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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

Synoptic Traveling Weather Systems on Mars: Effects of Radiatively-Active Water Ice Clouds

Atmospheric aerosols on Mars are critical in determining the nature of its thermal structure, its large-scale circulation, and hence the overall climate of the planet. We conduct multi-annual simulations with the latest version of the NASA Ames Mars global climate model (GCM), gcm2.3+, that includes a modernized radiative-transfer package and complex water-ice cloud microphysics package which permit radiative effects and interactions of suspended atmospheric aerosols (e.g., water ice clouds, water vapor, dust, and mutual interactions) to influence the net diabatic heating. Results indicate that radiatively active water ice clouds profoundly affect the seasonal and annual mean climate. The mean thermal structure and balanced circulation patterns are strongly modified near the surface and aloft. Warming of the subtropical atmosphere at altitude and cooling of the high latitude atmosphere at low levels takes place, which increases the mean pole-to-equator temperature contrast (i.e., "baroclinicity"). With radiatively active water ice clouds (RAC) compared to radiatively inert water ice clouds (nonRAC), significant changes in the intensity of the mean state and forced stationary Rossby modes occur, both of which affect the vigor and intensity of traveling, synoptic period weather systems.Such weather systems not only act as key agents in the transport of heat and momentum beyond the extent of the Hadley circulation, but also the transport of trace species such as water vapor, water ice-clouds, dust and others. The northern hemisphere (NH) forced Rossby waves and resultant wave train are augmented in the RAC case: the modes are more intense and the wave train is shifted equatorward. Significant changes also occur within the subtropics and tropics. The Rossby wave train sets up, combined with the traveling synoptic period weather systems (i.e., cyclones and anticyclones), the geographic extent of storm zones (or storm tracks) within the NH. A variety of circulation features will be presented which indicate contrasts between the RAC and nonRAC cases, and which highlight key effects radiatively-active clouds have on physical and dynamical processes active in the current climate of Mars.

GCM-global climate model↗
NASA NTRS2016

Synoptic Traveling Weather Systems on Mars: Effects of Radiatively-Active Water Ice Clouds

Atmospheric aerosols on Mars are critical in determining the nature of its thermal structure, its large-scale circulation, and hence the overall climate of the planet. We conduct multi-annual simulations with the latest version of the NASA Ames Mars global climate model (GCM), gcm2.3+, that includes a modernized radiative-transfer package and complex water-ice cloud microphysics package which permit radiative effects and interactions of suspended atmospheric aerosols (e.g., water ice clouds, water vapor, dust, and mutual interactions) to influence the net diabatic heating. Results indicate that radiatively active water ice clouds profoundly affect the seasonal and annual mean climate. The mean thermal structure and balanced circulation patterns are strongly modified near the surface and aloft. Warming of the subtropical atmosphere at altitude and cooling of the high latitude atmosphere at low levels takes place, which increases the mean pole-to-equator temperature contrast (i.e., "baroclinicity"). With radiatively active water ice clouds (RAC) compared to radiatively inert water ice clouds (nonRAC), significant changes in the intensity of the mean state and forced stationary Rossby modes occur, both of which affect the vigor and intensity of traveling, synoptic period weather systems. Such weather systems not only act as key agents in the transport of heat and momentum beyond the extent of the Hadley circulation, but also the transport of trace species such as water vapor, water ice-clouds, dust and others. The northern hemisphere (NH) forced Rossby waves and resultant wave train are augmented in the RAC case: the modes are more intense and the wave train is shifted equatorward. Significant changes also occur within the subtropics and tropics. The Rossby wave train sets up, combined with the traveling synoptic-period weather systems (i.e., cyclones and anticyclones), the geographic extent of storm zones (or storm tracks) within the NH. A variety of circulation features will be presented which indicate contrasts between the RAC and nonRAC cases, and which highlight key effects radiatively-active clouds have on physical and dynamical processes active in the current climate of Mars.

