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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 325 records · Page 18

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NASA NTRS1983

Use of thermal inertia determined by HCMM to predict nocturnal cold prone areas in Florida

Pairs of HCMM day-night thermal infrared (IR) data were selected during the 1978-79 winter to examine patterns of surface temperature and thermal inertia (TI) of peninsular Florida. The GOES and NOAA-6 thermal IR, as well as National Climatic Center temperatures and rainfall, were also used. The HCMM apparent thermal inertia (ATI) images closely corresponded to the general soil map of Florida, based on soil drainage classes. Areas with low ATI overlay well-drained soils, such as deep sands and drained organic soils, whereas with high ATI overlay areas with wetlands and bodies of water. The HCMM ATI images also corresponded well with GOES-detected winter nocturnal cold-prone areas. Use of HCMM data with Carlson's energy balance model showed both high moisture availability (MA) and high thermal inertia (TI) of wetland-type surfaces and low MA and low TI of upland, well-drained soils. Since soil areas with low TI develop higher temperatures during the day, then antecedent patterns of highest maximum daytime surface temperature can also be used to predict nocturnal cold-prone areas in Florida.

Allen, L. H., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Mars Pathfinder Landing Site: Evidence for a Change in Wind Regime from Lander and Orbiter Data

Surface features related to the wind are observed in the vicinity of the Mars Pathfinder (MPR landing site data from the lander and in data from orbit by the Viking Orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor missions. Features seen from the surface include wind tails associated with small rocks, barchanoid duneforms, ripplelike patterns, and ventifact flutes cut into some rocks. Features seen from orbit include wind tails associated with impact craters, ridges inferred to be duneforms, and modified crater rims interpreted to have been eroded and mantled by windblown material. The orientations of these features show two prevailing directions. One is inferred to represent winds from the northeast, which is consistent with strongest winds predicted by a general circulation model to occur during the Martian northern winter under current conditions. A second wind blowing from the ESE was responsible for modifying the crater rims and cutting some of the ventifacts. The two wind regimes could reflect a change in climate related to Mars' obliquity or some other, unknown factor. Regardless of the cause, the MPF area has been subjected to a complex pattern of winds and supply of small particles, and the original surface formed by sedimentary processes from Tiu and Ares Vallis flooding events has been modified by repeated burial and exhumation.

Greeley, Ronald↗

NASA NTRS2013

Airborne Particles: What We Have Learned About Their Role in Climate from Remote Sensing, and Prospects for Future Advances

Desert dust, wildfire smoke, volcanic ash, biogenic and urban pollution particles, all affect the regional-scale climate of Earth in places and at times; some have global-scale impacts on the column radiation balance, cloud properties, atmospheric stability structure, and circulation patterns. Remote sensing has played a central role in identifying the sources and transports of airborne particles, mapping their three-dimensional distribution and variability, quantifying their amount, and constraining aerosol air mass type. The measurements obtained from remote sensing have strengths and limitations, and their value for characterizing Earths environment is enhanced immensely when they are combined with direct, in situ observations, and used to constrain aerosol transport and climate models. A similar approach has been taken to study the role particles play in determining the climate of Mars, though based on far fewer observations. This presentation will focus what we have learned from remote sensing about the impacts aerosol have on Earths climate; a few points about how aerosols affect the climate of Mars will also be introduced, in the context of how we might assess aerosol-climate impacts more generally on other worlds.

aerosol-climate impacts↗

NASA NTRS1975

Auroral effects in the D region of the ionosphere

The possible effects are discussed of radiations and corpuscles on relatively short-term changes in the circulation of the atmosphere (the development of cellular patterns in the zonal westerly flow, leading to the formation of cyclones) and relatively long-term changes in climate.

