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At least 217 records · Page 12

Files and scripts to support manuscript Needham et al. Canopy Gradients of Respiration

This dataset includes the parameter files, relevant output files, and scripts to perform analysis with Jupyter notebooks that support the manuscript Needham et al 2025 “Canopy Gradients of Respiration Drive Plant Carbon Budgets and Leaf Area Index.” We add functionality to the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES) to allow flexible vertical gradients of leaf maintenance respiration (Rdark) and maximum carboxylation rate (Vcmax) through the canopy. We test the sensitivity of FATES to canopy gradients in Rdark, both in global simulations to assess broad scale impacts on leaf area index (LAI) and vegetation carbon, and in single site simulations where we assess impacts on plant functional type (PFT) competitive dynamics. Parameter files are netcdf files that can be converted to human readable .cdl files using NCO tools. Analysis scripts are Jupyter notebook files. These can be opened and run using the open source Jupyter notebook software. Model outputs are netcdf files.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Predicting Water Cycle Characteristics from Percolation Theory and Observational Data

The fate of water and water-soluble toxic wastes in the subsurface is of high importance for many scientific and practical applications. Although solute transport is proportional to water flow rates, theoretical and experimental studies show that heavy-tailed (power-law) solute transport distribution can cause chemical transport retardation, prolonging clean-up time-scales greatly. However, no consensus exists as to the physical basis of such transport laws. In percolation theory, the scaling behavior of such transport rarely relates to specific medium characteristics, but strongly to the dimensionality of the connectivity of the flow paths (for example, two- or three-dimensional, as in fractured-porous media or heterogeneous sediments), as well as to the saturation characteristics (i.e., wetting, drying, and entrapped air). In accordance with the proposed relevance of percolation models of solute transport to environmental clean-up, these predictions also prove relevant to transport-limited chemical weathering and soil formation, where the heavy-tailed distributions slow chemical weathering over time. The predictions of percolation theory have been tested in laboratory and field experiments on reactive solute transport, chemical weathering, and soil formation and found accurate. Recently, this theoretical framework has also been applied to the water partitioning at the Earth’s surface between evapotranspiration, ET, and run-off, Q, known as the water balance. A well-known phenomenological model by Budyko addressed the relationship between the ratio of the actual evapotranspiration (ET) and precipitation, ET/P, versus the aridity index, ET 0 /P, with P being the precipitation and ET 0 being the potential evapotranspiration. Existing work was able to predict the global fractions of P represented by Q and ET through an optimization of plant productivity, in which downward water fluxes affect soil depth, and upward fluxes plant growth. In the present work, based likewise on the concepts of percolation theory, we extend Budyko’s model, and address the partitioning of run-off Q into its surface and subsurface components, as well as the contribution of interception to ET. Using various published data sources on the magnitudes of interception and information regarding the partitioning of Q, we address the variability in ET resulting from these processes. The global success of this prediction demonstrated here provides additional support for the universal applicability of percolation theory for solute transport as well as guidance in predicting the component of subsurface run-off, important for predicting natural flow rates through contaminated aquifers.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Integrating Electrical Resistivity Tomography with Vadose Zone Characterization - 20246

The environmental management mission at the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site includes addressing subsurface contaminants that are present in the vadose zone because of historical waste discharges. Characterization is needed to support evaluation of whether contaminants at specific disposal sites will migrate to and contaminate the groundwater in the future. Drilling of boreholes and analysis of retrieved sediment samples is a standard approach to evaluating contaminant distribution in the vadose zone for the types of inorganic and radionuclide contaminants at the Hanford Site. However, borehole sampling has limitations for understanding the volumetric distribution of contaminants. The Hanford Site is now applying electrical resistivity tomography to characterize the path and volumetric extent of contaminant migration in the vadose zone. This information aids selection of appropriate locations for obtaining borehole samples and provides three-dimensional contaminant distribution information for incorporation into conceptual site models and to help configure fate and transport models. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Identification of shared viral sequences in peat moss metagenomes reveals elements of a possible Sphagnum core virome

