States Air Force Research Articles

Relative Economic Values of Open Space Provided by National Forest and Military Lands to Surrounding Communities

AbstractOpen space lands are provided by a variety of entities from private individuals to the federal government and these entities make management decisions based on a very broad range of priorities. The net benefits of additional open space depend on the number, quality, and composition of existing open space in the vicinity. In areas where open space is abundant and there is a significant proportion that is federally owned, the net benefits are not well understood. In this study, the marginal willingness to pay for proximity to public open space is estimated using the hedonic property method and home sales transactions in 2007 for El Paso County Colorado, a location that boasts of having over 150,000 acres of open space. Results from a generalized spatial two‐stage least squares regression indicate that homes in close proximity to open space provided locally by city, county, and state governments sell for a premium, but larger premiums are associated with proximity to the Pike National Forest and Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station likely at least partially due to the natural amenities of the Rocky Mountains. In contrast, proximity to Fort Carson Army Installation is found to negatively affect house sales prices likely due to undesirable activities that occur on and around the installation. As for the other area of federal lands, proximity to the U.S. Air Force Academy and to Peterson Air Force Base was found to negatively affect house prices; however, these effects were not statistically significant.

A tool to predict the probability of summer severe weather in east-central Florida

People and property at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) are at risk from severe weather. Strong winds, hail, and tornadoes can injure individuals and cause costly damage to structures if not properly protected. This is important because central Florida is the thunderstorm capital of the United States and has the highest tornado density in the country, albeit a smaller percentage than the national average of these tornadoes is of significant intensity. The 45th Weather Squadron (45WS) severe weather forecasts are used by managers to determine if they need to schedule activities (such as working on gantries) or protect property (such as a vehicle on a pad). Missed desired lead-time and false-alarm rate statistics show that severe weather in east-central Florida is difficult to forecast during the warm season (May–September). The 45WS tasked the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) to develop a locally tuned tool to predict the probability of warm-season severe weather using a 24-yr climatological database from the 1500 UTC (1100 EDT) CCAFS radiosondes (KXMR). The results indicate the proper use of certain stability indices and parameters based on the late-morning KXMR soundings can improve the forecaster’s ability to identify days with a severe weather threat. The AMU calculated a total severe potential (TSP) by integrating the important parameters for every 1500 UTC sounding and other factors in the 24-yr database and compared the TSP to reported severe weather occurrences on each day with a sounding. Logistic regression was used to convert the TSPs to probability of severe weather as a first guess tool for the 45WS forecasters.

Implementing Planetary Protection on the Atlas V Fairing and Ground Systems Used to Launch the Mars Science Laboratory

On November 26, 2011, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V 541 rocket, taking its first step toward exploring the past habitability of Mars' Gale Crater. Because microbial contamination could profoundly impact the integrity of the mission, and compliance with international treaty was a necessity, planetary protection measures were implemented on all MSL hardware to verify that bioburden levels complied with NASA regulations. The cleanliness of the Atlas V payload fairing (PLF) and associated ground support systems used to launch MSL were also evaluated. By applying proper recontamination countermeasures early and often in the encapsulation process, the PLF was kept extremely clean and was shown to pose little threat of recontaminating the enclosed MSL flight system upon launch. Contrary to prelaunch estimates that assumed that the interior PLF spore burden ranged from 500 to 1000 spores/m², the interior surfaces of the Atlas V PLF were extremely clean, housing a mere 4.65 spores/m². Reported here are the practices and results of the campaign to implement and verify planetary protection measures on the Atlas V launch vehicle and associated ground support systems used to launch MSL. All these facilities and systems were very well kept and exceeded the levels of cleanliness and rigor required in launching the MSL payload.

Curiosity on the way to Mars

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which includes the Curiosity rover, successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 26 November. Soon after its planned 6 August 2012 landing at the foot of a mountain inside the 96‐kilometer‐diameter Gale crater, the rover will study whether that region of Mars offers any evidence of past and present environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. “We are very excited about sending the world's most advanced scientific laboratory to Mars,” NASA administrator Charles Bolden said. “MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, and while it advances science, we'll be working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where we've never been.”

