SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Dry processing”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,009 records · Page 56

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1994

Numerical modeling studies of wake vortex transport and evolution within the planetary boundary layer

The proposed research involves four tasks. The first of these is to simulate accurately the turbulent processes in the atmospheric boundary layer. TASS was originally developed to study meso-gamma scale phenomena, such as tornadic storms, microbursts and windshear effects in terminal areas. Simulation of wake vortex evolution, however, will rely on appropriate representation of the physical processes in the surface layer and mixed layer. This involves two parts. First, a specified heat flux boundary condition must be implemented at the surface. Using this boundary condition, simulation results will be compared to experimental data and to other model results for validation. At this point, any necessary changes to the model will be implemented. Next, a surface energy budget parameterization will be added to the model. This will enable calculation of the surface fluxes by accounting for the radiative heat transfer to and from the ground and heat loss to the soil rather than simple specification of the fluxes. The second task involves running TASS with prescribed wake vortices in the initial condition. The vortex models will be supplied by NASA Langley Research Center. Sensitivity tests will be performed on different meteorological environments in the atmospheric boundary layer, which include stable, neutral, and unstable stratifications, calm and severe wind conditions, and dry and wet conditions. Vortex strength may be varied as well. Relevant non-dimensional parameters will include the following: Richardson number or Froude number, Bowen ratio, and height to length scale ratios. The model output will be analyzed and visualized to better understand the transport, decay, and growth rates of the wake vortices. The third task involves running simulations using observed data. MIT Lincoln Labs is currently planning field experiments at the Memphis airport to measure both meteorological conditions and wake vortex characteristics. Once this data becomes available, it can be used to validate the model for vortex behavior under different atmospheric conditions. The fourth task will be to simulate the wake in a more realistic environment covering a wider area. This will involve grid nesting, since high resolution will be required in the wake region but a larger total domain will be used. During the first allocation year, most of the first task will be accomplished.

Lin, Yuh-Lang↗

NASA NTRS2007

Remote Sensing of Terrestrial Water Storage and Application to Drought Monitoring

Terrestrial water storage (TWS) consists of groundwater, soil moisture and permafrost, surface water, snow and ice, and wet biomass. TWS variability tends to be dominated by snow and ice in polar and alpine regions, by soil moisture in mid-latitudes, and by surface water in wet, tropical regions such as the Amazon (Rodell and Famiglietti, 2001; Bates et al., 2007). Drought may be defined as a period of abnormally dry weather long enough to cause significant deficits in one or more of the TWS components. Thus, along with observations of the agricultural and socioeconomic impacts, measurements of TWS and its components enable quantification of drought severity. Each of the TWS components exhibits significant spatial variability, while installation and maintenance of sufficiently dense monitoring networks is costly and labor-intensive. Thus satellite remote sensing is an appealing alternative to traditional measurement techniques. Several current remote sensing instruments are able to detect variations in one or more TWS variables, including the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) on NASA's Aqua satellite and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua. Future satellite missions have been proposed to improve this capability, including the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity mission (SMOS) and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT), and Snow and Cold Land Processes (SCLP) missions recommended by the US National Academy of Science's Decadal Survey for Earth Science (NRC, 2007). However, only one remote sensing technology is able to monitor changes in TWS from the land surface to the base of the deepest aquifer: satellite gravimetry. This paper focuses on NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment mission (GRACE; http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/) and its potential as a tool for drought monitoring.

Rodell, Matt↗

NASA NTRS2005

Investigation of Solar Radiation Properties at the Battleship Promontory Area, Antarctica

JPL scientists in January 2005 visited the unique Battleship Promontory Area of the Antarctic Dry Valleys at 76 deg. 54 min. S one of the few places on the Antarctic continent home to viable life. Cryptoendolithic microorganisms manage to survive on and inside rocks in Antarctica's harsh conditions of extreme dryness and cold that are not So different from the past and present conditions on Mars. We are investigating the physical properties of these biological creatures through analysis of optical spectra collected from a variety of rock samples over the deep UV, visible, and near-infrared regions with the intent of gaining key insights into the environmental factors that make such a habitat viable for life. The LabView programming environment is equipped with the tools necessary to create an interface to visualize, manipulate, and normalize extensive raw reflectance and corresponding incident spectral data. We are determining the meaning of the colors observed and their relationship to the ability to acquire energy and investigating differences between the photosynthetic processes in full sunlight and diffuse/shadow lighting. Comparisons between spectral data collected in the field and from returned samples in the lab validate the accuracy of our field collection methodology.

