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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The NASA DEVELOP Model: Multidisciplinary Teams Conduct Interdisciplinary Projects to Produce Transdisciplinary Outcomes

The DEVELOP Program, part of NASA’s Earth Applied Sciences’ Capacity Building Program, conducts 50-70 feasibility studies each year that utilize Earth observations to address local decision-making challenges and help inform action. DEVELOP uses these projects as the mechanism to build skills in its participants and partner organizations to assess and apply satellite data insights to environmental decision-making processes. While organized by thematic focus (ex. water resource management, ecological forecasting, disaster management), projects use a multidisciplinary team approach with teams of students, recent graduates, early career professionals, and transitioning career professionals, bringing different disciplines, life experience, and perspectives to execute projects that have been collaboratively designed with end-user partner organizations (federal agencies, state and local governments, non-profit and for-profit organizations, and international organizations). Projects are interdisciplinary in nature as they integrate methods from multiple disciplines, with a focus on the incorporation of satellite data with other data sources such as socioeconomic and demographic data, in situ measurements, model outputs, and partners’ knowledge, and take place under the guidance of science advisors from NASA, academia, and other partner organizations. The culmination of these multidisciplinary teams working on projects that draw from interdisciplinary methods and approaches, is a transdisciplinary solution for the partner organizations to explore further for potential adoption. This presentation will highlight the DEVELOP model of co-production and collaboration, lessons learned integrating people and project methodologies, and impact assessment activities surrounding the program’s efforts.

Capacity Building↗
NASA NTRS2022

Projecting Power Converter Specific Power Through 2050 for Aerospace Applications

In order to analyze the potential fuel burn benefit from the electrification of aircraft powertrains, it is important to quantify the amount of weight that will be added to the aircraft for each additional component of the electric powertrain. This paper provides a projection of the specific power and efficiency of power converters, (AC-DC, DC-AC, or DC-DC), through the year 2050. Data was first collected on state of the art power converters in multiple application areas, creating a power converter database. Relevant specific powers were added to a set of historical data from 1976-2020, and then three different logistic curves were fit through the historical data to represent S-curve shaped growth through the year 2050. The three curves were differentiated by conservative, nominal, and aggressive assumptions for the year in which the logistic curve begins to bend down towards slower growth. With a 30% knockdown factor accounting for the additional weight required for a high altitude converter, projections range from the aggressive specific power projection of 52.9 kW/kg in 2050 to a much more conservative specific power of 12 kW/kg in which growth is limited due to certifiability concerns. Little historical data was found on converter efficiencies to project efficiency based on historical trends. Projections are based on expert opinion on yearly decreases in converter losses. 2050 projections range from 0.987 to 0.997.

fuel burn↗
NASA NTRS2023

Heat Stress to Jeopardize Crop Production in the US Corn Belt Based on Downscaled CMIP5 Projections

CONTEXT Global food security faces increasing challenges from the changing climate. Changes of agricultural output from some of the most productive regions such as the US Corn Belt can largely affect the world's food market. Developing predictive understanding of the agricultural risk of climate change and potential mitigation strategies is critical for the global food security. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to assess the responses of maize and soybean yield to projected climate changes in the Corn Belt, identify the shifting environment stressors on crop yield, and tackle potential climate adaptation strategies. METHODS We drive a process-based model, the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer, with high-resolution statistically downscaled and bias-corrected historical and future climates from ten CMIP5 models in the MACA-2 database. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The multi-model ensemble mean suggests a 12% decrease of maize yield by mid-century and 40% by late century, with a high degree of model consensus in the direction of changes; for individual models, the projected decrease of maize yield by late century ranges from <5% to over 80%, with the worst crop outcome corresponding to the most sensitive climate models. Soybean yield is projected to increase by midcentury with a high degree of model consensus, but such consensus is lost by late century as some projections shift to significant decreases. Crop yield in the Corn Belt is currently limited by water stress, but is projected to be increasingly limited by heat stress as well after the midcentury. The mounting heat stress will drive the most productive zone for maize to shift from central to northern part of the Corn Belt, but the projected increase in the northern states cannot fully compensate for the decrease in the south, causing the total production to decrease if agricultural practice stays the same. Earlier planting can alleviate only a small fraction of the heat-induced crop loss in a warmer climate. Climate change will (at least partially) offset the yield boost caused by agricultural technology and intensification. SIGNIFICANCE This study advances our predictive understanding of crop yield responses to climate change, and suggests that a multitude of strategies will be needed to address the climate change challenges for the U.S. agriculture.

