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A home use water treatment incorporates technology developed to purify water aboard Space Shuttle Orbiters. The General Ionics Model IQ Bacteriostatic Water Softener softens water and inhibits bacteria growth in the filtering unit. Ionics used NASA silver ion technology as a basis for development of a silver carbon dense enough to remain on top of the water softening resin bed.
Ceres has only a small spin axis tilt (4 deg), and craters near its rotational poles can experience permanent shadow and trap volatiles, as is the case on Mercury and on Earth's Moon. Topography derived from stereo imaging by the Dawn spacecraft is used to calculate direct solar irradiance that defines the extent of the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). In the northern polar region, PSRs cover approximately 1800 sq km or 0.13% of the hemisphere, and most of the PSRs are cold enough to trap water ice over geological time periods. Based on modeling of the water exosphere, water molecules seasonally reside around the winter pole and ultimately an estimated 0.14% of molecules get trapped. Even for the lowest estimates of the amount of available water, this predicts accumulation rates in excess of loss rates, and hence, there should be fresh ice deposits in the cold traps.
Examinations of the optical constants of liquid and solid water shows that in the 1000 nm region these two phases of water are separabel based upon their spectral properties. Measurement of these two phases of water requires spectral modeling of the overlapping absorptions of the liquid water absorption centered at 970 nm and the ice absorption at 1030 nm.
Water electrolyzers can transform intermittent renewable energy like solar energy and wind energy into the chemical energy of hydrogen with zero greenhouse-gas emissions. The hydroxide-exchange membrane electrolyzer (HEME) combines the capability to produce pressurized hydrogen with the advantage of being able to use low or non-platinum group metal (PGM) electrocatalysts in the alkaline environment.1 Hydroxide salts, for example, KOH, are added to the HEME water feed on both anode and cathode to improve its performance. However, the specific mechanism of performance improvement still needs to be further understood. In addition, at high current densities, bubble evolution can result in mass-transport limitations, a less well studied phenomena. Mathematical modeling is ideal to explore these issues as it is cost and time efficient and can deconvolute the physics, processes, and observed phenomena and study the applied-voltage breakdown. In this work, we extend our previously developed 1D two-phase continuum model2 to study the varies processes in the HEME and provide insights on performance optimizations. First, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) kinetics at different hydroxide concentrations have been studied by rotating disk electrodes (RDE) and implemented in the model. Then, the model is calibrated and validated against experimental HEME polarization curves for different KOH concentrations as a liquid electrolyte. The model clearly shows a performance increase with increasing KOH concentrations, which is consistent with the experimental results. The reduced ohmic resistance and increased electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) are the two main reasons for performance increase. The large amount of hydroxide in the liquid electrolyte not only helps to distribute the reactant hydroxide throughout the catalyst layer (CL), which reduces ohmic loss, but also enables reaction at the interface between the liquid electrolyte and electrocatalyst, which increases the ECSA. Applied-voltage breakdown demonstrates that the electrolyzer performance is dominated by anode kinetics and ohmic loss. A comparison with the DI water feed shows a more uniform current distribution in the anode CL when KOH is added, which indicates a higher utilization of the CL. Second, we present modeling on the effects of bubble coverage. As gas evolves, part of the ECSA is minimized due to bubble coverage. To account for this effect, an empirical relationship between the fractional bubble coverage and the current density is implemented in the model.3 The model shows this bubble coverage effect is more pronounced at large current densities with DI water feed. Acknowledgements This work was funded under the HydroGEN Consortium by the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, of the U. S. Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231. References R. Abbasi, B. P. Setzler, S. Lin, J. Wang, Y. Zhao, H. Xu, B. Pivovar, B. Tian, X. Chen, G. Wu and Y. Yan, 31, 1805876 (2019). L. N. Stanislaw, M. R. Gerhardt and A. Z. Weber, ECS Transactions, 92, 767 (2019). H. Vogt and R. J. Balzer, Electrochimica Acta, 50, 2073 (2005).
