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ARCHIVE - EES Division Highlights/Accomplishments
June 26, 2006
June 19, 2006 3D Earthquake Location Workshop June 12, 2006 Vadose Zone Journal Names Brent Newman 2005 Outstanding Associate Editor Collaboration with Landcare Institute, New Zealand Workshop on National Seismic Hazards Maps June 5, 2006 Ground-based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Course EES Scientists Lead Field Trip and Workshop for YMP 11th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference The objective of the series of High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conferences is to promote communication and integration across the many disciplines required for designing, constructing, operating, and closing deep geologic repositories in a safe manner. Over the years, this conference has become a vitally important international forum for exchanging ideas among the professionals working in the area of high-level radioactive waste management. The11th conference saw participation from various national programs including greater participation from outside the United States. Several national programs have significantly advanced in the three years since the previous conference. These advances span efforts at site selection in Japan; development of high-level waste management strategies in Canada and the United Kingdom; detailed design and site investigations in the United States, Sweden, and Finland; and new safety assessments in France, Switzerland, and Belgium. Al Aziz Eddebbarh of EES-6 is on the organizing committee of the 12th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference (IHLRWM) to be held in 2008. May 23, 2006 International Team to Investigate the Origin of the Lago del Sirente The recent suggestion that the Lago del Sirente could have been formed, about 1,600 years ago, by the impact of a small asteroid with the Earth poses an interesting scientific question. On the scientific side, if the impact origin of this structure (located in Piani del Sirente, Comune di Secinaro, L’Aquila, Italy) would be confirmed, it would constitute an exceptionally interesting example (the only one in the world) of a crater formed in historic time and in a highly civilized region. Andrea Carusi, President of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, chairs the Sirente Structure Evaluation Committee formed to investigate the origin ofthe structure. Carusi has selected an international Committee comprised of four scientists. Doug ReVelle (EES-2) has been invited to serve on this Committee. The details of the work will be discussed at the forthcoming International Astronomical Union (IAU) Meeting in Prague in August. The IAU is held once every three years worldwide. While ReVelle is at the IAU meeting, he will present an invited paper, “NEO (Near-Earth Objects) Fireball Diversity: Detection, Location, and Analysis Techniques.”
Estimates of Meteoroid Kinetic Energies from Observations of Infrasonic Airwaves Published Meteoroids encounter the Earth’s atmosphere at velocities between 11 and 72 km/s. The kinetic energy carried by particles at these velocities is tens to hundreds of times the equivalent energy of an equal mass of high explosive. The sudden deposition of this energy during the disintegration and deceleration of large meteoroids produces a spectacular light show that may be visible for hundreds of kilometers. During this interaction with the Earth’s atmosphere, the light, sound and ionization produced can be used to infer the original mass, orbit and other physical/chemical properties of the parent meteoroid. Infrasound, the part of the acoustic spectrum lying below the range of human hearing and above the atmospheric Brunt-Vaisala frequency where gravity waves begin (approximately between the range of 20-0.001 Hz), is of particular interest for these studies due to the lack of significant attenuation at these frequencies in the Earth’s atmosphere, allowing these acoustic waves to be observed even after traveling thousands of kilometers. Meteors can produce infrasound by two different mechanisms: (1) the hypersonic shock of the meteor’s passage through the atmosphere and (2) fragmentation of the meteoroid itself, which leads to efficient coupling to the atmosphere and a sudden increase in the fraction of total energy channeled into shock production. Infrasound is used as a monitoring tool for meteoroids and for verification and enforcement of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Douglas ReVelle (EES-2) and collaborators Wayne Edwards and Peter Brown (both of University of Western Ontario) have published their research, “Estimates of meteoroid kinetic energies from observations of infrasonic airwaves” in the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. The acoustic amplitude-source energy relationships (including formal errors) for a