Crop yield↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Conclusions of A Mini Technical Interchange Meeting on New Cross Risk Integration Projects Managed By the NASA Space Radiation Element

To enable deep space exploration and sustained human presence in space, the NASA Human Research Program’s (HRP) Space Radiation Element (SRE) funds research to characterize and mitigate adverse health outcomes from exposure to space radiation. Recently, the Space Radiation Element was tasked with supporting multiple HRP Elements with innovative and enabling projects to inform risk characterization, facilitate mitigation activities, and support crew health and performance. These projects, such as precision health initiative, NASA Omics Archive (NOA) and human sample repositories, are agnostic to any HRP Element, hence the name, Cross Risk Integration Projects (CRIP). CRIP serves three broad purposes: Services: Generate samples/data or manage the receipt, inventory, archive and ultimate redistribution of biospecimens created in HRP-funded spaceflight and analog research activities – includes NASA Omics Archive (NOA) project and various human and animal sample repositories. Method Development: Identify and evaluate, new-to-NASA research or analysis methods or techniques – includes TRRaC (Translational Radiation Research and Countermeasures) Project. Enabling Capabilities: Demonstrate real world application by adapting, adopting and/or developing capabilities to benefit crew health & performance and improve risk – includes Precision Health Initiative (Pharmacogenomics) and advanced biological systems and engineered tissue microsystems initiative (tissue chips, organ-on-a-chip). To identify new technologies, future work, and solicitations, the SRE organizes themed sessions at annual HRP Investigators’ Workshops (IWS). These technical interchange meetings (TIMs) provide a venue for the scientific community to present ongoing work and engage in open discussion, limitations of current approaches, and incorporation of novel experimental strategies and other innovative techniques. Here a summary and lessons learned from the SRE-sponsored mini-TIM titled “Space Radiation Cross Risk Integrations Projects” at HRP IWS 2024 will be communicated. The 90-min TIM had 6 speakers who presented impressive novel ideas and work This poster presents the outcomes of the session along with proposed future workshops and other SRE initiatives.

Janapriya Saha↗
NASA NTRS2024

Conclusions of a Mini Technical Interchange Meeting on New Cross Risk Integration Projects Managed by the NASA Space Radiation Element

To enable deep space exploration and sustained human presence in space, the NASA Human Research Program’s (HRP) Space Radiation Element (SRE) funds research to characterize and mitigate adverse health outcomes from exposure to space radiation that include risks of carcinogenesis, cardiovascular disease, and central nervous system decrements. Recently, the SRE was tasked with supporting multiple HRP Elements with innovative and enabling projects to inform risk characterization, facilitate mitigation activities, and support crew health and performance. These projects, such as precision health initiative, NASA Omics Archive (NOA) and human sample repositories, are agnostic to any HRP Element, hence the name, Cross-Risk Integration Projects (CRIP). CRIP serves 3 broad purposes: - Services: Generate samples and data and manage the receipt, inventory, archive, and ultimate redistribution of biospecimens created in HRP-funded spaceflight and analog research activities—includes NASA Omics Archive project and various human and animal sample repositories. - Method Development: Identify and evaluate new-to-NASA research or analysis methods or techniques that could fundamentally improve existing or planned research efforts—includes the Translational Radiation Research and Countermeasures Project. - Enabling Capabilities: Demonstrate real-world application by adapting, adopting, and/or developing capabilities to benefit crew health and performance and improve risk mitigation—includes Precision Health Initiative (Pharmacogenomics) and advanced biological systems and engineered tissue microsystems initiative (tissue chips, organ-on-a-chip). To identify new technologies, future work, and solicitations, the SRE organizes themed sessions at annual HRP Investigators’ Workshops (IWS). These technical interchange meetings (TIMs) provide a venue for the scientific community to present ongoing work and engage in open discussion of results, limitations of current approaches, and incorporation of novel experimental strategies, model systems, and other innovative techniques. Here, a summary of the studies presented at the SRE-sponsored mini-TIM at the HRP IWS along with the goals and objectives of the CRIP projects is communicated. The 90-min TIM had 6 speakers who presented impressive novel ideas and work, some of which are funded under CRIP by the Space Radiation Element.

