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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 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Benchmarking Near-Surface Winds in the HRRR Analyses Using Multisource Observations over Complex Terrain in the Southeastern United States

Wind energy plays a crucial role in sustainable power generation, yet its full potential in the southeast United States (SEUS) remains underexplored. This study advances wind resource assessment in the SEUS using existing regional modeling and multisource observations. We find that terrain complexity, influenced by orography and forest canopy, significantly impacts the accuracy of modeled wind speed. While the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model effectively simulates wind profiles over flat, nonforested terrain, larger errors are produced above forest canopies, and particularly for those stands in hilly and mountainous terrain where there are no observations aloft that could be used by HRRR’s data assimilation software. Seasonal variations, e.g., changes in the leaf area index, further complicate the relationship between terrain complexity and simulation errors. Here, our findings emphasize the critical need for comprehensive wind profile measurements, extending from below the canopy to height above the canopy and through the lower planetary boundary layer, to fully quantify model performance over and near forests, and for improving wind resource assessment, planning, and management. This study provides valuable insights not only for further model development but also for future field campaign deployment with the goal of further improving our understanding of wind resources in the region.

Complex terrain↗
DOE OSTI2024

Energy‐Water Asynchrony Principally Determines Water Available for Runoff From Snowmelt in Continental Montane Forests

ABSTRACT Changes in the volume, rate, and timing of the snowmelt water pulse have profound implications for seasonal soil moisture, evapotranspiration (ET), groundwater recharge, and downstream water availability, especially in the context of climate change. Here, we present an empirical analysis of water available for runoff using five eddy covariance towers located in continental montane forests across a regional gradient of snow depth, precipitation seasonality, and aridity. We specifically investigated how energy‐water asynchrony (i.e., snowmelt timing relative to atmospheric demand), surface water input intensity (rain and snowmelt), and observed winter ET (winter AET) impact multiple water balance metrics that determine water available for runoff (WAfR). Overall, we found that WAfR had the strongest relationship with energy‐water asynchrony (adjusted r 2 = 0.52) and that winter AET was correlated to total water year evapotranspiration but not to other water balance metrics. Stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that none of the tested mechanisms were strongly related to the Budyko‐type runoff anomaly (highest adjusted r 2 = 0.21). We, therefore, conclude that WAfR from continental montane forests is most sensitive to the degree of energy‐water asynchrony that occurs. The results of this empirical study identify the physical mechanisms driving variability of WAfR in continental montane forests and are thus broadly relevant to the hydrologic management and modelling communities.

Webb, Ryan William↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reduced soil diazotroph diversity decreases nitrogen fixation rates, but depends on land management

Soil diazotrophs convert atmospheric nitrogen into plant-available ammonium through free-living nitrogen fixation (FLNF). This sustainable nitrogen source can reduce our dependence on synthetic fertilizer inputs in conventional agricultural systems. However, we know little about the effect of diazotroph diversity on FLNF, especially given that FLNF is intermediate within the broad-narrow functional spectrum. Here, we determined how management-mediated shifts in diazotroph diversity would impact their ecosystem function (FLNF) by quantifying diazotroph diversity across a long-term management gradient during and after the growing season. In addition to field observations, we leveraged the same management gradient to manipulate diversity in soil microcosms via chloroform fumigation exposure. In the field, diazotroph diversity was significantly higher after the growing season, and the biologically-based annual cropping system harbored the highest diazotroph diversity. However, perennial cropping systems maintained the highest FLNF despite lower diazotroph diversity, and both soil moisture and temperature were stronger predictors of FLNF. Based on these results, integrating diverse perennial crops into agricultural landscape could result in greater N from FLNF, particularly at the end of the growing season. When we reduced biodiversity in a manipulation experiment, the diversity-FLNF association was stronger than in the field experiment, suggesting that FLNF communities are not as functionally redundant as taxonomically ‘broad’ ecosystem functions. Here, the strength of diversity-FLNF correlation varied by previous land management. Diazotroph diversity better predicted FLNF in annual and forest soil microcosms, and microbial biomass carbon better predicted FLNF in perennial soil microcosms. Taken together, our results show that while diazotroph diversity influences FLNF, especially under extreme environmental disturbances, abiotic factors like soil moisture and temperature are stronger constraints on FLNF in the field.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Continent-wide tree fecundity driven by indirect climate effects

