Studies of earth and atmospheric processes have given us a far better understanding of our planet’s history — how plate tectonics have sculpted the earth’s surface, how life has been sustained over billions of years, and how our climate is a product of geological, biological, atmospheric and oceanic processes. Yet critical new questions have arisen.
How will human activities change global climate over the next several decades? How will regional ecosystems be affected? What are the environmental costs and benefits of switching to green energy technologies and what will be the effect on climate? What is the best way to remediate contaminated sites? And how can we best manage our fresh water resources?
Berkeley Lab researchers are pursuing answers to these and other questions through programs in hydrogeology and reservoir engineering, geophysics and geomechanics, geochemistry, microbial ecology and environmental engineering. Berkeley Lab has also established a Center for Integrated Earth System Modeling aimed at providing a closer link between climate change models and mitigation efforts. Envisioned are regional models that can deliver detailed predictions about climate, water or energy more than 20 years out and global models that can forecast changes to the end of the century.
