversion and product selectivity. Simulations were conducted to design the Anode and Cathode fluid passages and size the air-air and fuel-fuel heat exchangers. A Burner operation map was created from test data and the Anode Gas Recirculation blower was tested to evaluate its durability. The SOFC system used a horizontal style design where components sit directly on a casting with a direct connection to the skid. This design has efficient packaging and a small footprint with approximate dimensions of 750 mm x 700 mm x 1700 mm. An SOFC system was built and successfully tested at the Malta, NY facility The system for over 500 hours under load of which over 300 hours was at full load of 20 kW.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

High-throughput Li plating quantification for fast-charging battery design

Fast charging of most commercial lithium-ion batteries is limited due to fear of lithium plating on the graphite anode, which is difficult to detect and poses considerable safety risk. In this report we demonstrate the power of simple, accessible and high-throughput cycling techniques to quantify irreversible Li plating spanning data from over 200 cells. We first observe the effects of energy density, charge rate, temperature and state of charge on lithium plating, use the results to refine a mature physics-based electrochemical model and provide an interpretable empirical equation for predicting the plating onset state of charge. We then explore the reversibility of lithium plating and its connection to electrolyte design for preventing irreversible Li accumulation. Finally, we design a method to quantify in situ Li plating for commercially relevant graphite|LiNi 0.5 Mn 0.3 Co 0.2 O 2 (NMC) cells and compare with results from the experimentally convenient Li|graphite configuration. The hypotheses and abundant data herein were generated primarily with equipment universal to the battery researcher, encouraging further development of innovative testing methods and data processing that enable rapid battery engineering.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Assessing Marginal Land Availability Based on Land Use Change Information in the Contiguous United States

Utilization of marginal land for growing dedicated bioenergy crops for second-generation biofuels is appealing to avoid conflicts with food production. This study develops a novel framework to quantify marginal land for the Contiguous United States (CONUS) based on a history of satellite-observed land use change (LUC) over the 2008–2015 period. Frequent LUC between crop and noncrop is assumed to be an indicator of economically marginal land; this land is also likely to have a lower opportunity cost of conversion from food crop to bioenergy crop production. We first present an approach to identify cropland in transition using the time series of Cropland Data Layer (CDL) land cover product and determine the amount of land that can be considered marginal with a high degree of confidence vs with uncertainty across the CONUS. We find that the biophysical characteristics of this land and its productivity and environmental vulnerability vary across the land and lie in between that of permanent cropland and permanent natural vegetation/bare areas; this land also has relatively low intrinsic value and agricultural profit but a high financial burden and economic risk. We find that the total area of marginal land with confidence vs with uncertainty is 10.2 and 58.4 million hectares, respectively, and mainly located along the 100th meridian. Only a portion of this marginal land (1.4–2.2 million hectares with confidence and 14.8–19.4 million hectares with uncertainty) is in the rainfed region and not in crop production and, thus, suitable for producing energy crops without diverting land from food crops in 2016. These estimates are much smaller than the estimates obtained by previous studies, which consider all biophysically low-quality land to be marginal without considering economical marginality. The estimate of marginal land for bioenergy crops obtained in this study is an indicator of the availability of economically marginal land that is suitable for bioenergy crop production; whether this land is actually converted to bioenergy crops will depend on the market conditions. Here, we note the inability to conduct field-level validation of cropland in transition and leave it to future advances in technology to ground-truth land use change and its relationship to economically marginal land.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Circuit-Based Leakage-to-Erasure Conversion in a Neutral-Atom Quantum Processor

Atom-loss errors are a major limitation of current state-of-the-art neutral-atom quantum computers and pose a significant challenge for scalable systems. In a quantum processor with cesium atoms, we demonstrate proof-of-principle circuit-based conversion of this form of leakage error to erasure errors via leakage-detection units (LDUs), which nondestructively map information about the presence or absence of the qubit onto the state of an ancilla. We benchmark the performance of the LDU using a three-outcome low-loss state-detection method and find that the LDU detects atom-loss errors with approximately 93.4% accuracy, limited by technical imperfections of our apparatus. We further compile and execute a SWAP LDU, wherein the roles of the original data atom and ancilla atom are exchanged under the action of the LDU, providing “free refilling” of atoms in the case of atom loss. This circuit-based leakage-to-erasure error conversion is a critical component of a neutral-atom quantum processor where the quantum information may significantly outlive the lifetime of any individual atom in the quantum register. Finally, we demonstrate that LDUs may also be used to handle other forms of leakage errors where population moves to states outside of the computational subspace.