Indirect climate effects on tree fecundity that come through variation in size and growth (climate-condition interactions) are not currently part of models used to predict future forests. Trends in species abundances predicted from meta-analyses and species distribution models will be misleading if they depend on the conditions of individuals. Here we find from a synthesis of tree species in North America that climate-condition interactions dominate responses through two pathways, i) effects of growth that depend on climate, and ii) effects of climate that depend on tree size. Because tree fecundity first increases and then declines with size, climate change that stimulates growth promotes a shift of small trees to more fecund sizes, but the opposite can be true for large sizes. Change the depresses growth also affects fecundity. We find a biogeographic divide, with these interactions reducing fecundity in the West and increasing it in the East. Continental-scale responses of these forests are thus driven largely by indirect effects, recommending management for climate change that considers multiple demographic rates.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

A high resolution, gridded product for vapor pressure deficit using Daymet

Vapor pressure deficit (VPD) is a critical variable in assessing drought conditions and evaluating plant water stress. Gridded products of global and regional VPD are not freely available from satellite remote sensing, model reanalysis, or ground observation datasets. We present two versions of the first gridded VPD product for the Continental US and parts of Northern Mexico and Southern Canada (CONUS+) at a 1 km spatial resolution and daily time step. We derived VPD from Daymet maximum daily temperature and average daily vapor pressure and scale the estimates based on (1) climate determined by the Köppen-Geiger classifications and (2) land cover determined by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Ground-based VPD data from 253 AmeriFlux sites representing different climate and land cover classifications were used to improve the Daymet-derived VPD estimates for every pixel in the CONUS+ grid to produce the final datasets. We evaluated the Daymet-derived VPD against independent observations and reanalysis data. The CONUS+ VPD datasets will aid in investigating disturbances including drought and wildfire, and informing land management strategies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Land of Opportunity: Potential for Renewable Energy on Federal Lands

Renewable energy (RE) in the United States has historically been deployed primarily on private lands, but the growing interest in RE development, generally across the country and specifically on federal lands, raises questions about the potential for RE on public lands. This study seeks to estimate RE technical potential on federal lands and project the amount of RE to be developed on federal lands under decarbonization scenarios for the contiguous United States. The study applied a combination of high-resolution geospatial analysis and power sector modeling and relied on multiple partner federal agencies and land administrators from the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Energy. In our reference siting access case, we estimate 44 million acres of federal land across the contiguous United States is potentially suitable for UPV development, which corresponds to a capacity technical potential of 5,750 gigawatts (GW) (Figure ES-1). Federal land area available for wind development is similar to UPV but wind’s generating capacity technical potential is lower (875 GW). The technical potential is estimated for two geothermal technologies, hydrothermal and enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), both of which have a smaller amount of federal land available for development (12 and 27 million acres, respectively). However, in terms of capacity, the technical potential for EGS (975 GW) is approximately equal to wind’s technical potential and there is an estimated 130 GW of hydrothermal potential. We also developed cases with more-limited land available for UPV and wind (for federal and non-federal lands) resulting in 96% reduction of wind capacity potential and 70% reduction for UPV. In a case with additional constraints applied to non-federal lands only (Limited Private), the overall (federal and non-federal) technical potential declines but the share of that technical potential on federal lands is higher than in the other siting cases. The technical potential is the maximum amount that could be developed, but only a small fraction would be developed or needed in the future. Across seven scenarios that achieve 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035, we estimate 26 GW to 270 GW of RE capacity could be deployed on federal lands by 2035. The three central scenarios have 51–84 GW of RE deployed by 2035 and requiring about 500,000 to 1,000,000 acres of total land area. Direct land consumption is less than total land use required, thus enabling co-use opportunities. The large technical potential estimates and the increasing deployment projections from the collection of scenarios show the opportunities for RE development on federal lands. Capturing these opportunities-while minimizing conflicts with other land uses, federal department or agency missions, and public interest, and simultaneously maximizing the economic, grid, and social value of the projects-would require collaborative planning among federal land administrators, grid planners, project developers, the public, and other stakeholders.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Ecosystem as Super-Organ/ism, Revisited: Scaling Hydraulics to Forests under Climate Change