A simple climatic model is developed for a Mars atmosphere containing CO2 and sufficient liquid water to account for the observed hydrologic surface features by the existence of a CO2/H2O greenhouse effect. A latitude-resolved climate model originally devised for terrestrial climate studies is applied to Martian conditions, with the difference between absorbed solar flux and emitted long-wave flux to space per unit area attributed to the divergence of the meridional heat flux and the poleward heat flux assumed to equal the atmospheric eddy heat flux. The global mean energy balance is calculated as a function of atmospheric pressure to assess the CO2/H2O greenhouse liquid water hypothesis, and some latitude-resolved cases are examined in detail in order to clarify the role of atmospheric transport and temperature-albedo feedback. It is shown that the combined CO2/H2O greenhouse at plausible early surface pressures may account for climates hot enough to support a hydrological cycle and running water at present-day insolation and visible albedo levels.
Humans have strongly impacted the global water cycle, not only water flows but also water storage. We have performed a first global-scale analysis of the impact of water withdrawals on water storage variations, using the global water resources and use model WaterGAP. This required estimation of fractions of total water withdrawals from groundwater, considering five water use sectors. According to our assessment, the source of 35% of the water withdrawn worldwide (4300 cubic km/yr during 1998-2002) is groundwater. Groundwater contributes 42%, 36% and 27% of water used for irrigation, households and manufacturing, respectively, while we assume that only surface water is used for livestock and for cooling of thermal power plants. Consumptive water use was 1400 cubic km/yr during 1998-2002. It is the sum of the net abstraction of 250 cubic km/yr of groundwater (taking into account evapotranspiration and return flows of withdrawn surface water and groundwater) and the net abstraction of 1150 km3/yr of surface water. Computed net abstractions indicate, for the first time at the global scale, where and when human water withdrawals decrease or increase groundwater or surface water storage. In regions with extensive surface water irrigation, such as Southern China, net abstractions from groundwater are negative, i.e. groundwater is recharged by irrigation. The opposite is true for areas dominated by groundwater irrigation, such as in the High Plains aquifer of the central USA, where net abstraction of surface water is negative because return flow of withdrawn groundwater recharges the surface water compartments. In intensively irrigated areas, the amplitude of seasonal total water storage variations is generally increased due to human water use; however, in some areas, it is decreased. For the High Plains aquifer and the whole Mississippi basin, modeled groundwater and total water storage variations were compared with estimates of groundwater storage variations based on groundwater table observations, and with estimates of total water storage variations from the GRACE satellites mission. Due to the difficulty in estimating area-averaged seasonal groundwater storage variations from point observations of groundwater levels, it is uncertain whether WaterGAP underestimates actual variations or not. We conclude that WaterGAP possibly overestimates water withdrawals in the High Plains aquifer where impact of human water use on water storage is readily discernible based on WaterGAP calculations and groundwater observations. No final conclusion can be drawn regarding the possibility of monitoring water withdrawals in the High Plains aquifer using GRACE. For the less intensively irrigated Mississippi basin, observed and modeled seasonal groundwater storage reveals a discernible impact of water withdrawals in the basin, but this is not the case for total water storage such that water withdrawals at the scale of the whole Mississippi basin cannot be monitored by GRACE.
