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At least 631 records · Page 35

Multithreaded Model for Dynamic Load Balancing Parallel Adaptive PDE Computations

We present a multithreaded model for the dynamic load-balancing of numerical, adaptive computations required for the solution of Partial Differential Equations (PDE's) on multiprocessors. Multithreading is used as a means of exploring concurrency in the processor level in order to tolerate synchronization costs inherent to traditional (non-threaded) parallel adaptive PDE solvers. Our preliminary analysis for parallel, adaptive PDE solvers indicates that multithreading can be used an a mechanism to mask overheads required for the dynamic balancing of processor workloads with computations required for the actual numerical solution of the PDE's. Also, multithreading can simplify the implementation of dynamic load-balancing algorithms, a task that is very difficult for traditional data parallel adaptive PDE computations. Unfortunately, multithreading does not always simplify program complexity, often makes code re-usability not an easy task, and increases software complexity.

Chrisochoides, Nikos↗

A Tool for Medical Research

California Measurements, Inc.'s PC-2 Aerosol Particle Analyzer, developed by William Chiang, a former Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) engineer, was used in a study to measure the size of particles in the medical environment. Chiang has a NASA license for the JPL crystal oscillator technology and originally built the instrument for atmospheric research. In the operating room, it enabled researchers from the University of California to obtain multiple sets of data repeatedly and accurately. The study concluded that significant amounts of aerosols are generated during surgery when power tools are employed, and most of these are in the respirable size. Almost all contain blood and are small enough to pass through surgical masks. Research on the presence of blood aerosols during oral surgery had similar results. Further studies are planned to determine the possibility of HIV transmission during surgery, and the PC-2H will be used to quantify blood aerosols.

Source record↗

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Product Generation System

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Product Generation System (GPGS) is introduced and described. GPGS is a set of computer programs developed and maintained at the Global Hydrology and Climate Center and is designed to generate meteorological data products using visible and infrared measurements from the GOES-East Imager and Sounder instruments. The products that are produced by GPGS are skin temperature, total precipitable water, cloud top pressure, cloud albedo, surface albedo, and surface insolation. A robust cloud mask is also generated. The retrieval methodology for each product is described to include algorithm descriptions and required inputs and outputs for the programs. Validation is supplied where applicable.

Haines, S. L.↗

Improving IPATS Channel-to-Channel Registration Assessment

The Image Navigation and Registration (INR) Performance Assessment Tool Set (IPATS) is a primary tool for assessing INR performance of GOES-R series ABI images. IPATS assesses five INR metrics: navigation, channel-to-channel registration (CCR), frame-to-frame registration, within-frame registration, and swath-to-swath registration. It was discovered that CCR assessment results between Visible-Near-Infrared (VNIR) channels and Infrared (IR) channels exhibits an annual oscillation in the north-south (NS) direction and a diurnal oscillation in the east-west (EW) direction, with an amplitude of approximately 5 μrad and 2.5 μrad, respectively. However, differences of navigation assessment results between VNIR and IR channels do not exhibit the annual or diurnal oscillations observed in CCR results. This indicates that the observed oscillations are due to measurement errors. The characteristics of the oscillations imply that cloud shadows are a possible cause of these measurement errors. In this study, several methods are explored to minimize the impact of cloud shadows on VNIR to IR CCR assessments: a) assessment at landmark locations only; b) using navigation assessment results to filter CCR assessments; c) using the ABI clear-sky-ratio product as a cloud mask; and d) smaller CCR assessment windows. In this paper, each method and a combination of several methods are evaluated based on assessment accuracy and the number of successful assessments. The selected approach is then used to reprocess GOES-16 ABI CCR data to show reductions in the annual and diurnal measurement error oscillations.

INR↗

Microscopic scattering approach to in-gap states: Cr adatoms on superconducting 𝛽−Bi 2 ⁢Pd

We develop a microscopic scattering formalism to describe Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states due to a single Cr adatom on the Bi-terminated surface of 𝛽−Bi 2 ⁢Pd, by combining ab initio Wannier functions with a real-space Green's function approach in the Bogoliubov–de Gennes formalism. Our framework reproduces key scanning tunneling spectroscopy features, including a single particle-hole asymmetric YSR peak and isotropic 𝑑⁢𝐼/𝑑⁢𝑉 maps around the impurity. Decomposing the YSR states reveals contributions from four nearly degenerate 𝐶 4⁢𝑣 representations, with energy broadening masking their individual signatures. Spin-orbit coupling induces partial spin polarization, while the spatial asymmetry between particle and hole components arises from Cr 𝑑−Bi 𝑝 hybridization. These results highlight the importance of realistic band structures and microscopic modeling for interpreting STM data and provide a foundation for studying impurity chains hosting topological excitations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Late diagenetic indicators of buried oil and gas. 2: Direct detection experiment at Cement and Garza fields, Oklahoma and Texas, using enhanced LANDSAT 1 and 2 images

