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Spatially isolated “hot spots” and brief “hot moments” shape methane emissions from tropical forest soils. In this research, scientists used model simulation to understand how microbes and soil variables contribute to the soil’s methane production and consumption. The models indicate that drought alters the diffusion of oxygen and microbes into and out of soil, leading to increased methane release from the entire hillslope during drought recovery. This finding is important for understanding sources of methane, an important greenhouse gas.

Yongqin Jiao is a Group Leader in the Biosciences and Biotechnology Division at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. With her Early Career Research Program award, she investigated how the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus survives in high levels of uranium and its potential use for bioremediation.

In an important milestone for the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, researchers have developed and evaluated an entirely new global atmosphere model. The model has a resolution 30 times finer than global climate models. This resolution will produce much more detailed climate simulations.

Astatine-211 (At-211) shows promise for targeted alpha therapy, which may do more damage to cancer cells and cause less harm to the rest of the body than current cancer therapies. Researchers have developed a novel method of separating At-211 and shipping it in a safe, secure resin column. The approach will allow isotope producers to ship larger quantities of At-211 with less risk and loss to decay.

One of the challenges of fusion tokamaks is how to keep the core of a plasma hot enough that fusion can occur while preventing the tokamak walls from melting from that heat. This problem is even more difficult if instabilities at the plasma edge release energy in short bursts instead of a steady flow. Experiments on the DIII-D tokamak have demonstrated that enhancing energy flow in the plasma edge due to turbulent fluctuations can bleed energy smoothly out of the plasma, leading to improved future fusion plant efficiency.

Mixed-phase clouds that contain both ice and water particles are extremely complex. Researchers using data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement facility have found a key to understanding how mixed-phase clouds in the Arctic form ice. That key is the role of drizzle droplets as they freeze then shatter. The results will help improve simulations of mixed phase clouds in climate and earth system models.

By shortening simulation times and reducing energy consumption, techniques developed by North Carolina State professor Xipeng Shen are accelerating scientific research using supercomputers.