Slice of ice core from Berkner Island, depth 120m. Trapped air bubbles (an archive of the past atmosphere) are visible in the ice.

Previous analysis of ice cores has shown that the climate consists of ice ages and warmer interglacial periods roughly every 100,000 years. This new investigation shows temperature ‘spikes’ within some of the interglacial periods over the last 340,000 years. This suggests Antarctic temperature shows a high level of sensitivity to greenhouse gases at levels similar to those found today.

Lead author Louise Sime of British Antarctic Survey said, “We didn’t expect to see such warm temperatures, and we don’t yet know in detail what caused them. But they indicate that Antarctica’s climate may have undergone rapid shifts during past periods of high CO₂.”

During the last warm period, about 125,000 years ago, sea level was around 5 metres higher than today. Ice core scientist Eric Wolff of British Antarctic Survey is a world-leading expert on past climate. He said, “If we can pin down how much warmer temperatures were in Antarctica and Greenland at this time, then we can test predictions of how melting of the large ice sheets may contribute to sea level rise.”

The Paper: Evidence for warmer interglacials in East Antarctic ice cores by Louise C. Sime, Eric W. Wolff, Kevin I. C. Oliver and Julia C. Tindall is published online this week in the journal Nature.

By the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Press Office

Atlanta —Tropical Cyclone Nargis made landfall in the Asian nation of Myanmar on May 2, 2008, causing the worst natural disaster in the country’s recorded history—with a death toll that may have exceeded 138,000. In the July 2009 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers report on a field survey done three months after the disaster to document the extent of the flooding and resulting damage.

Cyclone Nargis caused significant coastal erosion and land loss, shown here at Aya near the Ayeyarwady estuary in Myanmar. At top left is the golden Buddhist stupa, which was originally built on dry land. (Photo: Hermann Fritz)

The information—which may be the first reliable measurements of cyclone damage in the area—could lead to development of computer models for predicting how future storms may impact the geologically complex Ayeyarwady River delta. Those models could be the basis for planning, construction and education that would dramatically reduce future loss of life.

Among the findings of the study: the cyclone created a storm surge as much as five meters high—topped by two-meter storm waves—that together inundated areas as much as 50 kilometers inland. Fatality rates reached 80 percent in the hardest-hit villages, and an estimated 2.5 million people in the area lived in flood-prone homes less than 10 feet above sea level.

“The recorded high water marks serve as benchmarking for numerical models for the complex hydraulic response of the giant Ayeyarwady delta,” noted Hermann M. Fritz, an associate professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “Ongoing numerical simulations will allow us to determine flood zones and vulnerabilities for future cyclone scenarios. Based on those, evacuation scenarios and evaluation plans will be derived in collaboration with international partners and the Myanmar government.”

Already, a local non-governmental organization in the nation has developed a cyclone education program to raise awareness among residents, said Fritz, who was the only international scientist leading a team that surveyed 150 kilometers of the country’s coastline during a two-week period August 9-23, 2008.

“The aim of our project was to document the extent of the flooding and associated damage in the delta,” Fritz explained. “Field surveys in the immediate aftermath of major disasters focus on perishable data, which would otherwise be lost forever—such as infrastructure damage prior to repair and reconstruction.”

In the flood zone, for instance, the researchers searched for evidence of water marks on buildings, scars on trees and rafted debris as indicators of the maximum water height.

“Nargis washed away entire settlements, often without leaving a single structure standing, which forced us to focus on evidence left on large trees,” added Fritz, who has studied other natural disasters in Asia, Africa and the United States. “High water marks were photographed and located using global positioning system instruments. Transects from the nearest beach or waterway to the high water marks were recorded with a laser range finder.”

The survey team documented soil erosion of as much as one meter vertically and more than 100 meters horizontally. Highlighting the loss of land was a golden Buddhist stupa—originally constructed on dry land—that was left 150 meters offshore following the storm. Cyclone Nargis also scoured several drinking water wells, leaving them in the beach surf zone—and depriving survivors of safe water supplies.

