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Northern Chapter of the New Mexico Network for Women in Science and Engineering LUNCHTIME TALK SERIES https://nmnwse.org/lawis/lunchtalks sponsored by the Synergy Center , the Zocher Corporation and the Bradbury Science Museum Talk at 12:00, Thursday, March 24, 2005 Bldg 1, Los Alamos Research Park Synergy Center Conference Room, 3rd flr |
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Shaoping Chu, EES-2, LANL
Marine Biogeochemistry and Carbon Sequestration Studies using Los Alamos Ocean Models |
We have developed a biogeochemical version of the Los Alamos Parallel Ocean Program (POP) that supports global scale runs at grid cell sizes as fine as one fifth of a degree latitude/longitude. Geocycling is considered for trace nutrients, carbon and general greenhouse gases. Ecodynamic processing is included for all species. Comparisons to satellite chlorophyll imagery demonstrate that overall results are reasonable. The model is being applied to the simulation of iron fertilization experiments, with on the order of 30 square patches 100 kilometers on a side distributed simultaneously over the North Pacific, equatorial regions and the Southern Ocean. We ran control and iron fertilization situations side by side, and compared the resulting carbon flows and fluxes for all sites. We were able to rank each location based on its dominant flux characteristics. Results were also compared with in situ experiments, and analyzed against model trajectories and drifters. We also performed deep tracer injection experiments representing carbon dioxide injection at 8 distinct locations in the Pacific and Southern Ocean. Coarse resolution POP versions carried the tracers for a 100-year period and calculated percent return to the surface at key points in time. Regions were identified from which sequestered CO2 might return to the surface rapidly. Through such studies we are investigating the overall efficiency of large-scale ocean fertilization and its impact on marine ecosystems, chemistry, and climate altering trace gases emissions.
(LA-UR-05-1626; work done with Scott Elliott, CCS-2, LANL, Mathew Maltrud, T-3, LANL, Rainer Bleck, EES-2, LANL, Fei Chai, University of Maine, Francisco Chavez, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and David Erickson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
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Members and Nonmembers Welcome! Open to the Public |  |