Chow, Matthew N. H. [Sandia National Laboratories ↗

On the prescription of boundary conditions for nonlocal Poisson's and peridynamics models

We introduce a technique to automatically convert local boundary conditions into nonlocal volume constraints for nonlocal Poisson’s and peridynamic models. The proposed strategy is based on the approximation of nonlocal Dirichlet or Neumann data with a local solution obtained by using available boundary, local data. The corresponding nonlocal solution converges quadratically to the local solution as the nonlocal horizon vanishes, making the proposed technique asymptotically compatible. The proposed conversion method does not have any geometry or dimensionality constraints and its computational cost is negligible, compared to the numerical solution of the nonlocal equation. The consistency of the method and its quadratic convergence with respect to the horizon is illustrated by several two-dimensional numerical experiments conducted by meshfree discretization for both the Poisson’s problem and the linear peridynamic solid model.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

MEITNER Resource Team Modeling and Simulation Support to Holos-Quad Reactor Development (Final CRADA Report)

The main objective of this CRADA is to provide Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)’s modeling and simulation capabilities via ARPA-E's MEITNER (Modeling-Enhanced Innovations Trailblazing Nuclear Energy Reinvigoration) Resource Team (RT) arrangement to support the demonstration of the viability of HolosGen’s Holos-Quad reactor design. The Holos-Quad reactor design is an advanced reactor concept that incorporates many new design features, such as the neutron-coupled Subcritical Power Modules (SPMs) in its core design, elimination of balance of plant (BOP) by direct integration of a helium Brayton cycle power conversion system with each SPM, among many other innovative features. The demonstration of the viability of such an innovative reactor design warrants iterations of modeling and simulation and testing. The purpose of this project is to utilize ANL’s modeling and simulation capabilities in nuclear reactor analysis and power conversion system analysis to inform HolosGen and the Design Team (DT) in the design and optimization of the Holos-Quad concept. The major work scopes of this project include: to investigate conceptual designs and materials for radiation shielding to protect personnel and internal components such as turbomachinery; Assess the the helium Brayton cycle power conversion system performance in both nominal and load following conditions; Investigate power conversion components and overall system performance; Identify control strategies to enable load following; Perform simulations of HolosGen’s subscale simulator and using available test data for code validation/benchmark purpose; Perform core thermal-hydraulics, safety analysis, and structural analysis.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Simulation of Deuterium Oxidation in a Room with a Fire

A series of experiments where deuterium was released in trace amounts into a room with a fire were performed at Sandia National Laboratories. This report describes the corresponding effort to model the test series using SIERRA/FUEGO. The objective of this modeling effort was to produce a simulation test matrix that can be utilized to help interpret the corresponding experiments and be used to assess the credibility of using the SIERRA/FUEGO simulations as a surrogate for real tritium reaction data for mock fire and release studies. The simulations assessed multiple configurations of fire size and location and overall found that there was low conversion of deuterium to oxidized deuterium. There are some notable differences between the simulation predictions and the experimental results, such as the simulations generally predicting higher amounts of deuterium conversion compared to the experiment. A strategy to address modeling uncertainties and unknowns is also given in this report.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Californium-252 production at the High Flux Isotope Reactor - I: Validation study using campaign data

This paper presents a series of 252 Cf production validation and code-to-code comparison studies performed based on data from the production campaigns at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). These studies support efforts to convert HFIR from using highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. HFIR must maintain its world-class performance and missions following this conversion, and because 252 Cf is a vital neutron-emitting radioisotope used for a variety of high-impact applications (e.g., reactor startup, cancer treatment), the ability to efficiently produce 252 Cf must be preserved. In this work, the HFIRCON, Shift, ORIGEN, and TCOMP codes were deployed, and several sets of data libraries were investigated to better understand the calculation codes and the data biases. As-loaded target composition data, as-run irradiation history data, and post-irradiation measurements from recent multi-cycle irradiation campaigns of the HEU core were used to validate and determine methodology biases. Further, the findings demonstrated a good agreement, with results falling within 3 standard deviations of measurements. This paper lays the ground work for the second paper, which evaluates and compares 252 Cf production and safety metrics with the HEU core and a proposed LEU core.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

