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At least 775 records · Page 43
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2014

Observation of Mountain Lee Waves with MODIS NIR Column Water Vapor

Mountain lee waves have been previously observed in data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) "water vapor" 6.7 micrometers channel which has a typical peak sensitivity at 550 hPa in the free troposphere. This paper reports the first observation of mountain waves generated by the Appalachian Mountains in the MODIS total column water vapor (CWV) product derived from near-infrared (NIR) (0.94 micrometers) measurements, which indicate perturbations very close to the surface. The CWV waves are usually observed during spring and late fall or some summer days with low to moderate CWV (below is approx. 2 cm). The observed lee waves display wavelengths from3-4 to 15kmwith an amplitude of variation often comparable to is approx. 50-70% of the total CWV. Since the bulk of atmospheric water vapor is confined to the boundary layer, this indicates that the impact of thesewaves extends deep into the boundary layer, and these may be the lowest level signatures of mountain lee waves presently detected by remote sensing over the land.

satellite remote sensing↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

PACE UV-VIS Polarimetric Remote Sensing of Atmosphere-Ocean Systems: Sensitivity to Variations in Brown Carbon

The NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, scheduled for launch in 2024, will carry two instruments that measure ultraviolet (UV) radiance emerging from the top of the atmosphere: the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) and the Spectro-Polarimeter for Planetary Exploration (SPEXone) instrument. OCI will provide single-view, hyperspectral radiometric data, whereas SPEXone will provide multi-angle, multispectral polarimetric data. Together, these instruments will be the most advanced in NASA’s history for the combined observation of ocean color and atmospheric aerosols in the UV, and they will therefore provide unprecedented research opportunities for the ocean color and atmospheric aerosol communities. In particular, UV observations are best suited to retrieve properties of Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) in the ocean, and of Brown Carbon (BrC) aerosols in the atmosphere. However, both CDOM and BrC exhibit very similar absorption spectra in the UV and the visible (VIS) spectrum; hence, care must be taken in accurately modeling these spectra for analyses of OCI and SPEXone measurements. In this presentation, we summarize a simple but highly accurate three-parameter model for complex refractive index spectra of BrC in the UV and VIS. We apply this model to simulations of PACE-like total and polarized multiangle radiance in the UV, and demonstrate that the impact of BrC and CDOM variations can be similar in total radiance, but is easy to distinguish in polarized radiance.

PACE↗
NASA NTRS1977

Nearest-neighbor doublets in protein-coding regions of MS2 RNA

'Nearest neighbor' base pairs ('doublets') in the protein-coding regions of MS2 RNA have been tabulated with respect to their positions in the first two bases of amino acid codons, in the second two bases, or paired by contact between adjoining codons. Considerable variation is evident between numbers of doublets in each of these three possible positions, but the totals of each of the 16 doublets in the coding regions of the MS2 RNA molecule show much less variation. Compilations of doublets in nucleic acid strands have no predictive value for the amino acid composition of proteins coded by such strands.

Jukes, T. H.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Comparison of the Variations of Sunspot Number, Number of Sunspot Groups, and Sunspot Area, 1875 -2013

Examined are the yearly variations and ratios of sunspot number, the number of sunspot groups, and the total corrected sunspot area for the interval 1875-2013. While yearly sunspot number independently correlates strongly (r = 0.98) with the yearly number of sunspot groups (y = -2 + 11.99x) and the total corrected sunspot area (y = 5 + 0.059x), the strongest correlation (Ry12 = 0.99) is the one based on the bivariate fit of sunspot number against the combined variations of the number of sunspot groups and sunspot area (y = 1 + 5.88x1 + 0.031x2, where y refers to sunspot number, x1 refers to the number of sunspot groups, and x2 refers to the sunspot area). While all cycle minima based on the bivariate fit are concurrent with the observed minimum in sunspot number, cycle maxima are sometimes found to differ. For sunspot cycles 12, 19, 20, and 23, cycle maximum is inferred to have occurred in 1884, 1958, 1970, and 2002, respectively, rather than in 1883, 1957, 1968, and 2000, based on the observed sunspot number. Also, cycle 19's maximum amplitude based on observed sunspot number seems too high in comparison to that found using the bivariate fit. During the 139-year interval 1875-2013, the difference between the observed and predicted sunspot number based on the bivariate fit is <1 standard error of estimate (se) (<6.4) for 111 years, between 1 and <2 se (6.4 to <12.8) for 28 years, and ≥2 se (≥12.8) for only 4 years, these years being 1957 (16.6), 1978 (-15.8), 1980 (23), and 1982 (-16.3). For sunspot cycle 24, the difference between observed and predicted values has been only -0.7 and 3.2 (≤0.5 se).

