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At least 253 records · Page 14

Error Characteristics and Scale Dependence of Current Satellite Precipitation Estimates Products in Hydrological Modeling

Satellite precipitation estimates (SPEs) are promising alternatives to gauge observations for hydrological applications (e.g., streamflow simulation), especially in remote areas with sparse observation networks. However, the existing SPEs products are still biased due to imperfections in retrieval algorithms, data sources and post-processing, which makes the effective use of SPEs a challenge, especially at different spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we used a distributed hydrological model to evaluate the simulated discharge from eight quasi-global SPEs at different spatial scales and explored their potential scale effects of SPEs on a cascade of basins ranging from approximately 100 to 130,000 km 2 . The results indicate that, regardless of the difference in the accuracy of various SPEs, there is indeed a scale effect in their application in discharge simulation. Specifically, when the catchment area is larger than 20,000 km2, the overall performance of discharge simulation emerges an ascending trend with the increase of catchment area due to the river routing and spatial averaging. Whereas below 20,000 km 2 , the discharge simulation capability of the SPEs is more randomized and relies heavily on local precipitation accuracy. Our study also highlights the need to evaluate SPEs or other precipitation products (e.g., merge product or reanalysis data) not only at the limited station scale, but also at a finer scale depending on the practical application requirements. Here we have verified that the existing SPEs are scale-dependent in hydrological simulation, and they are not enough to be directly used in very fine scale distributed hydrological simulations (e.g., flash flood). More advanced retrieval algorithms, data sources and bias correction methods are needed to further improve the overall quality of SPEs.

DTVGM↗

Seasonal Disorder in Urban Traffic Patterns: A Low Rank Analysis

This article proposes several advances to sparse nonnegative matrix factorization (SNMF) as a way to identify large-scale patterns in urban traffic data. The input to our model is traffic counts organized by time and location. Nonnegative matrix factorization additively decomposes this information, organized as a matrix, into a linear sum of temporal signatures. Penalty terms encourage this factorization to concentrate on only a few temporal signatures, with weights which are not too large. Our interest here is to quantify and compare the regularity of traffic behavior, particularly across different broad temporal windows. In addition to the rank and error, we adapt a measure introduced by Hoyer to quantify sparsity in the representation. Combining these, we construct several curves which quantify error as a function of rank (the number of possible signatures) and sparsity; as rank goes up and sparsity goes down, the approximation can be better and the error should decreases. Plots of several such curves corresponding to different time windows leads to a way to compare disorder/order at different time scalewindows. In this paper, we apply our algorithms and procedures to study a taxi traffic dataset from New York City. In this dataset, we find weekly periodicity in the signatures, which allows us an extra framework for identifying outliers as significant deviations from weekly medians. We then apply our seasonal disorder analysis to the New York City traffic data and seasonal (spring, summer, winter, fall) time windows. We do find seasonal differences in traffic order.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Some methods of encoding simple visual images for use with a sparse distributed memory, with applications to character recognition

To study the problems of encoding visual images for use with a Sparse Distributed Memory (SDM), I consider a specific class of images- those that consist of several pieces, each of which is a line segment or an arc of a circle. This class includes line drawings of characters such as letters of the alphabet. I give a method of representing a segment of an arc by five numbers in a continuous way; that is, similar arcs have similar representations. I also give methods for encoding these numbers as bit strings in an approximately continuous way. The set of possible segments and arcs may be viewed as a five-dimensional manifold M, whose structure is like a Mobious strip. An image, considered to be an unordered set of segments and arcs, is therefore represented by a set of points in M - one for each piece. I then discuss the problem of constructing a preprocessor to find the segments and arcs in these images, although a preprocessor has not been developed. I also describe a possible extension of the representation.