NASA Ames Mars global climate model (GCM)↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Possible climate histories of Venus type worlds

There are two well-known scenarios for Venus’ climate evolution. In one Venus had a long-lived magma ocean phase in its first 100Myr with a steam and CO2dominated atmosphere[1]. The faint young sun with its high XUV flux would cause photo-dissociation of the steam atmosphere and hydrodynamic escape would cause most of the hydrogen to escape and the left over oxygen would be absorbed by the magma ocean. Hence Venus would have started out hot and dry and the high D/H ratio measured by Pioneer Venus [2] would be from this period of water loss. The other scenario is that Venus’ magma ocean lifetime would have been roughly the same length of time as Earth’s (~1Myr) and water would have condensed on its surface in its early history. As long as Venus remained in the slowly rotating climate dynamics regime [3,4] its cloud albedo feedback would have kept it temperate for possibly billions of years. The only way to confirm which one of these scenarios occurred for Venus is to visit it and make the necessary measurements of noble and volatile gases [5].But exoplanet observations of young exo-Venus type worlds around young F,G,K dwarf stars may constrain whether both scenarios are equally probable for a population of such planets. We present a vision of Venus’ climate history that places it and its exo-Venus cousins in an ‘Optimistic Venus Zone’ within the conventionally named ‘Venus Zone’ [6] and hence encourage the exoplanet community to seek out these worlds as possible habitable environments.

Venus’ climate evolution↗
NASA NTRS2023

Stratospheric Water Vapor Affecting Atmospheric Circulation

Water vapor plays an important role in many aspects of the climate system, by affecting radiation, cloud formation, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics. Even the low stratospheric water vapor content provides an important climate feedback, but current climate models show a substantial moist bias in the lowermost stratosphere. Here we report crucial sensitivity of the atmospheric circulation in the stratosphere and troposphere to the abundance of water vapor in the lowermost stratosphere. We show from a mechanistic climate model experiment and inter-model variability that lowermost stratospheric water vapor decreases local temperatures, and thereby causes an upward and poleward shift of subtropical jets, a strengthening of the stratospheric circulation, a poleward shift of the tropospheric eddy-driven jet and regional climate impacts. The mechanistic model experiment in combination with atmospheric observations further shows that the prevailing moist bias in current models is likely caused by the transport scheme, and can be alleviated by employing a less diffusive Lagrangian scheme. The related effects on atmospheric circulation are of similar magnitude as climate change effects. Hence, lowermost stratospheric water vapor exerts a first order effect on atmospheric circulation and improving its representation in models offers promising prospects for future research.

stratosphere↗
NASA NTRS1980

Protostellar formation in rotating interstellar clouds. II - Axially symmetric collapse

A two spatial dimension gravitational hydrodynamics code has been used to calculate the initial isothermal dynamic collapse phase of axially symmetric, rotating interstellar clouds. The Eulerian code has been constructed so as to conserve angular momentum both locally (approximately) and globally (exactly). An axially symmetric, rotating cloud collapses to form a rotating, near-equilibrium ring. The rings so formed are compared with those found previously by Black and Bodenheimer, and Bodenheimer and Tscharnuter, and found to agree in structure fairly well. Numerical tests with the code, as well as an analytic calculation of the collapse of a pressureless, rotating, axially symmetric cloud in a fixed gravitational potential, support the assertion that the observed ring formation is physically realistic.

Boss, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS1989

The fragmentation of proto-globular clusters. I - Thermal instabilities

The metal abundances among the stars within a typical globular cluster are remarkably homogeneous. This indicates that star formation in these systems was a globally coordinated event which occurred over a time span less than or comparable to the collapse time scale of the cluster. This issue is addressed by assuming that the fragmentation of a proto-globular cluster cloud proceeded in two steps. In the first step, thermal instability led to the rapid growth of initial fluctuations. This led to a large contrast in the dynamical time scales between the perturbations and the parent cloud, and the perturbations then underwent gravitational instabilities on short time scales. This process is modeled using one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of clouds both with and without external heat sources and self-gravity. The models include the effects of a non-equilibrium H2 abundance. The results indicate that fragmentation can occur on time scales significantly less than the dynamical time scale of the parent cloud.

Murray, Stephen D.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Fragmentation in a rotating protostar - A re-examination of comparison calculations

The self-gravitating collapse of a rotating, isothermal protostellar cloud has been recalculated with two independent fluid-dynamic computer codes, in three space dimensions, with improved spatial resolution compared to previous calculations. The results again predict fragmentation and formation of a binary protostellar system with properties similar to those obtained in the lower-resolution calculations. The results, however, are in disagreement with those obtained with a particle-dynamic code by Gingold and Monaghan (1981) for the collapse of a cloud from the same initial conditions. Possible explanations for the divergent results are discussed.

