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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 703 records · Page 39
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Particle nonuniformity effects on particle cloud flames in low gravity

Experimental and analytical studies of particle cloud combustion at reduced gravity reveal the substantial roles that particle cloud nonuniformities may play in particle cloud combustion. Macroscopically uniform, quiescent particle cloud systems (at very low gravitational levels and above) sustain processes which can render them nonuniform on both macroscopic and microscopic scales. It is found that a given macroscopically uniform, quiescent particle cloud flame system can display a range of microscopically nonuniform features which lead to a range of combustion features. Microscopically nonuniform particle cloud distributions are difficult experimentally to detect and characterize. A uniformly distributed lycopodium cloud of particle-enriched microscopic nonuniformities in reduced gravity displays a range of burning velocities for any given overall stoichiometry. The range of observed and calculated burning velocities corresponds to the range of particle enriched concentrations within a characteristic microscopic nonuniformity. Sedimentation effects (even in reduced gravity) are also examined.

Berlad, A. L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Ice-Over-Water Cloud Properties in an Artificial Neural Network Approach

Clouds are a crucial component of the atmospheric energy system, particularly the radiative balance within, above, and below the troposphere. The vertical distribution of cloud mass and phase determines layer heating rates, the loss of radiation to space, and the amount of radiative heating at the surface. Thus, it is important to know how clouds are distributed both vertically and horizontally at all times of day. Satellite remote sensing is the only approach available to monitor clouds day and night around the globe. In this paper several artificial neural network (ANN) algorithms, employing several Aqua MODIS infrared channels, profiles of relative humidity and temperature from GMAO numerical weather analyses, and the retrieved total cloud visible optical depth, are trained to detect multilayer ice-over-water cloud systems and to retrieve some of their properties as identified by a year of 2008 Aqua MODIS data matched with CloudSat and CALIPSO (CC) cloud profiles. The CC lidar and radar profiles provide the vertical structure that serves as output truth for the multilayer algorithm. The neural networks were trained using one year (2008) of cloud top height data from the CC dataset, with correlation around 0.94 (0.95) and MAE as low as 0.82 (0.81) km for nonpolar regions during the day (night). Applying the trained ANN to independent year 2009 MODIS data resulted in a combined ML and single layer hit rate of 86.4% (85.1%) for nonpolar regions during the day (night). Since the ANN is trained using near-nadir MODIS pixels, infrared radiance corrections were developed as a function of view zenith angle from MODIS and applied to off-nadir pixels when processing MODIS swath data. The multilayer amount derived with the ANN is relatively invariant with increasing view zenith angle compared to the multilayer amount without the corrections.

MODIS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Invisible ship tracks show large cloud sensitivity to aerosol

Cloud reflectivity is sensitive to atmospheric aerosol concentrations because aerosols provide the condensation nuclei on which water condenses. Increased aerosol concentrations due to human activity affect droplet number concentration, liquid water and cloud fraction, but these changes are subject to large uncertainties. Ship tracks, long lines of polluted clouds that are visible in satellite images, are one of the main tools for quantifying aerosol–cloud interactions. However, only a small fraction of the clouds polluted by shipping show ship tracks. Here we show that even when no ship tracks are visible in satellite images, aerosol emissions change cloud properties substantially. We develop a new method to quantify the effect of shipping on all clouds, showing a cloud droplet number increase and a more positive liquid water response when there are no visible tracks. We directly detect shipping-induced cloud property changes in the trade cumulus regions of the Atlantic, which are known to display almost no visible tracks. Our results indicate that previous studies of ship tracks were suffering from selection biases by focusing only on visible tracks from satellite imagery. The strong liquid water path response we find translates to a larger aerosol cooling effect on the climate, potentially masking a higher climate sensitivity than observed temperature trends would otherwise suggest.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

