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NASA’s Cloud-based Confluence Software Helps Hydrologists Study Rivers on a Global Scale
The Paraná River in northern Argentina. Confluence, which is open-source and free to use, allows researchers to estimate river discharge and suspended sediment levels in Earth’s rivers at a global scale. NASA/ISS Rivers and streams wrap around Earth in complex networks millions of miles long, driving trade, nurturing ecosystems, and stocking critical reserves of freshwater.
But the hydrologists who dedicate their professional lives to studying this immense web of waterways do so with a relatively limited set of tools. Around the world, a patchwork of just 3,000 or so river gauge stations supply regular, reliable data, making it difficult for hydrologists to detect global trends.
“The best way to study a river,” said Colin Gleason, Armstrong Professional Development Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, “is to get your feet wet and visit it yourself. The second best way to study a river is to use a river gauge.”
Now, thanks to Gleason and a team of more than 30 researchers, there’s another option: ‘Confluence,’ an analytic collaborative framework that leverages data from NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission and the Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 archive (HLS) to estimate river discharge and suspended sediment levels in every river on Earth wider than 50 meters. NASA’s Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) hosts the software, making it open-source and free for users around the world.
By incorporating both altimetry data from SWOT which informs discharge estimates, and optical data from HLS, which informs estimates of suspended sediment data, Confluence marks the first time hydrologists can create timely models of river size and water quality at a global scale. Compared to existing workflows for estimating suspended sediment using HLS data, Confluence is faster by a factor of 30.
I can’t do global satellite hydrology without this system. Or, I could, but it would be extremely time consuming and expensive.
Colin Gleason
Nikki Tebaldi, a Cloud Adoption Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Co-Investigator for Confluence, was the lead developer on this project. She said that while the individual components of Confluence have been around for decades, bringing them together within a single, cloud-based processing pipeline was a significant challenge.
“I’m really proud that we’ve pieced together all of these different algorithms, got them into the cloud, and we have them all executing commands and working,” said Tebaldi.
Suresh Vannan, former manager of PO.DAAC and a Co-Investigator for Confluence, said this new ability to produce timely, global estimates of river discharge and quality will have a huge impact on hydrological models assessing everything from the health of river ecosystems to snowmelt.
“There are a bunch of science applications that river discharge can be used for, because it’s pretty much taking a snapshot of what the river looks like, how it behaves. Producing that snapshot on a global scale is a game changer,” said Vannan.
While the Confluence team is still working with PO.DAAC to complete their software package, users can currently access the Confluence source code here. For tutorials, manuals, and other user guides, visit the PO.DAAC webpage here.
All of these improvements to the original Confluence algorithms developed for SWOT were made possible by NASA’s Advanced Intelligent Systems Technology (AIST) program, a part of the agency’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), in collaboration with SWOT and PO.DAAC.
To learn more about opportunities to develop next-generation technologies for studying Earth from outer space, visit ESTO’s solicitation page here.
Project Lead: Colin Gleason / University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Sponsoring Organization: Advanced Intelligent Systems Technology program, within NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office
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Last Updated Feb 04, 2025 Related Terms
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2 Min Read Advanced Modeling Enhances Gateway’s Lunar Dust Defense
A sample holder in a vacuum chamber spins during a lunar dust adhesion test at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Credits: NASA/Josh Litofsky NASA’s Artemis campaign aims to return humans to the Moon, develop a sustainable presence there, and lay the groundwork for the first crewed missions to Mars. As the agency prepares for longer stays on and around the Moon, engineers are working diligently to understand the complex behavior of lunar dust, the sharp, jagged particles that can cling to spacesuits and jam equipment.
Lunar dust has posed a problem since astronauts first encountered it during the Apollo missions. Ahead of more frequent and intense contact with dust, NASA is developing new strategies to protect equipment as astronauts travel between the Moon and spacecraft like Gateway, humanity’s first lunar space station.
Josh Litofsky, systems engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, scoops material designed to behave like lunar dust to test how it adheres to Gateway materials. NASA/Bill Stafford Unlike Apollo-era spacecraft that faced lunar dust exposure just once, Gateway will encounter it each time a Human Landing System spacecraft returns to the space station from the lunar South Pole region. Dust could enter Gateway’s environment, risking damage to science instruments, solar arrays, robotic systems, and other important hardware.
Josh Litofsky is the principal investigator and project manager leading a Gateway lunar dust adhesion testing campaign at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. His team tracks how the dust interacts with materials used to build Gateway.
