although the changes are small, the impact is large, and the fact that the chemistry of the open ocean is changing is the “smoking gun” of climate change. as we try to grasp the impact of human influence on the planet, these measurements are providing critical insight.

long-term changes of the climate system are hard to determine because of a paucity of data. with funding from nsf, scientists at the bermuda institute of ocean sciences seek to fill this gap through what is now the longest continuous open-ocean time series program.

in 1954, henry stommel, an oceanographer at the woods hole oceanographic institution, established the regularly reporting station 18 kilometers southeast of bermuda. known as station s, it is a base from which scientists can measure ocean salinity, temperature and carbon dioxide (co₂₎ down to a depth of nearly two miles. the co₂ record, started in 1983 by the late charles d. keeling from the scripps institution of oceanography, is the longest such time series anywhere in the world.

the data show that, since 1954:

• the ocean has been heating at a rate of about 0.5 a degree every 50 years
• the ocean surface is getting saltier due to evaporation
• co₂ levels are increasing in equilibrium with the rising atmospheric levels, resulting in ocean acidification

this work will help to increase energy savings in automobiles by improving engine technologies that operate on an expanding set of alternative fuels, with reduced emissions and increased efficiency.

the development and use of the combustion vessel provides the capacity for research and education to a wide range of users. jeffrey naber and a team of mtu researchers, graduate and undergraduate students study critical aspects of ignition, sprays and combustion at temperatures, pressures and conditions that are found in the cylinder of internal combustion engines, leading to better fuel efficiencies in future automobiles.

in addition, the lab is regularly used for outreach activities including summer youth and women in engineering programs. research is supported by nsf and conducted in collaboration with sandia national laboratory and their established engine combustion network. funding for the research is also provided by ford motor company, general motors and the u.s. department of energy.

by drawing on the knowledge, expertise and creativity of large numbers of citizens, climate colab has the potential to produce innovative new solutions to complex problems. the tools and ideas on the site are also a valuable resource for anyone interested in sustainability, including scientists, politicians and journalists.

through climate colab, citizens can run computational models of the effects of individual actions, new technologies and government policies. the models demonstrate how proposed solutions will affect the environment and citizens can debate proposed solutions through the online forum.

an electronic voting component allows citizens to rate the credibility of different solutions and choose the ones they like best. using the forum, communities can voice multiple perspectives on an issue and focus on the best possible solutions to complex problems.

to learn more, visit climate colab.

a result of the loss of electricity, overheating at the power plant led to significant releases of iodine, cesium and other radioisotopes to the environment.

japanese officials recently raised the severity of the nuclear power plant incident to level 7, the highest level on the international scale and comparable only to the chernobyl incident 25 years ago, says ken buesseler, a chemical oceanographer at the woods hole oceanographic institution.

“when it comes to the oceans, however,” says buesseler, “the impact of fukushima exceeds chernobyl.”

radionuclides in seawater have been reported from the fukushima plant’s discharge canals, from coastal waters five to ten kilometers south of the plant, and from 30 kilometers offshore.

“levels of some radionuclides are at least an order of magnitude higher than the highest levels in 1986 in the baltic and black seas, the two ocean water bodies closest to chernobyl,” says buesseler.

he has been awarded a rapid-response grant from the national science foundation’s (nsf) division of ocean sciences to establish baseline concentrations of several radionuclides in the atlantic and pacific oceans.

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the direct conversion of solar photons (tiny particles of light) to power the planet is one of the most important challenges of this century. although many efforts focus on photovoltaics, the approach taken by these researchers follows a relatively unexplored path: trapping solar energy in the form of high-energy chemical bonds using light.

because these molecules store absorbed sunlight as heat, they can use the energy at a later time and place. this strategy has several key advantages over traditional approaches:

• heat loss is reduced by replacing thermal storage with chemical storage;
• stored energy is transported over long distances and times;
• temperatures can increase through control of chemical reaction rate;
• the adjustable molecular frame allows for optimal solar spectral overlap and maximal energy capture; and
• the storage material is completely recycled.
• the molecules under investigation constitute prototypes of structures that may eventually find use in thermal batteries that are rechargeable by sunlight.

