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NASA NTRS1989

Utilization of non-conventional systems for conversion of biomass to food components

Described here is work accomplished in investigating the potential use of micro-algae in yielding useful macronutrients for closed ecological life support systems in space habitats. Analysis of the chemical composition of the blue-green alga Synechoccus 6311 was done in the present work, and was compared to values found in previous work on the green algae Scenedesmus obliquus. Similar values were obtained for proteins, and lower values for nucleic acids and lipids. A second part of the work involved fabrication of food products containing various levels of incorporated algae (S. obliquus) proteins and/or lipids. Protein isolate was incorporated into a variety of food products such as bran muffins, fettuccine (spinach noodle imitation), and chocolate chip cookies. In the sensory analysis, the greenish color of the bran muffins and cookies was not found to be objectionable. The mild spinachy flavor was less detectable in chocolate chip cookies than in bran muffins. The color and taste of the algae noodles were found to be pleasant and compared well with commercially available spinach noodles.

Karel, M.↗

NASA NTRS1996

An Idealized Direct-Contact Biomass Pyrolysis Reactor Model

A numerical study is performed in order to assess the performance of biomass pyrolysis reactors which utilize direct particle-wall thermal conduction heating. An idealized reactor configuration consisting of a flat-plate turbulent boundary layer flow with particle convection along the heated wall and incorporating particle re-entrainment is considered.

biomass boundary layer modeling pyrolysis tar vort↗

NASA NTRS2013

Trash-to-Gas: Using Waste Products to Minimize Logistical Mass During Long Duration Space Missions

Just as waste-to-energy processes utilizing municipal landftll and biomass wastes are finding increased terrestrial uses, the Trash-to-Gas (TtG) project seeks to convert waste generated during spaceflight into high value commodities. These include methane for propulsion and water for life support in addition to a variety of other gasses. TtG is part of the Logistic Reduction and Repurposing (LRR) project under the NASA Advanced Exploration Systems Program. The LRR project will enable a largely mission-independent approach to minimize logistics contributions to total mission architecture mass. LRR includes technologies that reduce the amount of consumables that need to be sent to space, repurpose items sent to space, or convert wastes to commodities. Currently, waste generated on the International Space Station is stored inside a logistic module which is de-orbited into Earth's atmosphere for destruction. The waste consists of food packaging, food, clothing and other items. This paper will discuss current results on incineration as a waste processing method. Incineration is part of a two step process to produce methane from waste: first the waste is converted to carbon oxides; second, the carbon oxides are fed to a Sabatier reactor where they are converted to methane. The quantities of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane and water were measured under the different thermal degradation conditions. The overall carbon conversion efficiency and water recovery are discussed.

Hintze, Paul. E.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Trash-to-Gas: Using Waste Products to Minimize Logistical Mass During Long Duration Space Missions

Hintze, Paul E.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Central Africa Energy: Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Explore Flared Gas as an Energy Source Alternative to Biomass in Central Africa

Much of Central Africa's economy is centered on oil production. Oil deposits lie below vast amounts of compressed natural gas. The latter is often flared off during oil extraction due to a lack of the infrastructure needed to utilize it for productive energy generation. Though gas flaring is discouraged by many due to its contributions to greenhouse emissions, it represents a waste process and is rarely tracked or recorded in this region. In contrast to this energy waste, roughly 80% of Africa's population lacks access to electricity and in turn uses biomass such as wood for heat and light. In addition to the dangers incurred from collecting and using biomass, the practice commonly leads to ecological change through the acquisition of wood from forests surrounding urban areas. The objective of this project was to gain insight on domestic energy usage in Central Africa, specifically Angola, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo. This was done through an analysis of deforestation, an estimation of gas flared, and a suitability study for the infrastructure needed to realize the natural gas resources. The energy from potential natural gas production was compared to the energy equivalent of the biomass being harvested. A site suitability study for natural gas pipeline routes from flare sites to populous locations was conducted to assess the feasibility of utilizing natural gas for domestic energy needs. Analyses and results were shared with project partners, as well as this project's open source approach to assessing the energy sector. Ultimately, Africa's growth demands energy for its people, and natural gas is already being produced by the flourishing petroleum industry in numerous African countries. By utilizing this gas, Africa could reduce flaring, recuperate the financial and environmental loss that flaring accounts for, and unlock a plentiful domestic energy source for its people. II. Introduction Background Africa is home to numerous burgeoning economies; a significant number rely on oil production as their primary source of revenue. Relative to its size and population density, the continent has a wealth of natural resources, including oil and natural gas deposits. The exploration of these resources is not a new endeavor, but rather one that spans decades, up to a century in some places. Their resources, if realized, could provide a great means of economic and social mobility for the people of Africa. Currently, Africa represents about 12 % of the energy market, yet at the same time, consumes only 3 % of the world's energy (Kasekende 2009). The higher