Synopsis Classic debates in community ecology focused on the complexities of considering an ecosystem as a super-organ or organism. New consideration of such perspectives could clarify mechanisms underlying the dynamics of forest carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake and water vapor loss, important for predicting and managing the future of Earth’s ecosystems and climate system. Here, we provide a rubric for considering ecosystem traits as aggregated, systemic, or emergent, i.e., representing the ecosystem as an aggregate of its individuals or as a metaphorical or literal super-organ or organism. We review recent approaches to scaling-up plant water relations (hydraulics) concepts developed for organs and organisms to enable and interpret measurements at ecosystem-level. We focus on three community-scale versions of water relations traits that have potential to provide mechanistic insight into climate change responses of forest CO2 and H2O gas exchange and productivity: leaf water potential (Ψcanopy), pressure volume curves (eco-PV), and hydraulic conductance (Keco). These analyses can reveal additional ecosystem-scale parameters analogous to those typically quantified for leaves or plants (e.g., wilting point and hydraulic vulnerability) that may act as thresholds in forest responses to drought, including growth cessation, mortality, and flammability. We unite these concepts in a novel framework to predict Ψcanopy and its approaching of critical thresholds during drought, using measurements of Keco and eco-PV curves. We thus delineate how the extension of water relations concepts from organ- and organism-scales can reveal the hydraulic constraints on the interaction of vegetation and climate and provide new mechanistic understanding and prediction of forest water use and productivity.

Zoology↗
DOE OSTI2023

AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-xUN NEON University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDE)

This is the AmeriFlux Management Project (AMP) created FLUXNET-1F version of the carbon flux data for the site US-xUN NEON University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDE). This is the FLUXNET version of the carbon flux data for the site US-xUN NEON University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDE) produced by applying the standard ONEFlux (1F) software. Site Description - NEON's Domain 5 core site is located at the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDERC) East. Straddling the border between Northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the UNDERC property comprises approximately 7500 acres and is maintained as an environmental education and research facility. UNDERC also has 30 lakes comprising 1350 acres, including Crampton Lake, a NEON aquatics site. Region-wide logging for pine in the late 1800s and early to mid-1900's led to clear cutting of most forested areas on the property. The main parcel was donated to the University in the 1930s. Timber harvest continued into the 1950s and later, leaving a mixture of successional forest regrowth. Since the 1970s, the site has been minimally managed to maintain access for recreational, educational and research goals.

Network), NEON (National Ecological Observatory↗
DOE OSTI2020

Leaf traits and canopy structure together explain canopy functional diversity: an airborne remote sensing approach

Plant functional diversity is strongly connected to photosynthetic carbon assimilation in terrestrial ecosystems. However, many of the plant functional traits that regulate photosynthetic capacity, including foliar nitrogen concentration and leaf mass per area, vary significantly between and within plant functional types and vertically through forest canopies, resulting in considerable landscape-scale heterogeneity in three dimensions. Hyperspectral imagery has been used extensively to quantify functional traits across a range of ecosystems but is generally limited to providing information for top-of-canopy leaves only. On the other hand, lidar data can be used to retrieve the vertical structure of forest canopies. Because these data are rarely collected at the same time, there are unanswered questions about the effect of forest structure on the 3-D spatial patterns of functional traits across ecosystems. In the United States, the National Ecological Observatory Network's Airborne Observation Platform (NEON AOP) provides an opportunity to address this structure-function relationship by collecting lidar and hyperspectral data together across a variety of ecoregions. With a fusion of hyperspectral and lidar data from the NEON AOP and field-collected foliar trait data, we assessed the impacts of forest structure on spatial patterns of N. In addition, we examine the influence of abiotic gradients and management regimes on top of canopy %N and total canopy N (i.e. the total amount of N (g/m 2 ) within a forest canopy) at a NEON site consisting of a mosaic of open longleaf pine and dense broadleaf deciduous forests. Here, our resulting maps suggest that in contrast with top-of-canopy values, total canopy N variation is dampened across this landscape resulting in relatively homogeneous spatial patterns. At the same time, we found that leaf functional diversity and canopy structural diversity showed distinct dendritic patterns related to the spatial distribution of plant functional types.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mitigating drought mortality by incorporating topography into variable forest thinning strategies

Abstract Drought-induced productivity reductions and tree mortality have been increasing in recent decades in forests around the globe. Developing adaptation strategies hinges on an adequate understanding of the mechanisms governing the drought vulnerability of forest stands. Prescribed reduction in stand density has been used as a management tool to reduce water stress and wildfire risk, but the processes that modulate fine-scale variations in plant water supply and water demand are largely missing in ecosystem models. We used an ecohydrological model that couples plant hydraulics with groundwater hydrology to examine how within-stand variations in tree spatial arrangements and topography might mitigate forest vulnerability to drought at individual-tree and stand scales. Our results demonstrated thinning generally ameliorated plant hydraulic stress and improved carbon and water fluxes of the remaining trees, although the effectiveness varied by climate and topography. Variable thinning that adjusted thinning intensity based on topography-mediated water availability achieved higher stand productivity and lower mortality risk, compared to evenly-spaced thinning at comparable intensities. The results from numerical experiments provided mechanistic evidence that topography mediates the effectiveness of thinning and highlighted the need for an explicit consideration of within-stand heterogeneity in trees and abiotic environments when designing forest thinning to mitigate drought impacts.