The author has identified the following significant results. The Cement oil field, Oklahoma, was a test site for an experiment designed to evaluate LANDSAT's capability to detect an alteration zone in surface rocks caused by hydrocarbon microseepage. Loss of iron and impregnation of sandstone by carbonate cements and replacement of gypsum by calcite were the major alteration phenomena at Cement. The bedrock alterations were partially masked by unaltered overlying beds, thick soils, and dense natural and cultivated vegetation. Interpreters, biased by detailed ground truth, were able to map the alteration zone subjectively using a magnified, filtered, and sinusoidally stretched LANDSAT composite image; other interpreters, unbiased by ground truth data, could not duplicate that interpretation.

Donovan, T. J.↗

Polar Geophysics Products Derived from AVHRR: The "AVHRR Polar Pathfinder

This NOAA/NASA Pathfinder effort was established to locate, acquire, and process Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery into geo-located and calibrated radiances, cloud masks, surface clear-sky broadband albedo, clear-sky skin temperatures, satellite viewing times, and viewing and solar geometry for the, high-latitude portions of the northern and southern hemispheres (all area north of 48N and south of 53S). AVHRR GAC data for August 1981 - July 1998 were acquired, with some gaps remaining, and processed into twice-daily 5-km grids, with some products also provided at 25-km resolution. AVHRR LAC data for 3.5 years of coverage in the northern hemisphere and 2.75 years of coverage in the southern hemisphere were processed into 1.25-km grids for the same suite of products. The resulting data sets are presently being transferred to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) for archiving and distribution. Using these data, researchers now have at their disposal an extensive AVHRR data set for investigations of high-latitude processes. In addition, the data lend themselves to development and testing of algorithms. The products are particularly relevant for climate research and algorithm development as applied to relatively long time periods and large areas.

Maslanik, James↗

Variability of ozone loss during Arctic winter (1991 to 2000) estimated from UARS Microwave Limb Sounder measurement

A comprehensive analysis of version 5 Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) ozone data using a Lagrangian Transport (LT) model provides estimates of chemical ozone depletion for the 1991-1992 through 1997-1998 Arctic winters. These new estimates give a consistent, three-dimensional picture of ozone loss during seven Arctic winters; previous Arctic ozone loss estimates from MLS were based on various earlier data versions and were done only for late winter and only for a subset of the years observed by MLS. We find large interannual variability in the amount, timing, and patterns of ozone depletion and in the degree to which chemical loss is masked by dynamical processes.

Arctic ozone loss↗

Electrical Characterization and Morphological Studies of Conducting Polymer Nanofibers

Doped polyaniline blended with poly(ethylene oxide) has been electrospun in air to give fibers with diameters in the range 3 nm 200 nm. These fibers were captured on wafers of degenerately doped Si/SiO2 by placing the wafer in the path of the fiber jet formed during the electrospinning process. Individual fibers were contacted using shadow mask evaporation and were also captured on prepatterned wafers. Fibers having diameters greater than 100 nm show a slight increase in the conductivity as compared to the bulk film, while fibers with diameters less than 30 nm had lower conductivity than the bulk. Data on Scanning Conductance Microscopy along the length of individual fibers will be presented. For fibers where the diameter was not uniform, we found that below a certain diameter ( approx.15 nm) the fiber was less conducting as compared to thicker diameter fibers. Dependence of the fiber conductivity on a gate bias is underway and these results will also be presented.

Pinto, N. J.↗

Machine Learning Algorithms for Aerosol and Cloud Detection Using CATS on the ISS

Clouds and aerosols are one of the largest uncertainties in understanding and forecasting the Earth’s changing climate system. The type and height of aerosols are important factors in determining the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiation budget, either direct reflection of solar radiation back to space and/or absorption of solar radiation. In addition to their impact on the Earth’s climate system, aerosols near the surface from wildfires, man-made pollution events, and dust storms are hazardous to human health. The phase and height of clouds also play a critical role in determining the role of clouds in the Earth’s climate system. Cirrus clouds in the upper troposphere can induce a significant daytime TOA warming effect, while liquid water clouds near the surface cause a large corresponding cooling effect. Lidar measurements provide accurate vertically resolved information about clouds and aerosols, including complex multi-layer scenes where passive sensors are challenged and at night, when passive sensors are unable to measure cloud and aerosol properties. The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) is a lidar instrument that operated for 33 months on the International Space Station (ISS) at the 1064 nm wavelength to measure attenuated total backscatter and depolarization ratio. These fundamental measurements are used to derive “vertical feature mask” cloud and aerosol products, including layer top/base heights, layer geometrical thickness, aerosol type, and cloud phase. While space-based lidar systems like CATS provide cloud and aerosol vertical distributions that improve our understanding of the climate system, averaging of the daytime data from these sensors is required, at the expense of spatial resolution, to improve the daytime signal-to noise (SNR) and thus atmospheric layer detection. This presentation shows results from machine learning (ML) techniques that, when applied to CATS data: 1. improve the 1064 nm SNR 2. enable detection of atmospheric features during daytime with a horizontal resolution of 350 m or 5 km (compared to the 60 km required for standard CATS data products) 3. increase the number of atmospheric layers detected in the CATS data. A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) trained using CATS standard data products also demonstrated the potential for improved cloud-aerosol discrimination, cloud phase, and aerosol typing compared to the operational CATS algorithms for cloud edges and complex near-surface scenes during daytime. The ML tools described in this paper can facilitate the development of smaller, low-cost lidar systems in the future and enable real-time accessibility of lidar data products from future lidar systems for monitoring and forecasting of hazardous events.

