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By European Space Agency
Week in images: 23-27 September 2024
Discover our week through the lens
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By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home NASA’s Hubble Finds that… Missions Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 6 min read
NASA’s Hubble Finds that a Black Hole Beam Promotes Stellar Eruptions
This is an artist’s concept looking down into the core of the giant elliptical galaxy M87. A supermassive black hole ejects a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma, traveling at nearly the speed of light. In the foreground, to the right is a binary star system. The system is far from the black hole, but in the vicinity of the jet. In the system an aging, swelled-up, normal star spills hydrogen onto a burned-out white dwarf companion star. As the hydrogen accumulates on the surface of the dwarf, it reaches a tipping point where it explodes like a hydrogen bomb. Novae frequently pop-off throughout the giant galaxy of 1 trillion stars, but those near the jet seem to explode more frequently. So far, it’s anybody’s guess why black hole jets enhance the rate of nova eruptions. NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
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In a surprise finding, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the blowtorch-like jet from a supermassive black hole at the core of a huge galaxy seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. The stars, called novae, are not caught inside the jet, but apparently in a dangerous neighborhood nearby.
The finding is confounding researchers searching for an explanation. “We don’t know what’s going on, but it’s just a very exciting finding,” said lead author Alec Lessing of Stanford University. “This means there’s something missing from our understanding of how black hole jets interact with their surroundings.”
A nova erupts in a double-star system where an aging, swelled-up, normal star spills hydrogen onto a burned-out white dwarf companion star. When the dwarf has tanked up a mile-deep surface layer of hydrogen that layer explodes like a giant nuclear bomb. The white dwarf isn’t destroyed by the nova eruption, which ejects its surface layer and then goes back to siphoning fuel from its companion, and the nova-outburst cycle starts over again.
Hubble found twice as many novae going off near the jet as elsewhere in the giant galaxy during the surveyed time period. The jet is launched by a 6.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole surrounded by a disk of swirling matter. The black hole, engorged with infalling matter, launches a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blazing through space at nearly the speed of light. Anything caught in the energetic beam would be sizzled. But being near its blistering outflow is apparently also risky, according to the new Hubble findings.
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the giant galaxy M87 shows a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blasting from the galaxy’s 6.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole. The blowtorch-like jet seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. These novae are not caught inside the jet, but are apparently in a dangerous neighborhood nearby. During a recent 9-month survey, astronomers using Hubble found twice as many of these novae going off near the jet as elsewhere in the galaxy. The galaxy is the home of several trillion stars and thousands of star-like globular star clusters. NASA, ESA, STScI, Alec Lessing (Stanford University), Mike Shara (AMNH); Acknowledgment: Edward Baltz (Stanford University); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
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The finding of twice as many novae near the jet implies that there are twice as many nova-forming double-star systems near the jet or that these systems erupt twice as often as similar systems elsewhere in the galaxy.
“There’s something that the jet is doing to the star systems that wander into the surrounding neighborhood. Maybe the jet somehow snowplows hydrogen fuel onto the white dwarfs, causing them to erupt more frequently,” said Lessing. “But it’s not clear that it’s a physical pushing. It could be the effect of the pressure of the light emanating from the jet. When you deliver hydrogen faster, you get eruptions faster. Something might be doubling the mass transfer rate onto the white dwarfs near the jet.” Another idea the researchers considered is that the jet is heating the dwarf’s companion star, causing it to overflow further and dump more hydrogen onto the dwarf. However, the researchers calculated that this heating is not nearly large enough to have this effect.
“We’re not the first people who’ve said that it looks like there’s more activity going on around the M87 jet,” said co-investigator Michael Shara of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. “But Hubble has shown this enhanced activity with far more examples and statistical significance than we ever had before.”
