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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2015

The CheMin XRD on the Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity: Construction, Operation, and Quantitative Mineralogical Results from the Surface of Mars

The Mars Science Laboratory mission was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Nov. 26, 2011 and landed in Gale crater, Mars on Aug. 6, 2012. MSL's mission is to identify and characterize ancient "habitable" environments on Mars. MSL's precision landing system placed the Curiosity rover within 2 km of the center of its 20 X 6 km landing ellipse, next to Gale's central mound, a 5,000 meter high pile of laminated sediment which may contain 1 billion years of Mars history. Curiosity carries with it a full suite of analytical instruments, including the CheMin X-ray diffractometer, the first XRD flown in space. CheMin is essentially a transmission X-ray pinhole camera. A fine-focus Co source and collimator transmits a 50μm beam through a powdered sample held between X-ray transparent plastic windows. The sample holder is shaken by a piezoelectric actuator such that the powder flows like a liquid, each grain passing in random orientation through the beam over time. Forward-diffracted and fluoresced X-ray photons from the sample are detected by an X-ray sensitive Charge Coupled Device (CCD) operated in single photon counting mode. When operated in this way, both the x,y position and the energy of each photon are detected. The resulting energy-selected Co Kalpha Debye-Scherrer pattern is used to determine the identities and amounts of minerals present via Rietveld refinement, and a histogram of all X-ray events constitutes an X-ray fluorescence analysis of the sample.The key role that definitive mineralogy plays in understanding the Martian surface is a consequence of the fact that minerals are thermodynamic phases, having known and specific ranges of temperature, pressure and composition within which they are stable. More than simple compositional analysis, definitive mineralogical analysis can provide information about pressure/temperature conditions of formation, past climate, water activity and the like. Definitive mineralogical analyses are necessary to establish the origin or provenance of a sample. The search for evidence of extant or extinct life on Mars will initially be a search for evidence of present or past conditions supportive of life (e.g., evidence of water), not for life itself.Results of the first 1,000 sols (Mars days) will be discussed, including the discovery of the first habitable environment on Mars.

CheMin↗
DOE OSTI2025

Hydraulic Conductivity Measurements, Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska, 2014

Six individual ice cores were collected from the Barrow Environmental Observatory in Barrow, Alaska, in May of 2013 as part of the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment (NGEE). Each core was drilled at a different location to varying depths. After drilling, the cores were stored in coolers packed with dry ice and flown to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, CA. 3-dimensional images of the cores were constructed using medical X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanner at 120kV. Hydraulic conductivity samples were extracted from these cores at LBNL Richmond Field Station in Richmond, CA, in February 2014 by cutting 5 to 8 inch segments using a chop saw. Samples were packed individually and stored at -20C freezing temperatures to minimize any changes in structure or loss of ice content prior to analysis. Hydraulic conductivity was determined through falling head tests using a permeameter [ELE International, Model #: K-770B] (Appendix A). Samples were placed in a latex membrane via a membrane stretcher while frozen. Use of a membrane stretcher made the membranes easier to secure and minimized contact with the sample. A clear polycarbonate sleeve, fabricated with a stainless steel ring at the bottom to keep the sleeve from floating, was placed around the sample inside the permeameter to minimize deformation during analysis. The permeameter was filled with water and 1.0 PSI of air was applied for confining pressure during sample defrost. Outflow valves were left open to allow for incremental thawing and samples were left to thaw for approximately 12 hours. After approximately 12 hours of thaw, initial falling head tests were performed. When the flow was significantly too fast or too slow, the analysis was stopped and the burette size was adjusted accordingly (i.e. a larger diameter burette was used for flows that were faster than desired or a smaller diameter burette was used for flows that were slower than desired). Two to four measurements were collected on each sample and collection stopped when the applied head load exceeded 25% change from the original load. Analyses were performed between 2 to 3 times for each sample. The final hydraulic conductivity calculations were computed using methodology of Das et al., 1985.The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a 15-year research effort (2012-2027) to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska. Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2012