Janapriya Saha↗
DOE OSTI2018

Projects without a purpose: Why a top down strategy to resilience matters

Energy resilience is a key focus of the current administration and Department of Defense (DoD) leaders, and is in the title of every energy conference session. Most case studies and success stories focus on resilience projects hardening systems or microgriding critical infrastructure. Some case studies focus on unique financing approaches to bring private sector innovation and increased investment to military installations. Many times, what initially look like innovative resilience projects, end as isolated systems or stranded infrastructure. This article will explore how the DoD can make greater strides advancing resilience objectives and ultimately developing projects that support installation mission readiness by first focusing on top down strategies. The Army established energy and water security/resilience requirements, developed a comprehensive measurement framework, is evolving integrated planning approaches in collaboration with local communities, and is supporting project development activities across third-party and appropriated programs. The Army’s multi-year strategic energy and water security planning activities can provide helpful guidance to both the lifecycle of programs or individual projects, and ensure resilience projects both have and achieve a purpose.

Army↗
DOE OSTI2017

RESolution Project Management Tool

The Resolution Project Management Tool is designed to provide a light, yet comprehensive, application to facilitate the management of scientific and research and development projects. The approach to the tool is minimalistic in nature; only require the minimum, essential information needed to facilitate the management of a project and display it in a simple, noncomplex format. The simple platform provides for the collaborative identification, monitoring and status of the essential elements of a project: scope, schedule, cost, risks, changes and reporting. Additionally, the tool provides the ability to create and monitor portfolios of projects without complex or over-burdensome user interfaces or data requirements. The novelty of the tool is the unique selectivity of the data required to manage a project combined with the simple and clear user interface.

Capps, Greg↗
DOE OSTI2018

Applicability of HBU Fuel Cask R and D Project to Al Clad Fuel Storage - 18558

Aluminum clad spent nuclear fuel (SNF) not destined to be reprocessed at Savannah River's H Canyon will eventually be moved from existing wet and dry storage facilities into standardized dry storage systems (e.g., Universal Canisters), ideally suited for disposal. With the current lack of disposal capacity in the U.S., placement of this SNF into dry storage requires plans for demonstrating to the regulator the safety of both the extended storage and the subsequent transportation to a future disposal facility of this SNF. For commercial SNF, concerns related to extended dry storage and subsequent transportation have been, and continue to be, addressed through several demonstration projects including, but not limited to, one for the lower burnup SNF at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and one for the higher burnup SNF at Dominion's North Anna Power Station. Lessons learned from the more recent Orano led higher burnup demonstration project (HBU Demo Project) provides relevant information for advancing the concept of a 'smart cask' system for dry interim storage, which will allow for collection of data to support the safety demonstration for extended dry storage and subsequent transportation of the aluminum clad SNF. This 'smart cask' would eliminate the need for multiple demonstration projects that may have to be performed for different types of aluminum clad SNF designs and/or for potentially age distinguishing parameters, such as burnup or initial enrichment. This 'smart cask' would be developed and deployed by leveraging the HBU Demo Project's experience associated with modifying and deploying a TN-32B bolted carbon steel vertical storage cask system to monitor key parameters related to the criticality, structural, confinement, and thermal safety of the SNF and the canister system containing this SNF. This paper will focus on how the extensive design, licensing, and fabrication experience accumulated by the HBU Demo Project's cask system can be leveraged to support the design, licensing, and fabrication of a 'smart cask' system intended to support/confirm the interim dry storage, potential extended storage, and subsequent transportation of aluminum clad SNF, such as the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) SNF. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

An Information Template for Evaluating the Relative Priority of Remediation Projects that Pose a Risk to Receptors - 18674

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has one of the largest remediation tasks in the world, in terms of the number of sites, the complexity of individual sites, the number of remediation projects at individual sites, and the full range of stakeholders involved. The question of how to decide what projects to initiate, at any point of time and how to prioritize the deployment of resources for these tasks, occurs both within and among sites. The Consortium for Risk Evaluation developed a Risk-informed Prioritization Framework for Oak Ridge Reservation. Our goal was to develop a risk-informed methodology for prioritizing remediation projects for the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation that can be adapted to other remediation projects elsewhere. The heart of the framework is a template that includes information about each site necessary to make prioritization decisions. The information in the template describes the environment (hazard, pathway, consequences), the receptors (workers, public, ecological) and the risk management considerations (cost, risk reduction effectiveness, capacity, efficiency and sequencing). The questions in the template provide a wide range of information that managers and regulators need to make decisions, and that Tribes and the public need to evaluate the efficacy of remediation decisions. Completing the template will also help identify data gaps, model parameters needed, and the agencies or individuals responsible for obtaining the information. The information presented in the Template will be useful for regulators (DOE, Environmental Protection Agency, states, Tribes), managers and workers at the sites, trustees of natural resources, site neighbors, and the general public, but more importantly, provides an example of information needed to rate the priority of remediation projects. DOE, other federal and state trustees, and regulators were included in all phases of the development, including the scope, overseeing its development, and evaluation of projects. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

