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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 739 records · Page 41
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2006

Deep Broad-Band Infrared Nulling Using A Single-Mode Fiber Beam Combiner and Baseline Rotation

The basic advantage of single-mode fibers for deep nulling applications resides in their spatial filtering ability, and has now long been known. However, and as suggested more recently, a single-mode fiber can also be used for direct coherent recombination of spatially separated beams, i.e. in a 'multi-axial' nulling scheme. After the first successful demonstration of deep (<2e-6) visible LASER nulls using this technique (Haguenauer & Serabyn, Applied Optics 2006), we decided to work on an infrared extension for ground based astronomical observations, e.g. using two or more off-axis sub-apertures of a large ground based telescope. In preparation for such a system, we built and tested a laboratory infrared fiber nuller working in a wavelength regime where atmospheric turbulence can be efficiently corrected, over a pass band (approx.1.5 to 1.8 micron) broad enough to provide reasonable sensitivity. In addition, since no snapshot images are readily accessible with a (single) fiber nuller, we also tested baseline rotation as an approach to detect off-axis companions while keeping a central null. This modulation technique is identical to the baseline rotation envisioned for the TPF-I space mission. Within this context, we report here on early laboratory results showing deep stable broad-band dual polarization infrared nulls <5e-4 (currently limited by detector noise), and visible LASER nulls better than 3e-4 over a 360 degree rotation of the baseline. While further work will take place in the laboratory to achieve deeper stable broad-band nulls and test off-axis sources detection through rotation, the emphasis will be put on bringing such a system to a telescope as soon as possible. Detection capability at the 500:1 contrast ratio in the K band (~2.2 microns) seem readily accessible within 50-100 mas of the optical axis, even with a first generation system mounted on a >5m AO equipped telescope such as the Palomar Hale 200 inch, the Keck, Subaru or Gemini telescopes.

single mode fibers↗
NASA NTRS2021

Ambient Performance Testing of the CubeSat Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS)

Hyperspectral infrared measurements of Earth’s atmosphere from space have proven their value for weather forecasting, climate science and atmospheric composition. The CubeSat Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS) instrument will demonstrate a fully functional infrared temperature, water vapor and carbon monoxide sounder in a CubeSat sized volume for at least an order of magnitude lower cost than legacy systems. Design for a CubeSat significantly reduces cost of access to space and enables flight in a constellation to reduce revisit time and enable new measurements including 3D winds. A technology demonstration of CIRAS is currently under development at JPL. The effort has completed integration and ambient testing of a high fidelity brassboard, complete with the flight configured optics assembly developed by Ball Aerospace with a JPL Immersion Grating and Black Silicon Entrance Slit. The brassboard includes a flight-configured High Operating Temperature Barrier Infrared Detector (HOT-BIRD) mounted in an Integrated Dewar Cryocooler Assembly (IDCA), enabling testing in the ambient environment. Ambient testing included radiometric testing of the system to characterize the instrument operability and NEdT. Spatial testing was performed to characterize the system line spread function (LSF) in two axes and report FWHM of the LSF. Spectral testing involved an air path test to characterize the spectral/spatial transformation matrix, and an etalon was used to measure the Spectral Response Functions (SRFs). Results of the testing show the CIRAS performs exceptionally well and meets the key performance required of the system. The end result of testing is the CIRAS instrument now meets TRL 4 with confidence in a brassboard configuration ready for thermal vacuum (TVac) testing necessary to achieve TRL 5 for the system.

Wilson, Robert C.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Combining visible shadowgraph imaging with x-ray imaging for dynamic shock experiments

Interrogating ejecta particles launched from target materials that are undergoing dynamic shock can be done with both x-ray imaging and visible shadowgraph imaging. Our dynamic testing must be done inside a containment vessel with limited access ports available. We designed an imaging system to relay both types of imaging systems through a single port using the same optical relay and then splitting the images onto three separate high-speed imaging cameras outside the containment vessel. X-ray imaging provides ejecta density measurements. Shadowgraph imaging that is done at two wavelengths (blue and red) constrains ejecta particle size distributions and provides areal density measurements of the ejecta cloud. The ejecta particles are positioned 225 mm before the x-ray scintillators; this arrangement permits a folded mirror system to allow the shadowgraph data to bypass the x-ray scintillators. This configuration results in spatial separations between the intermediate image planes of the x-ray and shadowgraph images along the optical axis. At the position of the x-ray intermediate image plane, mirrors are positioned such that the shadowgraph images are kicked out and their images are sent on to different cameras. Positioning of the large doublet relay lenses keeps shrapnel from impacting the vessel containment windows.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Effects of exogenous citric acid on the concentration and spatial distribution of Ni, Zn, Co, Cr, Mn and Fe in leaves of Noccaea caerulescens grown on a serpentine soil