population of about 50 large and well-observed bolides (for source energies > 0.05 kt, 1 kt = 4.185e12 Joules and for ranges > 300 km) have been investigated using the infrasonic and "optical" signals generated at the source. All of these amplitude-source energy data have been calibrated using "optical" yield estimates from independent US DOE satellite measurements. A correction to the observation amplitudes as a function of range from the event has also been made for the presence of the stratospheric winds (at heights near 50 km above the earth) and has been found to be small, suggesting that either the observed scatter is dominated by other variations among the fireball population (such as differing "burst" altitudes and the degree of fragmentation experienced), otherwise the magnitude of the variability in the stratospheric winds are comparable to the winds themselves. Comparison to similar point source, ground-level nuclear and high explosive airwave data shows that bolide infrasound is consistently lower in amplitude. This downward amplitude shift relative to nuclear and high explosive data is interpreted as due in part to increased weak nonlinearity (increased wave energy removal processes) during larger amplitude signal propagation from higher source altitudes. This is a likely explanation, since mean estimates of the altitude of maximum energy deposition along the bolide trajectory was found to be between 20-30 km in altitude for this observed fireball population. The authors have also applied their newly deduced relations to a few older and still puzzling bolide events in order to reassess their source energy more reliably. The AFTAC X-rays, Gamma Rays, Electromagnetic pulses, and Neutrons (XGEN) Project and the Ground-based nuclear explosion monitoring (GNEM) infrasound monitoring of Nuclear Detonation (NUDET) Project support ReVelle’s research. The journal reference is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=IssueURL&_tockey=%23TOC%236062%239999%23999999999%2399999%23FLA%23&_auth= May 23, 2006 Publication in Journal of Geophysical Research on Study of Snow Metamorphism on Estimates of Groundwater Recharge The May 2006 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research includes a paper coauthored by Brent Newman (EES-2) and colleagues from New Mexico Tech. The paper by Sam Earman, Andrew R. Campbell, Fred M. Phillips, and Brent D. Newman is entitled "Isotopic exchange between snow and atmospheric water vapor: Estimation of the snowmelt component of groundwater recharge in the southwestern United States". The study describes controls on the stable isotope composition of snow, and the effect of snow metamorphism on estimates of groundwater recharge. The piñon-juniper woodland at TA-51 and a location near Pajarito ski area were two of the study areas.
Figure 2. Base map: continental United States, with New Mexico and Arizona shown in grey. Zoom map: locations of precipitation collector sets in New Mexico and Arizona. Location LA (Los Alamos ) has two sites: Low Alamos Low at 2140 m and Los Alamos High at 2682 m. Location Mag. (Magdalena Mountains) has three sites: Magdalena Low at 2149 m, Magdalena Mid at 2560 m, and Magdalena High at 3243 m. Location Chir. (Chiricahua Mountains) has two sites: Chiricahua Low at 1640 m and Chiricahua High at 3017 m. Location Stew. (Santa Catalina Mountains) has one site (Steward) at 2791 m. The contribution of snowmelt to groundwater recharge at four sites in the southwestern United States was evaluated using stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen. Paired precipitation collectors were installed at the study sites; data show that (1) there is often a significant difference between the stable isotope composition of fresh snow and the bulk meltwater derived from it (this suggests that using the isotope composition of high elevation springs as a proxy for precipitation may not be sound if snow is a recharge source) and (2) collector design can significantly influence the stable isotope composition of collected snow. Because the isotope composition of snow from a given location becomes heavier (i.e., more rain-like) with increased exposure, using bulk snowmelt compositions to calculate input to groundwater recharge results in significantly increased estimates of snowmelt contributions to recharge (compared to estimates derived from fresh snow signatures). Snowmelt provides at least 40–70% of groundwater recharge at the study sites, although only 25–50% of average annual precipitation falls as snow. On the basis of these results and presently accepted scenarios for alterations in precipitation in the western United States over the next 50 years (significantly decreased snowpack due to increased atmospheric CO2), investigations of how climate change may affect groundwater resources are needed. Because the results show that snowmelt yields more recharge per