An artist’s rendering of the Gateway lunar space station in polar orbit around the Moon. NASA/Alberto Bertolin “The particles are jagged from millions of years of micrometeoroid impacts, sticky due to chemical and electrical forces, and extremely small,” Litofsky said. “Even small amounts of lunar dust can have a big impact on equipment and systems.”
Litofksy’s work seeks to validate the Gateway On-orbit Lunar Dust Modeling and Analysis Program (GOLDMAP), developed by Ronald Lee, also of Johnson Space Center. By considering factors such as the design and configuration of the space station, the materials used, and the unique conditions in lunar orbit, GOLDMAP helps predict how dust may move and settle on Gateway’s external surfaces.
Josh Litofsky, systems engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, places a sample holder inside a vacuum chamber to test how lunar dust sticks to Gateway materials. NASA/Bill StaffordNASA/Bill Stafford Early GOLDMAP simulations have shown that lunar dust can form clouds around Gateway, with larger particles sticking to surfaces.
The data from these tests and simulations will help NASA safeguard Gateway, to ensure the space station’s longevity during the next era of lunar exploration.
The lessons learned managing lunar dust and other harsh conditions through Gateway and Artemis will prepare NASA and its international partners for missions deeper into the cosmos
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Last Updated Jan 22, 2025 ContactLaura RochonLocationJohnson Space Center Related Terms
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Webb Webb News Latest News Latest Images Blog (offsite) Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 6 Min Read NASA’s Webb Reveals Intricate Layers of Interstellar Dust, Gas
This shimmering cosmic curtain shows interstellar gas and dust that has been heated by the flashbulb explosion of a long-ago supernova. The gas then glows infrared light in what is known as a thermal light echo. As the supernova illumination travels through space at the speed of light, the echo appears to expand. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed this light echo in the vicinity of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jencson (Caltech/IPAC) Once upon a time, the core of a massive star collapsed, creating a shockwave that blasted outward, ripping the star apart as it went. When the shockwave reached the star’s surface, it punched through, generating a brief, intense pulse of X-rays and ultraviolet light that traveled outward into the surrounding space. About 350 years later, that pulse of light has reached interstellar material, illuminating it, warming it, and causing it to glow in infrared light.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has observed that infrared glow, revealing fine details resembling the knots and whorls of wood grain. These observations are allowing astronomers to map the true 3D structure of this interstellar dust and gas (known as the interstellar medium) for the first time.
“We were pretty shocked to see this level of detail,” said Jacob Jencson of Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, principal investigator of the science program.
“We see layers like an onion,” added Josh Peek of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, a member of the science team. “We think every dense, dusty region that we see, and most of the ones we don’t see, look like this on the inside. We just have never been able to look inside them before.”
The team is presenting their findings in a press conference at the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington.
“Even as a star dies, its light endures—echoing across the cosmos. It’s been an extraordinary three years since we launched NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Every image, every discovery, shows a portrait not only of the majesty of the universe but the power of the NASA team and the promise of international partnerships. This groundbreaking mission, NASA’s largest international space science collaboration, is a true testament to NASA’s ingenuity, teamwork, and pursuit of excellence,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “What a privilege it has been to oversee this monumental effort, shaped by the tireless dedication of thousands of scientists and engineers around the globe. This latest image beautifully captures the lasting legacy of Webb—a keyhole into the past and a mission that will inspire generations to come.”
Image A: Light Echoes Near Cassiopeia A (NIRCam)
These shimmering cosmic curtains show interstellar gas and dust that has been heated by the flashbulb explosion of a long-ago supernova. The gas then glows infrared light in what is known as a thermal light echo. As the supernova illumination travels through space at the speed of light, the echo appears to expand. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed this light echo in the vicinity of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A three separate times, in essence creating a 3D scan of the interstellar material. Note that the field of view in the top row is rotated slightly clockwise relative to the middle and bottom rows, due to the roll angle of the Webb telescope when the observations were taken. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jencson (Caltech/IPAC) Video A: Light Echoes Near Cassiopeia A (NIRCam)
This time-lapse video using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope highlights the evolution of one light echo in the vicinity of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. A light echo is created when a star explodes or erupts, flashing light into surrounding clumps of interstellar dust and causing them to shine in an ever-expanding pattern. Webb’s exquisite resolution not only shows incredible detail within these light echoes, but also shows their expansion over the course of just a few weeks – a remarkably short timescale considering that most cosmic targets remain unchanged over a human lifetime.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jencson (Caltech/IPAC) Taking a CT Scan
The images from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) highlight a phenomenon known as a light echo. A light echo is created when a star explodes or erupts, flashing light into surrounding clumps of dust and causing them to shine in an ever-expanding pattern. Light echoes at visible wavelengths (such as those seen around the star V838 Monocerotis) are due to light reflecting off of interstellar material. In contrast, light echoes at infrared wavelengths are caused when the dust is warmed by energetic radiation and then glows.