The aim of this study was to show the potential of citric acid in increasing the concentration of Ni, Zn, Co, Cr, Mn and Fe in leaves of the hyperaccumulator Noccaea caerulescens. Synchrotron x-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) images were collected to assess the distribution of metals in leaves. Applying citric acid (20 mmol kg -1 ) to soil increased in 14-, 10-, 7-, 2- and 1.4- fold the concentration of Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cr, respectively, compared to the control. The μ-XRF imaging revealed that Ni and Zn were not spatially correlated across the leaf. We observed a clear partitioning of Zn between veins and surrounding leaf cells while Ni was more evenly distributed between veins and leaf blade. The accumulation of metals in citric acid treated plants did not change the Ni and Zn distribution pattern in leaves but altered the Mn distribution. It seems that Mn reached toxic concentrations in leaves and we hypothesize that a mechanism driven by transpiration through the xylem was used to excrete the metal. Our results show that citric acid can enhance metal accumulation by N. caerulescens and have impact for soil remediation by either decreasing the time for clean up or increasing the access to non-labile pools of metals in soil.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Global assessment of the carbon–water tradeoff of dry cooling for thermal power generation

Water scarcity and climate change are dual challenges that could potentially threaten energy security. Yet, integrated water–carbon management frameworks coupling diverse water- and carbon-mitigation technologies at high spatial heterogeneity are largely underdeveloped. Here we build a global unit-level framework to investigate the CO 2 emission and energy penalty due to the deployment of dry cooling—a critical water mitigation strategy—together with alternative water sourcing and carbon capture and storage under climate scenarios. We find that CO 2 emission and energy penalty for dry cooling units are location and climate specific (for example, 1–15% of power output), often demonstrating notably faster efficiency losses than rising temperature, especially under the high climate change scenario. Despite energy and CO 2 penalties associated with alternative water treatment and carbon capture and storage utilization, increasing wastewater and brine water accessibility provide potential alternatives to dry cooling for water scarcity alleviation, whereas CO 2 storage can help to mitigate dry cooling-associated CO 2 emission tradeoffs when alternative water supply is insufficient. By demonstrating an integrative planning framework, our study highlights the importance of integrated power sector planning under interconnected dual water–carbon challenges.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS2018

Magnetospheric Constellation: Leveraging Space 2.0 for Big Science

Earth's magnetosphere is a large magnetic cavity formed through the interaction of the solar wind and Earth's intrinsic magnetic field. Solar wind energy enters this cavity through a boundary - the magnetopause - separating Earth's field from the solar wind. This energy leads to many forms of "space weather", including the aurora, geomagnetic storms, and energization of the Van Allen radiation belts. Despite decades of research, we still do not understand the extent of dayside reconnection sites, nor do we have a quantifiable understanding of how much energy enters the magnetosphere during different solar wind conditions - necessary for space weather prediction. On the nightside, impulsive flows at various spatial and temporal scales occur frequently during storms and substorms, and couple to the ionosphere through still unresolved physical mechanisms. Because the magnetosphere is so large, it has been understood since the dawn of the space age that a full understanding of this complex region could only be achieved with a large fleet of in situ spacecraft. NASA has studied one such constellation, the socalled "Magnetospheric Constellation" (MagCon), since the1990's, but it is deemed too expensive to implement using traditional approaches. The CubeSat/ SmallSat revolution represents a fundamental disruption to traditional mission architectures, and in this paper I will discuss how, by leveraging innovation in spacecraft subystems, advanced manufacturing, and access to space, we can finally realize this long-term vision of exploration and discovery. The proposed modular approach, utilizing rideshare and propulsive ESPAs, would also enable worldwide participation in the mission, and is applicable to any constellation mission, including Earth Science missions.

