From the tops of tree canopies to the bottom of groundwater reservoirs, a vast amount of living organisms interact with nonliving components such as rock, water, and soil to shape this area of Earth known as the “critical zone.” Over half of Earth’s microbes are located in the subsurface critical zone, which ranges from…
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The DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) and Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) recently announced $5 million in funding for four projects–two from Berkeley Lab with EESA leadership. The projects selected offer “promising solutions” to the nation’s climate change challenges by helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will “accelerate their deployment…
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This article first appeared at nature.berkeley.edu/news. The world’s forests, grasslands, and other terrestrial ecosystems have played a substantial role in offsetting human carbon emissions—a capability that UC Berkeley researchers say would be threatened by continued global change. The assessment, published today as a new review paper in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, presents a comprehensive analysis of…
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After interacting with coastal farming communities who experienced sea level rise and other direct impacts of climate change, Research Scientist Kripa Jagannathan recognized that environmental problems are livelihood issues for many communities around the world. This led her to EESA working as a social scientist, helping to facilitate the co-production of knowledge–a type of research…
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Research shows that by the end of the century the biggest rain and snow days will be 20 to 30% wetter than they are today
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Aerial view of white roofed homes and streets forming circular patterns; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA (Credit: Shutterstock) This summer alone, intense heat waves have been to blame for at least 11 deaths in Japan, a record-breaking 45.9-degree Celsius temperature in France, and a heat advisory affecting 147 million people on the U.S. East Coast. Conjectured as the “new normal,” these extreme air…
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Susan Hubbard, Associate Laboratory Director of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab, moderated an expert briefing on the impact California wildfires were having on the environment at the state capitol in Sacramento today. The event is the latest in a series of briefings hosted by the California Council on Science & Technology…
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By adapting scaling formulas that are traditionally used to diagnose the overall behavior of extreme rainfall events in a warming climate, atmospheric scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Irvine have demonstrated that the potential exists for these formulas to capture the dynamics of individual rainstorms globally. Heavy rainstorms that can cause floods,…
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Three hundred twenty miles north of the Arctic circle in Barrow on Alaska’s northern slope, average high temperatures are at or below zero degrees Fahrenheit for 160 days per year. This cold, harsh climate creates a vast expanse of permafrost to help make this Arctic tundra biome one of the biggest carbon sinks on the…
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This Q and A article appeared first on the Berkeley Lab News Center. Previously, the work of the Watershed Function SFA Research team was featured during a podcast for News Deeply. You can hear Bhavna Arora talk about her research here. One in 10 Americans depends on the Colorado River for bathing and drinking.…
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