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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 1,747 records · Page 97
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

Regional tectonic evaluation of the Tuscan Apenine, vulcanism, thermal anomalies and the relation to structural units

The author has identified the following significant results. The geological interpretation on data exhibiting the Italian peninsula led to the recognition of tectonic features which are explained by a clockwise rotation of various blocks along left-handed transform faults. These faults can be interpreted as resulting from shear due to main stress directed north-eastwards. A land use map of the mountainous regions of Italy was produced on a scale of 1:250,000. For the digital treatment of MSS-CCTs an image processing software was written in FORTRAN 4. The software package includes descriptive statistics and also classification algorithms.

Bodechtel, J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Satellite-Based Investigations of the Transition from an Oceanic to Continental Transform Margin

Detailed characterization of neotectonics evolution of the Valle de San Felipe and Arroyo Grande regions in northern Baja California. Reoccupied GEOMEX GPS sites, and occupied a regional GPS (Global Positioning System) network. The Baja California peninsula in Mexico offers a unique setting for studying the kinematic evolution of a complex, active strike-slip/rift plate boundary. We are currently conducting remote sensing, geologic, and geodetic studies of this boundary. The combined data sets will yield instantaneous and time integrated views of its evolution. This proposal solicits renewed funding from NASA to support remote sensing and geologic studies. During the late Cenozoic, Baja California has been the locus of changing fault geometry that has accommodated components of the relative motion between the North America and Pacific plates. Contemporary slip between the two plates occurs in a broad zone that encompasses much of southern California and the Baja California Peninsula. The transfer of slip across this zone in southern California is relatively well understood. South of the border, the geometry and role of specific faults and structural provinces in transferring plate margin deformation across the peninsula is enigmatic. Results We use Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery of the Baja California Peninsula to identify recent and active faults, and then conduct field studies that characterize the temporal and spatial structural evolution of the plate margin. These data address questions concerning the neotectonic development of the Gulf of California, the Baja California Peninsula, and their role in evolution of the post-Miocene Pacific - North American plate boundary. Moreover, these studies provide constraints on the geometry of active faults, allowing more exact understanding of the results of ongoing NASA-supported geodetic experiments. In addition, anticipated publication of the TM scenes will provide a widely available geological data base for relatively little-known peninsula California. Achievements include development of an ArcInfo data base of Landsat and SPOT imagery, detailed field studies of Neogene structures in northeastern Baja California, and new constraint on Pacific - North America plate motion at Baja California latitudes. These results are reported in maps, manuscripts and data products which are published or near completion.

Miller, M. Meghan↗
NASA NTRS1999

Visualizing Mars Using Virtual Reality: A State of the Art Mapping Technique Used on Mars Pathfinder

We describe an interactive terrain visualization system which rapidly generates and interactively displays photorealistic three-dimensional (3-D) models produced from stereo images. This product, first demonstrated in Mars Pathfinder, is interactive, 3-D, and can be viewed in an immersive display which qualifies it for the name Virtual Reality (VR). The use of this technology on Mars Pathfinder was the first use of VR for geologic analysis. A primary benefit of using VR to display geologic information is that it provides an improved perception of depth and spatial layout of the remote site. The VR aspect of the display allows an operator to move freely in the environment, unconstrained by the physical limitations of the perspective from which the data were acquired. Virtual Reality offers a way to archive and retrieve information in a way that is intuitively obvious. Combining VR models with stereo display systems can give the user a sense of presence at the remote location. The capability, to interactively perform measurements from within the VR model offers unprecedented ease in performing operations that are normally time consuming and difficult using other techniques. Thus, Virtual Reality can be a powerful a cartographic tool. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Stoker, C.↗
NASA NTRS2003

A Near-Infrared (NIR) Global Multispectral Map of the Moon from Clementine

In May and June of 1994, the NASA/DoD Clementine Mission acquired global, 11- band, multispectral observations of the lunar surface using the ultraviolet-visible (UVVIS) and near-infrared (NIR) camera systems. The global 5-band UVVIS Digital Image Model (DIM) of the Moon at 100 m/pixel was released to the Planetary Data System (PDS) in 2000. The corresponding NIR DIM has been compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey for distribution to the lunar science community. The recently released NIR DIM has six spectral bands (1100, 1250, 1500, 2000, 2600, and 2780 nm) and is delivered in 996 quads at 100 m/pixel (303 pixels/degree). The NIR data were radiometrically corrected, geometrically controlled, and photometrically normalized to form seamless, uniformly illuminated mosaics of the lunar surface.

