Utilizing SCG and GMDs to advance our nation's science in public health, environmental impact, and security [PowerPoint]
The researchers' goal was to establish single cell genomics capability.
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Measurement Error and Resolution in Quantitative Stable Isotope Probing: Implications for Experimental Design
Quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP) estimates isotope tracer incorporation into DNA of individual microbes and can link microbial biodiversity and biogeochemistry in complex communities. As with any quantitative estimation technique, qSIP involves measurement error, and a fuller understanding of error, precision, and statistical power benefits qSIP experimental design and data interpretation. We used several qSIP data sets—from soil and seawater microbiomes—to evaluate how variance in isotope incorporation estimates depends on organism abundance and resolution of the density fractionation scheme. We assessed statistical power for replicated qSIP studies, plus sensitivity and specificity for unreplicated designs. As a taxon’s abundance increases, the variance of its weighted mean density declines. Nine fractions appear to be a reasonable trade-off between cost and precision for most qSIP applications. Increasing the number of density fractions beyond that reduces variance, although the magnitude of this benefit declines with additional fractions. Our analysis suggests that, if a taxon has an isotope enrichment of 10 atom% excess, there is a 60% chance that this will be detected as significantly different from zero (with alpha 0.1). With five replicates, isotope enrichment of 5 atom% could be detected with power (0.6) and alpha (0.1). Finally, we illustrate the importance of internal standards, which can help to calibrate per sample conversions of %GC to mean weighted density. These results should benefit researchers designing future SIP experiments and provide a useful reference for metagenomic SIP applications where both financial and computational limitations constrain experimental scope.
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
Seasonality regulates the structure and biogeochemical impact of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities across environmentally divergent neotropical dry forests
Abstract Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbioses support forest functioning globally, yet both the structure and function of ECM fungal communities in seasonally dry neotropical forests (SDTFs), known for extreme heterogeneity in vegetation and edaphic properties, remain under characterized. Here, we evaluated the relative influences of seasonal versus spatial variation in ECM fungal community structure in soils from four environmentally divergent SDTFs. We also assessed the importance of biotic and abiotic drivers of SDTF ECM fungal community structure at regional scales, as well as ECM impacts on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling. ECM fungal frequency, relative abundance and richness all increased in the wet season, but spatial rather than seasonal effects explained more variation in community composition. Across the four SDTFs investigated, differences in tree communities drove ECM fungal community turnover more than geographic distances, site abiotic conditions or soil chemistry. Although soil moisture and ECM tree basal area were stronger predictors of soil biogeochemistry, incorporating ECM fungal community composition and relative abundance added explanatory power to models of soil C and N cycling in the wet season. Synthesis : Our results highlight the importance of seasonality and plant community composition in shaping different aspects of SDTF ECM fungal community structure and diversity as well as the potential for both the plant and fungal components of ECM symbioses to impact soil functioning across heterogenous SDTFs. Furthermore, our findings suggest that alterations in SDTF plant community composition due to climate or land‐use change will have important consequences for ECM fungal diversity and associated effects on soil biogeochemical cycling.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Zero Resistance Ammetry (ZRA) Measurements of Sediment Electrochemical Gradients, Old Woman Creek, Ohio, USA, June–November 2022
This dataset contains raw and processed zero resistance ammetry (ZRA) measurements collected from wetland sediments at Old Woman Creek, a freshwater estuary on Lake Erie, Ohio, USA, between June and November 2022. Measurements were obtained using a vertically deployed electrode array positioned at multiple depths within the sediment profile to capture electrochemical gradients associated with microbial activity and sediment geochemistry. The raw dataset consists of parsed instrument log files containing timestamps, electrode pair identifiers, and measured electrical potential (mV). The processed dataset includes standardized and quality-controlled values with instrument saturation limits removed and timestamps converted to ISO 8601 format. Electrode line identifiers were mapped to physical depths, enabling interpretation of depth-resolved electrochemical gradients. Instrument saturation values (−2048, −2047, 2047, and 2048 mV) were identified as measurement limits and excluded from quantitative analyses. All data parsing, processing, and quality control steps are documented in an accompanying R Markdown script, ensuring full reproducibility from raw instrument logs to final datasets.
