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The present invention provides systems and methods to automatically analyze Landsat satellite data of forests. The present invention can easily be used to monitor any type of forest disturbance such as from selective logging, agriculture, cattle ranching, natural hazards (fire, wind events, storms), etc. The present invention provides a large-scale, high-resolution, automated remote sensing analysis of such disturbances.
The present invention provides systems and methods to automatically analyze Landsat satellite data of forests. The present invention can easily be used to monitor any type of forest disturbance such as from selective logging, agriculture, cattle ranching, natural hazards (fire, wind events, storms), etc. The present invention provides a large-scale, high-resolution, automated remote sensing analysis of such disturbances.
Abstract Subsurface structures play important roles in seismic ground motion, crustal hydrology, stability of the built environment, and more. Constraining temporal changes of subsurface shear wave velocity ( V S ) can provide useful information to all these topics and the growing field of hydrological monitoring with seismic velocity. Using borehole records at Garner Valley, CA, we estimate seasonal subsurface V S variations from impulse response functions (IRFs) of earthquake data (2005–2018) along with IRFs and cross‐correlation of cross‐hole experiment data (2015–2018). The inferred V S variations are up to ∼25% in the top 6 m and ∼10% at 2–5 m in depth. The V S variations correlate strongly with the water table depth changes, suggesting that the changes are mostly due to fluctuations of pore pressure in the shallow material. The shallow velocity changes alter the near‐surface conditions, can affect seismic hazard estimation, and may be improperly attributed to deeper processes without careful analysis.
The Ocean & Geohazard Analysis (OGA) software tool is designed to summarize insights into key offshore hazards drawing from a diverse set of approaches, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, probabilistic and statistical, and offshore data sources. The offshore hazards that can be analyzed include submarine landslides, extreme wind/wave/current event probabilities, earthquakes, and metocean pathways (CIAM Climatological Isolation and Attraction Model–Climatological Lagrangian Coherent Structures - Submissions - EDX (doe.gov)). Currently, the tool is developed for use in the Gulf of Mexico. The data underlying the offshore hazard analyses can be found here: https://edx.netl.doe.gov/dataset/gulf-of-mexico-risk-analysis-database-gomrad This work was conducted under the Advanced Offshore Research Portfolio, FWP Number 1022409 at National Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy. Disclaimer This project was funded by the United States Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, in part, through a site support contract. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor the support contractor, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.
On October 15, 2021, the Radioactive and Hazardous Waste Management Facility Manager declared a Potential Inadequacy in the Safety Analysis (PISA) due to a new information relating to an error discovered in calculation AB-WSF-20-002. Calculation AB-WSF-20-002 is used to determine source terms and heat release rates for vehicle and aircraft impacts with fuel fires involving TRU waste containers. The source term for an aircraft’s impact has different source terms factors (i.e., DR, ARF, RF, LPF) that are applied to multiple categories of drums impacted in the accident scenario based on the physical stresses of the aircraft impact and involvement in the subsequent fuel pool fire. The source terms of the multiple categories of affected drums are summed to determine the final source term for the accident scenario. Certain categories of affected drums are modeled to lose their lid, causing material to eject and burn unconfined on the ground. For these specific categories, a lower ARF value was incorrectly applied in AB-WSF-20-002 (i.e., an ARF value of 1E-3 was used instead of the DOE-STD-5506-2007 directed ARF value of 1E-2). For these categories, the ARF is applied to a relatively small number of low-activity drums (i.e., 17 drums at 2.9 PE-Ci each) compared to the total number of drums affected (i.e., 166 drums totaling 621.8 PE-Ci). Therefore, this error is not expected to significantly increase final dose for the accident scenario. No immediate actions or compensatory measures are required to maintain the facility in a safe condition.
The effects of wind shear on aircraft flying through thunderstorm gust fronts were investigated. A computer program was developed to solve the two dimensional, nonlinear equations of aircraft motion, including wind shear. The procedure described and documented accounts for spatial and temporal variations of the aircraft within the flow regime. Analysis of flight paths and control inputs necessary to maintain specified trajectories for aircraft having characteristics of DC-8, B-747, augmentor wing STOL, and DHC-6 aircraft was recorded. From the analysis an attempt was made to find criteria for reduction of the hazards associated with landing through thunderstorm gust fronts.
