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At least 1,369 records · Page 76

Investigation of the Makeup, Source, and Removal Strategies for Total Organic Carbon in the Oxygen Generation System Recirculation Loop

Since 2007, the Oxygen Generation System (OGS) on board the International Space Station (ISS) has been producing oxygen for crew respiration via water electrolysis. As water is consumed in the OGS recirculating water loop, make-up water is furnished by the ISS potable water bus. A rise in Total Organic Carbon (TOC) was observed beginning in February, 2011, which continues through the present date. Increasing TOC is of concern because the organic constituents responsible for the TOC were unknown and had not been identified; hence their impacts on the operation of the electrolytic cell stack components and on microorganism growth rates and types are unknown. Identification of the compounds responsible for the TOC increase, their sources, and estimates of their loadings in the OGA as well as possible mitigation strategies are presented.

Bowman, Elizabeth M.↗

NASA Ames Sustainability Initiatives: Aeronautics, Space Exploration, and Sustainable Futures

In support of the mission-specific challenges of aeronautics and space exploration, NASA Ames produces a wealth of research and technology advancements with significant relevance to larger issues of planetary sustainability. NASA research on NexGen airspace solutions and its development of autonomous and intelligent technologies will revolutionize both the nation's air transporation systems and have applicability to the low altitude flight economy and to both air and ground transporation, more generally. NASA's understanding of the Earth as a complex of integrated systems contributes to humanity's perception of the sustainability of our home planet. Research at NASA Ames on closed environment life support systems produces directly applicable lessons on energy, water, and resource management in ground-based infrastructure. Moreover, every NASA campus is a 'city'; including an urbanscape and a workplace including scientists, human relations specialists, plumbers, engineers, facility managers, construction trades, transportation managers, software developers, leaders, financial planners, technologists, electricians, students, accountants, and even lawyers. NASA is applying the lessons of our mission-related activities to our urbanscapes and infrastructure, and also anticipates a leadership role in developing future environments for living and working in space.

Planetary futures↗

Laser Energy Monitor for Triple-Pulse 2-μm IPDA Lidar Application

Integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar is an active remote sensing technique for monitoring different atmospheric species. The technique relies on wavelength differentiation between strong and weak absorbing features normalized to the transmitted energy. An advanced 2-μm triple-pulse IPDA lidar was developed at NASA Langley Research Center for active sensing of carbon dioxide and water vapor simultaneously. The IPDA transmitter produces three successive laser pulses separated by a short interval (200 μs) with a repetition rate of 50Hz. Measurement of laser pulse energy accurately is a prerequisite for the retrieval of gas mixing ratios from IPDA. The design and calibration of a 2-μm triple-pulse laser energy monitor are presented. Due to the short interval between the three transmitted pulses, conventional thermal energy monitors underestimate the total transmitted energy. The design is based on a high speed, extended range InGaAs pin quantum detector suitable for separating the three pulse events. Pulse integration is applied for converting the detected pulse power into energy. The results obtained from the laser energy monitor were compared to an ultra-fast energy-meter reference for energy scaling and verification. High correlations between the pin energy monitor and the total transmitted energy were obtained. The objective of this development is to reduce measurement biases and errors using the triple-pulse IPDA technique.

Refaat, Tamer F.↗

TPSAS-NF1676L-17940-DND

The NASA/GEWEX SRB (Global Energy and Water Exchanges, Surface Radiation Budget) project produces and archives shortwave and longwave radiation budget flux estimates at the top of the atmosphere and at the Earth's surface. The latest version in the archive, Release 3.0, is available as 3-hourly, 3-hourly-monthly, daily and monthly means continuously over the period from July 1983 to December 2007 on a quasi-equal-area grid system of 44016 grid boxes. SRB Release 4 with further improvements in data quality and higher spatial resolution is being developed. The SRB shortwave/longwave fluxes at the Earth's surface from the algorithm GSW(V3.0)/GLW(V3.1) have been extensively validated against high-quality ground-based observations, in particular observed data from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). Comparisons with nearly 6000 site-months of both shortwave and longwave data from 52 BSRN sites show generally good agreement. In addition, the GEWEX SRB data have also been found to compare favorably with the World Radiation Data Centre (WRDC) data and the Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA) data. In spite of the fact that the BSRN sites are scattered on all seven continents, the validation of the SRB data over the vast oceans had not been done until recently. In this paper, we present comparisons of the GEWEX-SRB data shortwave/longwave data with observations made on arrays moored in tropical oceans. Specifically, we have data from 21 buoys, or moorings, from Predictions and Research Moored Array in the Atlantic (PIRATA), 14 buoys from the Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA) in the Indian Ocean, 20 buoys from the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) array in the Pacific, and 3 buoys from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) (2 in the Pacific and 1 in the Atlantic). The data from these buoys span 12 years from 2000 to 2011, though not necessarily continuously. It is found that except for occasional outliers, the majority of the comparable pairs of data points agree well. Further examination of the outliers is necessary to determine whether they can be attributed to wind-driven tilt and/or aerosol accumulation on the instruments. In order to see how the ocean-based validation compares with land-based validation, we made SRB-BSRN monthly mean shortwave/longwave radiation comparisons in the tropical region only, where all the buoys are moored. The results show that in the case of shortwave radiation, the bias error from the ocean-based validation is somewhat larger than its land-based counterpart, but their RMS errors are not significantly different. In the case of longwave radiation, the ocean-based and land-based validations show nearly identical comparison statistics.

