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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

An On-Line Technology Information System (OTIS) for Advanced Life Support

An On-line Technology Information System (OTIS) is currently being developed for the Advanced Life Support (ALS) Program. This paper describes the preliminary development of OTIS, which is a system designed to provide centralized collection and organization of technology information. The lack of thorough, reliable and easily understood technology information is a major obstacle in effective assessment of technology development progress, trade studies, metric calculations, and technology selection for integrated testing. OTIS will provide a formalized, well-organized protocol to communicate thorough, accurate, current and relevant technology information between the hands-on technology developer and the ALS Community. The need for this type of information transfer system within the Solid Waste Management (SWM) element was recently identified and addressed. A SWM Technology Information Form (TIF) was developed specifically for collecting detailed technology information in the area of SWM. In the TIF, information is requested from SWM technology developers, based upon the Technology Readiness Level (TRL). Basic information is requested for low-TRL technologies, and more detailed information is requested as the TRL of the technology increases. A comparable form is also being developed for the wastewater processing element. In the future, similar forms will also be developed for the ALS elements of air revitalization, food processing, biomass production and thermal control. These ALS element-specific forms will be implemented in OTIS via a web-accessible interface,with the data stored in an object-oriented relational database (created in MySQLTM) located on a secure server at NASA Ames Research Center. With OTIS, ALS element leads and managers will be able to carry out informed research and development investment, thereby promoting technology through the TRL scale. OTIS will also allow analysts to make accurate evaluations of technology options. Additionally, the range and specificity of information solicited will help educate technology developers of programmatic needs.

Levri, Julie A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

The components of crop productivity: measuring and modeling plant metabolism

Several investigators in the CELSS program have demonstrated that crop plants can be remarkably productive in optimal environments where plants are limited only by incident radiation. Radiation use efficiencies of 0.4 to 0.7 g biomass per mol of incident photons have been measured for crops in several laboratories. Some early published values for radiation use efficiency (1 g mol-1) were inflated due to the effect of side lighting. Sealed chambers are the basic research module for crop studies for space. Such chambers allow the measurement of radiation and CO2 fluxes, thus providing values for three determinants of plant growth: radiation absorption, photosynthetic efficiency (quantum yield), and respiration efficiency (carbon use efficiency). Continuous measurement of each of these parameters over the plant life cycle has provided a blueprint for daily growth rates, and is the basis for modeling crop productivity based on component metabolic processes. Much of what has been interpreted as low photosynthetic efficiency is really the result of reduced leaf expansion and poor radiation absorption. Measurements and models of short-term (minutes to hours) and long-term (days to weeks) plant metabolic rates have enormously improved our understanding of plant environment interactions in ground-based growth chambers and are critical to understanding plant responses to the space environment.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗
NASA NTRS2012

Modeling and Assimilating Ocean Color Radiances

Radiances are the source of information from ocean color sensors to produce estimates of biological and geochemical constituents. They potentially provide information on various other aspects of global biological and chemical systems, and there is considerable work involved in deriving new information from these signals. Each derived product, however, contains errors that are derived from the application of the radiances, above and beyond the radiance errors. A global biogeochemical model with an explicit spectral radiative transfer model is used to investigate the potential of assimilating radiances. The results indicate gaps in our understanding of radiative processes in the oceans and their relationships with biogeochemical variables. Most important, detritus optical properties are not well characterized and produce important effects of the simulated radiances. Specifically, there does not appear to be a relationship between detrital biomass and its optical properties, as there is for chlorophyll. Approximations are necessary to get beyond this problem. In this reprt we will discuss the challenges in modeling and assimilation water-leaving radiances and the prospects for improving our understanding of biogeochemical process by utilizing these signals.

Gregg, Watson↗
NASA NTRS1988

Comparison of simulation modeling and satellite techniques for monitoring ecological processes

In 1985 improvements were made in the world climatic data base for modeling and predictive mapping; in individual process models and the overall carbon-balance models; and in the interface software for mapping the simulation results. Statistical analysis of the data base was begun. In 1986 mapping was shifted to NASA-Goddard. The initial approach involving pattern comparisons was modified to a more statistical approach. A major accomplishment was the expansion and improvement of a global data base of measurements of biomass and primary production, to complement the simulation data. The main accomplishments during 1987 included: production of a master tape with all environmental and satellite data and model results for the 1600 sites; development of a complete mapping system used for the initial color maps comparing annual and monthly patterns of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), actual evapotranspiration, net primary productivity, gross primary productivity, and net ecosystem production; collection of more biosphere measurements for eventual improvement of the biological models; and development of some initial monthly models for primary productivity, based on satellite data.

