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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 775 records · Page 43
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

Nonlinear dynamics of global atmospheric and Earth-system processes

Researchers are continuing their studies of the nonlinear dynamics of global weather systems. Sensitivity analyses of large-scale dynamical models of the atmosphere (i.e., general circulation models i.e., GCM's) were performed to establish the role of satellite-signatures of soil moisture, sea surface temperature, snow cover, and sea ice as crucial boundary conditions determining global weather variability. To complete their study of the bimodality of the planetary wave states, they are using the dynamical systems approach to construct a low-order theoretical explanation of this phenomenon. This work should have important implications for extended range forecasting of low-frequency oscillations, elucidating the mechanisms for the transitions between the two wave modes. Researchers are using the methods of jump analysis and attractor dimension analysis to examine the long-term satellite records of significant variables (e.g., long wave radiation, and cloud amount), to explore the nature of mode transitions in the atmosphere, and to determine the minimum number of equations needed to describe the main weather variations with a low-order dynamical system. Where feasible they will continue to explore the applicability of the methods of complex dynamical systems analysis to the study of the global earth-system from an integrative viewpoint involving the roles of geochemical cycling and the interactive behavior of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.

Saltzman, Barry↗
DOE OSTI2019

Uncertainty Quantification of Environmentally Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking in Used Fuel Canisters (Status Report)

This study was initiated to quantify and characterize the uncertainty associated with the degradation mechanisms impacting normal dry storage operations for used nuclear fuel (UNF) and normal conditions of transport in support of the Spent Fuel and Waste Science & Technology Campaign (SFWST) and its effectiveness to rank the data needs and parameters of interest. This report describes the technical basis and guidance resulting from the development of software to perform uncertainty quantification (UQ) by developing and describing a holistic model that integrates the various processes controlling Atmospheric Stress Corrosion Cracking (ASCC) in the specific context of Interim Spent Fuel Storage Installations (ISFSIs). These processes include the daily and annual cycles of temperature and humidity associated with the environment, the deposition of chloride-containing aerosol particles, pit formation, pit-to-crack transition, and crack propagation.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS1980

First Scientific Working Group Meeting of Airborne Doppler Lidar Wind Velocity Measurement Program

The purpose of the first scientific working group meeting was fourfold: (1) to identify flight test options for engineering verification of the MSFC Doppler Lidar; (2) to identify flight test options for gathering data for scientific/technology applications; (3) to identify additional support equipment needed on the CV 990 aircraft for the flight tests; and (4) to identify postflight data processing and data sets requirements. The working group identified approximately ten flight options for gathering data on atmospheric dynamics processes, including turbulence, valley breezes, and thunderstorm cloud anvil and cold air outflow dynamics. These test options will be used as a basis for planning the fiscal year 1981 tests of the Doppler Lidar system.

Kaufman, J. W.↗
DOE OSTI2014

North Pacific Mesoscale Coupled Air-Ocean Simulations Compared with Observations

The overall objective of this study was to improve the representation of regional ocean circulation in the North Pacific by using high resolution atmospheric forcing that accurately represents mesoscale processes in ocean-atmosphere regional (North Pacific) model configuration. The goal was to assess the importance of accurate representation of mesoscale processes in the atmosphere and the ocean on large scale circulation. This is an important question, as mesoscale processes in the atmosphere which are resolved by the high resolution mesoscale atmospheric models such as Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), are absent in commonly used atmospheric forcing such as CORE forcing, employed in e.g. the Community Climate System Model (CCSM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanopowders prepared by a thermal plasma process for water oxidation

Highlights: • Hematite nanopowders with a high purity were synthesized by a DC thermal plasma process. • Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} is formed during the formation of Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} by thermal plasma with iron and oxygen sources. • Hematite nanopowders with a high purity show higher PEC performance compared to mixed oxides. - Abstract: Hematite (Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}) nanopowders were synthesized from commercially available micro-sized iron powders by a DC thermal plasma process at atmospheric pressure. The micro-sized iron powders were vaporized in the plasma region, after which the plasma processing equipment was rapidly quenched, resulting in the formation of iron nanopowders with a size of less than 100 nm. Subsequently, the iron nanopowders were heated to convert hematite with a high purity, which was then formed into a thin film with a binder for preparation of electrodes for photoelectrochemical water oxidation. Iron oxide nanopowders were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size analysis (PSA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photoelectrochemical properties of the Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} film were characterized in 1 M NaOH under AM 1.5 conditions.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2005