Author Correction: US oil and gas system emissions from nearly one million aerial site measurements

Correction to: Naturehttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07117-5 Published online 13 March 2024 In the version of the article initially published, several errors were present and have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article and Supplementary Information. The main results, conclusions, and our interpretations of the data remain unchanged. See the new Supplementary Information Section S15 for a more detailed description of the errors corrected and the resulting effects on the analysis. Data processing and methods corrections Overflight count correction: We previously used pre-computed source coverage data for some Carbon Mapper campaigns that was computed differently than was required for our analysis. We have re-computed Carbon Mapper source coverage based on flightline polygons and source coordinates. Transition point computation, well sites: The updated version now correctly compares the cumulative emissions distribution of simulated well site emissions with that of aerially detected sources (rather than plumes) when computing the transition point. Transition point computation, midstream: Additionally, the transition point calculation has been corrected to exclude aerially detected midstream emissions below the transition point, which was previously leading to double counting of these emissions. This error was not present for upstream (well site) emissions. Calculation errors Unit error: We corrected a specific unit conversion error affecting well site emissions in the Kairos Fort Worth dataset. Across all datasets, we also correct the conversion factor for converting from standard volume to mass for midstream emissions. Sorting error: We correct code that was applying incorrect sorting when computing correction factors to account for partial detection at well sites. Small typographical corrections were made in Fig. 1b and SI Section S4.1. Data processing and methods corrections Overflight count correction: We previously used pre-computed source coverage data for some Carbon Mapper campaigns that was computed differently than was required for our analysis. We have re-computed Carbon Mapper source coverage based on flightline polygons and source coordinates. Transition point computation, well sites: The updated version now correctly compares the cumulative emissions distribution of simulated well site emissions with that of aerially detected sources (rather than plumes) when computing the transition point. Transition point computation, midstream: Additionally, the transition point calculation has been corrected to exclude aerially detected midstream emissions below the transition point, which was previously leading to double counting of these emissions. This error was not present for upstream (well site) emissions. Calculation errors Unit error: We corrected a specific unit conversion error affecting well site emissions in the Kairos Fort Worth dataset. Across all datasets, we also correct the conversion factor for converting from standard volume to mass for midstream emissions. Sorting error: We correct code that was applying incorrect sorting when computing correction factors to account for partial detection at well sites. Small typographical corrections were made in Fig. 1b and SI Section S4.1. The following practices may help researchers conducting similar analyses avoid making similar errors: 1, Clear, accessible documentation explaining the interpretation of all columns in data input tables and all internal variables within the model, 2, Simple cross-check calculations computed before and after unit conversions.

Sherwin, Evan D↗

Hawai‘i National Marine Renewable Energy Center (HINMREC)

The Hawaii National Marine Renewable Energy Center (HINMREC) was established to facilitate the commercialization of wave energy converter (WEC) devices, and to accelerate development and testing of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technologies. Housed at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) of the University of Hawaii (UH), this program started with execution of the contract between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and UH in March 2009, and activities ran through the end of the project in September 2019. The DOE tasked HINMREC with facilitating and accelerating the build-out of the Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS), the nation’s first grid-connected open water wave energy conversion test facility, located off Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) in Kaneohe, on the island of Oahu. WETS was expanded from an existing test berth at 30m water depth to include test berths at 60m and 80m water depths. In recognition of the high costs associated with at-sea testing and evaluation of WEC devices, it was deemed imperative that HINMREC seek ways to reduce costs to developers by providing key research support to these early-stage technologies. WETS and HINMREC’s support allowed development of wave energy technology by providing a testing infrastructure that allows technology developers to test, demonstrate and evaluate their WEC devices, and generate data in order to advance WEC designs toward commercial readiness. HINMREC’s roles have included support in the establishment of the full site, including of wave resource characterization and site survey, followed by the essential roles of independent WEC device power performance assessment and environmental monitoring in support of deployed pre-commercial WECs. This DOE-funded work transitioned effectively to continue Navy-funded tasks for OTEC development, and activities at WETS, now under Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) funding. A secondary objective in the establishment of HINMREC was to assist the private sector in moving OTEC systems beyond proof-of-concept to pre-commercialization, primarily focused on system and component engineering, and local and global investigations into the potential environmental impacts of OTEC systems. HINMREC was tasked with maintaining high-resolution models of ocean thermal resources and the potential sustainable power output of OTEC systems. Ongoing tests begun previously under Navy funding at the OTEC Heat Exchangers (HXs) Test Facility at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), in Kona on Hawaii Island, have been continued to identify cost-effective aluminum alloys for use in OTEC systems operating in the corrosive marine environment.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

