Climate Security Research Lead

Seattle, WA

Climate Security Research Lead

Seattle, WA

Biography

Climate change has a wide range of impacts, including implications for national security missions. Drought can have an impact on energy supply by reducing the output of hydroelectric dams. Rising sea levels endanger coastal infrastructure, including nuclear power plants. Jill Brandenberger provides environmental intelligence to anticipate and plan for such risks.

A coastal oceanographer, Brandenberger began her 25-year career at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) leading research to identify natural and human-driven changes in coastal water quality over the last 300 years. She used this information to estimate recovery rates for contaminated coastal systems, such as those affected by urbanization and low dissolved oxygen, which cause large fish kills.

Brandenberger is now in charge of assessing how national security missions might be affected by changing climatic conditions both now and in the future. Understanding historical and potential future rainfall patterns, for example, could help guide construction to enable infrastructure, such as bridges, that can be sustained for decades. Brandenberger works with teams including climate modelers to project what rainfall amount and intensity might look like decades from now so that future construction accounts for changes in baseline climate conditions. Her passion for research at the nexus of environmental intelligence, climate science, arctic resilience, and ocean studies was captured in the Department of Energy’s Women@ENERGY series.

In many cases, anticipating future climate conditions requires better observations, particularly in coastal systems. To that end, Brandenberger is working with a broader PNNL team to develop an underwater research testbed at the PNNL-Sequim campus. The testbed is a proving ground for devices that can harness ocean energy to power autonomous ocean-going vehicles or research buoys and extend their time at sea making measurements rather than having to come back to the dock to recharge their batteries.

Research Interest

  • Climate Security
  • Arctic Resilience
  • Environmental Intelligence
  • Oceans

Education

  • MS in Environmental Science, Texas A&M University
  • BS in Marine Biology, Texas A&M University

Publications

2021

  • Fujimoto T.C., T.J. Doster, A. Attarian, J.M. Brandenberger, and N.O. Hodas. 2021. "The Effect of Antagonistic Behavior in Reinforcement Learning." In AAAI-21 Workshop on Reinforcement Learning in Games, February 8, 2021, Virtual. Menlo Park, California:Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. PNNL-SA-157666.

2019

  • Strivens J.E., J.M. Brandenberger, and R.K. Johnston. 2019. "Data Trend Shifts Induced by Method of Concentration for Trace Metals in Seawater: Automated Online Preconcentration vs Borohydride Reductive Coprecipitation of Nearshore Seawater Samples for Analysis of Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb via ICP-MS." Limnology and Oceanography Methods 17, no. 4:266-276. PNNL-SA-140847. doi:10.1002/lom3.10311

2018

  • Johnston R.K., M. Aylward, G. Rosen, J.E. Strivens, N.J. Schlafer, J.M. Brandenberger, and N. Hayman, et al. 2018. "Assessing 21st century contaminants of concern using integrative passive sampling devices to obtain more meaningful and cost-effective data on impacts from stormwater runoff." In Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference, April 4-6, 2018, Seattle, Washington. Bellingham, Washington:Western Washington University. PNNL-SA-137933.
  • Johnston R.K., M. Aylward, G.H. Rosen, J.E. Strivens, N.J. Schlafer, M. Colvin, and J.M. Brandenberger, et al. 2018. "Ambient monitoring to inform the protection of beneficial uses and achieve water quality goals in Sinclair and Dyes Inlets, Puget Sound, WA." In Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference, April 4-6, 2018, Seattle, Washington. Bellingham, Washington:Western Washington University. PNNL-SA-137785.