Eliason, E. M.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Crustal Strain Rates in the Western United States and Their Relationship with Earthquake Rates

Abstract We present a suite of strain rate models for the western United States based on geologic and geodetic data. The geologic data consist of Quaternary fault-slip rates and the geodetic data consists of a new compilation of Global Positioning System (GPS) velocities derived from continuous, semicontinuous, and campaign measurements. We remove postseismic deformation from the GPS time series in order for our geodetic strain rate model to best capture the interseismic strain accumulation rate. We present models based on either geologic or geodetic data, but also create a hybrid model. Although there are some differences between the models, the large-scale features are the same, with the noticeable exception for the Pacific Northwest where interseismic strain is naturally more distributed than the long-term strain release. We also present a map of earthquake rate densities based on mainshocks, and the result has similar spatial features similar to the strain rate models (at least in the southwestern United States). We perform a general correlation analysis between strain rate and seismicity rate (south of Cascadia) and find a change in linearity between seismicity and strain rates from slow to faster deforming areas with seismicity rates relatively lower for the latter. The extent of that change depends a bit on assumptions made on the declustering and completeness of the catalog, but the finding of a change in slope is robust across the different strain rate models. Linearity for all areas is only expected when Gutenberg–Richter parameters and parameters involved in the conversion from strain to moment rate are uniform across the study area. We discuss these qualifications, but find no single satisfactory explanation for our observation. Moreover, when considering a rather short time and space, theoretical considerations of sampling from a power-law distribution actually predict there to be a power law instead of a linear relationship, generally consistent with our observation.

Geochemistry & Geophysics↗
NASA NTRS1988

AVIRIS performance during the 1987 flight season: An AVIRIS project assessment and summary of the NASA-sponsored performance evaluation

Results are presented of the assessment of AVIRIS performance during the 1987 flight season by the AVIRIS project and the earth scientists who were chartered by NASA to conduct an independent data quality and sensor performance evaluation. The AVIRIS evaluation program began in late June 1987 with the sensor meeting most of its design requirements except for signal-to-noise ratio in the fourth spectrometer, which was about half of the required level. Several events related to parts failures and design flaws further reduced sensor performance over the flight season. Substantial agreement was found between the assessments by the project and the independent investigators of the effects of these various factors. A summary of the engineering work that is being done to raise AVIRIS performance to its required level is given. In spite of degrading data quality over the flight season, several exciting scientific results were obtained from the data. These include the mapping of the spatial variation of atmospheric precipitable water, detection of environmentally-induced shifts in the spectral red edge of stressed vegetation, detection of spectral features related to pigment, leaf water and ligno-cellulose absorptions in plants, and the identification of many diagnostic mineral absorption features in a variety of geological settings.

Vane, Gregg↗
DOE OSTI2020

Bayesian Approach to Estimation of Water Table Elevations Using Historical Rasters as Prior Information 2019 - 20430

In cases of complex but only partially known geology and a lack of spatial control in observation well locations, water table elevation estimation is very challenging. In some cases, auxiliary information, such as observations of the movement of tracers, operation of injection and extraction wells, and calibration of groundwater models against the historical elevation data, can be combined with expert judgement to estimate flow directions in areas of sparse data and to aid in the production of more reliable contour maps (and associated rasters) than could be produced by relying on sparse well elevation data alone. Given a historical sequence of these raster maps, the question arises how to automate, to the extent possible, the process of producing new raster maps to reflect data from previous times, the current data and the operation of expert judgement. One solution is to adopt a Bayesian point of view and to regard the historical well elevation data, auxiliary information and historical raster maps as prior information. The well elevations for water table wells, as well as those for injection/extraction wells and the data associated with other relevant variables, can be viewed as predictors for the raster surface. From this prior information, we can, conditional on the values of these predictors for a new time period, compute an expected value map and a standard deviation map for the new raster. These then can be taken to specify a prior predictive distribution for the pixels in the new raster map. Then we condition the pixels, corresponding to water level observation wells within the raster, on the observed values in those wells (which in general will differ from the regression estimate) for the new time period. Given the smoothness of the water table surface, we then smooth the surface of deviations from the mean surface, based on the variograms of the historical rasters, and add this smoothed surface to the regression mean surface. The error structure of the produced raster map is defined by the regression error structure and the error due to smoothing based on the estimated variograms. This methodology has been developed and is being further refined for groundwater monitoring and remediation at LANL. It is a very flexible method that can also be applied with a variety of other predictors applied to model the water level wells in the area of interest over the historical record. The smoothness of the spatial process and its possible evolution over time can then be estimated from the residuals from this regression. This can be augmented by expert hydrogeological opinion based on site topography and hydrogeology. (authors)

