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At least 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2000

Sea Ice Motion from Wavelet Analysis of Satellite Data

Wavelet analysis of NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) backscatter and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) radiance data can be used to obtain daily sea ice drift information for the Arctic region. This technique provides improved spatial coverage over the existing array of Arctic Ocean buoys and better temporal resolution over techniques utilizing data from satellite synthetic aperture radars. Comparisons with ice motion derived from ocean buoys give good quantitative agreement. Both comparison results from NSCAT and SSM/I are compatible, and the results from NSCAT can definitely complement that from SSM/I when there are cloud or surface effects. Then three sea-ice drift daily results from NSCAT, SSM/I, and buoy data can be merged as a composite map by some data fusion techniques. The ice flow streamlines are highly correlated with surface air pressure contours. Examples of derived ice-drift maps in December 1996 illustrate large-scale circulation reversals over a period of four days. A method for deriving divergence and shear at the large-scale has been developed and comparison between buoys and satellite results shows a good agreement. These calibrated/validated results indicate that NSCAT, SSM/I merged daily ice motion are suitably accurate to identify and closely locate sea ice processes, and to improve our current knowledge of sea ice drift and related processes through the data assimilation of ocean-ice numerical model. For demonstration purpose, the ice velocities derived from satellite data are compared with the ice velocities derived from a coupled ice-ocean interaction model. The comparison reveals that the general circulation patterns of the two are quite similar but the ice velocity differences between the two are quite significant. In order to quantify the wind effects on ice motion, empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) are used in the principal component analysis for both ice motion and pressure field. Some preliminary results of sea-ice motion from QuikScat will also be presented.

Liu, Antony K.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Space/Time Statistics of Polar Ice Motion

Ice motions have been computed from passive microwave imagery (SMMR and SSM/I) on a daily basis for both Polar Regions. In the Arctic these daily motions have been merged with daily motions from AVHRR imagery and the Arctic buoy program. In the Antarctic motion only from the AVHRR were available for merging with the passive microwave vectors. Long-term means, monthly means and weekly means have all been computed from the resulting 22-year time series of polar ice motion. Papers are in preparation that present the long term (22 year) means, their variability and show animations of the monthly means over this time period for both Polar Regions. These papers will have links to "enhanced objects" that allow the reader to view the animations as part of the paper. The first paper presents the ice motion results from each of the Polar Regions. The second paper looks only at ice motion in the Arctic in order to develop a time series of ice age in the Arctic. Starting with the first full SMMR year in 1979 we keep track of each individual "ice element" (resolution of the sensor) and track it in the subsequent monthly time series. After a year we "age" each "particle" and we thus can keep track of the age of the ice starting in 1979. We keep track of ice age classes between one and five years and thus we can see the evolution of the ice as it ages after the initial 5-year period. This calculation shows how we are losing the older ice through Fram Strait at a rather alarming rate particularly in the past 15 years. This loss of older ice has resulted in an overall decrease in the thickest, oldest ice, which is now limited to a region just north of the Canadian Archipelago with tongues extending out across the pole towards the Siberian Shelf. This loss of old ice is consistent with the effects of global warming which provides the heat needed to melt, move and disperse this oldest ice through Fram Strait. This is the first step in a progression that may eventually open the Arctic ice pack and lead to an ice-free Arctic Ocean.

Emery, William J.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Airframe Icing Research Gaps: NASA Perspective

