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2009 Archived Stories |
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(Posted 12/29/09) Dr. Ben Barrows, a member of CRREL's Signature Physics Branch, is volunteering as a MATHCOUNTS coach in Lyme, New Hampshire. "MATHCOUNTS inspires excellence, confidence and curiosity in U.S. middle school students through fun and challenging math programs. With the generous support of all MATHCOUNTS sponsors and volunteers, and leadership of the National Society of Professional Engineers at the local and state levels, MATHCOUNTS is providing today's students with the foundation for success in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. MATHCOUNTS is a national enrichment, club and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement through grassroots involvement in every U.S. state and territory." For more information, visit the MATHCOUNTS Web site. POC: Benjamin.E.Barrowes@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4822 (Posted 12/29/09) CRREL Research Civil Engineer Leonard Zabilansky and S.L. Ross Environmental Research, Ltd., conducted a large-scale test of an oil herder, using CRREL’s Environmental Basin, 2–6 November 2009. Under normal conditions, oil will spread on water to 1-mm thickness or less, and the objective of a herder is to thicken the oil to 3-5 mm to facilitate ignition and burning in situ in the field. The constructed test section was a square, shallow pool measuring 17.5 feet on each side and was placed on top of the ice sheet. Ten or 30% of the test area was covered with 6-inch broken ice blocks before adding water. With the ice in place, Alaskan crude oil was spilled onto the water’s surface and allowed to spread to equilibrium before being herded. The herder used in this test was a silicone-based herder, which had been found in small-scale tests to be more effective than the hydrocarbon-based surfactant tested at CRREL in 2005. This study received support from a major oil company. This effort supports ERDC’s Civil Works business area and CRREL’s Hydraulics and Hydrology technical area. POC: Leonard.J.Zabilansky@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4319 (Posted 12/29/09) CRREL Research Engineer, Leonard Zabilansky, in collaboration with Colin Williams of Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin, Inc. (RWDI), recently tested a model to define de-icing strategy for buildings. Testing was conducted on a building in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and CRREL assessed de-icing of architectural aesthetics. The model consisted of a glass-fronted 20-foot high by 5-foot wide, 13-degree tilted back panel that replicated the side of the building structure. The tested system is designed to be staged every 30 feet from the top of the building and uses hot water. The water is released from evenly distributed drilled holes in a pipe, which is placed at the top of the panel. The sheet of water flows down the model and melts the snow. Residual run-off water is collected in a gutter. The CRREL team created the cold environment conditions with manmade snow, and engineers from RWDI evaluated the design limitations of the mitigation strategy. This effort supports ERDC's Civil Works business area and CRREL's Hydraulics and Hydrology technical area. POC: Leonard.J.Zabilansky@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4319 (Posted 11/6/09) Seth Campbell, ERDC-CRREL Signature Physics Branch, was invited as the guest speaker to the Geological Society of New Hampshire’s Fall meeting held in Concord, New Hampshire on 15 October 2009. Over 80 New England academic, research, and industry based geologists were at the meeting for Mr. Campbell’s presentation regarding the application of ground penetrating radar, geodetics, and computer modeling to the selection of a potential ice core drill site in the Central Alaskan Mountain Range. Mr. Campbell has been involved in this project for the past two years through NSF funds obtained by Dr. Karl Kreutz (University of Maine) and Dr. Cameron Wake (University of New Hampshire). The goal of this project is to extract an intermediate length (300–500 m) ice core from the Central Alaskan Mountain Range, for use as a regional long term climate and pollution record. Data from this ice core will also contribute significantly to regional climate models and future climate change predictions in the Arctic. POC: Seth.W.Campbell@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4173 (Posted 11/6/09) Dr. Tomas A. Douglas, ERDC-CRREL Biogeochemical Sciences Branch, will have a