Viruses are an understudied component of plant microbiomes. Identifying viruses that are shared between individual plants, or members of the “core virome”, could reveal stable viral populations with the potential to modulate the composition and function of the microbiome. Here, we examined the virome associated with Sphagnum mosses, a keystone species that has direct influence over the fate of peatland carbon stores. We analyzed bulk metagenomes and metatranscriptomes generated from Sphagnum field samples collected over a ten-month period to identify virus-like sequences shared among plants. Individual Sphagnum samples harbored distinct DNA and RNA viromes where only a small percentage (< 1%) of the total number of identified viral contigs were shared among all samples. Based on taxonomic classification, the shared viral contigs represent bacterial viruses, or phage (Caudoviricetes), as well as viruses of eukaryotes, namely nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (Nucleocytoviricota) and RNA viruses (Riboviria). We linked the shared phage-like contigs to viral regions within sequenced genomes of bacterial taxa that are members of the Sphagnum core microbiome, suggesting that these contigs represent temperate phage or degraded prophage. The putative nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses and RNA viruses were phylogenetically diverse and showed sequence similarity to viruses associated with a broad range of hosts and environmental sources. The identification of shared viral contigs suggested that, despite the compositional heterogeneity between samples, Sphagnum mosses may harbor a core virome. Future work validating the presence of the core virome is warranted as it may aid in understanding how persistent viruses impact microbiome ecology and symbiont evolution within this climatically relevant keystone species.

Metagenomics↗

Catalytic Effects of Silver in Iodine Reactors for Dissolved Used Nuclear Fuel

The dissolution of used nuclear fuel generates a variety of off-gasses including flammable hydrogen and other species that are a concern for environmental release. The H-Canyon facility at the Savannah River Site is currently dissolving aluminum-clad research reactor fuel from material test reactors and the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) using a mercury-catalyzed nitric acid flowsheet. Savannah River National Laboratory recently developed and deployed a Raman spectrometer to monitor the off-gas stream from the dissolution process. Results from these measurements indicated a lack of the expected hydrogen, nitrous oxide, and nitric oxide in the off-gas stream. It was proposed that the silver on the silver nitrate–coated berl saddles present in the reactors for iodine capture were acting as a catalytic hydrogen recombiner. Nitric oxide is readily oxidized to nitrogen dioxide under normal conditions, but it was unclear what happened to the nitrous oxide. A laboratory-scale iodine reactor was assembled and filled with silver nitrate–coated berl saddles to help ascertain the fate of nitrous oxide and hydrogen. Testing with this laboratory-scale reactor observed the recombination of hydrogen when a simulated dissolver off-gas was passed through the reactor containing silver nitrate–coated berl saddles at the approximate temperatures seen in H-Canyon. However, the nitrous oxide concentration was unchanged, suggesting a more complex process occurring within the off-gas stream before it reaches the iodine reactors at H-Canyon.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Investigating Coastal Vegetation Dynamics and Ecosystem Impacts Under Elevated CO 2 and Temperature: A Process‐Based Approach

Coastal forests are increasingly vulnerable to climate change and sea-level rise, with flooding and salinity driving transitions to marsh-dominated ecosystems. Using the coastal version of FATES-Hydro, we conducted 30-year simulations at two coastal forest sites—a broadleaf swamp white oak stand at Lake Erie and a conifer loblolly pine stand at Chesapeake Bay—under historical climate and elevated CO 2 (+100 ppm) and temperature (+1.5°C) scenarios. Elevated CO 2 increased net primary productivity at both sites, while warming alone intensified hydraulic stress and accelerated mortality, particularly in the conifer stand. Simulations show that elevated temperatures intensify vapor pressure deficit and hydraulic stress on trees already experiencing salinity- and submersion-driven water stress, increasing tree mortality beyond what would be expected in a non-water-limited environment. Marsh expansion partially compensated for tree loss at the Lake Erie site but reduced ecosystem productivity in the conifer forest at Chesapeake Bay. In conclusion, our results highlight how differences in stand structure, phenology, and local hydrology modulate ecosystem trajectories under climate change, emphasizing the importance of demographic and community-level processes for predicting the fate of coastal forests.