VanNortwick, Sara S.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Veggie Hardware Validation Test Preliminary Results and Lessons Learned

The Veggie hardware validation test, VEG-01, was conducted on the International Space Station during Expeditions 39 and 40 from May through June of 2014. The Veggie hardware and the VEG-01 experiment payload were launched to station aboard the SpaceX-3 resupply mission in April, 2014. Veggie was installed in an Expedite-the-Processing-of-Experiments-to-Space-Station (ExPRESS) rack in the Columbus module, and the VEG-01 validation test was initiated. Veggie installation was successful, and power was supplied to the unit. The hardware was programmed and the root mat reservoir and plant pillows were installed without issue. As expected, a small amount of growth media was observed in the sealed bags which enclosed the plant pillows when they were destowed. Astronaut Steve Swanson used the wet/dry vacuum to clean up the escaped particles. Water insertion or priming the first plant pillow was unsuccessful as an issue prevented water movement through the quick disconnect. All subsequent pillows were successfully primed, and the initial pillow was replaced with a backup pillow and successfully primed. Six pillows were primed, but only five pillows had plants which germinated. After about a week and a half it was observed that plants were not growing well and that pillow wicks were dry. This indicated that the reservoir was not supplying sufficient water to the pillows via wicking, and so the team reverted to an operational fix which added water directly to the plant pillows. Direct watering of the pillows led to a recovery in several of the stressed plants; a couple of which did not recover. An important lesson learned involved Veggie's bellows. The bellows tended to float and interfere with operations when opened, so Steve secured them to the baseplate during plant tending operations. Due to the perceived intensity of the LED lights, the crew found it challenging to both work under the lights and read crew procedures on their computer. Although the lights are not a safety hazard, for visual comfort crewmembers were advised to wear sunglasses when working with the plants and then they can lift glasses to read procedures. Steve Swanson had already trail-blazed this procedure when he initiated VEG-01. The temperature and humidity data logger was relocated mid-experiment to provide measurements on both sides of the unit. Images of the plants were downlinked weekly, and videos of installation and harvest were recorded. This imaging frequency was not sufficient to monitor and respond to changes in plant growth. Plants, samples, and data loggers will be returned on SpaceX-4, scheduled to return the fall of 2014. Lessons learned will be translated into hardware and operational modifications for future Veggie payloads.

International Space Station↗

NASA NTRS2020

InSAR-based detection method for mapping and monitoring slow-moving landslides in remote regions with steep and mountainous terrain: An application to Nepal

Mapping and monitoring landslides in remote areas with steep and mountainous terrain is logistically challenging, expensive, and time consuming. Yet, in order to mitigate hazards and prevent loss of life in these areas, and to better understand landslide processes, high-resolution measurements of landslide activity are necessary. Satellite-based synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) provides millimeter-scale measurements of ground surface deformation that can be used to identify and monitor landslides in remote areas where ground-based monitoring techniques are not feasible. Here we present a novel InSAR deformation detection approach, which uses double difference time-series with local and regional spatial filters and pixel clustering methods to identify and monitor slow-moving landslides without making a priori assumptions of the location of landslides. We apply our analysis to freely available Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite data acquired between 2014 and 2017 centered on the Trishuli River drainage basin in Nepal. We found a minimum of 6 slow-moving landslides that all occur within the Ranimatta lithologic formation (phyllites, metasandstones, meta basics). These landslides have areas ranging from 0.39 to 1.66 sq.km and long-term dry-season displacement rates ranging from 2.1 to 8.8 cm/yr. Due to periods of low coherence during the monsoon season (June – September) each year, and following the 25 April 2015 Mw7.8 Gorkha earthquake, our time series analysis is limited to the 2014-2015 and 2016-2017 dry seasons (September - May). We found that each of the landslides displayed slightly higher rates during the 2014 period, likely as a result of higher cumulative rainfall that fell during the 2014 monsoon season. Although we do not have high quality InSAR data to show the landslide evolution directly following the Gorkha earthquake, the similar rates of movement before (2014-2015) and after (2016-2017) Gorkha suggest the earthquake had negligible long-term impact on these landslides. Our findings highlight the potential for region-wide mapping of slow-moving l and slides using freely available remote sensing data in remote areas such as Nepal and future work will benefit from expanding our methodology to other regions around the world.

