Data for EMSL Project 48858 from December 2024
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Baker, Scott [Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab↗
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Data for EMSL Project 48858 from August 2025
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Baker, Scott [Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab↗
Compound Specific Stable Isotope Signatures of Chemical Threat Agents: Incapacitants
In year 2 of this project (2017), our group focused on determining the causes of isotopic signatures in fentanyl. In order to better predict isotopic signatures in fentanyl, we analyzed the nitrogen isotope compositions of two key intermediates of fentanyl, NPP and ANPP. In addition, we analyzed additional fentanyl products produced using the Valdez route, along with five other alternative fentanyl routes. A new, more sensitive GC-C-IRMS method has been developed, which allows for compound specific isotope analysis of Chemical Attribution Signatures (CAS) in fentanyl.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) "AirStation": Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Carrier Concept
Proposals for adapting modern airship technologies for military missions have mostly focused on exploiting the airships high flight endurance and low fuel requirement to conduct direct surveillance missions requiring high degrees of persistence over the areas to be observed. While this mission has value, it constrains the airship in two regards. (1) It places all the surveillance sensors, communication systems, and other mission equipment in the airship itself. (2) It requires the airship to be physically in the vicinity of the areas to be directly observed. A more advanced utilization of airship technology would be to add the capability to deploy a separate set of surveillance equipment, thereby enabling indirect and distributed observation operations. This can be undertaken by installing surveillance equipment in a squadron of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that can be carried and operated remotely from the airship, and then return to the airship as a base of support. This could be accomplished by deploying 20-30 UASs on an optionally manned (5 person crew) airship. The mission focus of the airship UAS carrier would be for support of distributed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), close air support (CAS), maritime patrol and interdiction, electronic warfare (EW), persistent area dominance and missile defense. The logic for utilizing an airship carrier over a ground base to deploy UAS will be examined. Whether to be used as a stand-alone platform or in concert with conventional intelligence gathering techniques, the airship UAS carrier can provide the following benefits: a mobile base that will remain accessible despite political fallout which may render a ground base unavailable for use, the psychological impact of a power projection tool that has no geographical limits (imagined in the same way a naval carrier group projects power), cost-saving intelligence gathering over manned alternatives (assumption), and a wider area of influence when compared to an immobile ground base that must facilitate the transfer of UAS to other bases in order to overfly particular areas (all operations, launch, recover, etc. take place from the airship).
Hochstetler, Ron↗
Distinct drivers of recent seasonal precipitation increase over Central Asia: roles of anthropogenic aerosols and greenhouse gases
Observational evidence reveals a pronounced wetting trend over Central Asia in recent decades, with the most substantial increases occurring during winter and summer. Yet the extent to which the drivers of these changes differ seasonally remains unknown. Here, we use single-forcing experiments from the Precipitation Driver and Response Model Intercomparison Project (PDRMIP) to examine the effects of various external forcings on winter and summer precipitation across Central Asia and to explore the physical mechanisms underlying seasonal precipitation changes. We find that greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing mainly increases winter precipitation by enhancing atmospheric moisture content through warming. In contrast, in summer, Asian sulfate aerosols enhance precipitation by modulating the westerly jet, which strengthens atmospheric moisture transport into the region. Asian black carbon exerts an opposing influence that partially offsets the sulfate-induced effect. Further attribution analysis based on CMIP6 simulations reinforces these sensitivity results and shows that GHG forcing is the primary driver of winter precipitation increases whereas anthropogenic aerosols dominate summer trends. Future CMIP6 projections suggest that under moderate- to high-emission scenarios, winter precipitation will continue to rise due to increasing GHG concentrations, while summer precipitation may decline across much of Central Asia as a result of reduced aerosol emissions following Asian clean air policies. These findings highlight a distinct seasonality in the drivers of recent precipitation increase and suggest a plausible divergence in future winter and summer precipitation trends.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) Flight Test - Hazard Perception & Avoidance (HPA) Results
The Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) flight test series concluded in October 2023 in support of NASA's Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) project. These flights include crewed, test (i.e., ownship) and traffic (i.e., intruder) aircraft that flew with unique technologies onboard. The presentation includes overviews of the flight tet itself and the specific results that pertain to the Hazard Perception and Avoidance (HPA) technical areas. HPA tested the FAA's Airborne Collision Avoidance System X (ACAS X), a next-generation collision avoidance tool developed to support different aircraft types and operations. The rotorcraft variant, ACAS Xr, is designed to accommodate existing helicopter platforms and in-development, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) concepts, which are critical to the emerging AAM concept of operations. Two configurations of ACAS Xr were examined: Collision Avoidance System (CAS, similar to the Traffic Collision Avoidance System [TCAS] II) and Detect and Avoid (DAA, previously developed to provide added situational awareness for remote pilots). Additionally, this system was flown in cruise and low-speed flight regimes as well as within en-route and (emulated), structured (i.e., dense/urban), and terminal airspaces. Results include the types of alerts generated by ACAS Xr across the different configurations, the distances at which the alerts were generated, response times, manuever sizes, miss distances, and general comments from pilots. Key takeaways and next steps are also provided.