The Development of a Small-Scale Project Model for Waste Management at the Port Hope Conversion Facility - 19126

Cameco Corporation's (Cameco) Port Hope Conversion Facility (PHCF) was previously owned by the federal Crown Corporation, Eldorado Nuclear, which held a significant inventory of legacy waste material at the time Cameco was formed in 1988. Over time, Cameco's ongoing operations contributed to an increase in the volume of low-level radioactive waste managed onsite. Since 2011, Cameco has completed annual waste management campaigns with the goal of accelerating the recycle/disposal of accumulated legacy radioactive wastes stored at its Ontario operations. With disposal options for low-level radioactively contaminated wastes in Canada limited due to cost considerations and no commercially accessible landfills licensed for radioactive material. In recent years, Cameco has started to ship marginally contaminated wastes (<500 ppm uranium) to the United States for disposal in an appropriate landfill owned by US Ecology in Idaho. Numerous successful campaigns totaling over 1,000 successful shipments, have been completed to transport drummed and/or bagged material by rail in gondola cars to the disposal facility in Idaho since 2011. All shipments have been completed in compliance with all environmental regulations, with a perfect compliance record maintained to date. To achieve this excellent compliance record, the campaigns require careful planning by both organizations, as well as deployment of personnel from the Idaho facility during the campaign for project management, characterization and/or radiation monitoring support. As the accumulated waste inventory has been reduced through these projects, the scope and duration of each campaign has also decreased. In the last few years, road transport directly to the Idaho facility has also been utilized. This option allows for the deployment of small projects that may be completed for a smaller inventory of a specific waste type and to manage newly-generated low-level radioactive wastes on an ongoing basis. These projects have ranged from a single standard van shipment to multiple trucks running continuous loops between the Ontario and Idaho or Ontario and an intermediary site and have been utilized for marginally contaminated wastes (<500 ppm uranium) as well as marginally contaminated wastes with additional hazard classification. Cameco and US Ecology personnel have collaborated to develop characterization and shipment procedures that enable these projects to be executed in full compliance with all Canadian and US regulations, without deployment of personnel from the Idaho facility, while maintaining adequate oversight by both organizations to ensure that the waste is safely and compliantly managed. These protocols have been implemented and optimized for the Port Hope Conversion Facility and will be rolled out to other Cameco facilities in Ontario through 2019. Cameco expects to utilize the small project model for the long term to ensure that eligible marginally contaminated wastes (<500 ppm uranium) are managed appropriately to ensure that once the legacy material is eliminated, it remains so. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Panel Session 12: Featured Country Canada - Engaging the Public and Indigenous Groups in Canadian Waste and D and D Projects

This panel will share insights from those directly involved in the dialogue among members of the Canadian public, elected officials of host communities, indigenous groups, project proponents, and the Canadian regulator. History has shown time and again that the early and meaningful engagement of stakeholders must go hand-in-hand with technical solutions in order to assure the successful start and finish of waste management and decommissioning projects. In this panel discussion, the requirements for consultation and communication, the tools and strategies used, the results of efforts to date, and plans will be addressed by those at the center of some of Canada's biggest and most controversial radioactive waste projects. Presentations proposed include: 1 - Engaging the Public and Indigenous Groups in Canadian Waste and D and D Projects (Candida Cianci, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (Canada)); 2 - Indigenous Engagement (Bob Watts, Nuclear Waste Management Organization (Canada)); 3 - Engaging the Public and Indigenous Groups Related to Canadian Waste and D and D Projects (Patrick Quinn, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (Canada)); 4 - Engaging the Public and Indigenous Groups in Canadian Waste and D and D Projects Canadian Association of Nuclear Host Communities Point of View (Blair Skinner, Local Government District of Pinawa, Manitoba (Canada))

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Feedback from International Decommissioning Planning Projects - 20269

Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants is an increasing reality in many countries with nuclear power. Already many years before final shutdown, planning of the decommissioning work is usually started in order to understand for example the costs, waste volume capacity and licensing work needed. In many countries it is required to have a final decommissioning plan before any decommissioning work is allowed to start. Westinghouse has been involved in international decommissioning planning for more than 30 years, where the first 20 years was mostly funding and preliminary plans due to that decommissioning was many years away. However, as many more plants are now moving into decommissioning, the focus has shifted to final decommissioning plans with budgets instead of funding plans, strategic decisions instead of choices, waste volume specifications instead of estimates and a defined approach instead of what ifs. Westinghouse has developed a methodology based on the planning and execution of many decommissioning projects in Europe, America and Asia. That international experience and understanding helps the customers to adopt a systematic planning process where strategy development is done with the end state in mind, where the goals are clearly outlined and the starting point described. The process and steps to reach the desired end state need to be clearly defined and all options/alternatives evaluated from a cost/benefit point of view. This is followed by a thorough and quantitative risk analysis in order to give solid recommendations and credible conclusions. One important feedback has been that real decommissioning experience from reference projects is invaluable for an efficient and timely progress in order not to spend unnecessary time and effort on understanding the barriers and links between different activities in decommissioning. Skilled project managers or engineers can drive the project forward, but without decommissioning experience previously gained, valuable lessons learned are not used and the same mistakes can be made again. Many utilities have invested in knowledge transfer from other decommissioning projects through site visits, exchange programs and supplier meetings, which is a valuable asset and way of implementing lessons learned from performed decommissioning projects into the planning process. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Wetter California Projected by CMIP6 Models With Observational Constraints Under a High GHG Emission Scenario

As the world's fifth-largest economy entity, California (CA) is vulnerable to climate changes especially the magnitude of winter (wet season) precipitation that is closely linked to regional drought severity, vegetation growth, and wildfire activities. However, the fate of CA precipitation in the future remains highly uncertain, for example, the state-of-the-art Earth system models (ESMs) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) projected –3% to +42% and –27% to +63% precipitation changes in northern and central-southern CA, respectively, under the high greenhouse gas (GHG) emission scenario (SSP585). In this work, we applied the Pareto optimality concept and used observed teleconnection patterns (causal relationships between ocean regions and CA precipitation) to mechanistically constrain CMIP6 projected CA precipitations. We estimated that precipitation will robustly increase by 0.4–1.3 mm d –1 (10–34%) over northern CA and increase by 0.1–0.5 mm d –1 (7–32%) over central-southern CA by the end of the 21st century compared with present-day. Up to 71% of ESM projection uncertainties were reduced mainly due to the strong and consistent causal relationship between North American west coast sea level pressure and CA precipitation in both observations and CMIP6 models. Our results suggest that teleconnection patterns are powerful mechanistic constraints that can help explain and reduce uncertainties in ESM projections.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Project 57 Air Monitoring Report: (Jan 1 - Dec 31 2018)

During the late 1950s, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) (now the U.S. Department of Energy [DOE]) conducted a series of safety experiments to determine if a nuclear device subjected to a large conventional explosives detonation would result in a nuclear yield. The AEC obtained temporary use of a large portion of western Emigrant Valley from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for one of these experiments: Project 57. Following the Project 57 safety experiment, the AEC fenced the contaminated area and returned control of the surrounding land to the DOD. Emigrant Valley is part of the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). For safety and security reasons, access to the NTTR is controlled using both physical (i.e., fences) and administrative (e.g., signs and postings) controls. Therefore, the public cannot access the Project 57 site and there are no known human receptors that routinely access the site. Project 57 was detonated on April 24, 1957, in Emigrant Valley approximately 13 mi (21 km) northeast of the north end of Yucca Flat. This test was undertaken to develop: (1) a means of estimating immediate distribution and long-term redistribution of plutonium dispersed during a nonnuclear detonation; (2) biomedical evaluation techniques for use in likely plutonium-laden environments; (3) methods of decontaminating ground areas, pavements, and building materials; and (4) alpha survey instruments and field monitoring procedures to promptly estimate contaminant deposition. Although the test did not result in the fission of nuclear materials, it did disseminate plutonium across the ground surface. Various radiological surveys have been performed in the area since Project 57 was conducted. The AEC delineated the area containing radioactive material based on radioactivity surveys performed shortly after the test was conducted. A designated Contamination Area (CA), marked by a fence, was established later. The distribution of americium-241 (Am-241) in the area was determined again in a 1997 flyover, which showed Am-241 ranging from as much as 70,000 counts per second (cps) at ground zero to background (<70 cps). This survey also documented Am-241 radioactivity on the ground surface beyond the east side CA fence at levels of up to 150 cps. In 2007, the DOE expanded the CA by posting “Contamination Area” signs 200 ft to 400 ft (60 m to 120 m) beyond the original fence, which formed a new CA boundary.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Cost Projections for Utility-Scale Battery Storage: 2023 Update

