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At least 145 records · Page 8

An Intercomparison of High Spectral Resolution Lidar and Satellite Ocean Color Backscatter Retrievals

We present an intercomparison of satellite ocean color and high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) retrievals of upper ocean particulate backscattering (bbp) and diffuse attenuation coefficients (Kd). Ocean retrievals of bbp and Kd have been performed over a wide variety of optical and ecological domains using the NASA Langley Research Center HSRL-1 (532 nm) and the recently upgraded HSRL-2 (532 & 355 nm). These datasets provide a unique opportunity to perform a critical assessment of the HSRL technique and to explore the utility of HSRL measurements for evaluating the quality of ocean color remote sensing retrievals on regional scales. A matchup dataset of co-located and high-quality HSRL and ocean color remote sensing measurements was created using data from research flights conducted over the western North Atlantic Ocean during the NASA sponsored SABOR, NAAMES, and ACTIVATE campaigns. Overall, comparisons showed a strong agreement between HSRL and ocean color retrievals of bbp and Kd, providing confidence in our ability to retrieve upper ocean optical properties using oceanographic lidar. However, comparisons from individual flights can exhibit deviations that were not attributed to shifts in water column optical domains. In one of these cases, the simultaneous HSRL atmosphere-ocean retrievals from two consecutive days and within the same region were used to identify ocean color atmospheric correction errors resulting from the presence of absorbing aerosols. These results highlight the utility of airborne HSRL as a standalone ocean observing technology and as an independent and calibrated technique for assessing the quality of ocean color remote sensing retrievals.

Brian Collister↗

Principal Component and Machine Learning Approach to Gap Fill Hyperspectral Ocean Color Satellite Retrievals

Retrievals of ocean color properties from space are important for monitoring the health of the ocean ecosystem but such retrievals can be limited spatially due to conditions such as clouds, aerosols, and sun glint. Gap filling of ocean color retrievals is typically performed by combining retrievals from multiple satellites or temporally averaging multiple days of retrievals. Despite these techniques large gaps still exist posing challenges for near real time monitoring of events like harmful algae blooms. To address these limitations, we developed a spatial gap filling approach applying machine learning approach to hyperspectral instruments to learn how to perform an atmospheric correction under challenging retrieval conditions. In this approach a principal component analysis is used to decompose the hyperspectral measurements into spectral components that describe the scattering and absorption of the atmosphere mixed with the surface spectral signatures. The coefficients of the principal components are used to train a neural network to predict ocean color properties derived from a standard MODIS ocean color algorithm. We apply the approach to two hyperspectral UV/VIS sensors, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) to show that it can be used to estimate ocean color properties such as chlorophyll, remote sensing reflectance, and fluorescence line height. This method could be used as a gap-filling technique for the future Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) onboard upcoming NASA's Plankton, Aerosol Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite to provide additional information for monitoring the health of our global oceans. Additionally, it could be applied to the first NASA and Smithsonian geostationary Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) spectrometer to better understand diurnal variability in inland and coastal ocean ecology.

Zachary Fasnacht↗

Structural Color Production in Melanin-Based Disordered Colloidal Nanoparticle Assemblies in Spherical Confinement

Melanin is a ubiquitous natural pigment that exhibits broadband absorption and high refractive index. Despite its widespread use in structural color production, how the absorbing material, melanin, affects the generated color is unknown. Using a combined molecular dynamics and finite-difference time-domain computational approach, here we investigates structural color generation in one-component melanin nanoparticle-based supraparticles (called supraballs) as well as binary mixtures of melanin and silica (nonabsorbing) nanoparticle-based supraballs. Experimentally produced one-component melanin and one-component silica supraballs, with thoroughly characterized primary particle characteristics using neutron scattering, produce reflectance profiles similar to the computational analogs, confirming that the computational approach correctly simulates both absorption and multiple scattering from the self-assembled nanoparticles. These combined approaches demonstrate that melanin's broadband absorption increases the primary reflectance peak wavelength, increases saturation, and decreases lightness factor. Additionally, the dispersity of nanoparticle size more strongly influences the optical properties of supraballs than packing fraction, as evidenced by the production of a larger range of colors when size dispersity is varied versus packing fraction. For binary melanin and silica supraballs, the chemistry-based stratification allows for more diverse color generation and finer saturation tuning than does the degree of mixing/demixing between the two chemistries.

