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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 271 records · Page 15
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NASA NTRS2015

Area 3 Support Buildings (A3SB) H5-0992, H5-0996 PRL 218 Confirmatory Sampling Report

The Area 3 Support Buildings site (A3SB) consists of two separate areas located on the north side of Beach Road in the northern portion of Kennedy Space Center, Florida (KSC), outside the secured perimeter of KSC. The A3SB areas are approximately 0.6 miles apart, and were developed as Shiffler's Grocery Store and Service Station (west site) and as a residence (east site) prior to acquisition by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1963. Both areas were used by the Bendix Company in support of NASA as chemical laboratories from 1963 through 1969. Both of the buildings were demolished by 1987. The west portion of the site was used by the US Fish & Wildlife Service (F&W) in support of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (MINWR) for parking at the entrance to the Hammock Trails from 1969 to the present. The east portion of the site was used for intermittent suspect materials staging in the early 1990s and is still used as an apiary location, but is otherwise no longer active. In support of the NASA HSWA permit requirements, this site was identified as Potential Release Location (PRL) 218 and a Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) Assessment (SA) was conducted in 2013. Confirmatory Sampling (CS) was recommended and approved by the KSC Remediation Team (KSCRT). Three locations of concern (LOCs) were identified and sampled at the site. The LOCs include two former chemical labs and a former suspect staging area. The CS was conducted in March of 2015 at three locations by means of Direct Push Technology (DPT) groundwater sampling and at one location for soil sampling. The samples were collected and analyzed in accordance with the approved CS Work Plan. There were no exceedances of criteria detected in any of the samples from the three LOCs. The results of this investigation indicate that past and/or present operations have not negatively impacted environmental media at the A3SB. Based upon no confirmed groundwater detections above GCTLs and no soil impacts above applicable screening criteria no further investigation is warranted at the A3SB. A No Further Action (NFA) status for all locations was approved by the KSCRT at the June 2015 meeting.

Confirmatory sampling↗
NASA NTRS2015

Contractors Road Heavy Equipment Area SWMU 055 Corrective Measures Implementation Progress Report Kennedy Space Center, Florida

This Corrective Measures Implementation (CMI) Progress Report documents: (i) activities conducted as part of supplemental assessment activities completed from June 2009 through November 2014; (ii) Engineering Evaluation (EE) Advanced Data Packages (ADPs); and (iii) recommendations for future activities related to corrective measures at the Site. Applicable meeting minutes are provided as Appendix A. The following EE ADPs for CRHE are included with this CMI Progress Report: center dot Supplemental Site Characterization ADP (Step 1 EE) (Appendix B) center dot Site Characterization ADP (Step 1 EE) for Hot Spot 1 (HS1) (Appendix C) center dot Remedial Alternatives Evaluation (Step 2 EE) ADP for HS1 (Appendix D) center dot Interim Measures Work Plan (Step 3 EE) ADP for HS1 (Appendix E) center dot Site Characterization ADP (Step 1 EE) ADP for Hot Spot 2 (HS2), High Concentration Plume (HCP), and Low Concentration Plume (LCP) (Appendix F) A summary of direct-push technology (DPT) and groundwater monitoring well sampling results are provided in Appendices G and H, respectively. The Interim Land Use Control Implementation Plan (LUCIP) is provided as Appendix I. Monitoring well completion reports, other applicable field forms, survey data, and analytical laboratory reports are provided as Appendices J through M, respectively, in the electronic copy of this document. Selected Site photographs are provided in Appendix N. The interim groundwater monitoring plan and document revision log are included as Appendices O and P, respectively. KSC Electronic Data Deliverable (KEDD) files are provided on the attached compact disk.

Johnson, Jill W.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Supply Warehouse#3, SWMU 088 Operations, Maintenance, and Monitoring Report Kennedy Space Center, Florida

