Earth Sciences Division’s George Moridis was recently named to the board of the journal Computers & Geosciences, an Elsevier publication. Moridis is renowned for his significant contributions to research into analysis, design, and prediction of gas production from unconventional gas resources, notably gas hydrates, and as developer of the TOUGH+ software for modeling fluid flow and transport in complex geologic media (a member of the TOUGH family of codes). More>
Posts Tagged ‘Earth Sciences Division’
Earth Scientist George Moridis Named to Board of Computers & Geosciences Journal
Tuesday, May 21st, 2013Lab, UC Davis Join Forces to Develop Sustainable Agriculture Systems
Friday, May 3rd, 2013
A Predictive Agriculture workshop was held on Monday as part of a new UC Davis and Berkeley Lab initiative geared toward developing the transformative technologies and predictive understanding required to sustainably manage key agricultural systems. Sustainable agricultural systems are needed to meet the food, feed, and fuel demands of a growing world population under changing environmental conditions. The workshop arose from the signing of an MOU between Lab Director Paul Alivisatos and UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi last August. More>
Lab Spin-Off Among Winners of UC Berkeley Start-Up Competition
Thursday, May 2nd, 2013
A software technique developed by Valeri Korneev of the Earth Sciences Division provided the basis for a startup, Seismos, which recently won the Energy and Cleantech track of UC Berkeley’s Start-Up competition. Seismos is a technology-enabled services company that detects and interprets changes in underground oil and gas reservoirs in real-time with unparalleled sensitivity. More>
Polar Bears, Freezing Equipment Among Challenges for Hubbard’s Arctic Research
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013
[PNAS] Last October, when Susan Hubbard and her team pulled sleds full of sensitive sensors across the snow near the northernmost point in Alaska, temperatures hovered in the single digits and low teens (e.g., 8–15 °F). Foremost in the researchers’ minds, aside from collecting data on the frozen ground beneath their feet, were two things: keep an eye out for polar bears and keep their equipment from freezing. Hubbard, an earth scientist at Berkeley Lab, had hired a polar bear guard to deal with the first problem and perfected the art of wrapping pieces of equipment up and periodically warming them in heated huts to deal with the second. More>
Earth Week Kicks Off With Talk on ‘Earth That Was, and Soon Will Be’
Thursday, April 18th, 2013
On Earth Day, Monday, April 22, at noon in the Building 50 Auditorium, Carbon Cycle 2.0 hosts a presentation by climate scientist Bill Collins (right) entitled “A Tale of Two Planets: The Earth That Was, and Soon Will Be.” The talk will explore the latest evidence from across the scientific community documenting the warming and thawing taking place around the globe. Collins will also discuss how climate models developed at Berkeley Lab can help to inform options to mitigate climate change, and the development of technologies for a more sustainable energy future. Collins is head of the Climate Sciences Department in the Earth Sciences Division. Go here to view the full list of Lab Earth Week activities.
Susan Hubbard Appointed Division Director for Earth Sciences
Monday, April 8th, 2013
Environmental geophysicist Susan Hubbard has been named as the new director of the Earth Sciences Division (ESD), effective today (April 5). She takes over from Associate Lab Director for Energy and Environment Don DePaolo, who served as acting division director. Hubbard joined the Lab as a scientist in 1998, later becoming the lead of ESD’s Environmental Water and Resources Program. She served as ESD deputy director for science since 2010. Her research focuses on advancing the use of geophysical methods for shallow subsurface characterization and monitoring. Go here for more on Hubbard.
Earth Sciences Hosts Talk Today on Soil Models
Friday, April 5th, 2013
The Earth Sciences Division will host a Distinguished Scientist Seminar today featuring Eric Davidson, who will discuss “Is Brevity the Soul of Soil Models?” The seminar begins at 10:30 a.m. in Building 66 Auditorium and will be followed by a question and answer session. Davidson is president and senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. His research in biogeochemistry includes the exchange of plant nutrients from the land to streams and groundwater and the exchange of greenhouse gases between the soil and the atmosphere. More>
Troubles at Sea Can’t Keep Carbon Explorers Out of the Water
Thursday, March 28th, 2013
Autonomous Carbon Explorer floats, which drift in the currents, dive as much as a kilometer deep, and resurface to report ocean carbon data by satellite, have scored notable successes in understanding the ocean’s carbon cycle. But when Carbon Explorer 13 sank on launch, a string of bad luck began to plague the doughty little robots. Not to worry: two Carbon Explorers are alive and well and once again reporting live from the North Pacific. More>
April 22 Science at the Theater Asks ‘How Hot Will it Get?’
Thursday, March 28th, 2013
The Lab hosts its next Science at the Theater event on Monday, April 22, with a presentation on “How Hot Will It Get?” that features researchers discussing their latest findings on the earth’s changing climate — from the tundra to the rainforest. Participating scientists include Margaret Torn, Jeff Chambers, and Bill Collins of the Earth Sciences Division, Michael Wehner of the Computational Research Division, and Maximilian Auffhammer of UC Berkeley. This free event takes place at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Roda Stage at 7 p.m. More>
Earth Scientist Nigel Quinn Honored for Water and Environment Modeling
Wednesday, March 27th, 2013
Lab earth scientist Nigel Quinn has been awarded the Hugo B. Fischer Prize, which honors researchers for their contributions to water and environmental modeling in California. He will receive his award at the California Water and Environmental Modeling Forum’s annual conference in late April. Quinn leads the HydroEcological Engineering Advanced Decision Support research group in the Earth Sciences Division, which specializes in the development of environmental decision support systems to improve understanding and find solutions to complex water resources and water quality problems in California and world-wide.
