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NASA NTRS2006

A Decade of Friction Stir Welding R and D at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and a Glance into the Future

Welding at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, Alabama, has taken a new direction through the last 10 years. Fusion welding processes, namely variable polarity plasma arc (VPPA) and tungsten inert gas (TIG) were once the corner stone of welding development in the Space Flight Center's welding laboratories, located in the part of MSFC know as National Center for Advanced Manufacturing (NCM). Developed specifically to support the Shuttle Program's External Tank and later International Space Station manufacturing programs, was viewed as the paragon of welding processes for joining aluminum alloys. Much has changed since 1994, however, when NASA's Jeff Ding brought the FSW process to the NASA agency. Although, at that time, FSW was little more than a "lab curiosity", NASA researchers started investigating where the FSW process would best fit NASA manufacturing programs. A laboratory FSW system was procured and the first welds were made in fall of 1995. The small initial investment NASA made into the first FSW system has certainly paid off for the NASA agency in terms of cost savings, hardware quality and notoriety. FSW is now a part of Shuttle External Tank (ET) production and the preferred weld process for the manufacturing of components for the new Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) and Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLLV) that will take this country back to the moon. It is one of the solid state welding processes being considered for on-orbit space welding and repair, and is of considerable interest for Department of Defense @OD) manufacturing programs. MSFC involvement in these and other programs makes NASA a driving force in this country's development of FSW and other solid state welding technologies. Now, a decade later, almost the entire on-going welding R&D at MSFC now focuses on FSW and other more advanced solid state welding processes.

Ding, Jeff↗

NASA NTRS2008

Building on the Past - Looking to the Future: A Focus on Payload Safety

The history of the space industry stretches far and above lunar landings to the construction of the International Space Station. For years, humans have sought to understand the nature of the universe. As society grows in knowledge and curiosity of space, the focus of maintaining the safety of the crew and vehicle habitability is of utmost importance to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) community. Through the years, Payload Safety has developed not only as a Panel, but also as part of the NASA community, striving to enhance the efficiency and understanding of how business should be conducted as more International Partners become involved. This is the first in a series of papers and presentations in what is hoped to be an annual update that provides continuous challenges and lessons learned in the areas of communication, safety requirements and processes and other areas which have been vital to the Payload Safety Review Panel (PSRP).

Nash, Sally K.↗

NASA NTRS2008

The Development of Point Doppler Velocimeter Data Acquisition and Processing Software

In order to develop efficient and quiet aircraft and validate Computational Fluid Dynamic predications, aerodynamic researchers require flow parameter measurements to characterize flow fields about wind tunnel models and jet flows. A one-component Point Doppler Velocimeter (pDv), a non-intrusive, laser-based instrument, was constructed using a design/develop/test/validate/deploy approach. A primary component of the instrument is software required for system control/management and data collection/reduction. This software along with evaluation algorithms, advanced pDv from a laboratory curiosity to a production level instrument. Simultaneous pDv and pitot probe velocity measurements obtained at the centerline of a flow exiting a two-inch jet, matched within 0.4%. Flow turbulence spectra obtained with pDv and a hot-wire detected the primary and secondary harmonics with equal dynamic range produced by the fan driving the flow. Novel,hardware and software methods were developed, tested and incorporated into the system to eliminate and/or minimize error sources and improve system reliability.

Cavone, Angelo A.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Mars Mapping Technology Brings Main Street to Life

The Red Planet has long held a particular hold on the human psyche. From the Roman god of war to Orson Welles infamous Halloween broadcast, our nearest planetary neighbor has been viewed with curiosity, suspicion, and awe. Pictures of Mars from 1965 to the present reveal familiar landscapes while also challenging our perceptions and revising our understanding of the processes at work in planets. Frequent discoveries have forced significant revisions to previous theories. Although Mars shares many familiar features with Earth, such as mountains, plains, valleys, and polar ice, the conditions on Mars can vary wildly from those with which we are familiar. The apparently cold, rocky, and dusty wasteland seen through the eyes of spacecraft and Martian probes hints at a dynamic past of volcanic activity, cataclysmic meteors, and raging waters. New discoveries continue to revise our view of our next-door neighbor, and further exploration is now paving the way for a human sortie to the fourth stone from the Sun. NASA s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration, utilizes wide-angle stereo cameras mounted on NASA s twin robot geologists, the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs), launched in 2003. The rovers, named "Spirit" and "Opportunity," celebrated 4 Earth years of exploration on January 3, 2008, and have sent back a wealth of information on the terrain and composition of the Martian surface. Their marathon performance has far outlasted the intended 90 days of operation, and the two intrepid explorers promise more images and data.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2009

