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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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17 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1999

Airborne Radar Observations of Hurricane Georges during Landfall over the Dominican Republic

On 22 September 1998 hurricane Georges made landfall on the Dominican Republic (DR). Georges cost the DR at least 500 lives, made more than 155,000 people homeless and caused extensive damage to the country's main industries, tourism and agriculture. There was considerable wind damage, with wind gusts up to 58 m/s in Santa Domingo on the south coast, but most of the damage and deaths resulted from mudslides and the flooding of rivers. While this may have been the worst natural disaster to strike the DR, the sustained rapid storm movement saved the island from worse damage. Georges had previously affected several islands in the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico, but it had retained much of its circulation strength. Forty raingauge stations across the DR measured rainfall totals from Georges between 0.7 and 41 cm, the latter at the capital Santo Domingo, located on the south coast. At Herrera the maximum 1 h rainfall rate was 72 mm/h. It is suspected that much higher rain rates occurred in DR's mountainous interior. Before landfall the eye was clearly evident in satellite imagery. When the eye moved over southeastern DR, it filled rapidly, and the cloud top height decreased in all storm sectors except in the southern inflow sector, where a long-lived MCS, with a diameter larger than that of the eyewall, slowly became enwrapped in the hurricane circulation. The eye closure was most rapid between 16-18 UTC, when the eyewall circulation felt the mountainous terrain of the Cordillera Central, which rises up to 3,093 m. The estimated central pressure increased from 962 hPa at 15 UTC to 986 hPa at 03Z on 23 Sept, and the maximum sustained surface wind speed decreased from 54 to 36 in s-1 during the same period. The island of Hispaniola has a cross-track width of about 250 km, much wider than the diameter of the eyewall anvil (about 100 km before landfall). So the event can truly be considered to be a landfalling case, even though Georges recovered after crossing Hispaniola, albeit never to the same strength. This talk will summarize satellite and ground observations of Georges, as it passed the DR, and it will focus on EDOP data. In particular, we will try to estimate the rainfall rate over the mountainous terrain of the DR. And we will use detailed sounding data to explain the presence and characteristics of the massive MCS to the south, as well as the upper-level updrafts apparent over this MCS and over the mountains of the DR.

Geerts, B.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Neogene compressional deformation and possible thrust faulting in southwest Dominican Republic

Analysis of regional and high resolution remote sensing data coupled with detailed field investigations indicates Neogene compressional deformation in the southwest Dominican Republic. Airborne synthetic aperture radar data and high resolution near infrared photography show folds in Tertiary sediments and possible thrust fault scarps implying NE to SW compression in the region. Large road cuts through the scarps allow study of otherwise poorly accessible, heavily vegetated karst terrain. Deformation increases toward scrap fronts where small bedding-plane thrust faults become more numerous. Analysis of mesoscopic faults with slickensides indicates compression oriented between N to S and E to W. The lowermost scarp has highly sheared fault breccia and undeformed frontal talus breccias implying it is the basal thrust into which the higher thrust faults sole. Thus, the scarps probably formed in a regional NE to SW compressional stress regime and are the toes of thrust sheets. Previous workers have suggested that these scarps are ancient shorelines. However, the gross morphology of the scarps differs substantially from well known erosional terraces on the north coast.

Golombek, M. P.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Subaerially exposed Holocene coral reef, Enriquillo Valley, Dominican Republic

An extremely well-preserved Holocene fringing coral reef occurs at an average elevation of 5 m below sea level around the margins of the central Enriquillo Valley, Dominican Republic. The reef records the latest marine incursion from the east into an 85-km-long, 12-km-wide tectonic depression and appears to represent a unique preservation. Excellent cross sections of the reef exposed in erosional gullies reveal a composition and zonation typical of modern Caribbean reefs that are found in offshore low-energy environments. Radiocarbon age determinations (2) indicate that reef growth coincided with sea-level rise following the last ice age (5,930 + or - 100 to 4,760 + or - 90 yr B.P.). Deltaic deposition and possible vertical movements on active fault scarps dammed the eastern mouth of the valley and created Lago Enriquillo, the level of which was then rapidly lowered by evaporation in an arid climate to produce a saline lake approximately 40 m below sea level. Stratigraphic studies of rocks along the valley edge and data from drill holes in the basin center indicate that there were earlier post-Miocene marine incursions similar to that described here.