Opening pathways for the conversion of woody biomass into sustainable aviation fuel via catalytic fast pyrolysis and hydrotreating

Meeting aggressive decarbonization targets set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will require the rapid development of technologies to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) can support these efforts by opening pathways for the conversion of woody biomass into an upgraded biogenic oil that can be further processed to SAF and other fuels. However, the absence of end-to-end experimental data for the process leads to uncertainty in the yield, product quality, costs, and sustainability of the pathway. The research presented here serves to address these needs through a series of integrated experimental campaigns in which real biomass feedstocks are converted to a final SAF product using large bench-scale continuous reactor systems. For these campaigns, the degree of catalytic upgrading during CFP was varied to produce CFP-oils with oxygen contents of 17 and 20 wt% on a dry basis. The CFP-oils were then hydrotreated and distilled into gasoline, diesel, and SAF fractions. Detailed yield and compositional data were obtained for each step of the process to inform technoeconomic and lifecycle analyses, and the fuel properties of the SAF fraction were evaluated to provide first-of-its-kind insight into the quality of the final product. This research reveals opportunities to optimize process carbon efficiency by tuning the degree of catalytic upgrading during the CFP step and highlights routes to produce a high-quality cycloalkane-rich SAF with 85–92% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil-based pathways.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Data for "Gold-Induced Chemical Perturbations in CdTe-Based Photovoltaic Cells"

Back contacting p-type CdTe has been identified as one of the major areas of loss in CdTe photovoltaic (PV) power conversion efficiency (PCE). In research settings, Au is a common contact material due to its ease of use and decent performance. This work provides a detailed investigation into using gold for back contacting As-doped, CdCl2 treated, polycrystalline CdTe that has been exposed to air after absorber processing, another routine practice. First, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) is used to determine the native oxide to be 1.6 nm of CdTeO3 using a combination of angle-resolved XPS and the cadmium modified Auger parameter. During gold metallization of CdTe, oxygen and oxidized tellurium are eliminated from the thin CdTeO3 native oxide. The fate of the released oxygen and possibly cadmium and tellurium are not known, but these reaction byproducts can enter the absorber bulk or grain boundaries, stay at the interface, or dissolve in the Au. Interfacial hole barriers between CdTe and Au are measured for samples with and without the native oxide present prior to metallization. Results show that the thin CdTeO3 alleviates the downward band bending by 40 meV from 470 meV to 430 meV even though it is consumed during interface formation. The implications of these chemical reactions on the device are assessed through photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy which shows losses in internal open circuit voltage (iVoc) from 820 meV to 795 meV, carrier lifetime from 123 ns to 45 ns, and PL quantum yield from 2.9x10-5 to 1.2x10-5. Modeling time-resolved PL lifetimes demonstrates the back surface recombination velocity due to metallization reduces minority carrier lifetimes. These results identify the native oxide and show that it plays an important role in mediating downward band bending along with how the back interface reaction can negatively impact device-scale parameters and reduce PV PCE.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Deriving Simulation Parameters for Storage-Type Water Heaters Using Ratings Data Produced from the Uniform Energy Factor Test Procedure: Preprint

Building energy modeling (BEM) is commonly used to estimate the energy usage of residential buildings. Uses for BEM include calculating home energy ratings, demonstrating compliance with performance-based energy codes, and establishing whether designs meet voluntary program requirements, such as ENERGY STAR® qualified homes. BEM requires simulating subsystems within the building, including storage-type water heaters. To properly simulate the in-situ performance of residential storage water heaters, it is necessary to determine key water heater parameters, including the overall heat loss coefficient (UA) and conversion efficiency (?c) of the water heater, based on the rated efficiency of the water heater. The testing procedure and rating standard for residential water heaters have recently changed: the new rating standard provides a Uniform Energy Factor (UEF) rather than the Energy Factor (EF) used previously. This paper discusses how to derive the necessary model parameters from the ratings data produced from the latest test procedure.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