The Dawn Spacecraft

The Dawn spacecraft is designed to travel to and operate in orbit around the two largest main belt asteroids, Vesta and Ceres. Developed to meet a ten-year life and fully redundant, the spacecraft accommodates an ion propulsion system, including three ion engines and xenon propellant tank, utilizes large solar arrays to power the engines, carries the science instrument payload, and hosts the hardware and software required to successfully collect and transmit the scientific data back to Earth. The launch of the Dawn spacecraft in September 2007 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was the culmination of nearly five years of design, development, integration and testing of this unique system, one of the very few scientific spacecraft to rely on ion propulsion. The Dawn spacecraft arrived at its first destination, Vesta, in July 2011, where it will conduct science operations for twelve months before departing for Ceres.

QnAs with John P. Grotzinger

QnAs with John P. Grotzinger

Simulating a natural fire regime on an Atlantic coast barrier island complex in Florida, USA

The HFire fire regime model was used to simulate the natural fire regime (prior to European settlement) on Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Canaveral National Seashore, and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Model simulations were run for 500 years and the model was parameterized using information generated from previously published empirical studies on these properties (e.g., lightning fire ignition frequencies and ignition seasonality). A mosaic pattern of frequent small fires dominated this fire regime with rare but extremely large fires occurring during dry La Niña periods. This simulated fire size distribution very closely matched the previously published fire size distribution for lightning ignitions on these properties. A sensitivity analysis was performed to establish which parameters were most influential and the range of variation surrounding empirically parameterized model output. Dead fuel moisture and wind speed had the largest influence on model outcome. A wide range of variance was observed surrounding the composite simulation with the least being 6% in total burn frequency and the greatest being 49% in total area burned. Because simulation modeling is the best option for fire regime reconstruction in many rapidly growing shrub dominated systems, these results will be of interest to scientists and fire managers for delineating the natural fire regime on these properties, the southeastern United States and other fire adapted shrub systems worldwide.

Developing empirical lightning cessation forecast guidance for the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center

This research addresses the 45th Weather Squadron's (45WS) need for improved guidance regarding lightning cessation at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center (KSC). KSC's Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR) network was the primary observational tool to investigate both cloud‐to‐ground and intracloud lightning. Five statistical and empirical schemes were created from LDAR, sounding, and radar parameters derived from 116 storms. Four of the five schemes were unsuitable for operational use since lightning advisories would be canceled prematurely, leading to safety risks to personnel. These include a correlation and regression tree analysis, three variants of multiple linear regression, event time trending, and the time delay between the greatest height of the maximum dBZ value to the last flash. These schemes failed to adequately forecast the maximum interval, the greatest time between any two flashes in the storm. The majority of storms had a maximum interval less than 10 min, which biased the schemes toward small values. Success was achieved with the percentile method (PM) by separating the maximum interval into percentiles for the 100 dependent storms. PM provides additional confidence to the 45WS forecasters, and a modified version was incorporated into their forecast procedures starting in the summer of 2008. This inclusion has resulted in ∼5–10 min time savings. Last, an experimental regression variant scheme using non‐real‐time predictors produced precise results but prematurely ended advisories. This precision suggests that obtaining these parameters in real time may provide useful added information to the PM scheme.

Isolating the lightning ignition regime from a contemporary background fire regime in east-central Florida, USA

Anthropogenic influences have altered most fire regimes. Fire management programs often try to mimic natural fire regimes to maintain fuels and sustain native fire-dependent species. Lightning is the natural ignition source in Florida, substantiating the need for understanding lightning fire incidence. Sixteen years of lightning data (1986–2003, excluding 1987 and 2002 due to missing data) from the NASA Cloud to Ground Lightning Surveillance System and fire ignition records were used to quantify the relationship between lightning incidence and ignitions on Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. There were 230 lightning fires with an average of 14 ignitions per year, primarily in July, and only one winter ignition. Precipitation influenced the efficiency of lightning ignitions, particularly July precipitation. We found that negative polarity strikes caused the majority of ignitions. Pine flatwoods was ignited more frequently than expected given equal chance of ignition among landcover types. About half (51%) of detected fires were instantaneous ignitions and the other 49% were delayed an average of 2 days. This information is useful for paramaterizing fire regime models and for mimicking the natural fire regime through fire prescriptions on these properties and throughout the southeastern United States. These methods may be useful in fire-maintained systems globally.

A crisis in aerial sovereignty? Considering the implications of recent military violations of national airspace

The implementation of policies of pre‐emption and securitisation by a number of states has led to an increase in the number of aerial incursions by one state's air force into another state's territory in recent years, often occurring before and, indeed, instead of ground incursions. This paper argues that it is vital that we conceptualise territory as a three‐dimensional volume, rather than simply a flat area, in order to enable an analysis of how these events impact state sovereignty. The central contention of the paper is to extend recent work on territorial integrity and contingent sovereignty into this aerial dimension. A number of brief case studies are provided to illustrate how different incursion practices actively violate territorial integrity or render state sovereignty contingent. The conclusion seeks to answer the question of whether these incidents imply a crisis in aerial sovereignty or whether they confirm the chronic decline of this norm of international law.