broadband absorption↗

Evaluation of color in digital nuclear power plant control room displays

Human system interface design in industrial process control is guided by industry standards, human factors best practices, and domain-specific conventions, and often there is a conflict between one or more of the sources of design input for specific design elements. In the nuclear domain, one design element for which conflict arises is the use of color to represent equipment state. Here, this study evaluates the tradeoffs associated with using color in a process control display versus using white and shades of gray. The performance metrics were response time, accuracy, and eye movement metrics using a simplified experimental task and professional operators. Results revealed that adhering to color conventions in nuclear power yielded small advantages in simple tasks, but did not exist for more complex tasks. The results did not provide strong evidence for or against using a particular color scheme and revealed the need for further research on the use of color for commercial nuclear power plants and other process control industries.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Black-to-Transmissive dual polymer complementary electrochromics with high coloration efficiency

In a complementary electrochromic device (ECD), both the anode and the cathode can synergistically change color in response to an electrical bias, allowing for a high coloration efficiency. Complementary ECD that can switch from black to transmissive state is rare, due to the difficulty of pairing two electrochromic electrodes. In this study, we report the construction of high coloration efficiency complementary ECDs by pairing polyazoisoindigo (PAI), an n-type electrochromic polymer that undergoes green-to-transmissive switching, with p-type magenta (ECP-M) and red (ECP-R) electrochromic polymers to obtain black-to-transmissive ECD. Physical modeling tool, COMSOL, is introduced for complementary color matching. Through balancing the charge densities of two electrochromic electrodes, black-to-transmissive ECDs with record-high coloration efficiencies of 688 cm 2 /C and 437 cm 2 /C have been achieved for PAI|ECP-M and PAI|ECP-R, respectively. This study provides a general protocol for the design and fabrication of complementary ECDs.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Revealing the relationship between molecular weight of lignin and its color, UV-protecting property

Lignin has great potential as a natural, green, and sustainable broad-spectrum sunscreen active ingredient. However, the coexistence of dark color and sunscreen properties hinders its application in cosmetics. In this study, we focus on the effects of the molecular weight of lignin on tis UV-protecting property and color in order to prepare lignin-based sunscreen with high performance. We report a prepared sunscreen containing low molecular weight lignin (F5, <1000 g/mol) exhibits good UV-protecting property (sun protection factor (SPF) = 7.14) and light color advantages (ΔE = 46.2). Moreover, a strong synergistic effect on UV-protecting property exists between low molecular weight lignin and ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC), resulting in high SPF of F5@EHMC-based sunscreen (55.56). Additionally, added TiO 2 can efficiently mitigate the dark color of lignin-based sunscreens due to prominent covering power of TiO 2 . Moreover, lignin-based sunscreens have good biocompatibility with HaCaT cells. This work is useful for understanding the mechanism of the UV-protecting property and dark color of lignin, and for designing an efficient and safe lignin-based sunscreen.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Simultaneous dissection of grain carotenoid levels and kernel color in biparental maize populations with yellow-to-orange grain

Maize enriched in provitamin A carotenoids could be key in combatting vitamin A deficiency in human populations relying on maize as a food staple. Consumer studies indicate that orange maize may be regarded as novel and preferred. This study identifies genes of relevance for grain carotenoid concentrations and kernel color, through simultaneous dissection of these traits in 10 families of the US maize nested association mapping panel that have yellow to orange grain. Quantitative trait loci were identified via joint-linkage analysis, with phenotypic variation explained for individual kernel color quantitative trait loci ranging from 2.4% to 17.5%. These quantitative trait loci were cross-analyzed with significant marker-trait associations in a genome-wide association study that utilized ~27 million variants. Nine genes were identified: four encoding activities upstream of the core carotenoid pathway, one at the pathway branchpoint, three within the α- or β-pathway branches, and one encoding a carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase. Of these, three exhibited significant pleiotropy between kernel color and one or more carotenoid traits. Kernel color exhibited moderate positive correlations with β-branch and total carotenoids and negligible correlations with α-branch carotenoids. These findings can be leveraged to simultaneously achieve desirable kernel color phenotypes and increase concentrations of provitamin A and other priority carotenoids.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Exploring Benchmarks for Self-Driving Labs using Color Matching

Self Driving Labs (SDLs) that combine automation of experimental procedures with autonomous decision making are gaining popularity as a means of increasing the throughput of scientific workflows. The task of identifying quantities of supplied colored pigments that match a target color, the color matching problem, provides a simple and flexible SDL test case, as it requires experiment proposal, sample creation, and sample analysis, three common components in autonomous discovery applications. We present a robotic solution to the color matching problem that allows for fully autonomous execution of a color matching protocol. Our solution leverages the WEI science factory platform to enable portability across different robotic hardware, the use of alternative optimization methods for continuous refinement, and automated publication of results for experiment tracking and post-hoc analysis.

