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At least 757 records · Page 42
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Nitrogen Dioxide Observations from the Geostationary Trace Gas and Aerosol Sensor Optimization (GeoTaso) Airborne Instrument: Retrieval Algorithm and Measurements During DISCOVER-AQ Texas 2013

The Geostationary Trace gas and Aerosol Sensor Optimization (GeoTASO) airborne instrument is a test bed for upcoming air quality satellite instruments that will measure backscattered ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light from geostationary orbit. GeoTASO flew on the NASA Falcon aircraft in its first intensive field measurement campaign during the Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER-AQ) Earth Venture Mission over Houston, Texas, in September 2013. Measurements of backscattered solar radiation between 420 and 465 nm collected on 4 days during the campaign are used to determine slant column amounts of NO2 at 250 m x 250 m spatial resolution with a fitting precision of 2.2 x 10(exp 15) molecules/sq cm. These slant columns are converted to tropospheric NO2 vertical columns using a radiative transfer model and trace gas profiles from the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Total column NO2 from GeoTASO is well correlated with ground-based Pandora observations (r = 0.90 on the most polluted and cloud-free day of measurements and r = 0.74 overall), with GeoTASO NO2 slightly higher for the most polluted observations. Surface NO2 mixing ratios inferred from GeoTASO using the CMAQ model show good correlation with NO2 measured in situ at the surface during the campaign (r = 0.85). NO2 slant columns from GeoTASO also agree well with preliminary retrievals from the GEO-CAPE Airborne Simulator (GCAS) which flew on the NASA King Air B200 (r = 0.81, slope = 0.91). Enhanced NO2 is resolvable over areas of traffic NOx emissions and near individual petrochemical facilities.

Aerosol Sensor Optimization↗
NASA NTRS2009

Monitoring Phenology as Indicator for Timing of Nutrient Inputs in Northern Gulf Watersheds

Nutrient over-enrichment defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the anthropogenic addition of nutrients, in addition to any natural processes, causing adverse effects or impairments to the beneficial uses of a water body has been identified as one of the most significant environmental problems facing sensitive estuaries and coastal waters. Understanding the timing of nutrient inputs into those waters through remote sensing observables helps define monitoring and mitigation strategies. Remotely sensed data products can trace both forcings and effects of the nutrient system from landscape to estuary. This project is focused on extracting nutrient information from the landscape. The timing of nutrients entering coastal waters from the land boundary is greatly influenced by hydrologic processes, but can also be affected by the timing of nutrient additions across the landscape through natural or anthropogenic means. Non-point source nutrient additions to watersheds are often associated with specific seasonal cycles, such as decomposition of organic materials in fall and winter or addition of fertilizers to crop lands in the spring. These seasonal cycles or phenology may in turn be observed through the use of satellite sensors. Characterization of the phenology of various land cover types may be of particular interest in Gulf of Mexico estuarine systems with relatively short pathways between intensively managed systems and the land/estuarine boundary. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the capability of monitoring phenology of specific classes of land, such as agriculture and managed timberlands, at a refined watershed level. The extraction of phenological information from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data record is accomplished using analytical tools developed for NASA at Stennis Space Center: the Time Series Product Tool and the Phenological Parameters Estimation Tool. MODIS reflectance data (product MOD09) were used to compute the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, which is sensitive to changes in vegetation canopies. The project team is working directly with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to understand end-user requirements for this type of information product. Initial focus areas are identification of time frames for pre-plant fertilizer applications (prior to start of season), side-dress fertilizer applications (during rapid green-up), and periods of plant decomposition (during and after senescence). Prototypical maps of phenological stages related to these time frames have been generated for watersheds in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Where feasible, these maps have been compared to existing in situ nutrient monitoring data, but the in situ data is temporally sparse (monthly frequency or less), which makes interpretation challenging. Future work will include integrating effects of rainfall and seeking couplings with estuarine remote sensing.