This document presents the findings, observations, and results associated with Operations, Maintenance, and Monitoring (OM&M) activities of Corrective Measures Implementation (CMI) activities conducted at Supply Warehouse #3 (SW3) located at John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida from October 8, 2015, to September 12, 2016, and performance monitoring results for semi-annual sampling events conducted in March and September 2016. The primary objective of SW3 CMI is to actively decrease concentrations of trichloroethene (TCE) and vinyl chloride (VC) to less than Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Natural Attenuation Default Concentrations (NADCs), and the secondary objective is to reduce TCE, cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cDCE), trans-1,2-dichloroethene (tDCE), 1,1-dichloroethene (11DCE), and VC concentrations to less than FDEP Groundwater Cleanup Target Levels (GCTLs). The SW3 facility has been designated Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) 088 under KSC's Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action Program. Based on the results to date, the SW3 air sparging (AS) system is operating at or below the performance criteria as presented in the 2008 SW3 Corrective Measures Implementation (CMI) Work Plan and 2009 and 2012 CMI Work Plan Addenda. Since the start of AS system operations on December 19, 2012, through the September 2016 groundwater sampling event, TCE concentrations have decreased to less than the GCTL in all wells within the Active Remediation Zone (ARZ), and VC results remain less than NADC but greater than GCTL. Based on these results, team consensus was reached at the October 2016 KSC Remediation Team (KSCRT) meeting to continue AS system operations and semi-annual performance monitoring of volatile organic compounds in March 2017 at ten monitoring wells at select locations, and in September 2017 at four monitoring wells at select locations to reduce VC concentrations to below GCTL. Additionally, surface water samples will be collected at locations SW0001, SW0002, and SW0003 during both the March and September 2017 events. Team consensus was also reached at the October 2017 KSCRT meeting to continue with operation and maintenance (O&M) of the AS system at SW3.

REPORT↗
NASA NTRS2018

GRACE-Assimilated Drought Indicators for the U.S. Drought Monitor

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission detects changes in Earth's gravity field by precisely monitoring the changes in distance between two satellites orbiting the Earth in tandem. Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center generate GRACE-assimilated groundwater and soil moisture drought indicators each week, for drought monitor-related studies and applications. The GRACE-assimilated Drought Indicator Version 2.0 data product (GRACE-DA-DM V2.0) is archived at, and distributed by, the NASA GES DISC (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center). More information about the data and data access is available on the data product landing page at https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets /GRACEDADM_CLSM0125US_7D_2.0/summary. The GRACE-DA-DM V2.0 data product contains three drought indicators: Groundwater Percentile, Root Zone Soil Moisture Percentile, and Surface Soil Moisture Percentile. The drought indicators are of wet or dry conditions, expressed as a percentile, indicating the probability of occurrence within the period of record from 1948 to 2012. These GRACE-assimilated drought indicators, with improved spatial and temporal resolutions, should provide a more comprehensive and objective identification of drought conditions. This presentation describes the basic characteristics of the data and data services at NASA GES DISC and collaborative organizations, and uses a few examples to demonstrate the simple ways to explore the GRACE-assimilated drought indicator data.

hydrology↗
NASA NTRS2018

A Comparison of Satellite Data-Based Drought Indicators in Detecting the 2012 Drought in the Southeastern US

The drought of 2012 in the North America devastated agricultural crops and pastures, further damaging agriculture and livestock industries and leading to great losses in the economy. The drought maps of the United States Drought Monitor (USDM) and various drought monitoring techniques based on the data collected by the satellites orbiting in space such as the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are inter-compared during the 2012 drought conditions in the southeastern United States. The results indicated that spatial extent of drought reported by USDM were in general agreement with those reported by the MODIS-based drought maps. GRACE-based drought maps suggested that the southeastern US experienced widespread decline in surface and root-zone soil moisture and groundwater resources. Disagreements among all drought indicators were observed over irrigated areas, especially in Lower Mississippi region where agriculture is mainly irrigated. Besides, we demonstrated that time lag of vegetation response to changes in soil moisture and groundwater partly contributed to these disagreements, as well.

drought indicators↗
NASA NTRS2018

Data Assimilation of Terrestrial Water Storage to Adjust Precipitation Fluxes

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission has provided unprecedented observations of terrestrial water storage (TWS) dynamics at basin to continental scales. TWS is defined as the sum of groundwater, soil moisture, snow, surface water, ice and biomass water. Data assimilation of GRACE TWS observations has been shown to improve simulation of groundwater, streamflow, and snow water equivalent, and has also proven useful for drought monitoring and identifying human impacts on the water cycle. From a modeling perspective, the TWS components are defined as "prognostic hydrological states". Existing GRACE data assimilation schemes update these prognostic states directly. In this work, we propose an alternate approach in which precipitation fluxes are adjusted in order to achieve the desired change in the hydrological prognostic states. Limitations of such an approach include the assumption that all errors in TWS originate from errors in precipitation. Nonetheless, benefits comprise (1) the water balance is maintained, as opposed to having to add increments to the water budget components, (2) the model automatically determines how to distribute the updates among the TWS prognostic states, and (3) it is not necessary to know the exact time of the observation TWS, because the TWS change timing is determined by the precipitation forcing.

