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Earth and Atmospheric Science
NASA's Roman telescope poised to transform hunt for elusive neutron stars
Astronomers have long known that neutron stars, the crushed cores left behind after massive stars explode, should be scattered throughout the Milky Way galaxy. However, most of them are effectively invisible. A new study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics suggests NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could spot them anyway. Using detailed simulations of…
Pandora mission images help prepare for exoplanet atmosphere observations
A symbolic milestone in the lead-up to mission-readiness: the Pandora Observatory transmitted its first engineering images from low-Earth orbit on Jan. 19, 2026. The CODA telescope, developed by a team of scientists and engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in partnership with Corning Incorporated, captured an abstract portrait of the cosmos as it…
Simulations predict ground motion for earthquakes on Bay Area’s Hayward fault
The Hayward fault, part of the larger San Andreas fault system, runs 74 miles through the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The fault is overdue for an earthquake that could cause extensive damage to such a dense population zone. In a recent study, published in Seismological Research Letters, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Lawrence…
Four decades after Chernobyl, National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center reflects on a defining moment
Documents were scattered across the floor as scientists hurriedly reviewed reports on weather patterns and radiation measurements, while colleagues in Europe awaited updates and information on the emerging radioactive crisis. Forty years later, the Chernobyl reactor accident response stands as critical experience that paved the way for what is now the National Atmospheric…
LLNL delivers advanced gamma-ray spectrometer for NASA’s Dragonfly mission to explore Titan
Hundreds of millions of miles away from Earth, the landscape of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, bears a striking resemblance to our own planet — but with dunes of hydrocarbon sands rather than silica sands, and rain, rivers, lakes and seas of liquid methane and ethane rather than liquid water. The NASA Dragonfly mission is set to explore this world in unprecedented detail…
Science at the State invites students on a cosmic hunt for stardust in meteorites on April 11
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is again partnering with the State Theatre in Modesto for the next “Science at the State” event, happening on Saturday, April 11. This year’s program, titled “Cosmic Treasure Hunt: Finding Stardust in Meteorites,” will feature a scientific presentation paired with the family-friendly film Ice Age Collision Course (rated PG)…
When lightning strikes: Models of multi-ignition wildfires could predict catastrophic events
Multi-ignition wildfires are not overly common. But when individual fires do converge, the consequences can be catastrophic. The largest fire on record in California, the 2020 August Complex fire, grew from the coalescence of 10 separate ignitions. In a new study, published in Science Advances, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the University of…
Pandora mission demonstrates new model for low-cost, high-impact science
On Monday, Jan. 12, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in partnership with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Blue Canyon Technologies, announced the successful launch of the Pandora satellite into Earth’s orbit, initiating a yearlong mission to advance atmospheric characterization of planets beyond our solar system, also known as exoplanets. Pandora…
Big Ideas Lab podcast traces the flow of energy in the U.S.
Inside a sixth-grade classroom, a teacher dims the lights and directs the student's attention to a projector. On the screen appears a brightly colored chart featuring thick, twisting bars extending from left to right. Some are as wide as rivers; others as narrow as threads. The diagrams look almost like a subway map for America’s energy. At the left, the lines “depart”…
Meteorite samples are time capsules from the early solar system
When a meteor streaks across the sky, it’s not just beautiful. It’s nature’s way of delivering a time capsule to Earth. Contained within are hints about the very beginning of the solar system and how planets, including our own, formed. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist Thomas Kruijer and collaborators describe how meteorites tell the story of the…
LLNL, UT & UCSD win Gordon Bell Prize with exascale tsunami forecasting
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the University of Texas at Austin’s (UT) Oden Institute and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) on Nov. 20 were awarded the prestigious 2025 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Gordon Bell Prize for developing a real-time tsunami early-warning framework…
Researchers discover entirely new phase of ice
Water is weird. When ice cubes float at the top of a drink, they’re defying the norm. Solids are generally denser than liquids, so they sink. But because of its hydrogen bonds, water produces unusual and complex behaviors. Studying water ice and its various phases is crucial for understanding its strange properties. The knowledge is also critical for materials science,…
Samples from asteroid Bennu contain secrets of the early solar system
In September 2023, NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission became the first U.S. mission to collect a sample of material from an asteroid and return it to Earth. Now, a team including researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has analyzed that material. Their work, published in…
LLNL scientists explore real-time tsunami warning system on world’s fastest supercomputer
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have helped develop an advanced, real-time tsunami forecasting system — powered by El Capitan, the world’s fastest supercomputer — that could dramatically improve early warning capabilities for coastal communities near earthquake zones. The exascale El Capitan, which has a theoretical peak performance of 2.79…
Deep-learning model predicts how toxic plumes move through cities
In 2023, a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. In 2025, a series of destructive wildfires ravaged Los Angeles. In both cases, a toxic plume — a cloud of harmful airborne materials that disperse over time and space due to wind and turbulence — was released. Toxic plumes from industrial accidents, chemical spills and structural fires can pose…
New machine learning project will advance real-time seismic monitoring across energy industries
A new initiative designed to revolutionize seismic monitoring and forecasting using real time, advanced machine learning (ML) technologies is coming to the West Texas/New Mexico area. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) awarded $1.8 million in funding to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The TCF is administrated by the…
Turning captured carbon into natural gas could provide cost-competitive energy storage
Solar and wind energy are highly variable, dependent on the day, weather and location of the facilities. At times, they can generate more electricity than is needed, but they can also fall short when demand is at its peak. Unfortunately, any extra energy created by these sources is often wasted, as there are few methods that adequately store it long-term. To improve energy…
Lawrence Livermore scientists and collaborators demonstrate major breakthrough in seismology
A more than month-long field experiment by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) seismologist has demonstrated that a new technology could offer a major breakthrough in seismology. The technology, called distributed acoustic sensing, allows an instrument to turn buried fiber-optic cable into thousands of virtual seismometers that can be used to measure ground…
Volcanic eruptions trigger ice formation in clouds
When a volcano erupts, it can spew ash high into the atmosphere — injecting aerosols right where clouds typically form. How exactly these aerosols impact cloud formation has long been a mystery to atmospheric scientists. In a study published in Science Advances, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) analyzed 10 years of satellite data to determine…
Five LLNL postdocs selected to attend 2025 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings
Five Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) postdoctoral researchers have been selected to participate in the prestigious 2025 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. Ian Colliard, Nicholas Cross, Caspar Donnison, Vidia Gokool and Jonas Kaufman will join young scientists from around the world to learn from Nobel Prize laureates through academic panels, lectures, group…
