Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Mineral Physics Modeling Of The Effect Of Water On Crustal Seismic Velocity Ratios, Eric Lyman, Anthony Lowry Phd

Student Research Symposium

This poster presents the relationship between the presence of water (H2O) in the make up of rocks at different levels in the crust. The relationships were calculated using Perple_x software to adjust the level of the different chemical and mineral make up of the rock. The densities were calculated using the velocity of primary waves and shear waves as collected by Tony Lowry. This study focuses primarily on quartz content. There seems to be at least a casual link between water content and quartz content.

Wormholes - Gates To The Stars?, Samuel Shreeve, Jim Wheeler

Student Research Symposium

One of the most consistently fascinating results of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity is the prediction of wormholes – astronomical objects which are, among other things, capable of serving as a connection between two distant regions of space. The simplest class of wormholes are Schwarzschild wormholes – wormholes that behave as non-rotating, non-charged black holes, except that the event horizon serves as a connection to another wormhole elsewhere, instead of a point of no return.

This research presentation analyzes the attributes that make a Schwarzschild wormhole unsuitable for human travel, and examines the conditions that would have to hold …

Opal Cubesatellite Flight And Line Of Sight Integration Modeling, Kenneth Zia, Ludger Scherliess

Student Research Symposium

Understanding the lower thermosphere, the range of 90km to 140km above the surface of the Earth, is a growing interest for many areas of research within space weather. The Optical Profiling of the Atmospheric Limb (OPAL) mission is funded by NSF to gather global thermosphere temperatures. OPAL will be able to resolve the temperature profiles through observing day-time emissions of O2 A-band (~760nm) emissions. This is done by using integrated line-of-sight measurements of the A-band through a tangential view of the atmosphere down to 90km. The OPAL instrument is on a 3U CubeSatellite (30cm×10cm×10cm) and is expected to follow the …

Temperature Recognition Algorithm For The Opal Mission, Eric Ashby, Ludger Scherliess

Student Research Symposium

The Optical Profiling of the Atmospheric Limb (OPAL) mission is a CubeSat project with aims to measure the temperature in the thermosphere between 90 and 140 km. The temperatures are inferred from the characteristic emission lines of molecular oxygen called the O2 A-band (around 760 nm). These temperatures will be used to better understand the evolution of the upper atmosphere during a solar storm and to analyze the temperature signatures of gravity waves. Multiple steps are required to retrieve temperature data from the OPAL satellite. Initially, the data must be deconvoluted from line-of-sight images. Spectral data must then be converted …

Computational Methods In Modeling Fusion Plasmas, Joseph R. Jepson, Eric D. Held

Student Research Symposium

Fusion provides an attractive potential alternative to using fossil fuels for energy. Fusion requires vastly less fuel resources than does current non-renewable energy processes (virtually a 100% reduction in the required mass of fuel needed). The fuel sources needed (mainly deuterium and lithium) are also highly abundant on the Earth and fusion generates minimal waste products. One of the biggest obstacles to practical fusion energy is how to contain the reactants long enough for energy output to significantly exceed energy input. The equations governing plasma dynamics and confinement are highly nonlinear and do not admit simple analytic solutions in realistic …

Stable Isotope And Radiocarbon Analysis Of Modern Lacustrine Stromatolites Near Great Salt Lake, Utah, Jordan L. Jensen, Dennis L. Newell, W. David Liddell

Student Research Symposium

Stromatolites are accretionary structures that form mainly from bacteria colonization in subaqueous environments and comprise mostly calcium carbonate (CaCO3). They can be found throughout the rock record (Archean-present day) and modern stromatolites are now restricted to areas that have few or no grazing animals. The hypersaline Great Salt Lake in Utah is host to numerous modern stromatolites, which are currently exposed to the air because of low lake levels. Here, we present C and O isotopic data and radiocarbon dates from a transect of a stromatolite dome (SD-1-01). Carbon and oxygen isotopic values covary strongly along the transect and range …

Channel Movement, Error Analysis, And Impacts For Neighboring Landowners: A Lower Bear River, Ut Case Study, Russell Babb, Kellie Shawn, Todd Brown, Ayman Alafifi, David Rosenberg

Spring Runoff Conference

The Bear River Fellows program is a unique learning experience for undergraduate students giving hands-on experience in collecting, synthesizing, and analyzing environmental and ecological data. The Bear River is an important resource that provides water to farms, reservoirs, wetlands, wildlife, and hydropower generation. Because of the river’s value, it is important to understand how the Bear River channel moves and how that affects the surrounding landscape, which is a topic of interest for local land owners but especially conservationists in protecting wetlands and river ecology. We collected hydrological, topologic, and vegetative data from three persisting research sites along an 8 …

Seasonal Flow Rates Along The Lower Bear River, Ut, Todd Keniry, Dahlia Curiel, Dylan Anderson, Ayman Alafifi, David E. Rosenberg

Spring Runoff Conference

The goal of this research is to identify how flow on the Bear River in Cache Valley has changed over the last three years and how flow changes seasonally. Identifying flows is important to manage water resources along the Bear River. We collected and processed water pressure data every 30 minutes using HOBO transducers at two sites in Cache Valley (Morton, just downstream of highway 142, and Confluence which is located at the confluence of the Bear and Cub Rivers) south of the Idaho‐Utah border in 2015. We also measured flow and water stage up to three times per year …