While the storm surge and waves weren’t unusually high, the impact may have been worsened by the lack of nearby high ground for evacuation and loss of coastal mangrove forests that could have slowed the storm waves, Fritz said. Structures in the area were not built to survive cyclones, and there was no evacuation plan for the area—where people had no previous experience with such storms.

Rafted debris in trees showed how high the flood waters reached during Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. (Photo: Hermann Fritz)

Those finding point to recommendations, including implementation of a cyclone education program, development of flood and vulnerability maps, construction of cyclone-safe buildings to serve as shelters, implementation of an improved warning system, and planning for evacuation, Fritz said. Partial reconstruction of the mangroves that had been removed for agriculture and fuel could also help protect the coastline.

The expedition’s itinerary was planned based on unofficial damage reports, physical storm and cyclone track data, satellite imagery, numerical model benchmark requirements and experience gained in surveying other disasters. The group traveled to the country by cargo boat and did most surveying from the vessel.

The research was in part supported by the Pyoe Pin Programme of the Department for International Development in the United Kingdom. The program is also sponsoring detailed modeling and a follow up study being done at Georgia Tech by Fritz and Christopher Blount, one of his doctoral students.

A Category 4 storm, Nargis was the eighth deadliest cyclone recorded worldwide. It is one of seven tropical cyclones generated in the Bay of Bengal that had death tolls in excess of 100,000. With damage estimated at more than $10 billion, the storm is the most destructive ever recorded in the Indian Ocean.

Fritz hopes the work done by the survey team—which also included Swe Thwin of the Myanmar Coastal Conservation Society and Moe Kyaw and Nyein Chan of the Mingalar Myanmar NGO—will ultimately help reduce the human cost of major cyclones.

“In the 21st century with modern communication and all that has been learned about cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, there is no need for 138,000 people to be killed by a storm like this,” Fritz said. “With adequate planning, education and shelters, it should be possible to reduce fatality rates from future cyclones by at least one order of magnitude.”

Related Links

• School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Hermann Fritz

By John Toon- Georgia Institute of Technology – Georgia Tech

The huge Aletsch Glacier, as seen from Eggishorn, with a view up to the Jungfraujoch and the Mid-Aletsch Glacier (Image: F. Funk-Salamí)

The earth’s glaciers are one of the “uncertain” factors in climate forecasts. It is difficult to precisely calculate the ice volume, making its effects – such as a rising sea level – unpredictable. However, melting glaciers do not only contribute to a rising sea level. They cause a reduction in freshwater supplies and change the landscape and ecosystems forever. Switzerland is also affected: Swiss glaciers have reduced dramatically in size over the past twenty years, particularly during the past ten years, which has been the warmest decade of the past 150 years.

A new method of calculation can now more accurately determine just how much ice the Swiss glaciers have lost. The process was developed by Martin Funk, professor and head of the Department for Glaciology at the Laboratory for Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (Versuchsanstalt für Wasserbau, Hydrologie und Glaziologie – VAW) and his team at ETH Zurich, in order to estimate the total ice volume of the Swiss glaciers. Knowing the exact volume is important to be able to put the observed change in the right context. Previously, however, the volume of only very few glaciers was known reliably. For these glaciers, it was possible to determine the ice thickness and the approximate volume through drillings or echo-sounding examinations. The researchers were able to calibrate their new process on these glaciers.

Estimation based on mass conservation

Up until now, glacier volumes were calculated based on empirical relationships between glacier area and volume, according to Daniel Farinotti, postgraduate student studying under Funk. The scientists developed their method of calculation based on the law of mass conservation for glaciers. This states that the surface mass budget must be balanced by the flow of ice and the changes in the thickness of the glacier’s ice. The ice volume is ultimately calculated using the glacier’s topography and the estimated area spread of the surface mass budget. The ice flow is first determined using the basic laws of glacial mechanics, including the geometry of the glacier surface, which in turn is used to calculate the thickness of the ice. Unlike previous estimation methods, the newly developed method does not just give indications on the ice volume of the glacier, but also the spread of the ice’s thickness. This also allows the topography of the glacial bed to be determined.

