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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2010

Florida Agriculture - Utilizing TRMM to Analyze Sea Breeze Thunderstorm Patterns During El Nino Southern Oscillations and Their Effects Upon Available Fresh Water for South Florida Agricultural Planning and Management

This project utilizes Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Landsat satellite data to assess the impact of sea breeze precipitation upon areas of agricultural land use in southern Florida. Water is a critical resource to agriculture, and the availability of water for agricultural use in Florida continues to remain a key issue. Recent projections of statewide water use by 2020 estimate that 9.3 billion gallons of water per day will be demanded, and agriculture represents 47% of this demand (Bronson 2003). Farmers have fewer options for water supplies than public users and are often limited to using available supplies from surface and ground water sources which depend in part upon variable weather patterns. Sea breeze thunderstorms are responsible for much of the rainfall delivered to Florida during the wet season (May-October) and have been recognized as an important overall contributor of rainfall in southern Florida (Almeida 2003). TRMM satellite data was used to analyze how sea breeze-induced thunderstorms during El Nino and La Nina affected interannual patterns of precipitation in southern Florida from 1998-2009. TRMM's Precipitation Radar and Microwave Imager provide data to quantify water vapor in the atmosphere, precipitation rates and intensity, and the distribution of precipitation. Rainfall accumulation data derived from TRMM and other microwave sensors were used to analyze the temporal and spatial variations of rainfall during each phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Through the use of TRMM and Landsat, slight variations were observed, but it was determined that neither sea breeze nor total rainfall patterns in South Florida were strongly affected by ENSO during the study period. However, more research is needed to characterize the influence of ENSO on summer weather patterns in South Florida. This research will provide the basis for continued observations and study with the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission.

Billiot, Amanda↗
NASA NTRS1989

Automatic Sprout Grower

Self-contained seed-sprouting system provides environment for sprouting seeds quickly and easily. Sprouting container standard 6-oz package for dehydrated food and drink mixes in Space Shuttle. About 4 g of dry alfalfa or radish seeds vacuum-sealed in each cup, like freeze-dried foods. Sixteen cups suspended in tray. Air-and-water inlet tube links each cup to system of tubes and solenoid valves alternately furnish air and water and remove stale air. Peristaltic pump supplies water from vinyl medical-fluid bag. Small diaphragm pump supplies and exhausts air. Small circuit board times movements of air and water. Kit offers advantages to home gardeners. Apartment dwellers use it for steady production of homegrown sprouts even though they have no garden space.

Sauer, Richard L.↗
NASA NTRS1994

(abstract) Characterization of Tree Water Status and Dielectric Constant Changes of North American Boreal Forests in Combination with Synthetic Aperture Radar Remote Sensing

The occurrence and magnitude of temporal and spatial tree water status changes in the boreal environment were studied in a floodplain forest in Alaska and in four forest types of Central Canada. Under limited water supply conditions from the rooted soil zone in early spring (freeze/thaw transition) and during summer, trees show declining water potentials. Coincidental change in tree water potential, tree transpiration and tree dielectric constant had been observed in previous studies performed in Mediterranean ecotones. If radar is sensitive to chances in tree water status as reflected through changes in dielectric constant, then radar remote sensing could be used to monitor the water status of forests. The SAR imagery is examined to determine the response of the radar backscatter to the ground based observations of the water status of forest canopies. Comparisons are made between stands and also along the large North-South gradient between sites. Data from SAR are used to examine the radar response to canopy physiological state as related to vegetation freeze/thaw and growing season length.

remote sensing imaging↗
DOE OSTI2022

A tandem radiative/evaporative cooler for weather-insensitive and high-performance daytime passive cooling

Radiative cooling and evaporative cooling with low carbon footprint are regarded as promising passive cooling strategies. However, the intrinsic limits of continuous water supply with complex systems for evaporative cooling, and restricted cooling power as well as the strict requirement of weather conditions for radiative cooling, hinder the scale of their practical applications. Here, we propose a tandem passive cooler composed of bilayer polymer that enables dual-functional passive cooling of radiation and evaporation. Specifically, the high reflectivity to sunlight and mid-infrared emissivity of this polymer film allows excellent radiative cooling performance, and its good atmospheric water harvesting property of underlayer ensures self-supply of water and high evaporative cooling power. Consequently, this tandem passive cooler overcomes the fundamental difficulties of radiative cooling and evaporative cooling and shows the applicability under various conditions of weather/climate. It is expected that this design can expand the practical application domain of passive cooling.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Regional patterns in hydrologic response, a new three-component metric for hydrograph analysis and implications for ecohydrology, Northwest Volcanic Aquifer Study Area, USA