Kepko, Emil Larry↗
DOE OSTI2020

Direct Correlation of Charge Carrier Transport to Local Crystal Quality in Lead Halide Perovskites

Although solution processing methods provide an attractive route toward development of low-cost functional materials, these accessible fabrication approaches can engender high concentrations of microscopic structural defects that are detrimental to performance. In lead halide perovskites, structural disorder derived from solution processing has been implicated as an important determiner of photophysical properties. However, a direct correlation between the functional properties of these materials and the local crystal structure in which non-equilibrium states evolve has remained elusive, in part because structural heterogeneities occur on length scales that defy conventional characterization techniques. To address this knowledge gap, in this work we have combined ultrafast pump–probe microscopy and electron backscattering diffraction to directly correlate charge carrier transport with the local diffraction pattern contrast, an indicator of crystal quality. Spatial correlation of these measurements strongly suggests that even on individual single crystal CsPbBr3 domains, microscopic variability in the crystal quality profoundly impacts the efficiency of charge carrier transport.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Axon-like active signal transmission

Any electrical signal propagating in a metallic conductor loses amplitude due to the natural resistance of the metal. Compensating for such losses presently requires repeatedly breaking the conductor and interposing amplifiers that consume and regenerate the signal. This century-old primitive severely constrains the design and performance of modern interconnect-dense chips. Here we present a fundamentally different primitive based on semi-stable edge of chaos (EOC), a long-theorized but experimentally elusive regime that underlies active (self-amplifying) transmission in biological axons. By electrically accessing the spin crossover in LaCoO 3 , we isolate semi-stable EOC, characterized by small-signal negative resistance and amplification of perturbations. In a metallic line atop a medium biased at EOC, a signal input at one end exits the other end amplified, without passing through a separate amplifying component. While superficially resembling superconductivity, active transmission offers controllably amplified time-varying small-signal propagation at normal temperature and pressure, but requires an electrically energized EOC medium. Operando thermal mapping reveals the mechanism of amplification—bias energy of the EOC medium, instead of fully dissipating as heat, is partly used to amplify signals in the metallic line, thereby enabling spatially continuous active transmission, which could transform the design and performance of complex electronic chips.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2023

MFA-DVR: direct volume rendering of MFA models

3D volume rendering is widely used to reveal insightful intrinsic patterns of volumetric datasets across many domains. However, the complex structures and varying scales of volumetric data can make efficiently generating high-quality volume rendering results a challenging task. Multivariate functional approximation (MFA) is a new data model that addresses some of the critical challenges: high-order evaluation of both value and derivative anywhere in the spatial domain, compact representation for large-scale volumetric data, and uniform representation of both structured and unstructured data. Here, in this paper, we present MFA-DVR, the first direct volume rendering pipeline utilizing the MFA model, for both structured and unstructured volumetric datasets. We demonstrate improved rendering quality using MFA-DVR on both synthetic and real datasets through a comparative study. We show that MFA-DVR not only generates more faithful volume rendering than using local filters but also performs faster on high-order interpolations on structured and unstructured datasets. MFA-DVR is implemented in the existing volume rendering pipeline of the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) to be accessible by the scientific visualization community.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1999

Planar Strain-Rate-Free Diffusion Flames: Initiation, Properties, and Extinction

An effectively strain-rate-free diffusion flame constitutes the most vigorous laminar combustion of initially unmixed reactive gases. Such a diffusion flame is characterized by a relatively long residence time and by a relatively large characteristic length scale. If such a flame were also planar, providing high symmetry, it would be particularly suitable for experimental and theoretical investigations of key combustion phenomena, such as multicomponent diffusion, chemical kinetics, and soot inception, growth, and oxidation. Unfortunately, a planar strain-rate-free diffusion flame is highly disrupted in earth-gravity (e.g., in a counterflow-diffusion-flame apparatus) because of the very rapid onset (approx. 100 ms) of gravity-induced instability. Accordingly, a specially dedicated apparatus was designed, fabricated, and initially checked out for the examination of a planar strain-rate-free diffusion flame in microgravity. Such a diffusion flame may be formed within a hollowed-out squat container (initially configured as 25 cm x 25 cm x 9 cm), with isothermal, noncatalytic, impervious walls. At test initiation, a thin metallic sheet (approx. 1 mm in thickness) that separates the internal volume into two equal portions, each of dimensions 25 cm x 25 cm x 4.5 cm, is withdrawn, by uniform translation (approx. 50 cm/s) in its own plane, through a tightly fitting slit in one side wall. Thereupon, diluted fuel vapor (initially confined to one half-volume of the container) gains access to diluted oxygen (initially with the same pressure, density, and temperature as the fuel, but initially confined to the other half-volume). After a brief delay (approx. 10 ms), to permit limited but sufficient-for-flammability diffusional interpenetration of fuel vapor and oxidizer, burning is initiated by discharge of a line igniter, located along that side wall from which the trailing edge of the separator withdraws. The ignition spawns a triple-flame propagation across the 25 cm x 25 cm centerplane. When a diffusion flame is emplaced in the centerplane, any subsequent travel, and change in temperature, of that planar diffusion flame may be tracked, along with the effectively spatially uniform but temporally evolving pressure within the container. Eventually, nearly complete depletion of the stoichiometrically deficient reactant, along with heat loss to the container surfaces, effects extinction. These data afford an opportunity to check theoretical models of diffusion and chemical kinetics under conditions ranging from intense burning to flame out, or, alternatively, to evolve simple empirical representations of these phenomena. Thus, the project sought to utilize microgravity testing to elucidate commonly encountered phenomenology, arising in the commonly-encountered mode of combustion (whether related to heating, manufacturing, boiling, and propulsion, or to uncontrolled, free-burning fire in structures and wildland vegetation), of those commonly utilized fuels usually categorized as gaseous fuels (such as hydrogen, natural gas, and propane, which are gaseous under atmospheric conditions).