qCurrent Airframe Icing Technology Gaps: Development of a full 3D ice accretion simulation model. Development of an improved simulation model for SLD conditions. CFD modeling of stall behavior for ice-contaminated wings/tails. Computational methods for simulation of stability and control parameters. Analysis of thermal ice protection system performance. Quantification of 3D ice shape geometric characteristics Development of accurate ground-based simulation of SLD conditions. Development of scaling methods for SLD conditions. Development of advanced diagnostic techniques for assessment of tunnel cloud conditions. Identification of critical ice shapes for aerodynamic performance degradation. Aerodynamic scaling issues associated with testing scale model ice shape geometries. Development of altitude scaling methods for thermal ice protections systems. Development of accurate parameter identification methods. Measurement of stability and control parameters for an ice-contaminated swept wing aircraft. Creation of control law modifications to prevent loss of control during icing encounters. 3D ice shape geometries. Collection efficiency data for ice shape geometries. SLD ice shape data, in-flight and ground-based, for simulation verification. Aerodynamic performance data for 3D geometries and various icing conditions. Stability and control parameter data for iced aircraft configurations. Thermal ice protection system data for simulation validation.

Potapczuk, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2009

Radar Differential Phase Signatures of Ice Orientation for the Prediction of Lightning Initiation and Cessation

The majority of lightning-related casualties typically occur during thunderstorm initiation (e.g., first flash) or dissipation (e.g., last flash). The physics of electrification and lightning production during thunderstorm initiation is fairly well understood. As such, the literature includes a number of studies presenting various radar techniques (using reflectivity and, if available, other dual-polarimetric parameters) for the anticipation of initial electrification and first lightning flash. These radar techniques have shown considerable skill at forecasting first flash. On the other hand, electrical processes and lightning production during thunderstorm dissipation are not nearly as well understood and few, if any, successful techniques have been developed to anticipate the last flash and subsequent cessation of lightning. One promising approach involves the use of dual-polarimetric radar variables to infer the presence of oriented ice crystals in lightning producing storms. In the absence of strong vertical electric fields, ice crystals fall with their largest (semi-major) axis in the horizontal associated with gravitational and aerodynamic forces. In thunderstorms, strong vertical electric fields (100-200 kV m(sup -1)) have been shown to orient small (less than 2 mm) ice crystals such that their semi-major axis is vertical (or nearly vertical). After a lightning flash, the electric field is typically relaxed and prior radar research suggests that ice crystals rapidly resume their preferred horizontal orientation. In active thunderstorms, the vertical electric field quickly recovers and the ice crystals repeat this cycle of orientation for each nearby flash. This change in ice crystal orientation from primarily horizontal to vertical during the development of strong vertical electric fields prior to a lightning flash forms the physical basis for anticipating lightning initiation and, potentially, cessation. Research has shown that radar reflectivity (Z) and other co-polar back-scattering radar measurements like differential reflectivity (Z(sub dr)) typically measured by operational dual-polarimetric radars are not sensitive to these changes in ice crystal orientation. However, prior research has demonstrated that oriented ice crystals cause significant propagation effects that can be routinely measured by most dual-polarimetric radars from X-band (3 cm) to S-band (10 cm) wavelengths using the differential propagation phase shift (often just called differential phase, phi(sub dp)) or its range derivative, the specific differential phase (K(sub dp)). Advantages of the differential phase include independence from absolute or relative power calibration, attenuation, differential attenuation and relative insensitivity to ground clutter and partial beam occultation effects (as long as the signal remains above noise). In research mode, these sorts of techniques have been used to anticipate initial cloud electrification, lightning initiation, and cessation. In this study, we develop a simplified model of ice crystal size, shape, orientation, dielectric, and associated radar scattering and propagation effects in order to simulate various idealized scenarios of ice crystals responding to a hypothetical electric field and their dual-polarimetric radar signatures leading up to lightning initiation and particularly cessation. The sensitivity of the K(sub dp) ice orientation signature to various ice properties and radar wavelength will be explored. Since K(sub dp) is proportional to frequency in the Rayleigh- Gans scattering regime, the ice orientation signatures should be more obvious at higher (lower) frequencies (wavelengths). As a result, simulations at radar wavelengths from 10 cm down to 1 cm (Ka-band) will be conducted. Resonance effects will be considered using the T-matrix method. Since most K(sub dp) Vbased observations have been shown at S-band, we will present ice orientation signatures from C-band (UAH/NASA ARMOR) and X-bd (UAH MAX) dual-polarimetric radars located in Northern Alabama. Issues related to optimal radar scanning for the detection of oriented ice will be discussed. Preliminary suggestions on how these differential phase signatures of oriented ice could contribute to lightning initiation and cessation algorithms will be presented.