Box, Elgene O.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Improving the Representation of Land Surface Processes using the Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART)

The land surface is a critical part of the earth system as processes related to water, carbon, energy and nitrogen cycling have important implications for climate forcing, air quality, water availability and seasonal atmospheric forecasting. Despite advances in land surface modeling, land surface model performance is often limited because of errors related to initial and boundary conditions, model structure, and parameters. Data assimilation (DA) techniques combined with an expanding network of earth system observations present an opportunity to reduce these errors and improve simulations. Here we apply an Ensemble Kalman Filter DA system as part of the Data Assimilation Research Testbed to a variety of land surface simulations. First, we describe the use of remotely sensed biomass observations to provide improved simulations of plant phenology, carbon and water cycling for regions highly sensitive to climate change (Western US, China, and Arctic). We discuss approaches to account for systemic biases between models and observations, including the use of spatially-varying adaptive ensemble inflation as an alternative approach to re-scaling soil moisture observations. Finally, we discuss a strategy to incorporate complementary observations (snow water equivalent, solar-induced fluorescence) to better constrain the representation of carbon and water cycling across complex terrain.

DART↗
NASA NTRS1996

The Application of Remote Sensing Data to GIS Studies of Land Use, Land Cover, and Vegetation Mapping in the State of Hawaii

A land cover-vegetation map with a base classification system for remote sensing use in a tropical island environment was produced of the island of Hawaii for the State of Hawaii to evaluate whether or not useful land cover information can be derived from Landsat TM data. In addition, an island-wide change detection mosaic combining a previously created 1977 MSS land classification with the TM-based classification was produced. In order to reach the goal of transferring remote sensing technology to State of Hawaii personnel, a pilot project was conducted while training State of Hawaii personnel in remote sensing technology and classification systems. Spectral characteristics of young island land cover types were compared to determine if there are differences in vegetation types on lava, vegetation types on soils, and barren lava from soils, and if they can be detected remotely, based on differences in pigments detecting plant physiognomic type, health, stress at senescence, heat, moisture level, and biomass. Geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS) were used to assist in image rectification and classification. GIS was also used to produce large-format color output maps. An interactive GIS program was written to provide on-line access to scanned photos taken at field sites. The pilot project found Landsat TM to be a credible source of land cover information for geologically young islands, and TM data bands are effective in detecting spectral characteristics of different land cover types through remote sensing. Large agriculture field patterns were resolved and mapped successfully from wildland vegetation, but small agriculture field patterns were not. Additional processing was required to work with the four TM scenes from two separate orbits which span three years, including El Nino and drought dates. Results of the project emphasized the need for further land cover and land use processing and research. Change in vegetation composition was noted in the change detection image.

Hogan, Christine A.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Influence of Dynamic Ozone Dry Deposition on Ozone Pollution

Identifying the contributions of chemistry and transport to observed ozone pollution using regional‐to‐global models relies on accurate representation of ozone dry deposition. We use a recently developed configuration of the NOAA GFDL chemistry‐climate model – in which the atmosphere and land are coupled through dry deposition—to investigate the influence of ozone dry deposition on ozone pollution over northern midlatitudes. In our model, deposition pathways are tied to dynamic terrestrial processes, such as photosynthesis and water cycling through the canopy and soil. Small increases in winter deposition due to more process‐based representation of snow and deposition to surfaces reduce hemispheric‐scale ozone throughout the lower troposphere by 5–12 ppb, improving agreement with observations relative to a simulation with the standard configuration for ozone dry deposition. Declining snow cover by the end of the 21st‐century tempers the previously identified influence of rising methane on winter ozone. Dynamic dry deposition changes summer surface ozone by −4 to +7 ppb. While previous studies emphasize the importance of uptake by plant stomata, new diagnostic tracking of depositional pathways reveals a widespread impact of nonstomatal deposition on ozone pollution. Daily variability in both stomatal and nonstomatal deposition contribute to daily variability in ozone pollution. Twenty‐first century changes in summer deposition result from a balance among changes in individual pathways, reflecting differing responses to both high carbon dioxide (through plant physiology versus biomass accumulation) and water availability. Our findings highlight a need for constraints on the processes driving ozone dry deposition to test representation in regional‐to‐global models.

