News – Page 2

Advanced Power and Energy Program Releases California Renewable Hydrogen Production Roadmap

Written on June 23, 2020.

Roadmap provides guidance on actions needed to launch and scale the California renewable hydrogen production sector to advance state policy goals IRVINE, Calif., June 23, 2020 – The Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP) recently completed a roadmap for the scaling and build-out of the renewable hydrogen, or RH2, production sector in California to serve a broad range of applications in the energy and transportation sectors. RH2 can be a key foundation in decarbonization strategies,...

UCI Earth system scientist helps quantify drop in carbon emissions during pandemic

Written on May 20, 2020.

Scientists who normally study how human activities impact the planet have been given a rare opportunity over the past few months to observe what happens when industry, transportation and other sources of carbon emissions are curtailed. Steve Davis, UCI associate professor of Earth system science, is part of an international cohort of researchers measuring the unprecedented dip in CO2 pollution during the worldwide lockdown made necessary by the COVID-19 pandemic. An article in Nature describing...

East Antarctica’s Denman Glacier has retreated almost 3 miles over last 22 years

Written on March 23, 2020.

UCI, NASA scientists assess ice sheet with potential to raise global sea levels nearly 5 feet Irvine, Calif., March 23, 2020 – East Antarctica’s Denman Glacier has retreated 5 kilometers, nearly 3 miles, in the past 22 years, and researchers at the University of California, Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are concerned that the shape of the ground surface beneath the ice sheet could make it even more susceptible to climate-driven collapse. If fully thawed, the ice in Denman...

UCI-led project seeks to combat wildfires

Written on February 14, 2020.

A University of California, Irvine-led team has received $3.6 million over three years for a project that uses science and engineering to help California fight wildfires. The funding comes from the University of California Laboratory Fees Research Program competition, a contest designed to promote the development of multicampus projects and collaborations that advance the missions of the national laboratories and University of California. As wildfires in California grow more frequent and severe,...

Western Energy Hub Poised for Pivotal Role Supplying California Markets with Green Energy

Written on February 3, 2020.

February 3, 2020 – Renewable energy infrastructure now under development at the Western Energy Hub, in Millard County, Utah, can be integral in helping Los Angeles and California achieve their goals of 100% zero-carbon electricity, according to a white paper published by the Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP) at the University of California, Irvine. The paper builds on over a decade of research at APEP regarding the role of renewable hydrogen and related solutions as key...

Contradicting prevalent view, UCI oceanographers predict increase in phytoplankton

Written on January 27, 2020.

Machine learning Earth system model projects growth in lower latitudes by 2100 Irvine, Calif., Jan. 27, 2020 – A neural network-driven Earth system model has led University of California, Irvine oceanographers to a surprising conclusion: Phytoplankton populations in low-latitude waters will expand by the end of the 21st century. The unexpected simulation outcome runs counter to the longstanding belief by many in the environmental science community that global climate change will make tropical...

UCI, Other Researchers Find Collaborative Flood Modeling Process Effective

Written on January 21, 2020.

Community involvement, high-resolution maps lead to improved risk management Jan. 21, 2020 – Community collaboration and high-resolution maps are key to effective flood risk management, according to civil engineers and social scientists at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions. In a study published recently in the American Geophysical Union journal Earth’s Future, the researchers report on a successful new process called “collaborative flood modeling”...

UCI-led Project Seeks to Combat Wildfires

Written on January 15, 2020.

Jan. 15, 2020 – A UC Irvine-led team has received $3.6 million over three years for a project that uses science and engineering to help California fight wildfires. The funding comes from the University of California Laboratory Fees Research Program competition, a contest designed to promote the development of multicampus projects and collaborations that advance the missions of the national laboratories and University of California. As wildfires in California grow...

Greenland ice loss is at ‘worse-case scenario’ levels, study finds

Written on December 19, 2019.

UCI glaciologists play key roles on international assessment team Irvine, Calif., Dec. 19, 2019 – Greenland is losing ice mass seven times faster than in the 1990s, a pace that matches the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s high-end warming scenario – in which 400 million people would be exposed to coastal flooding by 2100, 40 million more than in the mid-range prediction. The alarming update resulted from the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise, a project involving...

UCI-led team releases high-precision map of Antarctic ice sheet bed topography

Written on December 12, 2019.

New findings will help scientists predict climate change impact on frozen continent Irvine, Calif., Dec. 12, 2019 – A University of California, Irvine-led team of glaciologists has unveiled the most accurate portrait yet of the contours of the land beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet – and, by doing so, has helped identify which regions of the continent are going to be more, or less, vulnerable to future climate warming. Highly anticipated by the global cryosphere and environmental science communities,...