Girotto, Manuela↗
NASA NTRS2020

Predictive Integrated Stratigraphic Modeling (PRISM®) Work Plan Center Wide Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Potential Release Location (PRL) 237 Kennedy Space Center, Florida

This document presents a description of various site investigation activities that will be used to improve the conceptual site model (CSM) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to develop a better understanding of the fate and transport of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in groundwater and surface water. The activities proposed herein include three primary tasks: a sequence stratigraphic analysis, groundwater and surface water gauging and sampling, and a stormwater pollutant modeling analysis.

PFAS↗
NASA NTRS2021

Advances in Land Surface Models and Indicators for Drought Monitoring and Prediction

Millions of people across the globe are affected by droughts every year, and recent droughts have highlighted the considerable agricultural impacts and economic costs of these events. Monitoring the state of droughts depends on integrating multiple indicators that each capture particular aspects of hydrologic impact and various types and phases of drought. As the capabilities of land surface models and remote sensing have improved, important physical processes such as dynamic, interactive vegetation phenology, groundwater, and snowpack evolution now support a range of drought indicators that better reflect coupled water, energy, and carbon cycle processes. In this work, we discuss these advances, including newer classes of indicators that can be applied to improve the characterization of drought onset, severity, and duration. We utilize a new model-based drought reconstruction to illustrate the role of dynamic phenology and groundwater in drought assessment. Further, through case studies on flash droughts, snow droughts, and drought recovery, we illustrate the potential advantages of advanced model physics and observational capabilities, especially from remote sensing, in characterizing droughts.

Christa D Peters-lidard↗
NASA NTRS2021

Advances in Land Surface Models and Indicators for Drought Monitoring and Prediction

Millions of people across the globe are affected by droughts every year, and recent droughts have highlighted the considerable agricultural impacts and economic costs of these events. Monitoring the state of droughts depends on integrating multiple indicators that each capture particular aspects of hydrologic impact and various types and phases of drought. As the capabilities of land-surface models and remote sensing have improved, important physical processes such as dynamic, interactive vegetation phenology, groundwater, and snow pack evolution now support a range of drought indicators that better reflect coupled water, energy and carbon cycle processes. In this work, we discuss these advances, including newer classes of indicators that can be applied to improve the characterization of drought onset, severity and duration. We utilize a new model-based drought reconstruction to illustrate the role of dynamic phenology and groundwater in drought assessment. Further, through case studies on flash droughts, snow droughts, and drought recovery, we illustrate the potential advantages of advanced model physics and observational capabilities, especially from remote sensing, in characterizing droughts.

Drought↗
NASA NTRS2020

Satellite Gravimetry Improves Seasonal Streamflow Forecast Initialization in Africa

West Africa is one of the poorest regions in the world and highly vulnerable to extreme hydrological events due to the lack of reliable monitoring and forecast systems. For the first time, we demonstrate that initial hydrological conditions informed by satellite-based terrestrial water storage (TWS) estimates improve seasonal streamflow forecasts. TWS variability detected by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites is assimilated into a land surface model during 2003–2016 and used to initialize 6-month hindcasts (i.e., forecasts of past events) during West Africa's wet seasons. We find that GRACE data assimilation (DA) generally increases groundwater and soil moisture storage in the region, resulting in increased evapotranspiration and reduced total runoff. Total runoff is particularly lower at the headwaters of the Niger River, positively impacting streamflow simulations and hindcast initializations. Compared to simulations without GRACE-DA, hindcasts are notably improved at locations draining from large basin areas, in particular, over the Niger River basin, which is consistent with GRACE's coarse spatial resolution. The long memory of groundwater and deep soil moisture, two main TWS components updated by GRACE-DA, is reflected in prolonged improvements in the streamflow hindcasts. Model accuracy at Niamey, Niger, the most populated city where streamflow observations are available, improved up to 33% during the flood season. These new findings directly contribute to ongoing developments in food security, flood potential forecast, and water-related disaster warning systems for Africa.

Augusto Getirana↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Advances in Land Surface Models and Indicators for Drought Monitoring and Prediction

Millions of people across the globe are affected by droughts every year, and recent droughts have highlighted the considerable agricultural impacts and economic costs of these events. Monitoring the state of droughts depends on integrating multiple indicators that each capture particular aspects of hydrologic impact and various types and phases of drought. As the capabilities of land surface models and remote sensing have improved, important physical processes such as dynamic, interactive vegetation phenology, groundwater, and snowpack evolution now support a range of drought indicators that better reflect coupled water, energy, and carbon cycle processes. In this work, we discuss these advances, including newer classes of indicators that can be applied to improve the characterization of drought onset, severity, and duration. We utilize a new model-based drought reconstruction to illustrate the role of dynamic phenology and groundwater in drought assessment. Further, through case studies on flash droughts, snow droughts, and drought recovery, we illustrate the potential advantages of advanced model physics and observational capabilities, especially from remote sensing, in characterizing droughts.

