Oak Ridge National Laboratory

About: Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a facility organization based out in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Neutron & Ion. The organization has 31868 authors who have published 73724 publications receiving 2633689 citations. The organization is also known as: ORNL.

Using field observations to inform thermal hydrology models of permafrost dynamics with ATS (v0.83)

Abstract: . Climate change is profoundly transforming the carbon-rich Arctic tundra landscape, potentially moving it from a carbon sink to a carbon source by increasing the thickness of soil that thaws on a seasonal basis. However, the modeling capability and precise parameterizations of the physical characteristics needed to estimate projected active layer thickness (ALT) are limited in Earth system models (ESMs). In particular, discrepancies in spatial scale between field measurements and Earth system models challenge validation and parameterization of hydrothermal models. A recently developed surface–subsurface model for permafrost thermal hydrology, the Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS), is used in combination with field measurements to achieve the goals of constructing a process-rich model based on plausible parameters and to identify fine-scale controls of ALT in ice-wedge polygon tundra in Barrow, Alaska. An iterative model refinement procedure that cycles between borehole temperature and snow cover measurements and simulations functions to evaluate and parameterize different model processes necessary to simulate freeze–thaw processes and ALT formation. After model refinement and calibration, reasonable matches between simulated and measured soil temperatures are obtained, with the largest errors occurring during early summer above ice wedges (e.g., troughs). The results suggest that properly constructed and calibrated one-dimensional thermal hydrology models have the potential to provide reasonable representation of the subsurface thermal response and can be used to infer model input parameters and process representations. The models for soil thermal conductivity and snow distribution were found to be the most sensitive process representations. However, information on lateral flow and snowpack evolution might be needed to constrain model representations of surface hydrology and snow depth.

Use of Atomic Layer Deposition to Improve the Stability of Silver Substrates for In-Situ, High Temperature SERS Measurements

Abstract: A method to stabilize silver surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates for in-situ, high temperature applications is demonstrated. Silver island films grown by thermal evaporation were coated with a thin layer (from 2.5nm to 5nm) of alumina by atomic layer deposition (ALD), which protects and stabilizes the SERS-active substrate without eliminating the Raman enhancement. The temporal stability of the alumina-coated silver island films was examined by measurement of the Raman intensity of rhodamine 6G molecules deposited onto bare and alumina-coated silver substrates over the course of thirty-four days. The coated substrates showed almost no change in SERS enhancement while the uncoated substrates exhibited a significant decrease in Raman intensity. To demonstrate the feasibility of the alumina-coated silver substrate as a probe of adsorbates and reactions at elevated temperatures, an in-situ SERS measurement of calcium nitrate tetrahydrate on bare and alumina-coated silver was performed at temperatures ranging from 25 C to 400 C. ALD deposition of an ultrathin alumina layer significantly improved the thermal stability of the SERS substrate thus enabling in-situ detection of the dehydration of the calcium nitrate tetrahydrate at elevated temperature. Despite some loss of Raman signal, the coated substrate exhibited greater thermal stability compared to the uncoated substrate.more » These experiments show that ALD can be used to synthesize stable SERS substrates capable of measuring adsorbates and processes at high temperature.« less

Multicentury changes in ocean and land contributions to the climate-carbon feedback

Abstract: ©2015. American Geophysical Union. Improved constraints on carbon cycle responses to climate change are needed to inform mitigation policy, yet our understanding of how these responses may evolve after 2100 remains highly uncertain. Using the Community Earth System Model (v1.0), we quantified climate-carbon feedbacks from 1850 to 2300 for the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 and its extension. In three simulations, land and ocean biogeochemical processes experienced the same trajectory of increasing atmospheric CO 2 . Each simulation had a different degree of radiative coupling for CO 2 and other greenhouse gases and aerosols, enabling diagnosis of feedbacks. In a fully coupled simulation, global mean surface air temperature increased by 9.3K from 1850 to 2300, with 4.4K of this warming occurring after 2100. Excluding CO 2 , warming from other greenhouse gases and aerosols was 1.6K by 2300, near a 2K target needed to avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Ocean contributions to the climate-carbon feedback increased considerably over time and exceeded contributions from land after 2100. The sensitivity of ocean carbon to climate change was found to be proportional to changes in ocean heat content, as a consequence of this heat modifying transport pathways for anthropogenic CO 2 inflow and solubility of dissolved inorganic carbon. By 2300, climate change reduced cumulative ocean uptake by 330PgC, from 1410PgC to 1080PgC. Land fluxes similarly diverged over time, with climate change reducing stocks by 232PgC. Regional influence of climate change on carbon stocks was largest in the North Atlantic Ocean and tropical forests of South America. Our analysis suggests that after 2100, oceans may become as important as terrestrial ecosystems in regulating the magnitude of the climate-carbon feedback.

Gold on carbon: one billion catalysts under a single label.

Abstract: Despite the wide use of carbon materials as supports for heterogeneous catalysis, generic labels are often used to describe the catalysts, i.e.Au/C, making comparisons between different Au/C catalysts difficult even for the same application. A variety of structures and chemically modified surfaces are in fact available, making gold nanoparticles supported on carbonaceous supports extremely versatile catalysts.

Measurement of the electron energy spectrum and its moments in inclusive B -> Xe nu decays

Abstract: We report a measurement of the inclusive electron energy spectrum for semileptonic decays of B mesons in a data sample of 52 million Y4S -> BBar decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B-meson factory at SLAC. We determine the branching fraction, first, second, and third moments of the spectrum for lower cut-offs on the electron energy between 0.6 and 1.5 GeV. We measure the partial branching fraction to be Br(B -> X e nu, E_e>0.6 GeV) = (10.36 +-0.06(stat.) +-0.23(sys))%.