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1981

The geology and geophysics of the Oslo rift

The regional geology and geophysical characteristics of the Oslo graben are reviewed. The graben is part of a Permian age failed continental rift. Alkali olivine, tholefitic, and monzonitic intrusives as well as basaltic lavas outline the extent of the graben. Geophysical evidence indicates that rifting activity covered a much greater area in Skagerrak Sea as well as the Paleozoic time, possibly including the northern Skagerrak Sea as well as the Oslo graben itself. Much of the surficial geologic characteristics in the southern part of the rift have since been eroded or covered by sedimentation. Geophysical data reveal a gravity maximum along the strike of the Oslo graben, local emplacements of magnetic material throughout the Skagerrak and the graben, and a slight mantle upward beneath the rift zone. Petrologic and geophysical maps which depict regional structure are included in the text. An extensive bibliography of pertinent literature published in English between 1960 and 1980 is also provided.

Ruder, M. E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Mars: Past, Present, and Future. Results from the MSATT Program, part 1

This volume contains papers that were accepted for presentation at the workshop on Mars: Past, Present, and Future -- Results from the MSATT Program. Topics include, but are not limited to: Martian impact craters; thermal emission measurements of Hawaiian palagonitic soils with implications for Mars; thermal studies of the Martian surface; Martian atmospheric composition studies; temporal and spatial mapping of Mars' atmospheric dust opacity and surface albedo; studies of atmospheric dust from Viking IR thermal mapper data; the distribution of Martian ground ice at other epochs; numerical simulation of thermally induced near-surface flows over Martian terrain; the pH of Mars; the mineralogic evolution of the Martian surface through time; geologic controls of erosion and sedimentation on Mars; and dielectric properties of Mars' surface: proposed measurement on a Mars Lander.

Haberle, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Applications of remote-sensing data in Alaska

Public and private agencies were introduced to the use of remotely sensed data obtained by both satellite and aircraft, and benefitted from facilities for data processing enhancement and interpretation as well as from the institute's data library. Cooperative ventures involving the performance of operational activities included assistance to the Bureau of Land Management in the suppression of wildfires; the selection of sites for power line right-of-way; the mapping of leads in sea ice; determination of portions of public lands to be allocated for small scale farming; the identification of areas for large scale farming of barley; the observation of coastal processes and sediment transport near Prudhoe Bay; the establishment of a colar infrared file of the entire state; and photomapping for geological surveys. Monitoring of the outer continental shelf environment and reindeer herds was also conducted. Institutional constraints to full utilization of satellite remote sensing in the state are explored and plans for future activites include the generation of awareness by government agencies, the training of state personnel, and improving coordination and communication with users.

Miller, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Andrean examples of mega-geomorphology themes

Geomorphic (or physiographic) provinces have been a well known and useful method of regional landform classification for a century. Every earth scientist will recognize a phrase such as Appalachian Plateau or Southern Rocky Mountains as defining a discrete region of consistent geologic structure that has experienced a similar interval of erosion by a similar process or set of processes. The geomorphic provinces formalized in the United States by Fenneman in the 1920's continue to be highly satisfactory even though some boundaries were only vaguely drawn. Mosaics of LANDSAT images illustrate better than any earlier maps the validity and coherence of Fenneman's provinces. The concept of geomorphic provinces has been used subconsciously or intuitively, to describe the relief of the ocean floor and the topography of the Moon and other planets.

