Newswise — WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $13.1 million in funding for 17 new projects to universities, academic institutions, federal research labs, and nonprofits, within the area of Environmental System Science (ESS) research. Awards focus on measurements, experiments, field data, modeling, and synthesis to provide improved understanding and representation of ecosystems and watersheds in ways that advance the sophistication and capabilities of models that span from individual environmental processes to Earth-system scales.

Selected projects cover a range of environmental system science topics, including understanding and modeling current and future hot moments in wetland interfaces, improved understanding of the responses of cold regions (e.g., mountains and the Arctic) to changes in climate drivers, and a novel approach to analyze and integrate publicly available data through modeling and machine learning to advance our understanding of ecosystem and watershed processes.

“Coupling of observational and experimental data with environmental modeling has been a hallmark of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) supported research,” said Todd Anderson, DOE Acting Associate Director of Science for BER in DOE’s Office of Science. “These awards will result in a better grasp of critical processes linking climate and environmental systems needed to improve our ability to predict future impacts.”

Funding totals $13.1 million in Fiscal Year 2023 for projects lasting up to three years. The list of projects and more information can be found on the BER program website.

Projects were chosen by competitive peer review under the DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement, under the Environmental System Science Research Program, sponsored by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER), within the Department’s Office of Science.

Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.