photo in the November–December 2009 issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality. The photo caption reads: "A soil sample following crushing by a 6-cm diameter piston at 222 kN. For this sample, its pristine counterpart was spiked with explosives and the explosives concentrations were monitored over time. The crushed soil particles were associated with enhanced explosives transformation compared to the pristine soils. See Douglas et al., "Investigating the Fate of Nitroaromatic (TNT) and Nitramine (RDX and HMX) Explosives in Fractured and Pristine Soils." The manuscripts from the ERDC 6.1 Environmental Quality work are featured in the journal. The research was done under the Biogeochemical Processes in Earth Materials Technical Area. POC: Thomas.A.Douglas@usace.army.mil, 907-361-9555 (Posted 11/6/09) Mr. Rob Bower, Security Advisor with the UK Ministry of Defense (MOD) Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), was at CRREL on 5 October 2009 to discuss the computer application that Dr. Lindamae Peck will develop for CPNI. Under a DoD/MoD memorandum of understanding concerning research and development in combating terrorism, CPNI previously evaluated an existing tool, Security Technology Decision Tree Tool, which Dr. Peck developed for the range security component of the Army Environmental Center's Sustainable Range Program. The new tool is the first sponsored by CPNI, and reflects an agency-level initiative to decentralize decisions regarding intrusion detection at critical sites. With more responsibility being passed down from CPNI to local personnel, security officials will use the new tool’s guidance to define their site-specific requirements and to select sensors suited to their site’s weather, terrain and activity. The development of these tools support CRREL’s Signature Physics Technical Area. POC: Lindamae.Peck@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4261 (Posted 10/5/09) Dr. Keith Wilson presented an invited paper entitled "Terrain effects on sensors: signal modeling and optimal sensor placement," at the Third Annual International Technology Alliance (ITA) Network and Information Sciences Conference on 23–24 September 2009. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Sergey Vecherin (ORISE) and Dr. Chris Pettit (U.S. Naval Academy). The ITA is a consortium involving academic, government, and industrial researchers led by the US Army Research Laboratory and UK Ministry of Defense. The presentation helped to publicize work complementary to the ITA that is being performed within the ERDC Geospatial Research and Engineering Business Area. POC: D.Keith.Wilson@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4764 (Posted 9/8/09) Three ERDC researchers presented invited papers at the InterNoise 2009 meeting, which was held on 23–26 August 2009 in Ottawa, Canada. The meeting brought together noise control engineers and scientists from around the world. Dr. Keith Wilson, ERDC-CRREL, presented "Outdoor sound propagation prediction: The challenge of assessing model accuracy," coauthored with C. Pettit and M. Lewis. Dr. Michelle Swearingen, ERDC-CERL, presented the paper "Parabolic equation source term issues at low frequencies and long distances," coauthored with M. Huseby. Dr. Donald Albert, ERDC-CRREL, presented "Pulse propagation in dense urban terrain," coauthored with F. Perron, G. Koh, and E. Boettcher. Dr. Wilson was also co-organizer and co-chair of the technical session "Outdoor Sound Propagation." These presentations support CRREL’s Signature Physics Technical Area. POC: John.Michael.Boteler@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4767 (Posted 9/8/09) Mr. Antonio Palazzo presented a paper entitled "Wear Tolerant Vegetation for Military Training Lands" at the 2009 UXO/Coutermine/Range Forum held in Orlando, Florida, 23–27 August 2009. The presented paper showed the potential benefits of using the plants on training ranges and in transitioning three of the species to phytoremediate RDX in soils. The phytoremediation capability is made possible by incorporating a bacterial gene into the plants. Laboratory results by the Universities of York and Washington have shown that these transgenic plants can breakdown RDX in soils and plants. Mr. Palazzo’s research is currently conducted as part of CRREL's Biogeochemical Processes in Earth Materials Technical Area. POC: Antonio.J.Palazzo@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4374 (Posted 8/21/09) Dr. D. Keith Wilson, ERDC-CRREL, and co-authors from Risoe National Laboratory (Denmark) and New Mexico State