Shortly after Hubble’s launch in 1990, astronomers used its first-generation Faint Object Camera (FOC) to peer into the center of M87 where the monster black hole lurks. They noted that unusual things were happening around the black hole. Almost every time Hubble looked, astronomers saw bluish “transient events” that could be evidence for novae popping off like camera flashes from nearby paparazzi. But the FOC’s view was so narrow that Hubble astronomers couldn’t look away from the jet to compare with the near-jet region. For over two decades, the results remained mysteriously tantalizing.
Compelling evidence for the jet’s influence on the stars of the host galaxy was collected over a nine-month interval of Hubble observing with newer, wider-view cameras to count the erupting novae. This was a challenge for the telescope’s observing schedule because it required revisiting M87 precisely every five days for another snapshot. Adding up all of the M87 images led to the deepest images of M87 that have ever been taken.
In a surprise finding, astronomers, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the jet from a supermassive black hole at the core of M87, a huge galaxy 54 million light years away, seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Lead Producer: Paul Morris Hubble found 94 novae in the one-third of M87 that its camera can encompass. “The jet was not the only thing that we were looking at — we were looking at the entire inner galaxy. Once you plotted all known novae on top of M87 you didn’t need statistics to convince yourself that there is an excess of novae along the jet. This is not rocket science. We made the discovery simply by looking at the images. And while we were really surprised, our statistical analyses of the data confirmed what we clearly saw,” said Shara.
This accomplishment is entirely due to Hubble’s unique capabilities. Ground-based telescope images do not have the clarity to see novae deep inside M87. They cannot resolve stars or stellar eruptions close to the galaxy’s core because the black hole’s surroundings are far too bright. Only Hubble can detect novae against the bright M87 background.
Novae are remarkably common in the universe. One nova erupts somewhere in M87 every day. But since there are at least 100 billion galaxies throughout the visible universe, around 1 million novae erupt every second somewhere out there.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, Colorado, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
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Hubble’s Messier Catalog: M87
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Monster Black Holes are Everywhere
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
Science Contact:
Alec Lessing
Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Michael Shara
American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY
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Last Updated Sep 26, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Black Holes Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions Stars The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
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By NASA
9 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The Oceans group, from the 2024 Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) West Coast cohort, poses in front of the natural sciences building at UC Irvine, during their final presentations on August 13, 2024. NASA Ames/Milan Loiacono Faculty Advisor: Dr. Henry Houskeeper, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Graduate Mentor: Lori Berberian, University of California, Los Angeles
Lori Berberian, Graduate Mentor
Lori Berberian graduate student mentor for the 2024 SARP West Oceans group, provides an introduction for each of the group members and shares behind-the scenes moments from the internship.
Emory Gaddis
Leveraging High Resolution PlanetScope Imagery to Quantify oil slick Spatiotemporal Variability in the Santa Barbara Channel
Emory Gaddis, Colgate University
Located within the Santa Barbara Channel of California, Coal Oil Point is one of the world’s largest hydrocarbon seep fields. The area’s natural hydrocarbon seepage and oil production have sustained both scientific interest and commercial activity for decades. Historically, indigenous peoples in the region utilized the naturally occurring tar for waterproofing baskets, establishing early evidence of the natural presence of hydrocarbons long before modern oil extraction began. Gaseous hydrocarbons are released from the marine floor through the process of seeping, wherein a buildup of reservoir pressure relative to hydrostatic pressure causes bubbles, oily bubbles, and droplets to rise to the surface. This hydrocarbon seepage is a significant source of Methane CH4—a major greenhouse gas––emissions into the atmosphere. Current limitations of optical remote sensing of oil presence and absence in the ocean leverage geometrical as well as biogeochemical factors and include changes in observed sun glint, sea surface damping, and wind roughening due to changes in surface oil concentrations. We leverage high-resolution (3m) surface reflectance observations obtained from PlanetScope to construct a time series of oil slick surface area spanning 2017 to 2023 within the Coal Oil Point seep field. Our initial methods are based on manual annotations performed within ArcGIS-Pro. We assess potential relationships between wind speed and oil slick surface area to support a sensitivity analysis of our time series. Correcting for confounding outside factors (e.g., wind speed) that modify oil slick surface area improves determination of oil slick surface area and helps test for changes in natural seepage rates and whether anthropogenic activities, such as oil drilling, alter natural oil seepage. Future investigations into oil slick chemical properties and assessing how natural seepage impacts marine and atmospheric environments (e.g., surface oil releases methane into the atmosphere) can help to inform the science of optimizing oil extraction locations.