Bodenheimer, P.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Cosmic-ray acceleration during the impact of shocks on dense clouds

In order to elucidate the properties of diffusive shock acceleration in nonuniform environments, an extensive set of simulations of the dynamical interactions between plane nonradiative shocks and dense gas clouds was carried out initially in static equilibrium with their environments. These time-dependent calculations are based on the two-fluid model for diffusive cosmic ray transport, and include the dynamically active energetic proton component of the cosmic rays as well as passive electron and magnetic field components. Except when the incident shock is itself already dominated by cosmic ray pressure, it is found that the presence of the cloud adds little to the net acceleration efficiency of the original shock and can, in fact, reduce slightly the net amount of energy transferred to cosmic rays after a given time. It is found that, in 2D cloud simulations, the always-weak bow shock and the shock inside the cloud are less important to acceleration during the interaction than the tail shock.

Jones, T. W.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Exploring the origin of the distance bimodality of stars in the periphery of the Small Magellanic Cloud with APOGEE and Gaia

ABSTRACT The Magellanic Cloud system represents a unique laboratory for study of both interacting dwarf galaxies and the ongoing process of the formation of the Milky Way and its halo. We focus on one aspect of this complex, three-body interaction – the dynamical perturbation of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) by the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and specifically potential tidal effects on the SMC’s eastern side. Using Gaia astrometry and the precise radial velocities (RVs) and multielement chemical abundances from Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2) Data Release 17, we explore the well-known distance bimodality on the eastern side of the SMC. Through estimated stellar distances, proper motions, and RVs, we characterize the kinematics of the two populations in the bimodality and compare their properties with those of SMC populations elsewhere. Moreover, while all regions explored by APOGEE seem to show a single chemical enrichment history, the metallicity distribution function (MDF), of the ‘far’ stars on the eastern periphery of the SMC is found to resemble that for the more metal-poor fields of the western periphery, whereas the MDF for the ‘near’ stars on the eastern periphery resembles that for stars in the SMC Centre. The closer eastern periphery stars also show RVs (corrected for SMC rotation and bulk motion) that are, on average, approaching us relative to all other SMC populations sampled. We interpret these trends as evidence that the near stars on the eastern side of the SMC represent material pulled out of the central SMC as part of its tidal interaction with the LMC.

Almeida, Andres (ORCID:0009000007332479)↗
NASA NTRS2013

Global Weather States and Their Properties from Passive and Active Satellite Cloud Retrievals

In this study, the authors apply a clustering algorithm to International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) cloud optical thickness-cloud top pressure histograms in order to derive weather states (WSs) for the global domain. The cloud property distribution within each WS is examined and the geographical variability of each WS is mapped. Once the global WSs are derived, a combination of CloudSat and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) vertical cloud structure retrievals is used to derive the vertical distribution of the cloud field within each WS. Finally, the dynamic environment and the radiative signature of the WSs are derived and their variability is examined. The cluster analysis produces a comprehensive description of global atmospheric conditions through the derivation of 11 WSs, each representing a distinct cloud structure characterized by the horizontal distribution of cloud optical depth and cloud top pressure. Matching those distinct WSs with cloud vertical profiles derived from CloudSat and CALIPSO retrievals shows that the ISCCP WSs exhibit unique distributions of vertical layering that correspond well to the horizontal structure of cloud properties. Matching the derived WSs with vertical velocity measurements shows a normal progression in dynamic regime when moving from the most convective to the least convective WS. Time trend analysis of the WSs shows a sharp increase of the fair-weather WS in the 1990s and a flattening of that increase in the 2000s. The fact that the fair-weather WS is the one with the lowest cloud radiative cooling capability implies that this behavior has contributed excess radiative warming to the global radiative budget during the 1990s.

histograms↗
NASA NTRS1991

Atmospheric radiation

Studies of atmospheric radiative processes are summarized for the period 1987-1990. Topics discussed include radiation modeling; clouds and radiation; radiative effects in dynamics and climate; radiation budget and aerosol effects; and gaseous absorption, particulate scattering and surface reflection. It is concluded that the key developments of the period are a defining of the radiative forcing to the climate system by trace gases and clouds, the recognition that cloud microphysics and morphology need to be incorporated not only into radiation models but also climate models, and the isolation of a few important unsolved theoretical problems in atmospheric radiation.