Large glaciers are decisive

The scientists have now applied their method to 59 Swiss glaciers, which were larger than three square kilometres in 1999, and three smaller glaciers for which thickness measurements were already available. For the approximately 1400 remaining glaciers, the scientists deduced the ice volume using an empirical volume-area approach. Their calculations showed that the ice volume amounted to 74 cubic kilometres in 1999, with a possible deviance of 9 cubic kilometres. All of the Swiss glacial ice masses would therefore easily fit into Lake Geneva – which has a water volume of 89 cubic kilometres.

The researchers further calculated an average ice thickness of seventy metres. They were also able to show that 88 percent of the ice mass is contained in the 59 largest glaciers, of which 24 percent are in the Aletsch region alone. “The area of the Great Aletsch Glacier is roughly the same as the total area of all Swiss glaciers less than one square kilometre in size. Their total ice volume, however, is twenty times smaller than the Great Aletsch Glacier. Scientists maintain that in order to provide a more accurate estimation of the regional ice volume, it is vital to carry out further thickness measurements on the largest glaciers in Switzerland, as these are obviously particularly consequential when calculating the volume.

Scientists calculated the development of the size of the glaciers over the past ten years by using an average mass timeline. “The timeline took an average from around 30 glaciers where we have data on changes in volume”, states Farinotti. This showed that the heat wave in 2003 was responsible for 2.6 of the total of 9 cubic kilometres of ice lost.

Glaciers have been shrinking since 1850

The development of the Swiss glaciers has been observed and documented since 1880. The current calculations are based on data recorded in 1999 at the time when the survey of Swiss glaciers was last updated with satellite images combined with a geographic information system and a digital contour model. The last time this was done was in 1973. Based on these data, calculations on the volume of Swiss glacial ice were between 74 and 67 cubic kilometres. “Although these figures are similar to ours, they are based on much less accurate data. The fact that a considerable amount of ice has melted since then suggests that the ice volume for 1973 was somewhat underestimated”, states Farinotti.

Since the last minor ice age, which ended around 1850, the area covered by glaciers has been shrinking. In 1999, around 1063 square kilometres remained.

References:

Farinotti D, Huss M, Bauder A, Funk M & Truffer M.: A method to estimate ice volume and ice thickness distribution of alpine glaciers. Journal of Glaciology (2009), 55, 422-430.

Farinotti D, Huss M, Bauder A & Funk M: An estimate of the glacier ice volume in the Swiss Alps. Global and Planetary Change (2009).

By Simone Ulmer – ETH Zürich

Credit: ARC Centre of Excellence

An international team of scientists led by Dr Josh Cinner of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University has proposed that bans on fishing gear – like spear guns, fish traps, beach seine nets, and gill nets – could aid in the recovery of reefs and fish populations hard hit by coral bleaching events.

Around the world corals have been dying at alarming rates, due to unusually warm water events resulting from global warming.

Research carried out in Kenya and Papua New Guinea has shown that certain types of gear are more damaging to corals, to coral-dependent fish and to the key species of fish that are needed to help reefs recover from bleaching or storm damage.

“This is creating a double jeopardy for both the corals and certain types of reef fish. They are already on the edge because of the overfishing– and the additional impact caused by a bleaching even can push them over” Dr Cinner explains. The result can be an accelerated decline of the reef, its fish populations – and their ability to sustain local people.

“From an ecological perspective, the best response to bleaching is to close reefs to fishing entirely.  But that is not feasible everywhere and is a particularly hard sell among the impoverished fishers in developing countries” says co-author Dr. Tim McClanahan of the Wildlife Conservation Society. “In areas where fishery closures are impractical, managers don’t have many options and haven’t been able to do much but watch the reef die and often not recover.”

“Selective gear restrictions offer reef managers and fishers alike some middle ground, reducing pressure on the reef and its fish while it is in the recovery phase, while also providing fishers with some options for their livelihood” Dr Cinner says.  This middle way is also more likely to be taken up by fishers.  “In other research we’ve found that fishers themselves prefer gear restrictions to total closures, because most fishers use several types of gear so they can still earn a living when the use of one sort of gear is banned. They are more likely to comply.”