unit amount of precipitation than rain, even if total precipitation remains constant, a shift from snow to rain could cause significantly decreased recharge. While the lessened amount of snowfall would be one contributor to loss of recharge, the changed conditions could also reduce the recharge efficiency of snow compared to that observed today. Thinner snowpacks subjected to increased temperatures would melt more rapidly than at present, increasing the likelihood of the melt running off rather than infiltrating. The collaborators also investigated the potential for snow/ atmospheric water vapor isotope exchange to influence the isotope signature of snow (which has been a subject of debate); the results of a laboratory experiment suggest that it can drive significant shifts in the isotope signature of snow, even at temperatures below 0C. May 15, 2006 EES Research Published in Water Resources Research In the second in a series of three articles appearing in Water Resources Research, C. Gable (EES-6) in collaboration with researchers from Indiana U., U. Minnesota, and Chevron have utilized experimentally generated sedimentary stratigraphy to compare the impact of nonrepresentation of hydraulic conductivity with high-resolution, fully heterogeneous basin-scale conductivity. An up-scaling method is developed to compute equivalent conductivity for irregularly shaped framework model hydrostratigraphic units. It is shown that the accuracy of the up-scaled framework models is controlled by the level of stratigraphic division, conductivity heterogeneity, and boundary conditions. This work was supported in part by a grant from the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. Reference: Zhang, Y., C. W. Gable, and M. Person, “Equivalent hydraulic conductivity of an experimental stratigraphy: Implications for basin-scale flow simulations,” Water Resour. Res., 42, W05404, doi:10.1029/2005WR004720.n (2006).
Figure 2. A basin-scale In(K) map (in m/yr) with 14 stratigraphic units representing different depositional environments. May 8, 2006 EES Staff Conduct Tours of Yucca Mountain On April 27, Dick Kovach (EES-7) conducted briefings and tours for a group from the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program and members of the Western Nuclear Science Alliance. On April 27, Brian Dozier (EES-7) hosted visitors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Additionally he escorted and briefed the group on geological and other points of interest on the Nevada Test Site. "Tours" at Yucca Mountain consist of a general briefing of the tunnel/repository layout and experiments (both completed and ongoing). The briefings are conducted in an underground excavation off the main tunnel called an Alcove. This Alcove has been customized for tours, including maps/displays and is about 160 meters (175 yards) underground.
Scientists Measure Mexico City Pollution to Assess its Regional and Global Impacts LANL scientists were a part of an international multi-agency Megacity Initiative: Impact on Regional and Global Environment (MILAGRO) field campaign in Mexico City that included scientists from NCAR, DOE, NASA, and academia. The month-long campaign in March 2006 was designed to examine the chemical and physical transformations of gases and aerosols in the polluted outflow from Mexico City. Mexico City with a population of 25 million, the largest mega-city in N. America, provides a testing ground for regional and global impacts of increasing urbanization globally. The LANL team, led by Manvendra Dubey (EES-6), included Claudio Mazzoleni (ISR-2) and Thom Rahn (EES-2). They performed measurements of radiative and optical properties of soot using the state of the art LANL photo-acoustic instrument. Diesel combustion, biomass burning, and power plants produce soot. Soot containing aerosols absorb solar radiation causing warming. However, soot’s warming potential is determined by its complex interactions with other anthropogenic aerosols such as sulfate and organics, which tend to reduce it. LANL measurements provided a unique data set to quantify it. The LANL team also provided the only measurements of molecular hydrogen in Mexico City. A very regular diurnal profile with peak concentrations of both hydrogen and soot in early morning caused by the high traffic and shallow boundary layer was revealed. A record level of hydrogen of 5 ppm a factor of 10 above background levels was measured. It is hypothesized that most of the hydrogen is coming from automobiles. The team, including Seth Olsen (EES-6), is using NOAA’s Weather Research Forecast Model with Chemistry to analyze this. One of the key objectives of the LANL team is to integrate the net radiative effects of all pollutants: CO2, aerosols and ozone, and albedo changes observed in Mexico City to derive the global warming potential of a Megacity. LDRD supported LANL’s MILAGRO research.
