Science

AGU: Early Spring Rain Boosts Methane From Thawing Permafrost By 30 Percent

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Grassy plants called sedges grow across the surface of the bog that Neumann and her team studied. Photo by Rebecca Neumann/University of Washington
 
A UW-led team has found that early spring rainfall warms up a thawing permafrost bog in Alaska and promotes the growth of plants and methane-producing microbes. Photo by Rebecca Neumann/University of Washington
 
AGU News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arctic permafrost is thawing as the Earth warms due to climate change. In some cases scientists predict that this thawing soil will release increasing amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse
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Science On Tap: Latest Innovations In Fuel-Cell Research At LANL Discussed At UnQuarked Feb. 11

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Dr. Yu Seung Kim of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Materials Synthesis and Integrated Devices Group. Courtesy photo
 
Los Alamos Creative District News:
 
Join the Bradbury Science Museum and the Los Alamos Creative District for Science On Tap at 5:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 11, at UnQuarked Wine Room.
 
This discussion will feature Dr. Yu Seung Kim of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Materials Synthesis and Integrated Devices Group. This event replaces the previously scheduled Feb. 25 Science On Tap.
 
Fuel-cell research has been a hot topic at Los Alamos since the 1970s.
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AGU: Passing Aircraft Wring Extra Snow And Rain Out Of Clouds

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A radar station at Kerava, Finland, recorded a trail of heightened precipitation—the yellow streak to the left—on the aircraft approach path to Helsinki-Vantaa airport (EFHK) in March 2009. Courtesy AGU/Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
 
‘Hole-punch’ clouds like this one seen over Houston, Minn. in November 2014, occur when airplanes fly through a thin cloud of supercooled water vapor, causing water droplets to freeze. The tiny crystals fall, leaving a hole to mark the plane’s passage. When such supercooled clouds overlay a lower layer of precipitation, the falling
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NMHU: New Geologic Research Instrument Opens Up Exciting New Research Opportunities

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Highlands geology professor Michael Petronis installs a new instrument in the university’s Paleomagnetic Laboratory. Courtesy/HU

 
By RICK LOFFREDO
New Mexico Highlands University

LAS VEGAS, N.M. – A new geologic research instrument at New Mexico Highlands University will open up opportunities for student research that will advance knowledge across the science disciplines of geology, chemistry and physics.

Thanks to a $550,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Highlands has added a superconducting rock magnetometer to its state-of-the-art Paleomagnetic – Rock Read More

Perfect Pi Day Celebration In Los Alamos March 14

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COMMUNITY News:

The Los Alamos Youth Activity Centers, a program of Los Alamos Family Council, will host the first ever communitywide Perfect Pi Day Celebration.

The March 14 event is 5-6 p.m. at the Ashley Pond Park Pavilion in Los Alamos.

The Pi and Pie event includes a silent auction to bid on pies from local restaurants and bakeries, and the sale of raffle tickets for the chance to pie local celebrities.

Youth Activity Center members will host free pi friendly activities throughout the afternoon and receive one free raffle ticket for the celebrity pie activity.

To volunteer your face or business, Read More

LANL: RFP Issued For New Supercomputer ‘Crossroads’

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Los Alamos National Laboratory. CourtesyLANL
 
LANL News:
 
The next big supercomputer is out for bid. A Request For Proposal (RFP) was released Thursday for Crossroads, a high-performance computer that will support the nation’s Stockpile Stewardship Program.
 
The RFP is a joint effort of the New Mexico Alliance for Computing at Extreme Scale (ACES), a collaboration between Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratories.
 
“Los Alamos National Laboratory is proud to serve as the home of Crossroads,” LANL Director Thom Mason said. “This high-performance
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LANL Director Thom Mason Reflects On First 90 Days

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LANL Director Thom Mason. Photo by Bonnie J. Gordon/ladailypost.com
 
By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailypost.com

Thom Mason today completes his first 90 days at the helm of Los Alamos National Laboratory.

During an interview in his office last Thursday, Mason spoke of his admiration for the scientists, engineers and staff at the Lab and his gratitude to the community for its warm welcome. He also touched on the best thing about his job as well as the challenges.

“During these first 90 days one thing that has really struck me as I’ve visited the various areas of the Laboratory

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National Weather Service Announces Major Upgrade To Cannon Air Force Base Doppler (KFDX) Radar

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NOAA News:
 
The Cannon Air Force Base WSR-88D Doppler Radar near Clovis will undergo a major hardware upgrade beginning Wednesday, Feb. 6.
 
The radar will be shut down for approximately three weeks while technicians replace the pedestal, as well as the stand that rotates and positions the antenna.
 
Once the antenna is disassembled, the protective radar dome and pedestal will be removed by a crane. A new pedestal will then be installed, the protective dome replaced, and the antenna reassembled.
 
Once the estimated three-week project commences, the radar cannot and
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Who Are The Four Last Graduates Of Los Alamos Ranch School?

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Boys of the Los Alamos Ranch School at dinner in the Dining Hall at Fuller Lodge, ca. 1930s before the final group of graduates left the school in 1943. Courtesy/LAHS

By Sharon Snyder
Los Alamos Historical Society

In the 25 years of the Los Alamos Ranch School’s existence, more than 550 boys came to the Pajarito Plateau as students and/or summer campers. Almost all of them went on to earn college degrees and make contributions to their chosen communities and, in many cases, to the nation.

The last four boys to graduate from the ranch school in late January of 1943 went on to make the school proud, and Read More

Astronomy Superstar’s ‘Failed Retirement’ Benefits UA

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Robert C. Kennicutt Jr.
 
UA News:
 
TUCSON, Ariz. — An astronomer whose discoveries helped explain how stars are born and plumb the depths of the cosmos more accurately is back at the University of Arizona because he “failed at retiring”, as he puts it.
 
Robert C. Kennicutt Jr. first joined the UA Steward Observatory as an associate professor 30 years ago. In 2008, he was lured to the University of Cambridge, whose faculty roster has included Sir Isaac Newton and the late Stephen Hawking. In 2017, Kennicutt faced mandatory retirement as is common with universities in Europe, but
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