Seasonal-scale Observational Data Analysis and Atmospheric Phenomenology for the Cold Land Processes Experiment

The Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX) experiment emphasized the development of a strong synergism between process-oriented understanding, land surface models and microwave remote sensing. Our work sought to investigate which topographically- generated atmospheric phenomena are most relevant to the CLPX MSA's for the purpose of evaluating their climatic importance to net local moisture fluxes and snow transport through the use of high-resolution data assimilation/atmospheric numerical modeling techniques. Our task was to create three long-term, scientific quality atmospheric datasets for quantitative analysis (for all CLPX researchers) and provide a summary of the meteorologically-relevant phenomena of the three MSAs (see Figure) over northern Colorado. Our efforts required the ingest of a variety of CLPX datasets and the execution an atmospheric and land surface data assimilation system based on the Navier-Stokes equations (the Local Analysis and Prediction System, LAPS, and an atmospheric numerical weather prediction model, as required) at topographically- relevant grid spacing (approx. 500 m). The resulting dataset will be analyzed by the CLPX community as a part of their larger research goals to determine the relative influence of various atmospheric phenomena on processes relevant to CLPX scientific goals.

Poulos, Gregory S.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Electron Heat Fluxes Generated by Intense Whistler Waves at the Upper Ionospheric Altitudes

Magnetospheric whistler waves, chorus and hiss, can't provide the resonance heating of the core electron plasma population. However, these whistler-mode branches, can implicitly participate in the heating processes of the core plasma thermal electron population by triggering the electron precipitation over a broad energy range from the magnetosphere and subsequent atmospheric ionization processes leading to the production of superthermal electron population. These superthermal electrons play a large role in the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere energy interplay with participation of both magnetically conjugate hemispheres, and their Coulomb interaction with background magnetospheric thermal electrons. Using strong hiss and chorus wave events measured by the Van Allen Probes and SuperThermal Electron Transport code, we evaluate the formation of electron heat fluxes at the upper ionospheric altitudes and discuss their consequences on the formation of electron temperature. It is found that chorus and hiss waves that initiate the precipitation of magnetospheric electrons with energies below 30 keV and the follow-up production of secondary electrons play an important role in the energy balance of ionosphere-magnetosphere system.

Magnetospheric whistler waves as an implicit sourc↗
DOE OSTI2024

Abstract for CRADA between National Energy Technology Laboratory and Eion Corp

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and Eion Carbon (Participant) will collaborate on a lifecycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic assessment (TEA) of Eion Carbon’s carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) removal process. Eion Carbon’s process removes atmospheric CO 2 using high efficiency, fast-weathering minerals applied on farmland. Eion Carbon’s patented direct measurement process delivers permanent, verifiable carbon removal and diverse environmental co-benefits. This collaboration with NETL aims to produce corroborated assessment reports that will play an instrumental role in follow on funding applications and customer evaluations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1985

Water loss from Venus: Implications for the Earth's early atmosphere

The atmosphere of Venus outgassed rapidly as a result of planetary heating during accretion, resulting in massive water loss. The processes affecting atmospheric chemistry following accretion have consisted largely of hydrogen escape and internal re-equilibrium. The initial bulk composition of Venus and Earth are assumed to have been roughly similar. Chemical speciation on Venus was controlled by the temperature and oxygen buffering capacity of the surface magma. It is also assumed that the surfaces of planetary bodies of the inner solar system were partly or wholly molten during accretion with a temperature estimated at 1273 to 1573 K. To investigate the range of reasonable initial atmospheric compositions on Venus, limits have to be set for the proportion of total hydrogen and the buffered fugacity of oxygen. Using the C/H ratio of 0.033 set for Earth, virtually all of the water generated during outgassing must later have been lost in order to bring the current CO2/H2O ratio for Venus up to its observed value of 10 sup 4 to 10 sup 5. The proportion of H2O decreases in model atmospheres with successfully higher C/H values, ultimately approaching the depleted values currently observed on Venus. Increasing C/H also results in a rapid increase in CO/H2O and provides an efficient mechanism for water loss by the reaction CO+H2O = CO2 + H2. This reaction, plus water loss mechanisms involving crustal iron, could have removed a very large volume of water from the Venusian atmosphere, even at a low C/H value.

