Fair-Weather Clouds Hold Dirty Secret
Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that fair-weather cumulus clouds contain an increasing amount of droplets formed around pollution particles. Using data collected over Oklahoma, they showed that pollution from Oklahoma City increased the number of cloud droplets and reduced their size, affecting their sunlight absorbing, light scattering and cloud-seeding performance. Seemingly innocuous fair-weather clouds occur more frequently in many areas and thus have more opportunity to affect the climate. The research indicates that pollution may be changing clouds in many more locations than previously thought.
Atmospheric Bit Players Take Stage
On the atmospheric stage, aerosols are bit players. Identifying each one and their role as change agents was the goal of researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Colorado State University and the California Air Resources Board. For the first time, the researchers identified individual types of particles and their relative contribution to influence seasonal warming and cooling effects at the top of the atmosphere over California. The team's use of a popular meteorological-chemistry model to perform this baseline assessment promises to improve understanding of how regional controls limit pollution and other emissions will impact the water cycles and the climate.
When Pollution Gets a Whiff of Trees
It's easy to visualize particles and gases from vehicle exhaust or burning trash wafting into the atmosphere. It's harder to envision similar gases and minute particles emitted from trees and plants in the forest. What these two have in common is carbon. According to a multi-institutional team of scientists led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, when polluted city emissions travel miles away, they eventually mix with forest emissions. The result is the addition of new carbon-containing particles which scientists call secondary organic aerosols. These atmospheric particles can have a large impact air quality, visibility, human health and ultimately, the climate.
PNNL Researchers Discuss Increasing Interest in Scientific Fields via Women @ Energy
While women make up slightly more than half of the US workforce and half of the college-educated workforce, they are underrepresented in the nation's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, jobs. To encourage more women to consider STEM careers, DOE built a webpage with articles about women who work in STEM areas for the Department, including the national labs. Several outstanding scientists from PNNL are featured, including Karin Rodland, Ruby Leung, Julia Laskin, Meredydd Evans, Alla Zelenyuk, and Kerstin Kleese van Dam.
Making the Case for Regional Modeling
Decision making processes are fundamentally made at regional scales. An integrated approach that accounts for the dynamics of climate, energy, and environmental systems will provide insight into options for how to manage and plan for future resources. In their paper, Dr. Kathy Hibbard and Dr. Anthony Janetos of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory make the case for integrated regional-scale analyses, discussing how regional dynamic interactions between human and natural systems provide insight into mitigation and adaptation strategies, their tradeoffs and consequences, and how these influence the global Earth system.