Wilson, Robert M.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Exploring the scaling limitations of the variational quantum eigensolver with the bond dissociation of hydride diatomic molecules

Abstract Materials simulations involving strongly correlated electrons pose fundamental challenges to state‐of‐the‐art electronic structure methods but are hypothesized to be the ideal use case for quantum computing algorithms. To date, no quantum computer has simulated a molecule of a size and complexity relevant to real‐world applications, despite the fact that the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm can predict chemically accurate total energies. Nevertheless, because of the many applications of moderately sized, strongly correlated systems, such as molecular catalysts, the successful use of the VQE stands as an important waypoint in the advancement toward useful chemical modeling on near‐term quantum processors. In this paper, we take a significant step in this direction. We lay out the steps, write, and run parallel code for an (emulated) quantum computer to compute the bond dissociation curves of the TiH, LiH, NaH, and KH diatomic hydride molecules using the VQE. TiH was chosen as a relatively simple chemical system that incorporates d orbitals and strong electron correlation. Because current VQE implementations on existing quantum hardware are limited by qubit error rates, the number of qubits available, and the allowable gate depth, recent studies using it have focused on chemical systems involving s and p block elements. Through VQE + UCCSD calculations of TiH, we evaluate the near‐term feasibility of modeling a molecule with d‐orbitals on real quantum hardware. We demonstrate that the inclusion of d‐orbitals and the use of the UCCSD ansatz, which are both necessary to capture the correct TiH physics, dramatically increase the cost of this problem. We estimate the approximate error rates necessary to model TiH on current quantum computing hardware using VQE + UCCSD and show them to likely be prohibitive until significant improvements in hardware and error correction algorithms are available.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS2003

Global Changes of the Water Cycle Intensity

In this study, we evaluate numerical simulations of the twentieth century climate, focusing on the changes in the intensity of the global water cycle. A new diagnostic of atmospheric water vapor cycling rate is developed and employed, that relies on constituent tracers predicted at the model time step. This diagnostic is compared to a simplified traditional calculation of cycling rate, based on monthly averages of precipitation and total water content. The mean sensitivity of both diagnostics to variations in climate forcing is comparable. However, the new diagnostic produces systematically larger values and more variability than the traditional average approach. Climate simulations were performed using SSTs of the early (1902-1921) and late (1979- 1998) twentieth century along with the appropriate C02 forcing. In general, the increase of global precipitation with the increases in SST that occurred between the early and late twentieth century is small. However, an increase of atmospheric temperature leads to a systematic increase in total precipitable water. As a result, the residence time of water in the atmosphere increased, indicating a reduction of the global cycling rate. This result was explored further using a number of 50-year climate simulations from different models forced with observed SST. The anomalies and trends in the cycling rate and hydrologic variables of different GCMs are remarkably similar. The global annual anomalies of precipitation show a significant upward trend related to the upward trend of surface temperature, during the latter half of the twentieth century. While this implies an increase in the hydrologic cycle intensity, a concomitant increase of total precipitable water again leads to a decrease in the calculated global cycling rate. An analysis of the land/sea differences shows that the simulated precipitation over land has a decreasing trend while the oceanic precipitation has an upward trend consistent with previous studies and the available observations. The decreasing continental trend in precipitation is located primarily over tropical land regions, with some other regions, such as North America experiencing an increasing trend. Precipitation trends are diagnosed further using the water tracers to delineate the precipitation that occurs because of continental evaporation, as opposed to oceanic evaporation. These diagnostics show that over global land areas, the recycling of continental moisture is decreasing in time. However, the recycling changes are not spatially uniform so that some regions, most notably over the United States, experience continental recycling of water that increases in time.