Carey, L.D.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Examination of Icing Induced Loss of Control and Its Mitigations

Factors external to the aircraft are often a significant causal factor in loss of control (LOC) accidents. In today s aviation world, very few accidents stem from a single cause and typically have a number of causal factors that culminate in a LOC accident. Very often the "trigger" that initiates an accident sequence is an external environment factor. In a recent NASA statistical analysis of LOC accidents, aircraft icing was shown to be the most common external environmental LOC causal factor for scheduled operations. When investigating LOC accident or incidents aircraft icing causal factors can be categorized into groups of 1) in-flight encounter with super-cooled liquid water clouds, 2) take-off with ice contamination, or 3) in-flight encounter with high concentrations of ice crystals. As with other flight hazards, icing induced LOC accidents can be prevented through avoidance, detection, and recovery mitigations. For icing hazards, avoidance can take the form of avoiding flight into icing conditions or avoiding the hazard of icing by making the aircraft tolerant to icing conditions. Icing detection mitigations can take the form of detecting icing conditions or detecting early performance degradation caused by icing. Recovery from icing induced LOC requires flight crew or automated systems capable of accounting for reduced aircraft performance and degraded control authority during the recovery maneuvers. In this report we review the icing induced LOC accident mitigations defined in a recent LOC study and for each mitigation describe a research topic required to enable or strengthen the mitigation. Many of these research topics are already included in ongoing or planned NASA icing research activities or are being addressed by members of the icing research community. These research activities are described and the status of the ongoing or planned research to address the technology needs is discussed

Reehorst, Andrew L.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Independent Effects of Reynolds and Mach Numbers on the Aerodynamics of an Iced Swept Wing

Aerodynamic assessment of icing effects on swept wings is an important component of a larger effort to improve three-dimensional icing simulation capabilities. An understanding of ice-shape geometric fidelity and Reynolds and Mach number effects on the iced-wing aerodynamics is needed to guide the development and validation of ice-accretion simulation tools. To this end, wind-tunnel testing was carried out for a 13.3%-scale semispan wing based upon the Common Research Model airplane configuration. The wind-tunnel testing was conducted at the ONERA F1 pressurized wind tunnel with Reynolds numbers of 1.6×10(exp 6) to 11.9×10(exp 6) and Mach numbers of 0.09 to 0.34. Five different configurations were investigated using fully 3D, high-fidelity artificial ice shapes that maintain nearly all of the 3D ice accretion features documented in prior icing-wind tunnel tests. These large, leadingedge ice shapes were nominally based upon airplane holding in icing conditions scenarios. For three of these configurations, lower-fidelity simulations were also built and tested. The results presented in this paper show that while Reynolds and Mach number effects are important for quantifying the clean-wing performance, there is very little to no effect for an iced-wing with 3D, high-fidelity artificial ice shapes or 3D smooth ice shapes with grit roughness. These conclusions are consistent with the large volume of past research on icedairfoils. However, some differences were also noted for the associated stalling angle of the iced swept wing and for various lower-fidelity versions of the leading-edge ice accretion. More research is planned to further investigate the key features of ice accretion geometry that must be simulated in lower-fidelity versions in order to capture the essential aerodynamics.

