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At least 793 records · Page 44

Robust detection, isolation and accommodation for sensor failures

The objective is to extend the recent advances in robust control system design of multivariable systems to sensor failure detection, isolation, and accommodation (DIA), and estimator design. This effort provides analysis tools to quantify the trade-off between performance robustness and DIA sensitivity, which are to be used to achieve higher levels of performance robustness for given levels of DIA sensitivity. An innovations-based DIA scheme is used. Estimators, which depend upon a model of the process and process inputs and outputs, are used to generate these innovations. Thresholds used to determine failure detection are computed based on bounds on modeling errors, noise properties, and the class of failures. The applicability of the newly developed tools are demonstrated on a multivariable aircraft turbojet engine example. A new concept call the threshold selector was developed. It represents a significant and innovative tool for the analysis and synthesis of DiA algorithms. The estimators were made robust by introduction of an internal model and by frequency shaping. The internal mode provides asymptotically unbiased filter estimates.The incorporation of frequency shaping of the Linear Quadratic Gaussian cost functional modifies the estimator design to make it suitable for sensor failure DIA. The results are compared with previous studies which used thresholds that were selcted empirically. Comparison of these two techniques on a nonlinear dynamic engine simulation shows improved performance of the new method compared to previous techniques

Emami-Naeini, A.↗

Predictability of Seawater DMS During the North Atlantic Aerosol and Marine Ecosystem Study (NAAMES)

This work presents an overview of a unique set of surface ocean dimethylsulfide (DMS) measurements from four shipboard field campaigns conducted during the North Atlantic Aerosol and Marine Ecosystem Study (NAAMES) project. Variations in surface seawater DMS are discussed in relation to biological and physical observations. Results are considered at a range of timescales (seasons to days) and spatial scales (regional to sub-mesoscale). Elevated DMS concentrations are generally associated with greater biological productivity, although chlorophyll a (Chl) only explains a small fraction of the DMS variability (15%). Physical factors that determine the location of oceanic temperature fronts and depth of vertical mixing have an important influence on seawater DMS concentrations during all seasons. The interplay of biomass and physics influences DMS concentrations at regional/seasonal scales and at smaller spatial and shorter temporal scales. Seawater DMS measurements are compared with the global seawater DMS climatology and predictions made using a recently published algorithm and by a neural network model. The climatology is successful at capturing the seasonal progression in average seawater DMS, but does not reproduce the shorter spatial/temporal scale variability. The input terms common to the algorithm and neural network approaches are biological (Chl) and physical (mixed layer depth, photosynthetically active radiation, seawater temperature). Both models predict the seasonal North Atlantic average seawater DMS trends better than the climatology. However, DMS concentrations tend to be under-predicted and the episodic occurrence of higher DMS concentrations is poorly predicted. The choice of climatological seawater DMS product makes a substantial impact on the estimated DMS flux into the North Atlantic atmosphere. These results suggest that additional input terms are needed to improve the predictive capability of current state-of-the-art approaches to estimating seawater DMS.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Satellite remote sensing of surface energy balance - Success, failures, and unresolved issues in FIFE

Utilizing single-view-angle visible and NIR satellite observations, it was possible to make the necessary radiometric corrections to produce reliable estimates of the simple ratio and the normalized difference vegetation index as inputs to surface evaporation models. Agreement was achieved between helicopter and satellite measures of surface reflectance to within +/-1 percent absolute for both the visible and the NIR bands. A theoretical calculation utilizing radiative transfer models indicates that this translates into a +/-10 percent error in the estimation in Fpar.

