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Earth and Atmospheric Science
Big Ideas Lab podcast traces the flow of energy in the U.S.
Inside a sixth-grade classroom, a teacher dims the lights and directs the student's attention to a projector. On the screen appears a brightly colored chart featuring thick, twisting bars extending from left to right. Some are as wide as rivers; others as narrow as threads. The diagrams look almost like a subway map for America’s energy. At the left, the lines “depart”…
Meteorite samples are time capsules from the early solar system
When a meteor streaks across the sky, it’s not just beautiful. It’s nature’s way of delivering a time capsule to Earth. Contained within are hints about the very beginning of the solar system and how planets, including our own, formed. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist Thomas Kruijer and collaborators describe how meteorites tell the story of the…
LLNL, UT & UCSD win Gordon Bell Prize with exascale tsunami forecasting
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the University of Texas at Austin’s (UT) Oden Institute and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) on Nov. 20 were awarded the prestigious 2025 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Gordon Bell Prize for developing a real-time tsunami early-warning framework…
Researchers discover entirely new phase of ice
Water is weird. When ice cubes float at the top of a drink, they’re defying the norm. Solids are generally denser than liquids, so they sink. But because of its hydrogen bonds, water produces unusual and complex behaviors. Studying water ice and its various phases is crucial for understanding its strange properties. The knowledge is also critical for materials science,…
Samples from asteroid Bennu contain secrets of the early solar system
In September 2023, NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission became the first U.S. mission to collect a sample of material from an asteroid and return it to Earth. Now, a team including researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has analyzed that material. Their work, published in…
LLNL scientists explore real-time tsunami warning system on world’s fastest supercomputer
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have helped develop an advanced, real-time tsunami forecasting system — powered by El Capitan, the world’s fastest supercomputer — that could dramatically improve early warning capabilities for coastal communities near earthquake zones. The exascale El Capitan, which has a theoretical peak performance of 2.79…
Deep-learning model predicts how toxic plumes move through cities
In 2023, a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. In 2025, a series of destructive wildfires ravaged Los Angeles. In both cases, a toxic plume — a cloud of harmful airborne materials that disperse over time and space due to wind and turbulence — was released. Toxic plumes from industrial accidents, chemical spills and structural fires can pose…
New machine learning project will advance real-time seismic monitoring across energy industries
A new initiative designed to revolutionize seismic monitoring and forecasting using real time, advanced machine learning (ML) technologies is coming to the West Texas/New Mexico area. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) awarded $1.8 million in funding to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The TCF is administrated by the…
Turning captured carbon into natural gas could provide cost-competitive energy storage
Solar and wind energy are highly variable, dependent on the day, weather and location of the facilities. At times, they can generate more electricity than is needed, but they can also fall short when demand is at its peak. Unfortunately, any extra energy created by these sources is often wasted, as there are few methods that adequately store it long-term. To improve energy…
Lawrence Livermore scientists and collaborators demonstrate major breakthrough in seismology
A more than month-long field experiment by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) seismologist has demonstrated that a new technology could offer a major breakthrough in seismology. The technology, called distributed acoustic sensing, allows an instrument to turn buried fiber-optic cable into thousands of virtual seismometers that can be used to measure ground…
Volcanic eruptions trigger ice formation in clouds
When a volcano erupts, it can spew ash high into the atmosphere — injecting aerosols right where clouds typically form. How exactly these aerosols impact cloud formation has long been a mystery to atmospheric scientists. In a study published in Science Advances, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) analyzed 10 years of satellite data to determine…
Five LLNL postdocs selected to attend 2025 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings
Five Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) postdoctoral researchers have been selected to participate in the prestigious 2025 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. Ian Colliard, Nicholas Cross, Caspar Donnison, Vidia Gokool and Jonas Kaufman will join young scientists from around the world to learn from Nobel Prize laureates through academic panels, lectures, group…
LLNL’s Jennifer Pett-Ridge named 2024 AAAS fellow
Jennifer Pett-Ridge is a biogeochemist who likes to ‘dig deep’ into the soil. She knew early on that she wanted to pursue environmental science and has now become one of the world’s foremost experts in soil ecology and carbon cycling. Now, Pett-Ridge will be recognized as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest…
Emilie Dunham shoots for the stars
What if we could determine what material built our solar system, how old it is, and even the type of star it came from? Emilie Dunham, postdoctoral researcher in the Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), is exploring the answers to these very questions, all while following a childhood passion. Dunham, a 2023 Lawrence…
Inspired by nature, proteins pick out mission-critical metals
Rare-earth elements are essential for many electronic, energy and advanced defense technologies. In particular, they are required for key national defense systems as well as permanent magnets in cell phones. However, most of the mining and processing of rare-earth elements happens in China, and establishing a domestic supply chain is a priority. Turns out, advanced…
Assessing adverse neurological effects of wildfire smoke inhalation
Following the devastating fires that swept through Los Angeles in January, concerns are on the rise about the long-term health impacts of smoke inhalation. In a study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Environmental Protection Agency seek to close the knowledge gap on how…
LLNL supports CO2 storage in California’s delta
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) has awarded $6 million to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers, as part of a $45.2 million award to a team led by Pelican Renewables LLC, to develop a regional CO2 storage hub in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California. The funding came through FECM’s…
Big Ideas Lab Podcast takes on earthquakes and nuclear explosions
What do an earthquake, a mine collapse and a nuclear explosion have in common? Learn the answer to this question and more on a new episode of the Big Ideas Lab Podcast from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The episode provides insights into how Lab scientists monitor seismic activities such as earthquakes and nuclear explosions to ensure the safety of people…
Samples from the surface needed to unravel history of Mars
Geologically, Mars is very reminiscent of the moon. But it also looks a lot like the Earth. It all depends on who you ask. Current understanding of Mars’ evolution is based on spacecraft measurements and meteorite analysis. Those meteorites were ejected from Mars and traversed space before landing on Earth, where they were discovered primarily in African deserts and…
LLNL and Starris: Optimax Space Systems announce partnership for monolithic telescope technology
Starris: Optimax Space Systems and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have entered a commercialization partnership for LLNL’s patented monolithic telescope technology, which accelerates rapid deployment of modular optical designs for high-resolution or high-sensitivity space imagery. Starris has collaborated over the last decade with LLNL’s Space Program to…
