Informal education can be a vital part of a person’s learning experience, thus it is important to continue studying its effectiveness and consider improvements. To that end, we studied participants who built their own AM radio at three School of Earth and Space Exploration open house events at Arizona State University. For this qualitative research study, we audio recorded and transcribed interviews of 41 adults after they completed the activity. Median duration of interviews was 3 minutes. Based on their responses, we categorized participants as either a parent who brought their children (Np = 23) or an individual (Ni = 18). This is consistent with previous studies since over 50% of participants are typically parents. We further grouped each category based on their Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) background: No STEM Background (NSB), Some STEM Background (SSB) and Expert Electronics Background (EEB). STEM backgrounds of parents were evenly distributed, with each group (i.e., NSB, SSB & EEB) accounting for about 30%. In contrast, about 60% of individuals were in the SSB group. Regardless of STEM background, the vast majority of parents stated that they came to the activity because of their children. Additionally, a majority of participants stated that they learned something from the activity, with only 4 of 41 participants saying they did not learn anything. Thus, this activity provides learning opportunities for people of all STEM backgrounds. As an example, one individual in the EEB group stated, “The design of the transmitter and the receiver itself is completely complicated based on me studying for 10 years trying to understand what a transmitter and receiver is. But just in five minutes I found that I could really built [sic] it by myself.” Yet, individuals who are either in the NSB or the EEB group may be overlooking certain informal education opportunities, since together they accounted for only 40% of individuals. To improve public understanding of science, informal learning centers should continue to consider ways to make events more accessible and more enticing for people who may not be experiencing these valuable learning opportunities.

The over-exploitation of non-renewable resources for energy demands is a serious issue. Convergence towards renewable resources such as solar energy is need of the day. Solar energy is the cleanest form of energy available on Earth. The objective of this research is to extract the building rooftop from the satellite images using a k-means clustering algorithm to identify the usable area for solar potential assessment. The scenes of WorldView-3 and Google Earth are segmented into nine parts and the algorithm implemented in Matlab is applied to the individual parts for better utilization of computing resources. This approach has been applied to the parts of northern states of India for solar potential assessment in a fast and accurate manner. The Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) data obtained from the database of National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), United States have been used in the solar potential assessment. For the validation purpose, the above-mentioned algorithm has been compared with the digitization in QGIS software. The results obtained from the above-mentioned algorithm developed have extracted 85% to 90% of the features in the satellite image. The developed algorithm has given best results with the WorldView-3 (high-resolution image) than the other coarser resolution scenes. The developed approach is helpful in evaluating the feasibility of the large areas for solar potential assessment. This methodology is useful for the implementation of different government’s solar energy generation schemes for rural and hilly areas. It helped in estimating the solar potential of the large hilly area for electricity generation. This approach is useful for a larger area as it computes the usable area by dividing the scenes into smaller parts and applies the algorithm individually to each part of the scene. Keywords: k-means clustering, GHI, rooftop, solar potential, Google Earth, WorldView-3

The projected contribution to sea-level rise from the Greenland Ice Sheet currently has a large spread in literature, ranging from about 14 to 255 mm by the year 2100. Part of this spread is due to uncertainty in mass loss from ocean-terminating outlet glaciers in response to terminus retreat. Here, we use a diffusive-kinematic wave formulation of glacier thinning to show that steep bed features can limit thinning from diffusing inland from a glacier’s terminus. This simplified model allows us to rank 141 of Greenland’s outlet glaciers based on their potential to allow thinning to diffuse far inland and, thus, contribute to sea-level rise over the next century. We then target two glaciers: Kakivfaat Sermiat (KAK) in West Greenland and Kangerlussuaq Gletscher (KLG) in East Greenland. Both glaciers have a high potential to contribute to sea-level rise but with contrasting bed geometries; KAK has relatively low ice flux but its geometry can allow thinning to diffuse far inland while KLG has high ice flux but a geometry that will limit thinning to 30 km inland of its terminus. We simulate mass loss from each glacier, in response to prescribed terminus retreat, using a higher-order numerical model, and find very different response times of mass loss from the two glaciers over the next century. KLG reaches a new steady state by 2100, while the slow inland diffusion of thinning causes KAK to continue its response into the next century and beyond. As a result, KAK contributes nearly twice the volume of ice to sea-level rise of KLG by year 2200, suggesting that low-flux glaciers that can allow thinning to spread far into the ice sheet interior may contribute much to sea-level rise as high-flux glaciers that limit thinning to their lowest reaches. By identifying the glaciers around the ice sheet with the highest potential to contribute to sea-level rise, we hope to help focus future higher-order numerical modeling studies working toward narrowing the range in sea-level rise projections.