Mann, P.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Hurricane Georges' Landfall in the Dominican Republic: Detailed Airborne Doppler Radar Imagery

Current understanding of landfalling tropical cyclones is limited, especially with regard to convective scale processes. On 22 September 1998 Hurricane Georges made landfall on the island of Hispaniola, leaving behind a trail of death and devastation, largely the result of excessive rainfall, not sea level surge or wind. Detailed airborne measurements were taken as part of the Third Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX-3). Of Particular interest are the ER-2 nadir X-band Doppler radar (EDOP) data, which provide a first-time high-resolution view of the precipitation and airflow changes as a hurricane interacts with mountainous terrain. The circulation of hurricane Georges underwent an obvious transition during landfall, evident in the rapid increase in minimum sea-level pressure, the subsidence of the eyewall anvil, and a decrease in average ice concentrations in the eyewall. The eye, as seen in satellite imagery, disappeared, but contrary to current understanding, this was not due to eyewall contraction but rather to convective eruption within the eye. The main convective event within the eye, with upper-level updraft magnitudes near 20 m/s and 89 GHz brightness temperatures below 100 K, occurred when the eye moved over the Cordillera Central, the island's main mountain chain. The location, intensity and evolution of this convection indicate that it was coupled to the surface orography. It is likely that surface rain rates increased during landfall, because of effective droplet collection, both in the convection and in the more widespread stratiform rainfall areas over the island. Evidence for this is the increase in radar reflectivity below the bright band of 1-2 dB/km down to ground-level. Such increase was absent offshore. Such low-level rain enhancement, which cannot be detected in satellite images of upwelling infrared or microwave radiation, must be due to the ascent of boundary-layer air over the topography.

Geerts, B.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Accelerated Energy Storage Deployment in RELAC Countries

"Renewables in Latin America and the Caribbean" or RELAC is a regional initiative across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) that was created at the end of 2019, within the framework of the United Nations Climate Action Summit, with the objective of reaching at least 70% of renewable energy installed capacity, and 80% of the region's total electricity generation from renewables by 2030. 16 countries are members (Barbados, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay), and others are in discussions to join. RELAC provides these countries with support in addressing technical and financial needs to increase renewable energy penetration, matchmaking with financial resources to support capacity building needs and implementation of RE expansion plans, and knowledge exchange via peer-learning, and best practices in renewable energy integration to the electrical grid.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Implementación acelerada del almacenamiento de energía en los países de RELAC [Accelerated Energy Storage Deployment in RELAC Countries]

"Renewables in Latin America and the Caribbean" or RELAC is a regional initiative across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) that was created at the end of 2019, within the framework of the United Nations Climate Action Summit, with the objective of reaching at least 70% of renewable energy installed capacity, and 80% of the region's total electricity generation from renewables by 2030. 16 countries are members (Barbados, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay), and others are in discussions to join. RELAC provides these countries with support in addressing technical and financial needs to increase renewable energy penetration, matchmaking with financial resources to support capacity building needs and implementation of RE expansion plans, and knowledge exchange via peer-learning, and best practices in renewable energy integration to the electrical grid. This is the Spanish translation of NREL/TP-7A40-89643.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Licensing and Permitting [Slides]

This presentation provides an overview of the licensing, permitting, and regulatory frameworks governing Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) across multiple international contexts. It outlines foundational permitting considerations - including safety standards, siting requirements, regulatory and environmental obligations, and interconnection processes - alongside typical pathways for installation, approval, and inspection. The presentation summarizes key technical standards such as NFPA 855 and IEEE guidelines, and emphasizes best practices for safe and effective deployment. A series of detailed case studies from South Africa, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic illustrates how different countries structure approval authority, evaluate environmental impacts, and integrate BESS into national grid systems. The deck concludes with insights on emerging challenges, including evolving regulatory frameworks, financial viability, and the need for pricing mechanisms that accurately value storage services.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS1975

Overall evaluation of Skylab imagery for mapping of Latin America

The author has identified the following significant results. Skylab imagery is both desired and needed by the Latin American catographic agencies. The imagery is cost beneficial for the production of new mapping and maintenance of existing maps at national topographic series scales. If this information was available on a near time routine coverage basis, it would provide an excellent additional data base to the Latin American cartographic community, specifically Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Venezuela.