Radar images have revealed the possible presence of ice deposits in Mercury's polar regions. Although thermal models indicate that water ice can be stable in permanently shaded regions near Mercury's poles, the ultimate source of the water remains unclear. We use stochastic models and other theoretical methods to investigate the role of external sources in supplying Mercury with the requisite amount of water. By extrapolating the current terrestrial influx of interplanetary dust particles to that at Mercury, we find that continual micrometeoritic bombardment of Mercury over the last 3.5 byr could have resulted in the delivery of (3-60) x 10(exp 16) grams of water ice to the permanently shaded regions at Mercury's poles (equivalent to an average ice thickness of 0.8-20 m). Erosion by micrometeoritic impact on exposed ice deposits could reduce the above value by about a half. For comparison, the current ice deposits on Mercury are believed to be somewhere between approx. 2 and 20 m thick. Using a Monte Carlo model to simulate the impact history of Mercury, we find that asteroids and comets can also deliver an amount of water consistent with the observations. Impacts from Jupiter-family comets over the last 3.5 billion years can supply (0.1-200) x 10(exp 16) grams of water to Mercury's polar regions (corresponding to ice deposits 0.05-60 m thick), Halley-type comets can supply (0.2-20) x 10(exp 16) grams of water to the poles (0.07-7 m of ice), and asteroids can provide (0.4-20) x 10(exp 16) grams of water to the poles (0.1-8 m of ice). Although all these external sources are nominally sufficient to explain the estimated amount of ice currently at Mercury's poles, impacts by a few large comets and/or asteroids seem to provide the best explanation for both the amount and cleanliness of the ice deposits on Mercury. Despite their low population estimates in the inner solar system, Jupiter-family comets are particularly promising candidates for delivering water to Mercury because they have a larger volatile content than asteroids and more favorable orbital and impact characteristics than Halley-type comets.
Abstract Recent water infrastructure planning models demonstrate that explicitly accounting for hydrological changes in long‐term water planning reduces costs and increases system robustness. However, current models do not consider the effects of other changes occurring in the system over long time horizons, namely technology and policy innovation. By leveraging state‐of‐the‐art dynamic control techniques, we propose a suite of tools that explicitly relate hydrologic change, technology innovation, and policy interventions to system‐level water costs. We design robust and cost‐optimal strategies for water supply expansion under hydrological variability and hundreds of plausible innovation states, for example, treatment cost and diversification improvements, deployment times, and demand reduction campaigns. Our approach circumvents the need to pre‐assign probabilities to innovation scenarios and, instead, directly calculates the effects of technology, policy, and hydrology variations on system cost and planning strategies to identify avenues of impactful innovation. These tools can support technology development hubs, urban, state, and federal water planners in anticipating cost implications of technology and policy innovation at the local level, and prioritizing high‐impact innovation goals based on quantitative targets. Results for the case study of Santa Barbara, California identify high‐value innovation attributes for the city as well as combinations of innovation attributes across technologies and policies, and quantify their potential utility cost reductions.
The first data obtained in the United States under the controlled testing conditions necessary for establishing relationships among the numerous parameters involved when a float having both horizontal and vertical velocity contacts a water surface are presented. The data were obtained at the NACA impact basin. The report is confined to a presentation of the relationship between resultant velocity and impact normal acceleration for various float weights when all other parameters are constant. Analysis of the experimental results indicated that the maximum impact normal acceleration was proportional to the square of the resultant velocity, that increases in float weight resulted in decreases in the maximum impact normal acceleration, and that an increase in the flight-path angle caused increased impact normal acceleration.
Detailed chemical process simulations are a useful tool in designing and optimizing complex systems and architectures for human life support. Dynamic and steady-state models of these systems help contrast the interactions of various operating parameters and hardware designs, which become extremely useful in trade-study analyses. NASA s Exploration Life Support technology development project recently made use of such models to compliment a series of tests on different waste water distillation systems. This paper presents dynamic simulations of chemical process for primary processor technologies including: the Cascade Distillation System (CDS), the Vapor Compression Distillation (VCD) system, the Wiped-Film Rotating Disk (WFRD), and post-distillation water polishing processes such as the Volatiles Removal Assembly (VRA). These dynamic models were developed using the Aspen Custom Modeler (Registered TradeMark) and Aspen Plus(Registered TradeMark) process simulation tools. The results expand upon previous work for water recovery technology models and emphasize dynamic process modeling and results. The paper discusses system design, modeling details, and model results for each technology and presents some comparisons between the model results and available test data. Following these initial comparisons, some general conclusions and forward work are discussed.
