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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

The Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization Framework - CELAVI

A circular economy (CE) aims to decouple human activities from economic growth and resource use, and its overall goal is reducing or avoiding negative environmental externalities. The newly developed Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization (CELAVI) framework simulates changes in supply chain environmental impacts as it transitions toward circularity. This study expands CELAVI by incorporating detailed spatial resolution and real-world road routes connecting all facilities within the system. The case study on end-of-life decision making of wind turbine blades in the states of Iowa and Missouri explores how supply chain circularity and environmental impacts are affected by pathway costs and level of wind turbine installations. It demonstrates how high circularity costs might be beneficial for circularity transitions given revenue generated from circular pathways. Finally, impacts have important contributions to the supply chain design and thus show the importance of including detailed spatial resolution in CELAVI and CE studies in general.

circular economy↗
NASA NTRS1981

Application of remote sensing for California irrigated lands assessment

Recognizing the need for land use data as an input to State water planning, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and its predecessor agencies have conducted land use surveys since the late 1940's. In 1957 the California Water Plan was established. A statewide assessment is compiled every four to five years to review overall water resource conditions. Satellite remote sensing imagery, such as available from Landsat, has been recognized by DWR as a potential source of land use data. Analysis of Landsat imagery in connection with 'calibrating' data from low altitude photography and/or field checks can provide an economical means for providing a large scale, single year base inventory of general land use. The purpose of the Applications Pilot Test is to develop and document the use of Landsat for such an inventory. Towards the overall goal of developing an operational methodology that DWR could cost effectively implement four tasks have been specified.

Tinney, L.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hydro-battery Hybrids – A Case for Holistic Assessment of Hybrid Energy Systems

With increasing penetration of renewable energy resources like solar and wind, the flexibility offered by the hydropower generation facilities would be instrumental in providing grid reliability. However, hydropower’s capabilities are often constrained to meet asset management targets and environmental flow requirements. To meet these necessary requisites while simultaneously being able to utilize hydropower’s full potential, hydro plus battery hybrids offer a logical solution. However it is often challenging to make the case for economic feasibility of hydro-battery hybrids at the required scale of battery storage. To that end, this paper proposes a multi-objective optimization framework to maximize advantages of hydro-battery hybrid systems from three different avenues: new market opportunities, environmental benefits and machine wear and fatigue. Using an illustrative case study of a peaking plant, we simulate hydropower operations for with and without 120 MWh of battery storage for four different simulated flow patterns ranging from peaking operations to run-of-the-river operations and two intermediate flow patterns in between. The results demonstrate that hybridizing the hydropower plant can potentially generate additional revenue while simultaneously enable more environmental friendly operations and reduce the overall machine wear and tear.

Chalishazar, Vishvas H.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Structural Characterization of Potential Carbon Dioxide Reservoirs and Adjacent Strata within the Llandovery Silurian to Middle Devonian Strata of Ohio

The Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) has incorporated the work of geologic research teams (Geoteams) in its regional characterization, project planning and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) injection implementation work since the partnership was established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2003. Over this 16-year period, the cohort of Geoteams has grown from five to ten states and has contributed to the characterization of geologic sequestration opportunities, refinement of reservoir and seal data, and supported injection efforts through both predictive and post-injection assessments. This report details the work led by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey to evaluate the structure of nine formations in the Appalachian Basin of Ohio to assess seal integrity and whether carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) migration pathways could pose a potential risk. As part of Phase II MRCSP work, the Pennsylvania Geological Survey led the characterization of the Llandovery Silurian (“middle Silurian”) to Middle Devonian regional geologic characterization CO 2 utilization and storage. This preliminary assessment included generalized, regional-scale mapping, as well as the development of relatively coarse structure and isochore maps of stratigraphic intervals of interest for the Appalachian Basin. Because this stratigraphic interval offers several enhanced oil recovery targets and secondary targets for CO 2 storage, the Ohio Geological Survey undertook efforts in Phase III to characterize the Ohio’s portion of the Appalachian Basin more precisely and to resolve inconsistencies within Ohio’s formation tops. This study refined the subsurface correlations of the Silurian-through-Devonian stratigraphic section in Ohio. Higher-resolution isochore mapping of the CO 2 storage reservoirs and seals provides greater detail of potential high-porosity zones and potential structural influence on the interval.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2021

Best Practices Handbook for the Collection and Use of Solar Resource Data for Solar Energy Applications: Third Edition