EARTH SCIENCE > AGRICULTURE > SOILS > ELECTRICAL C↗
ARM Thermodynamic Cloud Phase (THERMOCLDPHASE) Value-Added Product Report
The U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility’s Thermodynamic Cloud Phase (THERMOCLDPHASE) Value-Added Product (VAP) provides vertically resolved thermodynamic cloud phase classifications (Zhang and Levin 2024). This VAP applies the multi-sensor methodology introduced by Shupe (2007) to identify cloud phase at the pixel level as liquid, drizzle, liquid + drizzle, rain, ice, snow, or mixed-phase. In addition, the VAP determines the overall cloud layer phase—classified as liquid, mixed-phase, or ice—based on the fraction of ice-containing pixels within the entire layer.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
The Global Spectra-Trait Initiative: A database of paired leaf spectroscopy and functional traits associated with leaf photosynthetic capacity (v1.0.0)
The Global Spectra-Trait Initiative (GSTI) aims to generate generalizable spectra trait models using reflectance data to predict leaf traits associated with the photosynthesis capacity of leaves. It comprises a synthesized dataset of leaf trait data, input datasets and code. Leaf traits include the maximum carboxylation rate of rubisco (Vcmax), the maximum electron transport rate (Jmax), the dark respiration, as well as the prediction of leaf nitrogen, leaf mass per area (LMA), and leaf water content (LWC). The dataset comprises >7500 paired observations from around 400 species from a broad range of biomes. This dataset comprises a zip file of the GSTI GitHub repository (https://github.com/plantphys/gsti), the synthesized database (.csv) and database metadata files. This dataset was updated on 2025-12-12 with minor edits to mirror the accepted manuscript version and GitHub release (Version 1.0.0 (ESSD accepted version)). Edits included minor changes to the project documentation on GitHub and removal of 12 duplicate entries from the database.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Revisiting the Relationship Between Induced Polarization and Surface Conductivity: Ratios From Laboratory to Field
Abstract Among the subsurface geophysical methods used in the critical zone investigations, induced polarization (IP) shows great vitality thanks to its unique ability to assess porosity via bulk conduction and estimate permeability through surface conduction and/or polarization. However, such an advantageous separation between bulk and surface is mostly implemented by multi‐salinity experiments in the laboratory, which is incredibly difficult to realize in the field. One promising approach to address such an obstinate issue is to gauge the surface conductivity ( σ s ) from the quadrature conductivity ( σ ″) or normalized chargeability ( M n ) with the ratios between ( l = σ ″/ σ s , l mn = M n / σ s ). While these ratios are known not to be universal, the underlying principles are not fully understood and relevant theoretical studies are rare, which makes quantitative IP applications difficult. Here we scrutinize the conduction and polarization mechanisms of geomaterials and pinpoint that the two ratios are inherently functions of salinities and frequencies rather than only determined by the properties of the electrical double layer (EDL), hence representative samples from the investigated field must be calibrated in the laboratory and a characteristic frequency should be chosen for their usage. Besides the macro‐scale ratios l and l mn , we define two micro‐scale ratios χ and χ mn directly from the EDL, such that the new ratios exclude the effect of salinity and frequency and offer the opportunity to characterize and monitor changes of the EDL. Our study demonstrates that the existing macro‐scale ratios converge toward the values of novel micro‐scale ratios at high water salinity.