Taiping Zhang↗

Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station (SAGE III/ISS) Validation of the Latest Version 5.2 Data Products

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) instrument installed on the International Space Station (ISS) has completed over three and a half years of data collection and production of science data products. The SAGE III/ISS is a solar and lunar occultation instrument that scans the light from the Sun and Moon through the limb of the Earth’s atmosphere to produce vertical profiles of aerosol, ozone, water vapor, and other trace gases. It continues the legacy of previous SAGE instruments dating back to the 1970s to provide data continuity of stratospheric constituents critical for assessing trends in the ozone layer. This presentation shows the improvements to the SAGE water vapor product with the release of the newest data version. It also focuses on validation by comparing SAGE III/ISS v5.2 ozone and water vapor vertical profiles with those of in situ and satellite data.

SAGE↗

Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station (SAGE III/ISS): Validation of Ozone Using In-situ Measurements

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) instrument installed on the International Space Station (ISS) has completed four years of data collection and production of science data products. The SAGE III/ISS is a solar and lunar occultation instrument that scans the light from the Sun and Moon through the limb of the Earth’s atmosphere to produce vertical profiles of aerosol, ozone, water vapor, and other trace gases. It continues the legacy of previous SAGE instruments dating back to the 1970s to provide data continuity of stratospheric constituents critical for assessing trends in the ozone layer. This presentation shows the validation results of comparing SAGE III/ISS ozone vertical profiles from the newly released v5.2 science product with those of balloon launched ozonesonde and frost point hygrometer measurements, LIDAR, and satellite data from the Microwave Limb Sounder.

stratospheric ozone↗

SAGE III/ISS: Continuing the Legacy of SAGE Data Products

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) instrument installed on the International Space Station (ISS) is a solar and lunar occultation instrument that scans the light from the Sun and Moon through the limb of the Earth’s atmosphere to produce vertical profiles of aerosol, ozone, water vapor, and other trace gases. SAGE III/ISS has completed almost half of a decade of data collection and production of science data products. It continues the legacy of previous SAGE instruments dating back to the 1970s to provide data continuity of stratospheric constituents critical for assessing trends in the ozone layer. This presentation shows how SAGE III/ISS aerosol and gas vertical profiles continue to benefit a worldwide database of in situ and satellite data for climate observation.

stratosphere↗

Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment on the International Space Station (SAGE III/ISS): Continuing the Legacy of SAGE Data Products

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) instrument installed on the International Space Station (ISS) has completed almost half of a decade of data collection and production of science data products. The SAGE III/ISS is a solar and lunar occultation instrument that scans the light from the Sun and Moon through the limb of the Earth’s atmosphere to produce vertical profiles of aerosol, ozone, water vapor, and other trace gases. It continues the legacy of previous SAGE instruments dating back to the 1970s to provide data continuity of stratospheric constituents critical for assessing trends in the ozone layer. This presentation shows how SAGE III/ISS aerosol and gas vertical profiles continue to benefit a worldwide database of in situ and satellite data for climate observation.

Susan Kizer↗

From the Ground Up: Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station (SAGE III/ISS) Comparison of Vertical Profiles with 2022 Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) In Situ Data

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) instrument, installed on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2017, has completed over five years of data collection and the accompanying production of science data products. SAGE III/ISS is a solar and lunar occultation instrument that scans the light from the Sun and Moon through the limb of the Earth’s atmosphere to produce vertical profiles of aerosol, ozone, water vapor, and other trace gasses. This year provided the unique opportunity to compare in situ data collected during the NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) summer airborne campaign with data collected by SAGE III/ISS on coincident overpasses.​ ​ SARP, a summer internship program typically for rising undergraduate seniors, provides students with an opportunity to gain hands-on experience making earth system measurements using NASA’s airborne science platforms. The NASA DC-8 flying laboratory collected in-situ measurements of ozone and other trace gasses during the summer 2022 SARP campaign. While the general focus with SARP is on the airborne research component, this year, a suite of 10 ozonesonde launches spatially and temporally co-located with the research flights collected atmospheric state and in-situ ozone measurements from inland southern California. This presentation shows the results of comparing SAGE III/ISS vertical profiles with those of in situ data collected during the summer 2022 SARP campaign.​

