Airborne DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar) for Broad Area Hazardous Liquid Leak Detection

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven V. Stearns ◽  
Trevis J. Gigliotti ◽  
Darryl G. Murdock
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
The United States ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Differential Absorption ◽  
Broad Area ◽  
Differential Absorption Lidar ◽  
Observation Study ◽  
Wide Range

Over the summer of 2005 ITT Space Systems Division successfully detected, measured, and imaged a range of different hazardous liquids from an airborne platform during a series of field tests in Texas and New York. Under contract from the United States Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (DOT/PHMSA), ITT examined the ability of its Airborne Natural Gas Emission Lidar (ANGEL) Service’s system to detect, measure, and image a wide range of different hydrocarbons from a remote sensing airborne platform. The objectives of the DOT/PHMSA contract were to: 1) develop an understanding of hazardous liquid pipeline leaks, 2) demonstrate that ITT’s DIAL (differential absorption lidar) technology can detect and measure hazardous liquid emissions over a broad area and in real world conditions, and 3) use this information to design a “next generation” airborne sensor system optimized for the detection of both natural gas and hazardous liquid emissions. Hazardous liquids examined in this study included propane, gas condensates, crude oil, and refined hydrocarbons like gasoline, aviation gas, diesel fuel, Jet A, and kerosene. As part of this study, ITT, in cooperation with El Paso Production and Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, completed two separate sets of overflights of a hazardous liquid storage facility. During each set of overflights, data was collected with the storage facility’s vapor recovery unit (VRU) operating and again after the VRU was turned off. In addition, hatches on each of the tanks were opened to create further emission sources. Additional aerial collections of gasoline vapors, propane, and natural gas were also completed. Data from each of the overflights was processed and the results analyzed. The ITT ANGEL Service technology was shown to be capable of rapidly detecting, measuring, and imaging a wide range of different hydrocarbons while flying at an altitude of 1,000 feet and speeds of up to 150 mph. An overview of the results from these flight tests and a discussion of the DOT/PHMSA Hazardous-Liquid Airborne Lidar Observation Study findings will be discussed.

scholarly journals Differential absorption lidar measurements of water vapor by the High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO): Retrieval framework and validation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Carroll ◽  
Amin R. Nehrir ◽  
Susan Kooi ◽  
James Collins ◽  
Rory A. Barton-Grimley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
Dynamic Range ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
Spatiotemporal Variability ◽  
High Spectral Resolution ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Differential Absorption ◽  
Differential Absorption Lidar ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract. Airborne differential absorption lidar (DIAL) offers a uniquely capable solution to the problem of measuring water vapor (WV) with high precision, accuracy, and resolution throughout the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The High Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO) airborne WV DIAL was recently developed at NASA Langley Research Center and was first deployed in 2019. It uses four wavelengths at 935 nm to achieve sensitivity over a wide dynamic range, and simultaneously employs 1064 nm backscatter and 532 nm high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) measurements for aerosol and cloud profiling. A key component of the WV retrieval framework is flexibly trading resolution for precision to achieve optimal data sets for scientific objectives across scales. A technique for retrieving WV in the lowest few hundred meters of the atmosphere using the strong surface return signal is also presented. The five maiden flights of the HALO WV DIAL spanned the tropics through midlatitudes with a wide range of atmospheric conditions, but opportunities for validation were sparse. Comparisons to dropsonde WV profiles were qualitatively in good agreement, though statistical analysis was impossible due to systematic error in the dropsonde measurements. Comparison of HALO to in situ WV measurements onboard the aircraft showed no substantial bias across three orders of magnitude, despite variance (R2 = 0.66) that may be largely attributed to spatiotemporal variability. Precipitable water vapor measurements from the spaceborne sounders AIRS and IASI compared very well to HALO with R2 > 0.96 over ocean and R2 = 0.86 over land.

