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At least 199 records · Page 11

A Database for Propagation Models and Conversion to C++ Programming Language

The telecommunications system design engineer generally needs the quantification of effects of the propagation medium (definition of the propagation channel) to design an optimal communications system. To obtain the definition of the channel, the systems engineer generally has a few choices. A search of the relevant publications such as the IEEE Transactions, CCIR's, NASA propagation handbook, etc., may be conducted to find the desired channel values. This method may need excessive amounts of time and effort on the systems engineer's part and there is a possibility that the search may not even yield the needed results. To help the researcher and the systems engineers, it was recommended by the conference participants of NASA Propagation Experimenters (NAPEX) XV (London, Ontario, Canada, June 28 and 29, 1991) that a software should be produced that would contain propagation models and the necessary prediction methods of most propagation phenomena. Moreover, the software should be flexible enough for the user to make slight changes to the models without expending a substantial effort in programming. In the past few years, a software was produced to fit these requirements as best as could be done. The software was distributed to all NAPEX participants for evaluation and use, the participant reactions, suggestions etc., were gathered and were used to improve the subsequent releases of the software. The existing database program is in the Microsoft Excel application software and works fine within the guidelines of that environment, however, recently there have been some questions about the robustness and survivability of the Excel software in the ever changing (hopefully improving) world of software packages.

Kantak, Anil V.↗

US Astronomers Access to SIMBAD in Strasbourg, France

During the last year the US SIMBAD Gateway Project continued to provide services like user registration to the US users of the SIMBAD database in France. Currently there are over 4300 US users registered. We also provided user support by answering questions from users and handling requests for lost passwords when still necessary. Even though almost all users now access SIMBAD without a password, based on hostnames/IP addresses, there are still some users that need individual passwords. We continued to maintain the mirror copy of the SIMBAD database on a server at SAO. This allows much faster access for the US users. During the past year we moved this mirror to a faster server to improve access for the US users. We again supported a demonstration of the SIMBAD database at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January. We provided support for the demonstration activities at the SIMBAD booth. We paid part of the fee for the SIMBAD demonstration. We continued to improve the cross-linking between the SIMBAD project and the Astrophysics Data System. This cross-linking between these systems is very much appreciated by the users of both the SIMBAD database and the ADS Abstract Service. The mirror of the SIMBAD database at SAO makes this connection faster for the US astronomers. We exchange information between the ADS and SIMBAD on a daily basis. The close cooperation between the CDS in Strasbourg and SAO, facilitated by this project, is an important part of the astronomy-wide digital library initiative. It has proven to be a model in how different data centers can collaborate and enhance the value of their products by linking with other data centers. We continue this collaboration in order to provide better services to both the US and European astronomical community. This collaboration is even more important in light of the developments for the Virtual Observatory projects in the different countries.

Eichhorn, G.↗

US Astronomers Access to SIMBAD in Strasbourg

During the last year the US SIMBAD Gateway Project continued to provide services like user registration to the US users of the SIMBAD database in France. Currently there are over 4500 US users registered. We also provided user support by answering questions from users and handling requests for lost passwords when still necessary. Even though almost all users now access SIMBAD without a password, based on hostnames/IP addresses, there are still some users that need individual passwords. We continued to maintain the mirror copy of the SIMBAD database on a server at SAO. This allows much faster access for the US users. During the past year we again moved this mirror to a faster server to improve access for the US users. We again supported a demonstration of the SIMBAD database at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January. We provided support for the demonstration activities at the SIMBAD booth. We paid part of the fee for the SIMBAD demonstration. We continued to improve the cross-linking between the SIMBAD project and the Astrophysics Data System. This cross-linking between these systems is very much appreciated by the users of both the SIMBAD database and the ADS Abstract Service. The mirror of the SIMBAD database at SA0 makes this connection faster for the US astronomers. We exchange information between the ADS and SIMBAD on a daily basis. During the last year we also installed a mirror copy of the Vizier system from the CDS, in addition to the SIMBAD mirror.