Jaeckel, Louis A.↗

Proteome-wide analysis of protein stability in Escherichia coli under acid stress

Knowledge of protein acid sensitivity remains sparse and is largely derived from low-throughput, enzyme-specific assays. We used a scalable framework to map acid stability across the Escherichia coli proteome to assess the acid stability of 1,675 unique proteins, estimating pH 50 values for over 90% of them. The parameter pH50 was defined as the pH value at which only 50% of the initial protein remains in solution following acid treatment. Proteome-wide pH 50 values ranged from 2.28 to 6.33 (median 5.11). Approximately 9% of detected proteins remained stable across all tested pH conditions. Our results align with published data and the assay of citrate synthase (GltA) performed here. Protein acid stability differed significantly by subcellular localization: periplasmic proteins were relatively more abundant in the acid-stable group, cytoplasmic proteins were abundant at pH 50 values 4.5–5.5, and inner membrane proteins at higher pH 50 between 5.5 and 6.0. Outer membrane proteins were too few to draw strong conclusions regarding enrichment within specific pH 50 groups. Notably, the periplasmic binding protein of the molybdate ABC transporter (ModA), was enriched after incubation at low pH. Estimated pH 50 values showed no correlation with protein isoelectric point and molecular weight. Together, this work provides the first proteome-wide map of protein acid stability and establishes a general framework for studying different chemical stressors.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Using data tagging to improve the performance of Kanerva's sparse distributed memory

The standard formulation of Kanerva's sparse distributed memory (SDM) involves the selection of a large number of data storage locations, followed by averaging the data contained in those locations to reconstruct the stored data. A variant of this model is discussed, in which the predominant pattern is the focus of reconstruction. First, one architecture is proposed which returns the predominant pattern rather than the average pattern. However, this model will require too much storage for most uses. Next, a hybrid model is proposed, called tagged SDM, which approximates the results of the predominant pattern machine, but is nearly as efficient as Kanerva's original formulation. Finally, some experimental results are shown which confirm that significant improvements in the recall capability of SDM can be achieved using the tagged architecture.

Rogers, David↗

Domain decomposition methods for the parallel computation of reacting flows

Domain decomposition is a natural route to parallel computing for partial differential equation solvers. Subdomains of which the original domain of definition is comprised are assigned to independent processors at the price of periodic coordination between processors to compute global parameters and maintain the requisite degree of continuity of the solution at the subdomain interfaces. In the domain-decomposed solution of steady multidimensional systems of PDEs by finite difference methods using a pseudo-transient version of Newton iteration, the only portion of the computation which generally stands in the way of efficient parallelization is the solution of the large, sparse linear systems arising at each Newton step. For some Jacobian matrices drawn from an actual two-dimensional reacting flow problem, comparisons are made between relaxation-based linear solvers and also preconditioned iterative methods of Conjugate Gradient and Chebyshev type, focusing attention on both iteration count and global inner product count. The generalized minimum residual method with block-ILU preconditioning is judged the best serial method among those considered, and parallel numerical experiments on the Encore Multimax demonstrate for it approximately 10-fold speedup on 16 processors.

Keyes, David E.↗

The Uncertainty of Biomass Estimates from Modeled ICESat-2 Returns Across a Boreal Forest Gradient

The Forest Light (FLIGHT) radiative transfer model was used to examine the uncertainty of vegetation structure measurements from NASA's planned ICESat-2 photon counting light detection and ranging (LiDAR) instrument across a synthetic Larix forest gradient in the taiga-tundra ecotone. The simulations demonstrate how measurements from the planned spaceborne mission, which differ from those of previous LiDAR systems, may perform across a boreal forest to non-forest structure gradient in globally important ecological region of northern Siberia. We used a modified version of FLIGHT to simulate the acquisition parameters of ICESat-2. Modeled returns were analyzed from collections of sequential footprints along LiDAR tracks (link-scales) of lengths ranging from 20 m-90 m. These link-scales traversed synthetic forest stands that were initialized with parameters drawn from field surveys in Siberian Larix forests. LiDAR returns from vegetation were compiled for 100 simulated LiDAR collections for each 10 Mg · ha(exp -1) interval in the 0-100 Mg · ha(exp -1) above-ground biomass density (AGB) forest gradient. Canopy height metrics were computed and AGB was inferred from empirical models. The root mean square error (RMSE) and RMSE uncertainty associated with the distribution of inferred AGB within each AGB interval across the gradient was examined. Simulation results of the bright daylight and low vegetation reflectivity conditions for collecting photon counting LiDAR with no topographic relief show that 1-2 photons are returned for 79%-88% of LiDAR shots. Signal photons account for approximately 67% of all LiDAR returns, while approximately 50% of shots result in 1 signal photon returned. The proportion of these signal photon returns do not differ significantly (p greater than 0.05) for AGB intervals greater than 20 Mg · ha(exp -1). The 50m link-scale approximates the finest horizontal resolution (length) at which photon counting LiDAR collection provides strong model fits and minimizes forest structure uncertainty in the synthetic Larix stands. At this link-scale AGB greater than 20 Mg · ha(exp -1) has AGB error from 20-50% at the 95% confidence level. These results suggest that the theoretical sensitivity of ICESat-2 photon counting LiDAR measurements alone lack the ability to consistently discern differences in inferred AGB at 10 Mg · ha(exp -1) intervals in sparse forests characteristic of the taiga-tundra ecotone.