3D Visualization for Phoenix Mars Lander Science Operations

Planetary surface exploration missions present considerable operational challenges in the form of substantial communication delays, limited communication windows, and limited communication bandwidth. A 3D visualization software was developed and delivered to the 2008 Phoenix Mars Lander (PML) mission. The components of the system include an interactive 3D visualization environment called Mercator, terrain reconstruction software called the Ames Stereo Pipeline, and a server providing distributed access to terrain models. The software was successfully utilized during the mission for science analysis, site understanding, and science operations activity planning. A terrain server was implemented that provided distribution of terrain models from a central repository to clients running the Mercator software. The Ames Stereo Pipeline generates accurate, high-resolution, texture-mapped, 3D terrain models from stereo image pairs. These terrain models can then be visualized within the Mercator environment. The central cross-cutting goal for these tools is to provide an easy-to-use, high-quality, full-featured visualization environment that enhances the mission science team s ability to develop low-risk productive science activity plans. In addition, for the Mercator and Viz visualization environments, extensibility and adaptability to different missions and application areas are key design goals.

Edwards, Laurence↗
DOE OSTI2026

Post-fire soil respiration in late growing season (2023 and 2024), Kougarok Fire Complex, Seward Peninsula, Alaska

Field soil respiration data collected in 2023 and 2024 from burned and unburned tussock tundra sites in the Kougarok Fire Complex, near Nome, on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. Specifically, we measured soil properties and late-growing season CO2 fluxes in patches of unique plant functional types (forbs, shrubs, and graminoids) across two years in tundra recovering from repeated wildfires over the decade. The goal was to identify the main drivers of soil respiration in Arctic tundra underlain by discontinuous permafrost that is recovering from two recent, repeated wildfires that differed in fire age and number of times burned, thereby resulting in different levels of vegetation and subsurface property changes (i.e., successional trajectories). There are five files in *.csv format with one data file and four data description files including data, dictionary, methods, terminology, and file-level metadata. The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), is a research effort to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The NGEE Arctic Phase 3 project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska. Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

Santos, Fernanda [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000191555623)↗
NASA NTRS2024

THUNDER: A Titan orbiter mission concept for the New Frontiers program designed at the JPL Planetary Science Summer School

Saturn’s moon Titan is an enigmatic icy world whose surface is constantly modified by its active, Earthlike precipitation system. Here, we propose the THUNDER (Titan’s Hydrocarbons: Uncovering New Dimensions of Evolutionary pRocesses) mission concept to investigate how Titan’s surface reflects the nature of its interior and its active hydrocarbon cycle. This mission will change our understanding of Titan’s surface through three science objectives: characterizing the heat and material transport properties of Titan’s icy outer layer, tracing surface liquid storage through and across the crust, and assessing the total hydrocarbon budget through time. This New Frontiers-class mission, designed as part of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Planetary Science Summer School, responds directly to the call for a Titan orbiter in the NASA Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. THUNDER’s focused geology and geophysics mission could achieve full surface mapping to complement both the Cassini-Huygens and Dragonfly missions using gravity science, radar with three operational modes, and a visible-to-infrared spectrometer. These instruments together could give us the first look at Titan as a fully connected and geologically active world , revolutionizing our understanding of icy bodies, fluvial and atmospheric processes, and habitability across geologic time. Here, we summarize goals of the science mission and engineering approaches, as well as challenges and future directions to study before THUNDER can become a viable mission concept.

mission concept↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observed and Imputed Volumetric Soil Water Content Timeseries for the New Mexico Elevation Gradient

Reliable soil water content (SWC) data are essential for understanding dryland ecosystem dynamics, but high-frequency SWC sensors often fail, creating gaps in critical datasets. To address this, we developed a Bayesian mixture model that imputes missing SWC using both linear interpolation and an ecosystem water balance model (SOILWAT2), tested across six AmeriFlux eddy covariance tower sites in the New Mexico Elevation Gradient, demonstrating its effectiveness in reconstructing SWC patterns while providing insights into the factors driving SWC variability. Daily volumetric soil water content (SWC) data are provided as csv-formatted spreadsheets for the six AmeriFlux sites (US-Seg, US-Ses, US-Wjs, US-Mpi, US-Vcp, and US-Vcs). For each site there is an observed SWC file (site_SWC_gapfill.csv) and a file that contains imputed SWC (imputed_SWC_site.csv). The observed SWC files contain temperature corrected sensor values, tower precipitation data, as well as outputs from SOILWAT2 simulations that were used to impute SWC. The imputed files contain the original observed SWC values and the imputed missing SWC values. When SWC was missing from the original data, the missing value was imputed based on the Bayesian imputation mixture model. The posterior mean of all imputed values is reported as "mean_X". When the observed SWC was NOT missing, mean_X = observed SWC value (original data). The standard deviation, 2.5th percentile and the 97.5th percentile for the imputed values are also reported in the imputed files. There are readme text files for each file type explaining the contents of each column.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Metagenome-assembled genomes from topsoils collected during NEON campaign in East River, CO (06/14/2018-06/28/2018)