Artificial intelligence↗

A SIMPLE TOOL TO EVALUATE COLOR FOR LEGIBILITY AND DISTINGUISHABILITY WHEN DESIGNING DIGITAL DISPLAYS

Color is important in helping users effectively process information like text and symbols when performing tasks on digital displays. Interface designers in safety- and mission-critical industries often utilize human factors design guidelines and standards to make important design decisions like the use of color for legibility and distinguishability. However, such guidance sometimes requires additional interpretation and calculation to readily apply to the design question at hand. This work describes a simple tool that can be used to evaluate the adequacy of color choices from a palette for being legible or distinguishable. The tool eliminates having to manually convert colors to a readable format while providing a specific set of colors that are acceptable from select human factors standards. This paper provides an exemplary case study applied to a digital modification at a nuclear power plant to highlight how the tool may be used in safety and mission-critical industries.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Seed coat transcriptomic profiling of 5-593, a genotype important for genetic studies of seed coat color and patterning in common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) market classes have distinct seed coat colors, which are directly related to the diverse flavonoids found in the mature seed coat. To understand and elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of seed coat color, RNA-Seq data was collected from the black bean 5-593 and used for a differential gene expression and enrichment analysis from four different seed coat color development stages. 5-593 carries dominant alleles for 10 of the 11 major genes that control seed coat color and expression and has historically been used to develop introgression lines used for seed coat genetic analysis. Pairwise comparison among the four stages identified 6,294 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) varying from 508 to 5,780 DEGs depending on the compared stages. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis revealed that phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, and plant hormone signal transduction comprised the principal pathways expressed during bean seed coat pigment development. Transcriptome analysis suggested that most structural genes for flavonoid biosynthesis and some potential regulatory genes were significantly differentially expressed. Further studies detected 29 DEGs as important candidate genes governing the key enzymatic flavonoid biosynthetic pathways for common bean seed coat color development. Additionally, four gene models, Pv5-593.02G016100, 593.02G078700, Pv5-593.02G090900, and Pv5-593.06G121300, encode MYB-like transcription factor family protein were identified as strong candidate regulatory genes in anthocyanin biosynthesis which could regulate the expression levels of some important structural genes in flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. These findings provide a framework to draw new insights into the molecular networks underlying common bean seed coat pigment development.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Multi-Band Atmospheric Correction Algorithm for Ocean Color Retrievals

NASA's current Atmospheric Correction (AC) algorithm for ocean color utilizes two bands and their ratio in the Near Infrared (NIR) to estimate aerosol reflectance and aerosol type. The algorithm then extrapolates the spectral dependence of aerosol reflectance to the visible wavelengths based on modeled spectral dependence of the identified aerosol type. Future advanced ocean color sensors, such as the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) that will be carried on the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, will be capable of measuring the hyperspectral radiance from 340 to 890 nm at 5-nm spectral resolution and at 7 discrete Short-wave Infrared (SWIR) channels: 940, 1038,1250, 1378, 1615, 2130, and 2260 nm. To optimally employ this unprecedented instrument capability, we propose an improved AC algorithm that utilizes all atmospheric-window channels in the NIR to SWIR spectral range to reduce the uncertainty in the AC process. A theoretical uncertainty analysis of this, namely Multi-Band AC (MBAC), indicates that the algorithm can reduce the uncertainty in remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) retrievals of the ocean caused by sensor random noise. Furthermore, in optically complex waters, where the NIR signal is affected by contributions from highly-reflective turbid waters, the MBAC algorithm can be adaptively weighted to the strongly-absorbing SWIR channels to enable improved ocean color retrievals in coastal waters. We provide here a description of the algorithm and demonstrate the improved performance in ocean color retrievals, relative to the current NASA standard AC algorithm, through comparison with field measurements and assessment of propagated uncertainties in applying the MBAC algorithm to MODIS and simulated PACE OCI data.