Bosilovich, Michael G.↗
DOE OSTI2023

tih_vqe [SWR-23-32]

This software supports the paper, "Exploring the scaling limitations of the variational quantum eigensolver with the bond dissociation of hydride diatomic molecules," published in the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, whose abstract is as follows: Materials simulations involving strongly correlated electrons pose fundamental challenges to state-of-the-art electronic structure methods but are hypothesized to be the ideal use case for quantum computing. To date, no quantum computer has simulated a molecule of a size and complexity relevant to real-world applications, despite the fact that the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm can predict chemically accurate total energies. Nevertheless, because of the many applications of moderately-sized, strongly correlated systems, such as molecular catalysts, the successful use of the VQE stands as an important waypoint in the advancement toward useful chemical modeling on near-term quantum processors. In this paper, we take a significant step in this direction. We lay out the steps, write, and run parallel code for an (emulated) quantum computer to compute the bond dissociation curves of the TiH, LiH, NaH, and KH diatomic hydride molecules using VQE. TiH was chosen as a relatively simple chemical system that incorporates d orbitals and strong electron correlation. Because current VQE implementations on existing quantum hardware are limited by qubit error rates, the number of qubits available, and the allowable gate depth, recent studies have focused on chemical systems involving s and p block elements. Through VQE + UCCSD calculations of TiH, we evaluate the near-term feasibility of modeling a molecule with d-orbitals on real quantum hardware. We demonstrate that the inclusion of d-orbitals and the use of the UCCSD ansatz, which are both necessary to capture the correct TiH physics, dramatically increase the cost of this problem. We estimate the approximate error rates necessary to model TiH on current quantum computing hardware using VQE+UCCSD and show them to likely be prohibitive until significant improvements in hardware and error correction algorithms are available.

Graf, Peter↗
DOE OSTI2020

Study of the Cosmic Rays and Interstellar Medium in Local H I Clouds Using Fermi -LAT Gamma-Ray Observations

An accurate estimate of the interstellar gas density distribution is crucial to understanding the interstellar medium (ISM) and Galactic cosmic rays (CRs). To comprehend the ISM and CRs in a local environment, a study of the diffuse $γ$-ray emission in a midlatitude region of the third quadrant was performed. Specifically, the $γ$-ray data in the 0.1–25.6 GeV energy range of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and other interstellar gas tracers such as the HI4PI survey data and the Planck dust thermal emission model were used, and the northern and southern regions were analyzed separately. The variation of the dust emission D em with the total neutral gas column density N H was studied in high dust temperature areas, and the N H /D em ratio was calibrated using $γ$-ray data under the assumption of a uniform CR intensity in the studied regions. The measured integrated $γ$-ray emissivities above 100 MeV are (1.58 ± 0.04) x 10 -26 photons s -1 sr -1 H-atom-1 and (1.59 ± 0.02) x 10-26 photons s-1 sr-1 H-atom -1 in the northern and southern regions, respectively, supporting the existence of a uniform CR intensity in the vicinity of the solar system. While most of the gas can be interpreted to be H I with a spin temperature of T S = 125 K or higher, an area dominated by optically thick H I with T S ~ 40 K was identified.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

SICOPOLIS-AD v1: an open-source adjoint modeling framework for ice sheet simulation enabled by the algorithmic differentiation tool OpenAD