In Situ↗

Farming the Future: An Approach to Precision Agriculture through UAS-based Thermal Scanners

Food waste is a global issue, and it is extremely prevalent in the United States (U.S.) where one-third of the food produced goes to waste. The most common item found in landfills is food waste, which is why it is one of the most significant contributors to global warming with 8%. These negative environmental impacts also return to affect agriculture, as global warming changes climate patterns and adversely affects farming practices. In addition, the resources that were used to grow the produce are also wasted, including money, water, and time. To tackle this problem at its roots, this paper includes a design of an unmanned thermal drone that can be a farmer’s third eye. This drone will scan over farms and provide data to the farmers about the health, ripeness, and moisture content of their crops through mounted thermal cameras and artificial intelligence. The information provided via these drones will help farmers to make more informed decisions about their crops, decreasing the chances that the crops will go bad in the field. These drones will be one of the first steps in preventing food waste, which will, in turn, help to reduce global emissions that result from farming.

UAS supported agriculture↗

LWR Aging Management for Life Beyond 80

While several decades of materials degradation research enabled the current US fleet of Light Water Reactors (LWR) to plan to produce electrical power through extended operations up to 80 years of plant life, it now seems appropriate to evaluate what issues, methods, and timelines need to be considered to meet the expected electric power demands for life beyond eighty (LBE) years. To address these questions, it will be necessary to review the electrical capacity and the projected LWR fleet capacity including new builds and advanced reactors. This effort should begin with a materials degradation assessment focused on known and possible unknown issues using a reduced Expanded Materials Degradation Assessment [1], which was employed to identify knowledge gaps for a second license renewal (60-80 yrs.). The focus of the LBE assessment should include: Establishing a timeline to initiate assessments of possible materials aging issues and to ensure sufficient time to evaluate materials degradation research gaps; assessing components and materials to be evaluated, e.g., metals (reactor pressure vessels and alloys within and outside the pressure boundary), concrete, cables, as well as mitigation methods, advanced monitoring, and validation with ex-service materials; initiating a LBE research plan focused on developing an expanded mechanistic understanding of materials degradation and refined models through Codes and Standards evaluation for use by the nuclear industry; and maintaining and strengthening the nuclear materials human knowledge base to address new and as yet unknown degradation modes.

Chen, Xiang↗

Multi-Parameter Optical Fiber Sensing of Humidity, CH4, CO2, and Corrosion

In this work, the previously demonstrated capability of the optical fiber sensor (OFS) for successful monitoring of humidity has been extended to monitor the humidity, CH4, and CO2 with different gas composition based on the strain produced along the single mode fiber (SMF) sensor. This is enabled by absorption of H2O/gases on to the commercially available polyacrylate coated jacketed portion of the fiber resulting a change in strain. Under equilibrium, a differential microstrain was observed along the jacketed portion of the SMF with N2, CH4, and CO2 at different humidity conditions, while the unjacketed portion of the fiber was used only for sensing pressure/temperature induced strain. In case of N2 at 800 psig pressure, the observed microstrain was approximately 80, 65, 50 and 35 µε at 100, 75.0, 46.8, and 23.4 RH% respectively. Comparatively, a microstrain of approximately 95 µε was observed with 100% RH CH4 which demonstrates that SMF produces a measurable CH4 response alongside water. Similarly, the observed microstrain with CO2 was approximately 105, 90, 85, 80, and 70 µε at 100, 75.0, 46.8, 23.4, and 0 RH% respectively. Linear regression and principal component analysis of these dataset provided deconvolution of the impact of strain from H2O, CH4, and CO2 enabling good cross sensitivity. Additionally, modified OFS comprising of Fe coated fiber section was employed to monitor corrosion, using Fe as corrosion proxy, under harsh corrosive environment.