detect and avoid↗
Performance characterization of x-ray crystal spectroscopy highly oriented pyrolytic graphite reflectors based on x-ray diffractometry experiments
The use of Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) reflectors is often proposed in the design of X-ray Crystal Spectroscopy (XCS) diagnostic systems for the next-generation tokamak devices, including the ITER project. Here, this study introduces an experimental study based on the X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD) method to evaluate the performance of HOPG reflectors. The experimental method provides both the angular responses and the reflectivities of the HOPG reflectors. A demonstrative XRD experiment is conducted, and the details of the experiment are introduced. This method enables precise studies on HOPG reflectors, facilitating the design of XCS diagnostic systems for future tokamaks.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Detect and Avoid and Collision Avoidance Flight Test Results with ACAS Xr
In October 2023, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) completed its Integration of Automated Systems flight test series, conducted under NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility project and in partnership with Sikorsky and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The flight test effort included two crewed rotorcraft platforms. The first, a modified S-76B helicopter, served as the “ownship” for the duration of the flight test. The second vehicle, a modified S-70, served as the intruder aircraft. One Sikorsky pilot and one NASA test pilot was onboard each aircraft for every test point, with the NASA test pilot responsible for interacting with the research systems under test. Approximately half of the flight test was devoted to assessing the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) next-generation collision avoidance system, the Airborne Collision Avoidance System X for Rotorcraft (ACAS Xr). The two configurations available within ACAS Xr – the Collision Avoidance System (CAS) configuration and the Detect and Avoid (DAA) configuration – were flown with an onboard pilot under Visual Flight Rules in controlled airspace over the Long Island Sound (Connecticut, USA). A total of 33 flight test cards were flown with ACAS Xr active. The ownship was equipped with ACAS Xr and the intruder was equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). The test points were blocked by ACAS Xr configuration, with individual encounters varying the ownship speed (90 knots or 20 knots), the intruder designation (en-route, terminal area, or structured airspace), and method of RA execution (automated or manually executed). Results showed that the ACAS Xr alerting and guidance was largely effective and rated positively by the NASA test pilots, exemplified by zero instances of the pilots overriding an ACAS Xr Resolution Advisory (RA). Key areas of improvement, however, were noted, particularly with regards to the lack of an aural alert indicating a need to accelerate when receiving an RA at low speed and the occurrence of multiple RAs that the pilots found to be unacceptable.