Ding, Junyan [Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC↗

System Model Calculations for the Active Trenches of the Low-Level Burial Grounds, Hanford Site, Washington

Two lined trenches (Trench 31 and 34) located within the 200 West Low-Level Burial Ground (LLBG) area of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site are designated for permanent disposal of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) and mixed low-level radioactive waste (MLLW). In accordance with DOE O 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management, radioactive waste shall be managed and disposed in a manner that is protective of worker, public health and safety, and the environment. DOE O 435.1 requires a site-specific radiological performance assessment (PA) that includes calculations of potential releases and subsequent doses to members of the public for a period of 1,000 years after closure of a low-level waste (LLW) disposal facility. The purpose of this environmental calculation file (ECF) is to document the various dose calculations performed to support DOE’s LLBG PA. The dose assessments are performed to evaluate the potential exposure of an all-pathway representative person to radionuclide contaminants of potential concern (COPCs) that may be released from the LLBG Trenches 31 and 34 to the point of calculation (POC) located at the outer edge of a 100 m buffer zone surrounding the trench boundary. This ECF uses inputs from other ECFs and their associated model package reports (MPRs) supporting the LLBG PA. The five major objectives of this ECF are to present the results of the following: (1) Deterministic dose assessments for both groundwater and atmospheric exposure scenarios; (2) Radon-222 (Rn-222) flux emanating at the surface from the disposed wastes; (3) Uncertainty analyses of the groundwater pathway annual dose due to uncertainty in input parameters; (4) Sensitivity analyses of the input parameters that could potentially impact the fate and transport of the contaminants and doses; (5) Doses arising from inadvertent intruder exposure scenarios.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Improving the Capture and Re-Use of Data with Wearable Computers

At the Goddard Space Flight Center, members of the Real-Time Software Engineering Branch are developing a wearable, wireless, voice-activated computer for use in a wide range of crosscutting space applications that would benefit from having instant Internet, network, and computer access with complete mobility and hands-free operations. These applications can be applied across many fields and disciplines including spacecraft fabrication, integration and testing (including environmental testing), and astronaut on-orbit control and monitoring of experiments with ground based experimenters. To satisfy the needs of NASA customers, this wearable computer needs to be connected to a wireless network, to transmit and receive real-time video over the network, and to receive updated documents via the Internet or NASA servers. The voice-activated computer, with a unique vocabulary, will allow the users to access documentation in a hands free environment and interact in real-time with remote users. We will discuss wearable computer development, hardware and software issues, wireless network limitations, video/audio solutions and difficulties in language development.

Pfarr, Barbara↗

PNNL Soil Microbiome SFA

PNNL's Soil Microbiome Science Focus Area (SFA) is focused on understanding the basic biology underpinning how interactions among various soil microbial community members, across trophic levels, lead to the emergence of community functions. Moisture, in particular, drives microbial interactions and influences everything from cell function to substrate fate within soils. The group predicts this results in repeatable, predictable phenotypes. The sum of these phenotypes comprises the “soil metaphenome”. Understanding how the soil metaphenome shifts in response to moisture will provide a basis for modeling and predicting these shifts in reaction network responses. PNNL’s Soil Microbiome SFA project repository on DataHub allows for exploring and downloading integrated experimental omics data, experimental metadata, pre- and post-processed data files, and other associated materials directly related to experimental project publication data. Visit the PNNL Soil Microbiome Science Focus Area Program homepage for more information.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Optimization of floodwater redistribution from Lake Nasser could recharge Egypt’s aquifers and mitigate its excessive floods