2017

  • Mace E.K., C.E. Aalseth, J.M. Brandenberger, A.R. Day, E.W. Hoppe, P.H. Humble, and M.E. Keillor, et al. 2017. "Methods for Using Argon-39 to Age-Date Groundwater using Ultra-Low-Background Proportional Counting." Applied Radiation and Isotopes 126. PNNL-SA-121026. doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.12.037
  • Williams R.M., C.E. Aalseth, J.M. Brandenberger, A.R. Day, E.C. Finn, E.S. Fuller, and E.W. Hoppe, et al. 2017. "Development of a Low-Level 39Ar Calibration Standard - Analysis by Absolute Gas Counting Measurements Augmented with Simulation." Applied Radiation and Isotopes 126. PNNL-SA-120659. doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.02.018

2016

  • Hall J.C., C.E. Aalseth, R. Bonicalzi, J.M. Brandenberger, A.R. Day, P.H. Humble, and E.K. Mace, et al. 2016. "39Ar/Ar measurements using ultra-low background proportional counters." Applied Radiation and Isotopes 107. PNNL-SA-98510. doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.10.006
  • Keillor M.E., C.E. Aalseth, L.M. Arrigo, J.M. Brandenberger, J.M. Cloutier, G.C. Eiden, and J.E. Fast, et al. 2016. "Measurement Background and the Sediment Age-Dating Reach of 32Si." Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 307, no. 3:2313-2319. PNNL-SA-100544. doi:10.1007/s10967-015-4592-5

2015

  • Keillor M.E., C.E. Aalseth, L.M. Arrigo, J.M. Brandenberger, J.M. Cloutier, G.C. Eiden, and J.E. Fast, et al. 2015. "Measurement Background and the Sediment Age-Dating Reach of 32Si." In MARC-X: 10th International Conference on Methods and Applications of Radioanalytical Chemistry, April 12-17, 2015, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. La Grange Park, Illinois:American Nuclear Society. PNNL-SA-109510.

2012

  • Louchouarn P., L. Kuo, J.M. Brandenberger, F. Marcantonio, C.R. Garland, G.A. Gill, and V.I. Cullinan. 2012. "Pyrogenic inputs of anthropogenic Pb and Hg to sediments of the Hood Canal, Washington, in the 20th century: Source evidence from stable Pb isotopes and PAH signatures." Environmental Science & Technology 46, no. 11:5772-5781. PNWD-SA-9844. doi:10.1021/es300269t

2011

  • Brandenberger J.M., P. Louchouarn, and E.A. Crecelius. 2011. "Natural and Post-Urbanization Signatures of Hypoxia in Two Basins of Puget Sound: Historical Reconstruction of Redox Sensitive Metals and Organic Matter Inputs." Aquatic Geochemistry 17, no. 4-5:645-670. PNWD-SA-9417. doi:10.1007/s10498-011-9129-0
  • Kuo L., P. Louchouarn, B. Herbert, J.M. Brandenberger, T.L. Wade, and E.A. Crecelius. 2011. "Combustion-derived substances in deep basins of Puget Sound: Historical inputs from fossil fuel and biomass combustion." Environmental Pollution 159, no. 4:983-990. PNWD-SA-9259. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2010.12.012

2008

  • Brandenberger J.M., E.A. Crecelius, and P. Louchouarn. 2008. "Historical Inputs and Natural Recovery Rates of Heavy Metals in Puget Sound during the 20th Century." Environmental Science & Technology 42, no. 18:6786-6790. PNWD-SA-8227. doi:10.1021/es703099c
  • Miracle A.L., A.L. Bunn, J.M. Brandenberger, D.J. Gaspar, and J.A. Ward. 2008. "Fate and transport of titania nanoparticles in freshwater mesocosms." In Proceedings of the International Environmental Nanotechnology Conference: Applications and Implications, October 7-9, 2008, Chicago, Illinois. Washington Dc:Environmental Protection Agency. PNNL-SA-62622.

2007

2004

  • Brandenberger J.M., P. Louchouarn, B. Herbert, and P. Tissot. 2004. "Geochemical and hydrodynamic controls on arsenic and trace metal cycling in a seasonally stratified US sub-tropical reservoir." Applied Geochemistry 19, no. 10:1601-1623. PNWD-SA-6064.

2003

  • Crecelius E.A., R.K. Johnston, J. Leather, J. Guerrero, M.C. Miller, and J.M. Brandenberger. 2003. "Contaminant Mass Balance for Sinclair and Dyes Inlets, Puget Sound, WA." In 2003 Georgia Basin/Puget Sound Research Conference Proceedings, Vancouver, BC, March 31 - April 3, 2003, edited by TW Droscher and DA Fraser. Olympia, Washington:Puget Sound Action Team. PNNL-SA-38523.