Akasofu, S. I.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Deterioration and modification of the biosphere leading to irreversible climatic change of the global ecosystem

The level, intensity, nature and impact of man's activities upon weather and climatic changes are explored. It is shown that industrialization leads to increased CO2 levels, atmospheric dust content and land surfaces changes. This in turn causes global climatic interactions which results in a general cooling trend. Global cooperation is advocated to stem environmental degradation and weather pattern interruption by the use of corrective mechanisms.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2004

Human-Induced Climate Variations Linked to Urbanization: From Observations to Modeling

The goal of this session is to bring together scientists from interdisciplinary backgrounds to discuss the data, scientific approaches and recent results focusing on the impact of urbanization on the climate. The discussion will highlight current observational and modeling capabilities being employed for investigating the urban environment and its linkage to the change in the Earth's climate system. The goal of the session is to identify our current stand and the future direction on the topic. Urbanization is one of the extreme cases of land use change. Most of population of the world has moved to urban areas. By 1995, more than 70% of population of North America and Europe were living in cities. By 2025, the United Nations estimates that 60% of the worlds population will live in cities. Although currently only 1.2% of the land is urban, better understanding of how the atmosphere-ocean-land-biosphere components interact as a coupled system and the influence of human activities on this system is critical. Our understanding of urbanization effect is incomplete, partly because human activities induce new changes on climate in addition to the original natural variations, and partly because previously few data available for study urban effect globally. Urban construction changes surface roughness, albedo, heat capacity and vegetation coverage. Traffic and industry increase atmospheric aerosol. It is suggested that urbanization may modify rainfall processes through aerosol-cloud interactions or dynamic feedbacks. Because urbanization effect on climate is determined by many factors including land cover, the city's microscale features, population density, and human lifestyle patterns, it is necessary to study urban areas over globe.

Shepherd, J. Marshall↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Spatiotemporal Methane Emissions from Global Lakes and Reservoirs

Inland aquatic systems, such as lakes and reservoirs, contribute substantially to global methane (CH4) emissions; yet are among the most uncertain components of the total CH4 budget. Lakes and reservoirs have received recent attention as they may generate high CH4 fluxes. Improved quantification of these CH4 fluxes, particularly their spatiotemporal distribution, is key to realistically incorporating them in CH4 modeling and budget studies. Here we report on a new global, gridded (0.25° lat × 0.25° lon) study of lake and reservoir CH4 emissions, accounting for new knowledge regarding lake and reservoir areal extent and distribution, and spatiotemporal emission patterns influenced by diurnal variability, temperature-dependent seasonality, satellite-derived freeze-thaw dynamics, and eco-climatic and physical CH4-centric type classification. The results of this new data set comprise daily CH4 emissions from lake and reservoirs throughout the full annual cycle and are tightly anchored to field observations, in situ measurements, and remote-sensing observations. Results show that reservoirs cover 297 × 103 km2 globally and emit 10.1 Tg CH4 yr-1 from diffusive (1.2 Tg CH4 yr-1) and ebullitive (8.9 Tg CH4 yr-1) emission pathways. On a global scale, CH4 emitting areas of lakes cover 1853 × 103 km2 and emit 37.1 Tg CH4 yr-1 from diffusive (17.1 Tg CH4 yr-1) and ebullitive (23.0 Tg CH4 yr-1) emission pathways and an additional ebullition flux of 5.2 Tg CH4 yr-1 upon ice-melt due to the accumulation of bubbles during the freeze period. This analysis of lakes and reservoir CH4 emission addresses multiple gaps and uncertainties in previous studies and represents an important contribution to studies of the global CH4 budget. The new data sets and methodologies from this study provide a framework to better understand and model the current and future role of lakes and reservoirs in the global CH4 budget and to guide efforts to mitigate inland aquatic system CH4 emissions. This presentation will describe the methodologies applied and the major results of this study focusing on the spatiotemporal distribution of lake and reservoir type classification, processes driving lake and reservoir emission seasonality, and the contribution of individual lake and reservoir types to the annual cycle of inland aquatic CH4 emissions.

Spatiotemporal↗

NASA NTRS1987

Satellite-derived attributes of cloud vortex systems and their application to climate studies