Rachel Emery
Investigating Airborne LiDAR Retrievals of an Emergent South African Macroalgae
Rachel Emery, The University of Oklahoma
Right now, the world is facing an unprecedented biodiversity crisis, with areas of high biodiversity at the greatest risk of species extinction. One of these biodiversity hotspots, the Western Cape Province of South Africa, features one of the world’s largest unique marine ecosystems due to the extensive growth of canopy forming kelps, such as Macrocystis and Ecklonia, which provide three-dimensional structure important for fostering biodiversity and productivity. Canopy-forming kelps face increasing threats by marine heatwaves and pollution related to climate change and local water quality perturbation. Though these ecosystems can be monitored using traditional field surveying methods, remote sensing via airborne and satellite observations support improved spatial coverage and resample rates, plus extensive historical continuity for tracking multidecadal scale changes. Passive remote sensing observations—such as those derived using observations from NASA’s Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer – Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) —provide high resolution, hyperspectral imagery of oceanic environments anticipated to help characterize community dynamics and quantify macroalga physiological change. Active remote sensing observations, e.g., Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), are less understood in terms of applications to marine ecosystems, but are anticipated to support novel observations of vertical structure not supported using passive aquatic remote sensing. Here we investigate the potential to observe an emergent canopy-forming macroalgae (i.e., Ecklonia, which can extend more than a decimeter above the ocean’s surface) using NASA’s Land, Vegetation, and Ice sensor (LVIS), which confers decimeter-scale vertical resolution. We validate LVIS observations using matchup observations from AVIRIS-NG imagery to test whether LiDAR remote sensing can improve monitoring of emergent kelps in key biodiversity regions such as the Western Cape.
Brayden Lipscomb
Vertical structure of the aquatic light field based on half a century of oceanographic records from the southern California Current
Brayden Lipscomb, West Virginia University
Understanding the optical properties of marine ecosystems is crucial for improving models related to oceanic productivity. Models relating satellite observations to oceanic productivity or subsurface (e.g., benthic) light availability often suffer from uncertainties in parameterizing vertical structure and deriving columnar parameters from surface observations. The most accurate models use in situ station data, minimizing assumptions such as atmospheric optical thickness or water column structure. For example, improved accuracy of satellite primary productivity models has previously been demonstrated by incorporating information on vertical structure obtained from gliders and floats. We analyze vertical profiles in photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) obtained during routine surveys of the southern California Current system by the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation (CalCOFI). We find that depths of 1% and 10% light availability show coherent log-linear relationships with attenuation measured near surface (i.e., within the first 10 m), despite vertical variability in water column constituent concentrations and instrumentation challenges related to sensitivity, self-shading, and ship adjacency. Our results suggest that subsurface optical properties can be more reliably parameterized from near-surface measurements than previously understood.