The Achankovil Shear Zone (AKSZ) is a NW-SE trending ductile shear zone passing through the Southern Granulite Terrain (SGT) has remained enigmatic among scientific community for the perspective of shear zone status and extension. While some consider the AKSZ to represent a Pan African terrain boundary between the Trivandrum block (TB) in the Kerala Khondalite Belt (KKB) and Madurai block (MB) of the SGT (Drury et al. 1984; Santosh, 1987; Harris and Santosh 1994; Santosh et al. 1992, 2005, 2006; Guru Rajesh and Chetty, 2006; Sreejith and Ravindra Kumar, 2013) that can be traced in to now- dispersed crustal fragments of Madagascar and Sri Lanka (Braun and Kriegsman, 2003; Guru Rajesh and Chetty, 2006; Santosh et al. 2009, Sreejith and Ravindra Kumar, 2013). Others consider MB and TB evolved coherently and AKSZ to be a high strain zone (MB is the continuation of TB) within the SGT (Ghosh et al 2004). Detailed structural field work across the SGT suggests that MB and TB are two different blocks and the lineament occurs between these two blocks is the Achankovil Shear Zone (AKSZ). Tracing the paleo-sutures across the rifted crustal fragments is an important method for the reconstruction of the pre-drift crustal assembly. For tracing paleo-sutures detailed structural evolutionary studies are necessary. Available data suggest that the middle and central crustal domains of the present day landmass of Madagascar was with India vis-à-vis East Gondwanaland (comprising India, Australia and Antarctica) that accreted with the West Gondwanaland (comprising Africa), during Late Neoproterozoic and Early Paleozoic (Tucker et al., 1999; Sommer et al., 2003; Collins, 2006). Geologists correlated the AKSZ of India with different major and minor shear zones present in the southern Madagascar, for example Ranotsara shear zone (RSZ), Tranomaro shear zone (TSZ), Angavo shear zone (ASZ) etc. (Tucker et al., 1999; Raharimahefa and Kusky, 2006, 2010; Sajeev et al., 2009; Tucker et al., 2011a, b). Monazites analyzed from the Antananarivo block maintained Neoproterozoic age of 796Ma (Cenki Tok et al, 2016) and also the Imorona–Itsindro Suite of central Madagascar represents 850–750 Ma magmatism (Zhou et al, 2015; Archibald et al, 2016) which is similar to the chronology of Madurai block, SGT. Age of Androyan group (Southern Madagascar) ranges from 560-530 Ma (Jons & Schenk, 2011) obtained from monazites which is similar to the chronology of Trivandrum block, SGT. Taking the arguments a step further, we argue the extension of AKSZ of SGT towards the RSZ of Madagascar which is consistant with the suggestion by Windley et al. 1994; Markl et al. 2000; Cenki et al. 2004; Jons & Schenk, 2011; Zhou et al, 2015; Archibald et al, 2016 based on structural studies and chronology.

Although previous studies have shown that large cities can modify the regional distribution of convective precipitation, many questions remain regarding the physical processes most responsible for this modification. To date there has been relatively little emphasis on changes to cloud-scale processes within deep convective storms as they encounter large cities. This study uses an idealized atmospheric model to investigate changes in cloud-scale structure as convective storms interact with a simplified representation of a city. Two sets of simulations are shown for comparison. The first set uses the traditional approach of a horizontally homogeneous surface field while the second configuration approximates a large city via a circular area in the center of the model domain characterized by enhanced surface temperature, emissivity, and surface roughness compared to the surrounding region. Over several hours, an urban heat island feature evolves in the simulation containing the idealized city. In both model configurations, a continuous squall line is initiated in the western half of the model domain. As this line of storms propagates east and approaches the center of the domain, noticeable structural differences, particularly updraft strength and simulated radar reflectivity, are evident between simulations using the two different model configurations. Sensitivity tests are also conducted to show how the environmental wind profile impacts the magnitude and structure of convective storm modification by the idealized city.