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) visible and infrared mosaics are analyzed in conjunction with synoptic meteorological observations of sea level pressure (SLP) and upper-air height to derive composite patterns of cyclonic cloud vortices for the Northern Hemisphere. The patterns reveal variations in the structure and implied dynamics of cyclonic systems at different stages of development that include: (1) increasing vertical symmetry of the lower-level and upper-air circulations and (2) decreasing lower-tropospheric thicknesses and temperature advection, associated with increasing age of the vortex. Cloud vortices are more intense in winter than in summer and typically reach maximum intensity in the short-lived prespiral signature stage. There are major structural differences among frontal wave, polar air, and 'instant occlusion' cyclogenesis types. Cyclones in the dissipation stage may reintensify (deepen), as denoted by the appearance in the imagery of an asymmetric cloud band or a tightened spiral vortex. The satellite-derived statistics on cloud vortex intensity, which are seasonal- and latitude- as well as type-dependent, are applied to a preliminary examination of the synoptic manifestations of seasonal climate variability. An apparently close relationship is found, for two winter and spring seasons, between Northern Hemisphere cyclonic activity and variations in cryosphere variables, particularly the extent of Arctic sea ice. The results may indicate that increased snow and ice extent accompany a southward displacement of cyclonic activity and/or a predominance of deeper systems. However, there is also a strong regional dependence to the ice-synoptics feedback. This study demonstrates the utility of high resolution meteorological satellite imagery for studies of climate variations (climate dynamics).

Carleton, Andrew M.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Effects of Topography on Tropical Forest Structure Depend on Climate Context

Topography affects abiotic conditions which can influence the structure, function, and dynamics of ecological communities. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated biological consequences of fine-scale topographic heterogeneity but we have a limited understanding of how We merged high-resolution (1 sq. meter) data on topography and canopy height derived from airborne lidar with ground-based data from 15 forest plots in Puerto Rico distributed along a precipitation gradient spanning ca. 800 to 3,500 mm yr(exp -1). Ground-based data included species composition, estimated above-ground biomass (AGB), and two key functional traits (wood density and leaf mass per area, LMA) that reflect resource-use strategies and a trade-off between hydraulic safety and hydraulic efficiency. We used hierarchical Bayesian models to evaluate how the interaction between topography climate is related to metrics of forest structure (i.e., canopy height and AGB), as well as taxonomic and functional alpha- and beta-diversity. Fine-scale topography (characterized with the topographic wetness index, TWI) significantly affected forest structure and the strength (and in some cases direction) of these effects varied across the precipitation gradient. In all plots, canopy height increased with topographic wetness but the effect was much stronger in dry compared to wet forest plots. In dry forest plots, topographically wetter microsites also had higher levels of AGB but in wet forest plots, topographically drier microsites had higher AGB. Fine-scale topography influenced functional composition but had only weak or non-significant effects on taxonomic and functional alpha- and beta-diversity. For instance, community-weighted wood density followed a similar pattern to AGB across plots. We also found a marginally significant association between variation of wood density and topographic heterogeneity that depended on climate context. Synthesis: The effects of fine-scale topographic heterogeneity on tropical forest structure and composition depend on the climate context. Our study demonstrates how a stronger integration of topographic heterogeneity across precipitation gradients could improve estimates of forest structure and biomass, and may provide insight to the ways that topography might mediate species responses to drought and climate change.

Tropical dry forest↗

NASA NTRS2000

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission: A Global DEM

Digital topographic data are critical for a variety of civilian, commercial, and military applications. Scientists use Digital Elevation Models (DEM) to map drainage patterns and ecosystems, and to monitor land surface changes over time. The mountain-building effects of tectonics and the climatic effects of erosion can also be modeled with DEW The data's military applications include mission planning and rehearsal, modeling and simulation. Commercial applications include determining locations for cellular phone towers, enhanced ground proximity warning systems for aircraft, and improved maps for backpackers. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) (Fig. 1), is a cooperative project between NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. The mission is designed to use a single-pass radar interferometer to produce a digital elevation model of the Earth's land surface between about 60 degrees north and south latitude. The DEM will have 30 m pixel spacing and about 15 m vertical errors.

Farr, Tom G.↗

NASA NTRS2020

Comparison of past and future simulations of ENSO in CMIP5/PMIP3 and CMIP6/PMIP4 models

