(Phys.org) —While it is important to understand how the Earth system works from a process-level basis, it is clear that human activities are increasingly challenging assumptions about how that system works. Factor in climate change, and it is quickly apparent: one size certainly does not fit all. In their paper, “The Regional Nature of Global Challenges: A Need and Strategy for Integrated Regional Modeling,” authors Dr. Kathy Hibbard and Dr. Anthony Janetos of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory make the case for integrated regional-scale analyses, where they discuss 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. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

(Phys.org) —A cloud’s class and status matters to the climate. That’s what researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found when they separated tropical clouds into seven categories. Clouds with low bases are more influential than high clouds because the low-base clouds have a greater effect on the amount of solar energy that reaches the ground. They also compared the clouds’ effects on the tropical energy balance using data collected from ten years of ground-based observations at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored locations in the tropical western Pacific region. Their findings show that cloud type is more important than previous satellite-based studies suggest. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that even though it is technically possible to reach ambitious goals to limit greenhouse gas concentrations by the end of the 21st century, the combined effects of limitations in technology availability and uneven global participation to curb emissions will affect costs. In addition, if the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters do not take any action to reduce emissions by the end of the century, those ambitious goals are impossible to reach no matter how much energy technologies improve. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

(Phys.org)—High in the atmosphere, cold and wispy cirrus clouds are the setting for a climate competition. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that dust particles in the atmosphere can grab enough water vapor available to reduce the overall number of ice crystals formed in those clouds by other particles. Though somewhat scarce, the cloud-drying dust has an impact on Earth’s incoming and outgoing energy that results in a net effect to cool the planet. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Using chemical imaging techniques, scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory proved for the first time that titanium dioxide’s surface defects shelter chemicals from decays caused by ultra-violet light. The defects are tiny gaps created when oxygen atoms are missing from the surface of this popular catalyst. Conventional wisdom says the vacancies are more active than the surface. The team showed the opposite is true for photooxidation. The carbon-based carboxylic group, trimethyl acetate (TMA), remains intact if bound in the vacancies while it readily decomposes at regular, or non-vacancy, sites on the surface. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

A research team from the State University of New York-Albany and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory used a global atmospheric model to estimate that charged ions produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere increase new atmospheric particles formed by a factor of ten when compared with particles formed by a corresponding neutral, non-charged, mechanism. Though cosmic rays ionization is important in forming aerosol particles and altering the make-up of clouds, the team determined that the changes during the solar cycle are insufficient to produce a measurable change in the Earth’s energy balance. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org