Environmental Sciences & Ecology↗
DOE OSTI2022

Growing impact of wildfire on western US water supply

Streamflow often increases after fire, but the persistence of this effect and its importance to present and future regional water resources are unclear. This paper addresses these knowledge gaps for the western United States (WUS), where annual forest fire area increased by more than 1,100% during 1984 to 2020. Among 72 forested basins across the WUS that burned between 1984 and 2019, the multibasin mean streamflow was significantly elevated by 0.19 SDs (P < 0.01) for an average of 6 water years postfire, compared to the range of results expected from climate alone. Significance is assessed by comparing prefire and postfire streamflow responses to climate and also to streamflow among 107 control basins that experienced little to no wildfire during the study period. The streamflow response scales with fire extent: among the 29 basins where >20% of forest area burned in a year, streamflow over the first 6 water years postfire increased by a multibasin average of 0.38 SDs, or 30%. Postfire streamflow increases were significant in all four seasons. Historical fire–climate relationships combined with climate model projections suggest that 2021 to 2050 will see repeated years when climate is more fire-conducive than in 2020, the year currently holding the modern record for WUS forest area burned. These findings center on relatively small, minimally managed basins, but our results suggest that burned areas will grow enough over the next 3 decades to enhance streamflow at regional scales. Wildfire is an emerging driver of runoff change that will increasingly alter climate impacts on water supplies and runoff-related risks.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Satellite-Based Assessment of Rocket Launch and Coastal Change Impacts on Cape Canaveral Barrier Island, Florida, USA

The Cape Canaveral Barrier Island, home to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Kennedy Space Center and the United States (U.S.) Space Force’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, is situated in a unique ecological transition zone that supports diverse wildlife. This study evaluates the recent changes in vegetation cover (2016–2023) and dune elevation (2007–2017) within the Cape Canaveral Barrier Island using high-resolution optical satellite and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data. The study period was chosen to depict the time period of a recent increase in rocket launches. The study objectives include assessing changes in vegetation communities, identifying detectable impacts of liquid propellant launches on nearby vegetation, and evaluating dune elevation and tide level shifts near launchpads. The results indicate vegetation cover changes, including mangrove expansion in wetland areas and the conversion of coastal strands to denser scrubs and hardwood forests, which were likely influenced by mild winters and fire management. While detectable impacts of rocket launches on nearby vegetation were observed, they were less severe than those caused by solid rocket motors. Compounding challenges, such as rising tide levels, beach erosion, and wetland loss, potentially threaten the resilience of launch operations and the surrounding habitats. The volume and scale of launches continue to increase, and a balance between space exploration and ecological conservation is required in this biodiverse region. This study focuses on the assessment of barrier islands’ shorelines.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Signatures of prescribed fire in the microbial communities of Cornus florida are largely undetectable five months post-fire

Prescribed burn is a management tool that influences the physical structure and composition of forest plant communities and their associated microorganisms. Plant-associated microorganisms aid in host plant disease tolerance and increase nutrient availability. The effects of prescribed burn on microorganisms associated with native ecologically and economically important tree species, such as Cornus florida L. (flowering dogwood), are not well understood, particularly in aboveground plant tissues (e.g., leaf, stem, and bark tissues). The objective of this study was to use 16S rRNA gene and ITS2 region sequencing to evaluate changes in bacterial and fungal communities of five different flowering dogwood-associated niches (soil, roots, bark, stem, and leaves) five months following a prescribed burn treatment. The alpha- and beta-diversity of root bacterial/archaeal communities differed significantly between prescribed burn and unburned control-treated trees. In these bacterial/archaeal root communities, we also detected a significantly higher relative abundance of sequences identified as Acidothermaceae, a family of thermophilic bacteria. No significant differences were detected between prescribed burn-treated and unburned control trees in bulk soils or bark, stem, or leaf tissues. The findings of our study suggest that prescribed burn does not significantly alter the aboveground plant-associated microbial communities of flowering dogwood trees five months following the prescribed burn application. Further studies are required to better understand the short- and long-term effects of prescribed burns on the microbial communities of forest trees.