Hall, Forrest G.↗

BLOC Site - ASSIST Thermodynamic Retrievals TROPoe v0.18 / Derived Data

This dataset contains daily files with thermodynamic profiles retrieved with the optimal estimation physical retrieval TROPoe (Turner and Löhnert 2014; Turner and Blumberg 2019; Turner and Löhnert 2021). This is a post-processed dataset and recommended for use. The profiles are retrieved every 10 minutes from instantaneous radiances observed with an Atmospheric Sounder Spectrometer by Infrared Spectral Technology (ASSIST, Michaud-Belleau et al. 2025) operated by NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) on Block Island for WFIP3. The spectral bands used in the retrieval are in the wavenumber range from 612 - 905.4 cm-1 and are specified in Turner and Löhnert (2021). Additional input data in TROPoe are cloud base height from a collocated ceilometer operated by NOAA GML and temperature, water vapor mixing ratio, and pressure from a collocated surface tower operated by NOAA PSL. In addition to these temporally resolved input data, TROPoe requires an a priori dataset (prior) that provides mean climatological estimates of thermodynamic profiles and specifies how temperature and humidity covary with height as an input (for details see, e.g., Djalalova et al. 2022). The prior is a key component of the retrieval and provides a constraint on the ill-posed inversion problem. A monthly prior was computed from operational radiosonde launches at Upton, NY. The TROPoe docker container (version 0.18) is available from Docker Hub at https://hub.docker.com/r/davidturner53/tropoe/tags, and the source code code is available in the GitHub repository https://github.com/OAR-atmospheric-observations/TROPoe.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

NANT Site - ASSIST Thermodynamic Retrievals TROPoe v0.18 / Derived Data

This dataset contains daily files with thermodynamic profiles retrieved with the optimal estimation physical retrieval TROPoe (Turner and Löhnert 2014; Turner and Blumberg 2019; Turner and Löhnert 2021). This is a post-processed dataset and recommended for use. The profiles are retrieved every 10 minutes from instantaneous radiances observed with an Atmospheric Sounder Spectrometer by Infrared Spectral Technology (ASSIST, Michaud-Belleau et al. 2025) operated by NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) on Nantucket Island for WFIP3. The spectral bands used in the retrieval are in the wavenumber range from 612 - 905.4 cm-1 and are specified in Turner and Löhnert (2021). Additional input data in TROPoe are cloud base height from a collocated ceilometer operated by NOAA GML and temperature, water vapor mixing ratio, and pressure from a collocated surface tower operated by NOAA PSL. In addition to these temporally resolved input data, TROPoe requires an a priori dataset (prior) that provides mean climatological estimates of thermodynamic profiles and specifies how temperature and humidity covary with height as an input (for details see, e.g., Djalalova et al. 2022). The prior is a key component of the retrieval and provides a constraint on the ill-posed inversion problem. A monthly prior was computed from operational radiosonde launches at Upton, NY. The TROPoe docker container (version 0.18) is available from Docker Hub at https://hub.docker.com/r/davidturner53/tropoe/tags, and the source code code is available in the GitHub repository https://github.com/OAR-atmospheric-observations/TROPoe.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

BLOC Site - ASSIST Thermodynamic retrievals TROPoe / Derived Data

This dataset contains daily files with thermodynamic profiles retrieved with the optimal estimation physical retrieval TROPoe (Turner and Löhnert 2014; Turner and Blumberg 2019; Turner and Löhnert 2021). The profiles are retrieved every 10 minutes from instantaneous radiances observed with an Atmospheric Sounder Spectrometer by Infrared Spectral Technology (ASSIST, Rochette et al. 2009) operated by NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory on Block Island for WFIP3. The spectral bands used in the retrieval are in the wavenumber range from 612 - 905.4 cm-1 and are specified in Turner and Löhnert (2021). Radiances are noise-filtered but not averaged in time to minimize errors due to non-uniform clouds. Additional input data in TROPoe are cloud base height from a collocated ceilometer operated by NOAA GML and temperature, water vapor mixing ratio, and pressure from a sensor attached to the ASSIST housing. In addition to these temporally resolved input data, TROPoe requires an a priori dataset (prior) that provides mean climatological estimates of thermodynamic profiles and specifies how temperature and humidity covary with height as an input (for details see, e.g., Djalalova et al. 2022). The prior is a key component of the retrieval and provides a constraint on the ill-posed inversion problem. A monthly prior was computed from operational radiosonde launches at Upton, NY.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Model Effects on GLAS-Based Regional Estimates of Forest Biomass and Carbon

Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) / Geosciences Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) waveform data are used to estimate biomass and carbon on a 1.27 X 10(exp 6) square km study area in the Province of Quebec, Canada, below the tree line. The same input datasets and sampling design are used in conjunction with four different predictive models to estimate total aboveground dry forest biomass and forest carbon. The four models include non-stratified and stratified versions of a multiple linear model where either biomass or (biomass)(exp 0.5) serves as the dependent variable. The use of different models in Quebec introduces differences in Provincial dry biomass estimates of up to 0.35 G, with a range of 4.94 +/- 0.28 Gt to 5.29 +/-0.36 Gt. The differences among model estimates are statistically non-significant, however, and the results demonstrate the degree to which carbon estimates vary strictly as a function of the model used to estimate regional biomass. Results also indicate that GLAS measurements become problematic with respect to height and biomass retrievals in the boreal forest when biomass values fall below 20 t/ha and when GLAS 75th percentile heights fall below 7 m.

