{"670526":{"#nid":"670526","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Three Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Researchers Awarded DOE Earthshot Funding for Carbon Removal Strategies","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThree Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E researchers \u2014 Professor and Associate Chair \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/bracco-dr-annalisa\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAnnalisa Bracco\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/ito-dr-taka\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETaka Ito\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, and Georgia Power Chair and Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/reinhard-dr-chris\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChris Reinhard\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E \u2014 will join colleagues from Princeton, Texas A\u0026amp;M, and Yale University for an $8 million \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/\u0022\u003EDepartment of Energy\u003C\/a\u003E (DOE) grant that will build an \u201cend-to-end framework\u201d for studying the impact of carbon dioxide removal efforts for land, rivers, and seas.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe proposal is one of 29 DOE \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/energy-earthshots-initiative\u0022\u003EEnergy Earthshot Initiatives\u003C\/a\u003E projects recently granted funding, and among several led by and involving Georgia Tech investigators across the Sciences and Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOverall, DOE is investing $264 million to develop solutions for the scientific challenges underlying the Energy Earthshot goals. The 29 projects also include establishing 11 Energy Earthshot Research Centers led by DOE National Laboratories.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/articles\/doe-announces-264-million-basic-research-support-energy-earthshotstm\u0022\u003EThe Energy Earthshots\u003C\/a\u003E connect the Department of Energy\u0027s basic science and energy technology offices to accelerate breakthroughs towards more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions \u2014\u0026nbsp;seeking to revolutionize many sectors across the U.S., and relying on fundamental science and innovative technology to be successful.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECarbon Dioxide Removal\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences project, \u201cCarbon Dioxide Removal and High-Performance Computing: Planetary Boundaries of Earth Shots,\u201d is part of the agency\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/science.osti.gov\/Initiatives\/SCEarthshots\/Foundations\u0022\u003EScience Foundations for the Energy Earthshots\u003C\/a\u003E program. Its goal is to create a publicly-accessible computer modeling system that will track progress in two key carbon dioxide removal (CDR) processes: enhanced earth weathering, and global ocean alkalinization.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn enhanced earth weathering, carbon dioxide is converted into bicarbonate by spreading minerals like basalt on land, which traps rainwater containing CO2. That gets washed out by rivers into oceans, where it is trapped on the ocean floor. If used at scale, these nature-based climate solutions could remove atmospheric carbon dioxide and alleviate ocean acidification.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research team notes that there is currently \u201cno end-to-end framework to assess the impacts of enhanced weathering or ocean alkalinity enhancement \u2014 which are likely to be pursued at the same time.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cThe proposal is for a three-year effort, but our hope is that the foundation we lay down in that time will represent a major step forward in our ability to track carbon from land to sea,\u201d says Reinhard, the Georgia Power Chair who is a co-investigator on the grant.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLike many folks interested in better understanding how climate interventions might impact the Earth system across scales, we are in some ways building the plane in midair,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe need to develop and validate the individual pieces of the system \u2014 soils, rivers, the coastal ocean \u2014 but also wire them up and prove from observations on the ground how a fully integrated model works.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat will involve the use of several existing computer models, along with Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pace.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EPACE supercomputers\u003C\/a\u003E, Professor Ito explains. \u201cWe will use these models as a tool to better understand how the added alkalinity, carbon and weathering byproducts from the soils and rivers will eventually affect the cycling of nutrients, alkalinity, carbon and associated ecological processes in the ocean,\u201d Ito adds. \u201cAfter the model passes the quality check and we have confidence in our output, we can start to ask many questions about assessment of different carbon sequestration approaches or downstream impacts on ecosystem processes.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Bracco, whose recent research has focused on rising ocean heat levels, says CDR is needed just to keep ocean systems from warming about 2 degrees centigrade (Celsius).