Fendell, Francis↗
NASA NTRS1999

Non-Intrusive Laser-Induced Imaging for Speciation and Patternation in High Pressure Gas Turbine Combustors

The next generation of was turbine combustors for aerospace applications will be required to meet increasingly stringent constraints on fuel efficiency, noise abatement, and emissions. The power plants being designed to meet these constraints will operate at extreme conditions of temperature and pressure, thereby generating unique challenges to the previously employed diagnostic methodologies. Current efforts at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) utilize optically accessible, high pressure flametubes and sector combustor rigs to probe, via advanced nonintrusive laser techniques, the complex flowfields encountered in advanced combustor designs. The fuel-air mixing process is of particular concern for lowering NO(x) emissions generated in lean, premixed engine concepts. Using planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) we have obtained real-time, detailed imaging of the fuel spray distribution for a number of fuel injector over a wide range of operational conditions that closely match those expected in the proposed propulsion systems. Using a novel combination of planar imaging, of fuel fluorescence and computational analysis that allows an examination of the flowfield from any perspective, we have produced spatially and temporally resolved fuel-air distribution maps. These maps provide detailed insight into the fuel injection at actual conditions never before possible, thereby greatly enhancing the evaluation of fuel injector performance and combustion phenomena.

Locke, Randy J.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Simultaneous x-ray and neutron 4D tomographic study of drying-driven hydro-mechanical behavior of cement-based materials at moderate temperatures

The drying of cement-based materials is intimately related to their durability, which has significant economic, social and environmental repercussions. The evolution of the saturation of the pore network and the associated drying shrinkage are in fact leading causes of cracking and of the ensuing penetration of aggressive chemicals. This process is highly heterogeneous, due to the thermo-hydric spatial gradients developing in the material from the exposed surfaces to its core and because of local effects, driven by the intrinsically heterogeneous micro-structure (e.g., by the distribution of pores and aggregates). It follows that macroscopic, sample-scale measurements cannot fully disclose the complexity of the underlying processes. In the last few decades, significant advances in full-field techniques have allowed an unprecedented insight into these local processes. For cement-based materials, x-ray and neutron tomography lend themselves as ideal, and highly complementary, tools for the study of their thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior. Notably, the high sensitivity to density variations of x-ray imaging gives access to the developments of fractures, in 4D (3D + time). On the other hand, neutron tomography allows the study of the evolution of the moisture field in 4D, thanks to its high hydrogen sensitivity. The combination of these two techniques provides a unique insight in thermo-hydro-mechanical couplings, e.g., the effect of cracks on the water content field. This contribution presents novel 5D datasets (3D tomographies along time, plus truly simultaneous x-ray and Neutron rapid acquisitions) in-operando of a cement paste and of a concrete sample heated at moderate temperatures (up to 140{sup ∘}C). The analysis of this 5D data-set (once aligned in time and across modalities) allows for example a quantification of the 4D moisture profiles which were found to predict an overall water loss at hydric equilibrium coherent with the corresponding analytical analysis. In the cement paste sample, the x-ray dataset captures the evolution of an extensive cracking network, opening and propagation toward the core of the sample. A novel analysis procedure is here proposed which allows the extraction of these fractures and the analysis of their interplay with local drying as captured through neutron imaging. This for example reveals the depth of penetration of drying in the vicinity of the fractures along time, which is essential for the assessment and calibration of hydro-mechanical coupled models.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