El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the strongest mode of interannual climate variability in the current climate, influencing ecosystems, agriculture, and weather systems across the globe, but future projections of ENSO frequency and amplitude remain highly uncertain. A comparison of changes in ENSO in a range of past and future climate simulations can provide insights into the sensitivity of ENSO to changes in the mean state, including changes in the seasonality of incoming solar radiation, global average temperatures, and spatial patterns of sea surface temperatures. As a comprehensive set of coupled model simulations is now available for both palaeoclimate time slices (the Last Glacial Maximum, mid-Holocene, and last interglacial) and idealised future warming scenarios (1 % per year CO2 increase, abrupt four-time CO2 increase), this allows a detailed evaluation of ENSO changes in this wide range of climates. Such a comparison can assist in constraining uncertainty in future projections, providing insights into model agreement and the sensitivity of ENSO to a range of factors. The majority of models simulate a consistent weakening of ENSO activity in the last interglacial and mid-Holocene experiments, and there is an ensemble mean reduction of variability in the western equatorial Pacific in the Last Glacial Maximum experiments. Changes in global temperature produce a weaker precipitation response to ENSO in the cold Last Glacial Maximum experiments and an enhanced precipitation response to ENSO in the warm increased CO2 experiments. No consistent relationship between changes in ENSO amplitude and annual cycle was identified across experiments.

El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)↗

NASA NTRS2016

LS3MIP (v1.0) Contribution to CMIP6: The Land Surface, Snow and Soil Moisture Model Intercomparison Project Aims, Setup and Expected Outcome.

The Land Surface, Snow and Soil Moisture Model Intercomparison Project (LS3MIP) is designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of land surface, snow, and soil moisture feedbacks on climate variability and climate change, and to diagnose systematic biases in the land modules of current Earth System Models (ESMs). The solid and liquid water stored at the land surface has a large influence on the regional climate, its variability and predictability, including effects on the energy, water and carbon cycles. Notably, snow and soil moisture affect surface radiation and flux partitioning properties, moisture storage and land surface memory. They both strongly affect atmospheric conditions, in particular surface air temperature and precipitation, but also large-scale circulation patterns. However, models show divergent responses and representations of these feedbacks as well as systematic biases in the underlying processes. LS3MIP will provide the means to quantify the associated uncertainties and better constrain climate change projections, which is of particular interest for highly vulnerable regions (densely populated areas, agricultural regions, the Arctic, semi-arid and other sensitive terrestrial ecosystems).The experiments are subdivided in two components, the first addressing systematic land biases in offline mode (LMIP, building upon the 3rd phase of Global Soil Wetness Project; GSWP3) and the second addressing land feedbacks attributed to soil moisture and snow in an integrated framework (LFMIP, building upon the GLACE-CMIP blueprint).

atmospheric temperature↗

NASA NTRS2012

Climate Variability and Phytoplankton in the Pacific Ocean

The effect of climate variability on phytoplankton communities was assessed for the tropical and sub-tropical Pacific Ocean between 1998 and 2005 using an established biogeochemical assimilation model. The phytoplankton communities exhibited wide range of responses to climate variability, from radical shifts in the Equatorial Pacific, to changes of only a couple of phytoplankton groups in the North Central Pacific, to no significant changes in the South Pacific. In the Equatorial Pacific, climate variability dominated the variability of phytoplankton. Here, nitrate, chlorophyll and all but one of the 4 phytoplankton types (diatoms, cyanobacteria and coccolithophores) were strongly correlated (p<0.01) with the Multivariate El Nino Southern Oscillation Index (MEI). In the North Central Pacific, MEI and chlorophyll were significantly (p<0.01) correlated along with two of the phytoplankton groups (chlorophytes and coccolithophores). Ocean biology in the South Pacific was not significantly correlated with MEI. During La Nina events, diatoms increased and expanded westward along the cold tongue (correlation with MEI, r=-0.81), while cyanobacteria concentrations decreased significantly (r=0.78). El Nino produced the reverse pattern, with cyanobacteria populations increasing while diatoms plummeted. The diverse response of phytoplankton in the different major basins of the Pacific suggests the different roles climate variability can play in ocean biology.

Rousseaux, Cecile↗

NASA NTRS1995

Intercomparison of hydrologic processes in global climate models

In this report, we address the intercomparison of precipitation (P), evaporation (E), and surface hydrologic forcing (P-E) for 23 Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) general circulation models (GCM's) including relevant observations, over a variety of spatial and temporal scales. The intercomparison includes global and hemispheric means, latitudinal profiles, selected area means for the tropics and extratropics, ocean and land, respectively. In addition, we have computed anomaly pattern correlations among models and observations for different seasons, harmonic analysis for annual and semiannual cycles, and rain-rate frequency distribution. We also compare the joint influence of temperature and precipitation on local climate using the Koeppen climate classification scheme.