As the world looks for low-carbon sources of energy, solar power stands out as the single most abundant energy resource on Earth. Harnessing this energy is the challenge for this century. Photovoltaics, solar heating and cooling, and concentrating solar power (CSP) are primary forms of energy applications using sunlight. These solar energy systems use different technologies, collect different fractions of the solar resource, and have different siting requirements and production capabilities. Reliable information about the solar resource is required for every solar energy application. This holds true for small installations on a rooftop as well as for large solar power plants; however, solar resource information is of particular interest for large installations because they require substantial investment, sometimes exceeding 1 billion dollars in construction costs. Before such a project is undertaken, the best possible information about the quality and reliability of the fuel source must be made available. That is, project developers need reliable data about the solar resource available at specific locations, including historic trends with seasonal, daily, hourly, and (preferably) subhourly variability to predict the daily and annual performance of a proposed power plant. Without these data, an accurate financial analysis is not possible. Additionally, with the deployment of large amounts of distributed photovoltaics, there is an urgent need to integrate this source of generation to ensure the reliability and stability of the grid. Forecasting generation from the various sources will allow for larger penetrations of these generation sources because utilities and system operators can then ensure stable grid operations. Developed by the foremost experts in the field who have come together under the umbrella of the International Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling Task 46, this handbook summarizes state-of-the-art information about all these topics.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Reactive chemical transport simulations of geologic carbon sequestration: Methods and applications

Chemical reaction simulations are considerably used to quantitatively assess the long-term geologic carbon sequestration (GCS), such as CO 2 sequestration capacity estimations, leakage pathway analyses, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) efficiency studies, and risk assessments of sealing formations (caprocks), wellbores, and overlying underground water resources. All these require a deep understanding of the CO 2 - associated chemical reactions. To ensure long-term, safe CO 2 sequestration in the intended formations, modeling is the only way to plausibly assess the CO 2 flow, reaction, and transport over thousands of years. This review summarizes the multiple methodologies for describing homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reaction patterns and multiscale application examples, the recent progress and current status of chemical reaction simulations for GCS, and the impact of such simulations on geological CO2 sequestration performance. Technical gaps and future challenges are also discussed for further study. The trends and challenges of such studies include: (1) the combination of coupled chemical, mechanical, and transport processes with calibrated experiments and associated uncertainty/risk assessments; (2) enhancement of the ability to simulate detailed geophysical and geochemical equations to mimic in situ conditions; and (3) characterization of multiscale subsurface systems with detailed conceptual models and assignment of suitable boundary conditions for field-scale sequestration fields. One major gap remaining is the current lack of accurate (and scale-justified) kinetic and equilibrium chemical reaction parameters under reservoir conditions. Advanced models that couple chemical, mechanical, and transport processes with scale-justified parameters, from lab to field-scale experiments, are required for quantitative assessments of sequestration capacity and the long-term safety of GCS projects.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1985

Overview and highlights of Early Warning and Crop Condition Assessment project

Work of the Early Warning and Crop Condition Assessment (EW/CCA) project, one of eight projects in the Agriculture and Resources Inventory Surveys Through Aerospace Remote Sensing (AgRISTARS), is reviewed. Its mission, to develop and test remote sensing techniques that enhance operational methodologies for crop condition assessment, was in response to initiatives issued by the Secretary of Agriculture. Meteorologically driven crop stress indicator models have been developed or modified for wheat, maize, grain sorghum, and soybeans. These models provide early warning alerts of potential or actual crop stresses due to water deficits, adverse temperatures, and water excess that could delay planting or harvesting operations. Recommendations are given for future research involving vegetative index numbers and the NOAA and Landsat satellites.

Boatwright, G. O.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Situational awareness in the commercial aircraft cockpit - A cognitive perspective

A cognitive theory is presented that has relevance for the definition and assessment of situational awareness in the cockpit. The theory asserts that maintenance of situation awareness is a constructive process that demands mental resources in competition with ongoing task performance. Implications of this perspective for assessing and improving situational awareness are discussed. It is concluded that the goal of inserting advanced technology into any system is that it results in an increase in the effectiveness, timeliness, and safety with which the system's activities can be accomplished. The inherent difficulties of the multitask situation are very often compounded by the introduction of automation. To maximize situational awareness, the dynamics and capabilities of such technologies must be designed with thorough respect for the dynamics and capabilities of human information-processing.