An Examination of Scale‐Dependent Resource Use by Eastern Hognose Snakes in Southcentral New Hampshire

ABSTRACT The decline of many snake populations is attributable to habitat loss, and knowledge of habitat use is critical to their conservation. Resource characteristics (e.g., relative availability of different habitat types, soils, and slopes) within a landscape are scale‐dependent and may not be equal across multiple spatial scales. Thus, it is important to identify the relevant spatial scales at which resource selection occurs. We conducted a radiotelemetry study of eastern hognose snake (Heterodon platirhinos) home range size and resource use at different hierarchical spatial scales. We present the results for 8 snakes radiotracked during a 2‐year study at New Boston Air Force Station (NBAFS) in southern New Hampshire, USA, where the species is listed by the state as endangered. Mean home range size (minimum convex polygon) at NBAFS (51.7 ± 14.7 ha) was similar to that reported in other parts of the species’ range. Radiotracked snakes exhibited different patterns of resource use at different spatial scales. At the landscape scale (selection of locations within the landscape), snakes overutilized old‐field and forest edge habitats and underutilized forested habitats and wetlands relative to availability. At this scale, snakes also overutilized areas containing sandy loam soils and areas with lower slope (mean slope = 5.2% at snake locations vs. 6.7% at random locations). We failed to detect some of these patterns of resource use at the home range scale (i.e., within the home range). Our ability to detect resource selection by the snakes only at the landscape scale is likely the result of greater heterogeneity in macrohabitat features at the broader landscape scale. From a management perspective, future studies of habitat selection for rare species should include measurement of available habitat at spatial scales larger than the home range. We suggest that the maintenance of open early successional habitats as a component of forested landscapes will be critical for the persistence of eastern hognose snake populations in the northeastern United States.

Teledermatology in Air Force: Our experience

Background: Teledermatology is the science of telemedicine applied to the field of dermatology, with an aim to avoid travelling to nearest specialist facility. Methods: Patients from Air Force Stations Jaisalmer, Naliya, 5 Air Force Hospital, Jorhat and 9 Air Force Hospital, Halwara were consulted by the dermatologist at Command Hospital (Air Force) Bangalore through the telemedicine network provided by ISRO, Bangalore from March 06 to May 08. Result: 115 patients underwent teledermatology consultation using virtual teleconference (VTC)and this was compared with Store and Forward (S and F) consultation at all four stations as well as Face to Face (FTF) consultation at 5 Air Force Hospital Jorhat. Diagnosis concordance was 52.5% and 53% for Jorhat and Halwara for VTC vs S and F, while it was 75% and 25% for Jaisalmer and Naliya. For VTC vs FTF, the concordance improved to 60.66% and for S and F vs FTF it improved to 91.8%. Concordance was better for localized lesions than for generalized lesions especially of the papulosquamous group of disorders. Another reason for the discordance with VTC was poor resolution of cameras at the peripheral units. Conclusion: Teledermatology is useful for patient care in the absence of local specialist cover and the patients have to travel long distances resulting in loss of manhours.However, better camera resolution at peripheral centres will result in greater concordance.

Responses of small rodents to habitat restoration and management for the imperiled Florida Scrub-Jay

Debate about the relative merits of single-species management versus more comprehensive approaches has intensified in recent years. In east-central Florida, USA, land managers use prescribed burns and mechanical cutting to manage and restore scrub habitat to benefit the imperiled Florida Scrub-Jay ( Aphelocoma coerulescens). However, these land-management techniques may affect non-target taxa, especially the threatened southeastern beach mouse ( Peromyscus polionotus niveiventris). We evaluated the collateral effects of single-species land management by trapping P. p. niveiventris and other small rodents in eighteen land-management compartments at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida during 2004–2005. Compartments were managed using either prescribed burns ( N = 5), mechanical cutting ( N = 6), checkerboarding (cut and uncut lanes alternating and overlapping, followed by a prescribed burn, N = 4) or left unburned and uncut for >50 year ( N = 3). P. p. niveiventris was significantly more abundant in compartments managed with prescribed burns (mean ± SE: 4.2 ± 0.7 individuals/transect) than those managed with cutting alone (1.0 ± 0.3) or not managed for >50 y (0.2 ± 0.1 individuals/transect). In contrast, the cotton mouse ( Peromyscus gossypinus) tended to be more abundant in compartments managed with mechanical cutting alone (2.6 ± 0.4 individuals/transect) compared to the other three management strategies (prescribed burns; 1.5 ± 0.4; checkerboarding, 1.1 ± 0.3; not managed, 1.6 ± 0.4 individuals/transect) but these differences were not statistically significant. Abundances of P. p. niveiventris and Florida Scrub-Jay breeding groups were positively correlated ( r = 0.655), suggesting that both listed species benefit from similar management techniques. Thus, the mosaic of burned and cut patches used to improve habitat for the Florida Scrub-Jay also benefits an endemic, non-target species. Single-species management may benefit multiple species when restoration improves their shared habitat, which in this case is an endangered, fire-dependent ecosystem: Florida scrub.