The researchers targeted a light echo that had previously been observed by NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope. It is one of dozens of light echoes seen near the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant – the remains of the star that exploded. The light echo is coming from unrelated material that is behind Cassiopeia A, not material that was ejected when the star exploded.
The most obvious features in the Webb images are tightly packed sheets. These filaments show structures on remarkably small scales of about 400 astronomical units, or less than one-hundredth of a light-year. (An astronomical unit, or AU, is the average Earth-Sun distance. Neptune’s orbit is 60 AU in diameter.)
“We did not know that the interstellar medium had structures on that small of a scale, let alone that it was sheet-like,” said Peek.
These sheet-like structures may be influenced by interstellar magnetic fields. The images also show dense, tightly wound regions that resemble knots in wood grain. These may represent magnetic “islands” embedded within the more streamlined magnetic fields that suffuse the interstellar medium.
“This is the astronomical equivalent of a medical CT scan,” explained Armin Rest of the Space Telescope Science Institute, a member of the science team. “We have three slices taken at three different times, which will allow us to study the true 3D structure. It will completely change the way we study the interstellar medium.”
Image B: Cassiopeia A (Spitzer with Webb Insets)
This background image of the region around supernova remnant Cassiopeia A was released by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope in 2008. By taking multiple images of this region over three years with Spitzer, researchers were able to examine a number of light echoes. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has imaged some of these light echoes in much greater detail. Insets at lower right show one epoch of Webb observations, while the inset at left shows a Webb image of the central supernova remnant released in 2023. Spitzer Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Y. Kim (Univ. of Arizona/Univ. of Chicago). Cassiopeia A Inset: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Danny Milisavljevic (Purdue University), Ilse De Looze (UGent), Tea Temim (Princeton University). Light Echoes Inset: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jencson (Caltech/IPAC). Future Work
The team’s science program also includes spectroscopic observations using Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). They plan to target the light echo multiple times, weeks or months apart, to observe how it evolves as the light echo passes by.
“We can observe the same patch of dust before, during, and after it’s illuminated by the echo and try to look for any changes in the compositions or states of the molecules, including whether some molecules or even the smallest dust grains are destroyed,” said Jencson.
Infrared light echoes are also extremely rare, since they require a specific type of supernova explosion with a short pulse of energetic radiation. NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will conduct a survey of the galactic plane that may find evidence of additional infrared light echoes for Webb to study in detail.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
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Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Science – Jacob Jencson (Caltech/IPAC)
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Articles: Past Webb news releases on Cassiopeia A
Interactive: Explore light echoes in V838 Monocerotis
Videos: Learn more about supernovas.
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Last Updated Jan 14, 2025 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
Astrophysics Goddard Space Flight Center James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Nebulae Science & Research Supernova Remnants Supernovae The Universe View the full article
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Webb Webb News Latest News Latest Images Blog (offsite) Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 6 Min Read Webb Watches Carbon-Rich Dust Shells Form, Expand in Star System
A portion of Webb’s 2023 observation of Wolf-Rayet 140. Credits:
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Science: Emma Lieb (University of Denver), Ryan Lau (NSF NOIRLab), Jennifer Hoffman (University of Denver) Astronomers have long tried to track down how elements like carbon, which is essential for life, become widely distributed across the universe. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has examined one ongoing source of carbon-rich dust in our own Milky Way galaxy in greater detail: Wolf-Rayet 140, a system of two massive stars that follow a tight, elongated orbit.
As they swing past one another (within the central white dot in the Webb images), the stellar winds from each star slam together, the material compresses, and carbon-rich dust forms. Webb’s latest observations show 17 dust shells shining in mid-infrared light that are expanding at regular intervals into the surrounding space.