X-RAY EMISSION FROM STELLAR JETS BY COLLISION AGAINST HIGH-DENSITY MOLECULAR CLOUDS: AN APPLICATION TO HH 248

We investigate the plausibility of detecting X-ray emission from a stellar jet that impacts a dense molecular cloud, a scenario that may be typical for classical T Tauri stars with jets in dense star-forming complexes. We first model the impact of a jet against a dense cloud using two-dimensional axisymmetric hydrodynamic simulations, exploring different configurations of the ambient environment. Then, we compare our results with XMM-Newton observations of the Herbig–Haro object HH 248, where extended X-ray emission aligned with the optical knots is detected at the edge of the nearby IC 434 cloud. Our simulations show that a jet can produce plasma with temperatures up to 10{sup 7} K, consistent with production of X-ray emission, after impacting a dense cloud. We find that jets denser than the ambient medium but less dense than the cloud produce detectable X-ray emission only at impact with the cloud. From an exploration of the model parameter space, we constrain the physical conditions (jet density and velocity and cloud density) that reproduce the intrinsic luminosity and emission measure of the X-ray source possibly associated with HH 248 well. Thus, we suggest that the extended X-ray source close to HH 248 corresponds to a jet impacting a dense cloud.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2004

Florida Thunderstorms: A Faucet of Reactive Nitrogen to the Upper Troposphere

During the NASA Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers-Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE) enhanced mixing ratios of nitric oxide were measured in the anvils of thunderstorms and in clear air downwind of storm systems on flights of a Wl3-57F high-altitude aircraft. Mixing ratios greater than l0 - 20 times background were readily observed over distances of 25-120 km due to lightning activity. In many of the Florida storms deposition of NO occurred up to near the tropopause but major deposition usually occurred 1 - 2 km below the tropopause, or mostly within the visible anvil volume formed prior to storm decay. Observations from two storms of very different anvil size and electrical activity allowed estimates of the total mass of NO, vented to the middle and upper troposphere. Using the cloud-to ground (CG) flash accumulations from the National Lightning Detection Network, climatological intra-cloud (IC) to CG ratios, and assuming that CG and IC flashes were of equivalent efficiency for NO production, the ranges of production per flash for a moderate-sized and a large storm were (0.51 - 1.0) x l0(exp 26) and (2.3 - 3.1) x 10(exp 26) molecules NO/flash, respectively. Using the recently determined average global flash rate of 44 8, a gross extrapolation of these two storms to represent possible global annual production rates yield 1.6 - 3.2 and 7.3 - 9.9 Tg(N)/yr, respectively. If the more usual assumption is made that IC efficiency is l/l0th that of CG activity, the ranges of production for the moderate-sized and large storm were (1.3 - 2.7) x l0(exp 26) and (6.0 - 8.1) x l0(exp 26) molecules NO/CG flash, respectively. The estimates from the large storm may be high because there is indirect evidence that the IC/CG ratio was larger than would be derived from climatology. These two storms and others studied did not have flash rates that scaled as approx. H(sup 5) where H is the cloud top altitude. The observed CG flash accumulations and NO(x) mass production estimate for the month of July over the Florida area were compared with a representative 3D global Chemistry-Transport Model (CTMJ that uses the Price et al. lightning parameterization. For two land grid points representing the Florida peninsula the model compared well with the observations: CG flash rates were low by only a factor of approx. 2. When the model grid points included the coastal regions of Florida the flash accumulations were lower than observed by a factor of 3.4 - 4.6. It is recommended that models using the Price et al. parameterization allow any global coastal grid point to maintain the land rather than the marine flash rate parameterization. The convection in this CTM underestimated the actual cloud top heights over Florida by 1 - 2 km and thus the total lightning flash rates and the altitude range of reactive nitrogen deposition. Broad scale (20 - 120 km) median mixing ratios of NO within anvils over Florida were significantly larger than in storms previously investigated over Colorado and New Mexico.

Ridley, B.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Height Distribution Between Cloud and Aerosol Layers from the GLAS Spaceborne Lidar in the Indian Ocean Region

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), a nadir pointing lidar on the Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) launched in 2003, now provides important new global measurements of the relationship between the height distribution of cloud and aerosol layers. GLAS data have the capability to detect, locate, and distinguish between cloud and aerosol layers in the atmosphere up to 40 km altitude. The data product algorithm tests the product of the maximum attenuated backscatter coefficient b'(r) and the vertical gradient of b'(r) within a layer against a predetermined threshold. An initial case result for the critical Indian Ocean region is presented. From the results the relative height distribution between collocated aerosol and cloud shows extensive regions where cloud formation is well within dense aerosol scattering layers at the surface. Citation: Hart, W. D., J. D. Spinhime, S. P. Palm, and D. L. Hlavka (2005), Height distribution between cloud and aerosol layers from the GLAS spaceborne lidar in the Indian Ocean region,

