EESA research scientists are committed to identifying ways to adapt how water resources are used for energy production, irrigation, and other key societal needs in an energy-constrained and uncertain climate future. This World Water Day, an annual UN observance day that highlights the importance of freshwater, is focused on tackling the water crisis by addressing…
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Induced seismicity refers to typically minor earthquakes and tremors triggered by human activity, deliberate or not. Rarely are humans aware of these mostly low-magnitude events occurring deep underground. However, some regions have over the past decade shown quite significant earthquakes such as a few larger than magnitude 5 events in Oklahoma, which have been linked to wastewater injection…
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Insects are critical contributors to ecosystem functioning, and like most living organisms their co-evolution with microbes has been essential to support these functions. While many insects are infamous for wreaking havoc wherever they roam, many thousands of species go quietly about their business, providing important services essential to healthy ecosystems using the innovative biochemistry of…
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Susan Hubbard, Associate Laboratory Director for the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, will be inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame, at an annual awards ceremony on March 30. Hubbard is being honored for her scientific contributions to key environmental challenges of our time, including the use of geophysical methods to quantify…
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Land surfaces across the globe absorb about a third of greenhouse gas emissions every year, due to the difference between two key processes: ecosystem photosynthesis and respiration. Despite their significance, it’s impossible to measure these two processes at the ecosystem scale during the daytime. Scientists have relied since the 1980s on a technique known as…
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Paul Witherspoon is considered the “father” of the Earth Sciences Division here at Berkeley Lab. On Saturday, February 9, 2019, Witherspoon would have been 100 years old. He is widely remembered for having raised awareness of the potential for hydrogeological research to help address energy and environmental challenges that were beginning to emerge in…
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In traditional seismology, researchers studying how the earth moves in the moments before, during, and after an earthquake rely on sensors that cost tens of thousands of dollars to make and install underground. And because of the expense and labor involved, only a few seismic sensors have been installed throughout remote areas of California, making…
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Berkeley Lab has funded 89 LDRD projects for FY19 at a total value of $22.2M. Proposals have been accepted from 11 EESA research scientists as part of the FY19 LDRD program. Eight of these project teams were awarded renewal funds to continue work begun during the previous fiscal year, and there are three new projects.…
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Before the Camp Fire this fall, the October 2017 Northern California Wildfires were the deadliest in California history. Last year’s fires burned 110,000 acres in Sonoma and Napa counties–and 8 percent of the Russian River watershed. This week in Washington, D.C. at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, research scientist Michelle Newcomer has…
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New supercomputer simulations by climate scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown that climate change intensified the amount of rainfall in recent hurricanes such as Katrina, Irma, and Maria by 5 to 10 percent. They further found that if those hurricanes were to occur in a future…
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