Dominic Bentley
Comparing SWOT and PACE Satellite Observations to Assess Modification of Phytoplankton Biomass and Assemblage by North Atlantic Ocean Eddies
Dominic Bentley, Pennsylvania State University
Upwelling is the shoaling of the nutricline, thermocline, and isopycnals due to advection by eddies of the surface ocean layer. This shoaling effect leads to an increase in the productivity of algal blooms in a given body of water. Mesoscale to deformation scale eddy circulation modulates productivity based on latitude, season, direction, and other physical factors. However, many processes governing the effects of eddies on the ocean microbial environment remain unknown due to limitations in observations linking eddy strength and direction with productivity and ocean biogeochemistry. Currently, satellites are the only ocean observing system that allows for broad spatial coverage with high resample rates, albeit with limitations due to cloud obstructions (including storms that may stimulate productivity) and to observations being limited to the near-surface. A persisting knowledge gap in oceanography stems from limitations in the spatial resolution of observations resolving submesoscale dynamics. The recent launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission in December of 2022 supports observations of upper-ocean circulation with increased resolution relative to legacy missions (e.g. TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, OSTM/Jason-2). Meanwhile, the launch of the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite in February of 2024 is anticipated to improve knowledge of ocean microbial ecosystem dynamics. We match up SWOT observations of sea surface height (SSH) anomalies—informative parameters of eddy vorticity—with PACE observations of surface phytoplankton biomass and community composition to relate the distribution of phytoplankton biomass and assemblage structure to oceanic eddies in the North Atlantic. We observe higher concentrations of Chlorophyll a (Chla) within SSH minima indicating the stimulation of phytoplankton productivity by cyclonic features associated with upwelling-driven nutrient inputs.
Abigail Heiser
Assessing EMIT observations of harmful algae in the Salton Sea
Abigail Heiser, University of Wisconsin- Madison
In 1905, flooding from the Colorado River gave rise to what would become California’s largest lake, the Salton Sea. Today, the majority of its inflow is sourced from agricultural runoff, which is rich in fertilizers and pollutants, leading to elevated lake nutrient levels that fuel harmful algal blooms (HAB) events. Increasingly frequent HAB events pose ecological, environmental, economic, and health risks to the region by degrading water quality and introducing environmental toxins. Using NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) imaging spectrometer we apply two hyperspectral aquatic remote sensing algorithms; cyanobacteria index (CI) and scattering line height (SLH). These algorithms detect and characterize spatiotemporal variability of cyanobacteria, a key HAB taxa. Originally designed to study atmospheric mineral dust, EMIT’s data products provide novel opportunities for detailed aquatic characterizations with both high spatial and high spectral resolution. Adding aquatic capabilities for EMIT would introduce a novel and cost-effective tool for monitoring and studying the drivers and timing of HAB onset, to improve our understanding of environmental dynamics.
Emma Iacono
Reassessing multidecadal trends in Water Clarity for the central and southern California Current System
Emma Iacono, North Carolina State University
Over the past several decades, the world has witnessed a steady rise in average global temperatures, a clear indication of the escalating effects of climate change. In 1990, Andrew Bakun hypothesized that unequal warming of sea and land surface temperatures would increase pressure gradients and lead to rising rates of alongshore upwelling within Eastern Boundary Currents, including the California Current System (CCS). An anticipated increase in upwelling-favorable winds would have profound implications for the productivity of the CCS, wherein upwelled waters supply nutrient injections that sustain and fuel coastal ocean phytoplankton stocks. Increasing upwelling, therefore, is anticipated to increase the turbidity of the upper ocean, corresponding with greater phytoplankton concentrations. Historical observations of turbidity are supported by observations obtained using a Secchi Disk, i.e., an opaque white instrument lowered into the water column. Observations of Secchi depth—or the depth at which light reflected from the Secchi Disk is no longer visible from the surface—provide a quantification of light penetration into the euphotic zone. The shoaling, or shallowing, of Secchi disk depths was previously reported for inshore, transition, and offshore waters of the central and southern CCS for historical observations spanning 1969 – 2007. Here, we reassess Secchi disk depths during the subsequent period spanning 2007 to 2021 and test for more recent changes in water clarity. Additionally, we evaluate the seasonality and spatial patterns of Secchi disk trends to test for potential changes to oceanic microbial ecology. Indications of long-term trends in some of the coastal domains assessed were found. Generally, our findings suggest a reversal of the trends previously reported. In particular, increases in water clarity likely associated with a recent marine heatwave (MHW) may be responsible for recent changes in Secchi disk depth observations, illustrating the importance of MHW events for modifying the CCS microbial ecosystem.
Click here watch the Atmospheric Aerosols Group presentations.