Santorini, Another Meteorite on Mars and Third of a Kind

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity has been studying Meridiani Planum for five years. On sol 1634 of its mission, Opportunity left Victoria crater after investigating it for approximately 682 sols [1] and is now on a journey towards Endeavour, a 24 km diameter crater about 12 km southeast of Victoria. A priority along the way is the investigation of cobbles, which in the jargon of the MER science team denotes any loose rock fragment larger than a couple of centimeters. Cobbles investigated thus far are of diverse origin [2] and provide the only means to investigate material other than the ubiquitous sulfate-rich outcrop, basaltic sand or hematiterich spherules dubbed blueberries. Some of these cobbles are meteorites [3]. Meteorites on Mars are not just a curiosity that make Mars a more Earth-like planet. Metallic iron in meteorites, for example, may be used as a more sensitive tracer for volatile surface interactions compared to igneous minerals [4]. Between sols 1713 and 1749, including the period of Mars solar conjunction, Opportunity investigated a cobble informally named Santorini. Its chemical and mineralogical composition is very similar to Barberton and Santa Catarina, two cobbles that were identified as meteorites and which are probably related to each other [3]. Santorini was investigated with the rover s Panoramic Camera (Pancam), Microscopic Imager (MI), Alpha-Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Moessbauer (MB) spectrometer. The miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (mini-TES) was not operational at the time. The Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) could not be used to brush off potential dust coatings because of unfavorable geometry.

Schroeder, C.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Connecting Research and Practice: An Experience Report on Research Infusion with SAVE

NASA systems need to be highly dependable to avoid catastrophic mission failures. This calls for rigorous engineering processes including meticulous validation and verification. However, NASA systems are often highly distributed and overwhelmingly complex, making the software portion of these systems challenging to understand, maintain, change, reuse, and test. NASA's systems are long-lived and the software maintenance process typically constitutes 60-80% of the total cost of the entire lifecycle. Thus, in addition to the technical challenges of ensuring high life-time quality of NASA's systems, the post-development phase also presents a significant financial burden. Some of NASA's software-related challenges could potentially be addressed by some of the many powerful technologies that are being developed in software research laboratories. Many of these research technologies seek to facilitate maintenance and evolution by for example architecting, designing and modeling for quality, flexibility, and reuse. Other technologies attempt to detect and remove defects and other quality issues by various forms of automated defect detection, architecture analysis, and various forms of sophisticated simulation and testing. However promising, most such research technologies nevertheless do not make the transition from the research lab to the software lab. One reason the transition from research to practice seldom occurs is that research infusion and technology transfer is difficult. For example, factors related to the technology are sometimes overshadowed by other types of factors such as reluctance to change and therefore prohibits the technology from sticking. Successful infusion might also take very long time. One famous study showed that the discrepancy between the conception of the idea and its practical use was 18 years plus or minus three. Nevertheless, infusing new technology is possible. We have found that it takes special circumstances for such research infusion to succeed: 1) there must be evidence that the technology works in the practitioner's particular domain, 2) there must be a potential for great improvements and enhanced competitive edge for the practitioner, 3) the practitioner has to have strong individual curiosity and continuous interest in trying out new technologies, 4) the practitioner has to have support on multiple levels (i.e. from the researchers, from management, from sponsors etc), and 5) to remain infused, the new technology has to be integrated into the practitioner's processes so that it becomes a natural part of the daily work. NASA IV&V's Research Infusion initiative sponsored by NASA's Office of Safety & Mission Assurance (OSMA) through the Software Assurance Research Program (SARP), strives to overcome some of the problems related to research infusion.