Severe, low-altitude wind shear is a threat to aviation safety. Airborne sensors under development measure the radial component of wind along a line directly in front of an aircraft. In this paper, optimal estimation theory is used to define a detection algorithm to warn of hazardous wind shear from these sensors. To achieve robustness, a wind shear detection algorithm must distinguish threatening wind shear from less hazardous gustiness, despite variations in wind shear structure. This paper presents statistical analysis methods to refine wind shear detection algorithm robustness. Computational methods predict the ability to warn of severe wind shear and avoid false warning. Comparative capability of the detection algorithm as a function of its design parameters is determined, identifying designs that provide robust detection of severe wind shear.
The Piaggio P-180 Avanti, a twin pusher-prop engine nine-passenger business aircraft was certified in 1990, to the requirements of FAR Part 23 and Associated Special Conditions for Composite Structure. Certification included the application of a damage tolerant methodology to the design of the composite forward wing and empennage (vertical fin, horizontal stabilizer, tailcone, and rudder) structure. This methodology included an extensive analytical evaluation coupled with sub-component and full-scale testing of the structure. The work from the Damage Tolerance Analysis Assessment was incorporated into the full-scale testing. Damage representing hazards such as dropped tools, ground equipment, handling, and runway debris, was applied to the test articles. Additional substantiation included allowing manufacturing discrepancies to exist unrepaired on the full-scale articles and simulated bondline failures in critical elements. The importance of full-scale testing in the critical environmental conditions and the application of critical damage are addressed. The implication of damage tolerance on static and fatigue testing is discussed. Good correlation between finite element solutions and experimental test data was observed.
NASA, at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), developed and operates a unique high-precision lightning location system to provide lightning-related weather warnings. These warnings are used to stop lightning- sensitive operations such as space vehicle launches and ground operations where equipment and personnel are at risk. The data is provided to the Range Weather Operations (45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Air Force) where it is used with other meteorological data to issue weather advisories and warnings for Cape Canaveral Air Station and KSC operations. This system, called Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR), provides users with a graphical display in three dimensions of 66 megahertz radio frequency events generated by lightning processes. The locations of these events provide a sound basis for the prediction of lightning hazards. This document provides the basis for the design approach and data analysis for a system of radio frequency receivers to provide azimuth and elevation data for lightning pulses detected simultaneously by the LDAR system. The intent is for this direction-finding system to correct and augment the data provided by LDAR and, thereby, increase the rate of valid data and to correct or discard any invalid data. This document develops the necessary equations and algorithms, identifies sources of systematic errors and means to correct them, and analyzes the algorithms for random error. This data analysis approach is not found in the existing literature and was developed to facilitate the operation of this Short Baseline LDAR (SBLDAR). These algorithms may also be useful for other direction-finding systems using radio pulses or ultrasonic pulse data.
Recycling spent lithium-ion batteries (LIB) could potentially bridge the ever increasing supply and demand gap for critical metals and simultaneously facilitate the management of hazardous battery waste. This study investigated the optimization of gluconic acid-based bioleaching technology through design of experiments (DOE), combined with techno-economic analysis (TEA), and life cycle assessment (LCA) with the aim of maximizing the net present value (NPV) and minimizing global warming impacts of the process. Biolixiviant containing predominantly gluconic acid produced by the genetically engineered (ΔpstS, P 112 :mgdh) Gluconobacter oxydans B58 through fermentation using non-recyclable paper as a growth substrate was used for the LIB leaching. At optimal bioleaching conditions of gluconic acid (160 mM), leaching time (2.5 h), reducing agent FeSO 4 to metal, i.e., cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni) and manganese (Mn), mole ratio (0.88), temperature (55 °C) and pulp density (2.5 %), the leaching efficiency was 87 % 72 %, 94 %, and 88 % for Co, Ni, Mn and lithium (Li), respectively. TEA analysis confirmed that bioleaching plant with an annual black mass processing capacity of 10,000 metric tons and plant life of 30 years would be economically viable with an NPV and profit margin of $136 million and 11 %, respectively. The predicted carbon footprint of gluconic acid-based bioleaching for recovering 1 kg of Co (13.2 kg of CO 2 eq.) is lower compared to that of most state-of-the-art leaching technologies. Moreover, gluconic acid-based bioleaching effectively recovered target metals when tested for different black mass chemistries.