Click here watch the Terrestrial Ecology Group presentations.
Click here watch the Whole Air Sampling (WAS) Group presentations.
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Last Updated Sep 25, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
9 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The Atmospheric Aerosols group, from the 2024 Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) West Coast cohort, poses in front of the natural sciences building at UC Irvine, during their final presentations on August 12, 2024. NASA Ames/Milan Loiacono Faculty Advisors: Dr. Andreas Beyersdorf, California State University, San Bernardino & Dr. Ann Marie Carlton, University of California
Graduate Mentor: Madison Landi, University of California, Irvine
Madison Landi, Graduate Mentor
Madison Landi, graduate student mentor for the 2024 SARP Aerosols group, provides an introduction for each of the group members and shares behind-the scenes moments from the internship.
Maya Niyogi
A Comparative Analysis of Tropospheric NO2: Evaluating TEMPO Satellite Data Against Airborne Measurements
Maya Niyogi, Johns Hopkins University
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) plays a major role in atmospheric chemical reactions; the inorganic compound both contributes to tropospheric ozone production and reacts with volatile organic compounds to create health-hazardous particulate matter. The presence of NO2 in the atmosphere is largely due to anthropogenic activity, making NO2 at the forefront of policy decisions and scientific monitoring. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) satellite launched in 2023 with the goal of monitoring pollution across North America. The publicly-accessible data became available for use in May 2024, however parts of the data remain unvalidated and in beta, creating a need for an in situ validation of its data products. Here we analyze TEMPO’s tropospheric NO2 measurements and compare them to aloft NO2 measurements collected during the NASA Student Airborne Research Project (SARP) 2024 airborne campaign. Six of the campaign flights recording NO2 performed a vertical spiral, providing vertical column data that was adjusted to ambient conditions for comparison against the corresponding TEMPO values. Statistical analyses indicate we have reasonable evidence to conclude that TEMPO satellite data and the flight-collected data record similar values. This research fills a critical knowledge gap through the utilization of aloft NO2 measurements to validate NASA’s newly-launched TEMPO satellite. It is expected that future users of TEMPO data can apply these results to better inform project creation and research.
Benjamin Wells
Investigating the Atmospheric Burden of Black Carbon Over the Past Decade in the Los Angeles Basin
Benjamin Wells, San Diego State University
Black Carbon is a primary aerosol emitted directly into the atmosphere as a result of biomass burning and incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. During the pre-industrial revolution, the main source of black carbon was natural sources whereas currently, the main source is anthropogenic activities. When black carbon is released into the atmosphere, it is a dominant absorber of solar radiation and leads to a significant warming effect on Earth’s climate. In addition to its harmful effects associated with climate change, ambient black carbon inhalation is correlated with adverse health effects such as respiratory and cardiovascular disease, cancer, and premature mortality. In this study, we analyze aloft black carbon measurements in 2016 and 2024 acquired on NASA SARP research flights and compare these concentrations to black carbon measurements taken during the 2010 CalNex field campaign. Both field campaigns flew similar flight paths over the Los Angeles basin allowing us to conduct a critical comparative analysis on vertical and spatial profiles of the atmospheric burden of black carbon over the past 14 years. During the CalNEX study, mass concentrations of black carbon ranged from 0.02 μg/m3 to 0.531 μg/m3, meanwhile 2024 SARP measurements demonstrate concentrations as elevated as 7.83 μg/m3 within the same region. Moreover, similar flight paths conducted during SARP 2024 and 2016 allow for further analysis of aloft black carbon concentrations over a period of time. The results of this study examines and analyzes the changing spatial and temporal characteristics of black carbon throughout the years, leading to an increase of adverse effects on both the climate and public health.