Lau, W. K.-M.↗

NASA NTRS2012

The Effect of ENSO on Phytoplankton Composition in the Pacific Ocean

The effect of climate variability on phytoplankton communities was assessed for the tropical and sub-tropical Pacific Ocean between 1998 and 2005 using an established biogeochemical assimilation model. The phytoplankton communities exhibited wide range of responses to climate variability, from radical shifts in the Equatorial Pacific, to changes of only a couple of phytoplankton groups in the North Central Pacific, to no significant changes in the South Pacific. In the Equatorial Pacific, climate variability dominated the variability of phytoplankton. Here, nitrate, chlorophyll and all but one of the 4 phytoplankton types (diatoms, cyanobacteria and coccolithophores) were strongly correlated (p less than 0.01) with the Multivariate El Nino Southern Oscillation Index (MEI). In the North Central Pacific, MEI and chlorophyll were significantly (p<0.01) correlated along with two of the phytoplankton groups (chlorophytes and coccolithophores). Ocean biology in the South Pacific was not significantly correlated with MEI. During La Ni a events, diatoms increased and expanded westward along the cold tongue (correlation with MEI, r=-0.81), while cyanobacteria concentrations decreased significantly (r=0.78). El Nino produced the reverse pattern, with cyanobacteria populations increasing while diatoms plummeted. The diverse response of phytoplankton in the different major basins of the Pacific suggests the different roles climate variability can play in ocean biology.

Rousseaux, Cecile↗

NASA NTRS1982

Linear trends in Northern Hemisphere tropospheric geopotential height and temperature patterns

Gridded National Meteorological Center data for 500 mb geopotential height and 300-500 mb and 500-700 mb thickness for the period 1951-1978 are subjected to linear trend analyses. The analyses are carried out for each calendar month. Significant geographical and seasonal distributions of cooling and warming patterns are found. An atmospheric cooling trend over the North Pacific during the winter months is seen in a region where oceanic cooling has also been observed, but planetary-wave adjustments rather than ocean-atmosphere feedback mechanisms appear to be dominant in the atmospheric cooling on climatic time scales. Consistently large temperature trends are also seen over the continent of Asia. Comparisons between thickness trends in the layer 300-500 mb and those in the layer 500-700 mb reveal pronounced patterns of stabilization and destabilization.

Reiter, E. R.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Interdisciplinary Determination of Ice Sheet Accumulation Patterns: Combined Atmospheric Modeling and Field and Remote Sensing Studies

This research is focusing on two related areas that are fundamental to the NASA PARCA (Program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment) program. The primary research area is the determination of the amount, rate, and timing of accumulation at distributed sites in the dry snow zone of Greenland and evaluation of these results in light of accumulation modeling results. The secondary research area is the calibration of the isotope "thermometer" at these ice sheet sites as well as the determination of long-term temperature trends in Greenland.

Shuman, C. A.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions Modulate Irrigation's Climate Impacts

Numerous studies have focused on the local and regional climate effects of irrigated agriculture and other land cover and land use change (LCLUC) phenomena, but there are few studies on the role of ocean- atmosphere interaction in modulating irrigation climate impacts. Here, we compare simulations with and without interactive sea surface temperatures of the equilibrium effect on climate of contemporary (year 2000) irrigation geographic extent and intensity. We find that ocean-atmosphere interaction does impact the magnitude of global-mean and spatially varying climate impacts, greatly increasing their global reach. Local climate effects in the irrigated regions remain broadly similar, while non-local effects, particularly over the oceans, tend to be larger. The interaction amplifies irrigation-driven standing wave patterns in the tropics and mid-latitudes in our simulations, approximately doubling the global-mean amplitude of surface temperature changes due to irrigation. The fractions of global area experiencing significant annual-mean surface air temperature and precipitation change also approximately double with ocean-atmosphere interaction. Subject to confirmation with other models, these findings imply that LCLUC is an important contributor to climate change even in remote areas such as the Southern Ocean, and that attribution studies should include interactive oceans and need to consider LCLUC, including irrigation, as a truly global forcing that affects climate and the water cycle over ocean as well as land areas.

Air water interactioins↗