Oliversen, Ronald↗

New Software for Ensemble Creation in the Spitzer-Space-Telescope Operations Database

Some of the computer pipelines used to process digital astronomical images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope require multiple input images, in order to generate high-level science and calibration products. The images are grouped into ensembles according to well documented ensemble-creation rules by making explicit associations in the operations Informix database at the Spitzer Science Center (SSC). The advantage of this approach is that a simple database query can retrieve the required ensemble of pipeline input images. New and improved software for ensemble creation has been developed. The new software is much faster than the existing software because it uses pre-compiled database stored-procedures written in Informix SPL (SQL programming language). The new software is also more flexible because the ensemble creation rules are now stored in and read from newly defined database tables. This table-driven approach was implemented so that ensemble rules can be inserted, updated, or deleted without modifying software.

Spitzer Science Center (SSC)↗

From Exploration Flight Test-1 to Artemis II--A NASA Langley's Orion Aerosciences Overview

The Orion Aerosciences program at NASA Langley has played a central role in advancing the aerodynamic and aeroheating prediction capabilities required for the Orion crew vehicle’s return from deep space. This presentation provides a technical overview of aerosciences contributions spanning Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), Artemis I, and the ongoing post-flight analysis of Artemis II. EFT-1 provided the first high-energy entry dataset for Orion, enabling critical validation of aerodynamic force and moment predictions, static and dynamic stability characteristics, and aeroheating environments at relevant flight Mach and Reynolds numbers. Flight-derived pressure data were used to refine the Flush Air Data System (FADS) methodology for atmospheric density reconstruction and to improve Best Estimated Trajectory (BET) solutions. The EFT-1 data also offered key insights into heat shield performance, including char layer recession, in-depth thermal response, and material retention behavior under flight conditions, informing updates to both thermal response models and uncertainty quantification practices. Building on EFT-1, Artemis I extended the database to true lunar-return conditions. Observations of heat shield performance, including localized char loss, bondline response, and recession variability, provided an unprecedented opportunity to reassess Thermal Protection System (TPS) and aeroheating modeling assumptions. Aerodynamic reconstruction efforts incorporated improved FADS calibration, enhanced atmospheric modeling, and refined force and moment databases to reduce trajectory and load uncertainties. Aeroheating comparisons between pre-flight predictions and flight data enabled targeted model updates, particularly in transitional flow environments and wake heating regions. For Artemis II, these lessons were systematically incorporated into the pre-flight prediction process. Updates included refined aerodynamic databases anchored to flight-validated corrections, improved density estimation and BET methodologies using enhanced database interpolation algorithm and FADS modeling, and revised aeroheating design environments informed by Artemis I material response observations. By the time of the workshop, Artemis II post-flight analysis will be underway, and preliminary findings will be presented where available, including early comparisons of aerodynamic reconstruction, atmospheric density estimation, and thermal protection system performance relative to updated predictions. Collectively, this body of work is a testament to the dedicated and multidisciplinary team whose sustained efforts have contributed to the program’s success and to the progressive maturation of Orion aerosciences modeling through numerical modeling, ground and flight data assimilation. The integrated advancement of aerodynamics, trajectory reconstruction, FADS-based density estimation, and aeroheating analysis has reduced predictive uncertainty and strengthened confidence for future crewed lunar and deep-space missions.

Orion↗

Investigating the Impacts of Aqueous-Phase Processing on Organic Aerosol Chemical Climatology Using ARM and ASR Observations

This project improved understanding of how atmospheric aerosol particles form and evolve, with a focus on the role of water-driven (aqueous-phase) chemical reactions in the atmosphere. These processes occur in clouds, fog, and humid air and can significantly change the composition and properties of airborne particles, known as aerosols, which influence air quality and climate. By combining field measurements, laboratory experiments, and advanced analytical techniques, the project identified key chemical signatures that allow scientists to distinguish particles formed through aqueous processes from those formed in the gas phase. Observations from multiple environments, including wildfire smoke, urban regions, and cloud-influenced areas, show that aqueous chemistry is an important pathway for particle formation and aging. The project also developed new measurement approaches using uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) to capture how aerosol composition varies with altitude, providing critical insights into how particles interact with clouds. In addition, new data analysis frameworks were created to better interpret long-term aerosol measurements and improve characterization of particle sources and transformations. These results have been integrated into a global database of aerosol measurements and used to support atmospheric modeling efforts. Overall, the project provides important tools and knowledge to improve predictions of how aerosols affect climate and air quality, particularly through their interactions with radiation and clouds.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Improvements of CO2 and O2 Transmission Modeling for ASCENDS Mission Applications