Ross, Kenton W.↗
NASA NTRS2011

ILRS Website Redesign

The International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) website, http://ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov, is the central source of information for all aspects of the service. The website provides information on the organization and operation of ILRS and descriptions of ILRS components, data, and products. Furthermore, the website and provides an entry point to the archive of these data and products available through the data centers. Links are provided to extensive information on the ILRS network stations including performance assessments and data quality evaluations. Descriptions of supported satellite missions (current, future, and past) are provided to aid in station acquisition and data analysis. The current format for the ILRS website has been in use since the early years of the service. Starting in 2010, the ILRS Central Bureau began efforts to redesign the look and feel for the website. The update will allow for a review of the contents, ensuring information is current and useful. This poster will detail the proposed design including specific examples of key sections and webpages.

Noll, C.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Ride quality and international standard ISO 2631 (Guide for the evaluation of human exposure to whole-body vibration)

The evolution of the standard, which is aimed at promoting research and production of more data, and providing some design guidance, is outlined and its contents summarized. Some of the assumptions and information on which it is based are analyzed. Its application to vehicle ride quality is considered in the context of the safety, efficiency and comfort of crew and passengers. The importance of establishing the precise criteria against which vibration limits are required is underlined, particularly the difficulties of first defining comfort and then postulating appropriate levels. Some current and future work related to improving the standard is outlined and additional suggestions offered.

Allen, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS2018

CALIPSO Lidar Level 3 Aerosol Profile Product: Version 3 Algorithm Design

The CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) level 3 aerosol profile product reports globally gridded, quality-screened, monthly mean aerosol extinction profiles retrieved by CALIOP (the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization). This paper describes the quality screening and averaging methods used to generate the version 3 product. The fundamental input data are CALIOP level 2 aerosol extinction profiles and layer classification information (aerosol, cloud, and clear-air). Prior to aggregation, the extinction profiles are quality-screened by a series of filters to reduce the impact of layer detection errors, layer classification errors, extinction retrieval errors, and biases due to an intermittent signal anomaly at the surface. The relative influence of these filters are compared in terms of sample rejection frequency, mean extinction, and mean aerosol optical depth (AOD). The “extinction QC flag” filter is the most influential in preventing high-biases in level 3 mean extinction, while the “misclassified cirrus fringe” filter is most aggressive at rejecting cirrus misclassified as aerosol. The impact of quality screening on monthly mean aerosol extinction is investigated globally and regionally. After applying quality filters, the level 3 algorithm calculates monthly mean AOD by vertically integrating the monthly mean quality-screened aerosol extinction profile. Calculating monthly mean AOD by integrating the monthly mean extinction profile prevents a low bias that would result from alternately integrating the set of extinction profiles first and then averaging the resultant AOD values together. Ultimately, the quality filters reduce level 3 mean AOD by −24 and −31 % for global ocean and global land, respectively, indicating the importance of quality screening.

Tackett, Jason L.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Online Tools for Uncovering Data Quality (DQ) Issues in Satellite-Based Global Precipitation Products

Data quality (DQ) has many attributes or facets (i.e., errors, biases, systematic differences, uncertainties, benchmark, false trends, false alarm ratio, etc.)Sources can be complicated (measurements, environmental conditions, surface types, algorithms, etc.) and difficult to be identified especially for multi-sensor and multi-satellite products with bias correction (TMPA, IMERG, etc.) How to obtain DQ info fast and easily, especially quantified info in ROI Existing parameters (random error), literature, DIY, etc.How to apply the knowledge in research and applications.Here, we focus on online systems for integration of products and parameters, visualization and analysis as well as investigation and extraction of DQ information.

precipitation↗
DOE OSTI2021

Newly acquired core enhances geologic understanding of the northern Paradox Basin Cane Creek play, southeastern Utah

