U.S. Department of Energy Research News

Public Release: 19-Sep-2012

Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres
Climate scientists put predictions to the test
A study has found that climate-prediction models are good at forecasting long-term climate patterns on a global scale but lose their edge when applied to time frames shorter than three decades and on smaller geographic scales. The goal of the research was to bridge the communities of climate scientists and weather forecasters, who sometimes disagree with respect to climate change.

NASA, National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 18-Sep-2012

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
New NIST screening method identifies 1,200 candidate refrigerants to combat global warming
NIST researchers have developed a new computational method for identifying candidate refrigerant fluids with low "global warming potential" as well as other desirable performance and safety features.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 12-Sep-2012

Nature Materials
Mercury in water, fish detected with nanotechnology
When mercury is dumped into rivers and lakes, the toxic heavy metal can end up in the fish we eat and the water we drink. To help protect consumers from the diseases and conditions associated with mercury, researchers at Northwestern University in collaboration with colleagues at Ecole Polytechnique F�d�rale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, have developed a nanoparticle system that is sensitive enough to detect even the smallest levels of heavy metals in our water and fish.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 11-Sep-2012

Data Mining and Knowledge Recovery
Researchers devise more accurate method for predicting hurricane activity
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new method for forecasting seasonal hurricane activity that is 15 percent more accurate than previous techniques.

National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 10-Sep-2012
ORNL roof and attic design proves efficient in summer and winter
A new kind of roof-and-attic system field-tested at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory keeps homes cool in summer and prevents heat loss in winter, a multi-seasonal efficiency uncommon in roof and attic design.

Public Release: 10-Sep-2012

Science
Salt seeds clouds in the Amazon rainforest
Analysis at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source was a key contributor to the discovery, by a team led by the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry, that potassium salts emitted into the Amazon rainforest biosphere during the night by plants and fungi are the minuscule particles on which organic compounds condense to form cloud nuclei � the seeds of mist and clouds that each day form anew over the jungle.

Max Planck Socuiety, US Department of Energy/Office of Science

Public Release: 10-Sep-2012

Nature Climate Change
Lawrence Livermore researchers find wind power not enough to affect global climate
Though there is enough power in the earth's winds to be a primary source of near-zero emission electric power for the world, large-scale high altitude wind power generation is unlikely to substantially affect climate.

Public Release: 9-Sep-2012

Nature Materials
Nano-velcro clasps heavy metal molecules in its grips
Researchers have devised a simple, system based on nanoparticles, to detect mercury as well as others pollutants. This technology makes it possible to easily and inexpensively test for these substances in water and, more importantly, in the fish that we eat. This will be published in Nature Material on September 9, 2012.

Eni, US Defense Threat Reduction Agency, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 30-Aug-2012
Los Alamos provides HOPE for radiation belt storm probes
Los Alamos National Laboratory expertise in radiation detection and shielding is poised to help a national team of scientists better understand a mysterious region that can create hazardous space weather near our home planet.

Public Release: 30-Aug-2012

Science
Up in the air: Heating by black carbon aerosol re-evaluated
Black carbon, in the form of soot particles, has been ranked just behind carbon dioxide for its role in warming regional and global climates. But a new study finds airborne black carbon absorbs significantly less sunlight than scientists had predicted, leading an international team of researchers to reconsider the impact of soot on atmospheric warming.

NOAA, Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy, California Air Resources Board, Canadian Federal Government

Public Release: 27-Aug-2012

Physical Review E
Cooled coal emissions would clean air and lower health and climate-change costs
Refrigerating coal-plant emissions would reduce levels of dangerous chemicals that pour into the air -- including carbon dioxide by more than 90 percent -- at a cost of 25 percent efficiency, according to a simple math-driven formula designed by a team of University of Oregon physicists.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 21-Aug-2012

American Chemical Society's 244th National Meeting & Exposition
Fueling nuclear power with seawater
A new absorbent material may be able to soak up enough trace uranium in seawater to help fuel future nuclear power plants. Tests by the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory showed the material, which was developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, can soak up more than two times the uranium than a similar material developed in Japan.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012

Nature Climate Change
Marine species at risk unless drastic protection policies put in place
Many marine species will be harmed or won't survive if the levels of carbon dioxide continue to increase. Current protection policies and management practices are unlikely to be enough to save them. Unconventional, non-passive methods to conserve marine ecosystems need to be considered if various marine species are to survive.

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012

Physical Review Letters
It's always sunny in Caltech Lab
In orbit around Earth is a wide range of satellites that we rely on for everything from television feeds to GPS navigation. Although these spacecraft soar high above storms on Earth, they are still vulnerable to weather from the sun. Large solar flares can cause widespread damage, which is why researchers at Caltech are working to learn more about the possible precursors to solar flares called plasma loops by recreating them in the lab.

National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy, Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Public Release: 17-Aug-2012
ChemCam laser sets its sights on first Martian target
Members of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover ChemCam team have received the first photos from the instrument's remote micro imager. The successful capture of ChemCam's first 10 photos sets the stage for the first test bursts of the instrument's rock-zapping laser in the near future.

Public Release: 16-Aug-2012

Ecological Applications
ORNL researchers improve soil carbon cycling models
A new carbon cycling model developed at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory better accounts for the carbon dioxide-releasing activity of microbes in the ground, improving scientists' understanding of the role soil will play in future climate change.

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Hurricanes can be 50 percent stronger if passing over fresh water, says Texas A&M study
If a hurricane's path carries it over large areas of fresh water, it will potentially intensify 50 percent faster than those that do not pass over such regions, meaning it has greater potential to become a stronger storm and be more devastating, according to a study co-written by a group of researchers at Texas A&M University.

National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation of China

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Fresh water breathes fresh life into hurricanes
An analysis of a decade's worth of tropical cyclones shows that when hurricanes blow over ocean regions swamped by fresh water, the conditions can unexpectedly intensify the storm. Although the probability that hurricanes will hit such conditions is small, ranging from 10 to 23 percent, the effect is potentially large: Hurricanes can become 50 percent more intense, researchers report in a study appearing this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, National Science Foundation of China