Extreme precipitation periods, possibly related to climate change, over the Nile River source areas caused flooding in Sudan and excess runoff reaching Lake Nasser in Egypt in 1998–2002 and 2019–2022. Excess water from the 1st event (25.5 × 10 9 m 3 ) was channeled to depressions within the plateau west of the Nile Valley, forming the Tushka Lakes, where it was left to evaporate, a fate that awaits the 53.5 × 10 9 m 3 from the 2nd event while the underlying fossil Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System is being depleted (–0.98 × 10 9 m 3 /yr). We simulated release scenarios of excess Lake Nasser waters (53.5 × 10 9 m 3 ) to proximal lowlands; preference was given to the scenario that recharged the aquifer through infiltration (74.3%) and minimized losses to evaporation (20.1%) and surface runoff (5.6%). Findings serve as an example of adaptations that replace catastrophic consequences of climate change with beneficial and sustainable development opportunities.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Queen bees offload pesticide burden to eggs when social buffering is overwhelmed

Honey bee colonies pollinate about one-third of the world’s food crops, and their rapid decline directly threatens agricultural productivity and ecosystem stability. Understanding how colony-level social defenses influence pesticide fate and the circumstances under which they fail is therefore a crucial question in pollinator biology. We used biological accelerator mass spectrometry (BioAMS), a sensitive radiotracer technique, to track the movement of a model pesticide through a small honey bee colony under laboratory conditions. We tested the hypothesis that social buffering protects honey bees from toxic accumulation and that this protection can be overcome, leading to maternal offloading of the pesticide to developing eggs. Consistent with this hypothesis, our results identified three key mechanisms governing chemical movement within a social insect colony: (1) worker bees initially decrease dietary pesticide levels by 95% through diet filtering and deposition in honeycombs, though this declines to 86% by day 10; (2) queen bees maintain markedly lower pesticide levels than workers but, over time, they accumulate the pesticide in their ovaries and transfer it into developing eggs, revealing a previously undocumented protective mechanism in reproductive individuals; and (3) the presence of a queen bee shifts colony-wide chemical distribution by concentrating worker exposure and increasing pesticide deposition in wax. Our findings show that honey bee colonies function as integrated detoxification networks, in which chemical fate depends on complex social behaviors and caste-specific physiology. When social buffering is overwhelmed, reproductive queens may survive by transferring their chemical burden to their offspring.

Biological and medical sciences↗

The adsorption of As(V) on poorly crystalline Fe oxyhydroxides, revisited: Effect of the reaction media and the drying treatment

Arsenic (As) adsorbed on Fe oxyhydroxides (adsorbent) is widely occurring in many environmental settings such as in acid mine drainage systems or in the hydrometallurgical operations to form Fe-As coprecipitates. However, the influence of the reaction media and the drying treatment on the microstructure of the directly formed adsorbents at various pHs was still not fully understood. In this work, As adsorption behaviors on various forms of Fe oxyhydroxides were systematically investigated by using XRD, FTIR, Raman, XANES, and HRTEM. Overall, the results revealed that at weak acidic pH, more As could adsorbed on the suspension adsorbent formed in sulfate and chloride media than that in nitrate media, possibly due to the microstructure alteration of the adsorbent in the presence of sulfate and chloride. Besides, the increasing crystallinity of the Fe oxyhydroxides and the aggregation effect after drying were the major reasons why less As could be hold by the dried adsorbents than that of the corresponding suspension adsorbents. These findings could shed more light on the nature of the Fe oxyhydroxides which may be helpful for more precisely predicting the fate of some toxic metal(loid)s in the environment.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Formation of Aerosol Nanoparticles by Gas-Phase Hydrolysis Reaction of Uranium Hexafluoride

