Research Focus Areas

Ecology: Projects

Food on Your Table and Fine Air to Breathe: New Spectroscopic Methods for Measuring Total Soil Carbon

Accurate measurement of the carbon in the ground can improve farm output and air quality. Using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, our scientists can now quickly and accurately determine how much carbon is in a particular piece of ground. The flashlight-sized laser device provides results in approximately 15 minutes and offers at least 95 percent accuracy.

The ability to make such precise measurements will help farmers get the most food from their fields. It will also help farmers make smarter choices about tilling and maintaining fields, which will minimize the amount of greenhouse gas produced.

Confining Radioactive Waste: Assessing Surface and Near-Surface Hydrologic Processes in Canyons at Los Alamos

Radioactive waste poses health and environmental hazards. Confining its spread is critical. But before we can confine it, we must know what causes it to spread.

We evaluate the human health and ecological risks from radioactive and nonradioactive Laboratory-derived contaminants in the canyons surrounding Los Alamos. We assess future impacts of the transport of these contaminants through the canyons to areas outside the Laboratory. Our work includes sediment sampling, geomorphic mapping, and surface-water and alluvial groundwater investigations. Recent progress includes publishing a probabilistic model of the fate of sediment and other pollutants in fluvial systems.

Looking at the Lab's Impact: Modeling the Hydrogeology of the Pajarito Plateau

How have years of Laboratory activity at various sites on the Pajarito Plateau affected the groundwater of Northern New Mexico? To answer this question and maintain compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, we plan and execute a broad spectrum of hydrogeologic investigations across the Pajarito Plateau. We use data from these investigations to develop conceptual models for groundwater systems and to model contaminant transport as part of risk assessments and site decisions.

Our increased knowledge of recharge areas, flow paths, and flow rates will help us to successfully define areas of potential groundwater contamination and predict the direction and rate at which that contamination will move.

Data from hydrogeologic investigations are used to develop conceptual models for groundwater systems and to model contaminant transport as part of risk assessments and site decisions. Shown are a pore-water nitrate profile from a drillhole in Mortandad Canyon, and a conceptual model block diagram for highexplosives transport at TA-16.

Cutting Cleanup Costs: Tracing Ecologic Processes with Stable Isotopes

Cleaning up environmental contamination can be costly and extremely time-consuming. We have used nitrogen isotopes to identify the occurrence of microbial denitrification in wetlands in canyons around Los Alamos. This information may be the key to developing a quick, cost-effective technique to map processes that can naturally reduce contamination.

Understanding Bio-Threats: Mapping Transport and Dispersion of Pollutants

All cities have a set of interrelated problems. These include growth, energy distribution, water subply, quality of life, and safety from natural or man-made disaster or attack.

FIRETEC, typically used for wildfire modeling, can be used to model issues related to urban security and safety.

One important project is simulating how biological agents spread from one city building to the next. If anthrax is released inside a city skyscraper, how much will spread to nearby buildings? FIRETEC simulations can help us understand these kinds of atmospheric transport scenarios—which is vital to U.S. counterterrorism strategy.

Transport and dispersion of pollutants downstream of a building.