detect and avoid↗
Detect and Avoid and Collision Avoidance Flight Test Results with ACAS Xr
In October 2023, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) completed its Integration of Automated Systems flight test series, conducted under NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility project and in partnership with Sikorsky and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The flight test effort included two crewed rotorcraft platforms. The first, a modified S-76B helicopter, served as the “ownship” for the duration of the flight test. The second vehicle, a modified S-70, served as the intruder aircraft. One Sikorsky pilot and one NASA test pilot was onboard each aircraft for every test point, with the NASA test pilot responsible for interacting with the research systems under test. Approximately half of the flight test was devoted to assessing the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) next-generation collision avoidance system, the Airborne Collision Avoidance System X for Rotorcraft (ACAS Xr). The two configurations available within ACAS Xr – the Collision Avoidance System (CAS) configuration and the Detect and Avoid (DAA) configuration – were flown with an onboard pilot under Visual Flight Rules in controlled airspace over the Long Island Sound (Connecticut, USA). A total of 33 flight test cards were flown with ACAS Xr active. The ownship was equipped with ACAS Xr and the intruder was equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). The test points were blocked by ACAS Xr configuration, with individual encounters varying the ownship speed (90 knots or 20 knots), the intruder designation (en-route, terminal area, or structured airspace), and method of RA execution (automated or manually executed). Results showed that the ACAS Xr alerting and guidance was largely effective and rated positively by the NASA test pilots, exemplified by zero instances of the pilots overriding an ACAS Xr Resolution Advisory (RA). Key areas of improvement, however, were noted, particularly with regards to the lack of an aural alert indicating a need to accelerate when receiving an RA at low speed and the occurrence of multiple RAs that the pilots found to be unacceptable.
detect and avoid↗
Intensification of future subsurface marine heatwaves in an eddy-resolving model
A shift in depth range enables marine organisms to adapt to marine heatwaves (MHWs). Subsurface MHWs could limit this pathway, yet their response to climate warming remains unclear. Here, using an eddy-resolving Earth system model forced under a high emission scenario, we project a robust global increase in subsurface MHWs driven by rising subsurface mean temperatures and enhanced temperature variability. Historically, maximum MHW intensity occurs around 100m depth, which shifts to the faster-warming surface under greenhouse warming. However, removing the long-term warming trend yields an increase in subsurface MHW intensity and annual days greater than that at the surface, especially in large marine ecosystem regions, primarily due to increased variability. Additionally, days of the surface and subsurface concurrent event increase ten times more than those of individual events. Our study highlights a heightened threat to marine organisms under global warming, as the increased subsurface heatwaves reduce their refuge options.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Toward the Analytic Bootstrap of Energy Correlators
In this paper, we present a framework for the analytic bootstrap of three-point energy correlators, a crucial observable in N = 4 N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Our approach combines spherical contour techniques, general physical constraints such as pole cancellations, and power correction data in the singular limits to determine its analytic expression. In contrast to previous bootstrap studies restricted to scattering amplitudes for supersymmetric theories, our framework makes use of the properties of Feynman integrals, marking a significant step toward bootstrapping realistic QCD observables. Using this method, we derive analytic expressions for leading-order three-point energy correlators with equal and unequal energy weights, where the latter are crucial ingredients for projected N N-point energy correlators. We also apply the recently developed technique of analytic regression with lattice reduction as a way to bypass needing explicit expressions for the singular limits. Bridging theoretical advances in scattering amplitudes with the renewed interest in weighted cross-sections, our work opens the door to precision tests of QCD dynamics through analytic event-shape predictions.
Gong, Jianyu [State Key Laboratory]↗
FT-01: Autonomous Helicopter Flight Testing Over Long Island Sound Special Session - Hazard Perception and Avoidance Tech Area
This presentation is included as part of a panel reporting on the Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) flight test series. The IAS series concluded in October 2023 and was conducted under NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility project and in partnership with Sikorsky and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The flight test effort included two crewed rotorcraft platforms. The first, a modified S-76B helicopter, served as the “ownship” for the duration of the flight test. The second vehicle, a modified S-70, served as the intruder aircraft. One Sikorsky pilot and one NASA test pilot was onboard each aircraft for every test point, with the NASA test pilot responsible for interacting with the research systems under test. This portion of the panel presentation focuses on the results of the flight test that assessed the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) next-generation collision avoidance system, the Airborne Collision Avoidance System X for Rotorcraft (ACAS Xr). The two configurations available within ACAS Xr – the Collision Avoidance System (CAS) configuration and the Detect and Avoid (DAA) configuration – were flown with an onboard pilot under Visual Flight Rules in controlled airspace over the Long Island Sound (Connecticut, USA). A total of 33 flight test cards were flown with ACAS Xr active. Results showed that the ACAS Xr alerting and guidance was largely effective and rated positively by the NASA test pilots, exemplified by zero instances of the pilots overriding an ACAS Xr Resolution Advisory (RA). Key areas of improvement, however, were noted, particularly with regards to the lack of an aural alert indicating a need to accelerate when receiving an RA at low speed and the occurrence of multiple RAs that the pilots found to be unacceptable.
