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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 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Gap-filled meteorological data (2011-2020) and modeled potential evapotranspiration data from the KCOMTCRE2 WeatherUnderground weather station, from the East River Watershed, Colorado

This dataset is a gap-filled meteorological dataset (years 2011-2020) that includes modeled potential evapotranspiration from a station near the pumphouse on the East River (KCOMTCRE2 WeatherUnderground ) near the top of the ridge at the Pumphouse PLM wells. These datasets are useful as model inputs. The KOMTCRE2 station is located on Mt. Crested Butte in Colorado. More information can be found at: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KCOMTCRE2/table/2020-12-7/2020-12-7/daily. The purpose of this dataset is to use as input to hydrological and flow-reactive transport models as meteorological forcing. One attached file includes metadata files with definitions for all variables and units. Subsequent files include the same time series dataset, but aggregated and gap-filled at different time-stamp intervals. These include 5 minute time-series, 15 minute time-series, 30 minute time-series, 1 hour time-series, daily time-series, and hourly and daily modeled evapotranspiration.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

CROCUS Optical All Precipitation Gauge Data at Argonne National Laboratory Prairie Site

The APG (Optical Scientific Inc. All-Precipitation Gauge 815-DS) dataset contains one-minute measurements of precipitation rate, precipitation accumulation, air temperature, and present weather detection, both in 4680 format and decoded. Data were collected at the Argonne Testbed for Multiscale Observational Science (ATMOS), a 20-acre prairie site at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois. The data is presented as daily NetCDF (.nc) files, each containing approximately 24 hours of observations. Files follow the naming convention of: the project (CROCUS), location (atmos), instrument name (apg), data level (raw, a1), and date (year, month, day). The NetCDF format can be accessed using common scientific software such as Python using xarray, netCDF4 or act-doe.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

CROCUS Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Data at Argonne National Laboratory Prairie Site

The Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge (TBRG) dataset contains data from both the Nova-Lynx 12 inch TBRG and the Met One 8-inch TBRG. The dataset contains one minute measurements for precipitation accumulation measured in that timeframe from both instruments. Each TBRG was equipped with heaters for all-season measurements. These data are helpful for identifying periods of drought, potential flooding, and general input for water budgets. TBRGs can be used to validate optical rain gauge data and disdrometer data collected during the CROCUS project. Data were collected at the Argonne Testbed for Multiscale Observational Science (ATMOS), a 20-acre prairie site at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois. The data is presented as daily NetCDF (.nc) files, each containing approximately 24 hours of observations. Files follow the naming convention of: the project (CROCUS), location (atmos), instrument name (tbrg), data level (raw, a1), and date (year, month, day). The NetCDF format can be accessed using common scientific software such as Python using xarray, netCDF4 or act-doe.

1-min Precipitation Accumulation↗
NASA NTRS2020

Large-Scale Influences on Atmospheric River–Induced Extreme Precipitation Events Along the Coast of Washington State

Transient, narrow plumes of strong water vapor transport, referred to as Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) are responsible for much of the precipitation along the west coast of the United States. Along the coast of Oregon and Washington, the most intense cool season precipitation events are almost always induced by an AR and can result in detrimental impacts on society due to mudslides and flooding. It is therefore important to understand the large scale influence on extreme AR events so that they can be accurately predicted on timescales ranging from numerical weather prediction to seasonal forecasts. Here, characteristics of ARs that result in observed extreme precipitation events are compared to typical ARs on the coast of Washington State using data from the Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2. In addition to more intense water vapor transport, notable differences in the synoptic scale forcing are present during extreme precipitation events that are not present during typical AR events. In particular, an anomalously deep low pressure system is stationed to the west in the Gulf of Alaska, alongside a jet streak overhead. Attention will also be given to subseasonal and seasonal teleconnection patterns that are known to influence the weather in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. While little influence can be seen from the phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and Pacific North American Pattern, the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) can play a role in determining the strength of precipitation associated with in AR on the Washington Coast. Lastly, interactions between the MJO and other teleconnection patterns will be explored to determine key features that should be investigated when making subseasonal predictions for AR activity and the associated precipitation in the Pacific Northwest.