Crystals within erupted volcanic rocks record geochemical and textural signatures during magmatic evolution prior to the onset of eruptions. Growth times of microlites can be derived through Crystal Size Distribution (CSD) analysis combined with well-constrained microlite growth rates, yielding petrologically-determined magma ascent timescales. Our newly developed, machine learning image processing scheme allows for the rapid generation of CSD, saving many hours of processing time, which previously involved hand-drawing the outer margins of crystals. For the present study, we examined a range of andesitic tephras from the Tongariro Volcanic Centre, New Zealand. A total of 228 plagioclase and pyroxene microlites CSDs were generated from individual tephra shards. All combined pyroxene and plagioclase microlite CSDs exhibit concave-up shapes, and similar intercepts and slopes at the smallest sizes. This implies similar growth durations of the smallest microlites of 15±9 to 28±15 (2σ) hours, regardless of the eruptive style or source, using an orthopyroxene microlite growth rate constrained from one of the samples. The orthopyroxene thermometer and the plagioclase hygrometer reveal the magmas were erupted at ~ 1079 to 1149 (±39 SEE), and H2O contents ranging from 0-0.4 to 0-1.7 wt.% (95% confidence maxima). In the absence of CO2, these results indicate shallow H2O exsolution pressures of < 240 bars, using a recent H2O-CO2 solubility model. Given the microlite residence times, shallow H2O exsolution driving microlite growth is inconsistent with the explosivity of the eruptions. Instead, our data suggest that the melts either carried large amounts of CO2, triggering earlier degassing of volatiles including H2O, or that microlite crystallisation began prior to degassing. Ongoing work investigates the H2O and CO2 contents hosted by melt inclusions in phenocrysts and microphenocrysts in these tephras to provide constraints on magma ascent rates, with implications for hazard characterization and mitigation.

In September 2016 and again in November 2017, Korea witnessed some of the largest magnitude earthquakes occurred in-land in its recent history. They were located in the South-Eastern part of the peninsula, near the cities of Gyeongju and Pohang, with magnitude ML 5.8 and 5.4 respectively. The regional PRESTo Early Warning System has been in the testing phase at KIGAM (Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources) since late 2013, using the nation-wide KIGAM and KMA (Korea Meteorological Agency) real-time accelerometric streams, after a calibration based on moderate-to-low seismicity. In this work the PRESTo algorithm parameters and regression laws were optimized and calibrated for the region of South Korea around the Gyeongju earthquake, specifically for a sub-network with a side of about 200 km. A waveform database spanning ten years was analyzed (99 earthquakes during 2007-2017, with M 2 ÷ 5.8, 15681 waveforms), to derive an optimized configuration for this network geometry and seismicity, including GMPEs and empirical regression laws for magnitude estimation from peak displacement, measured in short P-waves and early S-waves time-windows. This configuration enables a fast characterization of the local earthquake sources and effects, i.e. during the playback of onshore earthquakes with magnitude 3.0 and above the EW system produces, in 90% of the cases: a first alert within 6 seconds from the first pick; stable magnitude estimations (variations within 0.5 magnitude points); a final estimate performance against the reference bulletin of ∆M ≤ 0.5, ∆Repi ≤ 10 km.

