Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program

DOE Funds Projects to Advance Forest Carbon Dioxide Removal Efforts and Agricultural Soil Carbon Conservation

August 1, 2023

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…

Post Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program Publication Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program

Novel Monitoring Strategy Uncovers New Insights to Arctic Ecosystems

June 16, 2017

Earth & Environmental Sciences Area/Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s Baptiste Dafflon (right) and Craig Ulrich (left) make soil moisture measurements with a TDR and active layer depths with a tile probe.

Researchers in Berkeley Lab’s Environmental & Earth Sciences Area (EESA) have led the development of a new approach for monitoring terrestrial ecosystems, and have used the system to discover new insights about how processes in different compartments of an Arctic Tundra ecosystem interact over space and time.

Post Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions Program Domain Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Climate Sciences Department GC-Climate Carbon Sink Publication Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program

Study: Soils Could Release Much More Carbon Than Expected as Climate Warms

March 10, 2017

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.

Post Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Climate Sciences Department Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program

Torn and Vaughn Contribute to New Soil Carbon Study

September 23, 2016

Margaret Torn and Lydia Vaughn (picture not available) of the Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division contributed to a paper in the journal Science that found that soil will absorb far less atmospheric carbon than expected during the 21st century. The research, led by scientists from UC Irvine, was conducted by adding highly accurate radiocarbon dating…

Post Announcements Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Climate Sciences Department Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program

Airborne Campaign in the Icy Arctic

October 7, 2015

Gulfstream-159 (G-1) research plane from the ARM Aerial Facility - in flight.

In the News: Sébastien Biraud led an ARM-ACME V team through a 16-week airborne campaign to collect data over the tundra of Alaska’s North Slope. The team flew 38 flights, just 500 feet above ground, from June 1 to September 15, using a Gulfstream-159 (G-1) research aircraft from the ARM Aerial Facility. Most flights went over…

Post Announcements Climate & Carbon Sciences Program Area Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Climate Sciences Department Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program

New Research: Feedback between Permafrost Carbon and Climate

October 5, 2015

Charlie Koven, scientist in Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, discusses newly published research results in LBNL’s News Center today. As global warming causes soil temperatures to increase, some of the billions of tons of carbon frozen in Arctic permafrost will will be released into the atmosphere, and accelerate climate change. This is a big unknown. Now there’s a…

Post Climate Sciences Department In The Press Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program

Searching the Amazon for Climate Change Clues

June 17, 2015

Peering deeply into the Amazon, which has recently seen two "megadroughts,” scientists may be able to measure the impact of climate change globally, and also collect clues about how California's vegetation might be affected by drought

Post Climate Sciences Department Research Highlight Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program

Radiative Forcing, Albedo in Land-Use Scenarios

May 11, 2015

ESD’s Andy Jones and Bill Collins recently demonstrated the effectiveness of a new method for quantifying radiative forcing from land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) within the integrated Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM).

Post Announcements Atmospheric System Research Program Awards Climate Sciences Department Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program

Margaret Torn Receives Honorary Doctorate

April 28, 2015

Margaret Torn received an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, for her “outstanding achievements and fundamental contributions to understanding biogeochemical processes in ecosystems.”

Post Climate Sciences Department Ecology Department Environmental Remediation & Water Resources Program Geochemistry Department Research Highlight Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program

Good IDEAS on Virtual Terrestrial Ecosystems

April 17, 2015

ESD’s Carl Steefel, Eoin Brodie, and Charlie Koven, among others, collectively sought ways of applying new scientific computing capabilities to studies of Earth’s subsurface. One of the results was IDEAS.