Lindvall, Mikael↗

NASA NTRS2010

How Cold are the Floors of Lunar Polar Shadowed Craters?

Almost five decades ago Watson, et al, [1] speculated that molecules of volatile species might accumulate within the cryogenic environments of permanently shadowed polar craters. The subject was largely a scientific curiosity until recently. In the mid-1980's, people began to seriously discuss the feasibility of long-term or permanent human settlement of the Moon. Given that the Moon was known be missing the compounds need to support life and that importing volatiles from Earth is prohibitively expensive, lunar colonists were pictured as processing the putative polar volatiles. A bistatic radar experiment performed with the Clementine spacecraft was interpreted to suggest the presence of large quantities of ice at some polar locations. [2] The neutron spectrometer aboard the Lunar Prospector spacecraft reported high concentrations of hydrogen in the polar regolith, [3] and some interpretations of the data set pointed to very high concentrations in permanently shadowed craters. The reformulation of civilian space policy in 2004, known as the Vision for Space Exploration, emphasized lunar exploration with eye toward development of economic returns from cislunar space and long-tern human presence on the Moon. The theme of finding lunar resources was an impetus for the inclusion of the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Preliminary results from Diviner report an unexpectedly low temperature down to 35K in the depths of some craters. [4]

Mendell, Wendell W.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Building on the Past - Looking to the Future. Part 2: A Focus on Expanding Horizons

The history of space endeavors stretches far from the first liquid-fueled rocket created by the father of modern rocketry, Robert Goddard, in 1926 and will certainly extend far beyond the construction of the International Space Station (ISS) scheduled to be complete with the addition of the Permanent Multipurpose Module on STS-133/ULF5. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the ISS International Partners (IPs) will be the unrelenting venue used to satisfy the curiosities of man as we seek an understanding of space through various experiments (also referred to as payloads) conducted in microgravity. The NASA Payload Safety Review Panel (PSRP) continues to serve as the lead for the review and assessment of payload hardware to assure facility and crew safety. This is the second in a series of papers and presentations that illustrate challenges and lessons learned in the areas of communication, safety requirements, and processes which have been vital to the PSRP.

Nash, Sally K.↗

NASA NTRS2011

A Comparison of Multivariate and Pre-Processing Methods for Quantitative Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy of Geologic Samples

The ChemCam instrument selected for the Curiosity rover is capable of remote laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS).[1] We used a remote LIBS instrument similar to ChemCam to analyze 197 geologic slab samples and 32 pressed-powder geostandards. The slab samples are well-characterized and have been used to validate the calibration of previous instruments on Mars missions, including CRISM [2], OMEGA [3], the MER Pancam [4], Mini-TES [5], and Moessbauer [6] instruments and the Phoenix SSI [7]. The resulting dataset was used to compare multivariate methods for quantitative LIBS and to determine the effect of grain size on calculations. Three multivariate methods - partial least squares (PLS), multilayer perceptron artificial neural networks (MLP ANNs) and cascade correlation (CC) ANNs - were used to generate models and extract the quantitative composition of unknown samples. PLS can be used to predict one element (PLS1) or multiple elements (PLS2) at a time, as can the neural network methods. Although MLP and CC ANNs were successful in some cases, PLS generally produced the most accurate and precise results.

Anderson, R. B.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Calibration of the MSL/ChemCam/LIBS Remote Sensing Composition Instrument