dry deposition↗
NASA NTRS2004

Response of graywater recycling systems based on hydroponic plant growth to three classes of surfactants

Anionic (sodium laureth sulfate, SLES), amphoteric (cocamidopropyl betaine, CAPB) and nonionic (alcohol polyethoxylate, AE) surfactants were added to separate nutrient film technique (NFT) hydroponic systems containing dwarf wheat (Triticum aestivum cv. USU Apogee) in a series of 21 day trials. Surfactant was added either in a (1). temporally dynamic mode (1-3 g surfactant m(-2) growing area d(-1)) as effected by automatic addition of a 300 ppm surfactant solution to meet plant water demand, or (2). continuous mode (2 g surfactant m(-2) growing area d(-1)) as effected by slow addition (10 mLh(-1)) of a 2000 ppm surfactant solution beginning at 4d after planting. SLES showed rapid primary degradation in both experiments, with no accumulation 24 h after initial addition. CAPB and AE were degraded less rapidly, with 30-50% remaining 24 h after initial addition, but CAPB and AE levels were below detection limit for the remainder of the study. No reductions in vegetative growth of wheat were observed in response to SLES, but biomass was reduced 20-25% with CAPB and AE. Microbial communities associated with both the plant roots and wetted hardware surfaces actively degraded the surfactants, as determined by monitoring surfactant levels following pulse additions at day 20 (with plants) and day 21 (after plant removal). In order to test whether the biofilm communities could ameliorate phytotoxicity by providing a microbial community acclimated for CAPB and AE decay, the continuous exposure systems were planted with wheat seeds after crop removal at day 21. Acclimation resulted in faster primary degradation (>90% within 24h) and reduced phytotoxicity. Overall, the studies indicate that relatively small areas (3-5m(2)) of hydroponic plant systems can process per capita production of mixed surfactants (5-10 g x person(-1)d(-1)) with minimal effects on plant growth.

Hydroponics↗
NASA NTRS2013

Bounding the Role of Black Carbon in the Climate System: a Scientific Assessment

Black carbon aerosol plays a unique and important role in Earth's climate system. Black carbon is a type of carbonaceous material with a unique combination of physical properties. This assessment provides an evaluation of black-carbon climate forcing that is comprehensive in its inclusion of all known and relevant processes and that is quantitative in providing best estimates and uncertainties of the main forcing terms: direct solar absorption; influence on liquid, mixed phase, and ice clouds; and deposition on snow and ice. These effects are calculated with climate models, but when possible, they are evaluated with both microphysical measurements and field observations. Predominant sources are combustion related, namely, fossil fuels for transportation, solid fuels for industrial and residential uses, and open burning of biomass. Total global emissions of black carbon using bottom-up inventory methods are 7500 Gg/yr in the year 2000 with an uncertainty range of 2000 to 29000. However, global atmospheric absorption attributable to black carbon is too low in many models and should be increased by a factor of almost 3. After this scaling, the best estimate for the industrial-era (1750 to 2005) direct radiative forcing of atmospheric black carbon is +0.71 W/sq m with 90% uncertainty bounds of (+0.08, +1.27)W/sq m. Total direct forcing by all black carbon sources, without subtracting the preindustrial background, is estimated as +0.88 (+0.17, +1.48) W/sq m. Direct radiative forcing alone does not capture important rapid adjustment mechanisms. A framework is described and used for quantifying climate forcings, including rapid adjustments. The best estimate of industrial-era climate forcing of black carbon through all forcing mechanisms, including clouds and cryosphere forcing, is +1.1 W/sq m with 90% uncertainty bounds of +0.17 to +2.1 W/sq m. Thus, there is a very high probability that black carbon emissions, independent of co-emitted species, have a positive forcing and warm the climate. We estimate that black carbon, with a total climate forcing of +1.1 W/sq m, is the second most important human emission in terms of its climate forcing in the present-day atmosphere; only carbon dioxide is estimated to have a greater forcing. Sources that emit black carbon also emit other short-lived species that may either cool or warm climate. Climate forcings from co-emitted species are estimated and used in the framework described herein. When the principal effects of short-lived co-emissions, including cooling agents such as sulfur dioxide, are included in net forcing, energy-related sources (fossil fuel and biofuel) have an industrial-era climate forcing of +0.22 (0.50 to +1.08) W/sq m during the first year after emission. For a few of these sources, such as diesel engines and possibly residential biofuels, warming is strong enough that eliminating all short-lived emissions from these sources would reduce net climate forcing (i.e., produce cooling). When open burning emissions, which emit high levels of organic matter, are included in the total, the best estimate of net industrial-era climate forcing by all short-lived species from black-carbon-rich sources becomes slightly negative (0.06 W/sq m with 90% uncertainty bounds of 1.45 to +1.29 W/sq m). The uncertainties in net climate forcing from black-carbon-rich sources are substantial, largely due to lack of knowledge about cloud interactions with both black carbon and co-emitted organic carbon. In prioritizing potential black-carbon mitigation actions, non-science factors, such as technical feasibility, costs, policy design, and implementation feasibility play important roles. The major sources of black carbon are presently in different stages with regard to the feasibility for near-term mitigation. This assessment, by evaluating the large number and complexity of the associated physical and radiative processes in black-carbon climate forcing, sets a baseline from which to improve future climate forcing estimates.