Qi, Youzheng [Earth and Environmental Sciences Are↗
CO₂ Storage prospeCtive Resource Estimation Excel aNalysis (CO₂-SCREEN) User’s Manual
This user’s manual guides the use of the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) CO₂ Storage prospeCtive Resource Estimation Excel aNalysis (CO₂-SCREEN) tool, which was developed to aid users screening geologic formations for prospective CO₂ storage resources. This manual is specific to the CO₂-SCREEN 4.0 version which is based in Python. CO₂-SCREEN applies U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) methods and equations for estimating prospective CO₂ storage resources for saline formations, shale formations, and residual oil zones (ROZ). CO₂-SCREEN was developed to be substantive and user-friendly and provide a consistent method for calculating prospective CO₂ storage resources. CO₂-SCREEN uses a Java based graphical user interface for data inputs and uses Python to calculate prospective CO₂ storage resources.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Earth's Energy Imbalance More Than Doubled in Recent Decades
Abstract Global warming results from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions which upset the delicate balance between the incoming sunlight, and the reflected and emitted radiation from Earth. The imbalance leads to energy accumulation in the atmosphere, oceans and land, and melting of the cryosphere, resulting in increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, and more extreme weather around the globe. Despite the fundamental role of the energy imbalance in regulating the climate system, as known to humanity for more than two centuries, our capacity to observe it is rapidly deteriorating as satellites are being decommissioned.
Mauritsen, Thorsten [Department of Meteorology and↗
Earthquake-triggered submarine canyon flushing transfers young terrestrial and marine organic carbon into the deep sea
Submarine canyons transfer substantial amounts of sediment and organic carbon (OC) into the deep ocean, nourishing deep-sea ecosystems and contributing to the global carbon cycle through OC burial and sequestration. Tracking lateral OC transport through submarine canyon systems is challenged by the deep-ocean setting, difficulties with constraining episodic depositional events, and the need to assess the composition and age of marine and terrestrial organic matter. We apply innovative parallel ramped pyrolysis oxidation accelerator mass spectrometry and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with isotope analyses to track OC age and sources in the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake-triggered, canyon-flushing event that deposited along >1300 km of a submarine canyon-channel system, offshore Aotearoa New Zealand. Specifically, these techniques allow us to determine the ages, sources, and partitioning of OC within the Kaikoura turbidite deposit and test hypotheses of how submarine canyon systems contribute to lateral OC flux and burial. Our results show that, despite considerable canyon floor erosion, substantial amounts of young OC were flushed into the deep sea, with relatively little (~2%) pre-Holocene OC contributions. Even without a direct connection between rivers and submarine canyons, most (~55%) of the OC in the Kaikoura event bed is from terrestrial sources. However, the deposit also contains substantial amounts (~22%) of marine-derived OC and ~23% of the material is of unassignable origin. Particle sorting imparts variability on the age and composition of OC within turbidite deposits and along the turbidity current flow path. Terrestrial-derived OC is preferentially older than marine-derived OC and concentrated in coarser particle sizes found more commonly at the deposit base and in proximal settings. Young, marine-derived OC is concentrated at the surface of the deposits and tends to be enriched in finer particle sizes. Such OC partitioning in turbidites supports the relevance of depositional models for predicting and quantifying distribution of OC in deep-sea deposits. Earthquake-triggered, canyon flushing events and resulting turbidites enhance OC burial efficiency and can sequester OC effectively, contributing an important carbon sink to the sedimentary carbon cycle.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Carbon content of soil fractions varies with season, rainfall, and soil fertility across a lowland tropical moist forest gradient
Tropical forests contain some of the largest soil carbon (C) stocks on Earth, making them broadly relevant to terrestrial-climate feedbacks, yet our understanding of how their soil organic C (SOC) fractions vary over space and time is limited. We studied effects of season, fertility, and mean annual precipitation (MAP) on the C contents of soil fractions across 14 lowland forests in Panama. We measured free-debris, occluded-debris, and mineral-associated SOC fractions, as well as soluble C associated with each fraction. We hypothesized that mineral-associated SOC would be greatest in infertile, strongly weathered soils with large reactive mineral contents. We also hypothesized that the debris SOC fractions would accumulate during the dry season, reflecting seasonal increases in litterfall. To address this, we compared soil fractions in wet and dry seasons from fertile and infertile soils