Christa D Peters-lidard↗
NASA NTRS2021

Components Cleaning Facility, SWMU 030 Eastern High-Concentration Plume Area Implementation Work Plan Kennedy Space Center, Florida

This Implementation Work Plan (IWP) presents detailed design elements and coordination specifics to implement an air sparging (AS) Interim Measure (IM) to remediate groundwater at the Components Cleaning Facility (CCF), Eastern High Concentration Plume (HCP) Area located at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The objective of the CCF East IM is to remediate groundwater where trichloroethene, cis-1,2-dichloroethene, and vinyl chloride concentrations exceed Florida Department of Environmental Protection Natural Attenuation Default Criteria (NADC) (identified as the HCP) via AS and to transition to monitored natural attenuation. CCF has been designated Solid Waste Management Unit 030 under KSC’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Corrective Action Program.

James Lloyd↗
NASA NTRS2021

Optimizing GRACE/GRACE-FO Data and A priori Hydrological Knowledge for Improved Global Terrestial Water Storage Component Estimates

The comprehensive information of global terrestrial water storage (TWS) components (soil moisture, groundwater, snow, surface water) is essential for effective assessment of water resource availability, climate variation, and disaster mitigation measures. Observational data provided by the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On satellite missions offer global TWS variation (ΔTWS) in terms of an integrated water column. However, GRACE spatial resolution is relatively coarse (i.e., 3°), and the vertically integrated value cannot be separated into ΔTWS components directly. This study demonstrates the feasibility to estimate ΔTWS components at any desired spatial-vertical resolution by effectively maintaining the native resolution of the employed hydrological knowledge. It utilizes a least-squares with constraints (LSC) approach to rigorously incorporate GRACE and GRACE-FO data and a priori hydrological knowledge, with the aim to improve global ΔTWS components’ accuracy and spatial resolution. The 3°×3° GRACE mascon derived ΔTWS data is disaggregated into the 0.5°×0.5° anomalous soil moisture storage (ΔSMS), groundwater storage (ΔGWS), snow water equivalent (ΔSWE), and surface water storage (ΔSWS) based on the covariance information obtained from the Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) and the PCRaster Global Water Balance (PCR-GLOBWB) models. Evaluation with different ground measurements and satellite products between 2002 and 2019 exhibits significantly improved accuracy in all individual ΔTWS components. This improvement is of particular note in ΔGWS and ΔSWS, where the LSC approach increases the globally averaged correlation values by approximately 0.13 and 0.05, respectively. Reliable prior knowledge leads to a more accurate ΔTWS component estimate, and the use of ensemble-mean knowledge yields the best result.

GRACE↗
NASA NTRS2022

Linkages Between GRACE Water Storage, Hydrologic Extremes, and Climate Teleconnections in Major African Aquifers

Water resources management is a critical issue in Africa where many regions are subjected to sequential droughts and floods. The objective of our work was to assess spatiotemporal variability in water storage and related controls (climate, human intervention) in major African aquifers and consider approaches toward more sustainable development. Different approaches were used to track water storage, including GRACE/GRACE Follow On satellites for Total Water Storage (TWS); satellite altimetry for reservoir storage, MODIS satellites for vegetation indices, and limited ground-based monitoring. Results show that declining trends in TWS (60–73 km3 over the 18 yr GRACE record) were restricted to aquifers in northern Africa, controlled primarily by irrigation water use in the Nubian and NW Saharan aquifers. Rising TWS trends were found in aquifers in western Africa (23–49 km3), attributed to increased recharge from land use change and cropland expansion. Interannual variability dominated TWS variability in eastern and southern Africa, controlled primarily by climate extremes. Climate teleconnections, particularly El Nino Southern Oscillation and Indian Ocean Dipole, strongly controlled droughts and floods in eastern and southern Africa. Huge aquifer storage in northern Africa suggests that the recent decadal storage declines should not impact the regional aquifers but may affect local conditions. Increasing groundwater levels in western Africa will need to be managed because of locally rising groundwater flooding. More climate resilient water management can be accomplished in eastern and southern Africa by storing water from wet to dry climate cycles. Accessing the natural water storage provided by aquifers in Africa is the obvious way to manage the variability between droughts and floods.

