• A Subway Flood Expert Explains What Needs to Be Done to Stop Underground Station Deluges

    Subway stations in New York were inundated with water following heavy rain on 1 September 2021, and other cities around the world have also experienced similar inundations. “Climate change isn’t a matter of the future; its effects are happening right now,” says one expert.

  • As Western U.S. Is Experiencing a 1,000 Year Drought, Desalination Could Be a Solution

    The Western United States is currently experiencing what one paleoclimatologist called “potentially the worst drought in 1,200 years.” The region has had many droughts in the past, including “megadroughts” that last decades, but climate change is making dry years drier and wet years wetter. One possible solution is the desalination of seawater, but is it a silver bullet?

  • At Least 23 Killed in Flooding in New York City, New Jersey

    At least 23 people have died across New York City and New Jersey as a result of the historic flash flooding caused by the weather system formerly known as Hurricane Ida. The storm dumped so much rain in New York City that the local National Weather Service issued its first flash flood emergency for NYC and the neighboring city of Newark, New Jersey.

  • Why Buildings Fall — Over Time

    The recent collapse of the condo building in Florida served as a dire warning for the nation’s aging infrastructure problem and the deadly consequences that can result. Researchers explore how time can factor in a building collapse.

  • New Orleans Residents Have Decisions to Make as Long Recovery from Hurricane Ida Begins

    New Orleans and utility officials spent Monday assessing the severity of the damage, but private energy provider Entergy Corporation confirmed that 216 substations and 2,000 miles of transmission lines — including a tower that collapsed along the Mississippi River — are down in Louisiana, leaving more than 1 million residents without electricity. Entergy promises a team of 20,000 to repair the damage, but it’s unclear how long that will take.

  • Flood control: Seeking Community-Driven Answers to Living with Flooding

    Researchers have used a localized flooding event to envision how human beings can live with the threat of water invading their living and working spaces.

  • Extreme Sea Levels to Become Much More Common Worldwide

    Extreme sea-level events are the result of a combination of tide, waves, and storm surge. Because of rising temperatures, an extreme sea level event that would have been expected to occur once every 100 years, currently is expected to occur, on average, every year.

  • Hydropower Faces the Future Challenge of Extreme Weather?

    Hydropower has long been seen as a reliable renewable energy source. But during drought and heavy rain, hydropower plants often come to a standstill. Will climate change spell the end for this clean energy alternative?

  • Improving Flood Projections

    Climate change will lead to more and stronger floods, mainly due to the increase of more intense heavy rainfall. In order to assess how exactly flood risks and the severity of floods will change over time, it is particularly helpful to consider two different types of such extreme precipitation events.

  • Protecting Earth from Space Weather Events

    “There are only two natural disasters that could impact the entire U.S.,” according to an expert. “One is a pandemic, and the other is an extreme space weather event.” Space weather eventsfry electronics and power grids, disrupt global positioning systems, cause shifts in the range of the aurora borealis, and raise the risk of radiation to astronauts or passengers on planes crossing over the poles.

  • NIST’s Expert Team to Investigate the Champlain Towers South Collapse

    NIST announced Wednesday the expert team members who will conduct a technical investigation into the 24 June 2021, partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida. The Champlain Towers South investigation will be the fifth investigation NIST has conducted using authorities granted by the 2002 National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Act.

  • What Caused Heavy Rainfall Which Led to Western Europe’s Severe Flooding

    Mid-July flooding resulted in at least 184 fatalities in Germany and 38 in Belgium and considerable damage to infrastructure, including houses, motorways and railway lines and bridges and key income sources. Road closures left some places inaccessible for days, cutting off some villages from evacuation routes and emergency response. What was the cause of these devastating floods?

  • The Impact of Extreme Waves on Offshore Structures

    Strong storms can trigger steep, breaking waves that slam into platforms and wind turbines with tremendous force. Scientists are studying the behavior of offshore structures subjected to these kinds of waves. Their goal is to increase safety at sea.

  • Extending Nuclear Power Accident Code for Advanced Reactor Designs

    Nuclear power is a significant source of steady carbon-neutral electricity, making the design and construction of new and next-generation nuclear reactors critical for achieving the U.S.’s green energy goals. A number of new nuclear reactor designs, such as small modular reactors and non-light water reactors, have been developed over the past 10 to 15 years.Sandia Lab researchers have been expanding their severe accident modeling computer code, called Melcor, to work with different reactor geometries, fuel types and coolant systems.

  • Wave-Powered SeaRAY Set for Hawaii trial

    Offshore industries, like marine research, fish farming, and mineral mining, often rely on big ships with large crews. Without clean energy to power these vessels, each trip out to sea and back to shore is not only expensive but also carbon intensive. You cannot charge that ship by plugging it into the ocean. Or maybe you can.