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New research predicts peak groundwater extraction for key basins around the globe by the year 2050. The map indicates groundwater storage trends for Earth’s 37 largest aquifers using data from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory GRACE satellite. Credit: NASA.

Groundwater withdrawals are expected to peak in about one-third of the world’s basins by 2050, potentially triggering significant trade and agriculture shifts, a new analysis finds. 

An international team using neutrons set the first benchmark (one nanosecond) for a polymer-electrolyte and lithium-salt mixture. Findings could produce safer, more powerful lithium batteries. Credit: Phoenix Pleasant/ORNL

An international team using neutrons set the first benchmark (one nanosecond) for a polymer-electrolyte and lithium-salt mixture. Findings could produce safer, more powerful lithium batteries.

3D printed “Frankenstein design” collimator show the “scars” where the individual parts are joined

Scientists at ORNL have developed 3D-printed collimator techniques that can be used to custom design collimators that better filter out noise during different types of neutron scattering experiments

Astrophysicists at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and University of California, Berkeley created 3D simulations of X-ray bursts on the surfaces of neutron stars. Two views of these X-ray bursts are shown: the left column is viewed from above while the right column shows it from a shallow angle above the surface.

Astrophysicists at the State University of New York, Stony Brook and University of California, Berkeley, used the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility’s Summit supercomputer to compare models of X-ray bursts in 2D and 3D. 

A multidirectorate group from ORNL attended AGU23 and came away inspired for the year ahead in geospatial, earth and climate science

ORNL scientists and researchers attended the annual American Geophysical Union meeting and came away inspired for the year ahead in geospatial, earth and climate science. 

: ORNL climate modeling expertise contributed to an AI-backed model that assesses global emissions of ammonia from croplands now and in a warmer future, while identifying mitigation strategies. This map highlights croplands around the world. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey

ORNL climate modeling expertise contributed to a project that assessed global emissions of ammonia from croplands now and in a warmer future, while also identifying solutions tuned to local growing conditions.

Using a better modeling framework, with data collected from Mississippi Delta marshes, scientists are able to improve the predictions of methane and other greenhouse gas emissions. Credit: Matthew Berens/ORNL, U.S Dept. of Energy

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using a new modeling framework in conjunction with data collected from marshes in the Mississippi Delta to improve predictions of climate-warming methane and nitrous oxide

ORNL’s Tomás Rush examines a culture as part of his research into the plant-fungus relationship that can help or hinder ecosystem health. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

New computational framework speeds discovery of fungal metabolites, key to plant health and used in drug therapies and for other uses. 
 

2023 Top Science Achievements at SNS & HFIR

The 2023 top science achievements from HFIR and SNS feature a broad range of materials research published in high impact journals such as Nature and Advanced Materials.

Frontier’s exascale power enables the Simple Cloud-Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model to run years’ worth of climate simulations at unprecedented speed and scale. Credit: Ben Hillman/Sandia National Laboratories, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A 19-member team of scientists from across the national laboratory complex won the Association for Computing Machinery’s 2023 Gordon Bell Special Prize for Climate Modeling for developing a model that uses the world’s first exascale supercomputer to simulate decades’ worth of cloud formations.