Spatial patterns of hydrologic response were examined for the Northwest Volcanic Aquifer Study Area (NVASA). The utility of established hydrograph-separation methods for assessing hydrologic response in permeable volcanic terranes was assessed and a new three-component metric for hydrograph analysis was developed. The new metric, which partitions streamflow into subcomponents defined by the timescales of hydrologic response (e.g., fast-runoff, intermediate-interflow and slow-baseflow), was used to gain a fundamental understanding of the regional hydrology, investigate sub-regional differences, influencing factors, and ecohydrological implications. The combined effects of NVASA’s physiography, climate and geology create a strongly coupled surface-groundwater system that produces copious baseflow and limited quantities of runoff and interflow. Patterns of hydrologic response are influenced by the type and rate of precipitation and permeability of the underlying geology. Under variable precipitation conditions the hydrologic response of volcanic terranes with similar permeability and subsurface-storage capacity can be significantly different. From a water management and ecohydrology perspective, understanding regional patterns of hydrologic response and sub-regional differences is fundamental. Results indicate that minimum-flow methods provide the most conservative estimate of baseflow and may be the most robust for filtering out snowmelt bias in baseflow estimates. Baseflow contributes ~75% of the perennial streamflow across the NVASA and represents a critical component of the regional water supply that provides critical cold-water habitat.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

METSiCloPs in Cooling Tower Water, Final Presentation: Water Treatment at FSI [Slides]

Motivation: According to current projections, FSI could require anywhere from 83-288 MGY of water. Reducing excessive dependence on external water supply by making operations as water-lean as possible in the face of water availability fluctuations seasonally. The amount of Silica occurring naturally in New Mexico is several multiples higher than most of the country, with average values of 90 ppm, but reaching as high as 113 ppm. Since its saturation concentration at ambient temperatures is about 150 ppm, this corresponds to cycles of concentration as low as 1-2 for untreated water in cooling towers (i.e., the water is circulated through the towers only once or twice before they are dumped into the outfall), thereby making operations highly water intensive. There is, therefore, there is a strong need and internal motivation to remove Silica from the water that is circulated in the cooling towers.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1999

Nutrition and Foods as Related to Space Flight

U.S. space food development began with highly engineered foods that met rigid requirements imposed by the spacecraft design and short mission durations of the Mercury and Gemini programs. The lack of adequate bathroom facilities and limited food storage capacity promoted the development of low fiber diets to reduce fecal output. As missions lengthened, space food systems evolved, with the most basic design consideration always being the method of water supply. On the Apollo spacecraft, where water was abundant as a byproduct of fuel cell electricity generation, dehydrated food was used extensively. Such food has little advantage when water has to be transported to space to rehydrate it; therefore, more complex food systems were planned for Skylab, which used solar panels rather than fuel cells for electricity generation. The Skylab food system, the most advanced used in space to date, included freezers and refrigerators, increasing the palatability, variety, and nutritional value of the diet. On the Space Shuttle, power and weight constraints precluded the use of freezers, refrigerators, and microwave ovens. The availability of fuel cell by-product water was conducive to a shelf-stable food system with approximately half of the food dehydrated and the remainder made up of thermostabilized, irradiated, and intermediate-moisture foods.

Lane, Helen W.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Analysis of water from the Space Shuttle and Mir Space Station by ion chromatography and capillary electrophoresis

Drinking water and condensate samples collected from the US Space Shuttle and the Russian Mir Space Station are analyzed routinely at the NASA-Johnson Space Center as part of an ongoing effort to verify water quality and monitor the environment of the spacecraft. Water quality monitoring is particularly important for the Mir water supply because approximately half of the water consumed is recovered from humidity condensate. Drinking water on Shuttle is derived from the fuel cells. Because there is little equipment on board the spacecraft for monitoring the water quality, samples collected by the crew are transported to Earth on Shuttle or Soyuz vehicles, and analyzed exhaustively. As part of the test battery, anions and cations are measured by ion chromatography, and carboxylates and amines by capillary electrophoresis. Analytical data from Shuttle water samples collected before and after several missions, and Mir condensate and potable recovered water samples representing several recent missions are presented and discussed. Results show that Shuttle water is of distilled quality, and Mir recovered water contains various levels of minerals imparted during the recovery processes as designed. Organic ions are rarely detected in potable water samples, but were present in humidity condensate samples.