Hart, William D.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Tropical Three-dimensional Cloud Climatology during El Niño Events with CALIPSO Level-3 Cloud Products

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a large-scale climatic phenomenon that originates in the tropical Pacific Ocean but affects global climate patterns. Its warm phase El Niño occurs irregularly every two to seven years and peaks in winter. A previous case study showed opposite cloud anomalies at high, middle and low altitude regions during a weak 2006/2007 El Niño and a moderate 2009/2010 El Niño, suggesting a non-linear response of tropical clouds to El Niño sea surface temperature (SST) forcing. To further understand the cloud response to SST, we examine the three-dimensional (3-D) cloud anomalies during all recent five El Niño events since 2006 using level-3 (L3) cloud products from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) mission. During its 17+ years operation, CALIPSO delivered near-global measurements of cloud and aerosol profiles at unprecedented high resolution and sensitivity. In this work, we provide a comprehensive picture of cloud anomalies during El Niño, with a particular focus on thin cirrus clouds at high altitudes, which are challenging for passive sensor detection algorithms. Specifically, the vertical cloud anomalies are calculated with the L3 3-D Cloud Occurrence Product, the horizontal cloud anomalies are from the L3 Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) product, and the ice cloud extinction profiles and ice water content are obtained from the L3 Ice Cloud product. These findings will improve current knowledge of ENSO from a new perspective.

El Nino↗
NASA NTRS2023

Tropical Three-dimensional Cloud Climatology during El Niño Events with CALIPSO Level-3 Cloud Products

A previous case study showed opposite cloud anomalies at high, middle and low altitude regions during a weak 2006/2007 El Niño and a moderate 2009/2010 El Niño. In this work, we use CALIPSO Level 3 (L3) Cloud Products to provide a comprehensive picture of cloud anomalies during all recent five El Niño events since 2006, with a particular focus on thin cirrus clouds at high altitudes, which are challenging for passive sensor detection algorithms. Specifically, the vertical cloud anomalies are calculated with the L3 Cloud Occurrence Product, the horizontal cloud anomalies are from the L3 GEWEX product, and the ice cloud extinction profiles and ice water content are obtained from the L3 Ice Cloud product. The cloud anomalies are further analyzed with the magnitude and pattern of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. These findings will improve current knowledge of ENSO from a new perspective.

El Nino↗
NASA NTRS1993

Spectroscopic detection of molecular hydrogen frozen in interstellar ices

A weak infrared absorption feature near 4141 wavenumbers (2.415 micrometers) in the spectrum of WL5, an infrared source in the rho Ophiuchus cloud complex, has been detected. It is attributed to molecular hydrogen created by irradiation and frozen in situ into water-rich ices. A second, broader absorption at 4125 wavenumbers centimeters (2.424 micrometers) is probably due to methanol in the ices. The column densities of frozen molecular hydrogen and methanol are inferred to be about 2.5 x 10(exp 18) and 3.0 x 10(exp 19), respectively. There is about three times more frozen molecular hydrogen than frozen carbon monoxide along this line of sight.

Sandford, Scott A.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Project S'COOL

The Students Clouds Observations On-Line or S'COOL project was piloted in 1997. It was created with the idea of using students to serve as one component of the validation for the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument which was launched with the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) in November, 1997. As part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise CERES is interested in the role clouds play in regulating our climate. Over thirty schools became involved in the initial thrust of the project. The CERES instrument detects the location of clouds and identifies their physical properties. S'COOL students coordinate their ground truth observations with the exact overpass of the satellite at their location. Their findings regarding cloud type, height, fraction and opacity as well as surface conditions are then reported to the NASA Langley Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). The data is then accessible to both the CERES team for validation and to schools for educational application via the Internet. By March of 1998 ninety-three schools, in nine countries had enrolled in the S'COOL project. Joining the United States participants were from schools in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The project is gradually becoming the global project envisioned by the project s creators. As students obtain the requested data useful for the scientists, it was hoped that students with guidance from their instructors would have opportunity and motivation to learn more about clouds and atmospheric science as well.