Figure 3. Typical data soot absorption and single scatter albedo (top), gaseous pollutants (middle), and wind speed (bottom) for a day.
Figure 4. Typical data for hydrogen (blue) and CO (green) for a day; nighttime event plumes from the Tula power plant and the early morning rise from traffic are evident.
Figure 5. Left: air pollution hangs above Mexico City. Right: LANL-developed field-deployable photo-acoustic instrument deployed on Aerodyne Mobile Laboratory on Pico Tres Padres, Mexico City. May 1, 2006 Significant Advance in Reactive Transport Modeling Published in Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta Peter Lichtner and Bill Carey (EES-6) published a significant advance in reactive transport modeling by developing a theoretical approach and practical implementation to handling compositional variation in minerals. Previous modeling had been limited to treating minerals as pure phases and did not have the capacity to account for compositional changes during interactions with the environment. The paper titled, "Incorporating solid solutions in geochemical reactive transport equations using a kinetic discrete-composition approach", 70: 1356-1378, 2006) appeared in Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta.
Successful DOE Program Review of the EES-12 Actinide Chemisty and Repository Science Program The EES12 Actinide Chemistry and Repository Science Program (ACRSP) underwent their annual program review by the Carlsbad Area Office DOE. This review went very well and its success was widely acknowledged by the DOE program managers. ACRSP research is focused on the subsurface chemistry of actinides to support WIPP re-certification activities. At this review each team member (Don Reed: team leader; Team members: Marian Borkowski, Michael Richmann and Jean Francois Lucchini) provided an overview of progress during the past year in a number of areas. The most substantive accomplishment reported was the construction and configuration of a strong laboratory capability for radioactive materials work at the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center, NMSU Research Institute located in Carlsbad. In the past year, ACRSP staff also reported substantial progress in the actinide solubility, redox and speciation research that is underway and the team continues along the path of building a strong actinide environmental research program. EES-12 Supports International ANS Meeting Held in Carlsbad, NM The American Nuclear Society’s Radiation Protection and Shielding Division held its 14th Biennial meeting in Carlsbad, New Mexico, April 3 to April 6, 2006. Staff members, Jean-François Lucchini, Sheila Lott, and Jerri McTaggart, from EES-12, were actively part of the organizing committee for the conference. As an example of this one-year-and-a-half organizing effort, Jean-François Lucchini developed the website of the conference (http://www.ans-rpsw-carlsbad.com/) and Sheila Lott was the Finance Co-Chair. The total attendance for the conference was 152 participants, which included 35 international participants from 15 foreign countries. Two talks were given by EES-12 scientists: Dr. Lucchini presented a “Review of Spent Fuel Matrix Alteration With Respect to Alpha-Radiolysis,” and Dr. Borkowski presented the “Actinide Chemistry and Repository Science Program in support of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)”. EES-12 also staffed a Los Alamos National Laboratory booth at the conference, to show the multi-disciplinary work and achievements of the LANL/EES-12 group. April 24, 2006 Secretary Bodman Tours Yucca Mountain "Tours" at Yucca Mountain consist of a general briefing of the tunnel/repository layout and experiments (both completed and ongoing). The briefings are conducted in an underground excavation off the main tunnel called an Alcove. This Alcove has been customized for tours, including maps/displays and is about 160 meters (175 yards) underground. On April 13, Dick Kovach and Mike Taylor (EES-7) escorted and briefed the Department of Energy, Secretary of Energy, Samuel Bodman; and Deputy Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Paul Gola. The information included an overview of geology, results of testing activities and repository layout. The tour also included a stop at the Drift Scale Test about 1.75 miles into the tunnel where a test on the effects of long term heating of the repository rock is being conducted.
