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Earth and Atmospheric Science
California to experience more droughts, wildfires in the future
California will experience increased heat, drought and insect outbreaks and more wildfires, according to a new report released Tuesday by the White House.The National Climate Assessment reportalso explains how California will have to deal with declining water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, health impacts in cities due to heat and flooding and erosion in coastal…
Americans using more energy according to Lawrence Livermore analysis
Americans used more renewable, fossil and even nuclear energy in 2013, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.Each year, the Laboratory releases energy flow charts that illustrate the nation's consumption and use of energy. Overall, Americans used 2.3 quadrillion thermal units more in 2013 than the previous year…
Science academies explain global warming in 'plain English'
If emissions of greenhouse gases continue in a business-as-usual manner, future changes in climate will substantially exceed those that have occurred so far, with a warming of the Earth in the range of roughly 5 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. That is the conclusion of a new report by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and The Royal Society,…
Volcanoes contribute to recent warming 'hiatus'
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Volcanic eruptions in the early part of the 21st century have cooled the planet, according to a study led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This cooling partly offset the warming produced by greenhouse gases. Despite continuing increases in atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases, and in the total heat content of the ocean, global-mean…
Current ice melt rate in Pine Island Glacier may go on for decades
A study of the Pine Island Glacier could provide insight into the patterns and duration of glacial melt. The Pine Island Glacier, a major outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, has been undergoing rapid melting and retreating for the past two decades. But new research by an international team including researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shows that…
Change in Pacific nitrogen content tied to climate change
Using deep sea corals gathered near the Hawaiian Islands, a Lawrence Livermore scientist, in collaboration with UC Santa Cruz colleagues, has determined that a long-term shift in nitrogen content in the Pacific Ocean has occurred as a result of climate change. Overall nitrogen fixation in the North Pacific Ocean has increased by about 20 percent since the mid 1800s -- a…
LLNL scientists find precipitation, global warming link
The rain in Spain may lie mainly on the plain, but the location and intensity of that rain is changing not only in Spain but around the globe.A new study by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists shows that observed changes in global (ocean and land) precipitation are directly affected by human activities and cannot be explained by natural variability alone. The…
LLNL wins four tech transfer regional awards
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has again received recognition this year for its work to move breakthrough technologies into the commercial marketplace.Livermore researchers and tech transfer professionals garnered four awards in the Federal Laboratory Consortium's (FLC) Far West Regional competition.This year's awards, presented last week during the FLC's…
Former Lawrence Fellow David Lobell receives MacArthur fellowship
Former Lawrence Fellow David Lobell , who has done groundbreaking work on the agricultural impacts of climate change, has received a MacArthur fellowship.He is among 24 individuals honored this year by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation , which recognizes exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for even more…
Lawrence Livermore study finds human activity affects vertical structure of atmospheric temperature
Human influences have directly impacted the latitude/altitude pattern of atmospheric temperature. That is the conclusion of a new report by scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and six other scientific institutions. The research compares multiple satellite records of atmospheric temperature change with results from a large, multi-model archive of…
Lawrence Livermore engineering team makes breakthrough in solar energy research
LIVERMORE, Calif. - The use of plasmonic black metals could someday provide a pathway to more efficient photovoltaics (PV) -- the use of solar panels containing photovoltaic solar cells -- to improve solar energy harvesting, according to researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).The LLNL Materials Engineering Division (MED) research team has made…
Americans continue to use more renewable energy sources
Americans used more natural gas, solar panels and wind turbines and less coal to generate electricity in 2012, according to the most recent U.S. energy charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory . Each year, the Laboratory releases energy flow charts that track the nation's consumption of energy resources. Natural gas use is up particularly in the…
Livermore develops the world's deepest ERT imaging system for CO2 sequestration
LIVERMORE, Calif.-- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have broken the record for tracking the movement and concentration of carbon dioxide in a geologic formation using the world's deepest Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) system.The research provides insight into the effects of geological sequestration to mitigate the impact of greenhouse gases.The…
Livermore scientists develop CO2 sequestration technique that produces 'supergreen' hydrogen fuel, offsets ocean acidification
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Lawrence Livermore scientists have discovered and demonstrated a new technique to remove and store atmospheric carbon dioxide while generating carbon-negative hydrogen and producing alkalinity, which can be used to offset ocean acidification.The team demonstrated, at a laboratory scale, a system that uses the acidity normally produced in saline water…
Research shows humans are primary cause of global ocean warming over past 50 years
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- The oceans have warmed in the past 50 years, but not by natural events alone. New research by a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and international collaborators shows that the observed ocean warming over the last 50 years is consistent with climate models only if the models include the impacts of observed increases in…
Guilderson takes the guess work out of climate change
Climate change and the carbon cycle are tied so closely that geochemist Tom Guilderson can study an isotope of carbon and find out how the climate has varied in the past, how rapidly it changed and the external and internal factors that may have affected it. That was the subject of Guilderson's talk "Radiocarbon: Chronometer and Geochemical Tracer of the Carbon Cycle,"…
Separating signal and noise in climate warming
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- In order to separate human-caused global warming from the "noise" of purely natural climate fluctuations, temperature records must be at least 17 years long, according to climate scientists. To address criticism of the reliability of thermometer records of surface warming, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists analyzed satellite…
Increased production of smelly sulfur compound in Southern Ocean tied to climate change
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- An organic compound that smells like cabbage and has been called the "smell of the sea" could be more sensitive to global climate change than commonly believed. In a recent report, a Livermore researcher, along with colleagues from Los Alamos and Oak Ridge national laboratories and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, found through…
Learning from climate's sedimental journey
By analyzing sediments up to 4,000 years old, Susan Zimmerman is hoping to provide a tool to help predict future climate change.Ancient records of what was happening with climate conditions can be used with regional climate models to tell a story of what happened in the past and to correlate it to the present and the future. Current models typically use data only for the…
Report gives carbon sequestration framework
The Laboratory's Julio Friedmann, in collaboration with the Center for American Progress, the Asia Society Center and the Monitor Group, on Wednesday released the report, "A Roadmap for U.S.-China Collaboration on Carbon Capture and Sequestration."The report provides a framework for long-term bilateral cooperation in the development and use of carbon capture and…