Green, Carolyn J.↗
NASA NTRS2019

An upgraded G-band differential absorption radar system for future airborne studies

A proof-of-concept, 170 GHz frequency-modulated, continuous-wave (FMCW) radar has been developed for measuring water vapor profiles within the cloudy boundary layer from an airborne platform. The measurement concept exploits the differential absorption accrued by two or more transmitted frequencies in the vicinity of the 183 GHz water absorption line to retrieve range-resolved humidity profiles, so-called differential absorption radar (DAR). The upgraded system design includes important considerations for monostatic radar operation with an open fuselage viewport (i.e. no radome). The radar features an all-solid-state tansmitter with > 0:4 W continuous transmit power, a 60 cm primary aperture and corresponding 58 dB antenna gain, and more than 80 dB transmit/receive isolation, enabling near thermal-noise-limited sensitivity with a 8 dB noise figure receiver. Ice-cloud radar returns are detected beyond 8 km in height from the ground, demonstrating the high sensitivity of the system. In addition to in-cloud humidity profiling capabilities, deployment of a water vapor DAR from an airborne platform enables measurements of total column water vapor (TCWV) for all weather and surface scenarios. Precision estimates and potential biases for future TCWV measurements are discussed.

Monje, Raquel↗
DOE OSTI2026

CHESS 2025: Discrete-return LiDAR point clouds from NEON AOP surveys

This dataset provides Level 1 (L1) discrete-return light detection and ranging (LiDAR) point cloud data collected for the 2025 Colorado Headwaters Ecological Spectroscopy Study (CHESS). These data were acquired to enable characterization of vegetation structure and other three-dimensional features of the land surface, and to evaluate structural changes that may have occurred between a prior LiDAR acquisition in 2018 and the 2025 overflight. The data were acquired over three study domains in the Upper Gunnison river basin: the upper East River watershed (CRBU); Almont Triangle and Taylor Canyon (ALMO); and Upper Taylor River watershed (UPTA) between 2025-06-13 and 2025-07-15. LiDAR data were acquired using the Optech Galaxy Prime Airborne LiDAR Terrain Mapper onboard the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Airborne Observation Platform (AOP). These are the primary unclassified discrete-return LiDAR data delivered by NEON and are provided per flightline as LASzip (LAZ) 1.4 Format 6 files. Data were processed following the workflow described in the NEON L0-to-L1 Discrete Return LiDAR Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (Krause and Goulden 2022). Each record in the unclassified point clouds represents a geolocated laser target/return recorded by the LiDAR system, with values for X, Y, Z position and return intensity. All point coordinates are provided in meters. Horizontal coordinates are referenced in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) zone 13N and the World Geodetic System (WGS) 1984 ensemble datum. Elevations are referenced to Geoid12A. Flight metadata describing flightline boundaries and positional uncertainty by point are also included. CHESS Project Description: The Colorado Headwaters Ecological Spectroscopy Study (CHESS) comprised a multi-week airborne remote sensing and field observation campaign in the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado, conducted in June and July of 2025. Airborne remote sensing was conducted by the National Ecological Observatory Network Airborne Observation Platform (NEON AOP), concurrent with a field campaign run by the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Watershed Function Science Focus Area (SFA), and NASA-JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) program. Between June 10 and July 18, 2025, the NEON AOP flight team collected high-resolution aerial imaging spectroscopy and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data over three domains: the Upper East River (CRBU), Almont Triangle (ALMO), and the Upper Taylor Basin (UPTA). In coordination with the flights, a field campaign acquired ground-truth observations, including observations of vegetation composition, foliar traits, forest demography, and subsurface properties in 18 core sampling areas within the domains. Additional surface water observations were taken at over 380 point locations. All CHESS campaign datasets can be found within the CHESS ESS-DIVE data portal: https://data.ess-dive.lbl.gov/portals/chess. Funding Acknowledgement: Field and remote-sensing data acquisition was performed under a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC24K1005). This work was also supported by the Watershed Function Science Focus Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