16S rRNA↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multi-scale assessment of a grassland productivity model

Grasslands provide many important ecosystem services globally, and projecting grassland productivity in the coming decades will provide valuable information to land managers. Productivity models can be well calibrated at local scales but generally have some maximum spatial scale in which they perform well. Here we evaluate a grassland productivity model to find the optimal spatial scale for parameterization and thus for subsequently applying it in future productivity projections for North America. We also evaluated the model on new vegetation types to ascertain its potential generality. We find the model most suitable when incorporating only grasslands, as opposed to also including agriculture and shrublands, and only in the Great Plains and eastern temperate forest ecoregions of North America. The model was not well suited to grasslands in North American deserts or northwest forest ecoregions. It also performed poorly in agriculture vegetation, likely due to management activities, and shrubland vegetation, likely because the model lacks representation of deep water pools. This work allows us to perform long-term projections in areas where model performance has been verified, with gaps filled in by future modeling efforts.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Anthromes and forest carbon responses to global change

Human effects on ecosystems date back thousands of years, and anthropogenic biomes—anthromes—broadly incorporate the effects of human population density and land use on ecosystems. Forests are integral to the global carbon cycle, containing large biomass carbon stocks, yet their responses to land use and climate change are uncertain but critical to informing climate change mitigation strategies, ecosystem management, and Earth system modeling. Using an anthromes perspective and the site locations from the Global Forest Carbon (ForC) Database, we compare intensively used, cultured, and wildland forest lands in tropical and extratropical regions. We summarize recent past (1900-present) patterns of land use intensification, and we use a feedback analysis of Earth system models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 to estimate the sensitivity of forest carbon stocks to CO 2 and temperature change for different anthromes among regions. Modeled global forest carbon stock responses are positive for CO 2 increase but neutral to negative for temperature increase. Across anthromes (intensively used, cultured, and wildland forest areas), modeled forest carbon stock responses of temperate and boreal forests are less variable than those of tropical forests. Tropical wildland forest areas appear especially sensitive to CO 2 and temperature change, with the negative temperature response highlighting the potential vulnerability of the globally significant carbon stock in tropical forests. The net effect of anthropogenic activities—including land-use intensification and environmental change and their interactions with natural forest dynamics—will shape future forest carbon stock changes. These interactive effects will likely be strongest in tropical wildlands.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

AmeriFlux US-xSB NEON Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (OSBS)

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-xSB NEON Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (OSBS). Site Description - The Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (OSBS) is operated by the University of Florida and comprises over 9,300 acres. It is a year-round field station established for the long-term study and conservation of unique ecosystems through management, research and education. The Station is located approximately 20 miles east of Gainesville in Melrose (Putnam County, Florida). There are two aquatic arrays at Ordway-Swisher, representing the two dominant aquatic features on the landscape: 1) Suggs lake, a shallow surface water lake that is rich in taxa and biologically active in structure and function; and 2) Barco lake, a deep lake connected to ground water. The forest is maintained by fire and has a relatively open structure: it is managed with prescribed burns at a frequency of 3-4 years.

Network), NEON (National Ecological Observatory↗
DOE OSTI2023

AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-xSB NEON Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (OSBS)

This is the AmeriFlux Management Project (AMP) created FLUXNET-1F version of the carbon flux data for the site US-xSB NEON Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (OSBS). This is the FLUXNET version of the carbon flux data for the site US-xSB NEON Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (OSBS) produced by applying the standard ONEFlux (1F) software. Site Description - The Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (OSBS) is operated by the University of Florida and comprises over 9,300 acres. It is a year-round field station established for the long-term study and conservation of unique ecosystems through management, research and education. The Station is located approximately 20 miles east of Gainesville in Melrose (Putnam County, Florida). There are two aquatic arrays at Ordway-Swisher, representing the two dominant aquatic features on the landscape: 1) Suggs lake, a shallow surface water lake that is rich in taxa and biologically active in structure and function; and 2) Barco lake, a deep lake connected to ground water. The forest is maintained by fire and has a relatively open structure: it is managed with prescribed burns at a frequency of 3-4 years.

Network), NEON (National Ecological Observatory↗
DOE OSTI2025

AmeriFlux US-AMS Argonne Testbed for Multiscale Observational Science (ATMOS)

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-AMS Argonne Testbed for Multiscale Observational Science (ATMOS). Site Description - This tower is located at Argonne National Laboratory approximately 2 km north of the Des Plaines river and 115 m NNW from the ATMOS meteorological tower. It is downwind of a seasonally wet grassland bordered by forest 40 m N of the flux tower. The area was managed by controlled burns until 2019.

McNicol, Gavin [University of Illinois at Chicago]↗