We present a new capability of the ice sheet model SICOPOLIS that enables flexible adjoint code generation via source transformation using the open-source algorithmic differentiation (AD) tool OpenAD.The adjoint code enables efficient calculation of the sensitivities of a scalar-valued objective function or quantity of interest (QoI) to a range of important, often spatially varying and uncertain model input variables, including initial and boundary conditions, as well as model parameters.Compared to earlier work on the adjoint code generation of SICOPOLIS, our work makes several important advances:(i) it is embedded within the up-to-date trunk of the SICOPOLIS repository – accounting for 1.5 decades of code development and improvements – and is readily available to the wider community;(ii) the AD tool used, OpenAD, is an open-source tool;(iii) the adjoint code developed is applicable to both Greenland and Antarctica, including grounded ice as well as floating ice shelves, with an extended choice of thermodynamical representations.A number of code refactorization steps were required. They are discussed in detail in an Appendix as they hold lessons for the application of AD to legacy codes at large.As an example application, we examine the sensitivity of the total Antarctic Ice Sheet volume to changes in initial ice thickness, austral summer precipitation, and basal and surface temperatures across the ice sheet.Simulations of Antarctica with floating ice shelves show that over 100 years of simulation the sensitivity of total ice sheet volume to the initial ice thickness and precipitation is almost uniformly positive, while the sensitivities to surface and basal temperature are almost uniformly negative. Sensitivity to austral summer precipitation is largest on floating ice shelves from Queen Maud to Queen Mary Land. The largest sensitivity to initial ice thickness is at outlet glaciers around Antarctica. Comparison between total ice sheet volume sensitivities to surface and basal temperature shows that surface temperature sensitivities are higher broadly across the floating ice shelves, while basal temperature sensitivities are highest at the grounding lines of floating ice shelves and outlet glaciers. A uniformly perturbed region of East Antarctica reveals that, among the four control variables tested here, total ice sheet volume is the most sensitive to variations in austral summer precipitation as formulated in SICOPOLIS.Comparison between adjoint- and finite-difference-derived sensitivities shows good agreement, lending confidence that the AD tool is producing correct adjoint code.The new modeling infrastructure is freely available at http://www.sicopolis.net (last access: 2 April 2020) under the development trunk.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1976

On the total energy output of the nova outburst

It is shown that the postmaximum decline in optical light during the outburst of a normal classical nova is caused by a shift in the wavelength of maximum energy to the ultraviolet. The constant-luminosity phase which was directly observed in Nova FH Ser 1970 may, therefore, be common to all novae, regardless of speed class. This implies that all speed classes of novae have similar energy budgets and that it is the total energy involved in the outburst which produces the variation in the observed characteristics of the novae. Recent thermonuclear runaway models for the outburst also show an extended period of high luminosity and high effective temperature following the initial outburst.

Gallagher, J. S.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Long-term variations of selected solar wind properties - IMP 6, 7, and 8 results

Studies of the variability of the solar wind are extended to include the minimum of solar cycle 20; attention is given to the He abundance, the relative He-H velocity difference, the He-H temperature ratio, the solar coronal proton density, speed, rms velocity variation, temperature and number flux, and the kinetic and total energy fluxes. The solar wind data are from observations conducted by the IMP-6, -7 and -8 satellites. A well-developed corotating stream structure appearing in January 1973 and disappearing in mid-1976 receives particular consideration. An increase in proton number and total energy fluxes after September 1972 may be due to areal expansion of both polar coronal holes, and may be associated with compression of the low-speed equatorial disk-shaped region postulated to surround the sun in interplanetary space.

Feldman, W. C.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Stratospheric water vapor variability for Washington, DC/Boulder, CO - 1964-82

Measurements for Washington, DC and Boulder, CO are combined to provide a time series of midlatitude stratospheric water vapor data for the period 1964-82. The mean concentration for the data period is shown to be nearly constant with altitude for the low stratospheric layer between 16-22 km with a mass mixing ratio for the layer of 2.5-2.6 ppmm. Above 22 km the mixing ratio increases slightly with altitude. Evident in the 60 mb level time series is an annual cycle, a quasi-biennial cycle and a long-term nonlinear trend. The quasi-biennial cycle in water vapor at midlatitudes is consistent with variations in tropical stratosphere zonal winds and temperature and total ozone and suggests a modulation of the Hadley cell circulation. The long-term trend shows mixing ratio increasing during the 1960s and decreasing in the 1970s after 1972.