Jones, Amber↗

NASA NTRS1987

Potential application of multipolarization SAR for pine-plantation biomass estimation

This paper presents the technique and the potential utility of multipolarization Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data for pine-plantation biomass estimation. Three channels of SAR data, one from the Shuttle Imaging Radar SIR-A and the other two from the aircraft SAR, were acquired over the Baldwin County, Alabama, study area. The SIR-A data were acquired with HH polarization and the aircraft SAR data with VV and VH polarizations. Linear regression techniques are used to estimate the pine-plantation biomass, tree height, and age using 21 test plots. The results indicate that the multipolarization data are highly related to the plantation biomass. The results suggest a potential application of multipolarization SAR for pine-plantation biomass estimation.

Wu, Shih-Tseng↗

NASA NTRS1974

Range vegetation type mapping and above-ground green biomass estimations using multispectral imagery

The author has identified the following significant results. Range vegetation types have been successfully mapped on a portion of the 68,000 acre study site located west of Baggs, Wyoming, using ERTS-1 imagery. These types have been ascertained from field transects over a five year period. Comparable studies will be made with EREP imagery. Above-ground biomass estimation studies are being conducted utilizing double sampling techniques on two similar study sites. Information obtained will be correlated with percent relative reflectance measurements obtained on the ground which will be related to image brightness levels. This will provide an estimate of above-ground green biomass with multispectral imagery.

Houston, R. S.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Aboveground Biomass Estimation in a Tidal Brackish Marsh Using Simulated Thematic Mapper Spectral Data

Spectral radiance data were collected from the ground and from a low altitude aircraft in an attempt to gain some insight into the potential utility of actual Thematic Mapper data for biomass estimation in wetland plant communities. No attempt was made to distinguish individual plant species within brackish marsh plant associations. Rather, it was decided to lump plant species with similar canopy morphologies and then estimate from spectral radiance data the biomass of the group. The rationale for such an approach is that plants with a similar morphology will produce a similar reflecting or absorping surface (i.e., canopy) for incoming electromagnetic radiation. Variations in observed reflectance from different plant communities with a similar canopy morphology are more likely to be a result of biomass differences than a result of differences in canopy architecture. If the hypothesis that plants with a similar morphology exhibit similar reflectance characteristics is true, then biomass can be estimated based on a model for the dominant plant morphology within a plant association and the need for species discrimination has effectively been eliminated.

Hardisky, M.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Evaluation of spatial, radiometric and spectral Thematic Mapper performance for coastal studies

A series of experiments were initiated to determine the feasibility of using thematic mapper spectral data to estimate wetlands biomass. The experiments were conducted using hand-held radiometers simulating thematic mapper wavebands 3, 4 and 5. Spectral radiance data were collected from the ground and from a low altitude aircraft in an attempt to gain some insight into the potential utility of actual thematic mapper data for biomass estimation in wetland plant communities. In addition, radiative transfer models describing volume reflectance of eight water column containing submerged aquatic vegetation were refined.

