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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1966

Marine Biology, volume II

Symposium on marine biology - growth rate, cycles, transportation, photosynthesis, distribution, sampling, nutrition, and light control of natural phytoplankton ecological systems

CONFERENCE↗
NASA NTRS1965

Marine biology and remote sensing

Remote sensing from manned orbital spacecraft for measuring characteristics of physical environment at sea surface - marine biology

SENSING↗
NASA NTRS2010

Understanding the Transport of Patagonian Dust and Its Influence on Marine Biological Activity in the South Atlantic Ocean

Modeling and remote sensing techniques were applied to examine the horizontal and vertical transport pathways of Patagonian dust and quantify the effect of soluble-iron- laden mineral dust deposition on marine primary productivity in the South Atlantic Ocean (SAO) surface waters. The global chemistry transport model GEOS-Chem, implemented with an iron dissolution scheme, was applied to evaluate the atmospheric transport and deposition of mineral dust and bioavailable iron during two dust outbreaks originating in the source regions of Patagonia. In addition to this "rapidly released" iron, offline calculations were also carried out to estimate the amount of bioavailable iron leached during the residence time of dust in the ocean mixed layer. Model simulations showed that the horizontal and vertical transport pathways of Patagonian dust plumes were largely influenced by the synoptic meteorological patterns of high and low pressure systems. Model-predicted horizontal and vertical transport pathways of Patagonian dust over the SAO were in reasonable agreement with remotely-sensed data. Comparison between remotely-sensed and offline calculated ocean surface chlorophyll-a concentrations indicated that, for the two dust outbreaks examined in this study, the deposition of bioavailable iron in the SAO through atmospheric pathways was insignificant. As the two dust transport episodes examined here represent typical outflows of mineral dust from South American sources, our study suggests that the atmospheric deposition of mineral dust is unlikely to induce large scale marine primary productivity and carbon sequestration in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean.

Johnson, Matthew↗
NASA NTRS1972

Use of ERTS imagery in air pollution and marine biology studies, tasks 1 through 3

There are no author-identified significant results in this report. The general suitability of ERTS imagery in detecting ground originated air pollution has proved to be excellent. The quality and resolution exceeded expectations and has permitted in some instances location of point sources to within a thousand feet. Suitable techniques have not yet been developed for determining or measuring area and line sources of air pollution. A major problem has been cloud cover that has persisted over the area of primary interest, the Chesapeake Bay. Work has been completed on mounting the shipboard transmissometer which will be used for investigations to relate the chlorophyll and suspended sediment content in the waters of the Lower Chesapeake Bay to ERTS-1 imagery. Water sampling, plankton analysis, and preparations for sea collection of water truth along the eastern continental shelf of the U.S. have been completed for use in comparisons with ERTS-1 data.

Copeland, G. E.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Glaciological and marine biological studies at perimeter of Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

The author has identified the following significant results. A nearly complete map of the Dronning Land coastline from 10 deg W to 29 deg E was produced. Based on this, it was determined that for the past 20 years, the minimum calving rate from this part of the coastline was 60 cu km/year. The drift speeds were measured for ice floes and bergs between 9 and 20 km/day, and it was found that the number of ice floes of a given size decrease exponentially with size, so that each size class covers approximately the same area. A large melt phenomena at blue ice fields around 70 deg 45' S and 26-29 deg E was discovered.

Orheim, O.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Marine biological controls on atmospheric CO2 and climate

It is argued that the ocean is losing N gas faster than N is being returned to the ocean, and that replenishment of the N supply in the ocean usually occurs during ice ages. Available N from river and estruarine transport and from rainfall after formation by lightning are shown to be at a rate too low to compensate for the 10,000 yr oceanic lifetime of N. Ice sheets advance and transfer moraine N to the ocean, lower the sea levels, erode the ocean beds, promote greater biological productivity, and reduce CO2. Ice core samples have indicated a variability in the atmospheric N content that could be attributed to the ice age scenario.

Mcelroy, M. B.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Statistical Assessment of Cetacean Stranding Events in Cape Cod Area

Cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises) mass strandings are a longstanding mystery in the field of marine biology that continue to be recorded in coastal environments around the world. For each of these events, anywhere from a few to several hundred otherwise healthy animals strand in onshore environments, often for no apparent reason. While the causes of these events remain unclear, anthropogenic and naturogenic mechanisms have been suggested. We present results of an inter-disciplinary study that draws expertise from space weather, marine mammal biology and ecology, and marine mammal stranding response. This study assessed 16 years of cetacean stranding events in the Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA) area concurrently with a large dataset of meteorological, geophysical, biological, oceanographic and space weather data to produce inferences about possible causes for these unexplained events.