Synthetic Aperture Radar↗

NASA NTRS2004

Radiobrightness Forward Modelling vs Observations from Local to Satellite Scales during the 2003 NASA Cold Land Processes Experiment

A key issue for passive microwave Earth sensing applications is subpixel heterogeneity and its role in the connection between local-scale conditions vs. what is observed at the satellite footprint scale. The recently-completed NASA Cold Land Processes Field Experiment (CLPX-1) was designed to provide microwave remote sensing observations and ground truth for studies of snow and from ground remote sensing, particularly issues related to scaling. CLPX-1 was conducted in the spring of 2003 in Colorado, USA. Measurements of radiobrightness were made with nested footprint sizes ranging from scales of meters at a single site to 25 x 25 km across the entire CLPX-1 domain. Corresponding measurements of snowpack conditions (snow depth and temperature. density, and grain size profiles) as well as weather analyses were used to provide input data for forward radiative transfer model investigations. This paper will focus on the ability of forward modelling, based primarily on Dense Medium Radiative Transfer (DMRT) theory, combined with snowpack measurements and weather data to reproduce the radiobrightness signatures observed at multiple scales during both the third and fourth Intensive Observing Periods (February and March, 2003). The conditions include both wet and dry periods as well as a variety of forest cover conditions, providing a valuable test of model performance. These analyses will help guide the choice of future snow retrieval algorithm and the design of future Cold Lands observing systems.

Kim, Edward J.↗

NASA NTRS2018

CARBO - The Carbon Observatory Instrument Suite - The Next Generation of Earth Observing Instruments for Global Monitoring of Carbon Gases

The Carbon Observatory Instrument Suite, or CARBO, consists of four carbon observing instruments sharing a common instrument bus, yet targeted for a particular wavelength band each with a unique science observation. They are: a) Instrument 1, wavelength centered at 756 nm for oxygen and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) observations, b) Instrument 2, centered at 1629 nm, for carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) observation, c) Instrument 3, centered at 2062 nm for carbon dioxide and d) Instrument 4, centered at 2328 for carbon monoxide (CO) and methane. From low-Earth orbit, these instruments have a field-of-view of 10 to 15 degrees, and a spatial resolution of 2 km square. These instruments have a spectral resolving power ranging from ten to twenty thousand, and can monitor columnaverage dry air mole fraction of carbon dioxide (XCO2) at 1.5 ppm, and methane (XCH4) at 7 ppb. These new instruments will advance the use of immersion grating technology in spectrometer instruments in order to reduce the size of the instrument, while improving performance. These compact, capable instruments are envisioned to be compatible with small satellites, yet modular to be configured to address the particular science questions at hand. Here we report on the current status of the instrument design and fabrication, focusing primarily on Instruments 1 and 2. We will describe the key science and engineering requirements and the instrument performance error budget. We will discuss the optical design with particular emphasis on the immersion grating, and the advantages this new technology affords compared to previous instruments. We will also discuss the status of the focal plane array and the detector electronics and housing. Finally, we report on a new approach – developed during this instrument design process - which enables simultaneous measurement of both orthogonal polarization states (S and P) over the field-of-view and optical bandpass. We believe this polarization sensing capability will enable science observations which were previously limited by instrumental and observational degeneracies. In particular: improved sensitivity to all species, better sensitivity to surface polarization effects, better constraints on aerosol scattering parameters, and superior discrimination of the vertical distribution of gases and aerosols.

Bernas, Michael↗

NASA NTRS2012

Why Isn't the Earth Completely Covered in Water?