black carbon↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Plasma Assisted Nutrient Recovery from Inedible Biomass via Ash Leaching

Sustaining a human presence on the Moon, Mars, or deep space will require closing loops on many life support systems. Some form of agriculture will be required because plants produce the vitamins, antioxidants, and essential oils in our diets that degrade over time in stored foods. In addition, they provide dietary fiber, revitalize air and purify water. It is estimated that 93 kg of plant nutrients are required to support one crew member per year. Growing plants will require recycling nutrients trapped in inedible plant stems, leaves and debris. We examined the effects of using thermal plasma and various carrier gases to breakdown inedible plant biomass and aid in nutrient recovery. Previous work demonstrated a thermally degrading environment such as a muffle furnace improved nutrient recovery from inedible biomass prior to an acid leaching process, however, a muffle furnace is an inefficient process. We tested the ability of a small scale, thermal plasma using carbon dioxide, nitrogen, or air as plasma carrier gases to degrade pelleted plant biomass. The gases were chosen to explore variations in recovery and potential chemical by-products. Plasma treated and untreated biomass was leached with different concentrations of acid to determine the extraction of nutrients (potassium, magnesium, calcium, and. phosphorus) for reuse in the crop production cycle. Results are presented showing the impact of plasma processing prior to acid leaching on recovery of plant nutrients.

Plasma↗
NASA NTRS1984

International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment, 17th, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, May 9-13, 1983, Proceedings. Volumes 1, 2 & 3

The collection, processing, and analysis of remote-sensing data from ground-based, airborne, and spaceborne instruments for application to the monitoring and management of the earth and environment and resources are examined in reviews and reports, some in summary form. Subject areas covered include US policy and directions on remote sensing (RS); the future of terrestrial RS from space; RS of land, oceans, and atmosphere from a global perspective; RS in hydrological modeling; microprocessing technology; array processors; geobased information systems; artificial intelligence; the Shuttle imaging radar; and current results from Landsat-4. Among the specific topics discussed are RS application to hydrocarbon exploration, airborne gamma-radiation assessment of snow water equivalent, surface-vegetation-biomass modeling from AVHRR and Landsat data, Landsat imagery of Mediterranean pollution, fast two-dimensional filtering of thermal-scanner data, RS of severe convective storms, registration of rotated images by invariant moments, and the geometric accuracy of Landsat-4 Thematic-Mapper P-tapes.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2019