detect and avoid↗
Soil moisture-atmosphere interactions drive terrestrial carbon-water trade-offs
Soil moisture is coupled with vegetation and atmosphere, influencing global cycling of water, carbon, and energy. However, it remains unclear how soil moisture-atmosphere interactions affect land-atmosphere carbon and water exchanges simultaneously. Using Earth system model experiments, we show widespread carbon-water trade-offs between net ecosystem production and precipitation-minus-evapotranspiration driven by soil moisture dynamics. Soil moisture positively controls net ecosystem production and negatively affects precipitation-minus-evapotranspiration, through direct soil water stress and indirect soil moisture-atmosphere feedbacks. While soil moisture variability magnifies the interannual variability of net ecosystem production, it moderates that of precipitation-minus-evapotranspiration over land. These opposing effects lead to a pronounced carbon-water trade-off, which originates from the interplay between carbon acquisition through photosynthesis and water extraction through evapotranspiration. This trade-off is projected to intensify in a warming and drying future, as soil moisture increasingly regulates carbon and water exchanges, posing a serious challenge to sustaining both terrestrial carbon sink and water supply.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Phenomenology of electroweak portal dark showers: high energy direct probes and low energy complementarity
We investigate the phenomenology of a dark QCD sector interacting with the Standard Model (SM) via the electroweak (EW) portals. The portal interactions allow SM bosons, such as Z and h, or additional bosons that mix with them, to decay into dark quarks, producing dark showers. The light dark mesons are expected to be long-lived particles (LLPs), as their decays back to the SM states through the EW-portal interactions typically have macroscopic decay lengths. We focus on dark shower events initiated by various bosons at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The most prominent signal is the displaced decay of GeV-scale dark pions as LLPs. Current limits on dark shower signals at LHC detectors are recast from public data to provide simplified limits insensitive to UV physics details. Future limits in the high-luminosity phase and proposed auxiliary detectors are also projected. Additionally, we study the flavor-changing neutral current (FCNC) B decays into dark pions, obtaining both current and projected constraints at the LHC and other facilities. These constraints can be combined for specific models, which are illustrated in two EW-portal benchmarks: one with the heavy doublet fermion mediation and another with the Z′ mediator including a mass mixing. The collider reach shows significant potential to probe the parameter space unconstrained by EW precision tests, highlighting the necessity of dedicated LLP search strategies and facilities.
Dark Matter at Colliders↗
Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) Flight Test Overview
The Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) Project is conducting a series of 2023 flight tests supporting NASA's Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and National Campaign efforts. These flights include crewed, test (i.e., ownship) and traffic (i.e., intruder) aircraft that will fly with unique technologies onboard. The presentation will include overviews of the Hazard Perception and Avoidance (HPA) and Flight Path Management (FPM) technical areas but will focus primarily on HPA. HPA will test the FAA's Airborne Collision Avoidance System X (ACAS X), a next-generation collision avoidance tool developed to support different aircraft types and operations. The rotorcraft variant, ACAS Xr, is designed to accommodate existing helicopter platforms and in-development, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) concepts, which are critical to the emerging AAM concept of operations. Two configurations of ACAS Xr will be examined: Collision Avoidance System (CAS, similar to the Traffic Collision Avoidance System [TCAS] II) and Detect and Avoid (DAA, previously developed to provide added situational awareness for uncrewed aircraft). Additionally, this system will be explored during cruise and low-speed flight as well as flights within en-route, structured (i.e., dense/urban), and terminal airspaces. Scripted flight conflicts will be conducted, and these conflicts will be mitigated through maneuvers that are manual (i.e., performed by the pilots) or automated (i.e., achieved by the cooperation of the program middleware and onboard ownship systems). Objective data will be collected involving system and pilot performance as well as pilot decisions; subjective data will include pilot opinions of ACAS Xr's alerting and guidance as well as the automated maneuvers.