Unmanned planetary landers to date have landed 'blind'; that is, without the benefit of onboard landing hazard detection and avoidance systems. This constrains landing site selection to very benign terrain,which in turn constrains the scientific agenda of missions. The state of the art Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) technology can land a spacecraft on Mars somewhere within a 20-100km landing ellipse.Landing ellipses are very likely to contain hazards such as craters, discontinuities, steep slopes, and large rocks, than can cause mission-fatal damage. We briefly review sensor options for landing hazard detection and identify a perception approach based on stereo vision and shadow analysis that addresses the broadest set of missions. Our approach fuses stereo vision and monocular shadow-based rock detection to maximize spacecraft safety. We summarize performance models for slope estimation and rock detection within this approach and validate those models experimentally. Instantiating our model of rock detection reliability for Mars predicts that this approach can reduce the probability of failed landing by at least a factor of 4 in any given terrain. We also describe a rock detector/mapper applied to large-high-resolution images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) for landing site characterization and selection for Mars missions.
Orbital debris in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is an international problem that threatens the success of future space ventures. An analysis of a wide variety of alternative solutions for active debris removal (ADR) has been performed. The solution selected is an efficient, effective, and executable solution to remove large debris in LEO, primarily spent rocket bodies. Removing large debris objects is a critical step in reducing the hazard from orbital debris, because of the large amount of medium and small debris created through large body collisions. Based on the analysis of alternatives, the concept and design for a vehicle which could efficiently address the debris hazard by disposing of several large objects per mission has been developed. This concept establishes a comprehensive, detailed technical approach for an actual end-to-end, on-orbit ADR solution to remove large debris. This robust solution enables the start of solving the problem of debris removal before it reaches a critical and potentially irreversible state by "getting there as soon as possible, as economically as possible, with the most capability".
This workbook presents a vulnerability (CVE-2025-1727 ) found in train applications and guides a digital risk assessment and mitigation analysis and application of Cyber-Informed Engineering principles to mitigate the potential consequences and ultimately the hazard through the engineering discipline because of exploiting this vulnerability. Workshop participants are encouraged to use the workbook to capture insights and lessons learned. The workbook guides the participant to: • Understand the HE communication vulnerability • Map digital threats to physical consequences • Use bowtie analysis to illustrate both “security” and “engineering” barriers • Apply CIE principles to ensure that even if communications are compromised, the physical engineered system still behaves safely. • Produce an actionable set of engineered and infosec controls for implementation
Emerging technologies have provided unprecedented opportunities to transform information into knowledge and disseminate them in a much faster, cheaper, and userfriendly mode. We have set up a system to produce and disseminate high level (gridded) ocean surface wind data from the NASA Scatterometer and European Remote Sensing missions. The data system is being expanded to produce real-time gridded ocean surface winds from an improved sensor SeaWinds on the Quikscat Mission. The wind field will be combined with hydrologic parameters from the Tropical Rain Measuring Mission to monitor evolving weather systems and natural hazard in real time. It will form the basis for spacebased Ocean Surface Exchange Data Analysis System (SOSEDAS) which will include the production of ocean surface momentum, heat, and water fluxes needed for interdisciplinary studies of ocean-atmosphere interaction. Various commercial or non-commercial software tools have been compared and selected in terms of their ability in database management, remote data accessing, graphical interface, data quality, storage needs and transfer speed, etc. Issues regarding system security and user authentication, distributed data archiving and accessing, strategy to compress large-volume geophysical and satellite data/image. and increasing transferring speed are being addressed. A simple and easy way to access information and derive knowledge from spacebased data of multiple missions is being provided. The evolving 'knowledge system' will provide relevant infrastructure to address Earth System Science, make inroads in educating an informed populace, and illuminate decision and policy making.