Collow, Allison↗
NASA NTRS1992

Large-scale atmospheric controls on local precipitation in tropical Mexico

Sixty-five percent of the short term variability in southern Mexican precipitation is accounted for by the large-scale circulation. Empirical relationships between sea level and 500 mb circulation fields, and the local precipitation in Chiapas, Mexico, are derived using a neural net. Although much of the rainfall is a result of convective processes, the neural net captures the onset of the precipitation season, and the phase of individual precipitation events. The analysis indicates that both of these aspects of the precipitation regime are controlled to a large extent by the atmospheric circulation.

Hewitson, Bruce C.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Cooperative Agreement To Analyze variabiLity, change and predictabilitY in the earth SysTem (CATALYST)

CATALYST proposes to perform foundational coordinated research in a team-oriented collaborative effort aimed at advancing a robust understanding of modes of Earth system variability and change using models, observations and process studies. The proposed research will address the DOE/BER mission by exploring the limits to predictability, identifying fundamental underlying mechanisms, quantifying interactions among modes of variability, and discovering tipping points in the Earth system to understand the current and future impacts of these phenomena on regional and global climate. Four fundamental gaps are identified in our knowledge of the Earth system: 1) What are the limits to predictability on various timescales? 2) What are the interactions among modes of Earth system variability? 3) How may modes of Earth system variability change in response to changes in external forcing, and what are the tipping points involved with those changes? 4) How are high impact events connected to modes of Earth system variability and how may they change in the future? Related to those gaps in our knowledge, we formulate four research objectives to address those gaps using a combination of Earth system models (ESMs) and machine learning (ML) methods. Research Objective 1 (RO1) addresses the first gap above and proposes to understand modes of variability and their limits of predictability on subseasonal to decadal timescales using ESMs and ML. Research Objective 2 (RO2) addresses the second gap and proposes to use a hierarchy of models to understand relevant processes and feedbacks related to how modes of variability interact with each other. Research Objective 3 (RO3) is designed to study the third gap and proposes to examine the role of external forcings in changes of modes of Earth system variability and their interactions, and the likelihood and predictability of tipping points and irreversible changes. Research Objective 4 (RO4) will address the fourth gap and proposes to use high resolution ESMs, regionally refined models (RRMs), and ML methods to investigate the relationships between high impact events (e.g. flash droughts and precipitation extremes, atmospheric rivers (ARs), tropical cyclones (TCs), storm surge/sea level rise), the synoptic systems that produce them, and their changes related to modes of Earth system variability. The research will involve the use of the Community Earth System Model (CESM), Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), CMIP multi-model data sets, a hierarchy of simpler models, and numerous observational data sets. In the course of the proposed research, CATALYST will contribute to metrics and diagnostics that will be integrated in Coordinated Model Evaluation Capabilities (CMEC), particularly with regards to the Quasi-biennial Oscillation (QBO) and its interactions with the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), high atmospheric pressure blocking, and new precipitation metrics.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2012

An Overview of Energetic Particle Precipitation Effects on the Earth's Atmosphere and (Potentially) Climate

Energetic precipitating particles (EPPs) can cause significant constituent changes in the polar mesosphere and stratosphere (middle atmosphere) during certain periods. Both protons and electrons can influence the polar middle atmosphere through ionization and dissociation processes. EPPs can enhance HOx (H, OH, HO2) through the formation of positive ions followed by complex ion chemistry and NOx (N, NO, NO2) through the dissociation of molecular nitrogen. The solar EPP-created HOx increases can lead to ozone destruction in the mesosphere and upper stratosphere via several catalytic loss cycles. Such middle atmospheric HOx-caused ozone loss is rather short-lived due to the relatively short lifetime (hours) of the HOx constituents. The HOx-caused ozone depletion of greater than 30% has been observed during several large solar proton events (SPEs) in the past 50 years. HOx enhancements due to SPEs were confirmed by observations in solar cycle 23. A number of modeling studies have been undertaken over this time period that show predictions of enhanced HOx accompanied by decreased ozone due to energetic particles. The solar EPP-created NOx family has a longer lifetime than the HOx family and can also lead to catalytic ozone destruction. EPP-caused enhancements of the NOx family can affect ozone promptly, if produced in the stratosphere, or subsequently, if produced in the lower thermosphere or mesosphere and transported to the stratosphere. NOx enhancements due to auroral electrons, medium and high energy electrons, relativistic electron precipitation (REP) events, and SPEs have been measured and/or modeled for decades. Model predictions and measurements show that certain years have significant winter-time meteorological events, which result in the transport of EPP-caused NOx enhancements in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere to lower altitudes. The NOx-caused ozone depletion has also been observed during several solar proton events (SPEs) in the past 50 years. Model predictions indicate that the longer-lived SPE-caused polar stratospheric and mesospheric ozone decrease can be >10% for up to five months past the largest events and is statistically significant; however, total ozone measurements do not indicate any long-term SPE impact.