Deep Learning-based Soil Property Prediction for Remediation of Radioactive Contamination in Agriculture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franck Albinet ◽  
Gerd Dercon ◽  
Tetsuya Eguchi
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Radioactive Contamination ◽  
The United States ◽  
Soil Survey ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Transfer Factors ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Plant Transfer

<p>The Joint IAEA/FAO Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, through its Soil and Water Management & Crop Nutrition Laboratory (SWMCNL), launched in October 2019, a new Coordinated Research Project (D15019) called “Monitoring and Predicting Radionuclide Uptake and Dynamics for Optimizing Remediation of Radioactive Contamination in Agriculture''. Within this context, the high-throughput characterization of soil properties in general and the estimation of soil-to-plant transfer factors of radionuclides are of critical importance.</p><p>For several decades, soil researchers have been successfully using near and mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIRS) techniques to estimate a wide range of soil physical, chemical and biological properties such as carbon (C), Cation Exchange Capacities (CEC), among others. However, models developed were often limited in scope as only small and region-specific MIR spectra libraries of soils were accessible.</p><p>This situation of data scarcity is changing radically today with the availability of large and growing library of MIR-scanned soil samples maintained by the National Soil Survey Center (NSSC) Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory (KSSL) from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-NRCS) and the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN) initiative of the Food Agency Organization (FAO). As a result, the unprecedented volume of data now available allows soil science researchers to increasingly shift their focus from traditional modeling techniques such as PLSR (Partial Least Squares Regression) to classes of modeling approaches, such as Ensemble Learning or Deep Learning, that have proven to outperform PLSR on most soil properties prediction in a large data regime.</p><p>As part of our research, the opportunity to train higher capacity models on the KSSL large dataset (all soil taxonomic orders included ~ 50K samples) makes it possible to reach a quality of prediction for exchangeable potassium so far unsurpassed with a Residual Prediction Deviation (RPD) around 3. Potassium is known for its difficulty of being predicted but remains extremely important in the context of remediation of radioactive contamination after a nuclear accident. Potassium can help reduce the uptake of radiocaesium by crops, as it competes with radiocaesium in soil-to-plant transfer.</p><p>To ensure informed decision making, we also guarantee that (i) individual predictions uncertainty is estimated (using Monte Carlo Dropout) and (ii) individual predictions can be interpreted (i.e. how much specific MIRS wavenumber regions contribute to the prediction) using methods such as Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values.</p><p>SWMCNL is now a member of the GLOSOLAN network, which helps enhance the usability of MIRS for soil monitoring worldwide. SWMCNL is further developing training packages on the use of traditional and advanced mathematical techniques to process MIRS data for predicting soil properties. This training package has been tested in October 2020 with thirteen staff members of the FAO/IAEA Laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria.</p>

Conceptual Analysis of the Economic Feasibility of Fission Electric Cell Reactors

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Morrow ◽  
G. Rochau ◽  
J. Cash ◽  
D. King
Keyword(s):  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Capital Cost ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Value Analysis ◽  
Direct Energy Conversion ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Direct Energy

The United States Department of Energy, Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) Direct Energy Conversion (DEC) project began in August of 1998 with the goal of developing a direct energy conversion process suitable for commercial development. With roughly two thirds of the project completed, we believe a viable direct energy device could be economic. This paper describes the financial basis behind that belief for one proposed DEC reactor, the magnetically insulated fission electric cell (FEC). It also illustrates the value of economic analysis even in these early phases of a research project. The financial basis consists of a conceptual level Economic Model comprised of five modules. The Design Model provides technical specification to other modules. The Fuel Cost Model estimates fuel expenses based on current spot market prices applied over a wide range of fuel enrichment. The Operating Cost Model uses published correlations to provide rough order of magnitude non-fuel operating costs. The Capital Cost model uses analogy and parametric estimating techniques to generate capital cost estimates for a DEC power plant. Finally, the financial model combines output from the other models to produce a Net Present Value analysis with cost of generation as the independent variable. Model results indicate that several FEC geometric configurations could be economic. Within these configurations, optimums exist. Finally, the model demonstrates that the most efficient design is not necessarily the most economic.

