Climate

Climate Security

The Climate Security program works to understand and prepare the nation for the national security implications of climate change.

National security is Sandia National Laboratories’ foundational mission. Our nation’s security can only be achieved in a stable international environment. Sandia maintains close working relationships within the many agencies of the intelligence community and the DoD. There is a growing recognition of the importance of the impact of climate change on emergent security dynamics and intervention capabilities as documented in a series of reports. The UK Ministry of Defense previously devoted more than one-third of its analysis on threats due to climate change (Global Strategic Trends: 2007–2036). The climate instability we now anticipate will produce conditions that increase border tensions, reduce the abilities of allies to respond, and provide an environment ripe for breeding terrorism and extremism. Most importantly, the DoD report, “Impacts of Climate Change,” notes the critical need to substantiate climate concerns by developing analytical tools to ensure self consistency, realism, validation, and a concrete foundation for strategic/tactical and operational execution.

Sensing and Monitoring

The Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring (ARM) program is the Department of Energy’s largest global climate-change research effort. Created in 1989 to help resolve scientific uncertainties related to global climate change, the ARM program focuses on the role of clouds and aerosols.

Modeling and Analysis

The uncertainty in climate change and its impacts is of great concern to the international community. While the ever-growing body of scientific evidence substantiates present climate change, the driving concern about this issue lies in the consequences it poses to humanity. Policy makers will most likely need to make decisions about climate policy before climate scientists have quantified all relevant uncertainties about the impacts of climate change. Sandia scientists seek to develop a risk-assessment methodology to evaluate uncertain future climatic conditions.

• Systems Modeling

Carbon Management

A growing consensus exists among climate scientists, economists, and policy makers that the link between man-made emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) and climate instability is sufficiently likely to motivate global actions. Energy use and energy generation are at the heart of the problem, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasting that global electricity generation will nearly double from 2005 to 2030.

• Carbon Management Systems
• Molecular Geochemistry
• Geomechanics Laboratory
• Earth Science
• Bureau of Land Management
• Fossil Energy
• Liquid Natural Gas (LNG)
• Clean Coal

Water Security

The safety, security, and sustainability of our fresh/potable water supply are national security issues. Nationally, water is a critical part of our economy through the connection to energy production and to our economic prosperity and security.

• Energy-Water Nexus
• Energy and Water in the Western and Texas Interconnects

Climate Publications

• EERE Security Overview 3.13 MB
• Analysis of Drought Impacts on Electricity Production in the Western and Texas Interconnections of the United States 2.86 MB
• A Model for the Nation: Promoting Education and Innovation in Vermont’s Electricity Sector 6.83 MB
• A Reliability and Availability Sensitivity Study of a Large Photovoltaic System 935.89 kB
• Economic and Policy Analyses Provide Key Perspectives on Energy 466.91 kB

Upcoming Climate Events

• NETL CO2 Capture Technology Meeting
  August 22, 2011 to August 26, 2011, Pittsburgh, PA
  

  The 2011 CO2 Capture Technology Meeting will provide a public forum to present carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology development status and accomplishments made under NETL’s Innovations for Existing Plants, Carbon Sequestration and Demonstration Programs (CCPI -Clean Coal Power Initiative and ICCS -Industrial Carbon Capture and Sequestration). In addition, DOE’s ARPA-E will also highlight their CO2 capture portfolio. This year’s meeting will cover post-combustion, oxy-combustion, and precombustion carbon capture. Chemical Looping and CO2 compression technologies will also be included. The meeting will have open registration so that in addition to researchers, participants may include employees of other government agencies, electric utilities, research organizations, and state regulatory agencies.

• 12th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Environment and Security
  January 18, 2012 to January 20, 2012, Washington, D.C.
  

  The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) will present its 12th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Environment and Security, January 18-20, 2012 in Washington, DC. The event will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

• TedxABQ 2012: Engage Your Passion
  September 8, 2012 to September 8, 2012, Albuquerque, NM
  

  Mark Boslough will be giving a presentation at the TedxABQ 2012: Engage Your Passion called, “Betting on Global Warming.”

See All Upcoming Events

Climate News

RESOURCE: Interview with Nancy Brune, Sandia National LaboratoriesNancy Brune,  a Senior Policy analyst at Sandia National Laboratories and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, discusses security and sustainability with discusses security and sustainability with Ed Saltzberg, Managing Director of the Security and Sustainability Forum. Click here to listen to this audio track at the website for the [...]

The Rush to Exploit an Increasingly Ice-Free ArcticIt’s that time of year again, when we check in to see where the annual Arctic sea ice minimum will end up. We haven’t quite bottomed out at the end of the melt season, yet, but already 2012 has set new records for smallest Arctic sea ice extent and volume, smashing through the numbers from 2007. Records are often [...]