Observations of active eruptions can provide insights into spatter and scoria cone formation. As Kilauea’s 2018 East Rift eruption developed and the outflow of lava localized at Fissure 8, a spatter cone began to grow. As apparent very early in the cone development, the Fissure 8 eruption produced a horseshoe shaped cone similar in plan view to many scoria & spatter cones observed worldwide. Observed processes that impact cone shape include directional winds, a strong effusion component, and sloped topography. No evidence for destructive processes that might remove part of the cone (such as the gap where the lava flow emanates) was evident in publicly available images and videos. Instead, the gap (or breach) in the cone clearly coincides with the exit location of the lava. Most likely any scoria falling in this region is carried away (or melted) by the lava flow. From a morphometric perspective, these observations suggest that so-called breached cones may simply be cones with a strong effusion component to the eruption. That is, the “missing” section of the cone was never there rather than being destroyed later. Testing this hypothesis can be approached in at least two ways: One approach would be to relate morphometric characteristics to estimates of the relative proportions of effusion (lava) and explosion (spatter, scoria, and ash) from field studies. The accuracy of such studies is likely dependent on the age, local climate, and overall field relationships. Alternatively, 3D modeling of the combined explosive and effusive processes can drive increased understanding of how these complexities of cone shapes develop. Directional delivery (due to winds) of ballistic scoria, effusive processes (which can remove scoria on landing), and sloped topography provide potential mechanisms for creating variations in cone shape, particularly in plan view. This study extends a 2D ballistic model to 3D to consider such processes as wind impact, directional fountaining, and the removal of material by lava flows.

Coalbed Methane is an attractive source of energy to mitigate the growing energy demand of India. It is often abbreviated as unconventional source of energy. In this paper two bore hole samples (J/01 & J/02) were collected and characterized for the isotherm studies to know the sorption capacity of the coal. Pure gas isotherm was constructed based on the manomateric method. Pure gas isotherm was constructed in indigenously fabricated setup. Langmuir model was used for the prediction of sorption capacity at particular pressure. Langmuir constants (PL & VL) were calculated using regression analysis. It was found that volume wise CO2 has 2.09 to 2.75 times more adsorption capacity than coal.Once pure gas isotherm was drawn and PL and VL was calculated. Langmuir constants were given as follows: CH4 -VL (scf/ton) of J/01 and J/02 are 227.27 and 454.55 respectively CH4 -PL (psi) of J/01 and J/02 are 128.54 and 173.68 CO2-VL (scf/ton) of J/01 and J/02 are 476.19 1250 respectively CO2-PL(psi) of J/01 and J/02 are 133.33 596.13 Binary mixture of CH4 and CO2 was modelled at different gas mixtures and at pressure of 2000 psi. Multicomponent iterative model (MIA) was proposed using Newton Raphson iteration to study the co adsorption isotherm of CH4 and CO2 at different binary mixtures. It was found that one CO2 mole fraction increases in gas phase. For sample J/01 Enhanced Coalbed Methane (ECBM) recovery will occur after 27.4 % of CO2 in gas phase while ECBM recovery will occur after 13.03% of CO2 in gas phase. Pure component isotherm and co adsorption isotherm is given in figure 1 & 2.

This study examines the effects of Indian brick kiln (BK) industry, which is the second-largest in the world, to PM2.5 emission over the northern part of the country. We analyze MODIS LAI/FPAR and global land cover products, as well as NASA’s LDAS vegetation and soil datasets with 3887 BK plantation locations over the region for determining the contribution of brick kiln industry to fine particulates emission, especially during its highest concentration period in December to February. Our preliminary results show more than 60% of BK plantations are located in silt-rich areas for making brick kiln with more than 80% plantations are situated over croplands on the outskirts of urban areas (Figure 1), indicating proxies for the increase of PM2.5 emission over Northern India.

Optical aurora can be classified into two broad categories, i.e., diffuse and discrete auroras. Recent studies based on optical observations obtained on the dayside reveal some important processes occurred in the dayside magnetosphere and are reviewed in this paper. Dayside diffuse auroras (DDAs) are classified into unstructured and structured DDAs. Unstructured DDAs predominantly occur in the morning but structured ones are mainly observed near magnetic local noon (MLN). Because structured diffuse auroras have been suggested to be associated with cold plasma structures in the magnetosphere, distribution and generation of cold plasma structures in the dayside outer magnetosphere are discussed based on the detailed observational properties of DDAs. A particular discrete auroral form, i.e., throat aurora, is defined during study on DDA. Detailed observational properties of throat aurora are presented, which suggest that throat auroras are ground signatures for localized magnetopause indentations that are most likely caused by localized high-speed jets impacting on the magnetopause. Studies on throat aurora reveal that the transient structures locally generated in the magnetosheath can frequently cause indentations on the subsolar magnetopause, trigger reconnection, result in a serial of responses in geospace, and thus will play important role on solar wind-magnetosphere coupling.