Simulations using the HITRAN database and other data have been carried out to select the optimum laser wavelengths for the measurements of CO2 and O2 concentrations with the application to the ASCENDS mission. The accuracy set forth for the ASCENDS mission requires accurate line-by-line calculations involving the use of non-Voigt line shapes. To aid in achieving this goal, improved CO2 and O2 transmission calculation methods are being developed. In particular, line-by-line transmission modeling of CO2 was improved by implementing non-Voigt spectral lineshapes. Ongoing work involves extending this approach to the O2 molecule 1.26-1.27micron spectral band.

Pliutau, Denis↗

Using Pilots to Assess the Value and Approach of CMMI Implementation

At Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), we have chosen to use Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) to guide our process improvement program. Projects at GSFC consist of complex systems of software and hardware that control satellites, operate ground systems, run instruments, manage databases and data and support scientific research. It is a challenge to launch a process improvement program that encompasses our diverse systems, yet is manageable in terms of cost effectiveness. In order to establish the best approach for improvement, our process improvement effort was divided into three phases: 1) Pilot projects; 2) Staged implementation; and 3) Sustainment and continual improvement. During Phase 1 the focus of the activities was on a baselining process, using pre-appraisals in order to get a baseline for making a better cost and effort estimate for the improvement effort. Pilot pre-appraisals were conducted from different perspectives so different approaches for process implementation could be evaluated. Phase 1 also concentrated on establishing an improvement infrastructure and training of the improvement teams. At the time of this paper, three pilot appraisals have been completed. Our initial appraisal was performed in a flight software area, considering the flight software organization as the organization. The second appraisal was done from a project perspective, focusing on systems engineering and acquisition, and using the organization as GSFC. The final appraisal was in a ground support software area, again using GSFC as the organization. This paper will present our initial approach, lessons learned from all three pilots and the changes in our approach based on the lessons learned.

Godfrey, Sara↗

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission: Overview and Status

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is an international satellite mission specifically designed to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational microwave sensors. NASA and JAXA will deploy a Core Observatory in 2014 to serve as a reference satellite to unify precipitation measurements from the constellation of sensors. The GPM Core Observatory will carry a Ku/Ka-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and a conical-scanning multi-channel (10-183 GHz) GPM Microwave Radiometer (GMI). The DPR will be the first dual-frequency radar in space to provide not only measurements of 3-D precipitation structures but also quantitative information on microphysical properties of precipitating particles. The DPR and GMI measurements will together provide a database that relates vertical hydrometeor profiles to multi-frequency microwave radiances over a variety of environmental conditions across the globe. This combined database will be used as a common transfer standard for improving the accuracy and consistency of precipitation retrievals from all constellation radiometers. For global coverage, GPM relies on existing satellite programs and new mission opportunities from a consortium of partners through bilateral agreements with either NASA or JAXA. Each constellation member may have its unique scientific or operational objectives but contributes microwave observations to GPM for the generation and dissemination of unified global precipitation data products. In addition to the DPR and GMI on the Core Observatory, the baseline GPM constellation consists of the following sensors: (1) Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) instruments on the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, (2) the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR-2) on the GCOM-W1 satellite of JAXA, (3) the Multi-Frequency Microwave Scanning Radiometer (MADRAS) and the multi-channel microwave humidity sounder (SAPHIR) on the French-Indian MeghaTropiques satellite, (4) the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-19, (5) MHS instruments on MetOp satellites launched by the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), (6) the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), and (7) ATMS instruments on the NOAA-NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites. Data from Chinese and Russian microwave radiometers may also become available through international collaboration under the auspices of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and Group on Earth Observations (GEO). The current generation of global rainfall products combines observations from a network of uncoordinated satellite missions using a variety of merging techniques. GPM will provide "next-generation" precipitation products characterized by: (1) more accurate instantaneous precipitation estimate (especially for light rain and cold-season solid precipitation), (2) intercalibrated microwave brightness temperatures from constellation radiometers within a consistent framework, and (3) unified precipitation retrievals from constellation radiometers using a common a priori hydrometeor database constrained by combined radar/radiometer measurements provided by the GPM Core Observatory. GPM is a science mission with integrated applications goals. GPM will provide a key measurement to improve understanding of global water cycle variability and freshwater availability in a changing climate. The DPR and GMI measurements will offer insights into 3-dimensional structures of hurricanes and midlatitude storms, microphysical properties of precipitating particles, and latent heat associated with precipitation processes. The GPM mission will also make data available in near realtime (within 3 hours of observations) forocietal applications ranging from position fixes of storm centers, numerical weather prediction, flood forecasting, freshwater management, landslide warning, crop prediction, to tracking of water-borne diseases. An overview of the GPM mission design, retrieval strategy, ground validation activities, and international science collaboration will be presented.