Broeren, Andy P.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Antarctic Ice Shelf Thickness Change from Multimission Lidar Mapping

We calculate rates of ice thickness change and bottom melt for ice shelves in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula from a combination of elevation measurements from NASA–CECS Antarctic ice mapping campaigns and NASA Operation IceBridge corrected for oceanic processes from measurements and models, surface velocity measurements from synthetic aperture radar, and high-resolution outputs from regional climate models. The ice thickness change rates are calculated in a Lagrangian reference frame to reduce the effects from advection of sharp vertical features, such as cracks and crevasses, that can saturate Eulerian-derived estimates. We use our method over different ice shelves in Antarctica, which vary in terms of size, repeat coverage from airborne altimetry, and dominant processes governing their recent changes. We find that the Larsen-C Ice Shelf is close to steady state over our observation period with spatial variations in ice thickness largely due to the flux divergence of the shelf. Firn and surface processes are responsible for some short-term variability in ice thickness of the Larsen-C Ice Shelf over the time period. The Wilkins Ice Shelf is sensitive to short-timescale coastal and upper-ocean processes, and basal melt is the dominant contributor to the ice thickness change over the period. At the Pine Island Ice Shelf in the critical region near the grounding zone, we find that ice shelf thickness change rates exceed 40m/yr, with the change dominated by strong submarine melting. Regions near the grounding zones of the Dotson and Crosson ice shelves are decreasing in thickness at rates greater than 40m/yr, also due to intense basal melt. NASA–CECS Antarctic ice mapping and NASA Operation IceBridge campaigns provide validation datasets for floating ice shelves at moderately high resolution when coregistered using Lagrangian methods.

Sutterley, Tyler C.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Analyzing the Ages of South Polar Craters on the Moon: Implications for the Sources and Evolution of Surface Water Ice

Surface water ice in the permanently shadowed polar regions of the Moon has a patchy surficial distribution and is not found within all available cold-trapping areas. To date it is not well understood when the ice was delivered, which has important implications for the surficial characteristics of the ice as well as for possible delivery mechanisms. Here we present absolute model ages for 20 south polar craters that host surface water ice, providing maximum estimates of the ages of surface ice contained within these craters. We quantify the amount of available cold-trapping surface area that is occupied by water ice in order to examine the relationship between the patchiness of ice within each crater and the age of each host crater. The majority of surface ice is contained in old craters ≥∼3.1 Gyr, where the majority of cold-trapping area on the pole exists. The ice is these ancient craters is very patchy in surficial distribution, occupying <11.5% of cold-trapping surface area available in individual craters. This patchy distribution of ice in old craters is likely to be due to impact bombardment and regolith overturn within the polar regions. Interestingly, surface ice is also located within smaller craters (<15 km in diameter), whose sharp crater rim crest morphologies suggest that they may be relatively young. Ice in fresh-looking craters suggests that ice has been delivered to the lunar surface more recently, perhaps from micrometeorites or through solar wind interactions with the lunar regolith. Finally, we also analyze a group of ancient craters that does not host surface water ice, even though these craters are present-day cold traps. These specific ancient craters would not have been thermally stable for the cold-trapping of water ice before the onset of true polar wander suggested by Siegler et al. (2016). If true polar wander did occur on the Moon, then the ages of ice-bearing craters presented here set an upper limit for the age of post-true polar wander hydrogen emplacement of 4.1 ± 0.1 Gyr.

Deutsch, Ariel N.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A LaGrangian Perspective of the Surface Energy Budget Contributions to Sea Ice Evolution in the ‘New Arctic’

Recent Arctic warming outpaces global warming and is characterized by dramatic changes in sea ice (record sea ice loss, thinner and more seasonal ice cover), warming SSTs, and a lengthening melt season. These changes impact the surface energy budget and the sensitivity of sea ice to radiative forcing, namely an increased sensitivity of thinner ice to local radiative forcings and a weaker buffering of surface-atmosphere exchanges of heat and moisture. However, these processes are a large source of uncertainty in global climate models with prior studies finding that poor representations of downwelling longwave radiation and sea ice albedo lead to model spread in sea ice conditions. A limitation of prior work is examining sea ice-atmosphere interactions through an Eulerian framework. This study utilizes a sea ice parcel dataset in a LaGrangian framework, allowing for tracking of surface energy budget-sea ice interactions over the lifespan of individual sea ice parcels; this framework also allows for the quantification of the sea ice response to episodic weather events along with seasonal drivers, including the drivers of rapid growth and melt events. First, lag-lead relationships between relevant surface energy budget terms and sea ice thickness changes are explored to understand the atmospheric conditions preceding rapid growth and melt. The impact of episodic events- moisture intrusion, warm air outbreaks, cyclones- on sea ice growth are also investigated by stratifying first-year parcels by sea ice thickness at the end of the growth season and analyzing the effect of atmospheric variability (number and intensity of episodic events) on parcel thickness change. Lastly, parcel growth and melt and the associated radiative anomalies are compared to snowfall events/snow thickness to determine how snowfall modifies the interaction between the local surface energy budget and sea ice mass balance.