This data set provides model output and post-processing files required to reproduce the results, tables, and figures in the paper "Bringing Hydrologic Realism to Water Markets" by Grogan et al. (in review). Other input data used in this study includes: Lisk, M., Grogan, D., Zuidema, S., Caccese, R., Peklak, D., Zheng, J., Fisher-Vanden, K., Lammers, R., Olmstead, S., & Fowler, L. (2023). Harmonized Database of Western U.S. Water Rights (HarDWR) (Version v1) [Data set]. MSD-LIVE Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.57931/2205619 Two models were used in this study: (1) The University of New Hampshire Water Balance Model WBM, and (2) a Water Market Model. Market model code and model output post-processing code that make use of these data can be found here Model output files are: 1. WBM output files: scenario[x]_wbm_output.zip Where [x] is one of 1, 2, 2a, 3, and 3a Each zipped directory contains 7 gridded NetCDF files, each reporting the 10-year annual average value of a given variable, in units of average mm/day: File Name: wbm_indUseGross_yc.nc; Description: Water withdrawals by industry (part of the urban sector) File Name: wbm_domUseGross_yc.nc; Description: Water withdrawals by the domestic sector (part of the urban sector) File Name: wbm_irrigationGross_yc.nc; Description: Water withdrawals for agriculture File Name: wbm_irrigationExtra_yc.nc; Description: Water withdrawals from unsustainable groundwater for agriculture File Name: wbm_indUseEvap_yc.nc; Description: Consumptive water use by industry File Name: wbm_domUseEvap_yc.nc; Description: Consumptive water use by the domestic sector File Name: wbm_irrigationNet_yc.nc; Description: Consumptive water use by agriculture The file full_cell_area.nc gives the area of each grid cell in km2, which is used for converting water depth to water volume. 2. Water market model output & post processing output Folder: marketTrdSummaries/ Description: Files in this folder are used as input to code 1_WelfareCalculation_actual_trades.R. They summarize historical water right trade transactions in each state. File Name: welfare_gain_by_state_sector.csv; Description: Welfare gains by state and sector, as shown in Figure 3F. Used in code Figure3.R and produced (as a .xlsx file) by code 2_DemandCurves_simulated_trades.R File Name: welfare_data_actual.rdata; Description: welfare gains by WMA from actual historical trades, as shown in Figure 3A. This data is the output of code 1_WelfareCalculation_actual_trades.R File Name: welfare_summary_simulated.xlsx; Description: Welfare gains by state as simulated by the market model in Scenario 1. Produced by code 2_DemandCurves_simulated_trades.R, and used in code 4_WelfareCalculation.R. File Name: welfare_summary_cutoffs.xlsx; Description: Welfare gains by state as simulated by the market model in Scenario 2. Produced by code 3_DemandCurves_simulated_trades_cutoffs.R, and used in code 4_WelfareCalculation.R. File Name: welfare_summary_cutoffs_SGMS.xlsx; Description: Welfare gains by state as simulated by the market model in Scenario 2a. Produced by code 3_DemandCurves_simulated_trades_cutoffs.R, and used in code 4_WelfareCalculation.R. File Name: welfare_data_actual.rdata; Description: Spatial data, actual historical welfare gains by WMA as shown in Figure 3A. Produced by code 4_WelfareCalculation.R and used by code Figure3.R. File Name: welfare_data_simulated.rdata; Description: Spatial data, simulated Scenario 1 welfare gains by WMA as shown in Figure 3B. Produced by code 4_WelfareCalculation.R and used by code Figure3.R. File Name: welfare_data_simulated_cutoffs.rdata; Description: Spatial data, simulated Scenario 2 welfare gains by WMA. Produced by code 4_WelfareCalculation.R and used by code Figure3.R. File Name: welfare_data_simulated_cutoffs_SGMA.rdata; Description: Spatial data, simulated Scenario 2a welfare gains by WMA. Produced by code 4_WelfareCalculation.R and used by code Figure3.R. Additional files are provided for efficient reproduction of tables and figures. These include: File Name: wma_thresold_dates_Scenario2(a).csv; Description: Wet vs. paper right threshold dates for each WMA. Shown in Figure 2A,B. Produced and used by code calculate_thresolds_Figure2.R File Name: WWRTradeBounds (directory); Description: Trade boundary shapefile required to reproduce Figure 3A-D. Used in code Figure3.R File Name: welfare_region_totals.csv; Description: Welfare gains for the entire study region, as shown in Figure 3E. Used in code Figure3.R File Name: Welfare_gain_by_state_sector.csv; Description: Welfare gains by state and sector, as shown in Figure 3F. Used in code Figure3.R and produced (as a .xlsx file) by code 2_DemandCurves_simulated_trades.R File Name: WECC_MERIT_5min_v3b_mask.nc; Description: Gridded file that identified which land grid cells are in the WBM model domain, used for processing in code Figure4.py File Name: Table_1.csv; Description: All data in Table 1, reproducible from WBM output files using code table_1.R
