Margaret Torn Named 2017 American Geophysical Union Fellow
Margaret Torn, a senior scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area, has been named by the American Geophysical Union as a 2017 AGU Fellow.
Read More Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions Program Domain
New Data Archive Aims to Amplify Impact of Ecosystem Research
As environmental scientists move towards understanding earth systems at greater resolution than ever before, it’s critical that they have access to needed data sets. Yet much of these data are not archived, publicly available, or collected in a standardized format, due to the multiple challenges of coordinating efforts across independent research groups and institutions worldwide. Now researchers at Berkeley Lab are taking action to address these challenges. Thanks to $3.6 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Office of Science, the Lab’s Computing Sciences and Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) are partnering on a three-year project to develop an archive that will serve as a repository for hundreds of DOE-funded research projects.
Read MoreNegrón-Juárez et al. and Their Pioneering Study on Amazon Windthrows
Robinson Negrón-Juárez and his co-authors have now published the first study on windthrow variability, focusing on Central Amazonia. Windthrows destroy large swaths of trees, play a significant role in forest structures and dynamics, and affect carbon storage. In this study the co-authors present the seasonal and interannual variability of windthrows, and discuss the potential meteorological factors…
Read MoreStudy: Soils Could Release Much More Carbon Than Expected as Climate Warms
Soils could release much more CO2 than expected into the atmosphere as the climate warms, according to new research by scientists in EESA's Climate and Ecosystems Sciences Division—Caitlin Hicks Pries, Christina Castanha, Rachel Porras, and Margaret Torn.
Read MoreNew Study: Global Plant Models Underestimate Shading of Plants
EESA’s Trevor Keenan and collaborator Ülo Niinemets of the Estonian University of Life Sciences and Estonian Academy of Sciences have just published a new study in a Letter in Nature Plants that concludes that global plant databases and models are underestimating plant growth rates and photosynthesis, plus other traits, because leaf measurements are reported as…
Read MoreSpring Thaw in the Arctic Generates Pulses of CO2 and CH4 Emissions
Little is known about the spring thaws of the frozen Arctic tundra in May that generate large pulses of greenhouse gases—how large are these emissions? What are the mechanisms? “We can see the effects of climate change happening more rapidly in the Arctic than in any other part of world,” said Berkeley Lab/EESA scientist Naama Raz-Yaseef. “So…
Read More