University, published the article "Quasi-wavelet formulations of turbulence and wave scattering" in Meteorologische Zeitschrift. The article describes a new, wavelet-based approach to characterizing self-similar random media such as turbulence, surface geology, and urban construction. Anisotropy is modeled by introducing preferred orientations of the wavelets. The model is shown to produce turbulence statistics consistent with wind stresses in the near-ground atmosphere, as is important for a variety of applications involving simulation of wave propagation and wind loading on structures. The research was sponsored by Army In-House Laboratory Independent Research (ILIR) and support CRREL's Signature Physics Technical Area. POC: D.Keith.Wilson@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4764 (Posted 8/21/09) Mr. Antonio Palazzo, Mr. Timothy Cary, Dr. Kay Asay, Ms. Susan Hardy (contractor), Dr. Kevin Jensen (US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Mr. Daniel Ogle (US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service co-authored the ERDC/CRREL Technical Report entitled "Intermountain West Military Training Lands Planting Guide: Selecting Seed Mixtures for Actively Used Military Lands." This guide was prepared to help military land managers select appropriate seed mixtures for revegetation on actively used training lands in the Intermountain West of the United States. The guide was written for ease of use as recommending a seed mixture can be complicated because of the various ecosystems, land uses, soils and plant selection goals. This work is in support of CRREL's Biogeochemical Processes in Earth Materials Technical Area. POC: Antonio.J.Palazzo@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4374 (Posted 7/31/09) Drs. Ben Barrowes and Kevin O'Neill have received an award from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) to build a new instrument operating in the electromagnetic induction (EMI) frequency regime intended for the detection and discrimination of unexploded ordnance (UXO). This new instrument will incorporate a novel geometry by physically decoupling the transmitter and receivers thereby allowing multiple modes of operation, in addition, it may be used in a cart mounted configuration or as a portable instrument with two operators. Dr. Barrowes’ group at CRREL and Dartmouth College aim to reduce remediation costs by research into better instruments and high fidelity physics based models of UXO. This work supports CRREL’s Signature Physics Technical Area. POC: Benjamin.E.Barrowes@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4822 (Posted 7/31/09) A workshop to examine issues related to climate change impacts on and potential adaptation strategies for defense assets in Alaska was jointly sponsored by the Army Research Office Terrestrial Sciences Program, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District, Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program and ERDC. Dr. Jon Zufelt, ERDC-CRREL, chaired the event from 7–9 July 2009 in Anchorage, Alaska. Three pre-conference white papers on coastal areas, military facilities, and infrastructure and military training lands and natural ecosystems set the stage for break-out session discussions on climate change impacts and adaptation issues in Alaska. Approximately 60 attendees from public and private industry attended the workshop, including individuals from ERDC-CRREL, CHL, CERL and EL. Strong attendance from NORTHCOM J52 (Strategy & Policy Directorate) will help frame a future Arctic Domain Limited Objective Experiment hosted by NORTHCOM in February 2010. POC: Jon.E.Zufelt@usace.army.mil, 907-384-0511 (Posted 7/6/09) CRREL received two University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPRM) Physics Department students on 15 June 2009 for a six-week period this summer. This is part of a UPRM Physics internship program that allows students to receive real-world, practical experience in the fields of Physics and Atmospheric Science. Each student receives a stipend from UPRM (at no cost to ERDC) and is matched with researchers based on mutual interests. This year, CRREL is hosting the first two students under this internship arrangement. Drs. Steve Daly and Geoff Koenig, CRREL research hydraulic engineer and CRREL research physical scientist, respectively will each receive a student through this program. The students will apply their knowledge of atmospheric science, statistics/mathematics, data analysis and writing on a couple projects. CRREL projects for which they will be involved include