The Watershed Function Science Focus Area (WF SFA) at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab is working to build a mechanistic understanding of the distribution and dynamics of biogeochemical processes in mountainous watersheds and their response to perturbation. In June 2018, the NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network) Airborne Observatory Platform (AOP) performed a taskable airborne imaging campaign to collect visible to shortwave infrared (VSWIR) imaging spectroscopy and LiDAR data across 330 km2 in the Upper East River at Crested Butte, CO. We conducted a parallel ground sampling campaign to sample vegetation traits, as well as soil physical, chemical, and microbiological characteristics. We collected these samples from 438 sites across 12 locations spanning much of the elevation, topographic, and geologic variability across the study area. A subset of 250 samples were used for soil metagenomics which is presented here. In addition, at each site, vegetation samples were collected to measure species-specific leaf water content and leaf mass area, foliar elemental composition and foliar CN stable isotope ratios. Soil samples were collected to measure soil physical properties which include bulk density and soil texture analysis. A suite of soil chemical properties was measured from the samples collected at each site, including pH, organic matter, concentrations exchangeable cations, total elemental composition, and the concentrations of extractable N pools (e.g. total free amino acids, ammonium, nitrate, dissolved organic N, and total dissolved N). Additionally, we have measured soil microbial biomass CN stoichiometry. Here, we present 1982 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) for the bacterial and archaeal community from topsoil collected from during NEON 2018 campaign. All metagenomes were sequenced at JGI (Joint Genome Institute) (GOLD Study ID: Gs0149986). Metagenomes were assembled using JGI Metagenome Workflow (10.1128/mSystems.00804-20). The dataset includes (1) zip files for 1982 MAG fasta files (neon_genomes1-5.tar.gz, split into 5 tarballs to keep tarballs under 0.5 GB), (2) neon_Gs0149986_samples_soilproperties_metagenomes.csv: the sample information together with the accession numbers for the underlying metagenomes and the associated soil physical and chemical measurements in NMDC (National Microbiome Data Collaborative) compliant format, (3) neon_Gs0149986.kml: location bounding box file for the sampled locations, (4) samples.csv: sample metadata file used to register Internationall Generic Sample Numbers (IGSNs), (5) flmd.csv: file level metadata file, and (6) dd.csv: data dictionary file. This work was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

2018 NEON and 2025 CHESS Campaigns↗
DOE OSTI2025

Soil Texture and Organic Matter from Teller Field Site and Barrow Environmental Observatory, Alaska, 2024

Understanding soil texture and organic matter content supports our understanding of hydrology and ecology of Arctic sites. Soil organic matter content and composition of sand, silt, and clay were measured from soils collected at the Teller 27 field site on the Seward Peninsula and at the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, on August 2nd and 6th 2024, respectively. Soil samples were collected from the active layer to varied depths. Precise location data were collected at each observation point using Avenza Maps on a mobile device. Sand, silt, clay, and organic matter percentages were measured at Desert Research Institute Soil Characterization and Quaternary Pedology Laboratory in Reno, NV. This dataset contains a *.csv file of soil properties, a *.kml file of measurement locations, a *.pdf user guide, a *.csv data dictionary, and a *.csv file level metadata.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane soil efflux (soil respiration) in a Pinus palustris restoration site in Georgetown, SC

This dataset contains processed data from a combination of survey flux chambers and long-term automated flux chambers. Biweekly soil flux measurements were conducted from June 2023 through December 2025 at a longleaf pine restoration site in Georgetown, SC. Processed, QAQC’d data can be found in the file: 1_DATA_ESS_DOE_HR_RS_HB3_QAQC_Survey_Data_20260223.csv. Raw and working data files (.json, & .81x format) from LI-COR equipment are included for reference and can be accessed using SoilFluxPro software. CSV metadata files describe the raw data and modifications made using SoilFluxPro v5 and Matlab R2024b, as well as formatting and units for processed CSVs. Matlab code is included for reading in the processed CSVs. This research was performed as part of the project: “Improving models of stand and watershed carbon and water fluxes with more accurate representations of soil-plant-water dynamics in southern pine ecosystems”, which examines in part the effects hydraulic redistribution on soil efflux of carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane, as well as soil moisture and temperature in a southern pine ecosystem with sandy soils and high water table.