across a range of 1809 – 2864 mm MAP. The C content (mg C / g soil) of all soil fractions varied with fertility and MAP: specifically, free-debris SOC was greatest in wet, high-fertility soils, and occluded-debris SOC was greater in high-fertility than low-fertility soils. The mineral-associated SOC fraction, which contained the majority of bulk soil C, showed increasing C content with greater MAP in infertile sites, presumably driving similar spatial patterns in the bulk soil. Only the free-debris SOC fraction showed strong seasonal variation, increasing in mass during the dry season. Nitrogen behaved similarly to C. In summary, soil C contents increased with MAP in infertile sites but not fertile sites, driven by the mineral-associated SOC fraction. The dry season had greater free-debris SOC, but this seasonal trend was not apparent in bulk soil C, likely because of the small size of the free-debris SOC fraction. Furthermore, changes in the quantity and seasonality of precipitation, which are projected for tropical forests, might shift spatial and temporal patterns of soil C storage, which would in turn influence forest-climate feedbacks for this C-rich biome.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
A data engineering approach for sustainable chemical end-of-life management
The presence of chemicals causing significant adverse human health and environmental effects during end-of-life (EoL) stages is a challenge for implementing sustainable management efforts and transitioning towards a safer circular life cycle. Conducting chemical risk evaluation and exposure assessment of potential EoL scenarios can help understand the chemical EoL management chain for its safer utilization in a circular life-cycle environment. However, the first step is to track the chemical flows, estimate releases, and potential exposure pathways. Hence, this work proposes an EoL data engineering approach to perform chemical flow analysis and screening to support risk evaluation and exposure assessment for designing a safer circular life cycle of chemicals. This work uses publicly-available data to identify potential post-recycling scenarios (e.g., industrial processing/use operations), estimate inter-industry chemical transfers, and exposure pathways to chemicals of interest. Furthermore, a case study demonstration shows how the data engineering framework identifies, estimates, and tracks chemical flow transfers from EoL stage facilities (e.g., recycling and recovery) to upstream chemical life cycle stage facilities (e.g., manufacturing). Also, the proposed framework considers current regulatory constraints on closing the recycling loop operations and provides a range of values for the flow allocated to post-recycling uses associated with occupational exposure and fugitive air releases from EoL operations.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Annual Report (FY 2023)
As Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s most significant resource for supporting internally directed research and development, the LDRD Program provides investments in cutting-edge science and technology that allow the Laboratory to attract and retain the world’s most talented scientists and engineers and enables them to expand the frontiers of knowledge and anticipate emerging national security challenges. In this annual report, we summarize how Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) uses LDRD investments to advance our knowledge in strategic science and technology domains, develop our world-class workforce, and foster innovation in key programmatic areas.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Design and synthesis of biobased superhydrophobic biochar catalyst derived from Citrus sinensis for biodiesel production using inedible oil feedstocks
In an one-pot in situ trans/esterification of low-grade feedstocks, the simultaneous presence of triglycerides (TAGs) and free fatty acids (FFAs) presents a dual catalytic challenge. While TAGs undergo transesterification to form biodiesel and glycerol, FFAs present in the feedstocks are esterified simultaneously, producing water as a by-product. This water can deactivate acid catalysts by interacting with their active sites, reducing catalytic efficiency and reusability. To overcome this, we developed a hydrophobic sulfonic acid-functionalized biochar catalyst derived from Citrus sinensis (orange peel) via sulfonation with H 2 SO 4 and subsequent silylation using hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS). The optimized catalyst exhibited a high surface area (355.09 m 2 g −1 ), sulfur content (5.33 wt%), and strong hydrophobicity (water contact angle: 154°). Compared to non-hydrophobic analogs, it showed enhanced activity and reusability (up to 10 cycles). Using response surface methodology with central composite design, a biodiesel yield of 99.1 ± 0.4% was achieved under optimal conditions. Life cycle assessment was performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of biodiesel production utilising the synthesized catalyst, considering 1000 kg of biodiesel produced as 1 functional unit. In conclusion, the recorded results showed the cumulative abiotic depletion of fossil resources over the entire biodiesel production process as 87 243.423 MJ and global warming potential as 4103.494 kg CO 2 equivalent.