Developing a Prototype Methodology to Rank CO2-EOR Wells and Assess Their Reuse Potential for Geologic Carbon Storage

This paper presents a prototype methodology to assess the possible transition of Class II carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) wells to Class VI wells. The focus is on wellbore construction materials—casing, cement, tubing, and the packer—and includes comprehensive workflows to evaluate these materials, with primary emphasis on compliance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Class VI well construction and conversion guidelines. These workflows systematically assess material properties and performance criteria to ensure regulatory compliance and optimize long-term wellbore integrity and functionality. Utilizing Python scripts and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) representations, the study automates checks on digitized Texas Railroad Commission (TRRC) data to rank wells based on workflow criteria. By emphasizing critical factors such as casing integrity, cementing techniques, tubing compatibility, and packer selection, the methodology helps well owners and operators prioritize wells for potential reuse as CO2 injection wells. Given limitations in digitized data, manual user verification is required in some sections. Future improvements include integrating non-digitized data through web scraping and machine learning techniques. This research serves as a practical guide for stakeholders, supporting environmental compliance and sustainable well operations.

geologic carbon sequestration↗

Melting rate correlation with batch properties and melter operating conditions during conversion of nuclear waste melter feeds to glasses

The rate of conversion of nuclear waste melter feed to glass is affected by the selection of melter feed materials and by melter design and operation. The melting rate correlation (MRC) is an equation that relates the glass production rate with two types of variables: (1) feed and melt properties: conversion heat, cold-cap bottom temperature, and glass melt viscosity; and (2) melter design and operation parameters: melter geometry, melter operating temperature, and gas bubbling rate. The MRC shows good agreement for an extended melting-rate data set of high-level waste (HLW) melter feeds and a data set generated for low-activity waste (LAW) melter feeds. Laboratory observation of heated melter feed samples is often used to assess the cold-cap bottom temperature of HLW melter feeds (moderately foaming feeds), but this technique appears inadequate for LAW melter feeds (vigorously foaming feeds). For LAW feeds, an adequate assessment of the cold-cap bottom temperature was achieved using evolved gas analysis, which allows identification of the collapse of primary foam for oxidized feeds. This assessment shows that the cold-cap bottom temperature for vigorously foaming LAW feeds is higher than that for moderately foaming HLW feeds. When the results of MRC are compared, LAW feeds are generally less sensitive to the bubbling rate and melt viscosity, and more sensitive to the cold-cap bottom temperature than HLW feeds. The MRC qualifies as a promising tool to support the selection of melter feed materials and melter operating conditions, which is determined from expensive independent scaled melter experiments, and sophisticated mathematical models.

Lee, Seung Min↗

The persistence and conversion of coastal foredune and swale vegetation community distributions 63 years later

Vegetation shifts can directly alter habitat dynamics and indirectly impact habitat stability relative to disturbance response. Barrier island dune habitats exhibit spatiotemporally dynamic topography that is affected by vegetation. However, vegetation distribution data can be rare and vegetation persistence is largely unknown such that species turnover over in communities can occur unnoticed. This is true despite concerns and documented cases of woody encroachment related to climate change in these ecogeomorphic habitats where physical stability to resist storm erosion varies with vegetation distribution and density. In 1956 and 1957, the vegetation of Island Beach State Park, NJ, was mapped as a permanent record for subsequent ecological study. In June 2020, we remapped the vegetation of 5.4 of 17 km north to south, seaward of the thicket community boundary. We maintained the same classification system as the historic record, physically mapping vegetation patches via GPS. We quantified changes in thicket, heather, and grass community distribution between the two time periods. Habitat persistence and conversion varied in the 63 years. Heath communities saw 80%–97% habitat loss in conversion to woody thicket. Conversely, thicket community distribution drastically increased, replacing heath where it was previously prevalent. This represents the first known documented instances of woody encroachment for Morella pensylvanica. When they did not expand, thicket communities receded landward or underwent turnover to an invasive species. Woody species of interest for dune stabilization occupied areas of similar habitat characteristics. Dune vegetation distribution persistence from 1957 to 2020 was relatively consistent and stable with the exception of heath habitat conversion. Barrier island stability is directly related to vegetation stability such that understanding where community shifts might occur over time can aid in managing and modeling efforts surrounding these dynamic ecogeomorphic habitats.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