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

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At least 1,567 records · Page 87
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1999

Analysis of the US Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Imagery for Global Lightning

The U. S. Air Force operates the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), a system of near-polar orbiting satellites designed for use in operational weather forecasting and other applications. DMSP satellites carry a suite of sensors that provide images of the earth and profiles of the atmosphere. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado has been involved with the archival of DMSP data and its use for several research projects since 1979. This report summarizes the portion of this involvement funded by NASA.

Scharfen, Gregory R.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Emergency Lightning System

Super Vacuum Manufacturing Company's Stem-Lite Emergency Lighting System is widely used by fire, police, ambulance and other emergency service departments. The lights -- four floodlights which provide 2,000 watts of daytime equivalent visibility and a high-intensity flashing beacon can be elevated 10 feet above the roof of an emergency vehicle by means of an extendible mast. The higher elevation expands the effective radius of the floodlights and increases the beacon's visibility to several miles affording extra warning time to approaching traffic. When not in use, the light can be retracted into the compact rooftop housing. Stem-Lite also includes a generator which can serve to power such emergency equipment as pumps and drills, and a dashboard-mounted control panel for switching the lights and extending or retracting the mast.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1980

Emergency/Night Lightning

UDEC's highly efficient lighting system is finding wide acceptance among industrial and commercial firms as an energy savings means of providing emergency and night lighting. Originating from Skylab, the system consists of small high frequency fluorescent light fixtures powered by solar cells. Advantages of UDEC's lighting system stem from high reliability and high light output with very low energy drain. Principal components of system are long life fluorescent lamps operated by electronic circuitry, a sealed gelatine cell battery that needs no maintenance for eight years and a solid-state automatic battery charger. Installation of UDEC lighting in a company's six-and-a-half acre warehouse office cut the annual night lighting electric bill from $8,000 a year to $300 per year.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2004

Correlation of Lightning Flash Rates with a Microburst Event

In 1986 the MIST (Microburst and Severe - Thunderstorm) field study took place over northern Alabama. It was noted that the time of day when a peak in microburst activity was observed usually took place around 2000 UTC. It was further confirmed through the examination of the various PAM (Portable Automated Mesonet) stations that this was also the time of day where temperatures would reach their peak. On the afternoon of 18 August 2002, as the temperature approached a daily high temperature of 32 C, the first radar indication of the HSV microburst-producing storm initiated at 2020 UTC.

Altino, Karen M.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Situational Lightning Climatologies for Central Florida: Phase III

This report describes work done by the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) to add composite soundings to the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS). This allows National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters to compare the current atmospheric state with climatology. In a previous phase, the AMU created composite soundings for four rawinsonde observation stations in Florida, for each of eight flow regimes. The composite soundings were delivered to the NWS Melbourne (MLB) office for display using the NSHARP software program. NWS MLB requested that the AMU make the composite soundings available for display in AWIPS. The AMU first created a procedure to customize AWIPS so composite soundings could be displayed. A unique four-character identifier was created for each of the 32 composite soundings. The AMU wrote a Tool Command Language/Tool Kit (TcVTk) software program to convert the composite soundings from NSHARP to Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) format. The NetCDF files were then displayable by AWIPS.

Barrett, Joe H., III↗
NASA NTRS2010

Forecasting Lightning Threat Using WRF Proxy Fields

Objectives: Given that high-resolution WRF forecasts can capture the character of convective outbreaks, we seek to: 1. Create WRF forecasts of LTG threat (1-24 h), based on 2 proxy fields from explicitly simulated convection: - graupel flux near -15 C (captures LTG time variability) - vertically integrated ice (captures LTG threat area). 2. Calibrate each threat to yield accurate quantitative peak flash rate densities. 3. Also evaluate threats for areal coverage, time variability. 4. Blend threats to optimize results. 5. Examine sensitivity to model mesh, microphysics. Methods: 1. Use high-resolution 2-km WRF simulations to prognose convection for a diverse series of selected case studies. 2. Evaluate graupel fluxes; vertically integrated ice (VII). 3. Calibrate WRF LTG proxies using peak total LTG flash rate densities from NALMA; relationships look linear, with regression line passing through origin. 4. Truncate low threat values to make threat areal coverage match NALMA flash extent density obs. 5. Blend proxies to achieve optimal performance 6. Study CAPS 4-km ensembles to evaluate sensitivities.

McCaul, E. W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Method for manufacturing lightning strike mitigation composites

A method for manufacturing a composite material utilizes a tooling material having a desired shape. The surface of the tooling material is coated with a composite film that includes a conductive filler material. A composite composition is introduced into contact with the surface of the tooling material to form a desired shape. The composite composition is processed to produce the composite material, and the composite material has a conductive composite surface layer that includes the conductive filler material.

Vaidyanathan, K. Ranji↗
NASA NTRS2012

Objective Lightning Probability Forecasting for Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Phase IV

As with the previous year, the past year of this award has been productive and a number of important results and refereed publications either submitted or published. Some of our research results are discussed here and a list the papers submitted or published in the past year is provided. Besides our original model of an outer heliosheath source for the IBEX "ribbon" we have continued to explore alternative possibilities and further our understanding of this very complex region, especially in light of the possibility raised by the IBEX results that suggest the possibility of a 1-shock model.

Bauman, William H., III↗