assisting in investigations of accuracy and consistency of satellite data for remote snow assessment, and identifying and addressing whether US terrain, terrain features, and weather provide sufficient analogues for theater of operations. POC: Justin.B.Berman@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4794 (Posted 6/19/09) The CRREL Permafrost Tunnel, located in Fox, Alaska, was featured in a Discovery Channel program titled, "The Bering Strait Tunnel" from the series Mega Engineering. The documentary aired on 8 June 2009 and outlined the challenges and benefits to the construction of an under-sea tunnel connecting Alaska to Russia. The railway and tunnel for this project would encounter significant permafrost engineering challenges. Kevin Bjella, ERDC-CRREL Research Civil Engineer, discussed methods for maintaining permafrost in the frozen state, which is often the engineering solution for infrastructure placed on and within permafrost. View the Discovery Channel's Trailer for this program. POC: Kevin.Bjella@usace.army.mil, 907-361-5171 (Posted 6/19/09) CRREL has hosted the Dartmouth College Women in Science Program (WISP) for the past 18 years. WISP is designed to encourage freshman women to remain in science, engineering and math programs by providing mentorship and hand-on-experience in actual laboratory settings. This year CRREL scientists and engineers mentored 10 WISP students. Dr. Susan Taylor, Biogeochemical Sciences Branch, has served as a mentor for ten years and Mr. Robert Haehnel, Terrestrial and Cryospheric Sciences Branch, has served for five years. Dartmouth honored Taylor and Haehnel for this achievement on 21 May at the Wetterhahn Symposium as part of the annual celebration of undergraduate scientific research. POC: Terrence.M.Sobecki@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4563 (Posted 6/11/09) CRREL and the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) have entered into an agreement to host Alaska Native science and engineering students through UAA’s ANSEP. ANSEP’s goal is to increase university recruitment and retention rates of Alaska natives in science and engineering curricula and professions. CRREL will provide professional internships and mentors for the UAA ANSEP students. CRREL’s first participant, Austin Stewart, has been selected to intern with Biogeochemical Sciences Branch and Force Projection and Sustainment Branch researchers in Anchorage and Fairbanks, AK this summer. Austin is a junior in Mechanical Engineering at UAA, and will be assisting in subsurface geophysical investigations for the detection of contaminants, unexploded ordinance, and permafrost delineation for a host of customers. POC: Susan.F.Koh@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4500 (Posted 6/11/09) CRREL and the University of New Hampshire (UNH) have formed an Education Partnership Agreement. The purpose of the partnership is to encourage and enhance study in the scientific disciplines of biology, earth science and engineering. Commitments to this partnership include collaboration of both UNH students and faculty on ERDC research, government researchers serving as mentors and classroom instructors in their area of expertise, and opportunities for sabbaticals at each others institutions. POC: Jon.E.Zufelt@usace.army.mil, 907-384-0511 (Posted 6/5/09) Dr. Steven Daly attended the Afghanistan Watershed Assessment Kick-off Meeting at Fort Belvoir from 27–29 May 2009 at the Army Geospatial Center (AGC). The meeting was the start of a major water resource survey of the 16 Afghanistan provinces. The scope of the assessment is to identify and evaluate locations where small to medium scale (5–8 meter dam heights) water resource projects would be feasible. The projects will be evaluated to determine their likely success for irrigation, hydropower, water supply, and other benefits. There will be little to no in-country surveys so the study will rely heavily on remote sensing data. This one year study will be conducted by the Corps Districts along with ERDC, AGC, US Geological Survey, universities and private contractors. CRREL is currently in charge of gathering and assessing existing and historical meteorology data including snow data. POC: Steven.F.Daly@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4218 (Posted 6/5/09) Dr. Keith Wilson, ERDC-CRREL, presented a seminar "Terrain effects on sensors: predictive uncertainty and optimal sensor placement" to the International Technology Alliance (ITA) in Network and Information Science on 28 May. ITA is an IBM-led consortium of United States