The aerosol physics of uranyl particle formation has been addressed in this research using advanced aerosol instrumentation and an aerosol dynamics model. Based on the research works, we conclude that the formation and growth of aerosol particles by gas-phase UF6 hydrolysis strongly depends on the availability of water molecules in our reactor conditions. The total number concentration of the UO 2 F 2 particulate material that could be produced in the hydrolysis reaction is also regulated primarily by the availability of water molecule concentration. The higher the water molecule concentration, the higher the number and the larger the size of UO 2 F 2 aerosol particles that could be produced in a reactor custom-built at ORNL. Although the aerosol reactor was enabling the study of particle formation kinetics, the instrumentation was still insufficient in characterizing the chemical composition of the produced particles as well as the time-dependent evolution of the particulate species. The temporal evolution could impact the eventual fate of the particles upon release to the environment (i.e., the physio-chemical transformation, transport, and removal). On uranyl particle formation kinetics, we found that the growth rates of aerosol particles appeared to approach a single number in the range of 0.05 ± 0.03 - 0.08 ± 0.04 nm/s, statistically, as the ω value becomes smaller than 1. The size of primary particles from the UF6 hydrolysis at water-deprived condition was estimated to be 3.6 ± 0.4 nm; the higher the availability of water molecules, the larger the primary particles. The ability to precisely control the availability of water molecules in the reaction could lead to the production of nearly monodispersed aerosol particles. In other words, the result suggests that one can precisely manipulate the size of UO 2 F 2 aerosol particles by controlling the water vapor availability and interaction of water molecules with U F6 in the reaction. This finding has significant implications in the engineering manufacturing of fuel powder materials and possibly to future development and deployment of an environmental sampling apparatus.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Water Network Tool for Resilience (WNTR). User Manual, Version 0.2.3

The Water Network Tool for Resilience (WNTR, pronounced winter) is a Python package designed to simulate and analyze resilience of water distribution networks. Here, a network refers to the collection of pipes, pumps, valves, junctions, tanks, and reservoirs that make up a water distribution system. WNTR has an application programming interface (API) that is flexible and allows for changes to the network structure and operations, along with simulation of disruptive incidents and recovery actions. WNTR is based upon EPANET, which is a tool to simulate the movement and fate of drinking water constituents within distribution systems. Users are encouraged to be familiar with the use of EPANET and/or should have background knowledge in hydraulics and pressurized pipe network modeling before using WNTR. EPANET has a graphical user interface that might be a useful tool to facilitate the visualization of the network and the associated analysis results. Information on EPANET can be found at https://www.epa.gov/water-research/epanet. WNTR is compatible with EPANET 2.00.12 [Ross00]. In addition, users should have experience using Python, including the installation of additional Python packages. General information on Python can be found at https://www.python.org/.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A Comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Assessment of Biomass-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal and Storage

Biomass with Carbon Removal and Sequestration (BiCRS) is a suite of technological pathways that provide a relatively affordable and high-potential way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and simultaneously re-purpose residual biomass. BiCRS technologies are individually optimized to different biomass feedstocks, temperatures and oxygen, with the goal of capturing a high percentage of biomass-derived carbon dioxide and storing it in permanent below-ground storage (i.e. geologic storage). The current standard for BiCRS life cycle assessments does not account for carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O) fluxes from surface soil amendment of BiCRS byproducts (e.g. char, ash) and their alternate fates. This is partly due to a paucity of empirical data due to the novelty of BiCRS conversion technologies, the range in feedstocks, and the heterogeneity of soils to which they might be amended. To fill this gap in in the life-cycle assessment (LCA) and provide a realistic range of parameters for a soil amendment component of the BiCRS LCA, we conducted an incubation experiment to measure soil carbon changes, microbial respiration, methane fluxes, and nitrous oxide fluxes from two different soils amended with char- and ash- byproducts from biomass after gasification to hydrogen, fast pyrolysis to bio-oil, and torrefaction.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

