Geoengineering and Terraforming

by Shoshana Harlem, Terra Linda High School

http://marinscienceseminar.com/geoengineering-and-terraforming-the-manipulation-of-climate-on-earth-and-other-planets/

There are different methods of geoengineering, such as
carbon geoengineering and solar geoengineering.

     Geoengineering is used to change the climate at a global level in order to slow down the effects of climate change. The purpose of geoengineering is to lower the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which will in turn reduce the effects of climate change. There are different techniques of geoengineering. One technique is the Stratospheric Aerosol Injunction (SAI) that would, in order to block the sun, sulphites and other particles are sprayed into the atmosphere. Another technique is to clear forests that are snow-covered. Trees would be cut down and this would increase the light reflected back into space. A third technique is ocean fertilization. The purpose of ocean fertilization is to increase the number of planktons in the ocean. This is done by dumping iron pellets into the ocean.

      There are two types of geoengineering: carbon geoengineering and solar geoengineering. Carbon geoengineering is when carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere. This is important because carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere is a cause of global warming. By removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, climate change may be less severe. Solar geoengineering is an attempt to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases by blocking solar radiation and increasing the reflectivity of clouds on the Earth's surface.

     Geoengineering is a controversial topic. Although geoengineering can help slow down the effects of climate change, it can also have negative effects on the environment. For instance, geoengineering can cause ocean acidification to intensify. Ocean acidification is not good because it can cause species that live in the ocean to become sick and die. Another negative effect of geoengineering is that it can cause ozone depletion. Geoengineering may also have a negative affect on plants. It reduces the amount of total sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface. Plants need sunlight to photosynthesize, and so without as much sunlight, they won't be able to photosynthesize as easily. Having less sunlight on the Earth's surface does not only affect plants; it affects humans too because there will be less sun for solar power.

     Unlike geoengineering, terraforming is when the temperature, atmosphere, surface topography, or ecology of a planet or moon is changed to be similar to the environment of Earth in order for Earth-like life to be able to use it as a habitat. For instance, when a planet is too cold, hot, and/or the atmosphere is unbreathable, people will attempt to terraform it so species can live on it. Different planets need different levels of effort to terraform them. For instance, habitable planets already have life so they are already terraformed. On the other hand, a biocompatible planet has the necessary physical parameters, such as energy and stability, that it could eventually hold an ecosystem, but it would require a lot of effort to be terraformed. Besides habitable planets and biocompatible planets, there are planets that can be easily terraformed.

The surface of Mars. People have a common goal to
terraform Mars, which is very difficult to do.

     A common goal that a lot of people have is to terraform Mars. Unfortunately, terraforming Mars is difficult. One reason is because in order for Mars to be terraformed, the atmospheric pressure on Mars would have to be increased. Currently, the atmospheric pressure on Mars is less than 1% that of Earth. Some people believe that the Martian polar ice caps, minerals, and soil could all provide carbon dioxide which would help thicken the atmosphere on Mars. But even doing this would only increase the pressure on Mars to about 7% of that on Earth, a lot less than what would be needed to be able to have enough atmospheric pressure to terraform Mars. Therefore, Mars does not have the right resources to terraform.

     To learn more about geoengineering and terraforming, come to the Marin Science Seminar at Terra Linda High School in room 207 on Wednesday, January 29. Warren Wiscombe Ph.D of NASA Goddard will be speaking. Join us and learn!

Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3596048/
https://geoengineering.environment.harvard.edu/geoengineering
https://nicholas.duke.edu/news/assessing-pros-and-cons-geoengineering-fight-climate-change
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3393062/
http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/20Reasons.pdf
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2016/ph240/mclaughlin2/
https://www.astro.umd.edu/~miller/teaching/astr380f09/lecture27.pdf
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2018/mars-terraforming
http://www.geoengineeringmonitor.org/technologies/
https://climatepolicy.org/index.cfm/climatepolicy/the-basics/there-are-many-possible-policy-responses/geoengineering/
https://interestingengineering.com/terraforming-will-define-the-long-term-future-of-humanity

A Behind the Scenes Look into the Lawrence Berkeley Lab with Polite Stewart

by Jessica Gerwin, Drake HS

What makes Polite (pronounced “po-leet”) Stewart stand out from any other person working in the Advanced Light Source department at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab? The answer is that Polite is only nineteen years old. His remarkable story begins with a young boy who has a knack for learning.