CARBON DIOXIDE FLUX↗
DOE OSTI2024

Thaw depth, soil moisture, and vegetation height, Teller and Kougarok sites, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 2022

Thaw depth, soil moisture, and vegetation height sampled from locations on the Teller MM27, Kougarok MM80, and Kougarok MM82 NGEE-Arctic sites, Seward Peninsula, Alaska. These data were collected in support of the ongoing NGEE-Arctic and NASA ABoVE data synthesis work. Samples were collected in July 2022, including 6 transects covering the entire Teller MM27 watershed and 4 transects covering 4 thaw ponds at Kougarok MM80 and MM82. This data package includes sample information and thaw depth, soil moisture, vegetation height data (.csv). Metadata files include data descriptions (_dd.csv) for tabular data and file level metadata (.csv). The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a research effort to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska. Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2017

Osiris-REx Spacecraft Current Status and Forward Plans

The NASA New Frontiers OSIRIS-REx spacecraft executed a flawless launch on September 8, 2016 to begin its 23-month journey to near-Earth asteroid (101955). The primary objective of the OSIRIS-REx mission is to collect and return to Earth a pristine sample of regolith from the asteroid surface. The sampling event will occur after a two-year period of remote sensing that will ensure a high probability of successful sampling of a region on the asteroid surface having high science value and within well-defined geological context. The OSIRIS-REx instrument payload includes three high-resolution cameras (OCAMS), a visible and near-infrared spectrometer (OVIRS), a thermal imaging spectrometer (OTES), an X-ray imaging spectrometer (REXIS), and a laser altimeter (OLA). As the spacecraft follows its nominal outbound-cruise trajectory, the propulsion, power, communications, and science instruments have undergone basic functional tests, with no major issues. Outbound cruise science investigations include a search for Earth Trojan asteroids as the spacecraft approaches the Sun-Earth L4 Lagrangian point in February 2017. Additional instrument checkouts and calibrations will be carried out during the Earth gravity assist maneuver in September 2017. During the Earth-moon flyby, visual and spectral images will be acquired to validate instrument command sequences planned for Bennu remote sensing. The asteroid Bennu remote sensing campaign will yield high resolution maps of the temperature and thermal inertia, distributions of major minerals and concentrations of organic matter across the asteroid surface. A high resolution 3d shape model including local surface slopes and a high-resolution gravity field will also be determined. Together, these data will be used to generate four separate maps that will be used to select the sampling site(s). The Safety map will identify hazardous and safe operational regions on the asteroid surface. The Deliverability map will quantify the accuracy with which the navigation team can deliver the spacecraft to and from specific sites on the asteroid surface. The Sampleability map quantifies the regolith properties, providing an estimation of how much material would be sampled at different points on the surface. The final Science Value map synthesizes the chemical, mineralogical, and geological, observations to identify the areas of the asteroid surface with the highest science value. Here, priority is given to organic, water-rich regions that have been minimally altered by surface processes. Asteroid surface samples will be acquired with a touch-and-go sample acquisition system (TAGSAM) that uses high purity pressurized N2 gas to mobilize regolith into a stainless steel canister. Although the mission requirement is to collect at least 60 g of material, tests of the TAGSAM routinely exceeded 300 g of simulant in micro-gravity tests. After acquiring the sample, the spacecraft will depart Bennu in 2021 to begin its return journey, with the sample return capsule landing at the Utah Test and Training Range on September 23, 2023. The OSIRIS-REx science team will carry out a series of detailed chemical, mineralogical, isotopic, and spectral studies that will be used to determine the origin and history of Bennu and to relate high spatial resolution sample studies to the global geological context from remote sensing. The outline of the sample analysis plan is described in a companion abstract.