Jackman, Charles H.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Co-Occurring Atmospheric Features and Their Contributions to Precipitation Extremes

Object-based identification algorithms for atmospheric features are commonly utilized to attribute global precipitation. This study employs a systematic approach to examine feature co-occurrences and their relationships to mean and extreme precipitation. Four features are identified using existing data sets for atmospheric rivers (ARs), mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), low-pressure systems (LPSs), and fronts (FTs). Often, a single atmospheric phenomenon satisfies the criteria set by multiple feature identification algorithms, yielding an association between precipitation and multiple features. Over the extra-tropics, the number of features attributed to a single event typically increases with precipitation intensity. Over two-thirds of the precipitation is from co-occurring features, with a considerable fraction related to AR-FT co-occurrences. Over the tropics, about one-quarter of precipitation is associated with co-occurring features, with LPS-MCS co-occurrences contributing substantially in monsoon regions. MCSs are the leading single-feature contributors over tropical land and oceans. In the extra-tropics, FTs, ARs, and their co-occurrences account for over half of the total precipitation over oceans. AR-FT-MCS and FT-MCS co-occurrences contribute to extremes (precipitation exceeding the 95th percentile) over both oceans (over 30%) and land (over 20%). Any combination of features involving MCSs shows a larger contribution to high percentiles of precipitation intensity. A case analysis indicates that AR-FT-MCS co-occurrences exhibit convective instability and deep vertical motion, suggesting that the feature trackers and reanalysis are capturing physics relevant to both convective and frontal systems. The results here emphasize the need for simultaneous identifications of multiple features when attributing precipitation to atmospheric phenomena.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2024

Increasing Contribution of the Atmospheric Vertical Motion to Precipitation in a Warming Climate

Global warming already influences precipitation, with more intense precipitation in many locations. Although the ‘wet-get-wetter, dry-get-drier’ tendency in mean precipitation holds in many locations, the situations for precipitation extremes are more complex, due to changes in dynamic and thermodynamic influences on atmospheric moisture distributions. Here, we build a dynamically interactive atmospheric moisture model for the present (2006–2025) and the future climate (2081–2100), using outputs from coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models. We find that the dynamic process of vertical advection of moisture dominates the same-day precipitation, while the smaller impact of the thermodynamic process provides available moisture for several days. As climate warms, we find that the dynamical-induced precipitation more completely exhausts the vertically-integrated moisture and the distribution of the dynamic process’s impact on precipitation exhibits a greater spread in the warmer future. The dynamical process is primarily responsible for more extreme heavy precipitation as climate warms, at all latitudes.

Climate and Earth system modelling↗
NASA NTRS1990

Microwave (SSM/I) Estimates of the Precipitation Rate to Improve Numerical Atmospheric Model Forecasts

Delay in the spin-up of precipitation early in numerical atmospheric forecasts is a deficiency correctable by diabatic initialization combined with diabatic forcing. For either to be effective requires some knowledge of the magnitude and vertical placement of the latent heating fields. Until recently the best source of cloud and rain water data was the remotely sensed vertical integrated precipitation rate or liquid water content. Vertical placement of the condensation remains unknown. Some information about the vertical distribution of the heating rates and precipitating liquid water and ice can be obtained from retrieval techniques that use a physical model of precipitating clouds to refine and improve the interpretation of the remotely sensed data. A description of this procedure and an examination of its 3-D liquid water products, along with improved modeling methods that enhance or speed-up storm development is discussed.