Nelson, Ross F.↗

Estimation of Surface Air Temperature Over Central and Eastern Eurasia from MODIS Land Surface Temperature

Surface air temperature (T(sub a)) is a critical variable in the energy and water cycle of the Earth.atmosphere system and is a key input element for hydrology and land surface models. This is a preliminary study to evaluate estimation of T(sub a) from satellite remotely sensed land surface temperature (T(sub s)) by using MODIS-Terra data over two Eurasia regions: northern China and fUSSR. High correlations are observed in both regions between station-measured T(sub a) and MODIS T(sub s). The relationships between the maximum T(sub a) and daytime T(sub s) depend significantly on land cover types, but the minimum T(sub a) and nighttime T(sub s) have little dependence on the land cover types. The largest difference between maximum T(sub a) and daytime T(sub s) appears over the barren and sparsely vegetated area during the summer time. Using a linear regression method, the daily maximum T(sub a) were estimated from 1 km resolution MODIS T(sub s) under clear-sky conditions with coefficients calculated based on land cover types, while the minimum T(sub a) were estimated without considering land cover types. The uncertainty, mean absolute error (MAE), of the estimated maximum T(sub a) varies from 2.4 C over closed shrublands to 3.2 C over grasslands, and the MAE of the estimated minimum Ta is about 3.0 C.

Shen, Suhung↗

Model Structures and Algorithms for Identification of Aerodynamic Models for Flight Dynamics Applications

This paper describes model structures and parameter estimation algorithms suitable for the identification of unsteady aerodynamic models from input-output data. The model structures presented are state space models and include linear time-invariant (LTI) models and linear parameter-varying (LPV) models. They cover a wide range of local and parameter dependent identification problems arising in unsteady aerodynamics and nonlinear flight dynamics. We present a residue algorithm for estimating model parameters from data. The algorithm can incorporate apriori information and is described in detail. The algorithms are evaluated on the F-16XL wind-tunnel test data from NAS Langley Research Center. Results of numerical evaluation are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion major issues and directions for future work.

Prasanth, Ravi K.↗

A Monte Carlo analysis of the effects of instrumentation errors on aircraft parameter identification

An output error estimation algorithm was used to evaluate the effects of both static and dynamic instrumentation errors on the estimation of aircraft stability and control parameters. A Monte Carlo analysis, using simulated cruise flight data, was performed for a high performance military aircraft, a large commercial transport, and a small general-aviation aircraft. The effects of variations in the information content of the flight data, resulting from two different choices of control input maneuvers, were also determined. The results indicate that unmodeled instrumentation errors can cause inaccuracies in the estimated parameters which are comparable to their nominal values. Control input errors and angular accelerometer lags were found to be most significant of the instrumentation errors evaluated, and the perturbations they produce are much larger than those arising from the combined effects of static errors and white noise in the output response measurements.

Bryant, W. H.↗

Sensitivity Analysis of Drivers Water Shortage in the Los Angeles Region During Drought