The Cane Creek interval is an emerging unconventional heterolithic play within the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation of the northern Paradox Basin, southeastern Utah. Structural controls (basement uplifts, salt movement, faults, fractures) likely control production from the Cane Creek, where total oil production of ~10 MMBO is just a fraction of current estimates of the undiscovered resource (up to 1.2 BBOE). Oil production has been most successful from unstimulated horizontal wells in the Cane Creek Unit in the central play area, whereas areas to the north (Greentown and Gunnison Valley) have to date proven to be largely unproductive from vertical and horizontal wells drilled without the benefit of 3D seismic or the deployment of modern hydraulic fracturing techniques. However, the limited historical drilling has shown significant promise (e.g., significant shows). The lack of core data in the northern part of the play has impeded thorough assessment of reservoir quality, character, and lithological facies heterogeneity. The Cane Creek is informally divided into three distinct zones. The upper A and basal C zones are composed of fabric destructive and wavy bedded anhydrite, dolomitic mudstone, and organic-rich algal laminated mudstones (source rock). The middle B zone is generally wave rippled and burrowed, low-permeability sandstone-siltstone (reservoir) with subordinate displacive anhydrite. Recent potash cores collected from the Salt Valley anticline near Crescent Junction, Utah (but east of the main play area), show thicker reservoir sandstone/siltstone packages (~40 ft) in the B zone, and parts of the C zone, in the northern part of the Paradox Basin in comparison to the central (~35 ft) and southern (~30 ft) areas. Source rock analyses from northern core/cuttings also indicate that it is well positioned within the oil window (VRo ~0.8), with thin organic-rich mudstone beds containing up to 20 wt% TOC. Because the siliciclastic reservoir rocks have low permeabilities (0.009–0.202 mD) and variable porosities (6–17%) due to dolomite-anhydrite cement, naturally occurring and possibly stimulated fractures may be essential for hydrocarbon recovery. To better understand the northern part of the Cane Creek play, a new core was obtained from the research stratigraphic well State 16-2 (January 2021). Details from this new core will help characterize reservoir quality via core analyses, petrography, fracture orientations, geomechanics, and correlation of facies and depositional trends. Additionally, an evaluation of matrix porosity/permeability will be conducted to determine its contribution to productivity.

02 PETROLEUM↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Quality of Candidate Flights and Submission Prediction in Collaborative Digital Departure Reroute

Collaborative Digital Departure Reroute (CDDR) enables the reroute of flights using a flight operator proposed set of alternative route options, referred to as Trajectory Option Set (TOS), in order to reduce delay on the airport's surface and in the Metroplex environment. The reroute functionality is enabled through NASA's Digital Information Platform (DIP). TOS candidate flights are defined as flights with an alternative route with delay savings greater than the flight operator defined relative trajectory cost. This paper analyzes the TOS candidate flights at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (KDFW) in the North Texas Metroplex to gain insight into which candidate flights are higher quality through a scoring method. This insight will inform refinements to help CDDR focus on high quality reroute opportunities. Binary classification models for predicting the flight operator's submission of candidate flights are also explored in this paper.

Machine Learning↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Quality of Candidate Flights and Submission Prediction in Collaborative Digital Departure Reroute

Collaborative Digital Departure Reroute (CDDR) enables the reroute of flights using a flight operator proposed set of alternative route options, referred to as Trajectory Option Set (TOS), in order to reduce delay on the airport's surface and in the Metroplex environment. The reroute functionality is enabled through NASA's Digital Information Platform (DIP). TOS candidate flights are defined as flights with an alternative route with delay savings greater than the flight operator defined relative trajectory cost. This paper analyzes the TOS candidate flights at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (KDFW) in the North Texas Metroplex to gain insight into which candidate flights are higher quality through a scoring method. This insight will inform refinements to help CDDR focus on high quality reroute opportunities. Binary classification models for predicting the flight operator's submission of candidate flights are also explored in this paper.