Patrick Taylor↗
DOE OSTI2022

Simulating ice-shelf extent using damage mechanics

Abstract Inaccurate representations of iceberg calving from ice shelves are a large source of uncertainty in mass-loss projections from the Antarctic ice sheet. Here, we address this limitation by implementing and testing a continuum damage-mechanics model in a continental scale ice-sheet model. The damage-mechanics formulation, based on a linear stability analysis and subsequent long-wavelength approximation of crevasses that evolve in a viscous medium, links damage evolution to climate forcing and the large-scale stresses within an ice shelf. We incorporate this model into the BISICLES ice-sheet model and test it by applying it to idealized (1) ice tongues, for which we present analytical solutions and (2) buttressed ice-shelf geometries. Our simulations show that the model reproduces the large disparity in lengths of ice shelves with geometries and melt rates broadly similar to those of four Antarctic ice shelves: Erebus Glacier Tongue (length ~ 13 km), the unembayed portion of Drygalski Ice Tongue (~ 65 km), the Amery Ice Shelf (~ 350 km) and the Ross Ice Shelf (~ 500 km). These results demonstrate that our simple continuum model holds promise for constraining realistic ice-shelf extents in large-scale ice-sheet models in a computationally tractable manner.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Glacier ice archives nearly 15,000-year-old microbes and phages

Background Glacier ice archives information, including microbiology, that helps reveal paleoclimate histories and predict future climate change. Though glacier-ice microbes are studied using culture or amplicon approaches, more challenging metagenomic approaches, which provide access to functional, genome-resolved information and viruses, are under-utilized, partly due to low biomass and potential contamination. Results We expand existing clean sampling procedures using controlled artificial ice-core experiments and adapted previously established low-biomass metagenomic approaches to study glacier-ice viruses. Controlled sampling experiments drastically reduced mock contaminants including bacteria, viruses, and free DNA to background levels. Amplicon sequencing from eight depths of two Tibetan Plateau ice cores revealed common glacier-ice lineages including Janthinobacterium, Polaromonas, Herminiimonas, Flavobacterium, Sphingomonas, and Methylobacterium as the dominant genera, while microbial communities were significantly different between two ice cores, associating with different climate conditions during deposition. Separately, ~355- and ~14,400-year-old ice were subject to viral enrichment and low-input quantitative sequencing, yielding genomic sequences for 33 vOTUs. These were virtually all unique to this study, representing 28 novel genera and not a single species shared with 225 environmentally diverse viromes. Further, 42.4% of the vOTUs were identifiable temperate, which is significantly higher than that in gut, soil, and marine viromes, and indicates that temperate phages are possibly favored in glacier-ice environments before being frozen. In silico host predictions linked 18 vOTUs to co-occurring abundant bacteria (Methylobacterium, Sphingomonas, and Janthinobacterium), indicating that these phages infected ice-abundant bacterial groups before being archived. Functional genome annotation revealed four virus-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes, particularly two motility genes suggest viruses potentially facilitate nutrient acquisition for their hosts. Finally, given their possible importance to methane cycling in ice, we focused on Methylobacterium viruses by contextualizing our ice-observed viruses against 123 viromes and prophages extracted from 131 Methylobacterium genomes, revealing that the archived viruses might originate from soil or plants. Conclusions Together, these efforts further microbial and viral sampling procedures for glacier ice and provide a first window into viral communities and functions in ancient glacier environments. Such methods and datasets can potentially enable researchers to contextualize new discoveries and begin to incorporate glacier-ice microbes and their viruses relative to past and present climate change in geographically diverse regions globally.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Characterizing Surface Ice-Philicity Using Molecular Simulations and Enhanced Sampling

