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Projects

Predictive Agriculture Initiative

Berkeley Lab’s Predictive Agricultural Initiative, as part of the UC Global Food Initiative launched in late 2014, focuses on mining existing data to understand the impacts of changing climate on California agriculture. For this project, in collaboration with UC Davis, Lab scientists work to develop new scientific approaches to increase food production, while simultaneously decreasing inputs of water and fertilizers.

Funded by DOE-SC-Biological and Environmental Research

SBIR Phase II: Predictive Assimilation Framework for Subsurface Process Prediction

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project concentrates on the creation of a predictive assimilation framework (PAF) for contaminated sites. This PAF would autonomously assimilate different site-related data streams into numerical models, and provide information on current (and future) site and system behavior to site stakeholders. The technical and scientific capabilities of the PAF are developed and tested by incorporating (into adequate numerical models) a variety of hydrological, geophysical and biogeochemical datasets from a highly instrumented site (the DOE Rifle Subsurface Biogeochemistry Field Observatory in Rifle, Colorado).

Susan Hubbard
Funded by DOE-SC-Biological and Environmental Research

Seismic Monitoring of LBNL Buildings

The Seismic Monitoring (Strong Motion) of LBNL Buildings Program has the primary objective of providing accurate measurements of acceleration time histories during significant earthquakes that affect LBNL sites and site structures. The Program consists of building monitoring systems and free field monitoring stations.

Souring Systems: Petroleum Microbiology

In this work, EESA scientists are using biology to develop ways of accessing oil and coal that expend less energy and release fewer greenhouse gases. For instance, biological processes might be used to coax oil from below ground or to alter the semi-porous rock that holds oil, making it flow to the surface. Making it easier to access hard-to-reach domestic oil reserves will help ensure that oil remains part of a diverse mix of energy choices.

Funded by DOE-SC-Biological and Environmental Research

Stereo Photogrammetry of Clouds at the ARM sites

This project characterizes the life-cycle dynamics of moist convection using stereo photogrammetry in combination with other instruments at Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) sites, and using large-eddy simulations to help interpret those observations. Stereo cameras are used to characterize the sizes, speeds, circulations, and ascent distances of individual convective bubbles through their life cycle. These data on cloud life cycles are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain with other ARM instruments.

Terrestrial Ecosystem Science SFA Project

In this SFA, we conduct basic research on terrestrial biogeochemistry, with a focus on belowground soil carbon cycling and its role in terrestrial biogeochemistry and climate feedbacks.

Margaret Torn
Funded by DOE-SC-Biological and Environmental Research

The Eagle Ford Shale Laboratory (EFSL) Project

The Eagle Ford Shale Laboratory: A Field Study of the Stimulated Reservoir Volume, Detailed Fracture Characteristics, and EOR Potential OBJECTIVES The Recipient will conduct a science-based field laboratory project in the Eagle Ford Shale Formation. Utilizing newly-developed monitoring solutions, the project team will deliver unprecedented comprehensive high-quality field data to improve scientific knowledge of three…

Funded by DOE-FE-Office of Fossil Energy

The EGS Collab Project: Stimulation Investigations for Geothermal Modeling Analysis and Validation

The EGS Collab Project is addressing fundamental challenges in understanding the relationship between permeability creation, induced seismicity, and heat production in crystalline rocks under relevant stress (and temperature) conditions for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS)...

Pat Dobson
Funded by DOE-EERE-GTO-Geothermal Energy Office

The Hydraulic Fracturing Field Test (HFTS) Project

The Hydraulic Fracturing Field Test (HFTS) project, fielded within the Wolfcamp Formation in the Permian Basin, provides an excellent opportunity to further develop our understanding of the geomechanical response to hydraulic stimulation and associated fluid transport and hydrocarbon production in nano-porous lithologies. The drilling program was designed to elucidate the intra- and inter-well stress interactions…

Funded by DOE-FE-Office of Fossil Energy

Theoretical and Experimental Geochemistry

We seek to understand and model the effects of salinity on geochemical processes occurring in aqueous environments including nanopores and interlayers in clay media, thin water films in unsaturated porous media, and solutions in which mineral nanoparticles nucleate, aggregate and grow. The overall goal is to identify conceptual models of salinity effects on complex geochemical…

Funded by DOE-SC-Basic Energy Sciences