If protoplanets formed from 10 to 20 kilometer diameter planetesimals in a runaway accretion process prior to their oligarchic growth into the terrestrial planets, it is only logical to ask where these planetesimals may have formed in order to assess the initial composition of the Earth. We have used Weidenschilling's model for the formation of comets (1997) to calculate an efficiency factor for the formation of planetesimals from the solar nebula, then used this factor to calculate the feeding zones that contribute to material contained within 10, 15 and 20 kilometer diameter planetesimals at 1 A.U. as a function of nebular mass. We find that for all reasonable nebular masses, these planetesimals contain a minimum of 3% water as ice by mass. The fraction of ice increases as the planetesimals increase in size and as the nebular mass decreases, since both factors increase the feeding zones from which solids in the final planetesimals are drawn. Is there really a problem with the current accretion scenario that makes the Earth too dry, or is it possible that the nascent Earth lost significant quantities of water in the final stages of accretion?

Nuth, Joseph A., III↗

NASA NTRS2011

Analysis of Antarctic Ice-Sheet Mass Balance from ICESat Measurements

If protoplanets formed from 10 to 20 kilometer diameter planetesimals in a runaway accretion process prior to their oligarchic growth into the terrestrial planets, it is only logical to ask where these planetesimals may have formed in order to assess the initial composition of the Earth. We have used Weidenschilling's model for the formation of comets (1997) to calculate an efficiency factor for the formation of planetesimals from the solar nebula, then used this factor to calculate the feeding zones that contribute to material contained within 10, 15 and 20 kilometer diameter planetesimals at 1 A.V. as a function of nebular mass. We find that for all reasonable nebular masses, these planetesimals contain a minimum of 3% water as ice by mass. The fraction of ice increases as the planetesimals increase in size and as the nebular mass decreases, since both factors increase the feeding zones from which solids in the final planetesimals are drawn. Is there really a problem with the current accretion scenario that makes the Earth too dry, or is it possible that the nascent Earth lost significant quantities of water in the final stages of accretion?

Zwally, H. Jay↗

NASA NTRS2018

Polarization Decomposition and Temperature Bias Resolution for SMAP Passive Soil Moisture Retrieval Using Time Series Brightness Temperature Observations

In passive microwave remote sensing of soil moisture, the tau-omega (τ-ω) model has often been used to provide soil moisture estimates at a spatial scale representative of the satellite footprint dimensions. For modeling simplicity, model parameters such as the single scattering albedo (ω) and vegetation opacity (τ) that go into the geophysical inversion process are often assumed to be independent of polarizations. Although this absence of polarization dependence can often be justified in special cases as in low-frequency remote sensing or under dense vegetation conditions, it is not a robust assumption in general. Additional model parameterization errors arising from this assumption are possible, leading to degradation in soil moisture estimation accuracy. In this paper, we propose a time series approach to try to resolve the polarization dependence of several τ-ω model parameters as well as the temperature bias arising from the ancillary temperature data. The Version 4 of the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Level 1B brightness temperature time series observations were used to illustrate the mechanics of this approach, with an emphasis on a comparison between resulting satellite soil moisture retrievals and in situ data collected at several core validation sites. It was found that this time series approach resulted in significant reduction of the dry bias exhibited in the current SMAP passive soil moisture data products, while retaining the same performance in other metrics of the current baseline passive soil moisture retrieval algorithm.

time series↗

NASA NTRS2018

BioSentinel: Optimizing Growth Conditions for Improved Yeast Cell Viability After Long-Term Desiccation

NASA's BioSentinel mission is one of thirteen secondary payloads to be deployed on the Space Launch System Exploration Mission-1 (SLS EM-1). The BioSentinel nanosatellite will be sent into a heliocentric orbit beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), to study the effects of deep space radiation on the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Ionizing radiation encountered in deep space can create damaging lesions in DNA, including double strand breaks (DSBs). Budding yeast is suitable as a biological model to study these effects, as it is eukaryotic, and can be desiccated for prolonged periods while retaining viability, thus serving as a robust analog for human cells. On the ground, yeast cells are grown in liquid medium, then loaded into the wells of microfluidic cards and air dried prior to integration into the payload. Once the spacecraft reaches its target heliocentric orbit, a mixture of growth medium and metabolic indicator dye will be pumped into the microwells at specific time points to rehydrate the cells and allow them to grow. A 3-color LED detection system will measure changes in growth and metabolism resulting from ionizing radiation exposure. BioSentinel contains a wild type control strain and a rad51 mutant that is defective for DNA damage repair. In this study, we will determine the optimal amount of time to grow diploid yeast cells in liquid culture before they are desiccated for space flight. After an extended time in stationary phase, they become more tolerant to desiccation due to stress caused by nitrogen starvation. However, excessive exposure can lead to loss of viability and to a heterogeneous cell population due to sporulation. Since viability loss during desiccation poses a risk to mission success, a stress preconditioning process during initial growth may increase long-term cell viability. To determine the growth period that improves desiccation tolerance but allows for retention of uniform radiation sensitivity, we will grow both strains in liquid medium for a varying number of days (4 to 7), desiccate the cells, and then observe changes to cell viability and ionizing radiation sensitivity over time. Supported by the Space Life Sciences Training Program at NASA Ames Research Center.