Pictured above: Secretary of Energy Bodman and Mike Taylor On April 13, Brian Dozier (EES-7) BRIAN DOZIER briefed Col. Ziebarth, Creech AFB, ESF and Fred Pease, USAF, Pentagon (DOD Director of Aviation). The information included an overview of geology, results of testing activities and repository layout. On March 9, Dick Kovach conducted a briefing and tour for seven visitors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Also on March 9, Brian Dozier briefed a large group of Officials from San Luis Obispo, California. April 17, 2006 Nature Publication of New Fossil Discovery Helps Define the Origin of the Ape-Man Genus An international team led by the University of California - Berkeley and LANL scientists, working in the Middle Awash valley of the Afar Rift in eastern Ethiopia, has recovered fossils that help define the origin of the ape-man genus, Australopithecus. The results of the discovery appeared in an article in the March 13th issue of the journal Nature. Giday WoldeGabriel (EES-6), co-leader of the project, is in charge of the geological investigation. The geological studies provided fundamental information about the temporal and spatial relations of the different rock types and the associated fossils. Moreover, the environmental conditions that prevailed more than 4 million years ago were reconstructed. Based on field and laboratory geological investigations, the age of the rock formation and associated fossils was accurately determined at 4.1 million years. Evidence from stable isotope analysis, fossil assemblage, abundant petrified wood, and diverse rock types suggests that a closed, wooded habitat type persisted over a long period in this part of the Afar region and was favored by early hominids between 4 and 6 million years ago. Regarding diet, the dental morphology appears better adapted to a more heavily chewed food of tough and abrasive material. At 4.1 million years ago, the new fossils are anatomically and chronologically sandwiched between the 4.4 Ma Ardipithecus ramidus (from lower levels at Aramis) and the 3.0-3.6 Ma Australopithecus afarensis (the "Lucy" species, known from superimposed 3.4 million-year-old levels at the nearby Middle Awash site of Maka). This is the first time that these three species have been shown to be time-successive in a single place. With hominid fossils sampled across six million years, the Ethiopian Afar Region has yielded the longest record of human evolution on earth. (Figure 1) The international research team has made additional significant discoveries in the last three years. Professor Tim White from UC Berkeley, who is co-leader of the project said, “Here, in a single Ethiopian valley, we have nearly a mile-thick stack of superimposed sediments and twelve horizons yielding hominid fossils. These discoveries confirm the Middle Awash study area as the world's best window on human evolution." The National Science Foundation primarily supported the Middle Awash Project, and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at Los Alamos funded WoldeGabriel’s geological research.
Figure 1. Aramis and Asa Issie fossil hominids. a., ASI-VP-2/334 right maxillary dentition. b., ARA-VP-14/1 maxilla with dentition. Alignment of right and left maxillary arcades is approximate. c., Au. anamensis (KNM-KP 29283 and KNM-ER 30745, left and middle, respectively; casts, reversed) and Au. afarensis (A.L. 200-1, right) dentitions. d., Comparison of the ASI-VP-5/154 right femoral shaft with the smaller but otherwise morphologically similar left proximal femur of A.L. 288-1 (Lucy; Au. afarensis). April 10, 2006 Paul Rich Receives Commendation Award for Leadership Role in DOE Geospatial Science Program Paul Rich (GISLab Team Leader, EES-9), and his colleagues J. S. Bollinger (Savannah River National Laboratory), B. Bhaduri (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), and H. Walker (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) received a special commendation award from DOE Headquarters for their leadership role in the newly formed DOE Geospatial Science Program. The award was presented by DOE Chief Information Officer Thomas Pyke at the plenary session of the Annual Information Management Conference in Austin, Texas. The award is "in recognition of outstanding support in chairing the Geospatial Science Steering Committee, guiding the establishment of the Geospatial Science Program, and coordinating the Geospatial Science Program Kick-off Meeting and Expo".