LiDAR↗

Implicit solvers for unstructured meshes

Implicit methods were developed and tested for unstructured mesh computations. The approximate system which arises from the Newton linearization of the nonlinear evolution operator is solved by using the preconditioned GMRES (Generalized Minimum Residual) technique. Three different preconditioners were studied, namely, the incomplete LU factorization (ILU), block diagonal factorization, and the symmetric successive over relaxation (SSOR). The preconditioners were optimized to have good vectorization properties. SSOR and ILU were also studied as iterative schemes. The various methods are compared over a wide range of problems. Ordering of the unknowns, which affects the convergence of these sparse matrix iterative methods, is also studied. Results are presented for inviscid and turbulent viscous calculations on single and multielement airfoil configurations using globally and adaptively generated meshes.

Venkatakrishnan, V.↗

Assessments of epistemic uncertainty using Gaussian stochastic weight averaging for fluid-flow regression

Here, we use Gaussian stochastic weight averaging (SWAG) to assess the epistemic uncertainty associated with neural-network-based function approximation relevant to fluid flows. SWAG approximates a posterior Gaussian distribution of each weight, given training data, and a constant learning rate. Having access to this distribution, it is able to create multiple models with various combinations of sampled weights, which can be used to obtain ensemble predictions. The average of such an ensemble can be regarded as the 'mean estimation', whereas its standard deviation can be used to construct 'confidence intervals', which enable us to perform uncertainty quantification (UQ) with regard to the training process of neural networks. We utilize representative neural-network-based function approximation tasks for the following cases: (i) a two-dimensional circular-cylinder wake; (ii) the DayMET dataset (maximum daily temperature in North America); (iii) a three-dimensional square-cylinder wake; and (iv) urban flow, to assess the generalizability of the present idea for a wide range of complex datasets. SWAG-based UQ can be applied regardless of the network architecture, and therefore, we demonstrate the applicability of the method for two types of neural networks: (i) global field reconstruction from sparse sensors by combining convolutional neural network (CNN) and multi-layer perceptron (MLP); and (ii) far-field state estimation from sectional data with two-dimensional CNN. We find that SWAG can obtain physically-interpretable confidence-interval estimates from the perspective of epistemic uncertainty. This capability supports its use for a wide range of problems in science and engineering.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Non-intrusive reduced-order modeling for dynamical systems with spatially localized features

This work presents a non-intrusive reduced-order modeling framework for dynamical systems with spatially localized features characterized by slow singular value decay. The proposed approach builds upon two existing methodologies for reduced and full-order non-intrusive modeling, namely Operator Inference (OpInf) and sparse Full-Order Model (sFOM) inference. We decompose the domain into two complementary subdomains that exhibit fast and slow singular value decay. The dynamics of the subdomain exhibiting slow singular value decay are learned with sFOM while the dynamics with intrinsically low dimensionality on the complementary subdomain are learned with OpInf. The resulting, coupled OpInf-sFOM formulation leverages the computational efficiency of OpInf and the high resolution of sFOM, and thus enables fast non-intrusive predictions for conditions beyond those sampled in the training data set. A novel regularization technique with a closed-form solution based on the Gershgorin disk theorem is introduced to promote stable sFOM and OpInf models. We also provide a data-driven indicator for subdomain selection and ensure solution smoothness over the interface via a post-processing interpolation step. We evaluate the efficiency of the approach in terms of offline and online speedup through a quantitative, parametric computational cost analysis. We demonstrate the coupled OpInf-sFOM formulation for two test cases: a one-dimensional Burgers’ model for which accurate predictions beyond the span of the training snapshots are presented, and a two-dimensional parametric model for the Pine Island Glacier ice thickness dynamics, for which the OpInf-sFOM model achieves an average prediction error on the order of 1% with an online speedup factor of approximately 8$\times$ compared to the numerical simulation.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Solving high-dimensional inverse problems using amortized likelihood-free inference with noisy and incomplete data