Cui, Kaixin↗

NASA NTRS2001

Toward a Unified Parameterization of the Boundary Layer and Moist Convection: Simulations of Clear and Cloudy Convection - Part 3

A model that employs a new form of mass-flux closure (described in Part I of this paper) is applied to a variety of clear and cloudy planetary boundary layers (PBLs) including dry convection from the Wangara Experiment, trade wind cumulus from the Barbados Oceanographic and Meteorological Experiment (BOMEX), and marine stratocumulus from the Atlantic Stratocumulus Experiment (ASTEX). For Wangara, the simulated variances and fluxes match that expected from similarity arguments, while the mean state is a little less mixed than the observations. In the BOMEX simulation. the shape and magnitude of the fluxes and the turbulence kinetic energy budget agree with LES results and observations. However, the liquid water mixing ratio is too large. This is attributed to an underprediction of the skewness. In agreement with observations from the ASTEX experiment, many of the model-simulated fields distinctly reflect a regime in transition between the trade wind cumulus and the classic stratocumulus-topped boundary layers. In general, the simulated entrainment rate tends to be a little underpredicted in regimes where there is little cloud-top radiative cooling (Wangara and BOMEX), while it is overpredicted in regimes where this process is more critical (e.g., ASTEX). Prior work suggests that this may be related to the manner in which the pressure terms are parameterized in the model. Overall, the model is able to capture some key physical features of these PBL regimes, and appears to have the potential to represent both cloud and boundary layer processes. Thus, this approach is a first step toward unifying these processes in large-scale models.

Lappen, Cara-Lyn↗

NASA NTRS2005

Sol-Gel Process for Making Pt-Ru Fuel-Cell Catalysts

A sol-gel process has been developed as a superior alternative to a prior process for making platinum-ruthenium alloy catalysts for electro-oxidation of methanol in fuel cells. The starting materials in the prior process are chloride salts of platinum and ruthenium. The process involves multiple steps, is time-consuming, and yields a Pt-Ru product that has relatively low specific surface area and contains some chloride residue. Low specific surface area translates to incomplete utilization of the catalytic activity that might otherwise be available, while chloride residue further reduces catalytic activity ("poisons" the catalyst). In contrast, the sol-gel process involves fewer steps and less time, does not leave chloride residue, and yields a product of greater specific area and, hence, greater catalytic activity. In this sol-gel process (see figure), the starting materials are platinum(II) acetylacetonate [Pt(C5H7O2)2, also denoted Pt-acac] and ruthenium(III) acetylacetonate [Ru(C5H7O2)3, also denoted Ru-acac]. First, Pt-acac and Ru-acac are dissolved in acetone at the desired concentrations (typically, 0.00338 moles of each salt per 100 mL of acetone) at a temperature of 50 C. A solution of 25 percent tetramethylammonium hydroxide [(CH3)4NOH, also denoted TMAH] in methanol is added to the Pt-acac/Ruacac/ acetone solution to act as a high-molecular-weight hydrolyzing agent. The addition of the TMAH counteracts the undesired tendency of Pt-acac and Ru-acac to precipitate as separate phases during the subsequent evaporation of the solvent, thereby helping to yield a desired homogeneous amorphous gel. The solution is stirred for 10 minutes, then the solvent is evaporated until the solution becomes viscous, eventually transforming into a gel. The viscous gel is dried in air at a temperature of 170 C for about 10 hours. The dried gel is crushed to make a powder that is the immediate precursor of the final catalytic product. The precursor powder is converted to the final product in a controlled-atmosphere heat treatment. Desirably, the final product is a phase-pure (Pt phase only) Pt-Ru powder with a high specific surface area. The conditions of the controlled- atmosphere heat are critical for obtaining the aforementioned desired properties. A typical heat treatment that yields best results for a catalytic alloy of equimolar amounts of Pt and Ru consists of at least two cycles of heating to a temperature of 300 C and holding at 300 C for several hours, all carried out in an atmosphere of 1 percent O2 and 99 percent N2. The resulting powder consists of crystallites with typical linear dimensions of <10 nm. Tests have shown that the powder is highly effective in catalyzing the electro-oxidation of methanol.

