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In the rugged terrain of the western U.S., where wildfires rage unchecked, a surprising connection emerges with the tumultuous skies of the central U.S. A recent study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences explores the intriguing relationship between wildfires in the West and hailstorms in the central U.S.

For one Utah researcher, a childhood admiration for nature, by way of the U.S. Navy, evolved into a career studying earth's atmosphere. During his boyhood in northeastern Ohio, Gerald “Jay” Mace had two dreams. One was to have a career that brought him close to nature. In those days, long hikes in the woods always included stopping by his favorite tree. It was a totem of the peace and fascination he found in the outside world and the knowledge it offered.

Amanda Liang, a ninth grader from Paul J. Gelinas Junior High School, won first place at the 45th annual Bridge Building Competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory on April 3. The competition shows students in grades nine through 12 what it’s like to be an engineer as they attempt to design a strong bridge out of only basswood and glue with a set of challenging specifications in mind.

EOS magazine highlights recent research that questions the previous conventional understanding of how clouds form and engage with the earth's surface. The planetary boundary layer

planetary boundary layer

The lowest layer of the troposphere where wind is influenced by friction.

Source: National Weather Service Source

(PBL), the bottom layer of the atmosphere, is highly influenced by the Earth’s surface. Factors such as topography,

topography

The land's physical attributes within a specific area or region, comprising both natural formations like mountains, valleys, and rivers, alongside human-made additions such as roads and buildings.

Source: Source

surface cover, and heat rising from the ground all contribute to complex coupling processes inside the PBL that govern weather and the interactions between the surface and atmosphere.

The first Coast-Urban-Rural Atmospheric Gradient Experiment (CoURAGE) science team meeting will be held June 6, 2024, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. There is an online attendance option as well. Registration for in-person or virtual attendance is open until May 1. There is no cost to register.

In response to community feedback, ARM is committed to making its calibration processes more transparent. The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility has a robust calibration ecosystem

ecosystem

A natural community of plants, animals, and other living organisms and the physical environment in which they live and interact.

Source: A student's guide to Global Climate Change Source

for its instruments. Regular calibration to established standards or reference instruments and ongoing calibration checks (verifications) help ARM ensure that it is providing the highest-quality measurements possible for scientists to conduct their research.

By now, the trends related to climate change

climate change

A change in the average conditions — such as temperature and rainfall — in a region over a long period of time.

Source: NASA Climate Kids Source

are clear: hotter days, more frequent strong storms and a host of other effects. In unparalleled facilities at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, researchers are helping to bring technologies for clean energy and climate resilience from the lab to the real world. During Earth Month, an occasion to highlight conservation and climate change efforts worldwide, here’s a look at how these Argonne centers are helping preserve and extend our resources.

If a tree falls in the forest — whether or not anyone registers the sound — one thing is for sure: there are lots of fungi around. Within a forest’s soil, hundreds of species decompose debris, mobilize nutrients from that decay, and deliver those nutrients to tree roots and soil. These fungi help shape a forest’s ecology.

ecology

The interrelationships between living organisms and their environments.

Source: NASA earth observatory Source

They store carbon and cycle key nutrients like nitrogen

nitrogen

Nitrogen, represented by the symbol N and atomic number 7, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that constitutes approximately 78% of Earth's atmosphere. It is vital for all life forms, as it is a fundamental part of amino acids, proteins, and DNA.

Source: Source

and phosphorus.

A team led by atmospheric scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory has demonstrated the first-ever remote observations of the fine-scale structure at the base of clouds. The results, just published in the Nature publication NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science, show that the air-cloud interface is not a perfect boundary but rather is a transition zone where aerosol

aerosols

Small particles or droplets, such as wildfire smoke, volcanic gases, or salty sea spray, that float in the air. They are emitted by both natural events and human activities.

Source: NASA Global Climate Change Source

particles suspended in Earth’s atmosphere give rise to the droplets that ultimately form clouds.

Caribbean islands are starting to shift away from importing expensive fossil fuels, using instead their own abundant sun and wind to make electricity. However, their frequent hurricanes can put a damper on solar energy generation. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a comprehensive modeling method to better predict the drop in electricity generation when these storm clouds overshadow solar panels.

For the next 17 months, technicians Tom Day and Frank Zurek of Hamelmann Communications will remain in northwestern Tasmania to monitor and maintain instruments during ARM’s Cloud And Precipitation Experiment at kennaook (CAPE-k). Day and Zurek are well acquainted with supporting ARM Mobile Facility deployments like CAPE-k. They both worked on the 2021–2023 Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) campaign near Crested Butte, Colorado.

Tennessee State University (TSU), with assistance from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), has garnered federal funding for an academy to help prepare the future clean energy workforce. As envisioned, the TSU Clean Energy Academy (CEA) initially will serve the university’s students who are interested in course work and practical field experience related to clean energy systems.