Here, we present a likelihood-free probabilistic inversion method based on normalizing flows for high-dimensional inverse problems. The proposed method is composed of two complementary networks: a summary network for data compression and an inference network for parameter estimation. The summary network encodes raw observations into a fixed-size vector of summary features, while the inference network generates samples of the approximate posterior distribution of the model parameters based on these summary features. The posterior samples are produced in a deep generative fashion by sampling from a latent Gaussian distribution and passing these samples through an invertible transformation. We construct this invertible transformation by sequentially alternating conditional invertible neural network and conditional neural spline flow layers. The summary and inference networks are trained simultaneously. We apply the proposed method to an inversion problem in groundwater hydrology to estimate the posterior distribution of the log-conductivity field conditioned on spatially sparse time-series observations of the system’s hydraulic head responses. The conductivity field is represented with 706 degrees of freedom in the considered problem. Comparison with the likelihood-based iterative ensemble smoother PEST-IES method demonstrates that the proposed method accurately estimates the parameter posterior distribution and the observations’ predictive posterior distribution at a fraction of the inference time of PEST-IES.

conditional invertible neural network↗

Conditional Karhunen-Loève expansion for uncertainty quantification and active learning in partial differential equation models

We use a conditional Karhunen-Lo` eve (KL) model to quantify and reduce uncertainty in a stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) problem with partially-known space-dependent coefficient, Y (x). We assume that a small number of Y (x) measurements are available and model Y (x) with a KL expansion. We achieve reduction in uncertainty by conditioning the KL expansion coefficients on measurements. We consider two approaches for conditioning the KL expansion: In Approach 1, we condition the KL model first and then truncate it. In Approach 2, we first truncate the KL expansion and then condition it. We employ the conditional KL expansion together with Monte Carlo and sparse grid collocation methods to compute the moments of the solution of the SPDE problem. Uncertainty of the problem is further reduced by adaptively selecting additional observation locations using two active learning methods. Method 1 minimizes the variance of the PDE coefficient, while Method 2 minimizes the variance of the solution of the PDE. We demonstrate that conditioning leads to dimension reduction of the KL representation of Y (x). For a linear diffusion SPDE with uncertain log-normal coefficient, we show that Approach 1 provides a more accurate approximation of the conditional log-normal coefficient and solution of the SPDE than Approach 2 for the same number of random dimensions in a conditional KL expansion. Furthermore, Approach 2 provides a good estimate for the number of terms of the truncated KL expansion of the conditional field of Approach 1. Finally, we demonstrate that active learning based on Method 2 is more efficient for uncertainty reduction in the SPDE’s states (i.e., it leads to a larger reduction of the variance) than active learning using Method 2.

Conditioned Karhunen-Lo` eve expanion, machine lea↗

Zero-truncated Poisson regression for sparse multiway count data corrupted by false zeros

Abstract We propose a novel statistical inference methodology for multiway count data that is corrupted by false zeros that are indistinguishable from true zero counts. Our approach consists of zero-truncating the Poisson distribution to neglect all zero values. This simple truncated approach dispenses with the need to distinguish between true and false zero counts and reduces the amount of data to be processed. Inference is accomplished via tensor completion that imposes low-rank tensor structure on the Poisson parameter space. Our main result shows that an $N$-way rank-$R$ parametric tensor $\boldsymbol{\mathscr{M}}\in (0,\infty )^{I\times \cdots \times I}$ generating Poisson observations can be accurately estimated by zero-truncated Poisson regression from approximately $IR^2\log _2^2(I)$ non-zero counts under the nonnegative canonical polyadic decomposition. Our result also quantifies the error made by zero-truncating the Poisson distribution when the parameter is uniformly bounded from below. Therefore, under a low-rank multiparameter model, we propose an implementable approach guaranteed to achieve accurate regression in under-determined scenarios with substantial corruption by false zeros. Several numerical experiments are presented to explore the theoretical results.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Atmospheric effects on radiometry from zenith of a plane with dark vertical protrusions