2018 NISAR Applications Workshop: Forest and Disturbance; Workshop Report

Forest lands cover the globe and are important sources for providing ecosystem services including: carbon sequestration, biodiversity, timber, air and water quality. As such, counties around the world have dedicated programs for managing them. Accurate and timely information concerning the status of these forests (moisture, biomass, disturbance type, etc.) is essential to those Nations’ human and ecological health as well as economy. The joint NASA/US Forest Service workshop focused on arming forest land managers with observations and remote sensing information from the upcoming NASA-ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) (NISAR) satellite mission (expected to launch early 2022). Participants included representatives from different US Federal Agencies, private sector, and non-governmental organizations (NGO) that are key players in facilitating integration of Earth Observations (EO) into forest management and decision support workflows. They included scientists, technicians, and program managers with a responsibility for data acquisition and exploitation such as product development, delivery, and use, and capacity building. Discussions were held over two days to convey the broader forest and disturbance community information needs for various representative participants and programs and to facilitate the delivery of NISAR mission geospatial products and observational capabilities. Case studies were presented to demonstrate the current state of practice in the use of SAR remote sensing for applications of direct importance to forest and disturbance land management community. Eleven organizations presented their information requirements in response to a set of questions provided by the NASA team, then the NASA team responded by describing the degree to which NISAR could meet these requirements. Discussion ensued about needed data product specifications to increase utility (e.g., projection, latency, etc.), tools and capacity building. The general findings of this workshop were that (a) NISAR observations will be particularly useful to the global forest carbon and disturbance monitoring applications, but that certain data product design decisions (projections and radiometric and terrain corrections) need to be considered to increase utility; b) the biomass and disturbance detection algorithms meet many of the community needs, however there are other information products of value (e.g., soil moisture or disturbance classification, not just detection) and all products should be compliant with existing community standards for reporting uncertainty; c) providing SAR education to the community will be key specifically thinking about putting the information first and the SAR theory second, providing a simple guide of standard data processing steps (e.g., dB (decibel) to power conversion and speckle filtering); d) the community needs a user-friendly interface for finding free, archived data over their geographic regions of interest; e) user-friendly tools that connect to open-sources GIS (Global Information System) software (e.g., QGIS (Quantum GIS)) that include a graphical user interface (GUI) for SAR processing that enables both download and cloud processing. To integrate these findings and prepare the community before NISAR launches, it was suggested that there be a dedicated NISAR Forest and Disturbance Applications Working Group (as per the specifications in the NISAR Utilization Plan). After launch, it was decided that the community continue capacity building activities.

Stavros, Natasha↗
NASA NTRS2015

Aerosol-Cloud Interactions in the South-East Atlantic: Knowledge Gaps, Planned Observations to Address Them, and Implications for Global Climate Change Modeling

Southern Africa produces almost a third of the Earth's biomass burning (BB) aerosol particles, yet the fate of these particles and their influence on regional and global climate is poorly understood. Particles lofted into the mid-troposphere are transported westward over the South-East (SE) Atlantic, home to one of the three permanent subtropical Stratocumulus (Sc) cloud decks in the world. The stratocumulus "climate radiators" are critical to the regional and global climate system. They interact with dense layers of BB aerosols that initially overlay the cloud deck, but later subside and are mixed into the clouds. These interactions include adjustments to aerosol-induced solar heating and microphysical effects. As emphasized in the latest IPCC report, the global representation of these aerosol-cloud interaction processes in climate models is one of the largest uncertainty in estimates of future climate. Hence, new observations over the SE Atlantic have significant implications for global climate change scenarios. We discuss the current knowledge of aerosol and cloud property distributions based on satellite observations and sparse suborbital sampling, and describe planned field campaigns in the region. Specifically, we describe the scientific objectives and implementation of the following four synergistic, international research activities aimed at providing a process-level understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions over the SE Atlantic: 1) ORACLES (Observations of Aerosols above Clouds and their interactions), a five-year investigation between 2015 and 2019 with three Intensive Observation Periods (IOP), recently funded by the NASA Earth-Venture Suborbital Program, 2) CLARIFY-2016 (Cloud-Aerosol-Radiation Interactions and Forcing: Year 2016), a comprehensive observational and modeling programme funded by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and supported by the UK Met Office. 3) LASIC (Layered Atlantic Smoke Interactions with Clouds), a funded deployment of the DOE (Department of Energy) ARM Mobile Facility (AMF1) to Ascension Island, nominally for April 1 2016 - March 31 2017, and 4) ONFIRE (Observations of Fire's Impact on the southeast Atlantic Region), a proposed deployment of the NCAR C-130 aircraft to Sao Tome Island in 2017.