"Giovanni at 20: Consistency and Persistency in Making Earth Remote Sensing Data Available (and Useful) to the Earth Science Community"

Since its creation in the year 2000, the NASA Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni) has been an exemplar of how to provide remotely-sensed satellite data and related Earth science datasets to a broad and globally diverse researcher community. One of the hallmarks of Giovanni system usage is that it is common to see practitioners of many branches of science – particularly those in fields not traditionally associated with remote-sensing data, such as animal behavior and paleooceanography – both accessing and employing datasets which the system provides. This usage pattern is attested to by the diversity of published science citing Giovanni. Giovanni has evolved through several versions, each of which increased analytical and visualization options while also enhancing ease-of-use. Information resources supporting Giovanni from the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), which hosts the system, start with basic mapping and plotting functions and extend to “How-to” recipes demonstrating interusability with other data analysis systems and software. Giovanni is now being developed for use in a cloud environment, potentially expanding datasets the system can be applied to, and also improving performance for data having high spatial and temporal resolution. This presentation covers the system’s historical success with interesting examples of Giovanni-citing research, and will apply its current capabilities to a multi-dataset examination of derecho events associated with mesoscale convective phenomena in the summer of 2020, indicating how Giovanni is prepared for ongoing support of Earth science in a changing world.

Giovanni Derecho visualization↗
DOE OSTI2023

Model predictive current profile control in tokamaks by exploiting spatially moving electron cyclotron current drives

The plasma control systems in next-generation tokamaks like ITER will balance competing control objectives to achieve the desired level of performance in advanced scenarios while preventing magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and disruptions. During normal tokamak operation, the points of incidence of the electromagnetic waves generated by the electron cyclotron heating and current drives (EC H&CDs) are usually fixed in space. However, the points of incidence can be modified in real-time by changing the angles of the mirrors that reflect the EC H&CD waves. Altering the points of incidence, in turn, varies the ability of the plasma control system to regulate a plasma property. For instance, changing the EC H&CD wave incidence location may place the power demands necessary to achieve a particular plasma target within saturation limits. Therefore, using the EC H&CD deposition location, which is related to the EC H&CD mirror angle, as a supplementary controllable variable may facilitate access to a given target scenario. However, active scenario-control algorithms have not been designed so far to fully exploit this capability in real time. In this work, a model predictive controller that can handle actuation locations as control inputs is developed. In particular, the controller is designed to regulate both the auxiliary powers and the EC H&CD deposition locations in a pre-defined optimal sense to achieve the control objective of attaining and sustaining a target current profile. Further, the proposed controller is tested for a DIII-D tokamak scenario in nonlinear simulations using the Control Oriented Transport SIMulator (COTSIM).

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

First Plant Cell Atlas symposium report

The Plant Cell Atlas (PCA) community hosted a virtual symposium on December 9 and 10, 2021 on single cell and spatial omics technologies. The conference gathered almost 500 academic, industry, and government leaders to identify the needs and directions of the PCA community and to explore how establishing a data synthesis center would address these needs and accelerate progress. This report details the presentations and discussions focused on the possibility of a data synthesis center for a PCA and the expected impacts of such a center on advancing science and technology globally. Community discussions focused on topics such as data analysis tools and annotation standards; computational expertise and cyber-infrastructure; modes of community organization and engagement; methods for ensuring a broad reach in the PCA community; recruitment, training, and nurturing of new talent; and the overall impact of the PCA initiative. These targeted discussions facilitated dialogue among the participants to gauge whether PCA might be a vehicle for formulating a data synthesis center. The conversations also explored how online tools can be leveraged to help broaden the reach of the PCA (i.e., online contests, virtual networking, and social media stakeholder engagement) and decrease costs of conducting research (e.g., virtual REU opportunities). Major recommendations for the future of the PCA included establishing standards, creating dashboards for easy and intuitive access to data, and engaging with a broad community of stakeholders. The discussions also identified the following as being essential to the PCA's success: identifying homologous cell-type markers and their biocuration, publishing datasets and computational pipelines, utilizing online tools for communication (such as Slack), and user-friendly data visualization and data sharing. In conclusion, the development of a data synthesis center will help the PCA community achieve these goals by providing a centralized repository for existing and new data, a platform for sharing tools, and new analytical approaches through collaborative, multidisciplinary efforts. A data synthesis center will help the PCA reach milestones, such as community-supported data evaluation metrics, accelerating plant research necessary for human and environmental health.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Spatially and Temporally Detailed Water and Carbon Footprints of U.S. Electricity Generation and Use