Image A: Compare Observations of Wolf-Rayet 140 (MIRI Images)
Two mid-infrared images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of Wolf-Rayet 140 show carbon-rich dust moving in space. At right, the two triangles from the main images are matched up to show how much difference 14 months makes: The dust is racing away from the central stars at almost 1% the speed of light. These stars are 5,000 light-years away in our own Milky Way galaxy. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Science: Emma Lieb (University of Denver), Ryan Lau (NSF NOIRLab), Jennifer Hoffman (University of Denver) “The telescope not only confirmed that these dust shells are real, its data also showed that the dust shells are moving outward at consistent velocities, revealing visible changes over incredibly short periods of time,” said Emma Lieb, the lead author of the new paper and a doctoral student at the University of Denver in Colorado.
Every shell is racing away from the stars at more than 1,600 miles per second (2,600 kilometers per second), almost 1% the speed of light. “We are used to thinking about events in space taking place slowly, over millions or billions of years,” added Jennifer Hoffman, a co-author and a professor at the University of Denver. “In this system, the observatory is showing that the dust shells are expanding from one year to the next.”
Like clockwork, the stars’ winds generate dust for several months every eight years, as the pair make their closest approach during a wide, elongated orbit. Webb also shows how dust formation varies — look for the darker region at top left in both images.
Video A: Fade Between 2022 and 2023 Observations of Wolf-Rayet 140
This video alternates between two mid-infrared light observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope of Wolf-Rayet 140. Over only 14 months, Webb showed the dust in the system has expanded. This two-star system has sent out more than 17 shells of dust over 130 years. Video: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI.; Science: Emma Lieb (University of Denver), Ryan Lau (NSF NOIRLab), Jennifer Hoffman (University of Denver) Video B: Stars’ Orbits in Wolf-Rayet 140 (Visualization)
When the two massive stars in Wolf-Rayet 140 swing past one another, their winds collide, material compresses, and carbon-rich dust forms. The stronger winds of the hotter star in the Wolf-Rayet system blow behind its slightly cooler (but still hot) companion. The stars create dust for several months in every eight-year orbit.
Video: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI). The telescope’s mid-infrared images detected shells that have persisted for more than 130 years. (Older shells have dissipated enough that they are now too dim to detect.) The researchers speculate that the stars will ultimately generate tens of thousands of dust shells over hundreds of thousands of years.
“Mid-infrared observations are absolutely crucial for this analysis, since the dust in this system is fairly cool. Near-infrared and visible light would only show the shells that are closest to the star,” explained Ryan Lau, a co-author and astronomer at NSF NOIRLab in Tuscon, Arizona, who led the initial research about this system. “With these incredible new details, the telescope is also allowing us to study exactly when the stars are forming dust — almost to the day.”
The dust’s distribution isn’t uniform. Though this isn’t obvious at first glance, zooming in on the shells in Webb’s images reveals that some of the dust has “piled up,” forming amorphous, delicate clouds that are as large as our entire solar system. Many other individual dust particles float freely. Every speck is as small as one-hundredth the width of a human hair. Clumpy or not, all of the dust moves at the same speed and is carbon rich.
The Future of This System
What will happen to these stars over millions or billions of years, after they are finished “spraying” their surroundings with dust? The Wolf-Rayet star in this system is 10 times more massive than the Sun and nearing the end of its life. In its final “act,” this star will either explode as a supernova — possibly blasting away some or all of the dust shells — or collapse into a black hole, which would leave the dust shells intact.
Though no one can predict with any certainty what will happen, researchers are rooting for the black hole scenario. “A major question in astronomy is, where does all the dust in the universe come from?” Lau said. “If carbon-rich dust like this survives, it could help us begin to answer that question.”
“We know carbon is necessary for the formation of rocky planets and solar systems like ours,” Hoffman added. “It’s exciting to get a glimpse into how binary star systems not only create carbon-rich dust, but also propel it into our galactic neighborhood.”
These results have been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and were presented in a press conference at the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in National Harbor, Maryland.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
Downloads
Right click any image to save it or open a larger version in a new tab/window via the browser’s popup menu.
View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
View/Download the research results from the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Media Contacts
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Claire Blome – cblome@stsci.edu, Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Science – Emma Lieb (University of Denver)
Related Information
Webb Blog: Learn more about WR 140
Infographic: Choose your path: Destiny of Dust
SVS Graphic: Periodic Table of the Elements: Origins of the Elements
3D Resource for WR140
More Webb News
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SpacePlace for Kids
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James Webb Space Telescope
Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
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Last Updated Jan 13, 2025 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
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