Bloom, A. L.↗
NASA NTRS2004

A Reassessment of the Mars Ocean Hypothesis

Initial work on the identification and mapping of potential ancient shorelines on Mars was based on Viking Orbiter image data (Parker et al., 1987, 1989, 1993). The Viking Orbiters were designed to locate landing site for the two landers and were not specifically intended to map the entire planet. Fortunately, they mapped the entire planet. Unfortunately, they did so at an average resolution of greater than 200m/pixel. Higher resolution images, even mosaics of interesting regions, are available, but relatively sparse. Mapping of shorelines on Earth requires both high-resolution aerial photos or satellite images and good topographic information. Three significant sources of additional data from missions subsequent to Viking are useful for reassessing the ocean hypothesis. These are: MGS MOC images; MGS MOLA topography; Odyssey THEMIS IR and VIS images; and MER surface geology at Meridiani and Gusev. Okay, my mistake: Four.

Parker, T. J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Space Weathering on 4 Vesta: Processes and Products

The bulk properties of Vesta have previously been linked directly to the howardite, eucrite, and diogenite (HED) meteorites through remote mineral characterization of its surface from Earth-based spectroscopy [e.g., 1]. A long-standing enigma has been why does Vesta s surface appear to have suffered so little alteration from the space environment, whereas materials exposed on the Moon and some S-type asteroids are significantly changed (grains develop rims containing nano-phase opaques [e.g. 2]). The Dawn spacecraft is well suited to address this issue and is half through its extended mapping phase of this remarkable proto-planet [3]. On a local scale Dawn sees evidence of recent exposures at craters, but distinctive surface materials blend into background at older craters. The presence of space weathering processes are thus evident at Vesta, but the character and form are controlled by the unique environment and geologic history of this small body.

Pieters, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Evidence for recent and ancient faulting at Mare Frigoris and implications for lunar tectonic evolution

Nearside basin-related extensional tectonism on the Moon was thought to have ended by about 3.6 billion years ago and mare basin-localized contractional deformation ended by about 1.2 billion years ago. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) high resolution (50–200 cm/pixel) images show the Moon's surface in unprecedented detail and have enabled us to find many previously unidentified tectonic landforms, forcing a reassessment of our views of tectonism in the maria. The morphology and stratigraphic relationships of these newly identified populations of tectonic landforms imply a more complex and longer-lasting history of deformation. We selected Mare Frigoris as an ideal location to perform a mapping survey where excellent imaging conditions, abundant tectonic landforms, and restricted mascon allow us to unravel the mare's tectonic evolution. Similar to previous surveys, we find that tectonism in the eastern portion of Mare Frigoris was controlled by ancient mascon induced flexure. In the western portion, however, we identify a parallel set of ancient compressional wrinkle ridges across the mare that is inconsistent with an origin by mare basin-centric mascon flexure or influence from the Mare Imbrium mascon. Instead, our results imply an ancient, regional, non-isotropic stress field over western Mare Frigoris. We also identify young wrinkle ridges and show that they have likely been active within the last 1 billion years, and some ridges as recently as within 40 million years. Finally, we identify a 300 km long series of lobate scarps coincident with one of the shallow moonquakes recorded during Apollo and use geodetic strain from the mapped global population of young lobate scarps to predict a level of seismicity consistent with the shallow moonquakes recorded during Apollo. In tandem with similarly young lobate scarps and small graben, as well as recorded shallow moonquakes, these young wrinkle ridges imply that some tectonism in and around Mare Frigoris has occurred in the geologically recent past and likely still continues today.