Clathrate Hydrates for Production of Potable Water

2006 ◽  
Vol 930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Bradshaw ◽  
Blake A. Simmons ◽  
Eric H Majzoub ◽  
W. Miles Clift ◽  
Daniel E. Dedrick
Keyword(s):  
Structural Characterization ◽  
Potable Water ◽  
Hydrate Formation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Clathrate Hydrate ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Clathrate Hydrates ◽  
Crystalline Inclusion ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Wide Range

ABSTRACTClathrate hydrates are crystalline inclusion compounds of water and a guest molecule (e.g., methane) that form at temperatures below ambient but above the freezing point of water. There are three known crystalline structures of hydrates (structure I, II, and H) in which cavities within the hydrogen bonded water molecule lattice trap the hydrate-forming species. The clathrate structure excludes dissolved solutes, such as sodium chloride, from the aqueous phase and thereby offers a possible means to produce potable water from seawater or brackish water. The concept of using clathrate hydrates for desalination is not new. However, before clathrate hydrate desalination becomes a viable technology, fundamental issues of controlled hydrate formation, hydrate size and morphology, agglomeration, amount of entrapped salt, and the efficient recovery of hydrates must be understood. This paper will report structural characterization of hydrates formed with several guest molecules over a wide range of conditions in an attempt to further the physicochemical insight needed to address these issues.Clathrate hydrate formation experiments were performed using a variety of host molecules, including R141b, a commercial refrigerant, C2FCl2H3. Hydrates of R141b were formed at temperatures from 2°C to 6°C and atmospheric pressure from deionized water and 2% - 7% NaCl solutions. Samples of the hydrates were characterized by cold-stage x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy and determined to be structure II. Additional experiments were conducted with a gaseous hydrate former, ethylene, which readily formed hydrates with deionized or saline water at 2°C and several atmospheres of pressure. Experiments with several other hydrate forming molecules were conducted and the results obtained from their structural characterization will be reported. We will also present proof-of-concept experiments demonstrating a novel technique of desalination using these hydrate formers.Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the United States Department of Energy under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

scholarly journals The Heat Pulse Method for Soil Physical Measurements: A Bibliometric Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (18) ◽  
pp. 6171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hailong He ◽  
Miles Dyck ◽  
Jialong Lv
Keyword(s):  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Pulse Method ◽  
The United States ◽  
Heat Pulse ◽  
Soil Science ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Soil Science Society ◽  
Physical Measurements ◽  
Wide Range

Heat pulse method is a transient method that estimates soil thermal properties by characterizing the radial transport of short-duration line-source heat applied to soils. It has been widely used to measure a wide range of soil physical properties including soil thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, heat capacity, water content, ice content, bulk density, water flux and evaporation in laboratory and field environments. Previous studies generally focus on the scientific aspects of heat pulse method based on selected publications, and there is a lack of study investigating the heat pulse publication as a whole. The objective of this study was to give an overall view of the use of heat pulse method for soil physical measurements from the bibliometric perspectives. The analyses were based on the Web of Science Core Collection data between 1992 and 2019 using HistCite Pro and VOSviewer. The results showed an increasing trend in the volume of publications on this field and Dr. Robert Horton was the most productive researcher coauthoring papers on the heat pulse method. The co-authorship analysis revealed that researchers from soil science are closely collaborated, but this is not true for researchers in other fields. There is a lack of new young scientists committing to this field while the older generation of researchers are retiring. The United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Servics (USDA-ARS), the China Agriculture University and the Chinese Academy of Science were the top three organizations applying the heat pulse method, while the USA, China and Canada were the top three countries. The Soil Science Society of America Journal, Water Resources Research and Agricultural and Forestry Meteorology were the most widely used journals. The con-occurrence and citation analysis could be used to map the development of the field and identify the most influential publications. The study showed that the bibliometric analysis is a useful tool to visualize research status as well as to provide the general information of novices and experts alike on the heat pulse method for soil physical measurements.

scholarly journals New Sources of Adult Plant and Seedling Resistance to Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae Identified among Avena sativa Accessions From the National Small Grains Collection

Plant Disease ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 102 (11) ◽  
pp. 2180-2186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belayneh Admassu-Yimer ◽  
Tyler Gordon ◽  
Stephen Harrison ◽  
Shahryar Kianian ◽  
Harold Bockelman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Avena Sativa ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
The United States ◽  
Crown Rust ◽  
Puccinia Coronata ◽  
Adult Plant ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Seedling Resistance ◽  
Small Grains