Devin Keith
Tracking Methane and Aerosols in relation to Health Effects in the San Joaquin Valley
Devin Keith, Mount Holyoke College
The San Joaquin Valley (SJV) is located in central California and is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the country for dairy, nuts, and berries, producing more than half of California’s $42 billion output. Due to the SJV’s close proximity to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range to the East and predominantly Easterly winds, air pollution often accumulates because it is trapped by the geography. Significant chemical constituents of trapped particulate matter are ammonium (NH4), chloride (Cl), sulfate (SO4), nitrate (NO3), black carbon, and organic carbon. The particle size measured in this study is less than 1 micron in diameter, and due to their size, can easily penetrate the respiratory tract leading to adverse health effects such as: asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cardiovascular disease. We employ airborne data collected during the SARP 2024 mission onboard NASA’s P-3 research plane to observe spatial and temporal trends of NH4, Cl, SO4, NO3, and black carbon. Further, we analyze measurements from SARP 2016 flights and compare the atmospheric burden of pollution in the SJV across time. To investigate observations in the context of the public health impacts, we utilize data collected by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazards Assessment and find asthma and cardiovascular disease rates are higher in the SJV hotspots identified here. Per capita health impacts are greater than other California regions such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. The SJV exhibits higher rates of poverty than other communities, which may reveal an environmental justice issue that is difficult to explicitly quantify especially where measurements are sparse.
Lily Lyons
Investigating the Effects of Aerosols on Photosynthesis Using Satellite Imaging
Lily Lyons, Brandeis University
Aerosols in the atmosphere can affect the way sunlight travels to the ground by absorbing or scattering light. Sunlight is a critical component in plant photosynthesis, and the way light scatters affects productivity for vegetation and plant growth. When plants absorb sunlight, the chlorophyll in their leaves releases the excess energy as infrared light, which can be measured from space via satellite. To better understand how aerosol loading in the atmosphere affects plant photosynthesis, this study examines locations in Yosemite, Sequoia, Garrett, and Talladega national forests, and compares aerosol optical depth (AOD), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and solar induced fluorescence (SIF) in these areas. Yosemite and Sequoia act as proxies for the old growth sequoia grove ecosystems, and Talladega and Garrett act as proxies for the Appalachian mixed mesophytic forest ecosystem. Our results show that within 2015-2020 during July, SIF and NDVI levels are significantly greater in mixed mesophytic forests than in sequoia groves. Using linear regression plots, we determined the correlation between SIF, NDVI and AOD to be weak in the given locations. Greater SIF in mixed mesophytic forests could suggest that the presence of a prominent and biodiverse understory is positive for the overall primary productivity of an ecosystem. This study is a good starting point for analyzing diverse ecosystems using SIF, NDVI and satellite data as proxies for photosynthesis, and broadening the scope of biomes examined for their SIF. Furthermore, it highlights the need for further investigation of aerosol impact on the trajectory and amount of sunlight that reaches certain plants.
Ryleigh Czajkowski
Validating the Performance of CMAQ in Simulating the Vertical Distribution of Trace Gases
Ryleigh Czajkowski, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Air quality modeling simulates atmospheric processes and air pollutant transport to better understand gas-and particle-phase interactions in the atmosphere. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model couples meteorological, emission, and chemical transport predictions to simulate air pollution from local to hemispheric scales. CMAQ provides scientists and regulatory agencies with important assistance in air quality management, policy enactment, atmospheric research, and creating public health advisories. Recently, a new update to CMAQ (v5.4) was released, utilizing new chemistry mechanisms and incorporating a new atmospheric chemistry model. This study evaluates the performance of the latest model update by analyzing multiple time series of vertical distributions of formaldehyde (CH2O) and methane (CH4) in the Los Angeles Basin and Central Valley regions of California. It compares data from aloft measurements taken during NASA SARP 2017 flights with model predictions to evaluate accuracy. Our study analyzes CMAQ’s capabilities in capturing the vertical dispersion of CH2O and CH4 in different regions, offering insights into the effectiveness of CMAQ for air quality management and the analysis of trace and greenhouse gas dynamics. Using NASA airborne data, this research utilizes a diversified data set to validate the model, providing a more comprehensive evaluation of its capabilities, and thus providing valuable insight into future developments of CMAQ.