Adams, Marilyn J.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Subseasonal Representation and Predictability of North American Weather Regimes Using Cluster Analysis

Abstract This study focuses on assessing the representation and predictability of North American weather regimes, which are persistent large-scale atmospheric patterns, in a set of initialized subseasonal reforecasts created using the Community Earth System Model, version 2 (CESM2). The k -means clustering was used to extract four key North American (10°–70°N, 150°–40°W) weather regimes within ERA5 reanalysis, which were used to interpret CESM2 subseasonal forecast performance. Results show that CESM2 can recreate the climatology of the four main North American weather regimes with skill but exhibits biases during later lead times with overoccurrence of the West Coast high regime and underoccurrence of the Greenland high and Alaskan ridge regimes. Overall, the West Coast high and Pacific trough regimes exhibited higher predictability within CESM2, partly related to El Niño. Despite biases, several reforecasts were skillful and exhibited high predictability during later lead times, which could be partly attributed to skillful representation of the atmosphere from the tropics to extratropics upstream of North America. The high predictability at the subseasonal time scale of these case-study examples was manifested as an “ensemble realignment,” in which most ensemble members agreed on a prediction despite ensemble trajectory dispersion during earlier lead times. Weather regimes were also shown to project distinct temperature and precipitation anomalies across North America that largely agree with observational products. This study further demonstrates that unsupervised learning methods can be used to uncover sources and limits of subseasonal predictability, along with systematic biases present in numerical prediction systems. Significance Statement North American weather regimes are large-scale atmospheric patterns that can persist for several days. Their skillful subseasonal (2 weeks or greater) prediction can provide valuable lead time to prepare for temperature and precipitation anomalies that can stress energy and water resources. The purpose of this study was to assess the climatological representation and subseasonal predictability of four key North American weather regimes using a research subseasonal prediction system and clustering analysis. We found that the Pacific trough and West Coast high regimes exhibited higher predictability than other regimes and that skillful representation of conditions across the tropics and extratropics can increase predictability during later lead times. Future work will quantify causal pathways associated with high predictability.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Emulation Framework for Distributed Large-Scale Systems Integration

Recent trends in systems engineering include integration of very large-scale systems, which entails significant challenges when they are geographically dispersed. In these scenarios, intelligent integration of distributed large-scale systems requires significant coordination among hardware elements as well as all software components. The approach of integrated systems (both computing platform and experimental equipment) for end-to-end orchestration is called federation. Virtual frameworks can aid in the testing, assessment, and implementation of a functional system of interconnected resources. We present an emulation framework that replicates the software environments of multi-site federations of computing systems and instruments. Our emulation framework allows systems engineers to reduce developmentcost and avoid disruptions to production infrastructure. Our framework was effectively used to develop and test software modules for various tasks including container orchestration and instrument access. For performance assessment, however, the emulated framework is severely limited in providing accurate network and IO measurements at 10 Gbps and higher data rates. The data transfer performance profiles estimated using these emulated measurements are usually inaccurate for high bandwidth and high latency connections, since emulation does not accurately reflect the critical network transport dynamics.We utilize measurements from a physical testbed with hardware network emulators to obtain data transfer profiles that closely match the expected profiles for the emulated federations. We show the effectiveness of our approach by an illustrative example of integrated (federated) multi-site ultra large-scale systems that are connected via high speed wide area networks.