PACE↗

Approach for Propagating Radiometric Data Uncertainties Through NASA Ocean Color Algorithms

Spectroradiometric satellite observations of the ocean are commonly referred to as “ocean color” remote sensing. NASA has continuously collected, processed, and distributed ocean color datasets since the launch of the Sea-viewing Wide-field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) in 1997. While numerous ocean color algorithms have been developed in the past two decades that derive geophysical data products from sensor-observed radiometry, few papers have clearly demonstrated how to estimate measurement uncertainty in derived data products. As the uptake of ocean color data products continues to grow with the launch of new and advanced sensors, it is critical that pixel-by-pixel data product uncertainties are estimated during routine data processing. Knowledge of uncertainties can be used when studying long-term climate records, or to assist in the development and performance appraisal of bio-optical algorithms. In this method paper we provide a comprehensive overview of how to formulate first-order first-moment (FOFM) calculus for propagating radiometric uncertainties through a selection of bio-optical models. We demonstrate FOFM uncertainty formulations for the following NASA ocean color data products: chlorophyll-a pigment concentration (Chl), the diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm (K(sub d,490)), particulate organic carbon (POC), normalized fluorescent line height (nflh), and inherent optical properties (IOPs). Using a quality-controlled in situ hyperspectral remote sensing reflectance (R(sub rs,i)) dataset, we show how computationally inexpensive, yet algebraically complex, FOFM calculations may be evaluated for correctness using the more computationally expensive Monte Carlo approach. We compare bio-optical product uncertainties derived using our test R(sub rs) dataset assuming spectrally-flat, uncorrelated relative uncertainties of 1, 5, and 10%. We also consider spectrally dependent, uncorrelated relative uncertainties in R(sub rs). The importance of considering spectral covariances in R(sub rs), where practicable, in the FOFM methodology is highlighted with an example SeaWiFS image. We also present a brief case study of two POC algorithms to illustrate how FOFM formulations may be used to construct measurement uncertainty budgets for ecologically-relevant data products. Such knowledge, even if rudimentary, may provide useful information to end-users when selecting data products or when developing their own algorithms.

Bio-optics↗

Machine Learning Based Aerosol and Ocean Color Joint Retrieval Algorithm for Multiangle Polarimeters over Coastal Waters

NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, recently launched in February 2024, carries two multiangle polarimeters (MAPs): the UMBC Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (HARP2) and SRON Spectropolarimeter for Planetary Exploration One (SPEXone). Measurements from these MAPs will greatly advance ocean ecosystem and aerosol studies as their measurements contain rich information on microphysical properties of aerosols and hydrosols. The Multi-Angular Polarimetric Ocean coLor (MAPOL) joint retrieval algorithm has been developed to retrieve aerosol and ocean color information, which uses a vector radiative transfer (RT) model as the forward model. The RT model is computationally expensive, which makes processing a large amount of data challenging. FastMAPOL was developed to expedite retrieval using neural networks to replace the RT forward models. As a prototype study, FastMAPOL was initially limited to open ocean applications where the ocean Inherent Optical Properties (IOPs) were parameterized in terms of one parameter: chlorophyll-a concentration (Chla). In this study we further expand the FastMAPOL joint retrieval algorithm to incorporate NN based forward models for coastal waters, which use multi-parameter bio-optical models. In addition, aerosols are represented by six components, i.e., fine mode non absorbing insoluble (FNAI), brown carbon (BrC), black carbon (BC), fine mode non absorbing soluble (FNAS), sea salt (SS) and non-spherical dust (Dust). Sea salt and dust are coarse mode aerosols, while the other components are in the fine mode. The sizes and spectral refractive indices are fixed for each aerosol component, while their abundances are retrievable. The multi-parameter bio-optical model and aerosol components are chosen to represent the coastal marine environment. The retrieval algorithm is applied to synthetic measurements in three different configurations ofMAPs in the PACE mission: HARP2 observations only, SPEXone observations only and combined HARP2 and SPEXone observations. The retrieval results from synthetic measurements show that for aerosol retrieval the SPEXone-only configuration works equally well with the HAPR2-only configuration. On the other hand, for ocean color retrieval the SPEXone instrument provides better information due to its larger spectral coverage. For the surface parameters (wind speed), HARP2 measurements provide better information due to its wide field of view. Combined measurement configuration HARP2+SPEXone performed the best to retrieve all aerosol, ocean color and surface parameters. We also studied the impact of sun glint to aerosol and ocean color retrievals. The retrieval test revealed that wind speed and absorbing aerosol retrieval improves significantly when including measurements at glint geometries. Furthermore, the retrieval algorithm is equipped with modules for atmospheric correction and bidirectional reflectance distribution (BRDF) correction to obtain the remote sensing reflectance, which enables ocean biogeochemistry studies using the PACE polarimeter data.

