PNNL’s BEACONS project is turning a Pasha Hawaii cargo route into a long-term Pacific observatory, collecting autonomous measurements of aerosols, clouds, and weather.

From studying the multisector ripple effects of extreme events to exploring the chemical reactions that underlie life on Earth, two up-and-coming PNNL scientists were recognized for their scientific vision and prowess.

A theoretical index linking precipitation and atmospheric evaporative demand explains historical land humidity changes across observations, reanalyses, and climate models.

Observations, reanalysis, and E3SMv3 experiments linked inter-annual variability of Congo Basin surface temperature to the zonal position of precipitation over the Indo-Pacific maritime continent region.

Watershed-based representation discretized into topographic subgrid units better captured small-scale land cover, precipitation, temperature, and snow variability across multiple spatial scales.

Physics-informed and data-driven neural network models enhance Earth system models in simulating compound flooding at river-ocean interfaces.

Amine functionalized graphene oxide yields laminates with an enhanced capacity to adsorb rare earth elements, improved water transport, and greater stability for effective membrane-based separation of critical minerals.

Replacing commercial acid with acidic waste enables researchers to improve nickel extraction efficiency, lower projected costs, and improve process economics.

Localized gradients in magnetic fields have long-range effects on the concentration of rare earth ions in solution, facilitating field-driven extraction of critical minerals.

Studying a series of rare earth element compounds revealed differences in their magnetic behavior that will be leveraged for separations.

From developing new energy storage materials to revealing patterns of Earth’s complex systems, studies led by PNNL researchers are recognized for their innovation and influence.

Soil mineral preferentially incorporates rare earth elements based on size, with implications for critical mineral extraction.

The ability of a storm-resolving weather model to predict the growth of storms over central Argentina was evaluated with data from the Clouds, Aerosols, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) field campaign in central Argentina.

Researchers have developed the first coastal transport model for microplastics to understand how particles move in waterways and coastal currents.

Researchers from PNNL and Parallel Works, Inc., applied machine learning methods to predict how much oxygen and nutrients are used by microorganisms in river sediments.

Lakes are important sentinels of climate change and contribute significantly to the emissions of the second most important greenhouse gas—methane.

The rate of conversion of cloud droplets to precipitation, known as the autoconversion rate, remains a major source of uncertainty in characterizing aerosol’s cloud lifetime effects and precipitation in global and regional models.

To assess the impact of observation period and gauge location, model parameters were learned on scenarios using different chunks of streamflow observations.

This study presents an automated method to detect and classify open- and closed-cell mesoscale cellular convection (MCC) using long-term ground-based radar observations.

In the search for rare physics events, extremely pure materials are essential. A partnership between PNNL and Ultramet has led to tungsten with low contamination from other elements.