NASA Discipline Environmental Health↗
DOE OSTI2020

GCAM v4.3 SSP-RCP-GCM Output Products

Supplemental dataset to: Graham N.T., M.I. Hejazi, M. Chen, E. Davies, J.A. Edmonds, S.H. Kim, and S. Turner, et al. 2020. "Humans drive future water scarcity changes across all Shared Socioeconomic Pathways." Environmental Research Letters 15, no. 1:Article No. 014007. PNNL-SA-151297. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab639b This analysis makes deterministic classifications of how, when water resources are limited and constrained, the human and climate systems interact. The relative effects of both systems on water scarcity are quantified at global and basin scales across 15 global futures that include five different socioeconomic conditions (the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, SSPs) and four different climatic conditions (the Representative Concentration Pathways, RCPs). These 15 scenarios are used to first analyze a 'Human Alone' component by isolating the human impact on future scarcity. This is accomplished by holding all climate variables to their 2005 levels while altering socioeconomic growth and technological change. General circulation model (GCM) derived climate impacts for five models are applied to establish 75 'Human and Climate' scenarios which allows for the quantification of climate impacts. Climatic impacts to water supply, agricultural productivity and change, hydropower availability, and building energy demands are applied from 5 different bias-corrected GCMs to make a suite of 75 climate runs. By subtracting the human derived impacts from the 'Human Alone' scenarios, from the 'Human and Climate' scenarios the climate impact is isolated. First, the drivers of future water scarcity are evaluated by isolating the impacts that both humans and climate have while accounting for feedbacks between humans, energy, and land. Secondly, the simultaneous impacts that human and climate systems have on water scarcity are analyzed by determining whether each system is increasing or decreasing scarcity in all global water basins. Below we describe the GCAM model, the scenario components, climate derived impacts, and the calculations of scarcity changes and attribution. This study uses the global change assessment model (GCAM), with inclusions of water constraints to both renewable and nonrenewable sources of water, to investigate the relative contributions of climate and human systems on water scarcity regionally and globally under a wide range of scenarios. GCAM links socioeconomics, the energy system, land-use change, climate, and the water sector. GCAM is a market-equilibrium model that allows for prices to be adjusted within each time step to ensure that the supply and demand of goods and services remains equilibrated at each time step allowing for simultaneous market clearing across sectors. This study accounts for a limited supply of water by employing cost resource curves across all 235 basins that follow a logit formulation to determine the share of each water source (renewable surface water, nonrenewable groundwater, and desalinated water) needed to meet the water demands within all basins. As depletion of various water sources increases the extraction price increases, which leads to compounding price increases on the goods and services that require higher-priced water sources.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A panel analysis of groundwater use in California

We report groundwater is a relevant source of drinking and agricultural water in many regions of the world, but many aquifers have been unsustainably over-drafted and polluted. This has significant environmental, health, and economic implications. We rely on panel analysis, with small-sample corrections for cluster-robust variance estimation and hypothesis testing, to investigate the dynamics of groundwater extraction. We focus on California, yet our approach could be helpful to analyze the dynamics of groundwater extraction in other groundwater-reliant regions of the world. In California, over-reliance on groundwater has led to significant overdraft, affecting long-term water supply reliability and groundwater pumping costs. It further caused subsidence and infrastructure damage, harmed groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and threatened the sustainability of groundwater resources in the state. We use panel data of the 56 California Water Plan planning areas over the 1998–2015 period. We concentrate on agricultural and urban water use and the major water projects in the state, to provide a better understanding of the relationships between groundwater extraction and water use and supply. Results suggest that reducing agricultural water in Central California and urban water in Southern California could reduce groundwater extraction in these regions by approximately the same amount of the reduced water. Other opportunities to reduce the stress on the groundwater resources in the state are available for other regions, yet with lower benefits. Results also suggest that a decrease in deliveries from the Central Valley Project to the southern part of the Central Valley would increase groundwater extraction by approximately the same proportion. Changes in deliveries from the major water projects in the state, as well as from other sources of surface water, would also have some, yet lower impacts on groundwater extraction in the Central and Southern California.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1984

The atmosphere of Mars - Resources for the exploration and settlement of Mars

This paper describes methods of processing the Mars atmosphere to supply water, oxygen and buffer gas for a Mars base. Existing life support system technology is combined with innovative methods of water extraction, and buffer gas processing. The design may also be extended to incorporate an integrated greenhouse to supply food, oxygen and water recycling. It is found that the work required to supply one kilogram of an argon/nitrogen buffer gas is 9.4 kW-hr. To extract water from the dry Martian atmosphere can require up to 102.8 kW-hr per kilogram of water depending on the relative humidity of the air.