Alison Thieberg
Estimating Aerosol Optical Properties Using Mie Theory and Analyzing Their Impact on Radiative Forcing in California
Alison Thieberg, Emory University
Anthropogenic aerosols, unlike greenhouse gasses, provide a net cooling effect to the Earth’s surface. Particles suspended in the atmosphere have the ability to scatter incoming solar radiation, preventing that radiation from heating up the surface. These aerosols like black carbon, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, and organics are byproducts of both natural and anthropogenic activities. Measuring radiative forcing as a result of these aerosols over time can provide insight on how anthropogenic industries are altering our Earth’s temperature. This study analyzes the changes in radiative forcing from aerosols in central and southern California using data collected from NASA SARP flights from 2016-2024. Aerosol size, composition, and single scattering albedo were used to estimate the aerosol characteristics and to calculate the aerosols’ radiative forcing efficiency. Our results show that aerosols are found to have less of a cooling effect over time when looking at the change in radiative forcing in California from 2016 to 2024. When narrowing in on specific geographic regions, we observe the same trends in the Central Valley with the area becoming warmer as a result of aerosols. However, more southern regions like Los Angeles and the Inland Empire have become cooler from aerosols during this time period. The overall decrease in the cooling effect of California’s aerosols could indicate that the average size of particulates is changing or that the aerosol composition could be shifting to a greater concentration of absorbing aerosols rather than scattering aerosols. This study shows how aerosols influence radiative forcing and their subsequent impacts across regions in California from multiple years.
Click here watch the Terrestrial Ecology Group presentations.
Click here watch the Ocean Group presentations.
Click here watch the Whole Air Sampling (WAS) Group presentations.
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Last Updated Sep 25, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) 2024 West Coast cohort poses in front of the natural sciences building at UC Irvine, during their final presentations on August 12, 2024. NASA Ames/Milan Loiacono
On August 12-13, 24 students from the West Coast cohort of NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) gathered at University of California, Irvine (UCI) to present their final research to a room of mentors, professors, family, and NASA personnel.
SARP is an eight-week summer internship for undergraduate students, hosted in two cohorts: SARP West operates out of Ontario Airport and UCI in California, while SARP East operates out of Wallops Flight Facility and Christopher Newport University in Virginia. After research introductions from faculty, instrument scientists, and staff, students are assigned one of four research categories: for SARP West, these categories are aerosols, terrestrial ecology, whole air sampling (WAS), or oceans. Each group is led by a dedicated researcher who is a specialist in that field, along with a graduate student mentor. Over the course of the summer, each intern develops their own research project as they conduct field work, collect data, and fly onboard either the P-3 or B200 NASA flying laboratories.
“You really see them become scientists in their own right,” said Stephanie Olaya, Program Manager for SARP East and West. “A lot of these projects are PhD level: they are researching and making novel discoveries for the field. They don’t even realize the magnitude of the things they’ve accomplished until the end of the program.”
You really see them become scientists in their own right. A lot of these projects are PhD level: they are researching and making novel discoveries for the field.
Stephanie olaya
SARP Program Manager
Research is not the only focus of the program, however. Faculty and mentors alike commented on the confidence they watched grow in the cohort over the two month internship, and the sense of camaraderie with their peers. Olaya says building a sense of community is a primary goal of the program, which encourages close friendships through communal living, regular group dinners, and weekend trips, in addition to the hours of team fieldwork, data collection, and laboratory analysis.
The final presentations are another critical facet of the program, as it teaches students how to communicate scientific research and results to a non-scientific audience. “We want to impress on these students that science is not just for scientists,” Olaya said. “Science is for everyone.”
The event finished with closing remarks by Barry Lefer, Tropospheric Composition Program Manager at NASA Headquarters. “I want to welcome you to the SARP family,” Lefer said, “and to the NASA family.”
To watch videos of these student’s presentations and/or read their research abstracts, please follow the links below.