Narayanan, Sekharipuram↗

NASA NTRS2016

Differentiating Hydrothermal, Pedogenic, and Glacial Weathering in a Cold Volcanic Mars-Analog Environment

Although the current cold, dry environment of Mars extends back through much of its history, its earliest periods experienced significant water- related surface activity. Both geomorphic features (e.g., paleolakes, deltas, and river valleys) and hydrous mineral detections (e.g., clays and salts) have historically been interpreted to imply a "warm and wet" early Mars climate. More recently, atmospheric modeling studies have struggled to produce early climate conditions with temperatures above 0degC, leading some studies to propose a "cold and icy" early Mars dominated by widespread glaciation with transient melting. However, the alteration mineralogy produced in subglacial environments is not well understood, so the extent to which cold climate glacial weathering can produce the diverse alteration mineralogy observed on Mars is unknown. This summer, we will be conducting a field campaign in a glacial weathering environment in the Cascade Range, OR in order to determine the types of minerals that these environments produce. However, we must first disentangle the effects of glacial weathering from other significant alteration processes. Here we attempt a first understanding of glacial weathering by differentiating rocks and sediments weathered by hydrothermal, pedogenic, and glacial weathering processes in the Cascades volcanic range.

Scudder, N. A.↗

NASA NTRS2016

The Impacts of Dry Dynamic Cores on Asymmetric Hurricane Intensification

The fundamental pathways for tropical cyclone (TC) intensification are explored by considering axisymmetric and asymmetric impulsive thermal perturbations to balanced, TC-like vortices using the dynamic cores of three different nonlinear numerical models. Attempts at reproducing the results of previous work, which used the community WRF Model, revealed a discrepancy with the impacts of purely asymmetric thermal forcing. The current study finds that thermal asymmetries can have an important, largely positive role on the vortex intensification, whereas other studies find that asymmetric impacts are negligible. Analysis of the spectral energetics of each numerical model indicates that the vortex response to asymmetric thermal perturbations is significantly damped in WRF relative to the other models. Spectral kinetic energy budgets show that this anomalous damping is primarily due to the increased removal of kinetic energy from the vertical divergence of the vertical pressure flux, which is related to the flux of inertia-gravity wave energy. The increased kinetic energy in the other two models is shown to originate around the scales of the heating and propagate upscale with time from nonlinear effects. For very large thermal amplitudes (50 K), the anomalous removal of kinetic energy due to inertia-gravity wave activity is much smaller, resulting in good agreement between models. The results of this paper indicate that the numerical treatment of small-scale processes that project strongly onto inertia-gravity wave energy can lead to significant differences in asymmetric TC intensification. Sensitivity tests with different time integration schemes suggest that diffusion entering into the implicit solution procedure is partly responsible for the anomalous damping of energy.

Guimond, Stephen R.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Investigation of Global Particulate Nitrate from the AeroCom Phase III Experiment

An assessment of global particulate nitrate and ammonium aerosol based on simulations from nine models participating in the Aerosol Comparisons between Observations and Models (AeroCom) phase III study is presented. A budget analysis was conducted to understand the typical magnitude, distribution, and diversity of the aerosols and their precursors among the models. To gain confidence regarding model performance, the model results were evaluated with various observations globally, including ground station measurements over North America, Europe, and east Asia for tracer concentrations and dry and wet depositions, as well as with aircraft measurements in the Northern Hemisphere mid-to-high latitudes for tracer vertical distributions. Given the unique chemical and physical features of the nitrate occurrence, we further investigated the similarity and differentiation among the models by examining (1) the pH-dependent NH3 wet deposition; (2) the nitrate formation via heterogeneous chemistry on the surface of dust and sea salt particles or thermodynamic equilibrium calculation including dust and sea salt ions; and (3) the nitrate coarse-mode fraction (i.e., coarse/total). It is found that HNO3, which is simulated explicitly based on full O3-HOx-NOx-aerosol chemistry by all models, differs by up to a factor of 9 among the models in its global tropospheric burden. This partially contributes to a large difference in NO3(-), whose atmospheric burden differs by up to a factor of 13. The atmospheric burdens of NH3 and NHC 4 differ by 17 and 4, respectively. Analyses at the process level show that the large diversity in atmospheric burdens of NO3(-), NH3, and NHC4(+) is also related to deposition processes. Wet deposition seems to be the dominant process in determining the diversity in NH3 and NHC 4 lifetimes. It is critical to correctly account for contributions of heterogeneous chemical production of nitrate on dust and sea salt, because this process overwhelmingly controls atmospheric nitrate production (typically greater than 80 %) and determines the coarse- and fine-mode distribution of nitrate aerosol.