Raymond, William H.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Increasing sensitivity of dryland vegetation greenness to precipitation due to rising atmospheric CO 2

Water availability plays a critical role in shaping terrestrial ecosystems, particularly in low- and mid-latitude regions. The sensitivity of vegetation growth to precipitation strongly regulates global vegetation dynamics and their responses to drought, yet sensitivity changes in response to climate change remain poorly understood. Here we use long-term satellite observations combined with a dynamic statistical learning approach to examine changes in the sensitivity of vegetation greenness to precipitation over the past four decades. We observe a robust increase in precipitation sensitivity (0.624% yr –1 ) for drylands, and a decrease (–0.618% yr –1 ) for wet regions. Using model simulations, we show that the contrasting trends between dry and wet regions are caused by elevated atmospheric CO 2 (eCO 2 ). eCO 2 universally decreases the precipitation sensitivity by reducing leaf-level transpiration, particularly in wet regions. However, in drylands, this leaf-level transpiration reduction is overridden at the canopy scale by a large proportional increase in leaf area. The increased sensitivity for global drylands implies a potential decrease in ecosystem stability and greater impacts of droughts in these vulnerable ecosystems under continued global change.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1985

Precipitating electron interaction with the atmosphere. II - The dayside cusp region

Interaction of precipitating low-energy magnetosheath electrons with the atmosphere in the dayside cusp region has been studied. Both pitch angle and energy distributions of the fluxes as well as excitation functions for selected N2 and O UV emissions were obtained by numerically solving the multiangle equations of electron transport. There is some possibility that atmospheric emissions may be used for remote measurements of incident soft energy flux, because the ratios of molecular to atomic emission line intensities in the low-energy region are quite different from those in the high-energy region.

Prasad, S. S.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Sensitivity of Precipitation in Coupled Land-Atmosphere Models

The project objective was to understand mechanisms by which atmosphere-land-ocean processes impact precipitation in the mean climate and interannual variations, focusing on tropical and subtropical regions. A combination of modeling tools was used: an intermediate complexity land-atmosphere model developed at UCLA known as the QTCM and the NASA Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction Program general circulation model (NSIPP GCM). The intermediate complexity model was used to develop hypotheses regarding the physical mechanisms and theory for the interplay of large-scale dynamics, convective heating, cloud radiative effects and land surface feedbacks. The theoretical developments were to be confronted with diagnostics from the more complex GCM to validate or modify the theory.

Neelin, David↗
NASA NTRS1977

Coherent wave induced particle precipitation into the upper atmosphere

A description is presented of the results of a computer simulation involving a study of the particle precipitation induced by coherent VLF waves in the magnetosphere. The results of a computation for a 10 picoweber/sq m wave amplitude are shown in a graph. The precipitated flux for three different energies is given in a table. For 1.5 keV the energy deposition rate is about 0.8 erg/sq cm-sec, almost as intense as a moderate aurora. It is concluded that significant energy is deposited by a wave of 10 picoweber/sq m intensity. Such a wave amplitude is representative of highly coherent VLF wave types that are found in the magnetosphere. On the basis of the considered results it appears that controlled VLF wave injection in the magnetosphere could be an important and useful tool to study the coupling processes between the atmosphere and magnetosphere.

Inan, U. S.↗
DOE OSTI2025

End-of-Century Changes in Orographic Precipitation with the Intermediate Complexity Atmospheric Research Model over the Western United States

