| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 5, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 5, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1636769 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Russell Kelz
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | July 15, 2017 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2020 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $74,104.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $74,104.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
5201 UNIVERSITY BLVD LAREDO TX US 78041-1920 (956)326-3026 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
TX US 78041-1920 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Instrumentation & Facilities |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
This award supports acquisition of computational hardware to facilitate research and research training in watershed modeling, ecohydrology, soil science and atmospheric chemistry at Texas A&M International University, an undergraduate institution and Hispanic Serving Institution where over 90% of the student body are Hispanic. It serves a border area of south Texas where many of the students are first generation and non-traditional college students. Research focuses on computational modeling of hydrologic and soil mantle processes based on satellite remote sensing data and modeling studies of atmospheric chemical interactions with implications of understanding greenhouse gas interactions. This support is congruent with NSFs mission of promoting the progress of science and advancing the national health, prosperity and welfare given the importance of training the next generation scientific workforce in computational modeling techniques and the societal importance of understanding the impacts of changing climate on terrestrial hydrologic reservoirs and anthropogenic impacts on air quality.
A limiting factor in agricultural production is the soil moisture maintained in the root zone of plants. Compute-intensive studies relying on remotely sensed observations of surface microwave emissions as a proxy for near surface soil moisture in the northern Great Plains will include new algorithm developments using advanced filtering techniques for extracting soil moisture estimates from multiple modality remote sensing observations and statistical investigation of time series of derived soil moisture data products in relation to known climatic oscillations including El Nino, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Atlantic Decadal Observations in order to better understand teleconnections between global oceanographic events and continental soil moisture. Additional research that will take advantage of parallel computing will include first principles thermodynamic modeling of interactions of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous acid and fluorinated compounds and their decomposition products in the presence of water. Studies of the thermochemical properties of fluorocarbons in particular are if interest due to their very long residence times in the atmosphere and their absorption bands in the infrared. Modeling studies can result in improved atmosphere capture technologies and/or substitute compounds used in industrial processes.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The acquisition of the high performance computer (HPC) cluster has increased TAMIUs ability to both conduct research effectively and efficiently by providing the advanced tools necessary to run calculations on site. These resources have also increased our students training allowing them to be more competitive both when applying to graduate programs and in the job market. The HPC has been utilized in labs on campus focusing on atmospheric and climate change research allowing for better climate prediction models. In addition to the undergraduate and graduate students using these resources in research labs, undergraduate courses have made further use of these resources including Atmospheric Chemistry, Molecular Modeling, Inorganic Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry which all now contain laboratories where students learn how to run molecular modeling computations and analyze outputs. This acquisition has also been used in summer workshops by local middle school and high school students providing an even broader educational and training experience for our community.
In Jorgensen’s research laboratory, the HPC was utilized to investigate halocarbons including fluorine, chlorine, and bromine halogens. These compounds are important greenhouse gases in their ability to contribute to global warming due to their halogen radical formation, long lifetimes, and region of IR absorption. Jorgensen’s undergraduate research group has determined the energetic properties of these important compounds utilizing quantum mechanics. These results have been presented at local, regional, and national conferences by Jorgensen and her students and made available to the scientific community through peer reviewed publication.
The primary motivation for Tobin’s work was to discern long-term root-zone soil moisture (RZSM) trends across CONUS supportive of the National Climate Assessment (NCA). Note that RZSM is a critical climate variable. While trends were identified that were more clearly attributable to oceanic-atmospheric teleconnections than secular global climate change. The interplay of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation (AMO) were likely a significant driver in influencing long-term RZSM response that obscures the potential presence of long-term, secular trends in RZSM. The most significant result was the strong drying trend in central CONUS reflecting a shift to La Nina and cool PDO conditions during the 2000’s further amplified by a change to positive AMO corresponding with this period. This was particularly noted for the La Nina – cool PDO event during 2011 to 2013 in central CONUS, as seen in state wide average SMERGE RZSM for four CONUS states that have a particularly strong response to ENSO.
Last Modified: 10/09/2020
Modified by: Kenneth J Tobin
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