Effects of an optically thin plane-parallel scattering atmosphere on radiometric imaging from the zenith of a specific surface-type are analyzed. The surface model was previously developed to describe arid steppe, where the sparse vegetation forms dark vertical protrusions from the bright soil-plane. The analysis is in terms of the surface reflectivity to the zenith r sub p for the direct beam, which is formulated as r sub p = r sub i exp (-s tan theta sub 0), where v sub i is the Lambert law reflectivity of the soil, the protrusions parameters s is the projection on a vertical plane of protrusions per unit area and theta sub 0 is the zenith angle. The surface reflectivity r sub p is approximately equal to that for the global irradiance (which is directly measured in the field) only for a narrow range of the solar zenith angles. The effects of the atmosphere when imaging large uniform areas of this type are comparable to those in imaging a Lambert surface with a reflectivity r sub p. Thus, the effects can be approximated by those in the case of a dark Lambert surface (analyzed previously), inasmuch as r sub p is smaller than the soil reflectivity r sub i for any off-zenith illumination. The surface becomes effectively darker with increasing solar zenith angle. Adjacency effects of a reflection from one area and scattering in the instantaneous field of view (object pixel) are analyzed as cross radiance and cross irradiance.

Otterman, J.↗

Annotation of DOM metabolomes with an ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry molecular formula library

Current approaches to analyzing metabolomic data often rely on matching MS/MS fragmentation data to sparse libraries or databases. This approach results in limited identification of features, often with less than 10% of the dataset being annotated. A complementary approach is to assign molecular formula to features based on accurate mass measurements, but the platforms commonly used for metabolomics do not have the needed accuracy or resolving power to do this robustly, particularly for larger molecules. Using our newly modified analysis tool, CoreMS, we generated a library of molecular formula from pooled samples analyzed with LC-21T FT-ICR MS. This library successfully annotated approximately 53.2% of features identified from the exometabolome of marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum – a nearly ten-fold increase over the 5.9% annotation rate achieved using a conventional MS/MS library matching approach. Using this FT-ICR MS library approach, we were able to differentiate differences in the exometabolome of P. tricornutum in iron replete and iron limited conditions, with 668 metabolites being differentially expressed (p < 0.05, 2 x intensity difference) under these conditions. The traditional MS/MS fragmentation-based annotation approach only annotated 61 of these metabolites, while our novel pipeline annotated 450 metabolites and revealed 12 metabolites that were significantly more abundant under low iron conditions. Our results demonstrate the utility of ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry for generating more comprehensive and confident molecular annotations.

21T-FTICR-MS, CoreMS↗

Development of the Ames Global Hyperspectral Synthetic Dataset

This study develops the surface BRDF (bidirectional reflectance distribution function) product of the Ames Global Hyperspectral Synthetic Dataset (AGHSD), based on the corresponding MODIS products, to support the NASA Surface Biology and Geology mission development. A main challenge in deriving a hyperspectral dataset from the multi-band satellite products is how to identify a succinct yet robust algorithm that allow us to infer BRDF at unobserved wavelengths based on the few observed bands. Using the theories of radiative transfer in vegetation canopies, we arrive at a simple equation that accurately approximates hyperspectral surface BRDF as the weighted sum of components from the soil and the vegetation. Each of the components is modeled by the product of the spectrally-dependent optical properties of a surface element (the spectra of the soil surface reflectance, the leaf single albedo, or the canopy scattering coefficient) and a spectrally-independent bidirectional scattering function. The optical properties of the soil and the vegetation can be obtained from existing spectral libraries or model simulations. The bidirectional scattering functions are represented by the Ross-Thick-Li-Sparse BRDF model, where the linear coefficients are estimated with regression analysis from the multi-band MODIS data. We validate the algorithm with simulations by Monte Carlo Ray Tracing model experiments, and the results are highly consistent with the theoretic derivation. We apply the algorithm to generate the AGHSD BRDF product at 1km and 8-day resolutions for the year of 2019. The results are biogeochemically and physically coherent and consistent, and thus serve the goal to support the science and application development of the SBG community.