Sebastien Dartevelle Appointed the New Lead for Academic Alliances, Tri-Lab Sponsor Team, for Stanford University's Center for Integrated Turbulence Simulations The NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC) is the collaborative program among Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Laboratories to ensure the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile as we shift emphasis from test-based confidence to simulation-based confidence. The ASC partnership develops computer simulation capabilities to analyze and predict the performance, safety, and reliability of nuclear weapons and to certify their functionality. Sebastien Dartevelle (EES-11) has been appointed the new LANL member of NNSA's ASC, Tri-Lab Sponsor Team (TST) for Stanford University's Center for Integrated Turbulence Simulations (CITS). He is the lead of the TST for Stanford, coordinating the interactions of the LLNL and SNL TST members as well. Dartevelle will be helping to strengthen LANL's interaction and collaboration with CITS, and also participating in the new Request for Proposals to be issued by NNSA as the current Academic Alliance Centers reach the end of their contracts in FY2007. Galen Gisler, the departing LANL TST lead for Stanford, identified Dartevelle as his successor. The tri-Lab partners have developed long-distance computing capabilities to share large amounts of data. The Los Alamos ASC 20-TeraOps supercomputer, Q, is rated as the eighteenth fastest computer in the world (Nov. 2005 Top500). At LANL, Dartevelle will be working with Nelson Hoffman, the ASC Alliances Strategy Team Leader, as they seek to maximize the benefit Los Alamos gains from interactions with the University Centers in the Academic Alliances Program. Fehler and Collaborators Publish in Geophysics Research Letters Michael Fehler (EES Division Leader) is coauthor (along with four coauthors from the Marine Physical Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography) on a paper that was published in the recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters. In the paper, the authors show how small changes in the character of long-period volcanic events can be detected by using a cross-correlation technique of waveforms detected at pairs of seismic stations. The cross-correlation of waveforms are analyzed on an hourly basis and have a remarkable consistency over time periods of several hours but show temporal variations on longer time-scales. The changes detected on longer time scales are correlated with changes in the eruptive activity of the volcano. The researchers’ methodology is proposed as a new approach for monitoring the eruptive activity of volcanoes. UCSD-CARE funded the research. Reference: Sabra, K. G., P. Roux, P. Gerstoft, W. A. Kuperman, and M. C. Fehler (2006), Extracting coherent coda arrivals from cross-correlations of long period seismic waves during the Mount St. Helens 2004 eruption, Geophysical Research Letters,33, L06313, doi:10.1029/2005GL025563.
Figure 2. Map view of Mount St. Helens area (source: U.S. Geological Survey). The six closest stations to MSH of the PNSN network are shown. April 3, 2006 EES Collaborates with MIT on Proposals The LANL Ground-Based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring (GNEM) team met on March 20, with Nafi Toksoz and his team from MIT to discuss possible collaborations for the recently released Broad Area Announcement for improving nuclear explosion monitoring. The day-long meeting was held at the Wyndham Hotel in Albuquerque. GNEM team members attending the meeting were Lee Steck, Scott Phillips, Charlotte Rowe, Richard Stead, Mike Begnaud, Monica Maceira, George Randall, Hans Hartse, and David Yang (all from EES-11). Successful Annual Audit of EES-12 Quality Assurance Program From February 27 through March 1, 2006, a team of auditors from the Department of Energy Carlsbad Field Office (DOE/CBFO) Technical Assistance Contractor (CTAC), conducted an audit of EES-12 (LANL Carlsbad Operations) to evaluate the adequacy, effectiveness, and implementation of the EES-12 QA Program. This audit is required and conducted annually by the CBFO to verify EES-12 compliance with the rigorous quality requirements of the DOE/CBFO Quality Assurance Program Document (QAPD) in order to support the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The audit team concluded that, ". LANL-CO procedures are adequate in the flow-down of QAPD requirements, the procedures are effective, and implementation is satisfactory . . . " Only one minor finding (regarding conduct of surveillances) was identified by the audit team, and this finding was documented and corrected. The audit team found that, overall, the processes and activities for quality grading, qualification and training, assessments, procurement, scientific investigation (including actinide chemistry and transuranic waste inventory programs), software QA, and documents and records were all adequate, satisfactorily implemented, and effective. This successful audit is an outstanding accomplishment and verifies for the DOE customer that EES-12 maintains an excellent, QAPD-compliant QA Program. |
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