and United Kingdom (UK) academic and industry partners sponsored by the UK Ministry of Defense and US Army Research Lab. The presentation, which was co-authored by Dr. Sergey Vecherin (ORISE) and Dr. Chris Pettit (U.S. Naval Academy), covered recent ERDC Geospatial Research and Engineering research on a general, reusable software design for modeling battlefield sensor performance (Environmental Awareness for Sensor and Emitter Emplacement, EASEE), uncertainty in signal propagation in complex environments, and optimal sensor placement. Future discussions with ITA researchers on topics related to prediction of networked sensor performance are planned. POC: D.Keith.Wilson@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4764 (Posted 5/25/09) Ms. Janet Hardy, Dr. Jon Zufelt, and Dr. Steven Daly, recently attended a Cold Regions Science and Technology Seminar in Punta Arenas, Chile, 27–29 April 2009. The seminar was organized by COL Gibson of the RDECOM International Technology Center (ITC)-Americas and was held at the Universidad de Magallanes (Magellan University). The purpose of this seminar was to bring together US and Chilean scientists, engineers and military personnel to learn of potential areas of collaboration in the cold regions topic area. Some areas of collaboration that were identified include radar technologies for glacier characteristics, climate change research, polar engineering, and alternate energy sources for Antarctic support. Eventually, ERDC-CRREL is hoping to establish an Information Exchange Agreement with our Chilean Military counterparts. POC: Janet.P.Hardy@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4306 (Posted 5/25/09) CAPT Paul Stewart, Commander of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), met with CRREL research staff on 8 May 2009 to discuss potential collaborations in polar science and engineering. CAPT Stewart provided a comprehensive overview of NRL. Several CRREL researchers provided informative briefings to CAPT Stewart on CRRELs work in a variety of areas describing basic and applied research activities related to the polar and cold regions. CRREL is looking forward to exchanging information with NRL in the future and investigating opportunities to develop a partnership that mutually benefits efforts to support high latitude operational capabilities. POC: Justin.B.Berman@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4794 (Posted 5/12/09) Ryerson presents offshore icing workshop in Scotland. Dr. Charles C. Ryerson conducted an invited workshop at the Arctic Exploration and Development for Oil and Gas conference in Aberdeen, Scotland on 28 April. The workshop addressed threats of superstructure and atmospheric icing to offshore oil platforms and supply boat safety, the icing process, and modern ice protection technologies. The conference goal was to address technical solutions to overcoming Arctic oil exploration and development challenges as retreating sea ice increases operating season length. The workshop drew from recent work by Ryerson for the Department of Interior Minerals Management Service and work he conducted for the Navy in the early 1990s. Dr. Ryerson’s expertise on ice protection technologies and marine icing within the ERDC/CRREL Terrain Properties and Processes Technical Area made him particularly well qualified to conduct this workshop. POC: Charles.C.Ryerson@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4487 (Posted 5/7/09) Several papers on mission planning for battlefield sensors were presented by CRREL researchers and collaborators at the SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing Symposium, 13–17 April 2009, in Orlando, Florida. Dr. D. Keith Wilson and Mr. Richard Bates (both ERDC-CRREL) authored "General framework for predicting environmental effects on signatures and sensor performance in complex environments." Dr. Sergey Vecherin (ERDC-CRREL Contractor), Wilson, and Dr. Chris Pettit (U.S. Naval Academy) authored "Optimal sensor placement with terrain-based constraints and signal propagation effects." Pettit, Vecherin, and Wilson authored "On the influence of problem definition in sensor placement optimization." Dr. George Koenig, Mr. Gary Koh, and Dr. Charles Ryerson (all ERDC-CRREL) authored "Direct Detection Polarimetric Radiometer: DDPR." This work evaluated a unique passive MMW (35 and 94 GHz) radiometer, developed under an Army SBIR, and reported on the analysis of DDPR Stokes parameter measurements of natural features and targets This work supports the CRREL Signature Physics Technical Area. POC: D.Keith.Wilson@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4764 (Posted 4/20/09) Dr. D. Keith Wilson (ERDC-CRREL), Dr. Vladimir E. Ostashev (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and New Mexico State University), and Dr. George Goedecke (New Mexico State University), published a peer-reviewed journal article titled, "Quasi-wavelet formulations of turbulence and other random fields with correlated properties" in the July 2009 issue of Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics. The paper describes a new method for modeling correlated random fields based on collections of wavelet-like functions. The method can be used for many types of random media including turbulence, variable topography, and urban construction. The paper describes an application to turbulence above a heated ground surface, for which a highly efficient method was demonstrated for generating coupled, random wind and temperature variations statistically consistent with those observed in the near-ground atmosphere. This work support the ERDC-CRREL Signature Physics Technical Area. POC: D.Keith.Wilson@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4764 (Posted 4/2/09) Dr. Stephen A. Ketcham attended the 4th International Conference on High Performance Scientific Computing; Modeling, Simulation and Optimization of Complex Processes, 2–6 March 2009, in Hanoi, Vietnam. Dr. Ketcham and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) research colleague Professor Minh Phan of Dartmouth College, were each invited to present a paper as part of the Minisymposia "System Identification and Control," based upon their research in reduced-order wave propagation modeling. Dr. Ketcham, who is organizing the June 2009 Users Group Conference (UGC) of DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program, also met in Hanoi with the organizer of the DOE conference SciDAC—Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing. This DOE conference will be co-located with the UGC in San Diego, California. POC: Stephen.A.Ketcham@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4601 (Posted 4/2/09) Dr. Zoe Courville, Research Mechanical Engineer at ERDC-CRREL recently returned from a four-month, 1,865 mile journey from the Amunden-Scott South Pole Station to the Norwegian Base, Troll Station, located near the coast of Antarctica. As part of the Norwegian-U.S. Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica, Dr. Courville drilled ice cores, dug snow pits to understand how snow layers evolve, observed snow surfaces in terms of density, grain size and the ability to let air flow through, and recorded snowfall variations along the traverse. This work supports the ERDC-CRREL Terrain Properties and Processes Technical Area. POC: Zoe.R.Courville@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4425 (Posted 4/2/09) Dr. Daniel Lawson was recently appointed as an "Associate Graduate Faculty" member at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), Department of Geosciences. During this five year appointment, Dr. Lawson will be advising and working with Masters and Doctoral candidates, as well as serving on thesis committees. Dr. Lawson’s work in cold regions geophysics, primarily in glacial outburst flooding and permafrost research, is part of ERDC/CRREL’s Terrain Properties and Processes Technical Area. POC: Daniel.E.Lawson@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4344 (Posted 4/2/09) Ms. Jacqueline Richter-Menge was one of the presenting researchers in the Alaska Forum on the Environment’s Keynote Event—Polar Palooza—on 2 February 2009 in Anchorage, Alaska. Polar-Palooza is a unique multimedia initiative supported by both the National Science Foundation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It involves researchers and Alaska Native people in live presentations at science centers and natural history museums around the country, video and audio podcasts, and more. For more information, visit the Polar Palooza Web site. POC: Jacqueline.A.Richter-Menge@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4266 (Posted 4/2/09) ERDC-CRREL Research Civil Engineer Leonard Zabilansky provided a brief presentation on 29 January 2009 and staffed a display at the National Guards' Vermont 15th Civil Support Team's 2009 CST Decontamination Symposium held recently in Stowe, Vermont. The symposium was well attended and provided an equal representation of each U.S. state. Zabilansky has worked with five states and Homeland Security agencies providing a stable, cold environment in which Soldiers can test and evaluate their