Atmosphere and Ocean Science:
Projects
Understanding El Niño’s
Impact on Global Climate: Advanced Ocean Circulation Models
El Niño has profound consequences for weather around the globe.
We develop advanced ocean circulation models that help us understand
how global climate is impacted by oceanic circulation patterns (such as El Niño), and
the ecology of the ocean's surface layers.
El Niño can cause torrential rain, terrible drought, and record
high temperatures that wreak havoc on crops, homes, and businesses.
So we focus on predicting related events to explain the occurrence,
triggering mechanism, and irregular cycles of El Niño.
Caption: The equatorial upwelling, which ceases during El Niño conditions,
provides an abundance of nutrients essential to the growth of phytoplankton
communities. Advanced ocean circulation models like those illustrated
in this simulation are enabling researchers to better understand and
predict the rise and fall of El Niño cycles.
Analyzing Wildfires’ Ebb
and Flow: Near-surface Atmospheric Turbulence Simulations
We numerically model small-scale phenomena in the atmosphere. Two of
our models, HIGRAD, the high gradient applications model, and FIRETEC,
a physics-based combustion model, provide microscopic detail on wildfire
composition and flow. A campsite sparks a small brush fire. How will
the plant life in nearby areas affect the fire’s growth? Simulations
using FIRETEC and HIGRAD can help answer such critical questions.
The U.S. Forest Service and Los Alamos National Laboratory have traditionally
used the FARSITE model in wildfire prediction. FIRETEC is being applied
alongside FARSITE to improve wildfire forecasting under FARSITE during
highly variable meteorological conditions and when applied to complex
terrain.
Caption: A physics-based wildfire behavior model allows scientists to create high spatial wildfire
simulations
Cutting Greenhouse Gases:
Zero-Emission Coal Technology
Fossil energy is the backbone of the world energy supply and the motor
of modern economics. Yet the burning of fossil fuels may contribute
to global warming. The world seems to face a stark choice: curtail economic
growth or face possible environmental catastrophe.
We are investigating zero-emission coal technology, a new technology
that may allow us to continue to use fossil fuels without contributing
to global warming. We have established the Zero Emission Coal Alliance
(ZECA), an alliance of government and nongovernment institutions, to
support the development of this new technology. The zero-emission coal
may be produced using an industrial process that converts CO2 into a
solid by reacting it with an appropriate starting material.
Linking Clouds and Climate: Atmospheric
Research
Water covers more than 70 percent of the earth and moves around the
earth in the form of clouds (water vapor). How does that movement impact
our global climate?
Laboratory researchers are using lidar, the optical equivalent of radar,
to image atmospheric water vapor. A suite of instruments designed to
measure clouds and their effect on the atmosphere’s heating and
cooling rates, lidar is used in combination with standard meteorological
observation systems that measure turbulence and sounding, for a complete
look at the atmosphere’s structure and variability.
Shielding the Satellites: Space
Weather Foundations
Satellites in the earth’s atmosphere help relay cell phone signals,
your satellite television programming, weather information, and more.
But charged particles in the atmosphere can create “space weather,”
stormlike disturbances that can bombard satellites with powerful electric
currents.
By analyzing satellite and ground data from multispacecraft experiments
and remote-sensing satellites, and developing advanced computer models,
we strive to reveal the physics that govern space weather. Our research
includes studies of “dusty plasmas” and flux transfer events.
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