The ChemCam instrument suite on board the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover, Curiosity, will provide remote-sensing composition information for rock and soil samples within seven meters of the rover using a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) system, and will provide context imaging with a resolution of 0.10 mradians using the remote micro-imager (RMI) camera. The high resolution is needed to image the small analysis footprint of the LIBS system, at 0.2-0.6 mm diameter. This fine scale analytical capability will enable remote probing of stratigraphic layers or other small features the size of "blueberries" or smaller. ChemCam is intended for rapid survey analyses within 7 m of the rover, with each measurement taking less than 6 minutes. Repeated laser pulses remove dust coatings and provide depth profiles through weathering layers, allowing detailed investigation of rock varnish features as well as analysis of the underlying pristine rock composition. The LIBS technique uses brief laser pulses greater than 10 MW/square mm to ablate and electrically excite material from the sample of interest. The plasma emits photons with wavelengths characteristic of the elements present in the material, permitting detection and quantification of nearly all elements, including the light elements H, Li, Be, B, C, N, O. ChemCam LIBS projects 14 mJ of 1067 nm photons on target and covers a spectral range of 240-850 nm with resolutions between 0.15 and 0.60 nm FWHM. The Nd:KGW laser is passively cooled and is tuned to provide maximum power output from -10 to 0 C, though it can operate at 20% degraded energy output at room temperature. Preliminary calibrations were carried out on the flight model (FM) in 2008. However, the detectors were replaced in 2009, and final calibrations occurred in April-June, 2010. This presentation describes the LIBS calibration and characterization procedures and results, and details plans for final analyses during rover system thermal testing, planned for early March.

Wiens, R. C.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Hubble 2007: Science Year in Review

This book epitomizes Hubbles continuing years of glorious accomplishments, presenting a sample of the activities, operations and observations, and scientific findings from 2007. Here is our observatory. Here are a few of our talented people. Here is what we have done. NASA plans a final servicing mission to Hubble in 2008. Two powerful new instruments are to be installed, and repairs made. After the astronauts do their wonderful work, Hubble will be more capable than at any time since launch. The science community eagerly anticipates the new opportunities for research offered by a refurbished observatory. While we do not know exactly what new science stories will appear in future editions of this book, we are certain that the frontiers of science will continue to be pushed outward by the forces of human curiosity and cleverness, channeled by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble space telescope↗

NASA NTRS2011

The Quest for Organic Carbon on Mars

We are entering an era of Mars exploration in which organic carbon detection, characterization, and structural identification will be key to addressing some of the outstanding science objectives of the Mars Exploration Program. Success of these missions will depend on technical, scientific, and strategic elements--all of which are strongly determined based on terrestrial experience and knowledge of organic matter formation, concentration, and preservation. Analog studies including Precambrian sediments, modern endolithic communities, and experiments help us fine-tune these approaches, but we also need to expect the unexpected. This presentation will provide perspective on the challenges of detecting organic carbon on Mars, how we may achieve such detections with the in situ instruments, such as the SAM (Science Analysis at Mars) instrument suite onboard Curiosity, the rover for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory mission.

Eigenbrode, Jennifer↗

NASA NTRS2011

In Situ Strategy of the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory to Investigate the Habitability of Ancient Mars

The ten science investigations of the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover named "Curiosity" seek to provide a quantitative assessment of habitability through chemical and geological measurements from a highly capable robotic' platform. This mission seeks to understand if the conditions for life on ancient Mars are preserved in the near-surface geochemical record. These substantial payload resources enabled by MSL's new entry descent and landing (EDL) system have allowed the inclusion of instrument types nevv to the Mars surface including those that can accept delivered sample from rocks and soils and perform a wide range of chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical analyses. The Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) experiment that is located in the interior of the rover is a powder x-ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) instrument that provides elemental and mineralogical information. The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of instruments complements this experiment by analyzing the volatile component of identically processed samples and by analyzing atmospheric composition. Other MSL payload tools such as the Mast Camera (Mastcam) and the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) instruments are utilized to identify targets for interrogation first by the arm tools and subsequent ingestion into SAM and CheMin using the Sample Acquisition, Processing, and Handling (SA/SPaH) subsystem. The arm tools include the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and the Chemistry and Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXX). The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument provides subsurface identification of hydrogen such as that contained in hydrated minerals

Mahaffy, Paul R.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Effects of Kapton Sample Cell Windows on the Detection Limit of Smectite: Implications for CheMin on the Mars Science Laboratory Mission