Hou, Arthur Y.↗

Towards a liana plant functional type for vegetation models

Lianas (woody climbers) are crucial components of tropical forests and they have been increasingly recognized to have profound effects on tropical forest carbon dynamics. Despite their importance, lianas' representation in vegetation models remains limited, partly due to the complexity of liana-tree dynamics and the diversity in liana life history strategies. This paper provides a comprehensive review of advances and challenges for mechanistically representing lianas in forest ecosystem models and a proposed path towards effectively representing lianas in these models. Defining a liana plant functional type is a significant challenge because of the high morphological and physiological diversity amongst liana species, and because of their structural association with trees. Here, we identify critical liana traits that likely should contribute to establishing a liana plant functional type, along with key processes to properly represent lianas in ecosystem models. Subsequently, we discuss a variety of possible liana implementation strategies with their associated strengths, limitations, computational costs and data requirements. A fundamental redesign of the tree-centric demographic vegetation models seems appropriate to accommodate the unique growth and competition strategies of lianas. We illustrate the potential of such models with a single-site case study where we disentangle putative mechanisms of liana increasing abundance. Furthermore, we underscore the critical need for comprehensive liana demographic and functional data (including long-term, physiological, and pantropical observations) for the qualitative implementation and evaluation in the proposed modeling efforts. Currently, there is a scarcity of liana data and the data that do exist have a neotropical bias. We finally introduce a new liana functional trait database that can centralize existing liana trait data, incentivize improved data gathering and thus facilitate model development and scientific analyses.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DUNE Rucio Server Scalabiilty Studies

The DUNE collaboration has an ongoing production effort to simulate the full detectors and to analyze the various prototypes that are currently running. Rucio is used to manage the 40PB of files made to date. When 500 or more jobs were sending output to Rucio simultaneously via Rucio upload, we observed timeouts, unhandled exceptions, and Rucio server restarts due to slow performance. In collaboration with the core Rucio team we did a full review of the Rucio upload code and identified several optimizations that can be made. We also have deployed the Ingress load balancer in front of our Rucio servers and added a database connection pooling utility. These changes led to significant improvement both in reliability and scalability, yet we anticipate even better performance will eventually be required. We describe in this paper the initial state of the system, the various debugging processes that were used, and our plans to further improve scalability.

Calcutt, J. [Brookhaven Natl. Lab.]↗

The NASA Environment Remote Sensing Analysis Facility (ERSAF) support for Space Shuttle earth observations

It is shown that dedicated premission, real-time, and postmission support for planning, acquiring, and interpreting remotely sensed data of specific sites in terms of illumination geometry, atmospheric transmissivity, and preferred viewing is required in order to acquire the best possible earth-viewing photography for each Shuttle mission. Mission support has resulted in significant advances for the earth observation activities and other experiments carried out by astronauts. Scientific and mission support are described and equipment and capabilities are reviewed. Future advances listed include improvement of existing data bases, expanding access to climatological databases of atmospheric constituents and aerosols, and expanding access to image data such as the DMSP, while Space Station Freedom will require 24-hour operational support.