Significant efforts are underway to develop and implement a risk-informed performance-based licensing framework for advanced reactors built on the establishment of an affirmative safety case. Such approaches offer the benefits of increased flexibility regarding key design and licensing decisions based on a detailed assessment and understanding of plant risk. These methods include the comprehensive analysis of scenarios that have historically been addressed through conservative and deterministic licensing analysis approaches, such as the evaluation of event sequences at frequencies of occurrence beyond the design basis. While the detailed analysis of low frequency events provides insights that can help justify alternative treatments to past conservatism, the findings are dependent on the quality and confidence associated with the analyses. The assessment of external hazards presents a unique challenge, as their potential frequency of occurrence, especially of large magnitude events, is inherently uncertain given the long return periods in question. The current project seeks to further explore the regulatory treatment of low frequency external events as part of a risk-informed performance-based framework. The goals are to identify the benefits and challenges of such approaches for advanced reactor vendors and to aid in the development of consistent and appropriate methodologies. As part of this effort, the current report summarizes initial project findings, with a focus on the evaluation of the seismic hazard. This includes an exploration of the implementation of a risk-informed performance-based approach through an example analysis. Based on the identified challenges associated with the probabilistic treatment of low frequency event sequences, additional performance-based methods were explored as complementary tools for demonstrating regulatory compliance. The report highlights key challenges and opportunities associated with the methods and outlines recommendations and future activities to assist with their implementation.
Airborne microbiological and particulate contamination generated aboard Spacelab modules is a potential safety hazard. In order to shed light on the characteristics of these contaminants, microbial and chemical/particulate analyses were performed on debris vacuumed from cabin and avionics air filters in the Space Life Sciences-1 (SLS-1) module of the Space Transportation System 40 (STS-40) mission 1 month after landing. The debris was sorted into categories (e.g., metal, nonmetal, hair/fur, synthetic fibers, food particles, insect fragments, etc.). Elemental analysis of particles was done by energy dispersive analysis of x rays (metals) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (nonmetals). Scanning electron micrographs were done of most particles. Microbiological samples were grown on R2A culture medium and identified. Clothing fibers dominated the debris by volume. Other particles, all attributed to the crew, resulted from abrasions and impacts during missions operations (e.g., paint chips, plastic, electronic scraps and clothing fibers). All bacterial species identified are commonly found in the atmosphere or on the human body. Bacillus sp. was the most frequently seen bacterium. One of the bacterial species, Enterobacter agglomerans, could cause illness in crew members with depressed immune systems.
The Special Power Excursion Reactor Test (SPERT) III E-core experiment is important because it provides critical data on reactor behavior under significant reactivity insertions, which is essential for validating computer simulations and ensuring the safety of modern light water reactors. Its design similarities to contemporary reactors make it a valuable resource for understanding and mitigating extreme hazards in nuclear operations. The current study details the application of formal parametric uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis to a model of the SPERT-III E-core model for zero power reactivity benchmarking. Additionally, the reactivity impact from various modeling assumptions is quantified. Overall, an conservative estimate for an uncertainty in k$_{\text{eff}}$ of $\pm$1257 was observed. A less conservative, more realistic, uncertainty estimate of $\pm$1096 pcm can be justified by the potential for various parametric uncertainties to become negligible when sampled independently across the ~1400 pins in the core. The experimental results fall within both of these uncertainty bounds. Standardized regression coefficient as well as Sobol indices are used to identify the guide tube thicknesses as the primary contributors to the uncertainty in k$_{\text{eff}}$. Overall, this study provides information on how the uncertainties in input parameters and modeling methods impact simulated k$_{\text{eff}}$ values and can be used to aid model building efforts for future code validation with the SPERT-III E-core experiment.
Energetic space radiation and galactic cosmic radiation measured for radiation hazards in manned space flight