Imam, Neena↗
DOE OSTI2025

Corral Summit Pumped Storage Hydropower Hybrid: Site Suitability Assessment

In 2024, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) initiated a technical-assistance project to support Cat Creek Energy, LLC, (CCE) in evaluating site suitability for the proposed Corral Summit Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) project in south-central Idaho near Mackay Reservoir. The Corral Summit facility incorporates battery storage and photovoltaic (PV) solar arrays in a Trybrid configuration to deliver large-volume long-duration (LVLD) storage solutions for rural electric cooperatives in eastern Idaho. The evaluation process focused on determining the most-suitable location for the upper reservoir of the PSH system, guided by a comprehensive assessment framework spanning multiple categories, including physical characteristics, environmental constraints, building infrastructure, regulatory constraints, cultural resources and sensitivity, social factors, and power market and grid integration. Each site was analyzed based on a ranking scale (0–1), which scores ranging from “severely disfavored” to “highly favored,” allowing detailed comparisons of site-specific conditions. Categories such as hydraulic head, utilities corridor, land ownership, and transmission-grid limitations emerged as key contributors to the overall assessment. Site 2 (Idaho Trust) demonstrated a slight advantage over Site 1 (Bureau of Land Management) primarily due to favorable outcomes in regulatory constraints, building infrastructure, and power-market integration. However, Site 1 outperformed Site 2 in factors related to physical characteristics and social factors. The report emphasizes the need for further evaluation of both sites before clear determination of which site is preferred, due to the limited information available on either site at the time of this report. Key areas of evaluation to clearly define the preferred site are ecological impacts, cultural-resource surveys, and economic-feasibility assessments. For successful project execution, recommended follow-up actions include seismic and geotechnical surveys, groundwater and habitat monitoring, regulatory reviews of water rights and right-of-way agreements, cultural engagement with local tribal governments, and enhanced stakeholder strategies. These efforts will ensure the Corral Summit Trybrid facility meets local energy needs while balancing environmental, social, and regulatory responsibilities.

13 - HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Corral Summit Pumped Storage Hydropower Hybrid Site Suitability Assessment (Rev.1)

In 2024, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) initiated a technical-assistance project to support Cat Creek Energy, LLC, (CCE) in evaluating site suitability for the proposed Corral Summit Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) project in south-central Idaho near Mackay Reservoir. The Corral Summit facility incorporates battery storage and photovoltaic (PV) solar arrays in a Trybrid configuration to deliver large-volume long-duration (LVLD) storage solutions for rural electric cooperatives in eastern Idaho. The evaluation process focused on determining the most-suitable location for the upper reservoir of the PSH system, guided by a comprehensive assessment framework spanning multiple categories, including physical characteristics, environmental constraints, building infrastructure, regulatory constraints, cultural resources and sensitivity, social factors, and power market and grid integration. Each site was analyzed based on a ranking scale (0–1), which scores ranging from “severely disfavored” to “highly favored,” allowing detailed comparisons of site-specific conditions. Categories such as hydraulic head, utilities corridor, land ownership, and transmission-grid limitations emerged as key contributors to the overall assessment. Site 2 (Idaho Trust) demonstrated a slight advantage over Site 1 (Bureau of Land Management) primarily due to favorable outcomes in regulatory constraints, building infrastructure, and power-market integration. However, Site 1 outperformed Site 2 in factors related to physical characteristics and social factors. The report emphasizes the need for further evaluation of both sites before clear determination of which site is preferred, due to the limited information available on either site at the time of this report. Key areas of evaluation to clearly define the preferred site are ecological impacts, cultural-resource surveys, and economic-feasibility assessments. For successful project execution, recommended follow-up actions include seismic and geotechnical surveys, groundwater and habitat monitoring, regulatory reviews of water rights and right-of-way agreements, cultural engagement with local tribal governments, and enhanced stakeholder strategies. These efforts will ensure the Corral Summit Trybrid facility meets local energy needs while balancing environmental, social, and regulatory responsibilities.

13 - HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Small-Signal Stability Impacts of Load and Network Dynamics on Grid-Forming Inverters

This paper presents several stability analyses for grid-forming inverters and synchronous generators considering the dynamics of transmission lines and different load models. Load models are usually of secondary importance compared to generation source models, but as the results show, they play a crucial role in stability studies with the introduction of inverter-based resources. Given inverter control time scales, the implications of considering or neglecting electromagnetic transients of the network are very relevant in the stability assessments. In this paper, we perform eigenvalue analyses for inverter-based resources and synchronous machines connected to a load and explore the effects of multiples models under different network representations. We explore maximum loadability of inverter-based resources and synchronous machines, while analyzing the effects of load and network dynamic models on small-signal stability. The results show that the network representation plays a fundamental role in the stability of the system of different load models. The resulting stability regions are significantly different depending on the source and load model considered.

grid forming inverters↗
DOE OSTI2025

Towards provision of regularly updated climate data from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project