HARSHVARDHAN↗
NASA NTRS2022

Measurement report: Closure Analysis of Aerosol–cloud Composition in Tropical Maritime Warm Convection

Cloud droplet chemical composition is a key observable property that can aid understanding of how aerosols and clouds interact. As part of the Clouds, Aerosols and Monsoon Processes – Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex), three case studies were analyzed involving collocated airborne sampling of relevant clear and cloudy air masses associated with maritime warm convection. Two of the cases represented a polluted marine background, with signatures of transported East Asian regional pollution, aged over water for several days, while the third case comprised a major smoke transport event from Kalimantan fires. Sea salt was a dominant component of cloud droplet composition, in spite of fine particulate enhancement from regional anthropogenic sources. Furthermore, the proportion of sea salt was enhanced relative to sulfate in rainwater and may indicate both a propensity for sea salt to aid warm rain production and an increased collection efficiency of large sea salt particles by rain in subsaturated environments. Amongst cases, as precipitation became more significant, so too did the variability in the sea salt to (non-sea salt) sulfate ratio. Across cases, nitrate and ammonium were fractionally greater in cloud water than fine-mode aerosol particles; however, a strong covariability in cloud water nitrate and sea salt was suggestive of prior uptake of nitrate on large salt particles. A mass-based closure analysis of non-sea salt sulfate compared the cloud water air-equivalent mass concentration to the concentration of aerosol particles serving as cloud condensation nuclei for droplet activation. While sulfate found in cloud was generally constrained by the sub-cloud aerosol concentration, there was significant intra-cloud variability that was attributed to entrainment – causing evaporation of sulfate-containing droplets –and losses due to precipitation. In addition, precipitation tended to promote mesoscale variability in the sub-cloud aerosol through a combination of removal, convective downdrafts, and dynamically driven convergence. Physical mechanisms exerted such strong control over the cloud water compositional budget that it was not possible to isolate any signature of chemical production/loss using in-cloud observations. The cloud-free environment surrounding the non-precipitating smoke case indicated sulfate enhancement compared to convective mixing quantified by a stable gas tracer; however, this was not observed in the cloud water (either through use of ratios or the mass closure), perhaps implying that the warm convective cloud timescale was too short for chemical production to be a leading-order budgetary term and because precursors had already been predominantly exhausted. Closure of other species was truncated by incomplete characterization of coarse aerosol (e.g., it was found that only 10 %–50% of sea salt mass found in cloud was captured during clear-air sampling) and unmeasured gasphase abundances affecting closure of semi-volatile aerosol species (e.g., ammonium, nitrate and organic) and soluble volatile organic compound contributions to total organic carbon in cloud water.

Ewan Crosbie↗
NASA NTRS1994

Observations in the sheath region ahead of a magnetic cloud and in the dayside magnetosheath during magnetic cloud passage

We present magnetic field and particle (protons and electrons) observations in the sheath region behind an interplanetary shock driven by a magnetic cloud, and in the magnetic cloud itself. We also discuss observations in the dayside terrestrial magnetosheath during cloud passage. We find that the region ahead of the cloud is in pressure balance. Further, throughout its extent (greater than 0.06 AU), the magnetic field strength is anticorrelated with the plasma density, with the latter decreasing steadily as the cloud is approached. This behavior is indicative of magnetic forces influencing the flow topology and highlights a large-scale breakdown of predictions based solely on gas dynamical considerations. We also study density structures inside the cloud which result in an undulating dynamic pressure being applied to the magnetopause causing it to oscillate with amplitudes of approximately 1-3 Re and period approximately 2h.

Farrugia, C. J.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Radar Detectability Studies of Slow and Small Zodiacal Dust Cloud Particles. III. The Role of Sodium and the Head Echo Size on the Probability of Detection

We present a path forward on a long-standing issue concerning the flux of small and slow meteoroids, which are believed to be the dominant portion of the incoming meteoric mass flux into the Earth's atmosphere. Such a flux, which is predicted by dynamical dust models of the Zodiacal Cloud, is not evident in ground-based radar observations. For decades this was attributed to the fact that the radars used for meteor observations lack the sensitivity to detect this population, due to the small amount of ionization produced by slow-velocity meteors. Such a hypothesis has been challenged by the introduction of meteor head echo (HE) observations with High Power and Large Aperture radars, in particular the Arecibo 430 MHz radar. Janches et al. developed a probabilistic approach to estimate the detectability of meteors by these radars and initially showed that, with the current knowledge of ablation and ionization, such particles should dominate the detected rates by one to two orders of magnitude compared to the actual observations. In this paper, we include results in our model from recently published laboratory measurements, which showed that (1) the ablation of Na is less intense covering a wider altitude range; and (2) the ionization probability, Beta ip, for Na atoms in the air is up to two orders of magnitude smaller for low speeds than originally believed. By applying these results and using a somewhat smaller size of the HE radar target we offer a solution that reconciles these observations with model predictions.

meteorites↗