effectiveness and equipment. This effort supports ERDC's Homeland Security business area and CRREL's Cold Regions Infrastructure technical area. POC: Leonard.J.Zabilansky@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4319 (Posted 4/2/09) Dr. Matthew Sturm has been selected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The AGU is a worldwide community of scientists that presents results of cutting edge research to other scientists and to the general public. Selection as a Fellow is a prestigious tribute for those who have made exceptional scientific contributions. This honor is bestowed on only 0.1 percent of AGU membership (currently at 50,000 from 135 different countries) in any given year and represents quite an achievement! Dr. Sturm’s expertise in understanding the snow cover and its interactions with terrain, vegetation, and substrate supports the ERDC/CRREL’s Terrain Properties and Processes Technical Area. POC: Janet.P.Hardy@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4306 (Posted 4/2/09) The ERDC/CRREL Permafrost Tunnel in Fairbanks, Alaska, was recently the site of field studies by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). Studies at the tunnel were done to ascertain the range of electrical properties of fine-grain frozen silt with massive ice. These parameters will further the development of sensors to be used for water-ice exploration of Mars expeditionary missions. The week-long testing consisted of surface and underground galvanic as well as capacitively coupled resistivity surveys. In addition, multi-frequency shielded (250, 500, and 1000 MHz) and non-shielded (100 and 200 MHz) ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys for tomography and profiling. The CRREL Permafrost Tunnel is an underground excavation in permanently frozen Pleistocene, eolian silt which hosts a variety of cryological features such as sub-millimeter segregated ice, meter-scale ice wedges, and thermokarst cave ice. POC: Kevin.Bjella@usace.army.mil, 907-361-5171 (Posted 4/2/09) Mr. Charles Collins and Ms. Jacqueline Richter-Menge made presentations at the Alaska Forum on the Environment, 2–6 February 2009 in Anchorage, Alaska. Mr. Collins presentation was entitled "Fort Richardson Environmental Restoration: Case Study of the Military Effort to Bring Back Waterfowl and Other Wildlife." Ms. Richter-Menge's presentation was on "Climate Change in Alaska: Recent Developments." The Alaska Forum on the Environment is an annual education event to promote effective cooperation, communication and education in Alaska on climate change, energy, environmental regulations, cleanup and remediation, fish and wildlife and solid waste. POC: Jon.E.Zufelt@usace.army.mil, 907-384-0511 (Posted 4/2/09) Drs. Matthew Sturm, Tony Gow (retiree/volunteer), and Justin Berman, ERDC/CRREL gave talks at the Cryosphere Connections and Winter Science Professional Development (CryoConn) workshop in Chena Hot Springs, Alaska on 30–31 January 2008. CryoConn is a professional development workshop for Alaskan middle and high school science teachers. Eight Alaska School Districts participating in CryoConn have signed Education Partnership Agreements with CRREL. Dr. Sturm presented a talk entitled "Properties of snow, layering, spatial variation Lie on and under the snow" in conjunction with Ken Tape and Todd Sformo. CRREL retiree Dr. Tony Gow, also provided a talk on "The Story Ice Tells—Stratigraphy, unique properties Core and Thin ice sections—analysis with Peter Wasilewski." Dr. Berman’s talk entitled, "Polar Logistics and Operations" covered ERDC/CRREL engineering work for NSF in Greenland and Antarctica. POC: Justin.B.Berman@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4794 (Posted 4/2/09) Dr. Stephen Ketcham, ERDC-CRREL, has been selected to participate in the FY2009 Department of Defense Challenge Projects as Chairman of the High Performance Computing Advisory Panel. The mission of the User Advocacy Group is to provide a forum for users of the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program’s (HPCMP) resources and to influence policies and practices of the program. Dr. Ketcham’s selection is aligned with his current research within the Signature Physics Branch and ERDC's IMTPS (Institute for Maneuverability and Terrain Physics Simulations). POC: Stephen.A.Ketcham@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4601 (Posted 2/2/09) Dr. Mary Albert, ERDC-CRREL research mechanical engineer, gave the prestigious Nye Lecture on 16 December 2008 at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California. The Nye lecture is presented annually at the AGU meeting by a distinguished cryospheric scientist. Dr. Albert spoke about the key roles that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets play in the climate system, and reviewed research and education discoveries that have been realized during the current International Polar Year (IPY), including results from scientific traverses across Antarctica, expeditions in the Arctic, and ice coring in both polar regions. View the Entire Presentation at their Web site. This supports the ERDC/CRREL Terrain Properties and Processes Technical Area. POC: Mary.R.Albert@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4422