The team investigated the effects of five main types of gear on different types of fish: spear guns, traps, hook and line, beach seine nets and gill nets.

They found that spear guns were the most damaging of all – to corals themselves, to susceptible fish species and to the fish needed to help reefs recover, such as parrot, surgeon and trigger fish, which keep seaweeds and urchins in check while the coral re-grows.

“Spear guns target a high proportion of species that help maintain the resilience of coral reefs, but also can result in a surprising amount of damage to the corals themselves.  When a fish is shot with a spear gun, it often hides in the reef, so some fishermen break the corals in their attempts to get it.” Dr Cinner says.

But in developing countries, spear guns can be the fishing tool most used by the poorest fishers because they are cheap to make and the yield can be high, so they are an important source of income for poor fishers.

Credit: ARC Centre of Excellence

“You can’t simply impose an arbitrary ban on their use – you need to consider issues like compensation, other fishing options, or alternative livelihoods for the affected fishers,” says co-author Dr. Shaun Wilson of the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation. “One key issue may be educating fishers about the importance of reef habitat and the species that help to maintain reef quality – and the need to be selective in what they shoot. This would mean fishers could still use this cheap and effective fishing tool without necessarily damaging habitat and reef resilience.”

Fish traps also targeted both the most susceptible reef fish and the ones most involved in reef recovery. Beach seine nets didn’t target as many key fish species as gill nets, traps, or spear guns, but were damaging both to corals directly and took large amounts of juvenile fish.

“Where people really depend on reef resources, it may not be possible to permanently ban all of these types of gear.   By creating temporary bans for specific types of gear following a coral bleaching event, reef managers could ease pressure on the reef and its fish population for a time when corals ecosystems are most sensitive without causing undue hardship to the human populations that depend on it.” Dr Cinner says

“Of course, where the conditions are right, managers and fishers don’t have to wait for a bleaching event- preventative gear bans are a good idea, particularly in areas that are highly susceptible to the impacts of bleaching,” says co-author Dr Nick Graham. “And our new research provides managers with some ideas about the trade-offs involved in banning certain gear.”

Dr Cinner says that temporary bans or imposing permanent restrictions on the use of various types of gear can apply to virtually any coral reef management – whether in the developing world or in developed countries such as on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

“In principle, it can be used anywhere. It offers both communities and reef managers much greater flexibility.  Around the world, communities are increasingly making their own decisions about how to protect their reefs and they could impose voluntary bans on certain gears.

The article Gear-based fisheries management as a potential adaptive response to climate change and coral mortality, by Cinner J et al. appears in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Ecology.

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University

Photo by Sebastian Mernild. Melting water from a glacier in Greenland runs into the ocean.

Study results indicate that the ice sheet may be responsible for nearly 25 percent of global sea rise in the past 13 years. The study also shows that seas now are rising by more than 3 millimeters a year–more than 50 percent faster than the average for the 20th century.

UAF researcher Sebastian H. Mernild and colleagues from the United States, United Kingdom and Denmark discovered that from 1995 to 2007, overall precipitation on the ice sheet decreased while surface ablation–the combination of evaporation, melting and calving of the ice sheet–increased. According to Mernild’s new data, since 1995 the ice sheet lost an average of 265 cubic kilometers per year, which has contributed to about 0.7 millimeters per year in global sea level rise. These figures do not include thermal expansion–the expansion of the ice volume in response to heat–so the contribution could be up to twice that.

The Greenland ice sheet has been of considerable interest to researchers over the last few years as one of the major indicators of climate change. In late 2000/early 2001 and in 2007, major glacier calving events sent up to 44 square miles of ice into the sea at a time. Researchers are studying these major events as well as the less dramatic ongoing melting of the ice sheet through runoff and surface processes.

Ice melt from a warming Arctic has two major effects on the ocean. First, increased water contributes to global sea-level rise, which in turn affects coastlines across the globe. Second, fresh water from melting ice changes the salinity of the world’s oceans, which can affect ocean ecosystems and deep water mixing.