High-Resolution Tandem Mass Spectrometry-Based Analysis of Model Lignin–Iron Complexes: Novel Pipeline and Complex Structures

Understanding the chemical nature of soil organic carbon (SOC) with great potential to bind iron (Fe) minerals is critical for predicting the stability of SOC. Organic ligands of Fe are among the top candidates for SOCs able to strongly sorb on Fe minerals, but most of them are still molecularly uncharacterized. To shed insights into the chemical nature of organic ligands in soil and their fate, this study developed a protocol for identifying organic ligands using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS) and metabolomic tools. The protocol was used for investigating the Fe complexes formed by model compounds of lignin-derived organic ligands, namely, caffeic acid (CA), p-coumaric acid (CMA), vanillin (VNL), and cinnamic acid (CNA). Isotopologue analysis of 54/56 Fe was used to screen out the potential UHPLC-HRMS (m/z) features for complexes formed between organic ligands and Fe, with multiple features captured for CA, CMA, VNL, and CNA when 35/37 Cl isotopologue analysis was used as supplementary evidence for the complexes with Cl. MS/MS spectra, fragment analysis, and structure prediction with SIRIUS were used to annotate the structures of mono/bidentate mono/biligand complexes. The analysis determined the structures of monodentate and bidentate complexes of FeL x Cl y (L: organic ligand, x = 1–4, y = 0–3) formed by model compounds. The protocol developed in this study can be used to identify unknown organic ligands occurring in complex environmental samples and shed light on the molecular-level processes governing the stability of the SOC.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Senescence-driven solubilization of biomass is the main source of kelp-derived dissolved organic carbon to the coastal ocean

Abstract Kelp forests form some of the most productive areas on earth and are proposed to sequester carbon in the ocean, largely in the form of released dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Here we investigate the role of environmental, seasonal and age-related physiological gradients on the partitioning of net primary production (NPP) into DOC by the canopy forming giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera). Rates of DOC production were strongly influenced by an age-related decline in physiological condition (i.e. senescence). During the mature stage of giant kelp development, DOC production was a small and constant fraction of NPP regardless of tissue nitrogen content or light intensity. When giant kelp entered its senescent phase, DOC production increased substantially and was uncoupled from NPP and light intensity. Compositional analysis of giant kelp-derived DOC showed that elevated DOC production during senescence was due to the solubilization of biomass carbon, rather than by direct exudation. We coupled our incubation and physiological experiments to a novel satellite-derived 20-year time series of giant kelp canopy biomass and physiology. Annual DOC production by giant kelp varied due to differences in standing biomass between years, but on average, 74% of the annual DOC production by giant kelp was due to senescence. This study suggests DOC may be a more important fate of macroalgal NPP than previously recognized.

Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics↗

Is the Kok effect a respiratory phenomenon? Metabolic insight using 13 C labeling in Helianthus annuus leaves

The Kok effect is a well-known phenomenon in which the quantum yield of photosynthesis changes abruptly at low light. This effect has often been interpreted as a shift in leaf respiratory metabolism and thus used widely to measure day respiration. However, there is still no formal evidence that the Kok effect has a respiratory origin. Here, both gas exchange and isotopic labeling were carried out on sunflower leaves, using glucose that was 13 C-enriched at specific C-atom positions. Position-specific decarboxylation measurements and NMR analysis of metabolites were used to trace the fate of C-atoms in metabolism. Decarboxylation rates were significant at low light (including above the Kok break point) and increased with decreasing irradiance below 100 µmol photons m –2 s –1 . The variation in several metabolite pools such as malate, fumarate or citrate, and flux calculations suggest the involvement of several decarboxylating pathways in the Kok effect, including the malic enzyme. Our results show that day respiratory CO 2 evolution plays an important role in the Kok effect. Furthermore, the increase in the apparent quantum yield of photosynthesis below the Kok break point is also probably related to malate metabolism, which participates in maintaining photosynthetic linear electron flow.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