The formation of ice, which plays an important role in diverse contexts ranging from cryopreservation to atmospheric science, is often mediated by solid surfaces. Although surfaces that interact favorably with ice (relative to liquid water) can facilitate ice formation by lowering nucleation barriers, the molecular characteristics that confer ice-philicity to a surface are complex and incompletely understood. To address this challenge, here we introduce a robust and computationally efficient method for characterizing surface ice-philicity that combines molecular simulations and enhanced sampling techniques to quantify the free energetic cost of increasing surface–ice contact at the expense of surface–water contact. Using this method to characterize the ice-philicity of a family of model surfaces that are lattice matched with ice but vary in their polarity, we find that the nonpolar surfaces are moderately ice-phobic, whereas the polar surfaces are highly ice-philic. In contrast, for surfaces that display no complementarity to the ice lattice, we find that ice-philicity is independent of surface polarity and that both nonpolar and polar surfaces are moderately ice-phobic. Furthermore, our work thus provides a prescription for quantitatively characterizing surface ice-philicity and sheds light on how ice-philicity is influenced by lattice matching and polarity.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Sea ice heat and mass balance measurements from four autonomous buoys during the MOSAiC drift campaign

As part of the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC), four autonomous seasonal ice mass balance buoys were deployed in first- and second-year ice. These buoys measured position, barometric pressure, snow depth, ice thickness, ice growth, surface melt, bottom melt, and vertical profiles of temperature from the air, through the snow and ice, and into the upper ocean. Observed air temperatures were similar at all four sites; however, snow–ice interface temperatures varied by as much as 10°C, primarily due to differences in snow depth. Observed winter ice growth rates (November to May) were <1 cm day -1 , with summer melt rates (June to July) as large as 5 cm day -1 . Air temperatures changed as much as 2°C hour -1 but were dampened to <0.3°C hour -1 at the snow–ice interface. Initial October ice thicknesses ranged from 0.3 m in first-year ice to 1.2 m in second-year ice. By February, this range was only 1.20–1.46 m, due in part to differences in the onset of basal freezing. In second-year ice, this delay was due to large brine-filled voids in the ice; propagating the cold front through this ice required freezing the brine. Mass balance results were similar to those measured by autonomous buoys deployed at the North Pole from 2000 to 2013. Winter average estimates of the ocean heat flux ranged from 0 to 3 W m -2 , with a large increase in June 2020 as the floe moved into warmer water. Estimates of average snow thermal conductivity measured at two buoys during periods of linear temperature profiles were 0.41 and 0.42 W m -1 °C -1 , higher than previously published estimates. Results from these ice mass balance buoys can contribute to efforts to close the MOSAiC heat budget.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2012

Determination of Ice Cloud Models Using MODIS and MISR Data

Representation of ice clouds in radiative transfer simulations is subject to uncertainties associated with the shapes and sizes of ice crystals within cirrus clouds. In this study, we examined several ice cloud models consisting of smooth, roughened, homogeneous and inhomogeneous hexagonal ice crystals with various aspect ratios. The sensitivity of the bulk scattering properties and solar reflectances of cirrus clouds to specific ice cloud models is investigated using the improved geometric optics method (IGOM) and the discrete ordinates radiative transfer (DISORT) model. The ice crystal habit fractions in the ice cloud model may significantly affect the simulations of cloud reflectances. A new algorithm was developed to help determine an appropriate ice cloud model for application to the satellite-based retrieval of ice cloud properties. The ice cloud particle size retrieved from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, collocated with Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) observations, is used to infer the optical thicknesses of ice clouds for nine MISR viewing angles. The relative differences between view-dependent cloud optical thickness and the averaged value over the nine MISR viewing angles can vary from −0.5 to 0.5 and are used to evaluate the ice cloud models. In the case for 2 July 2009, the ice cloud model with mixed ice crystal habits is the best fit to the observations (the root mean square (RMS) error of cloud optical thickness reaches 0.365). This ice cloud model also produces consistent cloud property retrievals for the nine MISR viewing configurations within the measurement uncertainties.