“Increasing sea level rise will be a problem in the future for people living in coastal regions around the globe,” said Mernild. “Even a small sea level rise can be a problem for these communities. It is our hope that this research can provide people with accurate information needed to plan for protecting people and communities.”

On the Web: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/89013836/issue

University of Alaska Fairbanks

Oxygen gas in ice cores has shown evidence for abrupt climate change.Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation

When the climate warmed relatively quickly about 14,700 years ago, seasonal monsoons moved southward, dropping more rain on the Earth’s oceans at the expense of tropical areas, according to climate researchers. If the same pattern occurs in the coming decades as the Earth’s temperatures rises due to climate change, the highly-populated regions of the world that depend on monsoons could face more wildfires, water shortages and lower agricultural production.

In an article to be published in the June 12 issue of the journal Science, researchers from the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Oregon State University present their findings after comparing oxygen isotopes in air that was captured in ice cores and previously published data from ancient stalagmites found in caves. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

The ice cores, gathered from different locations in Antarctica and Greenland, contain air bubbles that were trapped as the ice formed over tens of thousands of years. By measuring the amount of certain oxygen isotopes in those air bubbles, the researchers were able to determine patterns in vegetation growth worldwide over that same span of time.

The researchers found that beginning about 14,700 years ago, the mixture of oxygen isotopes began to change in a way that suggests less vegetation growth, and this process continued for at least 200 years. The researchers then compared these findings with data from an earlier study that determined the amount of rainfall that fell in China over many millennia by examining stalagmites in caves. They discovered that this period of low vegetation growth corresponded with a time of reduced monsoon rainfall.

By climate standards, the researchers say, this shift happened abruptly over a few decades. They also caution that observations of past climate events may not be able predict future conditions. Given the vital roll that monsoons play in sustaining billions of people, however, this connection between climate change and monsoon patterns may be an ominous sign of what climate change in the 21^st century may bring.

The National Science Foundation

A new Purdue University study shows that there is almost no statistical performance difference in semitrailer trucks using B20, a 20-percent blend of biodiesel, and No. 2 ultra-low sulfur diesel, the current standard.

John Lumkes found that a 20 percent blend of biodiesel fuel performed as well in trucks as the standard ultra-low sulfur diesel. Differences in the fuels' performances were statistically insignificant. (Purdue Agricultural Communications photo/Tom Campbell)

“In terms of performance, reliability and maintenance costs, it was basically a wash,” said John Lumkes, the assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering who led the study. “The only differences are environmental and economic.”

The study, which compared two 10-vehicle truck fleets using the ultra-low sulfur fuel and B20, was released in the journal Applied Engineering in Agriculture. Trucks used for comparisons in the yearlong study had the same engines, similar miles already on them at the start and drove nearly the same number of miles over the year.

The only statistical difference related to the B20 was that it lowered the oil viscosity between maintenance intervals in engines slightly more than the ultra-low sulfur diesel. But even so, Lumkes said the oil still had sufficient viscosity so as not to damage engine parts.

“They were still within the range of what is acceptable before you need an oil change,” he said.

The study followed each fleet’s idle time percentage, average speed, engine load percentage and engine speed. Each pair of trucks had close to the same statistics in each category.

At the end of the study, each fleet of 10 trucks had driven more than 1.5 million miles. Differences in performance based on fuel economy, fuel test results, engine oil analysis, and service and maintenance costs were considered minute. B20 cost about 13 cents more per gallon during that time than the ultra-low sulfur diesel.

Lumkes said his study could ease concern about the effect biodiesel has on engine durability. He said some engine manufacturers are wary about extending warranties to those who use biodiesel because not enough has been known about how the biodiesel affects engine wear.

“This shows that there is no observable difference in performance of engines using biodiesel versus the more common commercial fuel,” Lumkes said.

Lumkes added that the quality of the B20 also is an important factor. All the fuel sampled during the study exceeded the National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission standards.

The Indiana Soybean Alliance provided funding for the research, and a private company that provided the trucks also provided funding.

