The Effect of Micro-instabilities on Pedestal Profile Reconstruction in NSTX

We study pedestal transport in NSTX discharges 132543 (non-lithiated, narrow pedestal) and 132588 (lithiated, broad pedestal), focusing on electron-scale (ETG) and ion-scale (MTM and MHD-like) turbulence. Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations show ETG turbulence dominates electron heat flux and reproduces key features of the measured electron temperature profiles. Using analytic ETG transport models in ASTRA yields good, though imperfect, agreement with experimental profiles. Density gradient scans confirm ETG alone cannot fully explain the data. For ion heat flux, neoclassical transport agrees well with 132543 but underpredicts 132588. Varying density within uncertainties fails to resolve this, indicating additional ion-scale transport is needed. Linear gyrokinetic analysis reveals unstable MTMs and MHD-like modes in both discharges. These are parameterized and incorporated into a quasilinear transport model. When combined with ETG and neoclassical contributions, the model better matches experimental electron and ion profiles. Results highlight the need for multiscale turbulence modeling—ETG, MTM, MHD-like, and neoclassical—to accurately predict pedestal transport in NSTX.