POC: Robert.B.Haehnel@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4325 (Posted 1/30/09) At the Advanced Signatures Technology Symposium, held 18–20 November, the National Ground Intelligence Center in Charlottesville, VA, Dr. John Anderson, ERDC-TEC, and Dr. Mike Reynolds, ERDC-CRREL, made two presentations describing joint research on hyperspectral signatures of bacterial endospore viability. The research team included CRREL?s Dave Ringelberg, Karen Foley, Dr. Geoff Koenig and TEC?s Jarrod Edwards. For this research, Drs. Reynolds and Anderson received 2008 Next Generation Signatures Awards from the Signature Support Program (SSP) for "outstanding contributions to the Signatures Community in the studies of signatures of live-viable vs. dead bacterial endospores." Army basic research in the Environmental Quality/Installations business area supported research leading to the SSP involvement. POC: Charles.M.Reynolds@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4394
POC: Justin.B.Berman@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4794 (Posted 1/30/09) Dr. Benjamin Barrowes, Electrical Engineer for ERDC-CRREL's Signature Physics Branch has been appointed as an Adjunct Professor at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. Dr. Barrowes was appointed to the three-year position in the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth working with Assistant Professor of Engineering, Dr. Fridon Shubitidze. Dr. Barrowes leads a group researching the low frequency electromagnetic phenomena of metallic objects in an effort to better detect and discriminate UneXploded Ordnance (UXO). The group has successfully executed several SERDP projects including the Man Portable Vector (MPV) Instrument Project (MM1443) and the GEM-3D+ Instrument Project (MM1537). Dr. Barrowes was also awarded a new start from SERDP for FY09 investigating the ubiquitous problem of discriminating UXO when multiple targets are present in the field of view of the sensor simultaneously. POC: Benjamin.E.Barrowes@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4822 (Posted 1/30/09) CRREL is a world leader in arctic research and is involved in the most important issues relating to climate change. ERDC researchers have just published a major paper on Arctic Sea ice melt that integrates in situ autonomous buoys observations, satellite data, and model results to investigate the rapid decrease of sea ice in the Beaufort Sea during the summer of 2007. The researchers established that an increase in the fraction the Arctic Ocean that was ice free triggered enhanced solar heating of the upper ocean and consequently a five-fold increase in melting on the bottom of the ice. The Arctic Sea melt has been in the news relating to global warming and establishment of the endangered status of the polar bear. POC: Janet.P.Hardy@usace.army.mil, 603-646-4306 |
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Page last updated 5 February 2010.
(Posted 1/30/09)
Ms. Janet P. Hardy has been selected as Chief, Terrestrial and Cryospheric Sciences Branch (TCSB) of the ERDC Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. Ms. Hardy has served as Acting Chief, TCSB since CRREL's realignment in November 2006. As a researcher, Ms. Hardy has studied the effects of complex environments on radiative transfer, snow processes, and scaling of these processes. She helps lead CRREL's Strategic Communications initiative, and co-founded and leads the ERDC Snow Interest Group—a forum to collaborate and discuss snow research. She served as co-chair for a recent AGU meeting on Snow in a Changing Climate. She received her MS from Montana State University in Earth Sciences and a BA from Colorado College in Geology. Ms. Hardy has received multiple CRREL Awards and leads the Terrain Properties and Processes technical area to understand future National Military Strategy and its impact on Arctic regions.