Machine Learning↗
NASA NTRS2010

Quality Control and Calibration of the Dual-Polarization Radar at Kwajalein, RMI

Weather radars, recording information about precipitation around the globe, will soon be significantly upgraded. Most of today s weather radars transmit and receive microwave energy with horizontal orientation only, but upgraded systems have the capability to send and receive both horizontally and vertically oriented waves. These enhanced "dual-polarimetric" (DP) radars peer into precipitation and provide information on the size, shape, phase (liquid / frozen), and concentration of the falling particles (termed hydrometeors). This information is valuable for improved rain rate estimates, and for providing data on the release and absorption of heat in the atmosphere from condensation and evaporation (phase changes). The heating profiles in the atmosphere influence global circulation, and are a vital component in studies of Earth s changing climate. However, to provide the most accurate interpretation of radar data, the radar must be properly calibrated and data must be quality controlled (cleaned) to remove non-precipitation artifacts; both of which are challenging tasks for today s weather radar. The DP capability maximizes performance of these procedures using properties of the observed precipitation. In a notable paper published in 2005, scientists from the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) at the University of Oklahoma developed a method to calibrate radars using statistically averaged DP measurements within light rain. An additional publication by one of the same scientists at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Oklahoma introduced several techniques to perform quality control of radar data using DP measurements. Following their lead, the Topical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Satellite Validation Office at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center has fine-tuned these methods for specific application to the weather radar at Kwajalein Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, approximately 2100 miles southwest of Hawaii and 1400 miles east of Guam in the tropical North Pacific Ocean. This tropical oceanic location is important because the majority of rain, and therefore the majority of atmospheric heating, occurs in the tropics where limited ground-based radar data are available.

Marks, David A.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Leveraging Existing Satellite Precipitation Missions for AOS Applications Development

The Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) seeks to explore fundamental questions of how interconnections between aerosols, clouds and precipitation impact our weather and climate, addressing real-world challenges to benefit society. AOS will provide key information to enhance the communities’ ability to improve weather and air quality forecasting today, seasonal to sub-seasonal changes in the near future, and societal challenges resulting from climate change in the decades to come. A fundamental component of the AOS mission is ensuring that applications are considered to the greatest extent possible in mission design.As a result, the Applications Impact Team (AIT) was implemented to address this objective.The overarching goal of the AIT is to help improve the capacity for transitioning science to applications to make it possible to more quickly and effectively inform decisions that will directly benefit society. We seek to maximize AOS benefit to impact decisions through early engagement in the mission development phase in order to prepare stakeholders to apply observations as soon as AOS mission data becomes available.To support these efforts, we leverage existing mission applications activities and initiatives, such as NASA’s GPM and TROPICS missions, to form a framework to enhance precipitation applications for AOS. Engaging with existing missions helps identify and understand data needs, gaps and opportunities for current and future stakeholders, determine what precipitation data products are of highest value and use, and helps connect stakeholders with current mission data that can serve as AOS proxy data, among others. In this presentation, we provide an overview of AOS AIT activities and initiatives and highlight how existing satellite precipitation missions and their applications activities can play a critical role in AOS applications development during mission design.

Andrea Portier↗
NASA NTRS1992

Flight simulator for hypersonic vehicle and a study of NASP handling qualities

The research goal of the Human-Machine Systems Engineering Group was to study the existing handling quality studies in aircraft with sonic to supersonic speeds and power in order to understand information requirements needed for a hypersonic vehicle flight simulator. This goal falls within the NASA task statements: (1) develop flight simulator for hypersonic vehicle; (2) study NASP handling qualities; and (3) study effects of flexibility on handling qualities and on control system performance. Following the above statement of work, the group has developed three research strategies. These are: (1) to study existing handling quality studies and the associated aircraft and develop flight simulation data characterization; (2) to develop a profile for flight simulation data acquisition based on objective statement no. 1 above; and (3) to develop a simulator and an embedded expert system platform which can be used in handling quality experiments for hypersonic aircraft/flight simulation training.