MODIS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effect of Geometric Fidelity on the Aerodynamics of a Swept Wing with Glaze Ice Accretion

Aerodynamic assessment of icing effects on swept wings is an important component of a larger effort to improve three-dimensional icing simulation capabilities. An understanding of ice-shape geometric fidelity on iced-wing aerodynamics and the associated flowfield features are needed to guide the development and validation of ice-accretion simulation tools. To this end, wind-tunnel testing was carried out for 8.9% and 13.3% scale semispan wing models based upon the Common Research Model airplane configuration. Various levels of geometric fidelity of an artificial ice shape representing a glaze-ice accretion on a swept wing were investigated. The highest fidelity artificial ice shape reproduced all of the three-dimensional features associated with the glaze ice accretion. The lowest fidelity artificial ice shapes were simple, spanwise-varying horn ice geometries intended to represent the maximum ice thickness on the wing upper surface. The results presented in this paper show that the addition of grit roughness to some lower-fidelity artificial ice shapes resulted in favorable lift and pitching moment comparisons to the wing with the highest fidelity artificial ice shape. In the range of 4.3 to 7.4 deg. angle of attack, surface oil flow visualization and pressure data show that the wing with the two lower fidelity simulations clearly demonstrated a leading edge vortex dominated flowfield, referred to as type I. For the wing with the high fidelity ice shape, the flowfield at lower angles of attack was characterized by streamwise-running, counter-rotating vortical flow referred to as type II. Between 6.4 and 7.4 deg. angle of attack, the effect of the type II flow structures was significantly altered and gave way to the type I leading edge vortex. This means that for angles of attack 7.4 deg. and higher, the wing with all three configurations exhibited the same type of flowfield. This helps to explain why there is reasonably good agreement in the lift and pitching moment coefficients among these configurations.

Aircraft icing↗
NASA NTRS1947

Laboratory Investigation of Ice Formation and Elimination in the Induction System of a Large Twin-engine Cargo Aircraft

The icing characteristics, the de-icing rate with hot air, and the effect of impact ice on fuel metering and mixture distribution have been determined in a laboratory investigation of that part of the engine induction system consisting of a three-barrel injection-type carburetor and a supercharger housing with spinner-type fuel injection from an 18-cylinder radial engine used on a large twin-engine cargo airplane. The induction system remained ice-free at carburetor-air temperatures above 36 F regardless of the moisture content of the air. Between carburetor-air temperatures of 32 F and 36 F with humidity ratios in excess of saturation, serious throttling ice formed in the carburetor because of expansion cooling of the air; at carburetor-air temperatures below 32 F with humidity ratios in excess of saturation, serious impact-ice formations occurred, Spinner-type fuel injection at the entrance to the supercharger and heating of the supercharger-inlet elbow and the guide vanes by the warn oil in the rear engine housing are design features that proved effective in eliminating fuel-evaporation icing and minimized the formation of throttling ice below the carburetor. Air-flow recovery time with fixed throttle was rapidly reduced as the inlet -air wet -bulb temperature was increased to 55 F; further temperature increase produced negligible improvement in recovery time. Larger ice formations and lower icing temperatures increased the time required to restore proper air flow at a given wet-bulb temperature. Impact-ice formations on the entrance screen and the top of the carburetor reduced the over-all fuel-air ratio and increased the spread between the over-all ratio and the fuel-air ratio of the individual cylinders. The normal spread of fuel-air ratio was increased from 0.020 to 0.028 when the left quarter of the entrance screen was blocked in a manner simulating the blocking resulting from ice formations released from upstream duct walls during hot-air de-icing.