Messenger, Scott↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data from: 'Abiotic influences on continuous conifer forest structure across a subalpine watershed'

This package archives the core data used for analysis and inference in 'Abiotic influences on continuous conifer forest structure across a subalpine watershed' (Worsham et al., 2025). All data were collected in the East River, Washington Gulch, Slate River, and Coal Creek watersheds of Colorado. In the paper, we quantified the relative influence of climate, topographic, edaphic, and geologic factors on conifer stand structure and composition, and their functional relationships, at the watershed scale. We used waveform LiDAR data to derive spatially continuous stand structure metrics. We fused these with a species-level classification map to estimate tree species abundance. We applied generalized additive and generalized boosted models to evaluate the covariability of structural and compositional metrics with abiotic variables. The package contains the essential products required for reproducing our analysis and the tables and figures reported in the publication. The products comprise four classes: (1) geospatial data, (2) tabular data used for inferential analysis, (3) tabular data describing analytical results and performance statistics, and (4) a data user guide. (1) includes discretized waveform LiDAR data, locations and attributes of individual tree crowns, sampling locations and domain boundaries, a canopy height model, and raster files of estimated forest structural and compositional metrics at 100 m grid scale. (2) includes all response and explanatory variable values applied in inferential models. Response variables include conifer forest stand density, basal area, 95th percentile height, quadratic mean diameter, and others. Explanatory variables include climatic water deficit, actual evapotranspiration, elevation, heat load, soil available water content, and others. (3) includes results of training and testing several individual tree detection (ITD) algorithms, as well as inferential modeling results. (4) is a PDF user guide for this data package, including detailed descriptions and data dictionaries for all files. The data package root contains 17 assets: 8 compressed tape archive (.tar.gz) files, 5 comma-separated values (.csv) files, 3 Geographic Tagged Image File Format (GeoTIFF) (.tif) files, and 1 Portable Document Format (.pdf) file. The compressed .tar.gz archives contain ESRI shapefiles (.shp) .tif, compressed LASer (.laz), and .csv files. The archives must first be decompressed using the widely distributed command-line software utility TAR. All other files, including constituent files within the .tar.gz archives, can be opened in the open-source R statistical computing environment. Alternatively, .csv files may also be read in any simple text editor software or Microsoft Excel. Geospatial files including .shp and .tif files can also be opened in GIS software, such as QGIS (open-source) or ESRI ArcGIS (proprietary). The .pdf Data User Guide can be read with Adobe Acrobat Reader or other compatible readers.

2018 NEON and 2025 CHESS Campaigns↗
NASA NTRS2018

Surface Tension Containment Experiment (STCE) - Increasing Science Throughput on ISS

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) on the International Space Station (ISS) is used for fluid transfer in many types of experiments. Reagents are handled in the MSG to prevent their accidental release into the cabin. However, the MSG is currently over-subscribed, creating a backlog of users in flight. As a recourse, current experiments are underway to assess the possibility of moving certain science operations from the MSG into the open cabin of the ISS. The experiments are designed to assess the efficacy of exploiting surface tension as a control to prevent the unwanted release of liquids. Dyed water currently serves as an ersatz for potentially more hazardous liquids. Common wet-lab operations such as de/mating wetted Luer-Lok fittings, liquid-bearing container lid removal, and pipetting between well plates are performed illustrating the facility and challenges imposed by the microgravity environment. Concerning the latter, various pipette cannula sizes are deployed at various injection, withdrawal, and translations rates to map the existence, size, velocity, and trajectory of satellite droplets expected to form when breaking contact between the water surface and the pipette tip. Though such drops frequently form in terrestrial operations, they are nearly imperceptible and inconsequential—due in part to their speed and because gravity quickly returns them to the well plate from which they came. The use of airflow to capture and collect such satellite droplets is demonstrated. The dynamic stability of the liquid-filled well plates is quantified in response to a variety of crew-imparted disturbances. From a safety perspective, the results from the STCE are of immediate practical value. If such routine low-gravity capillary fluidic operations can be established as mundane, their performance may be moved out of the MSG and into the cabin, significantly increasing the efficiency of experiments performed on ISS.