Abstract Multiple Earth system models (ESMs) discretize surface albedo into two semi‐broadbands comprising the UV/visible and near‐infrared (NIR) wavelengths. Here, we use an offline single‐column radiative transfer model to investigate the radiative effects of spectrally resolving the surface albedo. We use the Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiative model, extended to simulate liquid water, to calculate snow, ice, and liquid water albedo. We flux‐weight the hyperspectral albedo into the coarser spectral bands used by the atmospheric shortwave radiative transfer model. We establish representative atmospheric profiles for the three surface types and compare their shortwave fluxes and atmospheric warming rates with the spectrally resolved albedo to those calculated with the semi‐broadband approximation. Spectrally resolved surface albedo over snow and ice reduces atmospheric warming by darkening the albedo of NIR bands, correcting the too‐strong surface absorption in visible bands, and too‐weak surface absorption in shortwave infrared bands caused by the semi‐broadband approximation. We explore the effects on surface and atmospheric warming rates of varying solar zenith angle, cloud cover, relative humidity, and snow grain/air bubble radii. The semi‐broadband albedo biases can exceed 10% and 2% for the surface and atmospheric net flux respectively, being particularly strong under conditions which alter the distributions of surface insolation (i.e., cloud cover or increased atmospheric water vapor). These results show that transmitting a higher resolution spectral radiation field between the atmosphere and surface reduces biases in surface absorption and atmospheric heating present in ESMs that currently use the semi‐broadband approximation.
We describe results from a comprehensive computer model developed to guide optimization of an ultraviolet Raman lidar system for measuring daytime profiles of atmospheric water vapor. Daytime measurements present added challenges because of the difficulties inherent in detecting Raman signals against solar backgrounds. We are pursuing two concepts for optimizing the daytime performance of a Raman lidar system. The first involves operating the system in the solar blind region of the ultraviolet spectrum. The second concept involves operation of the system in a narrowband, narrow field-of-view mode. Calculations for lidar systems based on both concepts are presented.
At the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), interactions between heavy-ion beams and beam-dump water will create a wide variety of radionuclides which can be accessed by a technique known as “isotope harvesting”. However, irradiation of water is always accompanied by the creation of numerous radical, ionic, and molecular radiolysis products. Some of the radiolysis products have sufficiently long lifetimes to accumulate in the irradiated water and affect the harvesting chemistry. Here we investigate the formation of hydrogen peroxide, molecular hydrogen, and molecular oxygen during a high-intensity proton irradiation of a flowing-water isotope-harvesting target and compare the experimental results to simulations. The simulations kinetically model the chemical reactions occurring in the homogeneous phase of radiolysis in flowing water and establish an “effective yield”. In both the experiment and simulations, the bulk quantities of H 2 , H 2 O 2 , and O 2 are considerably lower than predicted by primary radiolysis yields (escape yields), meaning that in the high beam intensity regime the homogeneous phase reactions have a considerable impact on the overall chemical composition of the water. Further, it could be shown that for radiation which is characterized by a limited linear energy transfer, such as the here applied protons, the bulk outcome of the microscopic kinetic modeling could be estimated by a simplified steady-state model.