The commissioning and first light of the Fermi Large Area Telescope

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST) is a new generation high-energy gamma-ray observatory designed to explore the sky with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution. Successfully launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 11 on June 11, 2008, Fermi entered the routine science data taking phase—which will continue over the next 5–10 years—after a commissioning period of two months. This paper presents the highlights from the initial on-orbit verification of the Large Area Telescope, the main instrument onboard Fermi.

Demonstration of Enhanced Bioremediation in a TCE Source Area at Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

AbstractThe ability of bioremediation to treat a source area containing trichloroethene (TCE) present as dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) was assessed through a laboratory study and a pilot test at Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral Air Force Center. The results of microcosm testing indicate that the indigenous microbial community was capable of dechlorinating TCE to ethene if amended with electron donor; however, bioaugmentation with a dechlorinating culture (KB‐1; SiREM, Guelph, Ontario, Canada) significantly increased the rate of ethene formation. In microcosms, the activity of the dechlorinating organisms in KB‐1 was not inhibited at initial TCE concentrations as high as 2 mM. The initially high TCE concentration in ground water (1.2 mM or 155 mg/L) did not inhibit reductive dechlorination, and at the end of the study, the average concentration of ethene (2.4 mM or 67 mg/L) was in stoichiometric excess of this initial TCE concentration. The production of ethene in stoichiometric excess in comparison to the initial TCE concentration indicates that the bioremediation treatment enhanced the removal of TCE mass (either sorbed to soil or present as DNAPL). Detailed soil sampling indicated that the bioremediation treatment removed greater than 98.5% of the initial TCE mass. Confirmatory ground water samples collected 22 months after the bioremediation treatment indicated that chloroethene concentrations had continued to decline in the absence of further electron donor addition. The results of this study confirm that dechlorination to ethene can proceed at the high TCE concentrations often encountered in source areas and that bioremediation was capable of removing significant TCE mass from the test plot, suggesting that enhanced bioremediation is a potentially viable remediation technology for TCE source areas. Dehalococcoides abundance increased by 2 orders of magnitude following biostimulation and bioaugmentation.

Status of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched on August 12, 2005 by an Atlas V 401 expendable launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA. After the seven-month cruise phase from Earth to Mars, the spacecraft burned its main engines for approximately 27 min and was inserted into Mars orbit on March 10, 2006. During the post-MOI period, four instruments acquired early engineering-quality data. Subsequently, the aerobraking phase was conducted for approximately five months, followed by one month of engineering and instrument checkout. The spacecraft supports a payload to conduct remote sensing science observations, identify and characterize sites for future landers, and provide critical telecom/navigation relay capability for follow-on missions. During the one Martian year (687 Earth days) primary science phase, the orbiter will acquire visual and near-infrared high-resolution images of the planet's surface, monitor atmospheric weather and climate, and search the upper crust for evidence of water. While in this science phase, the orbiter will provide telecommunications support for Phoenix spacecraft launched to Mars in 2007. After the primary science phase is complete, the orbiter will enter into its formal relay mode and support the Mars Science Laboratory, which will be launched in the 2009 opportunity. The primary mission ends on December 31, 2010, approximately 5.5 years after launch.