Richardson, S. M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Solar wind effects on atmosphere evolution at Venus and Mars

The weak intrinsic magnetism of Venus and Mars leaves these planets subject to some unique atmospheric loss processes. This paper reviews the ways in which material seems to be removed by the solar wind interaction, including atmospheric ion pickup by the solar wind, bulk removal and outflow of ionospheric plasma, and atmospheric sputtering by pickup ions. The factors in the planets' and sun's histories, such as planetary magnetism, solar luminosity, and past solar wind properties, that must ultimately be folded into considerations of the effects of the solar wind interaction on atmosphere evolution are discussed.

Luhmann, Janet G.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Radiant Heating Tests on Meteoritic Material

A new effort geared toward modeling the physics of meteor entry and break-up is underway at NASA Ames Research Center. This is part of a broader interdisciplinary effort on providing physics-based risk assessment models for potentially hazardous objects. As part of the entry modeling task we are seeking to improve our understanding of, among other things, the ablation of meteoric material during high speed entry into earths atmosphere. Meteoroid entry differs greatly in some key respects from spacecraft entry modeling. First, the aerothermal environment at these high velocities (18 km/s) is dominated by radiation. Second, meteoroids less than, say, 50m in size, will likely lose a significant portion of their mass during the high-speed atmospheric entry process due to vaporization as well as melting and spallation. The mass of the object, in turn, directly affects the amount of energy deposited in the atmosphere, and therefore the amount of damage done. Thus it is important for us to understand and be able to model this process in greater detail in order to assess the hazard posed by these objects.In this presentation, we first give an overview of the simple ablation models that are typically used in meteor entry calculations. Additionally, we will present a new model which utilizes a similar approach to what is typically done for spacecraft TPS response modeling. This uses an equilibrium assumption near the surface to compute the ablation rate, as is done in heritage material response codes. Next we describe the radiant heating experiment which uses a high-powered laser to emulate the radiation dominated heating environment experienced by meteoroids during atmospheric entry. The facility the Laser Hardened Material Evaluation Laboratory (LHMEL) permits us to expose samples of meteoritic material to heating rates in excess of 100kW/sq.cm. An overview of the experimental set-up and test plan for the initial exploratory campaign at this facility will be given. Then we present both qualitative and quantitative results from this initial test series. Comparisons between predicted and measured ablation rates suggest that there may be significant blockage of the incident beam by the ablation plume. Furthermore, melt is shown to be a significant ablation mechanics, even at high heating rates (16 kW/sq.cm). Finally, comparisons between the phenomenology of the ablation of terrestrial rocks namely, basalt -- to that of meteorites show very different behavior. This is shown to likely be due in part to the effect of composition on the melt viscosity.

Stern, Eric↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Applications of MERRA-2 data for avian migration, biomass burning, and dusty atmospheric rivers

Three different applications of MERRA-2 data are presented. 1) Using radar data, we introduced a new concept for spatial patterns of bird migration across the contiguous U.S. This approach allowed us to use MERRA-2 data and learn that remote forcing in the tropical Pacific—through a chain of processes including atmospheric Rossby wave trains— controls the climatic conditions, associated with bird migration in North America. 2) We showed that emissions from biomass burning in the Congo Basin are partly controlled by the low-level winds, which are in turn associated with the intensity of the subtropical high in the Indian Ocean. Using back-trajectory analysis, we found that these emissions combined with their transport mechanism explain the interannual variability of black carbon in West Africa. 3) Our analysis showed that atmospheric rivers in the Middle East contribute to both heavy flood and dust transport within their corridor. We also found that warm advection and rain-on-snow effect of dusty atmospheric rivers further enhance the chance of flood through rapid snowmelt processes.