detect and avoid↗
Large CO 2 removal potential of woody debris preservation in managed forests
Limiting climate warming to 1.5 °C requires reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and CO 2 removal. While various CO 2 removal strategies have been explored to achieve global net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and account for legacy emissions, additional exploration is warranted to examine more durable, scalable and sustainable approaches to achieve climate targets. Here, in this study, we show that preserving woody debris in managed forests can remove gigatonnes of CO 2 from the atmosphere sustainably based on a carbon cycle analysis using three Earth system models. Woody debris is produced from logging, sawmill wastes and abandoned woody products, and can be preserved in deep soil to lengthen its residence time (a measure of durability) by thousands of years. Preserving annual woody debris production in managed forests has the capacity to remove 769–937 GtCO 2 from the atmosphere cumulatively (10.1–12.4 GtCO 2 yr −1 on average) from 2025 to 2100, if its residence time is lengthened for 100–2,000 years and after 5% CO 2 removal is discounted to account for CO 2 emission due to machine operation for wood debris preservation. This translates to a reduction in global temperatures of 0.35–0.42 °C. Given the large potential, relatively low cost and long durability, future efforts should be focused on establishing large-scale demonstration projects for this technology in a variety of contexts, with rigorous monitoring of CO 2 removal, its co-benefits and side-effects.
Luo, Yiqi [Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United State↗
An Approach for Autonomy: A Collaborative Communication Framework for Multi-Agent Systems
Research done during the last three years has studied the emersion properties of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). The deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques applied to remote Unmanned Aerial Vehicles has led the author to investigate applications of CAS within the field of Autonomous Multi-Agent Systems. The core objective of current research efforts is focused on the simplicity of Intelligent Agents (IA) and the modeling of these agents within complex systems. This research effort looks at the communication, interaction, and adaptability of multi-agents as applied to complex systems control. The embodiment concept applied to robotics has application possibilities within multi-agent frameworks. A new framework for agent awareness within a virtual 3D world concept is possible where the vehicle is composed of collaborative agents. This approach has many possibilities for applications to complex systems. This paper describes the development of an approach to apply this virtual framework to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) tetrahedron structure developed under the Autonomous Nano Technology Swarm (ANTS) program and the Super Miniaturized Addressable Reconfigurable Technology (SMART) architecture program. These projects represent an innovative set of novel concepts deploying adaptable, self-organizing structures composed of many tetrahedrons. This technology is pushing current applied Agents Concepts to new levels of requirements and adaptability.
Dufrene, Warren Russell, Jr.↗
More high-impact atmospheric river-induced extreme precipitation events under warming in a high-resolution model
Extreme precipitation events, as occurred in Europe 2021, or western North America 2023, with an intensity of 75 mm/day or 100 mm/day, respectively, exert a catastrophic impact. Lower-resolution (~100 km) climate models cannot simulate the intensity, nor their response to greenhouse warming. Using a high-resolution (~25 km) model capable of simulating such events, here we show that frequency-weighted area of such events over western Europe and the west coast of North America likely expands by more than 80% under an approximately 4°C of global warming from the historical levels. Along the west coasts of Europe and North America, area impacted by atmospheric rivers-induced extreme precipitation events is projected to double, driven by intensified landfalling atmospheric rivers. Thermodynamic processes drive the increase, whereas dynamic processes reduce the intensity over western Europe but enhance it along the west coast of North America. Here our findings provide policy-relevant information for climate adaptation strategies.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