The CheMin instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity is an X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrument capable of providing the mineralogical and chemical compositions of rocks and soils on the surface of Mars. CheMin uses a microfocus X-ray tube with a Co target, transmission geometry, and an energy-discriminating X-ray sensitive CCD to produce simultaneous 2-D XRD patterns and energy-dispersive X-ray histograms from powdered samples. CheMin has two different window materials used for sample cells -- Mylar and Kapton. Instrument details are provided elsewhere. Fe/Mg-smectite (e.g., nontronite) has been identified in Gale Crater, the MSL future landing site, by CRISM spectra. While large quantities of phyllosilicate minerals will be easily detected by CheMin, it is important to establish detection limits of such phases to understand capabilities and limitations of the instrument. A previous study indicated that the (001) peak of smectite at 15 Ang was detectable in a mixture of 1 wt.% smectite with olivine when Mylar is the window material for the sample cell. Complications arise when Kapton is the window material because Kapton itself also has a diffraction peak near 15 Ang (6.8 deg 2 Theta). This study presents results of mineral mixtures of smectite and olivine to determine smectite detection limits for Kapton sample cells. Because the intensity and position of the smectite (001) peak depends on the hydration state, we also analyzed mixtures with "hydrated" and "dehydrated"h smectite to examine the effects of hydration state on detection limits.

Achilles, C. N.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Protein Innovations Advance Drug Treatments, Skin Care

Dan Carter carefully layered the sheets of tracing paper on the light box. On each sheet were renderings of the atomic components of an essential human protein, one whose structure had long been a mystery. With each layer Carter laid down, a never-before-seen image became clearer. Carter joined NASA s Marshall Space Flight Center in 1985 and began exploring processes of protein crystal growth in space. By bouncing intense X-rays off the crystals, researchers can determine the electron densities around the thousands of atoms forming the protein molecules, unveiling their atomic structures. Cultivating crystals of sufficient quality on Earth was problematic; the microgravity conditions of space were far more accommodating. At the time, only a few hundred protein structures had been mapped, and the methods were time consuming and tedious. Carter hoped his work would help reveal the structure of human serum albumin, a major protein in the human circulatory system responsible for ferrying numerous small molecules in the blood. More was at stake than scientific curiosity. Albumin has a high affinity for most of the world s pharmaceuticals, Carter explains, and its interaction with drugs can change their safety and efficacy. When a medication enters the bloodstream a cancer chemotherapy drug, for example a majority of it can bind with albumin, leaving only a small percentage active for treatment. How a drug interacts with albumin can influence considerations like the necessary effective dosage, playing a significant role in the design and application of therapeutic measures. In spite of numerous difficulties, including having no access to microgravity following the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the image Carter had hoped to see was finally clarifying. In 1988, his lab had acquired specialized X-ray and detection equipment a tipping point. Carter and his colleagues began to piece together albumin s portrait, the formation of its electron densities coalescing on the sheets of tracing paper he arranged on the light box. While space-grown crystals were ultimately not involved in the achievement, a year later, Carter says, we were on the cover of Science magazine, having determined the atomic structure of albumin.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2012

Sporadic Groundwater Upwelling in Deep Martian Craters: Evidence for Lacustrine Clays and Carbonates

While the surface of Mars may have had an active hydrosphere early in its history [1], it is likely that this water retreated to the subsurface early on due to loss of the magnetic field and early atmosphere [2]. This likely resulted in the formation of two distinct aqueous regimes for Mars from the Late Noachian onward: one dominated by redistribution of surface ice and occasional melting of snow/ice [3], and one dominated by groundwater activity [4]. The excavation of alteration minerals from deep in the crust by impact craters points to an active, ancient, deep hydrothermal system [5]. Putative sapping features [6] may occur where the groundwater breached the surface. Upwelling groundwater may also have played a critical role in the formation of massive, layered, cemented sediments in Sinus Meridiani [7,8], in the Valles Marineris [9], and possibly in Gale Crater [10], where the Curiosity Rover will land later this year. Understanding the past distribution, geochemistry, and significance of groundwater on Mars is critical to untangling the origins of deep alteration minerals, Hesperian sulfate deposits, and crater fill deposits at Gale Crater or in other locations.