efficient hydrogen storage remains a bottleneck for the upcoming hydrogen economy. however, mofs may offer a solution because of the distinctive qualities they possess such as large, overall pore volume and surface area, adjustable pore sizes and a tunable framework.

these remarkable materials can potentially fill the niche between other physisorbents, such as activated carbon, that have similar uptake capacities at low temperatures but little attraction to hydrogen at ambient temperature, and chemical sorbents such as hydrides, that have high hydrogen uptakes but undesirable release energy and heat issues.

team members continue to explore the potential of novel, efficient, inexpensive and environmentally friendly sorbents to store energy-related gases such as hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide. mofs are crystalline frameworks consisting of metal ions and organic ligands–ions or molecules that bind to the metal ions. in some cases, pores inside an open mof are stable after removal of guest molecules (often solvents) and the mof can be used for gas storage.

the compounds studied by the zhou group were characterized through diffraction studies using the high-energy beamline at chemmatcars, a high-brilliance synchrotron x-ray facility supported by nsf.

microbial fuel cells are a potential source of green energy, producing electricity without combustion while cleaning wastewater. but, before industry builds commercial facilities, researchers must carefully assess the production capabilities and engineering designs of biofilm reactors. the northwestern university research identified a design issue that could bear significantly upon reactors’ production capacity.

the findings also highlight the ability of scientific computing to complement laboratory research. laboratory experiments cannot reveal the small-scale structure of biofilms or other precise information related to microbial fuel cell power production. nor can they explain the sharp decrease in power production that occurs as biofilms mature.

to address this gap, researchers simulated the fuel-cell activity using mathematical models. they discovered that the biofilm overgrowth can lead to power loss. the images at right show how even slight bacterial overgrowth can lead to regions in the reactor with drastically reduced power production.

the initiative for sustainability and energy at northwestern university did the computer modeling in collaboration with laboratories at arizona state university and the university of wisconsin, milwaukee. the research serves as an example of how mathematicians, scientists and engineers can combine their talents to solve challenging problems.

project greenlight added direct current-powered (dc) servers as one of its instrumented server facility capabilities. this enables real-world experiments to gauge whether large computing facilities can operate on less power if they take alternating current (ac) out of the equation.

the experiment at the university of california, san diego (ucsd), is part of project greenlight’s modular data center, which measures the energy efficiency of information and communication technologies. data from the project will help researchers build greener information technology systems and software.

at ucsd, engineers switched a set of servers in a campus data center to operate continuously on 380-volt dc. the switch to dc power holds great potential on a campus where supercomputers and other high-technology facilities represent a disproportionately large share of energy consumption. it is estimated that companies could save billions of dollars each year in capital costs and ongoing energy savings by using all-dc distribution in their data centers.

at traditional server facilities, ac power is converted to dc power in the uninterruptible power supply system to charge batteries and condition the power. from there it gets converted back to ac to drive the power supplies of computing equipment to run central processing units, memory, disks and communications components.

skipping or consolidating the above conversion steps can save considerable electricity usage overall in the power distribution chain and in cooling. each conversion loses power and generates additional heat, both of which reduce the overall power and cooling efficiency of the server facility. directly providing dc to the server facility bypasses many conversion steps and generates less heat, leading to overall higher efficiency.

these additives can improve crop yields, help inoculate plants with beneficial microorganisms and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. better crop yields can increase farm income and improve human nutrition. the combination of biochar production and clean-burning cook stoves may reduce indoor air pollution and fuel use in developing countries. this would be especially helpful in africa, where smoke from cooking fires is still one of the major causes of respiratory diseases.

the survival and efficient operation of beneficial microorganisms depends on the material that the organisms live on. while biochars can support microbial growth, positive outcomes depend on selecting the most appropriate biochar to support each organism.

a team from cornell university, the university of california, irvine, the university of new south wales and the world agroforestry center are investigating a variety of aspects of biochar development. the cornell team has already shown that various biochars can provide either good or poor living conditions for microorganisms.

switching from burning wood to charring agricultural residues provides a number of benefits. clean-burning stoves would reduce the amount of wood needed for cooking, thereby easing womens’ collection workloads. the stoves would also use fewer forest resources, allowing for improved preservation. the potentially valuable biochar product could help users adopt modern stoves that burn cleaner.