Malaria poses a great challenge for the maintenance of good public health and sustenance of human wellbeing in many parts of the world. Apparently, the anthropogenic global warming has expanded the spatio-temporal extent of the disease; incidences are now reported beyond tropics and in non-endemic seasons. This emerging trend of climate change has increased the malaria risk factor for millions more across the globe. While global warming remains a key factor to address the future adaptations and mitigation measures, the existing association between climate and malaria prevalence needs careful observations and analyses besides the non-climatic factors. Such a climate association is investigated here with the available malaria case counts in the northeastern districts of South Africa. It is found that the regional variations in seasonal rainfall and temperature, that primarily control mosquito population and thereby infection rates, are linked with a basin-scale climate phenomenon manifested as a dipole pattern in the interannual anomalies of sea surface temperature (SST) of southwestern Indian Ocean. In addition to the year-to-year variations, partly related to the basin warming, a decadal shift in the SST dipole pattern, and associated decrease in seasonal rainfall, leads to decreasing number of case counts in recent years as indicated by the malaria records.

Total column measurements of CO2 (XCO2) have been proposed as a possible way to estimate emissions from large urban regions. Using calculations from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with a 1km emissions field, we investigate the viability of both real and proposed observing systems consisting of surface and/or column measurements for constraining emission sources of various types and sizes in the San Francisco Bay Area. We find that column observations are best suited for assessing enhancements downwind of very large emissions sources. For smaller sources (such as highways), in situ surface monitors are required to provide sufficient sensitivity. We explore methods for estimating emissions from the real and simulated observations.

Quantifying the effect of anthropogenic land use change on dust emission is a contentious issue. In this research, 1508 dust point sources were detected in the Southern High Plains and Chihuahuan Desert regions of the United States for 2001-2016, encompassing a period of extreme drought. These points were subjected to quantitative and spatio-temporal analysis. Point pattern analysis showed a significant cluster of these points in West Texas (Nearest Neighbor Ratio = 0.33, р < 0.001) where cultivated lands and grasslands are dominant land cover. Spatial observation suggests that the geographic center of dust points in these regions shifts away from bare soil and shrublands toward grasslands and cultivated lands as drought level increases, while it shifts away from grasslands and cultivated lands towards bare soil and shrublands in cases of no drought. Chi-square test captured a significant association between land use type and drought level on dust emission (χ2 (6) = 47.33, р < 0.001). However, Cramer’s V value (0.13, р < 0.001) indicates that the association captured by the chi-square is weak, suggesting that other factors, perhaps meteorological variables, are at play in the spatial distribution of dust sources in this region. The proportion of dust points differs significantly during severe/exceptional droughts versus no drought or abnormally dry/moderate drought in both cultivated lands and grasslands. The proportion of dust points in bare lands and shrublands, however, did not significantly change between no drought and severe-exceptional drought. These results suggest anthropogenic land use in southwestern U.S. is significantly associated with drought in terms of dust emission. Human activity amplifies of the effects of drought by increasing soil erodibility; thus, adopting land management practices to resist wind erosion is crucial. Further investigations on a global scale should provide more information on this association.

Numeric weather prediction is undergoing a revolution resulting from the continuous advances in scientific knowledge and technologies. With dozens of weather models emerging that all generate different predictions from each other, forecasts have been gradually shifting from a deterministic form to a probabilistic form which shows the increasing concerns of, not just the absolute prediction values, but the confidence of predictions and the uncertainty of models. As a computational problem, generating uncertainty information can be an expensive task. Conventionally, prediction models are initiated with slightly perturbed parameters and then the diversion of model results can be a measure of model uncertainty. However, the multi-simulation approach drastically increases the computational requirement so that it can potentially exceed the ability of the state-of-art high-performance computing platforms. Meanwhile, if spatial and temporal resolutions are of concern, this approach is far from being efficient and viable. The Parallel Ensemble Forecast system is designed to generate probabilistic weather forecasts by using the revolutionary numerical weather prediction technique, Analog Ensemble. It is a data-driven method that derives probability information of a deterministic prediction model using past forecasts and observations without multiple simulation runs. Integrated with high-performance platforms, the system distributes computational tasks among nodes and therefore further boosts the data simulation process.