2023 SARP West Research Presentation Topics:
Oceans Group
Watch the Ocean Group Presentations Introduced by Oceans Group PhD student mentor Lori Berberian, University Of California, Los Angeles
Leveraging high resolution PlanetScope imagery to quantify oil slick spatiotemporal variability in the Santa Barbara Channel Emory Gaddis, Colgate University Investigating airborne LiDAR retrievals of an emergent South African macroalgae Rachel Emery, The University of Oklahoma Vertical structure of the aquatic light field based on half a century of oceanographic records from the Southern California current Brayden Lipscomb, West Virginia University Comparing SWOT and PACE satellite observations to assess modification of phytoplankton biomass and assemblage by North Atlantic ocean eddies Dominic Bentley, Pennsylvania State University Assessing EMIT observations of harmful algae in the Salton Sea Abigail Heiser, University of Wisconsin- Madison Reassessing multidecadal trends in water clarity for the Central and Southern California current system Emma Iacono, North Carolina State University Atmospheric Aerosols Group
Watch the Atmospheric Aerosols Group Presentations Introduced by Atmospheric Aerosols PhD student mentor Madison Landi, University of California, Irvine
A comparative analysis of tropospheric NO2: Evaluating TEMPO satellite data against airborne measurements Maya Niyogi, Johns Hopkins University Investigating the atmospheric burden of black carbon over the past decade in the Los Angeles Basin Benjamin Wells, San Diego State University Tracking methane and aerosols in relation to health effects in the San Joaquin Valley Devin Keith, Mount Holyoke College Investigating the effects of aerosols on photosynthesis using satellite imaging Lily Lyons, Brandeis University Validating the performance of CMAQ in simulating the vertical distribution of trace gases Ryleigh Czajkowski, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Estimating aerosol optical properties using Mie Theory and analyzing their impact on radiative forcing in California Alison Thieberg, Emory University Whole Air Sampling (WAS) Group
Watch the Whole Air Sampling (WAS) Group Presentations Introduced by WAS PhD student mentor Katherine Paredero, Georgia Institute of Technology
Urban planning initiative: Investigation of isoprene emissions by tree species in the LA Basin Mikaela Vaughn, Virginia Commonwealth University VOC composition and ozone formation potential observed over Long Beach, California Joshua Lozano, Sonoma State University Investigating enhanced methane and ethane emissions over the Long Beach Airport Sean Breslin, University of Delaware Investigating elevated levels of toluene during winter in the Imperial Valley Katherine Skeen, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Characterizing volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from surface expressions of the Salton Sea Geothermal System (SSGS) Ella Erskine, Tufts University Airborne and ground-based analysis of Los Angeles County landfill gas emissions Amelia Brown, Hamilton College Terrestrial Ecology Group
Watch the Terrestrial Ecology Group Presentations Introduced by Terrestrial Ecology PhD student mentor Megan Ward-Baranyay, San Diego State University
Predicting ammonia plume presence at feedlots in the San Joaquin Valley from VSWIR spectroscopy of the land surface Gerrit Hoving, Carleton College Burn to bloom: Assessing the impact of coastal wildfires on phytoplankton dynamics in California Benjamin Marshburn, California Polytechnic State University- San Luis Obispo Species-specific impact on maximum fire temperature in prescribed burns at Sedgwick Reserve Hannah Samuelson, University of St. Thomas Quantifying the influence of soil type, slope, and aspect on live fuel load in Sedgwick Reserve Angelina Harris, William & Mary From canopy to chemistry: Exploring the relationship between vegetation phenology and isoprene emission Emily Rogers, Bellarmine University Keeping it fresh(water): Understanding the influence of surface mineralogy on groundwater quality within volcanic aquifer systems Sydney Kent, Miami University About the Author
Milan Loiacono
Science Communication SpecialistMilan Loiacono is a science communication specialist for the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center.
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Last Updated Sep 25, 2024 Related Terms
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