Dolphi↗
NASA NTRS1996

Methyl bromide: ocean sources, ocean sinks, and climate sensitivity

The oceans play an important role in the geochemical cycle of methyl bromide (CH3Br), the major carrier of O3-destroying bromine to the stratosphere. The quantity of CH3Br produced annually in seawater is comparable to the amount entering the atmosphere each year from natural and anthropogenic sources. The production mechanism is unknown but may be biological. Most of this CH3Br is consumed in situ by hydrolysis or reaction with chloride. The size of the fraction which escapes to the atmosphere is poorly constrained; measurements in seawater and the atmosphere have been used to justify both a large oceanic CH3Br flux to the atmosphere and a small net ocean sink. Since the consumption reactions are extremely temperature-sensitive, small temperature variations have large effects on the CH3Br concentration in seawater, and therefore on the exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean. The net CH3Br flux is also sensitive to variations in the rate of CH3Br production. We have quantified these effects using a simple steady state mass balance model. When CH3Br production rates are linearly scaled with seawater chlorophyll content, this model reproduces the latitudinal variations in marine CH3Br concentrations observed in the east Pacific Ocean by Singh et al. [1983] and by Lobert et al. [1995]. The apparent correlation of CH3Br production with primary production explains the discrepancies between the two observational studies, strengthening recent suggestions that the open ocean is a small net sink for atmospheric CH3Br, rather than a large net source. The Southern Ocean is implicated as a possible large net source of CH3Br to the atmosphere. Since our model indicates that both the direction and magnitude of CH3Br exchange between the atmosphere and ocean are extremely sensitive to temperature and marine productivity, and since the rate of CH3Br production in the oceans is comparable to the rate at which this compound is introduced to the atmosphere, even small perturbations to temperature or productivity can modify atmospheric CH3Br. Therefore atmospheric CH3Br should be sensitive to climate conditions. Our modeling indicates that climate-induced CH3Br variations can be larger than those resulting from small (+/- 25%) changes in the anthropogenic source, assuming that this source comprises less than half of all inputs. Future measurements of marine CH3Br, temperature, and primary production should be combined with such models to determine the relationship between marine biological activity and CH3Br production. Better understanding of the biological term is especially important to assess the importance of non-anthropogenic sources to stratospheric ozone loss and the sensitivity of these sources to global climate change.

NASA Discipline Exobiology↗
NASA NTRS1993

Planetary Biology and Microbial Ecology: Molecular Ecology and the Global Nitrogen cycle

This report summarizes the results of the Planetary Biology and Molecular Ecology's summer 1991 program, which was held at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The purpose of the interdisciplinary PBME program is to integrate, via lectures and laboratory work, the contributions of university and NASA scientists and student interns. The goals of the 1991 program were to examine several aspects of the biogeochemistry of the nitrogen cycle and to teach the application of modern methods of molecular genetics to field studies of organisms. Descriptions of the laboratory projects and protocols and abstracts and references of the lectures are presented.

Nealson, Molly Stone↗
NASA NTRS1996

The Cytoskeleton: Mechanical, Physical, and Biological Interactions

This workshop, entitled "The Cytoskeleton: Mechanical, Physical, and Biological Interactions," was sponsored by the Center for Advanced Studies in the Space Life Sciences at the Marine Biological Laboratory. This Center was established through a cooperative agreement between the MBL and the Life Sciences Division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. To achieve these goals, the Center sponsors a series of workshops on various topics in the life sciences. Elements of the cytoskeleton have been implicated in the effects of gravity on the growth of plants fungi. An intriguing finding in this regard is the report indicating that an integrin-like protein may be the gravireceptor in the internodal cells of Chara. Involvement of the cytoskeleton in cellular graviperception of the basidiomycete Flammulina velutipes has also been reported. Although the responses of mammalian cells to gravity are not well documented, it has been proposed that integrins can act as mechanochemical transducers in mammalian cells. Little is known about the integrated mechanical and physical properties of cytoplasm, this workshop would be the best place to begin developing interdisciplinary approaches to the effects of mechanical stresses on cells and their most likely responsive cytoplasmic elements- the fibrous proteins comprising the cytoskeleton.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1974

A study of lagoonal and estuarine processes in the area of Merritt Island encompassing the space center

A study was conducted to determine the marine biology and dynamic oceanographic properties of the Indian River in Florida. One of the major areas of concentration involved the compilation of a taxonomic list of marine animals in the river. An important conclusion of the study is that diversity of the benthic community is substantially higher than expected. The effect of major climatic factors on the diversity and structure of the benthic community is analyzed.

Source record↗