Meyer, T. R.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Development of an iodine generator for reclaimed water purification in manned spacecraft applications

A successful 30-day test is described of a prototype Iodine Generating and Dispensing System (IGDS). The IGDS was sized to iodinate the drinking water nominally consumed by six men, 4.5 to 13.6 kg (10 to 30 lb) water per man-day with a + or - 10 to 20% variation with iodine (I2) levels of 0.5 to 20 parts per million (ppm). The I2 treats reclaimed water to prevent or eliminate microorganism contamination. Treatment is maintained with a residual of I2 within the manned spacecraft water supply. A simplified version of the chlorogen water disinfection concept, developed by life systems for on-site generation of chlorine (Cl2), was used as a basis for IGDS development. Potable water contaminated with abundant E. Coliform Group organisms was treated by electrolytically generated I2 at levels of 5 to 10 ppm. In all instances, the E. coli were eliminated.

Wynveen, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Satellite Remote Sensing of the Liquid Water Sensitivity in Water Clouds

In estimation of the aerosol indirect effect, cloud liquid water path is considered either constant (Twomey effect) or increasing with enhanced droplet number concentrations (drizzle-suppression effect, or Albrecht effect) if cloud microphysics is the prevailing mechanism during the aerosol-cloud interactions. On the other hand, if cloud thermodynamics and dynamics are considered, the cloud liquid water path may be decreased with increasing droplet number concentration, which is predicted by model calculations and observed in ship-track and urban influence studies. This study is to examine the different responses of cloud liquid water path to changes of cloud droplet number concentration. Satellite data (January, April, July and October 1987) are used to retrieve the cloud liquid water sensitivity, defined as the changes of liquid water path versus changes of column droplet number concentrations. The results of a global survey reveal that 1) in at least one third of the cases the cloud liquid water sensitivity is negative, and the regional and seasonal variations of the negative liquid water sensitivity are consistent with other observations; 2) cloud droplet sizes are always inversely proportional to column droplet number concentrations. Our results suggest that an increase of cloud droplet number concentration leads to reduced cloud droplet size and enhanced evaporation, which weakens the coupling between water clouds and boundary layer in warm zones, decreases water supply from surface and desiccates cloud liquid water. Our results also suggest that the current evaluations of negative aerosol indirect forcing by global climate models (GCM), which are based on Twomey effect or Albrecht effect, may be overestimated.

Han, Qing-Yuan↗
NASA NTRS2005

Microbial Surveillance of Potable Water Sources of the International Space Station

To mitigate risk to the crew, the microbial surveillance of the quality of potable water sources of the International Space Station (ISS) has been ongoing since before the arrival of the first permanent crew. These water sources have included stored ground-supplied water, water produced by the shuttle fuel cells during flight, and ISS humidity condensate that is reclaimed and processed. Monitoring was accomplished using a self-contained filter designed to allow bacterial growth and enumeration during flight. Upon return to earth, microbial isolates were identified using 16S ribosomal gene sequencing. While the predominant isolates were common Gramnegative bacteria including Ralstonia eutropha, Methylobacterium fujisawaense, and Spingomonas paucimobilis, opportunistic pathogens such as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were also isolated. Results of in-flight enumeration have indicated a fluctuation of bacterial counts above system design specifications. Additional in-flight monitoring capability for the specific detection of coliforms was added in 2004; no coliforms have been detected from any potable water source. Neither the bacterial concentrations nor the identification of the isolates recovered from these samples has suggested a threat to crew health.