ICE PREVENTION - AIR HEATING↗
NASA NTRS2021

Sea Ice Extents Continue to Set New Records: Arctic, Antarctic, and Global Results

The multi-channel satellite passive-microwave record of Earth’s sea ice coverage, extending back to the late 1970s, has long revealed declining sea ice coverage in the Arctic but through 2015 revealed an overall increase rather than decrease in Antarctic sea ice coverage. Following major decreases in Antarctic sea ice since 2015, the 42-year 1979-2020 satellite dataset now shows losses in sea ice coverage in both hemispheres, and this is convincingly demonstrated by the enumeration of monthly and yearly record high and record low sea ice extents experienced over the course of the 42 years. In fact, one of the most convincing statistics on the declining Arctic sea ice cover is the fact that since 1986 the Arctic has not experienced a single monthly record high sea ice extent in any month but has experienced 93 monthly record lows. In contrast, all 12 calendar months have their 42-year Antarctic monthly record high sea ice extents in the period 2007-2015, while 8 of the 12 calendar months have had Antarctic record lows since 2015. Globally, every calendar month has registered a new monthly record low within the past 5 years. These results are complemented (and somewhat tempered) by quantification of the range of monthly and yearly sea ice extent values over the 42 years. For instance, although the Arctic’s lowest September monthly average sea ice extent (in 2012) is 53% lower than its highest September monthly average sea ice extent (in 1980), the other months have far smaller percent differences between their lowest and highest Arctic values. For yearly average sea ice extents, the Arctic’s lowest value (in 2020) is 18% lower than its highest value (in 1982), the Antarctic’s lowest value (in 2017) is 16% lower than its highest value (in 2014), and the global lowest value (in 2019) is only 12% lower than its highest value (in 1982).

sea ice↗
DOE OSTI2019

Deglaciation of the Greenland and Laurentide ice sheets interrupted by glacier advance during abrupt coolings

Understanding patterns of ice-sheet deglaciation is key for predicting the rate of future ice-sheet melt, yet the processes underlying deglaciation remain elusive. The early Holocene (11.7 ka to 8.2 ka; Greenlandian Stage) represents the most recent period when the Laurentide and Greenland ice sheets underwent large-scale recession. Moreover, this ice-sheet recession occurred under the backdrop of regional temperatures that were similar to or warmer than today, and comparable to those projected for the upcoming centuries. Reconstructing Laurentide and Greenland ice sheet behavior during the early Holocene, and elucidating the mechanisms dictating this behavior may serve as a partial analog for future Greenland ice-sheet change in a warming world. Here, we present 123 new 10 Be surface exposure ages from two sites on Baffin Island and southwestern Greenland that constrain the behavior of the Laurentide and Greenland ice sheets, and an independent alpine glacier during the early Holocene. On Baffin Island, we focus on a unique area where moraines deposited by the Laurentide Ice Sheet rest directly adjacent to moraines deposited by an independent alpine glacier. Sixty-one 10 Be ages reveal that advances and/or stillstands of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and an alpine glacier occurred in unison around 11.8 ka, 10.3 ka, and 9.2 ka. Sixty-two 10 Be ages from southwestern Greenland indicate that the Greenland Ice Sheet margin experienced re-advances or stillstands around 11.6 ka, 10.4 ka, 9.1 ka, 8.1 ka, and 7.3 ka. Our results reveal that ice sheets respond to climate perturbations on the same centennial timescale as small alpine glaciers. Further, we hypothesize that during the warming climate of the early Holocene, freshening of the North Atlantic Ocean induced by ice-sheet melt resulted in regional cooling and brief periods of ice-sheet stabilization superimposed on net glacier recession. These observations point to a negative feedback mechanism inherent to melting ice sheets in the Baffin Bay region that slows ice-sheet recession during intervals of otherwise rapid deglaciation.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