Amin Dezfuli↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Applications of MERRA-2 Data for Avian Migration, Biomass Burning, and Dusty Atmospheric Rivers

Three different applications of MERRA-2 data are presented. 1) Using radar data, we introduced a new concept for spatial patterns of bird migration across the contiguous U.S. This approach allowed us to use MERRA-2 data and learn that remote forcing in the tropical Pacific—through a chain of processes including atmospheric Rossby wave trains— controls the climatic conditions, associated with bird migration in North America. 2) We showed that emissions from biomass burning in the Congo Basin are partly controlled by the low-level winds, which are in turn associated with the intensity of the subtropical high in the Indian Ocean. Using back-trajectory analysis, we found that these emissions combined with their transport mechanism explain the interannual variability of black carbon in West Africa. 3) Our analysis showed that atmospheric rivers in the Middle East contribute to both heavy flood and dust transport within their corridor. We also found that warm advection and rain-on-snow effect of dusty atmospheric rivers further enhance the chance of flood through rapid snowmelt processes.

Amin Dezfuli↗
DOE OSTI2018

Interaction of an Optical Discharge with a Shock Wave

The results of an experimental study of the impact of the focused pulsed-periodic radiation from a CO{sub 2} laser on a gas-dynamic structure in a supersonic jet are presented. The radiation of the CO{sub 2} laser is propagated across the stream and focused by a lens on the axis of the supersonic jet. To register the flow structure, a shadow scheme with a slit and a flat knife located along the flow is used. The image is fixed by a speed camera with an exposure time of 1.5 μs and a frame rate of 1000 1/s. In the flow, the plasma initiated by the pulsedperiodic laser is visualized in order to identify and determine the period of plasma development, as well as the motion of the initial front of the shock wave. It is shown that at the transverse input of laser radiation into the stream the periodic structure of the thermal trace is created with the formation of an unsteady shock wave from the energy release zone. At small repetition rates of laser radiation pulses, the thermal spot interacts with the flow in the pulsed mode. It is shown that elliptic nonstationary shock waves are formed only at low subsonic flow velocities and in a stationary atmosphere. The process of nonstationary ignition by an optical discharge of a methane–air mixture during a subsonic outflow into a motionless atmosphere is shown experimentally. The results of optical visualization indicate burning in the trace behind the optical discharge region.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRS1966

Brazing process using'al-Si filler alloy reliably bonds aluminum parts

Brazing process employs an aluminum-silicon filler alloy for diffusion bonding of aluminum parts in a vacuum or inert gas atmosphere. This process is carried out at temperatures substantially below those required in conventional process and produces bonds of greater strength and reliability.

Beuyukian, C. S.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Space exploration and the history of solar-system volatiles

The thermochemical history of volatile substances in all solar-system planets, satellites, and planetoids is discussed extensively. The volatiles are viewed as an interface between the abiotic and biotic worlds and as a key to the history of bodies of the solar system. A flowsheet of processes and states is exhibited. Differences in bulk volatiles distribution between the planetary bodies and between the interior, surface, and atmosphere of each body are considered, as well as sinks for volatiles in degassing. The volatiles-rich Jovian and Saturnian satellites, the effect of large-planet magnetosphere sweeps on nearby satellites, volatiles of asteroids and comets, and the crucial importance of seismic, gravity, and libration data are treated. A research program encompassing analysis of the elemental and isotopic composition of rare gas in atmospheres, assay of volatiles-containing phases in regoliths, and examination of present or past atmospheric escape/accretion processes is recommended.

Fanale, F. P.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Laboratory studies of atomic collision processes of importance in planetary atmospheres

Progress in the following research supported under NSG 7386 is reported: (1) measurement of differential cross sections for atomic and molecular collisions relevant to analysis and modeling of data from Pioneer 11, Pioneer 12, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2; (2) analysis of measured differential cross section results to provide scattering data in forms that are easy to apply to atmospheric modeling work; (3) analysis of the data to give basic information on the molecular potentials involved in the scattering process; and (4) development and initial use of apparatus to study dissociative processes in neutral molecules.

Stebbings, R. F.↗