Ammonium aerosol based on simulations↗

NASA NTRS1997

Comparison of N2O Emissions from Soils at Three Temperate Agricultural Sites

Nitrous oxide (N2O) flux simulations by four models were compared with year-round field measurements from five temperate agricultural sites in three countries. The field sites included an unfertilized, semi-arid rangeland with low N2O fluxes in eastern Colorado, USA; two fertilizer treatments (urea and nitrate) on a fertilized grass ley cut for silage in Scotland; and two fertilized, cultivated crop fields in Germany where N2O loss during the winter was quite high. The models used were daily trace gas versions of the CENTURY model, DNDC, ExpertN, and the NASA-Ames version of the CASA model. These models included similar components (soil physics, decomposition, plant growth, and nitrogen transformations), but in some cases used very different algorithms for these processes. All models generated similar results for the general cycling of nitrogen through the agro-ecosystems, but simulated nitrogen trace gas fluxes were quite different. In most cases the simulated N20 fluxes were within a factor of about 2 of the observed annual fluxes, but even when models produced similar N2O fluxes they often produced very different estimates of gaseous N loss as nitric oxide (NO), dinitrogen (N2), and ammonia (NH3). Accurate simulation of soil moisture appears to be a key requirement for reliable simulation of N2O emissions. All models simulated the general pattern of low background fluxes with high fluxes following fertilization at the Scottish sites, but they could not (or were not designed to) accurately capture the observed effects of different fertilizer types on N2O flux. None of the models were able to reliably generate large pulses of N2O during brief winter thaws that were observed at the two German sites. All models except DNDC simulated very low N2O fluxes for the dry site in Colorado. The US Trace Gas Network (TRAGNET) has provided a mechanism for this model and site intercomparison. Additional intercomparisons are needed with these and other models and additional data sets; these should include both tropical agro-ecosystems and new agricultural management techniques designed for sustainability.

Frolking, S. E.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Impact of Soil Moisture Assimilation on Land Surface Model Spin-Up and Coupled LandAtmosphere Prediction

Advances in satellite monitoring of the terrestrial water cycle have led to a concerted effort to assimilate soil moisture observations from various platforms into offline land surface models (LSMs). One principal but still open question is that of the ability of land data assimilation (LDA) to improve LSM initial conditions for coupled short-term weather prediction. In this study, the impact of assimilating Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) soil moisture retrievals on coupled WRF Model forecasts is examined during the summers of dry (2006) and wet (2007) surface conditions in the southern Great Plains. LDA is carried out using NASAs Land Information System (LIS) and the Noah LSM through an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) approach. The impacts of LDA on the 1) soil moisture and soil temperature initial conditions for WRF, 2) land-atmosphere coupling characteristics, and 3) ambient weather of the coupled LIS-WRF simulations are then assessed. Results show that impacts of soil moisture LDA during the spin-up can significantly modify LSM states and fluxes, depending on regime and season. Results also indicate that the use of seasonal cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) is more advantageous compared to the traditional annual CDF bias correction strategies. LDA performs consistently regardless of atmospheric forcing applied, with greater improvements seen when using coarser, global forcing products. Downstream impacts on coupled simulations vary according to the strength of the LDA impact at the initialization, where significant modifications to the soil moisture flux- PBL-ambient weather process chain are observed. Overall, this study demonstrates potential for future, higher-resolution soil moisture assimilation applications in weather and climate research.

soil moisture↗