Staples, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Use of remote sensing for land use policy formulation

Research projects described include: (1) identifying coniferous forest types in Michigan using LANDSAT imagery; (2) investigating synoptic temperature patterns in Michigan as determined via GOES and HCMM thermal imagery; (3) land surface change detection using satellite data and a geographic data base; (4) determining soil map unit composition by electronic scanning densitometry; and (5) delimiting areas of virus infection in vineyards and blueberry fields in southwestern and western Michigan. Contractual activities involve important farmlands inventory, changes in aquatic vegetation in Saginaw Bay, digitized soil association map of Michigan, and aerial photography for hybrid-poplar research. On-going projects are also being conducted in Jamaica, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Kenya.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2004

The Hurricane-Flood-Landslide Continuum: Forecasting Hurricane Effects at Landfall

Hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones strike Central American, Caribbean, Southeast Asian and Pacific Island nations even more frequently than the U.S. The global losses of life and property from the floods, landslides and debris flows caused by cyclonic storms are staggering. One of the keys to reducing these losses, both in the U.S. and internationally, is to have better forecasts of what is about to happen from several hours to days before the event. Particularly in developing nations where science, technology and communication are limited, advance-warning systems can have great impact. In developing countries, warnings of even a few hours or days can mitigate or reduce catastrophic losses of life. With the foregoing needs in mind, we propose an initial project of three years total duration that will aim to develop and transfer a warning system for a prototype region in the Central Caribbean, specifically the islands of Puerto Rico and Hispanola. The Hurricane-Flood-Landslide Continuum will include satellite observations to track and nowcast dangerous levels of precipitation, atmospheric and hydrological models to predict near-future runoff, and streamflow changes in affected regions, and landslide models to warn when and where landslides and debris flows are imminent. Since surface communications are likely to be interrupted during these crises, the project also includes the capability to communicate disaster information via satellite to vital government officials in Puerto Rico, Haiti, and Dominican Republic.

Negri, A.↗
NASA NTRS2005

The Hurricane-Flood-Landslide Continuum

In August 2004, representatives from NOAA, NASA, the USGS, and other government agencies convened in San Juan, Puerto Rim for a workshop to discuss a proposed research project called the Hurricane-Flood-Landslide Continuum (HFLC). The essence of the HFLC is to develop and integrate tools across disciplines to enable the issuance of regional guidance products for floods and landslides associated with major tropical rain systems, with sufficient lead time that local emergency managers can protect vulnerable populations and infrastructure. All three lead agencies are independently developing precipitation-flood-debris flow forecasting technologies, and all have a history of work on natural hazards both domestically and overseas. NOM has the capability to provide tracking and prediction of storm rainfall, trajectory and landfall and is developing flood probability and magnTtude capabilities. The USGS has the capability to evaluate the ambient stability of natural and man-made landforms, to assess landslide susceptibilities for those landforms, and to establish probabilities for initiation of landslides and debris flows. Additionally, the USGS has well-developed operational capacity for real-time monitoring and reporting of streamflow across distributed networks of automated gaging stations (http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/). NASA has the capability to provide sophisticated algorithms for satellite remote sensing of precipitation, land use, and in the future, soil moisture. The Workshop sought to initiate discussion among three agencies regarding their specific and highly complimentary capabilities. The fundamental goal of the Workshop was to establish a framework that will leverage the strengths of each agency. Once a prototype system is developed for example, in relatively data-rich Puerto Rim, it could be adapted for use in data-poor, low-infrastructure regions such as the Dominican Republic or Haiti. This paper provides an overview of the Workshop s goals, presentations and recommendations with respect to the development of the HFLC.