Aerosol-cloud↗
NASA NTRS2007

Cyanobacteria for Human Habitation beyond Earth

In light of the President s Moon/Mars initiative, lunar exploration has once again become a priority for NASA. In order to establish permanent bases on the Moon and proceed with human exploration of Mars, two key problems will be addressed: first, the production of O2 and second, the production of methane (CH4). While O2 is required for life support systems (LSS), both liquid O2 and CH4 are needed as an oxidizer and a propellant, respectively for the Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM) and the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). Unlike previous propulsion systems, the new CEV will use liquid oxygen (LO2) as an oxidizer and liquid methane (LCH4) as a propellant. Existing technology (e.g. hydrogen reduction) for the production of liquid oxygen from lunar regolith is very energy intensive and requires high temperature reactors. We propose an alternative approach using iron-tolerant cyanobacteria. We have found that iron-tolerant cyanobacteria (IT CB) are capable of etching iron-bearing minerals, which may lead to bonds breaking between Fe and O of common lunar mare basalt Fe-oxides including ilmenite, pseudobrookite, ferropseudobrookite, and armalcolite with the subsequent release of both Fe, Ti and oxygen as byproducts. We also propose to use CB biomass for CH4 production as carbon stock and a propellant. Both processes can be accomplished in an energy and cost effective manner because sunlight will be used as an energy source and allows the reactions at ambient temperatures between 10-60 C. Current evaluations include assessing the thermodynamics of such biogenic reactions using a variety of nutrients and atmospheric parameters, as well as assessing the rates and species variation effects of the driving reactions.

Brown, Igor↗
NASA NTRS2006

Iron-Tolerant Cyanobacteria for Human Habitation beyond Earth

In light of the President's Moon/Mars initiative, lunar exploration has once again become a priority for NASA. In order to establish permanent bases on the Moon and proceed with human exploration of Mars, two key problems will be addressed: first, the production of O2 and second, the production of methane (CH4). While O2 is required for life support systems (LSS), both liquid O2 and CH4 are needed as an oxidizer and a propellant, respectively for the Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM) and the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). Unlike previous propulsion systems, the new CEV will use liquid oxygen (LO2) as an oxidizer and liquid methane (LCH4) as a propellant. Existing technology (e.g. hydrogen reduction) for the production of liquid oxygen from lunar regolith is very energy intensive and requires high temperature reactors. We propose an alternative approach using iron-tolerant cyanobacteria. We have found that iron-tolerant cyanobacteria (IT CB) are capable of etching iron-bearing minerals, which may lead to bonds breaking between Fe and O of common lunar mare basalt Feoxides including ilmenite, pseudobrookite, ferropseudobrookite, and armalcolite with the subsequent release of both Fe, Ti and oxygen as by-products. We also propose to use CB biomass for CH4 production as carbon stock and a propellant. Both processes can be accomplished in an energy and cost effective manner because sunlight will be used as an energy source and allows the reactions at ambient temperatures between 10-60 C. Current evaluations include assessing the thermodynamics of such biogenic reactions using a variety of nutrients and atmospheric parameters, as well as assessing the rates and species variation effects of the driving reactions.

Brown, Igor↗
NASA NTRS2000

A Regional-Scale Assessment of Satellite Derived Precipitable Water Vapor Across The Amazon Basin

Atmospheric water vapor is widely recognized as a key climate variable, linking an assortment of poorly understood and complex processes. It is a major element of the hydrological cycle and provides a mechanism for energy exchange among many of the Earth system components. Reducing uncertainty in our current knowledge of water vapor and its role in the climate system requires accurate measurement, improved modeling techniques, and long-term prediction. Satellites have the potential to satisfy these criteria, as well as provide high resolution measurements that are not available from conventional sources. The focus of this paper is to examine the temporal and mesoscale variations of satellite derived precipitable water vapor (PW) across the Amazon Basin. This region is pivotal in the functioning of the global climate system through its abundant release of latent heat associated with heavy precipitation events. In addition, anthropogenic deforestation and biomass burning activities in recent decades are altering the conditions of the atmosphere, especially in the planetary boundary layer. A physical split-window (PSW) algorithm estimates PW using images from the GOES satellites along with the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis data that provides the first guess information. Retrievals are made at a three-hourly time step during daylight hours in the Amazon Basin and surrounding areas for the months of June and October in 1988 (dry year) and 1995 (wet year). Spatially continuous fields are generated 5 times daily at 12Z, 15Z, 18Z, 21Z, and 00Z. These fields are then averaged to create monthly and 3 hourly monthly grids. Overall, the PSW estimates PW reasonable well in the Amazon with MAE ranging from 3.0 - 9.0 mm and MAE/observed mean around 20% in comparison to radiosonde observations. The distribution of PW generally mimics that of precipitation. Maximum values (42 - 52 mm) are located in the Northwest whereas minimum values (18 - 27 mm) are found along Brazil's East coast. Aside from the East coast, PW has a stronger north-south gradient than that of rainfall. As for the temporal variation of PW, June (1988 and 1995) experiences a peak about 1400 local time, corresponding to a maximum in air temperature. In contrast, October (1988 and 1995) experiences a maximum early in the day, 1100 local time, with a gradual decrease toward nighttime.