Klemas, V.↗

NASA NTRS1994

North African savanna fires and atmospheric carbon dioxide

The effect of north African savanna fires on atmospheric CO2 is investigated using a tracer transport model. The model uses winds from operational numerical weather prediction analyses and provides CO2 concentrations as a function of space and time. After a spin-up period of several years, biomass-burning sources are added, and model experiments are run for an additional year, utilizing various estimates of CO2 sources. The various model experiments show that biomass burning in the north African savannas significantly affects CO2 concentrations in South America. The effect is more pronounced during the period from January through March, when biomass burning in South America is almost nonexistent. During this period, atmospheric CO2 concentrations in parts of South America typically may increase by 0.5 to 0.75 ppm at 970 mbar, the average pressure of the lowest model layer. These figures are above the probable uncertainty level, as model runs with biomass-burning sources estimated from independent studies using distinct data sets and techniques indicate. From May through September, when severe biomass burning occurs in South America, the effect of north African savanna fires over South America has become generally small at 970 mbar, but north of the equator it may be of the same magnitude or larger than the effect of South American fires. The CO2 concentration increase in the extreme northern and southern portions of South America, however, is mostly due to southern African fires, whose effect may be 2-3 times larger than the effect of South American fires at 970 mbar. Even in the central part of the continent, where local biomass-burning emissions are maximum, southern African fires contribute to at least 15% of the CO2 concentration increase at 970 mbar. At higher levels in the atmosphere, less CO2 emitted by north African savanna fires reaches South America, and at 100 mbar no significant amount of CO2 is transported across the Atlantic Ocean. The vertical structure of the CO2 concentration increase due to biomass burning differs substantially, depending on whether sources are local or remote. A prominent maximum of CO2 concentration increase in the lower layers characterizes the effect of local sources, whereas a more homogeneous profile of CO2 concentration increase characterizes the effect of remote sources. The results demonstrate the strong remote effects of African biomoass burning which, owing to the general circulation of the atmosphere, are felt as far away as South America.

Iacobellis, Sam F.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Analyzing the Effect of Intraseasonal Meteorological Variability and Land Cover on Aerosol-Cloud Interactions During the Amazonian Biomass Burning Season

High resolution aerosol, cloud, water vapor, and atmospheric profile data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are utilized to examine the impact of aerosols on clouds during the Amazonian biomass burning season in Rondnia, Brazil. It is found that increasing background column water vapor (CWV) throughout this transition season between the Amazon dry and wet seasons exerts a strong effect on cloud properties. As a result, aerosol-cloud correlations should be stratified by column water vapor to achieve a more accurate assessment of the effect of aerosols on clouds. Previous studies ignored the systematic changes to meteorological factors during the transition season, leading to possible misinterpretation of their results. Cloud fraction is shown generally to increase with aerosol optical depth (AOD) for both low and high values of column water vapor, whereas the relationship between cloud optical depth (COD) and AOD exhibits a different relationship. COD increases with AOD until AOD approx. 0.25 due to the first indirect (microphysical) effect. At higher values of AOD, COD is found to decrease with increasing AOD, which may be due to: (1) the inhibition of cloud development by absorbing aerosols (radiative effect) and/or (2) a retrieval artifact in which the measured reflectance in the visible is less than expected from a cloud top either from the darkening of clouds through the addition of carbonaceous biomass burning aerosols or subpixel dark surface contamination in the measured cloud reflectance. If (1) is a contributing mechanism, as we suspect, then a linear relationship between the indirect effect and increasing AOD, assumed in a majority of GCMs, is inaccurate since these models do not include treatment of aerosol absorption in and around clouds. The effect of aerosols on both column water vapor and clouds over varying land surface types is also analyzed. The study finds that the difference in column water vapor between forest and pasture is not correlated with aerosol loading, supporting the assumption that temporal variation of column water vapor is primarily a function of the larger-scale meteorology. However, a difference in the response of cloud fraction to increasing AOD is observed between forest and pasture. This suggests that dissimilarities between other meteorological factors, such as atmospheric stability, are likely to have an impact on aerosol-cloud correlations between different land-cover types.

