Office of Biological and
Environmental Research Weekly Report
November 24, 2008
Extending Climate Data Records to the
Qing Dynasty. Extending climate data beyond the
instrumental record is important since it provides a context of recent changes
within the back drop of long-term climate. The rainy season is an important
climate feature over
Reference: Wang W.-C., Ge Q., Hao Z and Zheng J.,
Zhang P., and Sung S., 2008: Rainy Season at
Media Interest: No
Contact: Anjuli Bamzai, SC-23.1, (301) 903-0294
Two New Data Analysis Tools Developed for Proteomics Researchers. Proteomics researchers from the Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the
References: Du X, SJ Callister, NP Manes, JN Adkins, RA Alexandridis, X Zeng, JH Roh,
WE Smith, TJ Donohue, S Kaplan, RD Smith, and MS Lipton. 2008. "A
Computational Strategy to Analyze Label-Free Temporal Bottom-Up Proteomics
Data." Journal of Proteome Research 7(7):2595-604.
Polpitiya AD, WJ Qian, N Jaitly, VA Petyuk,
JN Adkins, DG Camp II, GA Anderson, and RD Smith. 2008. "DAnTE: A
Statistical Tool for Quantitative Analysis of -omics Data." Bioinformatics
24(13):1556-8.
Media
Interest: No
Contact:
Improved Approach
to Calculating Soil Respiration. Soil respiration is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in the
global carbon cycle. The temperature sensitivity of soil respiration is
one of the most important processes in the terrestrial carbon cycling and
carbon – climate interactions. To date, it has been difficult to estimate
sensitivity parameters from measurements, leading to uncertainties in coupled
carbon-climate simulations. In the November 14 edition of the journal
Global Biogeochemical Cycles, scientists from ORNL report a new approach called
the ‘localized ratio fitting’ (LRF) which is shown to isolate and remove confounding
effects and thus accurately estimate the ‘true’ temperature sensitivity of soil
respiration. This improved calculation method suggests that a long-held
assumption of seasonal variation in temperature sensitivity may be an artifact
of earlier calculation methods.
Reference: Gu L, Hanson PJ, Post WM, Liu Q
(2008) A novel approach for identifying the true temperature sensitivity from
soil respiration measurements. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 22, GB4009,
doi:10.1029/2007GB003164
Media Interest: No
Contact: Mike Kuperberg,
SC-23.1, (301) 903-3281
DOE Climate Scientist Appointed as New
Interagency Coordinating Committee Lead. Jason Tomlinson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
(PNNL), has been appointed the new lead for the Interagency Coordinating
Committee for Airborne Geosciences Research and Applications (ICCAGRA). The role of ICCAGRA is to improve
cooperation, foster awareness, facilitate communication among sponsoring
agencies having airborne platforms and instruments for research and applications,
and serve as a resource to senior level management on airborne geosciences
issues. The focus is to increase the effective utilization of the Federal
airborne fleet in support of airborne geoscience research programs conducted by
the individual agencies. Tomlinson is
the operation lead of DOE’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate
Research Facility’s (ACRF)’s Aerial Vehicles Program and serves in a number of
research and science support capacities. This appointment represents other Federal
agency’s recognition of DOE capabilities in conducting suborbital or aerial
platform (both piloted and unpiloted) measurements of atmospheric properties
related to climate science and improving remote sensing retrievals of
climate-related parameters. Additionally, it builds on the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Energy,
addressing Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Global Observing System Science
Research, signed October 2007. Mr. Tomlinson’s first role will be to coordinate
and plan a joint meeting with European equivalent of ICCAGRA, the European
Fleet for Airborne Research (EUFAR), at the 33rd International
Symposium Remote Sensing of Environment meeting in
Media Interest: Probably None.
Contact: Rickey Petty, SC-23.1, (301) 903-5548
DOE Researchers Contribute to New NRC
Report on Potential Impact of High-End Computing. The
Reference: The Potential Impact
of High-End Capability Computing on four illustrative fields of Science and
Engineering. Committee on the Potential Impact of High-End Computing on
Illustrative Fields of Science and Engineering.
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences and Division on Earth and
Life Sciences. National Research Council of the National Academies. The
National Academies Press (2008). http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12451
Media Interest: No
Contact: Anjuli Bamzai, SC-23.1, (301) 903-0294