Biochar↗
2020 Multiscale Microbial Dynamics Modeling Course
The 2020 Multiscale Microbial Dynamics course is adapted from the virtual 2020 Mutliscale Microbial Dynamics Summer School that was hosted by Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) science user facility located on the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) campus, in collaboration with the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase). The course course covers how to incorporate microbial metagenomic and environmental metabolite data from watershed ecosystems into metabolic and community modeling using computational frameworks, such as KBase and PFLOTRAN. The curriculum includes lectures and software and data analysis tutorials. All materials are freely accessible to the community as part of the 2020 Microbial Dynamics Summer School Organization in KBase.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
IDEAS-Watersheds FY21 Annual Report for July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021
Watersheds play a critical role in our water supply infrastructure and require sustainable management in a changing environment. Sustainable management of watershed systems and their interaction with the built environment rely on understanding the hydrologic and biogeochemical processes that control watershed system dynamics and water availability and quality. The overarching objective of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Environmental System Science (ESS) program is to advance a robust, predictive understanding of how watersheds function and respond to perturbations as integrated hydrobiogeochemical systems. ESS supports a network of watershed testbeds within the United States where national laboratories and university partners work in interdisciplinary teams to advance watershed system science for energy.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Multi-model analysis of the impact of water vapor on the radiative forcing of volcanic aerosols after the 2022 Hunga Eruption
On 15 January 2022, the Hunga volcano eruption released unprecedented amounts of water vapor into the atmosphere alongside a modest amount of SO 2 . In this work we analyse results from multiple Earth system models as part of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Volcano Impact Model Observation Comparison Project. Our results show a good model agreement over the climatic outcomes of the eruption, overall indicating a significant negative radiative forcing from the Hunga eruption. The multi-model mean of global instantaneous radiative forcing averaged over 2022–2023 is estimated at −0.19 ± 0.06 W m −2 at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA), and −0.16 ± 0.06 W m −2 at the surface. Simulations with free-running meteorology and climatological sea surface temperatures and sea ice yield a global mean TOA forcing of −0.14 ± 0.10 W m −2 across two models for the first 2 years, decreasing to −0.09 ± 0.10 W m −2 on average between 2022 and 2027. However, these global values may be underestimated by about 50 %, considering that recent SO 2 injection retrievals suggest nearly twice the amount than the 0.5 Tg-SO 2 used in the protocol. We also find that the contribution from added stratospheric water vapor is minimal and that the injected SO 2 and the resulting formation of stratospheric sulfate dominate the radiative forcing. However, water vapor played a key role in the initial aerosol growth, leading to a stronger negative radiative forcing during the first 6 months after the eruption compared to simulations without water vapor co-injection.
Geosciences↗
Early Career Perspectives to Broaden the Scope of Critical Zone Science
Abstract Critical Zone (CZ) scientists have advanced understanding of Earth's surface through process‐based research that quantifies water, energy, and mass fluxes in predominantly undisturbed systems. However, the CZ is being increasingly altered by humans through climate and land use change. Expanding the scope of CZ science to include both human‐ and non‐human controls on the CZ is important for understanding anthropogenic impacts to Earth's surface processes and ecosystem services. Here, we share perspectives from predominantly U.S.‐based, early career CZ scientists centered around broadening the scope of CZ science to focus on societally relevant science through a transdisciplinary science framework. We call for increased training on transdisciplinary methods and collaboration opportunities across disciplines and with stakeholders to foster a scientific community that values transdisciplinary science alongside physical science. Here, we build on existing transdisciplinary research frameworks by highlighting the need for institutional support to include and educate graduate students throughout the research processes. We also call for graduate‐student‐led initiatives to increase their own exposure to transdisciplinary science through activities such as transdisciplinary‐focused seminars and symposiums, volunteering with local conservation groups, and participating in internships outside academia.
Warix, Sara [University of Utah Department of Geol↗