Ntuen, Celestine A.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Applications of GIS and remote sensing in public participation and stakeholder engagement for watershed management

The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing technologies for the development of water quality management programs and for post-implementation assessments has increased dramatically in the past decade. This increase in adoption has been made more accessible through the interfaces of many popular software tools used in the regulation and assessment of water quality. Customized applications of these tools will increase, as ease of access and affordability of directly monitored and remotely sensed datasets improve over time. Concurrently, there is a need for inclusive participatory engagement with stakeholders to achieve solutions to current watershed management challenges. This paper explores the potential of these GIS and remote sensing datasets, tools, models, and immersive engagement technologies from other domains, for improving public participation and stakeholder engagement throughout the watershed planning process. To do so, an initial review is presented about the use of GIS and remote sensing in watershed management and its role in impairment identification, model development, and planning and implementation. Then, ways in which GIS and remote sensing can be integrated with stakeholder engagement through (1) leveraging GIS and remote sensing datasets, and (2) stakeholder engagement approaches including outreach and education, modeler-led development, and stakeholder-led involvement and feedback, are discussed. Finally, future perspectives on the potential for transforming public participation and stakeholder engagement in the watershed management process through applications of GIS and remote sensing are presented.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1992

Quest for excellence 5

The highlights of the 1992 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winners - AT and T Network Systems Group, Transmission Systems Business Unit; Texas Instrument Defense Systems and Electronics Group; AT and T Universal Card Services; The Ritz Hotel CO; and The Granite Rock Company are presented, along with brief information about the company and their beliefs and business and production strategies for quality manufacturing and products.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2023

Assessment of BQ-9000 Biodiesel Properties for 2022

This is the sixth in a series of reports documenting the quality of biodiesel from U.S. and Canadian-based producers that participate in the BQ-9000 program, the biodiesel industry voluntary quality assurance program. Participants agreed to provide monthly data on critical quality parameters for calendar year 2022. The quality data was provided to a team of experts, who removed any identifying company information and provided anonymized data to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for statistical analysis.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS1994

Process Analyzer

The ChemScan UV-6100 is a spectrometry system originally developed by Biotronics Technologies, Inc. under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. It is marketed to the water and wastewater treatment industries, replacing "grab sampling" with on-line data collection. It analyzes the light absorbance characteristics of a water sample, simultaneously detects hundreds of individual wavelengths absorbed by chemical substances in a process solution, and quantifies the information. Spectral data is then processed by ChemScan analyzer and compared with calibration files in the system's memory in order to calculate concentrations of chemical substances that cause UV light absorbance in specific patterns. Monitored substances can be analyzed for quality and quantity. Applications include detection of a variety of substances, and the information provided enables an operator to control a process more efficiently.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2000

Bayesian Fusion of Color and Texture Segmentations

In many applications one would like to use information from both color and texture features in order to segment an image. We propose a novel technique to combine "soft" segmentations computed for two or more features independently. Our algorithm merges models according to a mean entropy criterion, and allows to choose the appropriate number of classes for the final grouping. This technique also allows to improve the quality of supervised classification based on one feature (e.g. color) by merging information from unsupervised segmentation based on another feature (e.g., texture.)

Manduchi, Roberto↗
DOE OSTI2021

Mine Water Use, Treatment, and Reuse in the United States: A Look at Current Industry Practices and Select Case Studies

Mining provides significant economic value while often impacting local water supplies and environments because of freshwater usage and waste disposal practices. In this paper we identify current practices in mine water, including how water is used in mining, influent and effluent water quality, treatment technologies, and end uses with the goal of informing future research on implementable, reliable, and cost-effective advanced water treatment in the mining sector. This study also reviews the available literature to broadly evaluate mining in the United States and performs a techno-economic assessment on water use and disposal for three detailed case studies applicable to lithium, uranium, and copper mines. These case studies highlight specific industry examples of distinct extraction methods, geographical regions, and mined commodities. Hypothetical scenarios based on case study baselines revealed potential impacts to mine water available for beneficial reuse through the use of novel water treatment technologies and alternate water management strategies. Finally, an assessment of national level impacts resulting from the reuse of treated mine source water is presented.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