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNinety percent of the excess heat caused by greenhouse gas emissions is in the oceans,\u201d Bracco shares, \u201cand even if we stop emitting all together tomorrow, that change we imprinted will continue to impact the climate system for many hundreds of years to come. So in terms of ocean heat, CDRs will help in not making the problem worse, but we will not see an immediate cooling effect on ocean temperatures. Stabilizing them, however, would be very important.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBracco and co-investigators will study the soil-river-ocean enhanced weathering pipeline \u201cbecause it\u2019s definitely cheaper and closer to scale-up.\u201d Reverse weathering can also happen on the ocean floor, with new clays chemically formed from ocean and marine sediments, and CO2 is included in that process. \u201cThe cost, however, is higher at the moment. Anything that has to be done in the ocean requires ships and oil to begin,\u201d she adds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EReinhard hopes any tools developed for the DOE project would be used by farmers and other land managers to make informed decisions on how and when to manage their soil, while giving them data on the downstream impacts of those practices.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne of our key goals will also be to combine our data from our model pipeline with historical observational data from the Mississippi watershed and the Gulf of Mexico,\u201d Reinhard says. \u201cThis will give us some powerful new insights into the impacts large-scale agriculture in the U.S. has had over the last half-century, and will hopefully allow us to accurately predict how business-as-usual practices and modified approaches will play out across scales.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Annalisa Bracco, Taka Ito, and Chris Reinhard from the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences will create computer models to measure how well CO2 removal techniques work on land, rivers, and oceans, as part of $264 million in grants."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAnnalisa Bracco, Taka Ito, and Chris Reinhard from the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences will create computer models to measure how well CO\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E2\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Eremoval techniques work on land, rivers, and oceans, as part of $264 million in DOE grants focused on clean energy efforts.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Annalisa Bracco, Taka Ito, and Chris Reinhard from the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences will create computer models to measure how well CO2 removal techniques work on land, rivers, and oceans, as part of $264 million in grants."}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2023-10-19 20:05:30","changed_gmt":"2024-09-06 19:32:50","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-10-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-10-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"670972":{"id":"670972","type":"image","title":"Earth (Credit NASA_ Joshua Stevens).jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EEarth (Credit NASA\/Joshua Stevens)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1686595605","gmt_created":"2023-06-12 18:46:45","changed":"1686595605","gmt_changed":"2023-06-12 18:46:45","alt":"Earth (Credit NASA\/Joshua Stevens)","file":{"fid":"253947","name":"Earth (Credit NASA_ Joshua Stevens).jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/06\/12\/Earth%20%28Credit%20NASA_%20Joshua%20Stevens%29.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/06\/12\/Earth%20%28Credit%20NASA_%20Joshua%20Stevens%29.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":696638,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/06\/12\/Earth%20%28Credit%20NASA_%20Joshua%20Stevens%29.jpg?itok=dzGwd-e_"}},"672106":{"id":"672106","type":"image","title":"(From left) Annalisa Bracco, Taka Ito, Chris Reinhard.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003E(From left) Annalisa Bracco, Taka Ito, Chris Reinhard\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1697747325","gmt_created":"2023-10-19 20:28:45","changed":"1697747325","gmt_changed":"2023-10-19 20:28:45","alt":"(From left) Annalisa Bracco, Taka Ito, Chris Reinhard","file":{"fid":"255293","name":"(From left) Annalisa Bracco, Taka Ito, Chris Reinhard.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/10\/19\/%28From%20left%29%20Annalisa%20Bracco%2C%20Taka%20Ito%2C%20Chris%20Reinhard.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/10\/19\/%28From%20left%29%20Annalisa%20Bracco%2C%20Taka%20Ito%2C%20Chris%20Reinhard.png","mime":"image\/png","size":2927019,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/10\/19\/%28From%20left%29%20Annalisa%20Bracco%2C%20Taka%20Ito%2C%20Chris%20Reinhard.png?itok=5CsKpmTH"}}},"media_ids":["670972","672106"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/using-data-mining-make-sense-climate-change","title":"Using Data Mining to Make Sense of Climate Change"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/nsf-supports-research-microbes-peat-moss","title":"NSF Supports Research on the Microbes in Peat Moss"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/wenjing-liao-awarded-doe-early-career-award-model-simplification-deep-learning","title":"Wenjing Liao Awarded DOE Early Career Award for Model Simplification, Deep Learning"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/georgia-tech-researchers-receive-116-million-department-energy-establish-transuranic-chemistry","title":"Georgia Tech Researchers Receive $11.6 Million from the Department of Energy to Establish the Transuranic Chemistry Center of Excellence"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166926","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"},{"id":"172962","name":"U. 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