Mainali, Badri↗

Multi-Parameter Optical Fiber Sensing of Humidity, CH4, CO2, and Corrosion

In this work, the previously demonstrated capability of the optical fiber sensor (OFS) for successful monitoring of humidity has been extended to monitor the humidity, CH4, and CO2 with different gas composition based on the strain produced along the single mode fiber (SMF) sensor. This is enabled by absorption of H2O/gases on to the commercially available polyacrylate coated jacketed portion of the fiber resulting a change in strain. Under equilibrium, a differential microstrain was observed along the jacketed portion of the SMF with N2, CH4, and CO2 at different humidity conditions, while the unjacketed portion of the fiber was used only for sensing pressure/temperature induced strain. In case of N2 at 800 psig pressure, the observed microstrain was ~80, ~65, ~50 and ~35 µε at 100, 75.0, 46.8, and 23.4 RH% respectively. Comparatively, a microstrain of ~95 µε was observed with 100% RH CH4 which demonstrates that SMF produces a measurable CH4 response alongside water. Similarly, the observed microstrain with CO2 was ~105, ~90, ~85, ~ 80, and ~70 µε at 100, 75.0, 46.8, 23.4, and 0 RH% respectively. Linear regression and principal component analysis of these dataset provided deconvolution of the impact of strain from H2O, CH4, and CO2 enabling good cross sensitivity. Additionally, modified OFS comprising of Fe coated fiber section was employed to monitor corrosion based on the increase in backscattered intensity amplitude of the light being passed once corrosion occurs.

Mainali, Badri↗

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

A hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) is two to three times more efficient than a comparable vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine running on gasoline. Because of their efficient operation, FCEVs can travel long distances with less fueling. An FCEV also produces clean tailpipe exhaust, emitting only water vapor and warm air. FCEVs have driving ranges of more than 300 miles per tank of hydrogen. Drivers can fuel their FCEVs in less than five minutes at a dispenser that looks and feels similar to gasoline dispensers except for the high-pressure gaseous connection.1 In addition, FCEVs are propelled by an electric motor, so they are very quiet, have very few moving parts and fewer fluids to change, and have minimal maintenance requirements overall.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,HYDROGEN↗

Water alternative gas (WAG) optimization for a heterogeneous Brazilian pre-salt carbonate reservoir

Water alternating gas (WAG) is a cyclical process that involves alternating water and gas injections with the primary goal to improve sweep efficiency by maintaining initial high pressure, slowing water and gas breakthrough, and lowering oil viscosity. The objective of this work is to apply and optimize a WAG strategy on a carbonate field with light oil, compare it to the initially planned water-flooding strategy, and investigate the capability of WAG to improve field production. In this research, a compositional reservoir simulator was used to model a WAG process by injecting produced gas into the reservoir, using the same well structure as an optimized water-flooding strategy. Subsequently, a WAG strategy was created, optimizing the number and locations of wells, to facilitate a comparative analysis of the two recovery methods. The WAG optimization involved a detailed assessment of variables such as bottom hole pressure (BHP), WAG cycle duration, maximum gas oil ratio (GOR), and well positioning, to achieve a high net present value (NPV). The study focuses on the application of WAG optimization modeling in unconventional reservoirs, specifically pre-salt carbonate reservoirs, and investigates its implications on production strategy and forecast, emphasizing its potential for maximizing NPV and oil recovery in a recently producing field. The results showed that WAG improved reservoir performance when compared to water injection and produced a greater amount of oil. This solution showed potential to be tested under uncertainties (reservoir heterogeneity, faults, fractures, karsts, vugs, etc.) as future steps.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Biological carbon pump estimate based on multidecadal hydrographic data

The transfer of photosynthetically produced organic carbon from surface to mesopelagic waters draws carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, current observation-based estimates disagree on the strength of this biological carbon pump (BCP). Earth system models (ESMs) also exhibit a large spread of BCP estimates, indicating limited representations of the known carbon export pathways. Here we use several decades of hydrographic observations to produce a top-down estimate of the strength of the BCP with an inverse biogeochemical model that implicitly accounts for all known export pathways. Our estimate of total organic carbon (TOC) export at 73.4 m (model euphotic zone depth) is 15.00 ± 1.12 Pg C year –1 , with only two-thirds reaching 100 m depth owing to rapid remineralization of organic matter in the upper water column. Partitioned by sequestration time below the euphotic zone, τ, the globally integrated organic carbon production rate with τ > 3 months is 11.09 ± 1.02 Pg C year –1 , dropping to 8.25 ± 0.30 Pg C year –1 for τ > 1 year, with 81% contributed by the non-advective-diffusive vertical flux owing to sinking particles and vertically migrating zooplankton. Nevertheless, export of organic carbon by mixing and other fluid transport of dissolved matter and suspended particles remains regionally important for meeting the respiratory carbon demand. Here, the temperature dependence of the sequestration efficiency inferred from our inversion suggests that future global warming may intensify the recycling of organic matter in the upper ocean, potentially weakening the BCP.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