Electricity generation in the United States entails significant water usage and greenhouse gas emissions. However, accurately estimating these impacts is complex due to the intricate nature of the electric grid and the dynamic electricity mix. Existing methods to estimate the environmental consequences of electricity use often generalize across large regions, neglecting spatial and temporal variations in water usage and emissions. Consequently, electric grid dynamics, such as temporal fluctuations in renewable energy resources, are often overlooked in efforts to mitigate environmental impacts. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has initiated the development of resilient energyshed management systems, requiring detailed information on the local electricity mix and its environmental impacts. This study supports DOE's goal by incorporating geographic and temporal variations in the electricity mix of the local electric grid to better understand the environmental impacts of electricity end users. We offer hourly estimates of the U.S. electricity mix, detailing fuel types, water withdrawal intensity, and water consumption intensity for each grid balancing authority through our publicly accessible tool, the Water Integrated Mapping of Power and Carbon Tracker (Water IMPACT). While our primary focus is on evaluating water intensity factors, our dataset and programming scripts for historical and real-time analysis also include evaluations of carbon dioxide (equivalence) intensity within the same modeling framework. This integrated approach offers a comprehensive understanding of the environmental footprint associated with electricity generation and use, enabling informed decision-making to effectively reduce Scope 2 water usage and emissions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Openet: Applications of Satellite-Based Evapotranspiration Data for Water Resources Management in the Western United States

Advancing water security in overallocated river basins globally requires consistent and reproducible information on consumptive use of water that can anchor the development of data-driven solutions to the challenge of balancing water supply and demand. OpenET is a fully automated system for field-scale (30 m), satellite-based mapping of evapotranspiration (ET) at daily, monthly and annual timesteps. OpenET currently provides spatially contiguous data throughout the 23 westernmost states in the continental US, and includes both current information as well as multi-year timeseries of ET. The OpenET consortium has implemented an ensemble of satellite-based ET models (ALEXI/DisALEXI, eeMETRIC, PT-JPL, geeSEBAL, SIMS and SSEBop) on Google Earth Engine, which provides a shared computing platform for collaboration on processing of data from Landsat and other satellites, land cover and meteorological inputs, leading to increased consistency and accuracy across the ensemble of models. Earth Engine also facilitates hosting and distribution of data via open data collections and an application programming interface. We provide updates on the OpenET framework, open data services and data access tools, approach to geographic expansion, recent accuracy assessments, and describe how a user-driven design approach has facilitated successful applications of OpenET data for a wide range of water resource management activities. Applications to date include: use of ET data to improve quantification of ET and consumptive use in Oregon, Utah and the Upper Colorado River Basin; streamlining of water use reporting requirements in the California Delta; support for calculation of water budgets for the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in California; and integration into decision support tools for irrigation management. The use cases demonstrate how satellite-derived ET data that are easily accessed and seen as broadly accepted can accelerate adoption of innovative water management practices at scale, and support advances in the sustainability of water supplies. Uptake and use of data by the OpenET science community has also led to advances in our understanding of the impacts of landcover change, irrigation intensification and wildfire events on hydrology and the water security.

Applications↗
NASA NTRS2009

Adapting Radio Control [RC) Models for Research Roles (158308)

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have show to be useful for numerous observations that can be helpful in Earth science research and related applications. The potential benefits of small instrumented platforms operated within line-of-sight include high spatial resolution, quick response, minimum environmental impact, and affordability, Results to date suggest there is a strong future for small UASs operated for research and environmental monitoring purposes. For example, there is clearly significant potential for observations suitable for agricultural research and production activities. Local scale atmospheric measurements can be helpful in our understanding of water and carbon cycle processes, as well as provide monitoring of key environmental factors such as carbon dioxide and ozone. Recent work has included an emphasis on remote sensing coastal observations, w3h an eye towards related measurements in the polar regions. Specific elements associated with successfully utilizing these small airborne systems include mission definition, sensors and data systems, platform subsystems, airspace access and training.

Bland, Geoffrey L.↗