John Yorks↗

First Steps in the Creation of a Joint MISR/MODIS Ocean Color Atmospheric Correction Algorithm

We are creating a new algorithm that combines observations from MISR and MODIS (both on the NASA Terra spacecraft) to improve atmospheric correction and coverage for ocean color data products. The algorithm utilizes information rich, multi-angle MISR observations for atmospheric correction, applied to MODIS. Our goal is to produce atmospherically corrected Remote Sensing Reflectance from MODIS with enhanced coverage and accuracy, for input to downstream bio-optical ocean parameter retrieval algorithms.An important aspect of this work is the utilization of multi-angle views of the reflected ocean surface sun glint. Usually, such observations are avoided, since the intensity of the glint overwhelms any contribution from the ocean body. However, MISR's multi-angle observations see varying degrees of glint, which means they can be used to better determine aerosol optical properties (Kaufman et al., 2002, Ottaviani et al., 2013), and to identify surface wind speeds that govern the glint pattern. The latter could be utilized to replace the wind speeds taken from ancillary sources that are currently used to conservatively mask potential glint contamination in MODIS observations.To assess this capability, and to identify the appropriate parameterization, we present an analysis using the Generalized Nonlinear Retrieval Analysis (GENRA, Vukicevic et al., 2009) information content assessment. This technique is also easily modified to act as a Bayesian retrieval algorithm, for which initial results are discussed. Finally, we describe the status of integrating MISR data into the processing capabilities of the Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) at NASA, and show the first ocean color vicarious calibration (Franz et al., 2007) of the MISR instrument.

Knobelspiesse, Kirk↗

Search for extended Lyman-α emission around 9k quasars at z = 2–3

ABSTRACT Enormous Lyα nebulae (ELANe) around quasars have provided unique insights into the formation of massive galaxies and their associations with super-massive black holes since their discovery. However, their detection remains highly limited. This paper introduces a systematic search for extended Lyα emission around 8683 quasars at z = 2.34–3.00 using a simple but very effective broad-band gri selection based on the Third Public Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. Although the broad-band selection detects only bright Lyα emission (≳ 1 × 10−17 erg s−1cm−2 arcsec−2) compared with narrow-band imaging and integral field spectroscopy, we can apply this method to far more sources than such common approaches. We first generated continuum g-band images without contributions from Lyα emission for host and satellite galaxies using r- and i-bands. Then, we established Lyα maps by subtracting them from observed g-band images with Lyα emissions. Consequently, we discovered extended Lyα emission (with masked area >40 arcsec2) for 7 and 32 out of 366 and 8317 quasars in the Deep and Ultra-deep (35 deg2) and Wide (890 deg2) layers, parts of which may be potential candidates of ELANe. However, none of them seem to be equivalent to the largest ELANe ever found. We detected higher fractions of quasars with large nebulae around more luminous or radio-loud quasars, supporting previous results. Future applications to the forthcoming big data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will help us detect more promising candidates. The source catalogue and obtained Lyα properties for all the quasar targets are accessible as online material.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The importance of capturing power system operational details in resource adequacy assessments

Traditional methods for assessing the resource adequacy (RA) of a power system are becoming obsolete due to emerging trends such as the increasing deployment of variable renewable energy and storage. Consequently, analysts are recommending that RA be assessed using a Monte Carlo simulation approach that models chronological power system operations over many instances of possible operating conditions. However, this approach is necessarily more complex and computationally demanding, which is an obstacle to real-world implementation. Here, in this study, we investigate which operational details of power systems are important to capture in order to accurately evaluate a system's RA, versus details that add complexity but do not meaningfully affect RA results. To do so, we develop a probabilistic RA assessment framework by adapting an existing production cost model and apply it to a case study based on the IEEE Reliability Test System. Our results indicate that multi-year data, storage dispatch, and transmission limits are key details to incorporate. Accurate RA results can be obtained using non-economic dispatch strategies as long as they are coordinated with detailed operational strategies. We also demonstrate how popular expectation-based RA metrics can mask important differences in the characteristics of loss of load events.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Microscopic Scattering Approach to In-Gap States