Nathan R. Williams↗
DOE OSTI2016

A Conceptual World Information Library (WIL) and Land Use Information System (LUIS) - 16181

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency initiative on the Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory is addressing the topic of communicating with future generations on the location, specific contents, and potential risks associated with deep geologic nuclear waste repositories. At the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in the United States, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has committed, prior to the facility closure, to develop a Passive Institutional Controls (PICs) program designed to last as long as practicable. A portion of this PICs program includes development of records packages, selection of data storage materials and methods, and a determination of records retention/storage locations. The approved plan for record retention at WIPP includes the storage of information including hard copies of data, figures and maps in multiple libraries and archive record centers. With this in mind, it is easy to envision reams of various paper documents in a robust physical archive record center similar to one of the museums in Washington D.C., or DOE's Legacy Management facility in Morgantown, West Virginia. While some portion of records for nuclear waste burial sites should be maintained in this fashion for near-term retrieval purposes, it is widely accepted that this is not an efficient way to communicate with future generations even 1,000 years from now. Transmitting large detailed volumes of information to the future should be captured in an electronic format; maintained on computers, translated by computers, and perhaps updated by artificial intelligence as machine and human languages change over the centuries. In addition to a physical records development and storage process for transmittal to future generations, a web-based electronic database system should be developed. A World Electronic Library (WEL) database could be funded from various nations and perhaps sanctioned by the United Nations and/or the IAEA. This WEL could contain information regarding several different subjects with the intent of being a one-stop-information-shop for future generations. This database would require updates and maintenance for as long as there is a recipient. One subset of the WEL would be a spatial database containing all the information available to any set of GPS coordinates, anywhere within the world. This Land Use Information System (LUIS) database would contain information on past and present land use, natural resources, known geology, hydrology and atmospheric conditions, potential warnings, and other pertinent information. The LUIS database is where specific electronic information, a subset of all the records data gathered for a nuclear waste repository, could reside. For not only would LUIS provide the information on a nuclear waste repository when specific GPS coordinates were entered; but a search from the LUIS on 'Nuclear Waste Repositories' could bring up information, including data on location of repositories, radionuclides, operations, D and D, maps, and regulations, plus many other details for locations throughout the world. This tool could be used by future generations for a number of land use or resource exploration decisions. So what can we do now? We can agree to the types of information that should be captured into an electronic database for nuclear waste repositories. We can agree to the levels of detail, the file names and the formats, for ease of combining information sets in the future. Perhaps we can agree to a central electronic data storage site, or sites, where this information will reside for import into a centralized electronic record system, if one is ever developed. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS1985

Viscous remanent magnetization model for the Broken Ridge satellite magnetic anomaly

An equivalent source model solution of the satellite magnetic field over Australia obtained by Mayhew et al. (1980) showed that the satellite anomalies could be related to geological features in Australia. When the processing and selection of the Magsat data over the Australian region had progressed to the point where interpretation procedures could be initiated, it was decided to start by attempting to model the Broken Ridge satellite anomaly, which represents one of the very few relatively isolated anomalies in the Magsat maps, with an unambiguous source region. Attention is given to details concerning the Broken Ridge satellite magnetic anomaly, the modeling method used, the Broken Ridge models, modeling results, and characteristics of magnetization.

Johnson, B. D.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Global petrologic variations of the Moon: A ternary-diagram approach

A ternary-diagram approach is used to show on a single map as much detailed geochemical information concerning petrologic variations within the lunar crust as is possible. The classification map shows the global spatial distributions of end-member compositions, the transitional spatial relations between end-member compositions, and quantitative estimates of relative proportions of each end member at each pixel location within the orbital groundtracks. The use of elemental ratios in this analysis, instead of the commonly used elemental bivariate diagrams, shows geologic information that is otherwise hidden in individual elemental databases.

Davis, Philip A.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Vertical Roughness of the Polar Regions of Mars from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter Pulse-Width Measurements

The sub-kilometer scale vertical roughness of the martian surface in the polar regions can be investigated using calibrated, optical pulse width data provided by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Garvin and others have previously discussed initial observations of what we have called "total vertical roughness" or TVR, as derived from MOLA optical pulse width observations acquired during the pre-mapping phases of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) mission. Here we present the first assessment of the Mars polar region properties of the TVR parameter from more than nine months of continuous mapping by MOLA as part of the MGS mapping mission. Other than meter-scale surface properties directly inferred from Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images, MOLA measurements of footprint-scale TVR represent the only direct measurements of the local vertical structure of the martian surface at approx. 150 m length scales. These types of data have previously been shown to correlate with geologic process histories for terrestrial desert surfaces on the basis of Shuttle Laser Altimeter (SLA) observations. Additional information is obtained in the original extended abstract.

Garvin, J. B.↗