DeLiberty, Tracy↗
NASA NTRS2006

Design and Certification of the Extravehicular Activity Mobility Unit (EMU) Water Processing Jumper

The Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs) onboard the International Space Station (ISS) experienced a failure due to cooling water contamination from biomass and corrosion byproducts forming solids around the EMU pump rotor. The coolant had no biocide and a low pH which induced biofilm growth and corrosion precipitates, respectively. NASA JSC was tasked with building hardware to clean the ionic, organic, and particulate load from the EMU coolant loop before and after Extravehicular Activity (EVAs). Based on a return sample of the EMU coolant loop, the chemical load was well understood, but there was not sufficient volume of the returned sample to analyze particulates. Through work with EMU specialists, chemists, (EVA) Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) representation, safety and mission assurance, astronaut crew, and team engineers, requirements were developed for the EMU Water Processing hardware (sometimes referred to as the Airlock Coolant Loop Recovery [A/L CLR] system). Those requirements ranged from the operable level of ionic, organic, and particulate load, interfaces to the EMU, maximum cycle time, operating pressure drop, flow rate, and temperature, leakage rates, and biocide levels for storage. Design work began in February 2005 and certification was completed in April 2005 to support a return to flight launch date of May 12, 2005. This paper will discuss the details of the design and certification of the EMU Water Processing hardware and its components

Peterson, Laurie J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Purifying, Separating, and Concentrating Cells From a Sample Low in Biomass

Frequently there is an inability to process and analyze samples of low biomass due to limiting amounts of relevant biomaterial in the sample. Furthermore, molecular biological protocols geared towards increasing the density of recovered cells and biomolecules of interest, by their very nature, also concentrate unwanted inhibitory humic acids and other particulates that have an adversarial effect on downstream analysis. A novel and robust fluorescence-activated cell-sorting (FACS)-based technology has been developed for purifying (removing cells from sampling matrices), separating (based on size, density, morphology), and concentrating cells (spores, prokaryotic, eukaryotic) from a sample low in biomass. The technology capitalizes on fluorescent cell-sorting technologies to purify and concentrate bacterial cells from a low-biomass, high-volume sample. Over the past decade, cell-sorting detection systems have undergone enhancements and increased sensitivity, making bacterial cell sorting a feasible concept. Although there are many unknown limitations with regard to the applicability of this technology to environmental samples (smaller cells, few cells, mixed populations), dogmatic principles support the theoretical effectiveness of this technique upon thorough testing and proper optimization. Furthermore, the pilot study from which this report is based proved effective and demonstrated this technology capable of sorting and concentrating bacterial endospore and bacterial cells of varying size and morphology. Two commercial off-the-shelf bacterial counting kits were used to optimize a bacterial stain/dye FACS protocol. A LIVE/DEAD BacLight Viability and Counting Kit was used to distinguish between the live and dead cells. A Bacterial Counting Kit comprising SYTO BC (mixture of SYTO dyes) was employed as a broad-spectrum bacterial counting agent. Optimization using epifluorescence microscopy was performed with these two dye/stains. This refined protocol was further validated using varying ratios and mixtures of cells to ensure homogenous staining compared to that of individual cells, and were utilized for flow analyzer and FACS labeling. This technology focuses on the purification and concentration of cells from low-biomass spacecraft assembly facility samples. Currently, purification and concentration of low-biomass samples plague planetary protection downstream analyses. Having a capability to use flow cytometry to concentrate cells out of low-biomass, high-volume spacecraft/ facility sample extracts will be of extreme benefit to the fields of planetary protection and astrobiology. Successful research and development of this novel methodology will significantly increase the knowledge base for designing more effective cleaning protocols, and ultimately lead to a more empirical and true account of the microbial diversity present on spacecraft surfaces. Refined cleaning and an enhanced ability to resolve microbial diversity may decrease the overall cost of spacecraft assembly and/or provide a means to begin to assess challenging planetary protection missions.

Benardini, James N.↗