We present a three-dimensional numerical model of tectonic plates that self-consistently develop in the convecting mantle. The viscosity depends on stress-history as well as temperature. The lithosphere develops as the upper highly viscous part of the thermal boundary layer along the surface boundary owing to a strong dependence of the viscosity on temperature. When the stress S exceeds a threshold Sp in the lithosphere, however, we assumed that the viscosity drops by orders of magnitude and keeps the low value, even when S is reduced below Sp, provided that S remains higher than the other threshold Sm (< Sp). Sp corresponds to the rupture strength of the tectonic plates, while Sm to that at plate margins. The viscosity is a two-valued function of the stress S in the range of (Sm, Sp), and which of the two values the lithosphere chooses is determined by whether or not S has exceeded Sp in the past. When the model parameters are tuned so that the stress in the lithosphere stays in the range, the lithosphere is rifted into several highly viscous pieces, or tectonic plates, separated by narrow plate margins where the viscosity takes the lower value, and the tectonic plates rigidly and stably move and occasionally rotate for several hundred million years or longer. (See the planform of the plate motion shown in the figure. The arrows show the velocity, while the color shows the relative viscosity on the surface.) Because of the rather stable plate motion, the heat flow decreases with the distance from the spreading centers L in their vicinity as 1/sqrt(L), and the secondary convection occurs beneath the plates in the form of two-dimensional rolls with their axes aligned with the direction of plate motions.

In the past, few studies have attempted to determine some of the internal properties of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), which were limited to a certain position or a certain time. For understanding the evolution of internal thermodynamic state of CMEs during their heliospheric propagation, we improve the self-similar flux rope internal state (FRIS) model, which is constrained by measured propagation and expansion speed profiles of a CME. We implement the FRIS model to a CME erupted on 2008 December 12 and probe the internal state of the CME. We find that the polytropic index of the CME plasma decreased continuously from 1.8 to 1.35 as the CME propagated out from 6 Rs to 14 Rs, implying that the CME released heat before it reached adiabatic state and then absorbed heat. We also estimate the entropy changing and heating rate of the CME. Our results show that the thermal force inside the CME is the internal driver of CME expansion while Lorentz force prevented the CME from expanding. It is noted that centrifugal force originated due to poloidal motion of the plasma inside the flux rope decreased with fastest rate and Lorentz force decreased slightly faster than thermal pressure force as the CME moved away from the Sun. We further extrapolate the internal thermodynamic properties of the CME up to 1 AU and compare with in situ observations. The limitations of the model and approximations made in the study would also be discussed.

Marathwada division of Maharashtra is one of the semi-arid regions of India where the agricultural conditions are highly vulnerable to the scanty rain and severe droughts. Over this area, significantly depleting groundwater level and low amount of monsoon rains demands for a good irrigation system for maximum crop cultivation and day-to-day activities. Therefore, this study estimates the spatio-temporal water and vegetation stress to make out the sensitive regions of Marathwada where irrigation network is necessary. The area-specific water requirement is based on the water demand for crops from that particular area. The rate of Evapotranspiration (ET) with potential ET (PET) directly represents the field-specific crop water demands, hence; to understand their relevance we have analyzed the monthly ET and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) by the data acquired from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) for the period of 2001 to 2017. Water deficiency of particular region is highly dependent on the rainfall vagaries of that area. Therefore, the monthly rainfall product from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) was also studied. Station based groundwater data, Soil profile, Land use land cover etc. were the other datasets considered to prioritize the areas for building the irrigation facilities. Study area as a whole, a significant correlation was observed between ET and NDVI. Among the eight districts of Marathwada, Latur, Parbhani Aurangabad and Hingoli were the regions where higher water stress was noticed. On the temporal scale (from last 17 years) maximum water scarcity was noticed over the year 2002-2003 and 2014 -2015. Ensemble bi-decadal analysis of five different drought indices with the aid of IMD observations shows water stress as a proxy variable for drought monitoring. Hence the proven correlation between ET, NDVI and water stress from this study, gives the new interdisciplinary approach to deal with the drought hazards and to priorities the drought-affected area which demands more concern.