The code and detailed step-by-step instructions for generating the model output data, processing results, and analysis and plotting are provided at https://github.com/IMMM-SFA/Ferencz_et_al_2026_ER_Water. The PyArtes model is a python adaptation of the Artes model. PyArtes uses many of the same input data and optimization model architecture as Artes. Documentation for the PyArtes model is provided in the Supplement to the paper. The primary data product are simulated monthly water shortages for indoor and outdoor demand under a large ensemble of drought scenarios (>13,000). The droughts are hypothetical and are not based on historical time series data of supply sources - though historical data did help inform ranges explored for supply parameters. Demands are informed by recent 2017-2021 water supply data. Demands used for the model can be accessed at https://github.com/IMMM-SFA/Ferencz_et_al_2026_ER_Water. Simulations resolve demand for over 90 water providers in the study region. The results report 36 months of water shortage data for each indoor and outdoor demand node. The study also developed a multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network trained on a subset of the simulated shortage ensemble to emulate worst annual water shortage for a given set of parameter multipliers -- provided the parameter values fall within the ranges sampled in the ensemble. Emulated water shortages for synthetic ensembles are in the MLP-generated shortages folder. The MLP model was used to generate larger ensembles to support Sobol analysis that would have been extremely computationally expensive to simulate. Datasets provided in this repository*: Simulated shortages. These results are used for the analysis for Figures 5, 8, and 9 in the paper, and also to train the MLP emulator. .zip file containing outputs for the 13,312 scenario ensemble. Separate .csv files for indoor and outdoor shortage for each scenario. Rows = demand ids (~100), Columns = months (36) Units = acre-feet/month of shortage (shortage = monthly demand - supply). 1 acft = 1233.48 m^3 .csv files of aggregated shortages derived from the 13,312 ensemble Rows = scenarios (13,312), Columns = demand ids (~100) Units = acre-feet/year (either worst annual shortage or total shortage over the 3-year drought) .csv file of the parameter multipliers scenarios for the ensemble .csv file of the parameter ranges and baseline values the multipliers were applied to MLP-generated shortages. These results are used for Figures 4, 6, and 7 in the paper. mwd higher folder: scenario ensembles, emulated worst year total shortages (acft), and Sobol results Emulated shortages. Rows = scenarios, columns = demand ids, units acft Sobol results. Rows = demand ids, columns Sobol (S1, ST, or 95% confidence interval) value for each parameter mwd lower folder: scenario ensembles, emulated worst year total shortages (acft), and Sobol results same organization as mwd higher MLP performance: performance metrics (R^2, RMSE, BIAS, MAPE) for the testing subset (20% or 2,662 scenarios) and simulated vs emulated worst year shortage (acre-feet/year) for every demand node, MWD wholesale regions, and the entire study region (LAC). Supporting data for figures. Figure plotting scripts in the associated GitHub repo. These files support analysis and visualization. Geospatial Data used for plotting simulated water shortages and Sobol results. Dictionary of full names for demand nodes in the model and estimates of water supply by source type informed by Artes input files and California Urban Water Management Planning data: https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Water-Use-And-Efficiency/Urban-Water-Use-Efficiency/Urban-Water-Management-Plans *Readme files provided for each folder.

drought↗

Managing negative values is reservoir inflow computation: A case study

Reservoir inflow is conventionally estimated using the water balance method, which involves the reservoir release and the change in storage during the period considered. As a result, the estimated inflow may sometimes be negative as the errors involved in each input variable build-up to the output. In our study, the fleet data was provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for their Norris Hydropower facility. Unlike the flow release data, which was readily accessible, the change in storage had to be calculated using the reservoir elevation and volume relationship. The original inflow estimates produced a wide range of negative values with large outliers, making it difficult to visualize the current trends. This paper describes a methodology to remove the negative values encountered during the inflow computation, and the results were analyzed by correlating with the nearby streamflow gaging stations.

Shibu, Asha↗

Parameter estimation in a structural acoustic system with fully nonlinear coupling conditions

A methodology for estimating physical parameters in a class of structural acoustic systems is presented. The general model under consideration consists of an interior cavity which is separated from an exterior noise source by an enclosing elastic structure. Piezoceramic patches are bonded to or embedded in the structure; these can be used both as actuators and sensors in applications ranging from the control of interior noise levels to the determination of structural flaws through nondestructive evaluation techniques. The presence and excitation of patches, however, changes the geometry and material properties of the structure as well as involves unknown patch parameters, thus necessitating the development of parameter estimation techniques which are applicable in this coupled setting. In developing a framework for approximation, parameter estimation and implementation, strong consideration is given to the fact that the input operator is unbonded due to the discrete nature of the patches. Moreover, the model is weakly nonlinear. As a result of the coupling mechanism between the structural vibrations and the interior acoustic dynamics. Within this context, an illustrating model is given, well-posedness and approximations results are discussed and an applicable parameter estimation methodology is presented. The scheme is then illustrated through several numerical examples with simulations modeling a variety of commonly used structural acoustic techniques for systems excitations and data collection.