Bruce, Rebekah J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Analyzers Provide Water Security in Space and on Earth

Resourcefulness is a key quality for living in space, and on the International Space Station (ISS), that means making the most of water supplies. In 2008, the installation of the Water Processing Assembly (WPA) onboard the ISS allowed the space station s crew to do just that. The WPA purifies moisture from nearly every possible source - sweat, water vapor, wastewater, and even urine - for drinking and oxygen generation. Capable of producing 35 gallons of potable, recycled water a day, the system has reduced the need for water delivered to the ISS by over 1,000 gallons a year, saving significant payload costs in the process. As with any drinking water, quality is a concern, particularly when that water has been recycled. This is an issue of particular interest in space, where ISS crewmembers would have to deal with any illness far from the nearest medical personnel and facilities. The WPA employs sensors that monitor water quality by measuring its conductivity, and rounding out the system s quality assurance methods is a device developed for NASA by a private industry partner. That company has now made the technology available for ensuring the purity of water for consumption and industrial uses on Earth.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2025

Supporting Information - How Can Crop Production Adapt to growing groundwater restrictions in the West?

Abstract This data plan outlines the structure and content of datasets generated and utilized in the research presented in the manuscript abstract. Groundwater overdraft has led to serious water supply issues in the US West. Most western states manage groundwater use through a permitting system, but California has only recently begun to restrict groundwater use statewide with the 2014 passage of groundwater restrictions which target the elimination of groundwater overdraft practices by 2042. With groundwater extraction curtailed, crop production in the US West (a $95 billion industry annually) will be affected, and appropriate response strategies will be needed to ensure minimal disruption to food production and the regional economy. In this paper, we explore the adoption of alternative adaptive responses: (a) deficit irrigation; (b) switching to less water-intensive crops; (c) changing the extent of irrigated land (including fallowing); and (d) geographically shifting crop production. Employing an integrated modeling approach, we explicitly capture the interactions and feedbacks between local hydrology, changes in crop yields, crop and land use decision-making, changes in crop prices, and regional shifts in crop production. We find that the optimal adaptive response is spatially heterogeneous and comprises a portfolio of strategies. Southwestern states and California will be the most impacted by groundwater restrictions. The optimal responses in these states are to both adopt deficit irrigation strategies and reduce a portion of their irrigated croplands, resulting in a shift in crop production to northwestern states with a larger supply of water. The datasets detailed in this repository represent the output from these integrated models, specifically designed to support the analysis and visualization presented in the manuscript and supplemental information. These datasets, used in conjunction with the scripts available at our associated GitHub repository (https://github.com/pches/Femeena_etal_How_can_crop_production_adapt), enable the reproduction of figures and facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the optimal adaptive strategies in agriculture for mitigating water stress under varying groundwater extraction scenarios, as outlined in the abstract.

DNDCe↗
DOE OSTI2025

Supporting Information - How Can Crop Production Adapt to growing groundwater restrictions in the West?

Abstract This data plan outlines the structure and content of datasets generated and utilized in the research presented in the manuscript abstract. Groundwater overdraft has led to serious water supply issues in the US West. Most western states manage groundwater use through a permitting system, but California has only recently begun to restrict groundwater use statewide with the 2014 passage of groundwater restrictions which target the elimination of groundwater overdraft practices by 2042. With groundwater extraction curtailed, crop production in the US West (a $95 billion industry annually) will be affected, and appropriate response strategies will be needed to ensure minimal disruption to food production and the regional economy. In this paper, we explore the adoption of alternative adaptive responses: (a) deficit irrigation; (b) switching to less water-intensive crops; (c) changing the extent of irrigated land (including fallowing); and (d) geographically shifting crop production. Employing an integrated modeling approach, we explicitly capture the interactions and feedbacks between local hydrology, changes in crop yields, crop and land use decision-making, changes in crop prices, and regional shifts in crop production. We find that the optimal adaptive response is spatially heterogeneous and comprises a portfolio of strategies. Southwestern states and California will be the most impacted by groundwater restrictions. The optimal responses in these states are to both adopt deficit irrigation strategies and reduce a portion of their irrigated croplands, resulting in a shift in crop production to northwestern states with a larger supply of water. The datasets detailed in this repository represent the output from these integrated models, specifically designed to support the analysis and visualization presented in the manuscript and supplemental information. These datasets, used in conjunction with the scripts available at our associated GitHub repository (https://github.com/pches/Femeena_etal_How_can_crop_production_adapt), enable the reproduction of figures and facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the optimal adaptive strategies in agriculture for mitigating water stress under varying groundwater extraction scenarios, as outlined in the abstract.

DNDCe↗