TenHoeve, J. E.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Simple radiative transfer model for relationships between canopy biomass and reflectance

A modified Kubelka-Munk model has been utilized to derive useful equations for the analysis of apparent canopy reflectance. Based on the solution to the model simple working equations were formulated by employing reflectance characteristic parameters. The relationships derived show the asymptotic nature of reflectance data that is typically observed in remote sensing studies of plant biomass. They also establish the range of expected apparent canopy reflectance values for specific plant canopy types. The usefulness of the simplified equations was demonstrated by the exceptionally close fit of the theoretical curves to two separately acquired data sets for alfalfa and shortgrass prairie canopies.

Park, J. K.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Development of visible/infrared/microwave agriculture classification and biomass estimation algorithms, volume 2

Agricultural crop classification models using two or more spectral regions (visible through microwave) were developed and tested and biomass was estimated by including microwave with visible and infrared data. The study was conducted at Guymon, Oklahoma and Dalhart, Texas utilizing aircraft multispectral data and ground truth soil moisture and biomass information. Results indicate that inclusion of C, L, and P band active microwave data from look angles greater than 35 deg from nadir with visible and infrared data improved crop discrimination and biomass estimates compared to results using only visible and infrared data. The active microwave frequencies were sensitive to different biomass levels. In addition, two indices, one using only active microwave data and the other using data from the middle and near infrared bands, were well correlated to total biomass.

Rosenthal, W. D.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Analysis of data acquired by Shuttle Imaging Radar SIR-A and Landsat Thematic Mapper over Baldwin County, Alabama

Seasonally compatible data collected by SIR-A and by Landsat 4 TM over the lower coastal plain in Alabama were coregistered, forming a SIR-A/TM multichannel data set with 30 m x 30 m pixel size. Spectral signature plots and histogram analysis of the data were used to observe data characteristics. Radar returns from pine forest classes correlated highly with the tree ages, suggesting the potential utility of microwave remote sensing for forest biomass estimation. As compared with the TM-only data set, the use of SIR-A/TM data set improved classification accuracy of the seven land cover types studied. In addition, the SIR-A/TM classified data support previous finding by Engheta and Elachi (1982) that microwave data appear to be correlated with differing bottomland hardwood forest vegetation as associated with varying water regimens (i.e., wet versus dry).

Wu, S.-T.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Protocol Development for the NASA-JSC Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project (LMLSTP) Phase 3 Project: A Report on Baseline Studies at KSC for Continuous Salad Production

The Phase 3 Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project (LMLSTP) was conducted in a 20-foot chamber at Johnson Space Center. The overall objective of the Phase 3 project was to conduct a 90-day regenerative life support system test involving 4 human subjects to demonstrate an integrated biological and physicochemical life support system. A secondary objective of the Phase 3 LMLSTP was to demonstrate the ability to produce salad-type vegetable by integration of a small benchtop growth chamber located within the crew habitat area. This small chamber, commercially manufactured as the Controlled Environment Research Ecosystem (CERES 2010(TM)), functioned as a means to continuously provide fresh lettuce crops for crew members. The CERES 2010(TM) growth chamber utilized hardware components developed for effective plant biomass production in spaceflight applications. These components included: (1) LED lighting; (2) Astroculture(TM) Root Trays; and (3) Zeoponic media. In planning for the LMLSTP Phase 3, a request was put forward for KSC scientists to generate a protocol for successful continuous planting, culturing, and harvesting of the salad-crop, lettuce. By conducting baseline tests with components of the CERES 2010(TM), a protocol was developed.