We develop a microscopic scattering formalism to describe Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states due to a single Cr adatom on the Bi-terminated surface of beta Bi2Pd, by combining ab initio Wannier functions with a real-space Green's function approach in the Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism[1]. Our framework reproduces key scanning tunneling spectroscopy features, including a single particle-hole asymmetric YSR peak and isotropic dIdV maps around the impurity. Decomposing the YSR states reveals contributions from four nearly degenerate C4v representations, with energy broadening masking their individual signatures. Spin-orbit coupling induces partial spin polarization, while the spatial asymmetry between particle and hole components arises from Cr d-Bi p hybridization. These results highlight the importance of realistic band structures and microscopic modeling for interpreting STM data for magnetic in-gap states on superconductors. Further advances examining layered 2D material surfaces, such as NbSe2, will be described[2]. For this system the superconducting properties are obtained from a full anisotropic Eliashberg calculation of the superconducting order parameter along with the charge density wave gap. Additional features associated with proposals to measure the dynamics of these individual YSR states will be presented. [1] arXiv:2507.08740 [2] arXiv:2507.11856

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Mechanical properties of ion-beam-textured surgical implant alloys

An electron-bombardment Hg ion thruster was used as an ion source to texture surfaces of materials used to make orthopedic and/or dental prostheses or implants. The materials textured include 316 stainless steel, titanium-6% aluminum, 4% vanadium, and cobalt-20% chromium, 15% tungsten. To determine the effect of ion texturing on the ultimate strength and yield strength, stainless steel and Co-Cr-W alloy samples were tensile tested to failure. Three types of samples of both materials were tested. One type was ion-textured (the process also heats each sample to 300 C), another type was simply heated to 300 C in an oven, and the third type was untreated. Stress-strain diagrams, 0.2% offset yield strength data, total elongation data, and area reduction data are presented. Fatigue specimens of ion textured and untextured 316 stainless steel and Ti-6% Al-4% V were tested. Included as an ion textured sample is a Ti-6% Al-4% V sample which was ion machined by means of Ni screen mask so as to produce an array of 140 mu m x 140 mu m x 60 mu m deep pits. Scanning electron microscopy was used to characterize the ion textured surfaces.

Weigand, A. J.↗

Use of basaltic magmas to characterize processes in planetary interiors: A test case in the southwestern United States

Whether or not basaltic rocks can be used as mantle probes depends upon the degree to which their compositions reflect their source regions rather than their subsequent histories. Mantle heterogeneities in the central Arizona Transition Zone were studied, and the degree to which interaction with the crust has modified the lavas masking these original variations was examined. Basalts from a thick sequence of basaltic flows in the Hickey Formation and two younger flows were sampled in order to provide a time transgressive suite of rocks. These rocks were dated and an extensive set of analytical data is now available for them.

Wittke, J.↗

Effect of Clouds on Apertures of Space-based Air Fluorescence Detectors

Space-based ultra-high-energy cosmic ray detectors observe fluorescence light from extensive air showers produced by these particles in the troposphere. Clouds can scatter and absorb this light and produce systematic errors in energy determination and spectrum normalization. We study the possibility of using IR remote sensing data from MODIS and GOES satellites to delimit clear areas of the atmosphere. The efficiency for detecting ultra-high-energy cosmic rays whose showers do not intersect clouds is determined for real, night-time cloud scenes. We use the MODIS SST cloud mask product to define clear pixels for cloud scenes along the equator and use the OWL Monte Carlo to generate showers in the cloud scenes. We find the efficiency for cloud-free showers with closest approach of three pixels to a cloudy pixel is 6.5% exclusive of other factors. We conclude that defining a totally cloud-free aperture reduces the sensitivity of space-based fluorescence detectors to unacceptably small levels.

Sokolsky, P.↗

Measuring Constraint-Set Utility for Partitional Clustering Algorithms

Clustering with constraints is an active area of machine learning and data mining research. Previous empirical work has convincingly shown that adding constraints to clustering improves the performance of a variety of algorithms. However, in most of these experiments, results are averaged over different randomly chosen constraint sets from a given set of labels, thereby masking interesting properties of individual sets. We demonstrate that constraint sets vary significantly in how useful they are for constrained clustering; some constraint sets can actually decrease algorithm performance. We create two quantitative measures, informativeness and coherence, that can be used to identify useful constraint sets. We show that these measures can also help explain differences in performance for four particular constrained clustering algorithms.

constraints↗