Digging Deep: Harnessing the Power of Soil Microbes for More Sustainable Farming
Berkeley Lab’s ‘farm of the future’ project marries microbiology and machine learning
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Berkeley Lab Scientists Go Deep Underground to Study Rock Fractures in Geothermal Environments
In February EESA Staff Scientist Tim Kneafsey helped escort leadership from the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy on a journey 4,850 feet below the ground. They toured Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), an old South Dakota gold mine turned testing ground for studying how the process of extracting heat from rocks…
Read MoreEESA Researchers Study How to Sustainably Remediate Contaminated Soil and Groundwater in Wake of Extreme Events
Researchers from the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab are being recognized for developing advanced scientific tools that can inform how to sustainably remediate soil and groundwater contamination. Such remediation has become increasingly difficult in the wake of extreme climate events such as flooding. Hurricane Harvey, for example, caused flooding in 13 EPA-designated…
Read MoreNew EESA Study Indicates Greater Capacity for Carbon Storage in the Subsurface
New research from the Energy Geosciences Division at Berkeley Lab shows that carbon dioxide can penetrate the inner layers of some non-swelling clay minerals which make up the dominant clays in the Earth's deep subsurface. Results of the work performed at the Center for Nanoscale Controls on Geologic CO2 (NCGC) and the national lab’s Molecular Foundry could help inform practices intended to help limit carbon dioxide emissions, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
Read MoreBerkeley Lab Experts Helping Test Novel Monitoring Solutions for Unconventional Oil Recovery with Reduced Environmental Footprint
Scientists from the Energy Geosciences Division at Berkeley Lab are part of a research team led by Texas A&M University that is working to develop a new field laboratory in the hydrocarbon-producing geological formation known as Eagle Ford Shale. Their work is focused on increased recovery from previously fractured wells that were left behind because of low production, and has the potential to foster continued growth in U.S. oil production, but with a much lower environmental footprint.
Read MoreBerkeley Lab Scientists Took Large Role in Developing New Report on the Viability and Safety of Underground Gas Storage in California
Berkeley Lab scientists took a key role in publishing an exhaustive scientific report on the safety and long-term viability of underground natural gas storage in California, requested by Gov. Brown in the aftermath of the largest methane leak in U.S. history at the Southern California Aliso Canyon UGS more than two years ago.
Read MoreMeet Your Postdoc: Pierpaolo Marchesini
Pierpaolo Marchesini was one of four EESA postdocs to address the Meet your Postdoc session on Thursday, November 16, a brown-bag lunch series designed to acquaint senior scientists with EESA postdocs and their significant contributions to Berkeley Lab. Nkosi Muse sat down with Pierpaolo to discuss the work he does at Berkeley Lab using acoustic…
Read MoreEcoSENSE Workshop Draws Participants from All Six Areas of Berkeley Lab
More than 75 participants from across all six areas of Berkeley Lab attended a half-day workshop on December 1 to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with ecosystem sensing and characterization. Hosts Eoin Brodie, Senior Scientist, Ecology Department, and research scientist Yuxin Wu, opened the morning workshop with an explanation of the work underway by Lab researchers…
Read MoreDark Fiber: Using Sensors Beneath Our Feet to Tell Us About Earthquakes, Water, and Other Geophysical Phenomenon
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown for the first time that dark fiber – the vast network of unused fiber-optic cables installed throughout the country and the world – can be used as sensors for detecting earthquakes, the presence of groundwater, changes in permafrost conditions, and…
Read MoreMeet Your Postdoc: Hydrogeologist Chun Chang
Hydrogeologist Chun Chang is one of 42 postdoctoral fellows working with Berkeley Lab's Earth and Environmental Sciences Area. He studies the geological sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
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