Goins, G. D.↗

NASA NTRS2024

Improved Simulations of Biomass Burning Aerosol Optical Properties and Lifetimes in the NASA GEOS Model during the ORACLES-I Campaign

In order to improve aerosol representation in the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model, we evaluated simulations of the aerosol properties and transport over the southern African biomass burning source and outflow region using observations made during the first deployment of the ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) field campaign in September 2016. An example case study of September 24 was analyzed in detail, during which aircraft-based in-situ and remote sensing observations showed the presence of a multi-layered smoke plume structure with significant vertical variation in single scattering albedo (SSA). Our baseline GEOS simulations were not able to represent the observed SSA variation, nor the observed organic aerosol-to-black carbon ratio (OA : BC). Analyzing the simulated smoke age suggests that the higher altitude, less absorbing smoke plume was younger (~4 days), while the lower altitude and more absorbing smoke plume was older (~7 days). We hypothesize a chemical or microphysical loss process exists to explain the change in aerosol absorption as the smoke plume ages, and we apply a simple 6-day e-folding loss rate to the model hydrophilic biomass burning OA to mimic this process. Adding this loss process required some adjustment to the model assumed scaling factors of aerosol emissions to conserve the regional aerosol loading and further improve the simulated OA : BC ratio. Accordingly, we have increased our biomass burning emissions of OA by 60 % and biomass burning BC by 15 %. We also utilized the ORACLES airborne observations to better constrain the simulation of aerosol optical properties, adjusting the assumed particle size, hygroscopic growth, and absorption. Our final GEOS model simulation with additional OA loss and updated optics showed a better performance in simulating AOD and SSA compared to independent ground and space-based retrievals for the entire month of September 2016, including the OMI Aerosol Index. In terms of radiative implications of our model adjustments, the final GEOS simulation suggested a decreased atmospheric warming of about 10 % (~2 W m -2 ) over the south-east Atlantic region and above the stratocumulus cloud decks compared to the model baseline simulations. These results improve the representation of the smoke age, transport, and optical properties in Earth system models.

aerosols↗

NASA NTRS1983

Satellites for the study of ocean primary productivity

The use of remote sensing techniques for obtaining estimates of global marine primary productivity is examined. It is shown that remote sensing and multiplatform (ship, aircraft, and satellite) sampling strategies can be used to significantly lower the variance in estimates of phytoplankton abundance and of population growth rates from the values obtained using the C-14 method. It is noted that multiplatform sampling strategies are essential to assess the mean and variance of phytoplankton biomass on a regional or on a global basis. The relative errors associated with shipboard and satellite estimates of phytoplankton biomass and primary productivity, as well as the increased statistical accuracy possible from the utilization of contemporaneous data from both sampling platforms, are examined. It is shown to be possible to follow changes in biomass and the distribution patterns of biomass as a function of time with the use of satellite imagery.

Smith, R. C.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Radiative transfer in shrub savanna sites in Niger: Preliminary results from HAPEX-Sahel. Part 3: Optical dynamics and vegetation index sensitivity to biomass and plant cover

A shrub savannah landscape in Niger was optically characterized utilizing blue, green, red and near-infrared wavelengths. Selected vegetation indices were evaluated for their performance and sensitivity to describe the complex Sahelian soil/vegetation canopies. Bidirectional reflectance factors (BRF) of plants and soils were measured at several view angles, and used as input to various vegetation indices. Both soil and vegetation targets had strong anisotropic reflectance properties, rendering all vegetation index (6) responses to be a direct function of sun and view geometry. Soil background influences were shown to alter the response of most vegetation indices. N-space greenness had the smallest dynamic range in VI response, but the n-space brightness index provided additional useful information. The global environmental monitoring index (GEMI) showed a large 6 dynamic range for bare soils, which was undesirable for a vegetation index. The view angle response of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), atmosphere resistant vegetation index (ARVI) and soil atmosphere resistant vegetation index (SARVI) were asymmetric about nadir for multiple view angles, and were, except for the SARVI, altered seriously by soil moisture and/or soil brightness effects. The soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) was least affected by surface soil moisture and was symmetric about nadir for grass vegetation covers. Overall the SAVI, SARVI and the n-space vegetation index performed best under all adverse conditions and were recommended to monitor vegetation growth in the sparsely vegetated Sahelian zone.

vanLeeuwen, W. J. D.↗