A team of researchers that includes Berkeley Lab scientists are using state-of-the-art methods in data mining and high-performance computing to quantify extreme weather phenomena in the very large datasets generated by today’s climate models. Their work will help scientists predict how climate change impact the frequency of extreme weather events.

While the worst drought since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s grips Oklahoma and Texas, scientists are warning that what we consider severe drought conditions in North America today may be normal for the continent by the mid-21st century, due to a warming planet. A team of scientists from Berkeley Lab and elsewhere came to this conclusion after analyzing 19 different state-of-the-art climate models.

What will a day in the life of a Californian be like in 40 years? If the state cuts its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 — a target mandated by a state executive order — a person could wake up in a net-zero energy home, commute to work in a battery-powered car, work in an office with smart windows, then return home and plug in her car to a carbon-free grid. A new study outlines how to get there.

Researchers from the Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley Lab, and the U.S. Geological Survey collaborated to understand how microbes found in permafrost respond to their warming environment. Among the findings, published online November 6 in the journal Nature, is the draft genome of a novel microbe that produces methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Globally, soils store three times as much carbon as there is in the atmosphere or in living plants. Scientists don’t know what will happen to this carbon in response to climate change. An international group of scientists has proposed a new approach to soil carbon research that seeks answers. Their roadmap is published in the October 6 issue of the journal Nature and is co-authored by Berkeley Lab soil scientist Margaret Torn.

Last month, scientists from Berkeley Lab and several other U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories traveled to two small Alaskan towns — tiny dots amid the vastness of the tundra, and perfect places to observe Earth at a crossroads. The scientists are developing The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiment, a multidisciplinary effort to answer one of the most urgent questions facing researchers today: How will a changing climate affect the Arctic, and how will this in turn affect the planet’s climate?

Billions of tons of carbon trapped in permafrost may be released into the atmosphere by the end of this century as the Earth’s climate changes, further accelerating global warming, a new computer modeling study led by a Berkeley Lab scientist indicates. The study also found that soil in high-latitude regions could shift from being a sink to a source of carbon dioxide by the end of the 21st century as the soil warms in response to climate change.

Berkeley Lab scientists have developed one of the most detailed pictures yet of how climate change could impact millions of tons of methane frozen in sediment beneath the Arctic Ocean. They found that methane could seep into the Arctic Ocean and gradually overwhelm the marine environment’s ability to break down the gas. Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases.

An international all-star lineup of experts in solar and biofuel energy, climate science, urban design and other areas of research critical to sustainable energy technologies will gather in Berkeley for a public symposium on October 1 and 2, 2010. The goal is to lay out the best course of action for a clean, green energy future.

Microbes boast a broader and more diverse array of metal-driven chemical processes than scientists imagined. In fact, most have yet to be discovered, according to a first-of-its-kind technique that catalogs all of the metals in a microbe. The method could lead to innovative clean energy and bioremediation technologies.