PACE↗

Solving the strong CP problem with massless grand-color quarks

We propose a solution to the strong CP problem that specifically relies on massless quarks and has no light axion. The QCD color group SU(3) c is embedded into a larger, simple gauge group (grand-color) where one of the massless, colored fermions enjoys an anomalous chiral symmetry, rendering the strong CP phase unphysical. The grand-color gauge group G GC is Higgsed down to SU(3) c × ${G}_{c^{\prime }}$, after which ${G}_{c^{\prime }}$ eventually confines at a lower scale, spontaneously breaking the chiral symmetry and generating a real, positive mass to the massless, colored fermion. Since the chiral symmetry has a ${G}_{c^{\prime }}$ anomaly, there is no corresponding light Nambu-Goldstone boson. The anomalous chiral symmetry can be an accidental symmetry that arises from an exact discrete symmetry without introducing a domain wall problem. Potential experimental signals of our mechanism include vector-like quarks near the TeV scale, pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons below the 10 GeV scale, light dark matter decay, and primordial gravitational waves from the new strong dynamics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Breaking mirror twin color

We investigate simple extensions of the Mirror Twin Higgs model in which the twin color gauge symmetry and the discrete Z2 mirror symmetry are spontaneously broken. This is accomplished in a minimal way by introducing a single new colored triplet, sextet, or octet scalar field and its twin along with a suitable scalar potential. This spontaneous Z2 breaking allows for a phenomenologically viable alignment of the electroweak vacuum, and leads to dramatic differences between the visible and mirror sectors with regard to the residual gauge symmetries at low energies, color confinement scales, and particle spectra. In particular, several of our models feature a remnant SU(2) or SO(3) twin color gauge symmetry with a very low confinement scale in comparison to ΛQCD. Furthermore, couplings between the colored scalar and matter provide a new dynamical source of twin fermion masses, and due to the mirror symmetry, these lead to a variety of correlated visible sector effects that can be probed through precision measurements and collider searches.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Color-kinematics dual representations of one-loop matrix elements in the open-superstring effective action

Abstract Theα ′ -expansion of string theory provides a rich set of higher-dimension operators, indexed byζvalues, which can be used to study color-kinematics duality and the double copy. These two powerful properties, actually first noticed in tree-level string amplitudes, simplify the construction of both gauge and gravity amplitudes. However, their applicability and limitations are not fully understood. We attempt to construct a set of color-kinematics dual numerators at one loop and four points for insertions of operator combinations corresponding to the lowest fourζ 2 -free operator insertions from the open superstring:ζ 3 ,ζ 5 ,$$ {\zeta}_3^2 $$ ζ 3 2 , andζ 7 . We succeed in finding a representation for the first three in terms of box, triangle, and bubble numerators. In the case ofζ 7 we find an obstruction to a fully color-dual representation related to the bubble-on-external-leg type diagrams. We discuss two paths around this obstruction, both of which signal an incompatability between color-kinematics duality and manifesting certain desired properties. Using the constructed color-dual numerators, we find two different Bern-Carrasco-Johansson double copies that produce candidate closed-string-insertion numerators. Both approaches to the double copy match the kinematics of the cuts, with relative normalization set by either summing over both double copies including degeneracy or by including an explicit prefactor on the double-copy numerator definitions.

Physics↗

CIEL ∗ Ch color map for visualization and analysis of sea ice motion

The International Commission on Illumination (CIE) designed its color space to be perceptually uniform so that a given numerical change in the color code corresponds to perceived change in color. This color encoding is demon- strated to be advantageous in scientific visualization and analysis of vector fields. The specific application is analysis of ice motion in the Arctic where patterns in smooth monthly-averaged ice motion are seen. Furthermore, fractures occurring in the ice cover result in discontinuities in the ice motion. This vector jump in displacement can also be visualized. We then analyze modeled and observed fractures through the use of a metric on the color space, and image amplitude and phase metrics. Amplitude and phase met- rics arise from image registration that is accomplished by sampling images using space filling curves, thus reducing the image registration problem to the more reliable functional alignment problem. We demonstrate this through an exploration of the metrics to compare model runs to an observed ice crack.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Finely tunable dynamical coloration using bicontinuous micrometer-domains

Nanostructures similar to those found in the vividly blue wings of Morpho butterflies and colorful photonic crystals enable structural color through constructive interference of light waves. Different from commonly studied structure-colored materials using periodic structures to manipulate optical properties, we report a previously unrecognized approach to precisely control the structural color and light transmission via a novel photonic colloidal gel without long-range order. Nanoparticles in this gel form micrometer-sized bicontinuous domains driven by the microphase separation of binary solvents. This approach enables dynamic coloration with a precise wavelength selectivity over a broad range of wavelengths extended well beyond the visible light that is not achievable with traditional methods. The dynamic wavelength selectivity is thermally tunable, reversible, and the material fabrication is easily scalable.

42 ENGINEERING↗