Banks, H. T.↗

Daily grass reference evapotranspiration with Meteosat Second Generation shortwave radiation and reference ET products

Here we assess the accuracy of estimating daily grass reference evapotranspiration (PM-ET o ) using daily shortwave radiation (R s ) and reference evapotranspiration (ET REF ) products provided by the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) geostationary satellite delivered by the Satellite Applications Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF) framework. The accuracy of using reanalysis ERA5 shortwave radiation data (R s ERA5 ) provided by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is also evaluated. The assessments were performed using observed weather variables at 37 weather stations distributed across continental Portugal, where climate conditions range from semi-arid to humid, and 12 weather stations located in Azores islands, characterized by humid, windy and often cloudy conditions. This study&#x27;s use of data from a variety of climate conditions contributed to a unique and innovative assessment of the usability of LSA-SAF and ERA5 products for ET o estimation. The first assessment focused on comparing LSA-SAF estimates of R s (R s LSA-SAF ) against ground stations (R s ground ). The results showed a good matching between the two R s data sets for continental Portugal but a tendency for R s LSA-SAF to under-estimate R s ground in the cloudy islands of Azores. ET o values computed using R s LSA-SAF data and observed temperature, humidity and wind speed (ET o LSA-SAF ) were then compared with PM-ET o estimates with ground-based data, which were used as benchmark; input data of temperature and humidity needed for PM-ET o were quality checked for surface aridity effects. It was observed that ET o LSA-SAF is strongly correlated with PM-ET o (R 2 > 0.97) for most locations in continental Portugal, with regression coefficient of a linear regression forced to the origin ranging between 0.95 and 1.05, mean root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.13 mm d –1 , and Nash and Sutcliff efficiency of modeling (EF) above 0.95. For most Azores locations, ET o LSA-SAF over-estimated PM-ET o . This is likely a consequence of the high spatio-temporal heterogeneity of weather conditions that occur in these oceanic islands together with the different footprints of satellite (averaged over the pixel) and station observations. Reanalysis ERA5 shortwave radiation data presented similar behavior to the LSA-SAF products, however with slightly lower accuracy. The daily LSA-SAF ET REF product (ET REF LSA-SAF ) was assessed and results have shown a good accuracy of this product, with acceptable RMSE and high EF values, for continental Portugal but a low accuracy for the Azores islands. A simplified bias correction approach was shown to improve both ET o derived from the LSA-SAF products, namely for Azores stations, which seem to be representative of smaller areas. The use of the FAO-PM temperature approach (PMT) was also assessed using the R s LSA-SAF and R s ERA5 data, which showed a superiority of the LSA-SAF product for ET o estimations (ET o PMT LSA-SAF ). No significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in terms of the median value of the RMSE when adopting ET o PMT and ET REF LSA-SAF . Differently, results showed that using the R s LSA-SAF in the PMT approach (ET o PMT LSA-SAF ) produces significantly better RMSE results than ET o PMT and ET REF LSA-SAF . Overall, the performed assessment allows concluding that the use of R s LSA-SAF, and to a lesser extent the use of the R s ERA5 , highly improves the accuracy of computation of ET o when R s observations are not available, including when only temperature data are accessible. The use of the ET REF LSA-SAF product is a good alternative when observed weather data are not available.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Overall chilled water system energy consumption modeling and optimization

The emergence of increasingly affordable variable-speed drive technology has changed the approach used to control chilled water systems equipped with these drives. The purpose of this research was to develop an integrated chilled water modeling technique that can determine the optimal system setpoints and estimate the energy saving potential of chiller system. The chiller system equipped with Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) on cooling tower fans and condenser water pumps. To accomplish the objective, physical component models of the centrifugal chiller, cooling tower and condenser water pump were established with the goal of incorporating the system’s condenser water flow rate and cooling tower fan speeds as optimization variables. Furthermore, a cooling load prediction algorithm was developed using a multiple non-linear regression model to approximate the building’s cooling load subject to a range of environmental conditions. The inputs and outputs of the individual component models were linked to estimate how adjusting the cooling tower fan and condenser water pump speed would influence the system’s comprehensive performance. Here, the overall system model was then optimized using a generalized reduced gradient optimization algorithm to determine the potential energy savings through speed control with VFDs and to ascertain a control logic strategy for the building automation system to operate the heating and cooling system. A case-study was performed on a single chiller system at a museum and the model was calibrated according to logged data collected over four months. Results showed that for the system analyzed, the energy saving of optimizing the cooling tower fan system was found to be 12–15%, while the energy saving potential of optimizing the condenser water pump with the cooling tower fan was negligible. Additionally, comparing different cooling tower fan control strategies showed that a wet-bulb approach-based cooling tower control strategy was shown to have the highest correlation to the optimized fan speed with an R 2 of 0.924.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Quantifying uncertainty in physics-based predictions of rare-isotope production cross sections via Bayesian-inspired model averaging across nuclear mass tables