Helms, David R.↗

Northern and Southern Hemisphere Ground-Based Infrared Spectroscopic Measurements of Tropospheric Carbon Monoxide and Ethane

Time series of CO and C2H, measurements have been derived from high-resolution infrared solar spectra recorded in Lauder, New Zealand (45.0 degrees S, 169.7 degrees E, altitude 0.37 km), and at the U.S. National Solar Observatory (31.9 degrees N, 11, 1.6 degrees W, altitude 2.09 km) on Kitt Peak. Lauder observations were obtained between July 1993 and November 1997, while the Kitt Peak measurements were recorded between May 1977 and December 1997. Both databases were analyzed with spectroscopic parameters that included significant improvements for C2H6 relative to previous studies. Target CO and C2H6 lines were selected to achieve similar vertical samplings based on averaging kernels. These calculations show that partial columns from layers extending from the surface to the mean tropopause and from the mean tropopause to 100 km are nearly independent. Retrievals based on a semiempirical application of the Rodgers optimal estimation technique are reported for the lower layer, which has a broad maximum in sensitivity in the upper troposphere. The Lauder CO and C2H, partial columns exhibit highly asymmetrical seasonal cycles with minima in austral autumn and sharp peaks in austral spring. The spring maxima are the result of tropical biomass burning emissions followed by deep convective vertical transport to the upper troposphere and long-range horizontal transport. Significant year-to-year variations are observed for both CO and C2H6, but the measured trends, (+0.37 +/- 0.57)% yr(exp -1) and (-0.64 +/- 0.79)% yr(exp -1), I sigma, respectively, indicate no significant long-term changes. The Kitt Peak data also exhibit CO and C2H6, seasonal variations in the lower layer with trends equal to (-0.27 +/- 0.17)% yr(exp -1) and (-1.20 +/- 0.35)% yr(exp -1), 1 sigma, respectively. Hence a decrease in the Kitt Peak tropospheric C2H6 column has been detected, though the CO trend is not significant. Both measurement sets are compared with previous observations, reported trends, and three-dimensional model calculations.

Rinsland, Curtis P.↗

Northern and Southern Hemisphere Ground-Based Infrared Spectroscopic Measurements of Tropospheric Carbon Monoxide and Ethane

Time series of CO and C2H6 measurements have been derived from high resolution infrared solar spectra recorded in Lauder, New Zealand (45.0 deg S, 169.7 deg E, altitude 0.37 km) and at the U. S. National Solar Observatory (31.90 deg N, 111.6 deg W, altitude 2.09 km) on Kitt Peak. Lauder observations were obtained between July 1993 and November 1997 while the Kitt Peak measurements were recorded between May 1977 and December 1997. Both databases were analyzed with spectroscopic parameters that included significant improvements for C2H6 relative to previous studies. Target CO and C2H6 lines were selected to achieve similar vertical samplings based on averaging kernels. These calculations show that partial columns from layers extending from the surface to the mean tropopause and from the mean tropopause to 100 km are nearly independent. Retrievals based on a semiempirical application of the Rodgers optimal estimation technique are reported for the lower layer, which has a broad maximum in sensitivity in the upper troposphere. The Lauder CO and C2H6 partial columns exhibit highly asymmetrical seasonal cycles with minima in austral autumn and sharp peaks in austral spring. The spring maxima are the result of tropical biomass burning emissions followed by deep convective vertical transport to the upper troposphere and long-range horizontal transport. Significant year-to-year variations are observed for both CO and C2H6, but the measured trends, (+0.37 +/- 0.57)%/ yr and (-0.64 +/- 0.79)%/ yr, 1 sigma, respectively, indicate no significant long-term changes. The Kitt Peak data also exhibit CO and C2H6 seasonal variations in the lower layer with trends equal to (-0.27 +/- 0.17)%/ yr and (-1.20 +/- 0.35)%/ yr, 1 sigma, respectively. Hence, a decrease in the Kitt Peak tropospheric C2H6 column has been detected, though the CO trend is not significant. Both measurement sets are compared with previous observations, reported trends, and three-dimensional model calculations.