Accessions of cultivated oat (Avena sativa L.) from the United States Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service Small Grains Collection in Aberdeen, ID were characterized for adult plant resistance (APR) and seedling resistance to crown rust, caused by Puccinia coronata f. sp. avenae. Initially, 607 oat accessions with diverse geographic origins were evaluated in field tests in Baton Rouge, LA. Of those, 97 accessions were not fully susceptible and were tested in the field in St. Paul, MN against a diverse P. coronata f. sp. avenae population. Thirty-six accessions that had some level of resistance in both field tests and mean coefficients of infection of ≤20 were further evaluated for APR and seedling resistance. Among these, four accessions (PI 193040, PI 194201, PI 237090, and PI 247930) were resistant to eight P. coronata f. sp. avenae races as seedlings. Twenty-nine accessions had resistance to at least one of the P. coronata f. sp. avenae races. Three accessions (CIav 2272, CIav 3390, and PI 285583) were fully susceptible to all eight P. coronata f. sp. avenae races as seedlings. Further evaluation of the three seedling-susceptible accessions at the flag leaf stage in a growth chamber resulted in moderately susceptible to moderately resistant responses. The resistance sources presented here may contain genes not deployed in elite oat varieties, and may be useful for future crown rust resistance breeding. The adult and seedling resistance found in accessions of the cultivated oat species is especially valuable because it avoids problems associated with the transfer of genes from wild species to cultivated oat.

scholarly journals Measuring and Understanding Food Insecurity in Australia: A Systematic Review

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona H. McKay ◽  
Bronte C. Haines ◽  
Matthew Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Household Food Security ◽  
Measurement Tool ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Household Food ◽  
Wide Range

The number of Australians seeking food aid has increased in recent years; however, the current variability in the measurement of food insecurity means that the prevalence and severity of food insecurity in Australia is likely underreported. This is compounded by infrequent national health surveys that measure food insecurity, resulting in outdated population-level food insecurity data. This review sought to investigate the breadth of food insecurity research conducted in Australia to evaluate how this construct is being measured. A systematic review was conducted to collate the available Australian research. Fifty-seven publications were reviewed. Twenty-two used a single-item measure to examine food security status; 11 used the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM); two used the Radimer/Cornell instrument; one used the Household Food and Nutrition Security Survey (HFNSS); while the remainder used a less rigorous or unidentified method. A wide range in prevalence and severity of food insecurity in the community was reported; food insecurity ranged from 2% to 90%, depending on the measurement tool and population under investigation. Based on the findings of this review, the authors suggest that there needs to be greater consistency in measuring food insecurity, and that work is needed to create a measure of food insecurity tailored for the Australian context. Such a tool will allow researchers to gain a clear understanding of the prevalence of food insecurity in Australia to create better policy and practice responses.

scholarly journals Factors of Global Competitiveness of American LNG

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 43-70
Author(s):  
S. V. Zhukov ◽  
A. О. Maslennikov ◽  
M. V. Sinitsyn
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
The United States ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Global Competitiveness ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
Gas Market ◽  
The U.S

The United States started lique fied natural gas (LNG) export in 2016 and just in two years became the world’s fourth largest exporter of LNG. There is a high probability that in the near future the U.S. will emerge as the third largest LNG exporter after Australia and Qatar. The article focuses on the factors, which ensure global competitiveness of U.S. LNG until 2030. The authors show that: first, the first wave of American export LNG projects significantly speeded up restructuring of contract system in the world gas trade as well as suppor ted development of a more flexible mechanism of natural gas pricing; secondly, production costs of the associated natural gas in the U.S. are relatively low and it is highly probable to expect Henry hub gas price to stabilize at around 2.5 dollars per MMBTU in the long run, what gives the American gas producers potential capability to significantly improve their global competitiveness by means of production and transportation costs reduction; fourthly, new waves of U.S. LNG export will not necessa rily be linked to the Henry Hub index, but to a wide range of price indicators, inclu ding the Brent oil price. With increasing flows of globally competitive Ameri can LNG entering the market, transformation of the institutional structure, contracts system and price mecha nism that have been unfold in the world LNG trade for the last ten to fifteen years became irreversible. That creates prerequisites for rapid formation of the world LNG market as well as with a some time lag of a global gas market.

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