Mastenbrook, H. J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Samarkand complex setup for investigation of cosmic ray variation in the energy range of 7 10 (9) - 10 (15) eV

The Samarkand complex setup is aimed at the study of cosmic ray variations in a wide energy range from 7 billion eV (which corresponds to the geomagnetic threshold in the region of Samarkand) up to approx 10 to the 15th power to 10 to the 16th power eV. The setup consists of four 6-counter sections of neutron supermonitor with counters SNM-15 and 48 scintillator detectors (1 sq m each) placed under and above the supermonitor. The effective area of the setup for recording neutrons and muons is 24 sq m. The setup can register time variations of the following cosmic ray components: (1) the total neutron counting rate, (2) counting rates for neutrons of different multiplicity, (3) soft-muon fluxes, (4) hard-muon fluxes at various zenith and azimuth angles, (5) electron-photon component, (6) extensive air showers (EAS) induced by primary particles in a wide energy range and accompanied or not accompanied by muons and neutrons.

Dorman, L. I.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Roughness measurements with multipolarization aircraft data

Multipolarization SAR data were collected over the SIR-B target area near Fresno, California, a few days before the Shuttle flight. Attempts to use these data to evaluate roughness models were unsuccessful. It is speculated that the processing of those data to give good total swath and target contrast resulted in very little variation among the bare fields. Special processing to provide adequate contrast among the targets of interest and to account for a large incidence angle variation may be necessary to make these data useful for this type of study.

Engman, E. T.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Experimental study of three exit pressure distortions on turbine performance

A cold flow air test of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) High Pressure Fuel Turbopump (HPFTP) turbine was conducted with a circumferential pressure distortion at the turbine exit. The effects of three circumferential exit pressure distortions on turbine efficiency and pressure ratio, are presented. Circumferential and radial total pressure, total temperature, static pressure, and flow angle distributions at the turbine exit are also presented. Efficiency and total-to-total pressure ratio are shown to have a circumferential variation as high as 13.7 percent (or points of efficiency) and 7.1 percent, respectively. A slight pressure distortion was measured downstream of the first stage nozzle and the distortion increased across subsequent blade rows to a maximum downstream of the second stage rotor for all three plates. A brief discussion of the test facility, model, instrumentation, and test plan is given for completeness.

Gaddis, Stephen W.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Drop size distributions and related properties of fog for five locations measured from aircraft

Fog drop size distributions were collected from aircraft as part of the Synthetic Vision Technology Demonstration Program. Three west coast marine advection fogs, one frontal fog, and a radiation fog were sampled from the top of the cloud to the bottom as the aircraft descended on a 3-degree glideslope. Drop size versus altitude versus concentration are shown in three dimensional plots for each 10-meter altitude interval from 1-minute samples. Also shown are median volume radius and liquid water content. Advection fogs contained the largest drops with median volume radius of 5-8 micrometers, although the drop sizes in the radiation fog were also large just above the runway surface. Liquid water content increased with height, and the total number of drops generally increased with time. Multimodal variations in number density and particle size were noted in most samples where there was a peak concentration of small drops (2-5 micrometers) at low altitudes, midaltitude peak of drops 5-11 micrometers, and high-altitude peak of the larger drops (11-15 micrometers and above). These observations are compared with others and corroborate previous results in fog gross properties, although there is considerable variation with time and altitude even in the same type of fog.

Zak, J. Allen↗
NASA NTRS1994

Ozone formation during an episode over Europe: A 3-D chemical/transport model simulation

A 3-D regional photochemical tracer/transport model for Europe and the Eastern Atlantic has been developed based on the NASA/GISS CTM. The model resolution is 4x5 degrees latitude and longitude with 9 layers in the vertical (7 in the troposphere). Advective winds, convection statistics and other meteorological data from the NASA/GISS GCM are used. An extensive gas-phase chemical scheme based on the scheme used in our global 2D model has been incorporated in the 3D model. In this work ozone formation in the troposphere is studied with the 3D model during a 5 day period starting June 30. Extensive local ozone production is found and the relationship between the source regions and the downwind areas are discussed. Variations in local ozone formation as a function of total emission rate, as well as the composition of the emissions (HC/NO(x)) ratio and isoprene emissions) are elucidated. An important vertical transport process in the troposphere is by convective clouds. The 3D model includes an explicit parameterization of this process. It is shown that this process has significant influence on the calculated surface ozone concentrations.

Berntsen, Terje↗