Abstract Downscaled precipitation projections were created using the Intermediate Complexity Atmospheric Research (ICAR) model over the western United States to increase the physical realism in orographic precipitation changes. End-of-century simulations from eight models in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) were downscaled with ICAR and compared to the widely utilized statistically downscaled dataset, localized constructed analogs (LOCAs), to understand where and why projections of cool-season (September–May) precipitation differed. ICAR and LOCA precipitation projections were similar, but their sign differed in hydrologically relevant regions likely due to ICAR’s simulation of microphysics and mesoscale dynamics with high-resolution topography (6 km). In the Pacific Northwest, cool-season precipitation projections from ICAR showed an increase on the windward side of the Cascades and no significant change within the lee. This difference between the windward and leeward side was attributed to reduced zonal wind speeds, allowing more time for microphysical processes within ICAR. This contrast is enhanced by rain’s faster fall speed compared to snow, limiting transport into the lee. Meanwhile, LOCA projected an increase in precipitation across the Cascades. In the Upper Colorado River basin, LOCA projected an increase in precipitation in high elevation regions (>3000 m), but ICAR projected no significant change or a decrease in precipitation. High elevation differences were most evident in the spring and fall and were also attributed to a snow-to-rain transition and dynamical processes that impacted orographic enhancement within ICAR. Idealized, controlled studies are needed to better isolate individual processes, but these results underscore the importance of including microphysics and mesoscale dynamics within regional-scale precipitation projections. Significance Statement A set of global climate model simulations was downscaled using an atmospheric model that contains key physical equations, referred to as Intermediate Complexity Atmospheric Research (ICAR). ICAR was used to examine projected changes in end-of-century cool-season precipitation over mountains in the western United States. Precipitation projections from ICAR were similar to projections that used statistical relationships to downscale climate projections. However, projections differed between ICAR and statistically downscaled datasets in whether they increased, decreased, or stayed the same in specific, hydrologically relevant regions such as the eastern Cascades and high elevation areas of the Upper Colorado River basin. These differences were attributed to the simulation of physical processes in ICAR. The results highlight the importance of kilometer-scale atmospheric processes in regional climate projections.

Currier, William Ryan [NOAA/Physical Sciences Labo↗
NASA NTRS1983

Atmospheric and ionospheric effects of precipitated energetic O(+) ions

Results of earlier studies on the atmospheric and ionospheric effects of the precipitation of energetic (up to 0.4 ergs/sq cm per sec per sr) O(+) fluxes are summarized. It is concluded that the main effect is the transfer of the bulk of the incoming energy flux to the neutral atmosphere at F region altitudes in the form of heat, which in turn has a significant effect on global thermospheric winds and temperatures. The precipitation events produce a large backsplash of energetic neutral oxygen atoms. The flux of O2 capable of escaping from the earth is estimated to be comparable to that of hydrogen, and the portion of these O2 atoms that could be ionized is estimated to be ten times that of the incoming O(+) ions, raising the possibility that the events may be self-sustaining.

Torr, Marsha R.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Development of an Electrostatic Precipitator to Remove Martian Atmospheric Dust from ISRU Gas Intakes During Planetary Exploration Missions

Manned exploration missions to Mars will need dependable in situ resource utilization (ISRU) for the production of oxygen and other commodities. One of these resources is the Martian atmosphere itself, which is composed of carbon dioxide (95.3%), nitrogen (2.7%), argon (1.6%), oxygen (0.13%), carbon monoxide (0.07%), and water vapor (0.03%), as well as other trace gases. However, the Martian atmosphere also contains relatively large amounts of dust, uploaded by frequent dust devils and high Winds. To make this gas usable for oxygen extraction in specialized chambers requires the removal of most of the dust. An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) system is an obvious choice. But with an atmospheric pressure just one-hundredth of Earth's, electrical breakdown at low voltages makes the implementation of the electrostatic precipitator technology very challenging. Ion mobility, drag forces, dust particle charging, and migration velocity are also affected because the low gas pressure results in molecular mean free paths that are approximately one hundred times longer than those at Earth .atmospheric pressure. We report here on our efforts to develop this technology at the Kennedy Space Center, using gases with approximately the same composition as the Martian atmosphere in a vacuum chamber at 9 mbars, the atmospheric pressure on Mars. We also present I-V curves and large particle charging data for various versions of wire-cylinder and rod-cylinder geometry ESPs. Preliminary results suggest that use of an ESP for dust collection on Mars may be feasible, but further testing with Martian dust simulant is required.

Clements, J. Sidney↗