Michalski, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Evolved Gas Measurements Planned for the Lower Layers of the Gale Crater Mound with the Sample Analysis at Mars Instrument Suite

The lower mound strata of Gale Crater provide a diverse set of chemical environments for exploration by the varied tools of the Curiosity Rover of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mission. Orbital imaging and spectroscopy clearly reveal distinct layers of hydrated minerals, sulfates, and clays with abundant evidence of a variety of fluvial processes. The three instruments of the MSL Sample Analysis at aMars (SAM) investigation, the Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS), the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS), and the Gas Chromatograph (GC) are designed to analyze either atmospheric gases or volatiles thermally evolved or chemically extracted from powdered rock or soil. The presence or absence of organic compounds in these layers is of great interest since such an in situ search for this type of record has not been successfully implemented since the mid-60s Viking GCMS experiments. However, regardless of the outcome of the analysis for organics, the abundance and isotopic composition of thermally evolved inorganic compounds should also provide a rich data set to complement the mineralogical and elemental information provided by other MSL instruments. In addition, these evolved gas analysis (EGA) experiments will help test sedimentary models proposed by Malin and Edgett (2000) and then further developed by Milliken et al (2010) for Gale Crater. In the SAM EGA experiments the evolution temperatures of H2O, CO2, SO2, O2, or other simple compounds as the samples are heated in a helium stream to 1000 C provides information on mineral types and their associations. The isotopic composition of O, H, C, and S can be precisely determined in several evolved compounds and compared with the present day atmosphere. Such SAM results might be able to test mineralogical evidence of changing sedimentary and alteration processes over an extended period of time. For example, Bibring et al (2006) have suggested such a major shift from early nonacidic to later acidic alteration. We will illustrate through a variety of evolved gas experiments implemented under SAM-like gas flow and temperature ramp conditions on terrestrial analog minerals on high fidelity Sam breadboards the type of chemical information we expect SAM to provide.

Mahaffy, Paul↗

NASA NTRS2012

Leveraging Data Intensive Computing to Support Automated Event Services

A large portion of Earth Science investigations is phenomenon- or event-based, such as the studies of Rossby waves, mesoscale convective systems, and tropical cyclones. However, except for a few high-impact phenomena, e.g. tropical cyclones, comprehensive records are absent for the occurrences or events of these phenomena. Phenomenon-based studies therefore often focus on a few prominent cases while the lesser ones are overlooked. Without an automated means to gather the events, comprehensive investigation of a phenomenon is at least time-consuming if not impossible. An Earth Science event (ES event) is defined here as an episode of an Earth Science phenomenon. A cumulus cloud, a thunderstorm shower, a rogue wave, a tornado, an earthquake, a tsunami, a hurricane, or an EI Nino, is each an episode of a named ES phenomenon," and, from the small and insignificant to the large and potent, all are examples of ES events. An ES event has a finite duration and an associated geolocation as a function of time; its therefore an entity in four-dimensional . (4D) spatiotemporal space. The interests of Earth scientists typically rivet on Earth Science phenomena with potential to cause massive economic disruption or loss of life, but broader scientific curiosity also drives the study of phenomena that pose no immediate danger. We generally gain understanding of a given phenomenon by observing and studying individual events - usually beginning by identifying the occurrences of these events. Once representative events are identified or found, we must locate associated observed or simulated data prior to commencing analysis and concerted studies of the phenomenon. Knowledge concerning the phenomenon can accumulate only after analysis has started. However, except for a few high-impact phenomena. such as tropical cyclones and tornadoes, finding events and locating associated data currently may take a prohibitive amount of time and effort on the part of an individual investigator. And even for these high-impact phenomena, the availability of comprehensive records is still only a recent development. A major reason for the lack of comprehensive ,records for the majority of the ES phenomena is the perception that they do not pose immediate and/or severe threat to life and property and are thus not consistently tracked. monitored, and catalogued. Many phenomena even lack commonly accepted criteria for definitions. However. the lack of comprehensive records is also due to the increasingly prohibitive volume of observations and model data that must be examined. NASA Earth Observing System Data Information System (EOSDIS) alone archives several petabytes (PB) of satellite remote sensing data and steadily increases. All of these factors contribute to the difficulty of methodically identifying events corresponding to a given phenomenon and significantly impede systematic investigations. In the following we present a couple motivating scenarios, demonstrating the issues faced by Earth scientists studying ES phenomena.

Clune, Thomas L.↗