Accurate prediction of fragmentation cross sections is essential for rare-isotope beam production, planning new-isotope searches, and designing experiments to study the most exotic regions of the nuclear chart. However, existing reaction models and phenomenological cross-section parametrizations often exhibit significant deviations over broad regions of mass and charge. In this work, a Bayesian-inspired model-averaging framework is developed to combine abrasion-ablation (AA) calculations based on multiple nuclear mass tables into a single statistically weighted estimate. For the calibrated systems, the model weights are assigned empirically according to the relative quality of fit to measured cross sections, thereby reducing systematic model bias while preserving the underlying physics content of the AA description. The weights are constrained using proton-rich fragmentation data for the 78 Kr and 124 Xe projectiles. The resulting parameter trends are then propagated to the 92 Mo and 144 Sm systems through a controlled scaling procedure. In the present implementation, the excitation-energy prescription is fixed, while the averaging is performed across nuclear-mass inputs; the framework provides both weighted cross sections and associated uncertainty estimates. Applied to proton-rich fragmentation, the present approach provides a practical basis for interpolation and limited extrapolation in regions relevant to rare-isotope production. The resulting predictions are used to assess the production of very proton-rich nuclei, and candidate new isotopes are discussed.

Bayesian methods↗

Possibility of detecting magnetospheric radio bursts from Uranus and Neptune

The intensity of magnetospheric radio bursts (MRBs) is scaled to solar-wind input into planetary magnetospheres and the frequency of emission is scaled to polar surface magnetic-field strength in order to estimate the possibility of detecting MRBs from Uranus and Neptune. A scaling law is derived which relates the ratio of power radiated in MRBs to the solar-wind input for earth, Jupiter, and Saturn. Power-flux spectra of MRBs from these three planets are plotted, and it is shown that Jupiter and Saturn may radiate 1% to 5% of the solar-wind energy input into their magnetospheres. The properties of MRBs from Uranus and Neptune are estimated by assuming a conversion efficiency of 1% to 5%, a bandwidth of half the peak frequency, and conformity of Uranus' and Neptune's dipole moments with the magnetic Bode's law. Based on the results, it is suggested that detection of MRBs from these two planets may be a reasonable cruise-mode radio-astronomy objective on future missions to the outer solar system.

Kennel, C. F.↗

Estimating Future Changes of Energy Demand for Heating and Cooling Buildings at NASA Centers GC23J-1198

With its unique and trusted earth observations, NASA is a critical source in informing decisions that will help achieve the U.S. goal of Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions by 2050. NASA’s Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resource (POWER) project facilitates the use of NASA Earth Science data holdings within the energy, agricultural, and building heating/cooling design industries. POWER packages solar and meteorological data from several NASA projects in a user friendly GIS-enabled web services system (https://power.larc.nasa.gov). As part of the development of new data products to support the energy and building heating/cooling design communities, we estimate the changes in energy required to heat and cool buildings in the future climate at 14 different NASA site locations spread throughout the continental United States, as projected by CMIP6 climate models under different emissions scenarios. Bias-corrected downscaled time series of meteorological variables are taken from NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) Global Daily Downscaled Projections (GDDP-CMIP6) downscaled climate model data. The spread between the different model projections is accounted for by analyzing both the ensemble average of 22 CMIP6 models and 6 representative models with different climate sensitivities and different interannual variability. Changes in energy use are estimated in two ways. First, changes in the total annual heating and cooling degree days (HDD and CDD, respectively) are calculated relative to the current climate. This is done at all 14 sites. Second, the downscaled time series are used as inputs into RETScreen(R), a clean energy management decision tool, to give an estimate of heating/cooling energy use for a typical office building. We use this estimation method with model data at Langley Research Center. In the next 50 years, the annual total of HDD (CDD) is projected to decrease by 8-38% (increase by 5-28%) at all sites, with the increase in CDD typically a larger magnitude the decrease in HDD. For a typical small office building at Langley Research Center, the amount of energy needed to cool increases by 33-54% and the amount of energy to heat decreases by 29-40%. POWER is working to develop long term climate data services based on these results to include in future data products to provide to users.

Bradley M. Hegyi↗