Hyperspectral↗

The DYNAMO Orbiter Project: High Resolution Mapping of Gravity/Magnetic Fields and In Situ Investigation of Mars Atmospheric Escape

Dynamo is a small Mars orbiter planned to be launched in 2005 or 2007, in the frame of the NASA/CNES Mars exploration program. It is aimed at improving gravity and magnetic field resolution, in order to better understand the magnetic, geologic and thermal history of Mars, and at characterizing current atmospheric escape, which is still poorly constrained. These objectives are achieved by using a low periapsis orbit, similar to the one used by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft during its aerobraking phases. The proposed periapsis altitude for Dynamo of 120-130 km, coupled with the global distribution of periapses to be obtained during one Martian year of operation, through about 5000 low passes, will produce a magnetic/gravity field data set with approximately five times the spatial resolution of MGS. Low periapsis provides a unique opportunity to investigate the chemical and dynamical properties of the deep ionosphere, thermosphere, and the interaction between the atmosphere and the solar wind, therefore atmospheric escape, which may have played a crucial role in removing atmosphere, and water, from the planet. There is much room for debate on the importance of current atmosphere escape processes in the evolution of the Martian atmosphere, as early "exotic" processes including hydrodynamic escape and impact erosion are traditionally invoked to explain the apparent sparse inventory of present-day volatiles. Yet, the combination of low surface gravity and the absence of a substantial internally generated magnetic field have undeniable effects on what we observe today. In addition to the current losses in the forms of Jeans and photochemical escape of neutrals, there are solar wind interaction-related erosion mechanisms because the upper atmosphere is directly exposed to the solar wind. The solar wind related loss rates, while now comparable to those of a modest comet, nonetheless occur continuously, with the intriguing possibility of important cumulative and/or enhanced effects over the several billion years of the solar system's life. If the detailed history of the Martian internal field could be traced back, and the current escape processes could be understood well enough to model the expected stronger losses under early Sun conditions, one could go a long way toward constraining this part of the mysterious history of Mars' atmosphere.

Smrekar, S.↗

Precise Modeling of a Complex Solenoidal Magnetic Field Using a Combination of Analytic Functions and a PINN

We demonstrate an iterative approach to modeling a sparsely measured magnetic field in a large-bore solenoid. This approach uses a hybrid of traditional and machine learning techniques. The traditional technique is a linear least-squares fit using a series solution to Laplace's equation, while the machine learning technique involves the training of a physics-informed neural network (PINN) on the least-squares fit residuals. We use a newly defined activation function "DELTAsnake," a modification to the snake activation function proposed by Ziyin et al. that allows for stronger curvature and non-monotonicity. The combined model approximately obeys Maxwell's equations to a level sufficient for producing high quality physics simulations and analysis. Our approach is applied to a highly realistic calculation of the expected magnetic field in the Mu2e experiment's Detector Solenoid which includes a simple model for the expected statistical measurement uncertainties. Using ten toy measurement simulations, we demonstrate the capabilities of our model in comparison to the least-squares method alone; the least-squares method alone results in a reduced chi-squared statistic of ${2.15 \pm 0.01}$, while our approach improves the reduced chi-square to ${1.034 \pm 0.005}$. Furthermore, for an average toy simulation, we show that the range of the RMS of the three field component residuals reduces from ${0.07-0.37}$ Gauss to ${0.05-0.07}$ Gauss. We find that this novel method is robust against a realistic systematic uncertainty deriving from Hall probe calibration bias and can be used to significantly reduce the number of measurements required to achieve an accurate model.

Kampa, Cole [Caltech] (ORCID:0000000192972920)↗