Details:

Quantitative Evaluation of an On-Highway Trucking Fleet to Compare
#2ULSD and B20 Fuels and Their Impact on Overall Fleet Performance
C.R. McKinley, J.H. Lumkes Jr.

Source: Purdue University

The flexible rooftop solar panels – called building-integrated photovoltaics, or BIPVs – could replace today’s boxy solar panels that are made with rigid glass or silicon and mounted on thick metal frames. The flexible solar shingles would be less expensive to install than current panels and made to last 25 years.

“There’s a lot of wasted space on rooftops that could actually be used to generate power,” said Mark Gross, a senior scientist at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “Flexible solar panels could easily become integrated into the architecture of commercial buildings and homes. Solar panels have had limited success because they’ve been difficult and expensive to install.”

Researchers at PNNL will create these flexible panels by adapting a film encapsulation process currently used to coat flat panel displays that use organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs. The work is made possible by a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement recently penned between Vitex Systems and Battelle, which operates PNNL for the federal government.

PNNL researchers developed the thin film technology in the 1990s. At the time, the lab’s team investigated 15 possible applications, including solar power. Vitex licensed the technology from Battelle in 2000 and focused its initial efforts on developing the ultra-barrier films for flat-panel displays. Now PNNL and Vitex are taking a hard second look at solar power.

The encapsulation process and the ultra-barrier film – called Barix™ Encapsulation and Barix™ Barrier Film, respectively – are already proven and effective moisture barriers. But researchers need to find a way to apply the technology to solar panels, which are also called photovoltaics, or PVs. Under the agreement, researchers will create low-cost flexible barrier films and evaluate substrate materials for solar panels. Both the film and substrate must be able to survive harsh ultraviolet rays and natural elements like rain and hail for 25 years.

The agreement also calls for researchers to develop a manufacturing process for the flexible panels that can be readily adapted to large-scale production. If successful, this process will reduce solar panel manufacturing costs to less than $1 per watt of power, which would be competitive with the 10 cents per kilowatt-hour that a utility would charge.

“Vitex is proud to continue its long, successful relationship with PNNL,” said Martin Rosenblum, Vitex’s vice president of operations and engineering. “Vitex is excited to further its Barix™ technology’s proven barrier performance for photovoltaics toward mass manufacturing. Together, we look forward to creating a product that will help alleviate America’s dependence on foreign oil and increase America’s access to an abundant renewable energy source – the sun.”

Battelle, which is the majority shareholder of Vitex, is optimistic that this research agreement will contribute to a new way of generating solar power. Battelle recently increased its investment in Vitex for new state-of-the-art thin film encapsulation equipment and expanded its intellectual property portfolio.

“We’re confident that Vitex will be uniquely positioned to help meet the demand for flexible solar panels, OLED displays and lighting that should rise along with the economy,” said Martin Inglis, Battelle’s chief financial officer.

PNNL’s research efforts will be paid for with up to $350,000 from the DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technology Commercialization Fund. Last year, DOE announced that up to $1.5 million from the fund would be available to PNNL for projects that help commercialize technologies that reduce energy use or tap renewable energy sources. Because the fund requires commercial partners to match funding, Vitex will provide up to $350,900 of in-kind labor, equipment and materials for this project.
Vitex Systems Inc., headquartered in San Jose, Calif., licenses a proprietary encapsulation solution, Barix™, as well as deposition systems and next-generation flexible barrier substrates, that enable the cost-effective production of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays that are lighter and thinner than any other commercially available displays. Vitex’s technology can also be used to address a wide array of photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications. The company was incubated at Battelle, the world’s largest independent private non-profit research foundation, and was spun off as an independent company.

Battelle is the world’s largest non-profit independent research and development organization, providing innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management, National Security, Energy Technology, and Health and Life Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $5.2 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 20,400 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories which Battelle manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and two international laboratories—a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom and a renewable energy lab in Malaysia.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory where interdisciplinary teams advance science and technology and deliver solutions to America’s most intractable problems in energy, national security and the environment. PNNL employs 4,250 staff, has a $918 million annual budget, and has been managed by Ohio-based Battelle since the lab’s inception in 1965.