Orbital fleet dispatched to unravel magnetic storms’ roots

To improve scientists’ understanding of geomagnetic storms in Earth's magnetosphere, which can be highly disruptive to a variety of technologies and a health risk to astronauts, five satellites are shifting into orbits as far as halfway to the Moon following the successful 17 February launch of a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The quintet is at the core of NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission, and is designed to detect changes in Earth's space environment including charged-particle accelerations and enhanced plasma waves, all of which occur when the Sun's corona is blasted toward Earth in both the steady stream of the solar wind and during solar storms. The enhanced particle fluxes often cause the planet's magnetosphere to become overloaded with energy, stretching the magnetic field lines in the Earth's magnetotail like rubber bands until they snap back, flinging electrically charged particles toward Earth. The particles travel along the magnetic field lines into the upper atmosphere over the polar regions, where they smash into atoms and molecules, causing them to glow and blanket the skies with shimmering aurorae. Previous studies have been unable to determine where in the magnetosphere the energy of the solar wind transforms into explosive auroras, which, though beautiful, can short-circuit power grids, disrupt GPS satellites and other spacecraft in low-Earth orbit, and bathe astronauts living in space with ionizing particle radiation. Scientists want to know where magnetic disturbances arise in hopes of being able to better predict when they will strike. “For over 30 years, the source location of these explosive energy releases has been sought after with great fervor. It is a question almost as old as space physics itself,” said Vassilis Angelopoulos, the principal investigator for THEMIS and a scientist with the University of California's Space Sciences Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. “Substorm processes are fundamental to our understanding of space weather and how it affects satellites and humans in geospace,” added Angelopoulos. The purpose of THEMIS is to identify the trigger locations and unravel the physics of the storms’ progressions. “It is not clear exactly what finally snaps in the overloaded magnetosphere to trigger a substorm,” said THEMIS project scientist David Sibeck, with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “The worst space storms, the ones that knock out spacecraft and endanger astronauts, could be just a series of substorms, one after the other. Substorms could be the building blocks of severe space storms.” The spacecraft will be positioned in orbits ranging from 50,000 miles, or about one sixth the distance to the Moon, to about 150,000 miles above Earth. Once every 4 days the quintet will align over the United States and, together with a network of about 20 ground-based observatories, be in position to make simultaneous observations of the magnetic field over Earth's Northern Hemisphere. Over the network's 2-year lifetime, scientists hope to chart about 30 storms. Observations are expected to begin in December 2008. Irene Klotz is a freelance writer for the American Geophysical Union.

Satellites to study geomagnetic storms

NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission to study geomagnetic substorms over the next two years launched on 17 February from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Substorms are visible in the atmosphere as a sudden brightening of polar auroral ribbons as they split and reorganize, and are thought to form when solar wind overloads the magnetosphere with too much energy. Substorms are closely related to space storms that can disable spacecraft, communications and navigation systems, and power grids and that can expose astronauts to high energy free electrons.Launched from a single rocket, THEMIS's five satellites will align themselves between the Sun and the Earth to view substorms; simultaneously, ground stations in Alaska and Canada will monitor auroral dynamics.

Socio behavioural profile of HIV positive DSC personnel

Background: Few human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive Defence Security Corps (DSC) personnel reported for surveillance at one of the Air Force (AF) stations in 1992 and it was appropriate to study socio-behavioural profile of HIV positive DSC personnel to determine the reason for their vulnerability. Method: The study was conducted among 46 HIV positive DSC personnel during 1992–2004 at various AF stations. Pretested questionnaires were introduced to the subjects to ascertain their demographic, social, educational and behavioural profile vis-à-vis their HIV-AIDS awareness. Results: Majority of the subjects detected during pre-donation screening were middle aged, rural, semiliterate, (56.5%) and acquired the disease through heterosexual (95.66%) mode, mostly from commercial sex workers (CSWs). All were aware of HIVAIDS prevention and most of them (77.2%) stated that condoms were easily available but 70.7% did not use the same for the fear of failure to perform under the influence of liquor. 74% subjects were found complying with medical instructions. Conclusion: The study brings out a discernable gap between the knowledge and practice of safe sex. Adequate preventive knowledge did not always result in practice of safe sex.

Measurement of Anxiety for Patients With Cardiac Disease

Marla J. De Jong, MS, RN, CCNS, CCRN, CEN PhD Student, University of Kentucky, College of Nursing/United States Air Force, Lexington, Ky. Lynne A. Hall, DrPH, RN Marcia A. Dake Professor of Nursing Science and Assistant Dean for Research and the PhD Program, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky. Disclaimer Statement: The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of the Air Force or the Department of Defense. Corresponding author Marla J. De Jong, MS, RN, CCNS, CCRN, CEN, 3697 White Pine Drive, Lexington, KY 40514 (e-mail: [email protected]).