Ever since an early age, Polite's parents could tell that he picked up new concepts at a much faster rate than other kids. After being enrolled in the Baton Rouge University at fourteen years old, Polite entered the Timbuktu program there which is designed to focus on studying advanced subjects of English and math. Polite excelled in his academic experience there and became one of the youngest graduates of the university’s 132 year history. His passion for physics can be expressed in his current work with the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab.

What is the Advanced Light Source?  “Think of it as one of the world’s most powerful microscopes. With such a tool, scientists and industry can study materials at the molecular level, such as improving the physical structure of pharmaceutical drugs to increase effectiveness, studying the degradation of materials in batteries to build energy storage devices that last longer, and identifying how the molecular structure of solar cells impedes energy conversion efficiency.” [1]

In the interview below, Polite talks about his work at the lab and provides valuable insights on how to strive reach your highest potential level of success.  His topic is highly specific so some here are some explanations of terms.

Terms:

• Postbac - Post Baccalaureate (a college level degree)

• ALS -  The Advanced Light Source is a specialized particle accelerator that generates bright beams of x rays for scientific research. [2]

• How the ALS works - Electron bunches traveling nearly the speed of light, when forced into a circular path by magnets, emit bright ultraviolet and x-ray light that is directed down beam lines or tubes to different research labs. [2]

• How Bright Is It? - The ALS produces light that is one billion times brighter than the sun. This tool offers research in materials science, biology, chemistry, physics, and the environmental sciences.  

The Berkeley Lawrence Lab

Image Credits: http://wikimapia.org/1461579/Lawrence-Berkeley-National-Laboratory

Interview:

1. What first sparked your interest in physics?

• My interest in physics is related to kinetics (motion) Newtonian physics, and that interest was piqued because I knew it would be useful to know about force transmission in the martial arts. It also helped me gain a better understanding of mathematics, engineering, and chemistry via research and self-study; everything is connected. My true interest is bio-engineering. I plan to research neuro-muscular theory to help people improve and repair lost neuron connection.

2. What specific topic are you studying?   

•       At the moment, I work with hard X-Ray Scattering, specifically Small-Angle(SAXS) and Wide-Angle(WAXS). X-ray scattering is an analysis technique that uses x-rays to determine the structural formation of an object. At my beam line, 7.3.3, we specialize in protein, block co-polymer, polymer, and semi-conductor based samples. Transmission SAXS/WAXS is used to view a sample's interior; whereas, Grazing Incidence(GISAXS/GIWAXS) is used to look at the surface structure of a sample.

X-Ray Scattering machine

Image Credits: http://www.saxswaxs.com

3. You are working with very sophisticated machines and ideas. Can you explain to high schoolers what the synchrotron does?

•       A synchrotron is a huge particle accelerator that uses magnets to control electron bunches. The electron bunches are what make up the particle beam that each beam line end station (workplace) uses. The particle beam at our synchrotron is only a few micrometers wide and over 10x brighter than the sun.

4. Why is a synchrotron important?

•      Well, that has a very long answer. The simplest answer would be to state that the aforementioned electron bunches are necessary to irradiate samples and therefore extract data...but, let's go deeper than that. First, a synchrotron is a just another version of the particle accelerator. So, we must determine why a particle accelerator is useful. Fundamentally, it is known that everything in this world is made up of atoms and molecules. There are smaller particles but we will only concern ourselves with the structures, for now, and not their components. Atoms and molecules are, of course, too small to see with the naked eye so, in essence, particle acceleration is our window into the world of the micro- and nano-structures.
•       How does this work? The electron bunches are sped up to a very high constant speed and then the bunches are sent down each individual beam line's lead tunnel. The light is then rammed into your sample. When this occurs, the electrons in the beam will then collide with atomic and molecular structure of your sample. This will cause photons (light emission from the bouncing of electrons in particle space) to be emitted. This emission is then recorded and visualized as a scattering profile. This means that a synchrotron is very useful for allowing us to see the unseen. It is one of the many windows that helps us to understand the results of biology, chemistry, and engineering as a whole.