The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) is a flagship of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). CMIP has become a recognised ‘brand’ in climate circles evolving over the last thirty years from a targeted research activity by a small number of climate modelling centres intercomparing their Earth System Model (ESM) simulations to a broad international coordinated research effort (Durack et al, 2025). CMIP is organized as a research activity leveraging funded and in-kind contributions from experts within modelling centres and the broader scientific community supported more recently by a fully-funded International Project Office. Within CMIP, Model Intercomparison Projects (MIPs) are community-designed to understand past, present and future climate. CMIP data provides a valuable resource for climate research and is routinely used to assess model representation of climate processes and test scientific hypotheses in the context of model uncertainty and (forced and internal) variability as evident from its prolific use in scientific publications1 . The impact relies on enabling infrastructure (most prominently via the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF)), which allows sharing of simulation output, provision of the boundary conditions used in each simulation, and definition of the data standards that are essential to facilitating wide use of the data. The impact is supplemented by the wide-ranging scrutiny to which model simulations are subjected. Beyond its use in research, CMIP data is a key resource for communities producing derived climate information from downscaling and impact studies, such as the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX; Gutowski et al., 2016) and the Intersectoral Impacts MIP (ISIMIP; Frieler et al., 2024). Government, academic and commercial entities also increasingly rely on CMIP and its downstream data for climate risk assessments and climate services (for example, Copernicus Climate Change Service and World Bank portal). This means that, although CMIP is a research activity, it increasingly serves a secondary and very relevant role as a provider of climate data – a long-recognised dichotomy (Stevens, 2024). Research and applications have distinct needs, with the former requiring flexibility and generality and the latter consistency. Here we explain how the design of the research activity has been adapted to reduce the burdens imposed by applications and how the research infrastructure might evolve to further enable scientific inquiry. We propose one possible approach to consistently providing model information and projections for applications in the future.

Environmental sciences↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hawaii Water Resources: Monitoring the Impact of Land-Based Sources of Pollution on Water Quality Along the Coast of West Maui, Hawai'i, to Assess Coral Reef Condition

West Maui is at risk of losing ecosystem services provided by coral reefs due to land-based sources of pollution (LBSP). In 2011, the US Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) identified the West Maui watershed as a priority watershed (along with its sub-watersheds of Wahikuli, Honokōwai, Kahana, Honokahua, and Honolua) after decades of coral decline, giving rise to the multi-agency West Maui Ridge to Reef (R2R) Initiative. The DEVELOP Hawai’i Water Resources team partnered with the R2R Initiative and the Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources (DLNR-DAR) to address the need for better watershed management practices. The team provided the partners with a Google Earth Engine tool that displays land use and land cover changes (LULCC) in the five watersheds and detects near-shore turbidity, chlorophyll-a (chl-a), and sea surface temperature using Landsat 4 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Aqua MODIS. Team members used ancillary data provided by the R2R Initiative and the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (PCMSC) to validate satellite parameter values. The land cover analysis captured a general trend of increasing impervious cover and decreasing vegetated cover from 1989 to 2019; however, the extent of this change varied between each watershed. This analysis, coupled with the tool, can help project partners continually monitor terrestrial and marine patterns associated with coral decline.

Water Resources↗
NASA NTRS2015

The Integrated Medical Model: A Probabilistic Simulation Model Predicting In-Flight Medical Risks

The Integrated Medical Model (IMM) is a probabilistic model that uses simulation to predict mission medical risk. Given a specific mission and crew scenario, medical events are simulated using Monte Carlo methodology to provide estimates of resource utilization, probability of evacuation, probability of loss of crew, and the amount of mission time lost due to illness. Mission and crew scenarios are defined by mission length, extravehicular activity (EVA) schedule, and crew characteristics including: sex, coronary artery calcium score, contacts, dental crowns, history of abdominal surgery, and EVA eligibility. The Integrated Medical Evidence Database (iMED) houses the model inputs for one hundred medical conditions using in-flight, analog, and terrestrial medical data. Inputs include incidence, event durations, resource utilization, and crew functional impairment. Severity of conditions is addressed by defining statistical distributions on the dichotomized best and worst-case scenarios for each condition. The outcome distributions for conditions are bounded by the treatment extremes of the fully treated scenario in which all required resources are available and the untreated scenario in which no required resources are available. Upon occurrence of a simulated medical event, treatment availability is assessed, and outcomes are generated depending on the status of the affected crewmember at the time of onset, including any pre-existing functional impairments or ongoing treatment of concurrent conditions. The main IMM outcomes, including probability of evacuation and loss of crew life, time lost due to medical events, and resource utilization, are useful in informing mission planning decisions. To date, the IMM has been used to assess mission-specific risks with and without certain crewmember characteristics, to determine the impact of eliminating certain resources from the mission medical kit, and to design medical kits that maximally benefit crew health while meeting mass and volume constraints.

Risk Analysis↗