In this work we describe the development of cost and performance projections for utility-scale lithium-ion battery systems, with a focus on 4-hour duration systems. The projections are developed from an analysis of recent publications that include utility-scale storage costs. The suite of publications demonstrates wide variation in projected cost reductions for battery storage over time. We use the recent publications to create low, mid, and high cost projections. Projected storage costs are $245/kWh, $326/kWh, and $403/kWh in 2030 and $159/kWh, $226/kWh, and $348/kWh in 2050. Battery variable operations and maintenance costs, lifetimes, and efficiencies are also discussed, with recommended values selected based on the publications surveyed.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Evaluating the Implications of Climate Projections on Heat Hardiness Zones for Green Infrastructure Planning

Background: Green Infrastructure (GI) is widely being promoted as an adaptation strategy for urban flooding. Like urban flooding, tree species could be impacted by future climatic conditions. However, there have been limited studies on the implications of future climate on GI planning, mostly due to the lack of climate data at higher spatial resolutions. Objective: Here in this paper, we analyze the implications of climate projections on heat hardiness zones since this could impact the GI landscape in the coming years. This is an extension of our earlier work on evaluating impacts of climate projections on plant hardiness zones. Method: Using downscaled daily temperature data from ten Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate models for the historical (1980-2005) and projected (2025-2050) periods, we analyzed future heat hardiness zones in the watershed bounding Knox County, TN. We analyzed the implications of these outputs for the current list of suggested native and non-native tree species selected for GI in the study area. Results: All the models suggest that a considerable part of the study area will move into the next warmer heat zone. While most trees remain suitable for GI, several are at the limit of their ideal heat zones. Conclusion: The insights from this study will help to guide the selection and placement of GI across the study area. Specifically, it should help green infrastructure planners design better mitigation and adaptation strategies to achieve higher returns on investments as more cities are now investing in GI projects.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1994

Reengineering the Project Design Process

In response to NASA's goal of working faster, better and cheaper, JPL has developed extensive plans to minimize cost, maximize customer and employee satisfaction, and implement small- and moderate-size missions. These plans include improved management structures and processes, enhanced technical design processes, the incorporation of new technology, and the development of more economical space- and ground-system designs. The Laboratory's new Flight Projects Implementation Office has been chartered to oversee these innovations and the reengineering of JPL's project design process, including establishment of the Project Design Center and the Flight System Testbed. Reengineering at JPL implies a cultural change whereby the character of its design process will change from sequential to concurrent and from hierarchical to parallel. The Project Design Center will support missions offering high science return, design to cost, demonstrations of new technology, and rapid development. Its computer-supported environment will foster high-fidelity project life-cycle development and cost estimating.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL project design concu↗
NASA NTRS2015

Projections of Rapidly Rising Temperatures over Africa Under Low Mitigation

An analysis of observed trends in African annual-average near-surface temperatures over the last five decades reveals drastic increases, particularly over parts of the subtropics and central tropical Africa. Over these regions, temperatures have been rising at more than twice the global rate of temperature increase. An ensemble of high-resolution downscalings, obtained using a single regional climate model forced with the sea-surface temperatures and sea-ice fields of an ensemble of global circulation model (GCM) simulations, is shown to realistically represent the relatively strong temperature increases observed in subtropical southern and northern Africa. The amplitudes of warming are generally underestimated, however. Further warming is projected to occur during the 21st century, with plausible increases of 4-6 C over the subtropics and 3-5 C over the tropics by the end of the century relative to present-day climate under the A2 (a low mitigation) scenario of the Special Report on Emission Scenarios. High impact climate events such as heat-wave days and high fire-danger days are consistently projected to increase drastically in their frequency of occurrence. General decreases in soil-moisture availability are projected, even for regions where increases in rainfall are plausible, due to enhanced levels of evaporation. The regional downscalings presented here, and recent GCM projections obtained for Africa, indicate that African annual-averaged temperatures may plausibly rise at about 1.5 times the global rate of temperature increase in the subtropics, and at a somewhat lower rate in the tropics. These projected increases although drastic, may be conservative given the model underestimations of observed temperature trends. The relatively strong rate of warming over Africa, in combination with the associated increases in extreme temperature events, may be key factors to consider when interpreting the suitability of global mitigation targets in terms of African climate change and climate change adaptation in Africa.

climate change↗