Africa water storage↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

PFAS Treatment Pilot Study using Granular Activated Carbon at Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been found in investigative derived waste (IDW) generated from groundwater sampling and remediation activities conducted at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. PFAS are exceptionally strong compounds because of carbon-fluorine bonds resulting in resistance to degradation, low chemical reactivity, compound stability, and persistence in the environment. The regulatory status of PFAS is very dynamic. PFAS is not considered a hazardous waste and has no federal or state (Florida) cleanup requirements at this time. Due to the current and unknown future of the regulatory and treatment landscape, non-hazardous IDW, based upon site volatile organic compounds (VOCs) regulated under Title 40 of Federal Regulations part 261, containing PFAS is not being processed for off-site waste disposal under KSC’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act permit as a proactive precaution. Long-term storage of aqueous IDW in the meantime was determined to be inadequate due to the potential for spills and/or leaks. A very limited number treatment methods are available at this time. To date, granular activated carbon (GAC) and ion exchange technologies have been found to be some of the most consistent treatment options for removing PFAS from aqueous media. Therefore, a pilot study using GAC was developed at KSC to determine the feasibility of treating non-hazardous IDW containing PFAS to reduce the total volume of PFAS waste and minimize the risk of leaks or spills while storing the waste until complete PFAS-destructive treatment options are more readily available. NASA wanted the pilot test to be able to demonstrate the ability to completely remove 18 PFAS compounds and the site VOCs to below the state of Florida groundwater cleanup target levels (GCTLs).

Michael J Deliz↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Recent Mineralogical Discoveries in Gale Crater, Mars from the CheMin XRD Instrument, Demonstrating a Watery Past

Curiosity landed in Gale crater August 2012 and has traversed (~27 km) sedimentary rocks that comprise a ~5 km-high mound, informally known as Mount Sharp, to investigate depositional/diagenetic environments and potential habitability. VSWIR spectra revealed the lowermost slopes of Mount Sharp contain mineral assemblages that are indicative of water-rock interactions (1-3), with sulfate-bearing units overlying phyllosilicate-bearing units. This mineralogical succession may mark the beginning of the transition from a relatively wet/warm to a very dry/cold Mars (e.g., 1, 4). Thirty-four powdered rock samples have been analyzed by the CheMin XRD instrument and mineralogical results from the first 6 years of the mission are reviewed in [5]. Here we describe the mineralogical diversity observed over the most recent 4 years. Sediments in the Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR) and Glen Torridon (GT) region were deposited in a lacustrine-fluvial environment and are syndepositional. The mineralogy suggests post-depositional fluid-rock interaction. Differences in mineralogy could have been the result of silica-poor, briny groundwater that destabilized smectite and precipitated hematite in VRR [6]. Other hypotheses include lake water-groundwater mixing or diagenesis driven by deeply sourced fluids altering smectite to precipitate hematite and amorphous silica. Preserved bedforms in the clay-sulfate transition region indicate a change from lacustrine-fluvial to aeolian depositional environments. Mineralogical changes include the identification of goethite along with the disappearance of phyllosilicate. The absence of crystalline Mg-sulfate in drilled samples from this transition region may mean that: 1) Sulfates are concentrated in secondary concretions not sampled by Curiosity’s drill, or 2) Sulfate components are either X-ray amorphous or if crystalline, became amorphous in the relatively low-humidity environment of the rover. Continued exploration of sulfate-rich rocks will elucidate this environmental transition above the phyllosilicate-rich sediments.

V M Tu↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Recent Mineralogical Discoveries in Gale Crater, Mars from the CheMin XRD Instrument

Curiosity landed in Gale crater in August 2012 and has traversed ~27 km through sedimentary rocks that comprise the lower slopes of a ~5 km-high mound, informally known as Mount Sharp, to investigate depositional/diagenetic environments and potential habitability. Orbital visible/short-wave infrared spectra revealed some strata on lower Mount Sharp contain mineral assemblages that are indicative of water-rock interactions (1-3), with sulfate-bearing units overlying phyllosilicate-bearing units. This mineralogical succession may mark the beginning of the transition from a relatively wet/warm to a very dry/cold Mars (e.g., 1, 4). Curiosity began studying the strata that show mineralogical signatures from orbit in 2018, with the investigation of Vera Rubin ridge. Here, we describe the mineralogical diversity in these strata using X-ray diffraction data collected by the CheMin instrument. We report on the mineral assemblages from the hematite-rich Vera Rubin ridge, the smectite-rich Glen Torridon region, and the transition from the smectite-bearing rocks to the sulfate-bearing unit. We will present hypotheses explaining the changes in mineralogy throughout the strata, including changes in depositional environment, diagenetic reactions with saline groundwater, and groundwater-lake water interactions (e.g., 5-7).

V. M. Tu↗