2018 NEON and 2025 CHESS Campaigns↗
NASA NTRS1999

Cross-Sensor Validation of the Optical Transient Detector (OTD)

Lightning data from the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) is used to perform preliminary validation of the satellite-based Optical Transient Detector (OTD). Sensor precision, accuracy, detection efficiency and biases of the deployed instrument are considered. We estimate the sensor to have, on average, better than 30 km spatial and 100 ms temporal accuracy. The detection efficiency for cloud-to-ground lightning is about 45-70%, slightly higher for intracloud lightning. There are only marginal day/night biases in the dataset, although 55 day averaging is required to remove sampling-based diurnal lightning cycle biases. The sensor detects statistically significant differences in the optical characteristics of intracloud, negative cloud-to-ground and positive cloud-to-ground lightning, although it cannot a priori determine flash types.

Boccippio, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Cloud fields derived from satellite and surface data during FIRE cirrus phase 2

The interpretation of surface and aircraft measurements of cloud properties taken during field programs must take into account the large-scale cloud and meteorological conditions. Cloud properties are also required at scales beyond the point and line data taken from ground and aircraft platforms. Satellite data can provide a quantitative description of these large-scale cloud properties. When derived from geostationary satellite data, the cloud fields constitute a unique source for evaluating the development and demise of a cloud system. Satellites, however, can only see the tops of clouds, so that cloud layers below the uppermost cloud deck may remain undetected resulting in a incomplete depiction of the cloud system. Some multilayer clouds are amenable to detection from satellites. Many, especially in midlatitude cyclonic systems, can only be observed from the surface. A combination of surface and satellite cloud observations should be the most complete quantification of large-scale cloudiness if there are sufficient surface measurements. During the First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Regional Experiment Phase 2 (FIRE-2) Cirrus Intensive Field Observation (IFO) period (November 13 - December 7, 1991) conducted at Coffeyville, Kansas, cirrus observations were taken in a variety of conditions. The IFO area was selected for a variety of reasons including the relatively dense network of surface weather stations and special surface instrumentation sites. Thus, the FIRE-2 IFO presents an excellent opportunity to combine cloud observations from surface and satellite observations. This paper presents an analysis of cloud properties on a mesoscale grid using satellite cloud property retrievals, surface observer data, and rawinsonde temperature and humidity profiles.

Minnis, Patrick↗
NASA NTRS1973

Identification of basic cloud types from ERTS imagery

The author has identified the following significant results. It was found that seven basic cloud types could be detected from ERTS-1 imagery. Each type exhibited characteristics that made them distinct. Suitable examples of each type were chosen, described, and a cloud identification item-index key prepared.

Morain, S. A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Circuit Detects Faint Flashes Against Bright Background

Lightning detector is photocell-and-amplifier circuit detecting flashes of light against steady or slowly varying bright background. Measures luminous flux in scene under observation. Designed to detect lightning from spacecraft in orbit far above clouds. Also used on Earth to detect lightning from distance during day or night, or to detect other flashes of light in safety-related, scientific, industrial, and military applications.

Vaughan, O.↗
NASA NTRS1998

The Third EGRET Catalog of High-Energy Gamma-Ray Sources

The third catalog of high-energy gamma-ray sources detected by the EGRET telescope on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory includes data from 1991 April 22 to 1995 October 3 (Cycles 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the mission). In addition to including more data than the second EGRET catalog (Thompson et al. 1995) and its supplement (Thompson et al. 1996), this catalog uses completely reprocessed data (to correct a number of mostly minimal errors and problems). The 271 sources (E greater than 100 MeV) in the catalog include the single 1991 solar flare bright enough to be detected as a source, the Large Magellanic Cloud, five pulsars, one probable radio galaxy detection (Cen A), and 66 high-confidence identifications of blazars (BL Lac objects, flat-spectrum radio quasars, or unidentified flat-spectrum radio sources). In addition, 27 lower-confidence potential blazar identifications are noted. Finally, the catalog contains 170 sources not yet identified firmly with known objects, although potential identifications have been suggested for a number of those. A figure is presented that gives approximate upper limits for gamma-ray sources at any point in the sky, as well as information about sources listed in the second catalog and its supplement which do not appear in this catalog.

Hartman, R. C.↗