* runs/ - The raw data from the pnCCD * histograms.h5 - Histogram of the values recorded by each pixel throughout the data acquisition. Used for pedestal and gain correction. * mask.h5 - Detector bad pixels mask. * 1SS8.pdb - PDB model of the assembled GroEL 14-mer, from the 1SS8 PDB entry. * 1SS8_H2O.pdb - Hydrated version of the assembled GroEL 14-mer, derived from the 1SS8 PDB entry. The various hydrated models are created by removing water from this initial model. * rotations.h5 - Quaternions of the rotations used for template matching
Considerable advancement in spatiotemporal resolution of remote sensing and ground-based measurements has enabled refinement of parameters used in land surface models for simulating surface water fluxes. However, land surface modeling capabilities are still inadequate for accurate representation of subsurface properties and processes, which continue to limit the accuracy of land surface model simulation. Our objective in this study was to examine the performance of the variously parameterized Noah-Multiphysics (Noah-MP) land surface model and to improve simulations of evapotranspiration (ET) and soil moisture dynamics in stony soils using verification from eddy covariance ET and in-situ soil moisture data. Meteorological and eddy covariance data from the Lower Sheep sub-catchment within the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed in Southwestern Idaho were employed to drive Noah-MP and to assess simulation results. We evaluated the performance of Noah-MP considering four different scenarios: (1) A one-layer soil profile with Noah-MP default soil hydraulic parameters, followed by five-layer soil profiles using -(2) Noah-MP default soil hydraulic parameters -(3) soil hydraulic parameters derived from a pedotransfer function using field observations, and -(4) hydraulic parameters from (3) which also accounted for stone content in each layer. Each modeling experiment was forced with the same set of initial conditions, atmospheric input and vegetation parameters. Our results indicated that enhanced representation of soil profile properties and stone content information noticeably improve the Noah-MP land surface model simulation of soil moisture content and evapotranspiration.
This milestone report discusses improvements to CTF closure models for modeling of bubbly and annular mist two-phase flow conditions, which are important for accurate modeling and simulation for boiling water reactor (BWR) conditions. Models that were improved include the two-phase wall shear, wall boiling, and phase mass and heat transfer. A new flow regime map was implemented to improve on the prediction of transition to annular flow, which was generally largely over-predicted by the legacy CTF flow regime map. The annular mist interfacial drag models were also reviewed and new models were proposed for implementation into the code. In addition to implementing new models, an activity was performed to calibrate these new models to experimental data using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique, thus further improving their accuracy. Finally, new experiments were implemented into the CTF validation matrix which add more two-phase pressure drop and void measurements for the assessment of CTF for modeling of BWRs. The results show that the Chisholm model, which was implemented and then calibrated, results in significantly improved comparison against the Riso two-phase pressure drop data. Furthermore, improvements in the implicit heat transfer and wall boiling models resulted in good agreement with the void measurement data.
There is a growing body of theoretical and empirical support for the concept of instabilities in the climate system, and indications that abrupt climate change may in some cases contribute to abrupt extinctions. Theoretical indications of instabilities can be found in a broad spectrum of climate models (energy balance models, a thermohaline model of deep-water circulation, atmospheric general circulation models, and coupled ocean-atmosphere models). Abrupt transitions can be of several types and affect the environment in different ways. There is increasing evidence for abrupt climate change in the geologic record and involves both interglacial-glacial scale transitions and the longer-term evolution of climate over the last 100 million years. Records from the Cenozoic clearly show that the long-term trend is characterized by numerous abrupt steps where the system appears to be rapidly moving to a new equilibrium state. The long-term trend probably is due to changes associated with plate tectonic processes, but the abrupt steps most likely reflect instabilities in the climate system as the slowly changing boundary conditions caused the climate to reach some threshold critical point. A more detailed analysis of abrupt steps comes from high-resolution studies of glacial-interglacial fluctuations in the Pleistocene. Comparison of climate transitions with the extinction record indicates that many climate and biotic transitions coincide. The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction is not a candidate for an extinction event due to instabilities in the climate system. It is quite possible that more detailed comparisons and analysis will indicate some flaws in the climate instability-extinction hypothesis, but at present it appears to be a viable candidate as an alternate mechanism for causing abrupt environmental changes and extinctions.