5. What do you hope to learn from this research?

•       This research has only one real goal. It is to speed up the progress of science. At the synchrotron, there is something called beamtime. Beamtime is the experiment time given to each scientist who writes a proposal to use our beam line. This implies that many research groups frequent our beam line and the synchrotron itself. My job, and my employers', is to aid in the experimentation process. This increases (research) paper output, which in turn increases the output of scientific knowledge, and eventually improves consumer life (i.e. you).

6. Is this something that will help everyday people or businesses? Or both?

•       The research that we do at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) is designed to help the commercial (consumer) and financial (business) sectors because helping the commercial automatically helps the financial.

7. How long do your projects take? 

•       I have two jobs as a student researcher on the beam line: help the users (various research groups) at the beam line and write programs/make changes to enhance, and increase the efficiency of, the beam line. User assistance only lasts as long as the given research group's experiments. On the other hand, enhancement of the beam line will never stop.

8. What is a typical day in the lab like?

•       There is no such thing as a typical day, but I would say days normally start off with determining whether users are present. If they are, the whole day is generally devoted to helping them with experiment setup and execution. If there are no users, then the morning might be spent cleaning the beam line and the remaining afternoon would be devoted to programming.

9. Where do you see yourself going?

•       Currently, I see myself working for another year. Hopefully, it will be with Lawrence Berkeley Lab in the life sciences department. If not, I will apply to other labs and try to get a biological position. In the future, I would like to get a Masters in Bio-Engineering, possibly from Berkeley, and then go overseas to get my PH.D. and do my post-doc in Japan.

10. What do you recommend high school students do to get involved in research?

•       This is a difficult question. The first step is to cultivate and maintain a self-driving spirit and will. From a different take, I'm saying that, first and foremost, the level to which you want to learn determines how much you learn. Effort and excellence are proportional; even you don't see the results immediately.
•       Now that effort has been determined as the essential element, let us discuss the limiting factor: resources. Resources (lab equipment and opportunities) are hard to acquire and difficult to locate. However, there is a hack...and then there's a cheat code. I know they sound the same but they most certainly are not. The cheat code are summer programs. Look up as many as you can, find the ones that interest you, and apply with all the initiative you can possibly muster.
•       Finally, the hack is the ability to network. How do you develop this hack? Talk to anyone and everyone who gives off a positive light. In school, on the street, in the store, at home, and especially at a place you would love to work at in the future. The key to your success is your voice and your ability to use it. When you see a person who could benefit you, address him/her, introduce yourself, and begin to discuss how you could help them and they can help you. Only practice can make you adept at communication, but once you can talk with poise and demonstrate mental rigor...there will be no limiting you or the passion which you hold in your heart.

    References:

   [1] The Collective Energy.  “Part 2: The Mad Scientists at the Department of Energy's National Laboratories”  Sept 23, 2013. <http://theenergycollective.com/mstepp/277291/pt-2-mad-scientists-department-energy-s-national-laboratories>.

   [2] "Advanced Light Source." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 July 2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Light_Source>.   

    The Advanced Light Source - A Tool for Solving the Mysteries of Materials." Advanced Light Source. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/>. 

    Further Reading:

    Learn more about Polite by clicking on the links below.

•      http://www.marinscienceseminar.com/speakers/pstewart.html
•      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/17/polite-stewart-18-year-old-physics-major-bachelors-degree-southern-university_n_2315446.html

    What is the Berkeley Lawrence Lab all about? To learn more about getting involved, click here.

   Click here to see an interactive map of the Lawrence Berkeley Lab!

   See the Advanced Light Source Quick Facts in a pdf here.
   
   See the flyer for Polite’s upcoming presentation here.

   - Jessica Gerwin