Negri, Andrew J.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Potential Application of Airborne Passive Microwave Observations for Monitoring Inland Flooding Caused by Tropical Cyclones

Inland flooding from tropical cyclones can be a significant factor in storm-related deaths in the United States and other countries. Information collected during NASA tropical cyclone field studies suggest surface water and flooding induced by tropical cyclone precipitation can be detected and therefore monitored using passive microwave airborne radiometers. In particular, the 10.7 GHz frequency of the NASA Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) flown on the NASA ER-2 has demonstrated high resolution detection of anomalous surface water and flooding in numerous situations. This presentation will highlight the analysis of three cases utilizing primarily satellite and airborne radiometer data. Radiometer data from the 1998 Third Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX-3) are utilized to detect surface water during landfalling Hurricane Georges in both the Dominican Republic and Louisiana. A third case is landfalling Tropical Storm Gert in Eastern Mexico during the Tropical Cloud Systems and Processes (TCSP) experiment in 2005. AMPR data are compared to topographic data and vegetation indices to evaluate the significance of the surface water signature visible in the 10.7 GHz information. The results of this study suggest the benefit of an aircraft 10 GHz radiometer to provide real-time observations of surface water conditions as part of a multi-sensor flood monitoring network.

Hood, Robbie E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-35202-DND

On March 20th, 2019, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA, Central American Integration System) issued a joint statement sharing their mutual desire to make Earth observations and remote sensing data and products more readily available to SICA member countries to inform their decision making. Regional capacity building in the use of Earth observations was one of the many opportunities for collaboration highlighted in this joint statement. As an initial capacity building effort, NASA deployed a series of feasibility projects through the DEVELOP Program to engage emerging and transitioning professionals with SICA member state partner agencies. The initial projects in summer 2019 addressed landslides in the Dominican Republic, near-coastal flooding in Guatemala and El Salvador, and environmental challenges to the Mesoamerican Reef off the coast of Belize. Additional projects were planned for fall 2019 with the objective of impacting environmental challenges for the remaining SICA member states. This presentation will summarize the results of projects conducted to date, address the lessons learned in the process of rapid engagement with regional entities, and consider how the partnership may evolve over time.

Kenton Ross↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Building Capacity to Use Earth Observations for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Applications: A Summary of NASA’s DEVELOP Program and Projects in Central and South America

NASA’s DEVELOP program engages individuals and organizations in 10-week feasibility studies to apply NASA Earth observations (EO) to decision makers’ needs. Since 2018, DEVELOP conducted 21 projects in Central and South America, eight of those in collaboration with Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA) and its member state partner agencies. These projects addressed a diverse set of community needs across multiple themes, including two focused on disaster risk reduction and resilience using EO for mapping landslide susceptibility in the Dominican Republic and riparian flooding in Guatemala and El Salvador. This poster introduces DEVELOP, its approach to capacity building, key partnerships, and project results highlighting the capabilities of EO for enhanced decision making in the area of reduction of disaster risk and support disaster resilience.

Capacity Building↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Application of Earth Observation Data for Improved Environmental and Disaster Monitoring in Central America

Since its establishment in 1991, the Central American Integration System (SICA, in Spanish) has served as a force for integrating the eight countries of Central America and the Dominican Republic, and in recent years, SICA’s General Secretariat and its various technical secretariats have focused on integrating Earth observations into various regional and national processes. In 2019, for instance, a joint statement was signed between SICA’s General Secretariat and NASA, toward strengthening the region’s use of Earth observations. SICA has also pursued cooperation with the Group on Earth Observations’ AmeriGEO regional initiative, the Japanese Aerospace Agency (JAXA), the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), and the Copernicus program, among others. Just in the framework of the NASA-SICA Joint Statement, and towards the goal of strengthening the region’s use of Earth observations across sectors, a large number of training webinars has been conducted, particularly benefiting national institutions, non-governmental organizations, and universities. Additionally, targeted support has been provided in the areas of environmental monitoring and disaster management. From 2019 through 2021, for instance, a number of feasibility studies were implemented by NASA’s DEVELOP program in collaboration with SICA technical secretariats. In 2020, in response to devastating Hurricanes Eta and Iota, the SERVIR program also provided support for extending the HYDRAFloods algorithm which had been originally developed for the Mekong to Central America. Support is also being provided toward monitoring land cover change across the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. In the framework of the “observing the Earth for the benefit of all” theme, this presentation will also focus on how Central America can serve as a case study for the development of Earth observation capacity, applicable to other regions of the world.

applied sciences↗