Ungar, Eugene K.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Old Woman Creek Wetland Sediment and Electrochemical Sensor Microbial Community, 2023

We are developing a technique to monitor microbiological activities referred to as zero resistance ammetry, which entails the deployment of graphite electrodes in sediments. Measurement of current between electrodes of contrasting redox regimes and/or predominant terminal electron accepting processes can be used as an indicator of the extents of microbiological activity. We deployed an electrode array at depths of 2 mm, 4 mm, 76 mm, 78 mm, 152 mm, 154 mm, 227 mm, and 229 mm below the wetland sediment water interface in the Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Center, Huron, OH, USA (Lat. = 41.380833, Long. = -82.508889). A core was collected from adjacent sediment and subsamples were collected from depth intervals of 0 – 25 mm, 25 – 127 mm, 127 – 128 mm, and below 178 mm. To determine if the microbial communities attached to the electrodes were reflective of the adjacent sediment-associated microbial community, we conducted a 16S rRNA gene-based (V4 region) survey of these respective materials. This data package contains the results of these surveys, including metadata on the depths from which samples were collected (samples.csv), DNA extraction and sequencing information (OWC_DEPTH_AMPLICON_SEQUENCING_METADATA), sequence processing information (OWC_DEPTH_BIOINFORMATIC_METADATA.csv), an operational taxonomic unit (OTU) table (OWC_DEPTH_97OTUS_TABLE.csv), and nucleotide sequences of OTUs (OWC_DEPTH_97OTUS_SEQS.fasta). All files can be opened using a text-editing application. The fasta file is compatible with bioinformatics applications.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data for "Depth of nutrient uptake by deep-rooted plants is regulated by water availability"

The data set consists of strontium (Sr) isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr), water isotopes, soil cation concentrations, soil water potential sensor data, and results of 87Sr/86Sr mixing model. The plant canopy size files include the dataset of canopy dimension of sagebrush, lupine, and sunflower. The soil and plant ICPMS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) data file includes both of 87Sr/86Sr, and cation concentration dataset from soil exchangeable pool, apatite pool, silicate extract, atmospheric rain deposition, and plant leaf and stem tissues. The plant dendrochronology file includes the dendrochronogical ring width of several sagebrush, and dendrochemical sample data includes the 87Sr/86Sr for each separated growth ring. The modeling result gives the proportion of nutrient sources of each plants (based on their 87Sr/86Sr in leaf tissues and growth rings) from atmospheric deposition and mineral weathering. Soil water potential data includes continuous collection of soil water potential dataset at 2 depths (30 cm and 60 cm, from Nov 24 - Jun 25) of the sampling site. All the samples were collected from 2 sampling campaign June and July 2023, and rain water is a separate sampling from Aug - Sept 2023, at north-facing hillslope near pumphouse site. The data showed that the depth of cation nutrient acquisition is thus tightly coupled with, and likely determined by, water availability in soil, saprolite and bedrock. The enhanced uptake of cations and water from regions of mineral weathering could confer plant and ecosystem resilience during low water years and may impact the rate of bedrock weathering and watershed chemistry during drought. This dataset includes a file-level metadata (flmd.csv) file that lists each file contained in the dataset with associated metadata; a data dictionary (dd.csv) file that contains column/row headers used throughout the files along with a definition, units, and data type; a location metadata file (locations.csv); and a samples metadata file (samples.csv). All files are provided as comma-separated values (CSV) files (.csv). This work was supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Zero Resistance Ammetry (ZRA) Measurements of Sediment Electrochemical Gradients, Old Woman Creek, Ohio, USA, June–November 2022

This dataset contains raw and processed zero resistance ammetry (ZRA) measurements collected from wetland sediments at Old Woman Creek, a freshwater estuary on Lake Erie, Ohio, USA, between June and November 2022. Measurements were obtained using a vertically deployed electrode array positioned at multiple depths within the sediment profile to capture electrochemical gradients associated with microbial activity and sediment geochemistry. The raw dataset consists of parsed instrument log files containing timestamps, electrode pair identifiers, and measured electrical potential (mV). The processed dataset includes standardized and quality-controlled values with instrument saturation limits removed and timestamps converted to ISO 8601 format. Electrode line identifiers were mapped to physical depths, enabling interpretation of depth-resolved electrochemical gradients. Instrument saturation values (−2048, −2047, 2047, and 2048 mV) were identified as measurement limits and excluded from quantitative analyses. All data parsing, processing, and quality control steps are documented in an accompanying R Markdown script, ensuring full reproducibility from raw instrument logs to final datasets.

EARTH SCIENCE > AGRICULTURE > SOILS > ELECTRICAL C↗