Rinsland, Curtis P.↗

Enhanced Deep Blue Aerosol Retrieval Algorithm: The Second Generation

The aerosol products retrieved using the MODIS collection 5.1 Deep Blue algorithm have provided useful information about aerosol properties over bright-reflecting land surfaces, such as desert, semi-arid, and urban regions. However, many components of the C5.1 retrieval algorithm needed to be improved; for example, the use of a static surface database to estimate surface reflectances. This is particularly important over regions of mixed vegetated and non- vegetated surfaces, which may undergo strong seasonal changes in land cover. In order to address this issue, we develop a hybrid approach, which takes advantage of the combination of pre-calculated surface reflectance database and normalized difference vegetation index in determining the surface reflectance for aerosol retrievals. As a result, the spatial coverage of aerosol data generated by the enhanced Deep Blue algorithm has been extended from the arid and semi-arid regions to the entire land areas.

Deep Blue↗

Human Thermal Model Evaluation Using the JSC Human Thermal Database

Human thermal modeling has considerable long term utility to human space flight. Such models provide a tool to predict crew survivability in support of vehicle design and to evaluate crew response in untested space environments. It is to the benefit of any such model not only to collect relevant experimental data to correlate it against, but also to maintain an experimental standard or benchmark for future development in a readily and rapidly searchable and software accessible format. The Human thermal database project is intended to do just so; to collect relevant data from literature and experimentation and to store the data in a database structure for immediate and future use as a benchmark to judge human thermal models against, in identifying model strengths and weakness, to support model development and improve correlation, and to statistically quantify a model s predictive quality. The human thermal database developed at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) is intended to evaluate a set of widely used human thermal models. This set includes the Wissler human thermal model, a model that has been widely used to predict the human thermoregulatory response to a variety of cold and hot environments. These models are statistically compared to the current database, which contains experiments of human subjects primarily in air from a literature survey ranging between 1953 and 2004 and from a suited experiment recently performed by the authors, for a quantitative study of relative strength and predictive quality of the models.

Bue, Grant↗

OmniXAS: A universal deep-learning framework for materials x-ray absorption spectra

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a powerful characterization technique for probing the local chemical environment of absorbing atoms. However, analyzing XAS data presents significant challenges, often requiring extensive, computationally intensive simulations, as well as significant domain expertise. These limitations hinder the development of fast, robust XAS analysis pipelines that are essential in high-throughput studies and for autonomous experimentation. Here, we address these challenges with OmniXAS, a framework that contains a suite of transfer learning approaches for XAS prediction, each uniquely contributing to improved accuracy and efficiency, as demonstrated on the K-edge spectra database covering eight 3⁢d transition metals (Ti–Cu). The OmniXAS framework is built upon three distinct strategies. First, we use M3GNet [Nat. Comput. Sci. 2, 718 (2022)] to derive latent representations of the local chemical environment of absorption sites as input for XAS prediction, achieving significant improvements over conventional featurization techniques. Second, we employ a hierarchical transfer learning strategy, training a universal multitask model across elements before fine-tuning for element-specific predictions. Models based on this cascaded approach after elementwise fine-tuning outperform element-specific models by up to 69%. Third, we implement cross-fidelity transfer learning, adapting a universal model to predict spectra generated by simulation of a different fidelity with a much higher computational cost. This approach improves prediction accuracy by up to 11% over models trained on the target fidelity alone. Our approach significantly boosts the throughput of XAS modeling by orders of magnitude as compared to first-principles simulations and is extendable to XAS prediction for a broader range of elements. The proposed transfer learning framework is generalizable to enhance deep-learning models that target other properties in materials research.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