DOE/SC–0192
Cover images. Clouds, Atmospheric Radiation Measurement User Facility; watershed meanders, Lawrence Berkeley National 

Laboratory; model simulation, Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Suggested citation for this report: U.S. DOE. 2018. Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan 2018–2023, 

DOE/SC–0192, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (science.energy.gov/~/media/ber/pdf/CESD-StratPlan-2018.pdf).

This report is available at science.energy.gov/~/media/ber/pdf/CESD-StratPlan-2018.pdf.

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division

science.energy.gov/ber/research/cesd/

Gary Geernaert, gerald.geernaert@science.doe.gov

Environmental System Science 

Research Area

Subsurface Biogeochemical Research

doesbr.org

David Lesmes, david.lesmes@science.doe.gov

Paul Bayer, paul.bayer@science.doe.gov

Terrestrial Ecosystem Science

tes.science.energy.gov

Daniel Stover, daniel.stover@science.doe.gov

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

emsl.pnl.gov

Paul Bayer, paul.bayer@science.doe.gov

Data Management

Justin Hnilo, justin.hnilo@science.doe.gov

Earth and Environmental Systems 

Modeling Research Area

Model Development

climatemodeling.science.energy.gov

Dorothy Koch, dorothy.koch@science.doe.gov

Multisector Dynamics

climatemodeling.science.energy.gov

Bob Vallario, bob.vallario@science.doe.gov

Model Analysis

climatemodeling.science.energy.gov

Renu Joseph, renu.joseph@science.doe.gov

Atmospheric Sciences Research Area

Atmospheric System Research

asr.science.energy.gov

 Ashley Williamson, ashley.williamson@science.

doe.gov

Shaima Nasiri, shaima.nasiri@science.doe.gov

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement 

User Facility

arm.gov

Sally McFarlane, sally.mcfarlane@science.doe.gov

Rick Petty, rick.petty@science.doe.gov
Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental 

Sciences Division

Strategic Plan

2018–2023

Prepared by the Climate and Environmental Sciences Division 

within the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science 

Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Office of Biological and Environmental Research

May 2018

DOE/SC–0192
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

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U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

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Contents

Executive Summary ...........................................................................................................................................iv

Organization..................................................................................................................................................iv

Vision and Mission........................................................................................................................................iv

Goals............................................................................................................................................................... iv

Scientific Grand Challenges .......................................................................................................................... v

Chapter 1: Mission............................................................................................................................................... 2

Chapter 2: Vision and Values ............................................................................................................................ 6

Chapter 3: Plan Background and Purpose ..................................................................................................... 8

3.1 Background .............................................................................................................................................. 8

3.2 The CESD 2018–2023 Strategic Plan.................................................................................................... 10

Chapter 4: CESD Scientific Grand Challenges for 2018–2023....................................................................12

4.1 Integrated Water Cycle Scientific Grand Challenge...........................................................................12

4.2 Biogeochemistry Scientific Grand Challenge ..................................................................................... 13

4.3 High Latitudes Scientific Grand Challenge ......................................................................................... 15

4.4 Drivers and Responses in the Earth System Scientific Grand Challenge........................................17

4.5 Data-Model Integration Scientific Grand Challenge..........................................................................19

Chapter 5: Implementation Strategy............................................................................................................ 22

Appendix 1: CESD Activity and Facility Descriptions................................................................................. 26

Atmospheric Sciences ................................................................................................................................. 26

Environmental System Science .................................................................................................................. 28

Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling ........................................................................................... 31

Data Management....................................................................................................................................... 34

Appendix 2: References.................................................................................................................................... 36

Appendix 3: Chapter Cover Image Descriptions and Credits ..................................................................37

Acronyms and Abbreviations .............................................................................................Inside back cover
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

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The Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD) of the Office of Biological and 

Environmental Research (BER) is managed 

within the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office 

of Science. CESD is the intellectual home for fundamental research needed to address key uncertainties 

arising from the interactions and interdependencies of 

the atmospheric, terrestrial, subsurface, cryospheric, 

oceanic, and human-energy components of the Earth 

system. Using an approach to enhance system predictability, CESD-supported research strives to understand 

and anticipate how environmental stressors behave 

within a nonlinear system. These stressors, in turn, can 

influence the robustness and resilience of U.S. energy 

infrastructures. Particular emphasis also is placed on 

understanding how natural and human-derived factors contribute to variabilities and trends spanning 

local to global scales. By treating DOE environmental 

challenges as part of the Earth system, CESD also 

addresses DOE’s unique concerns regarding energy 

contaminants and wastes. The scope of CESD process 

research spans scales from molecular to global and 

durations from nanoseconds to many decades, in order 

for DOE to achieve its goals involving foundational 

science, environment, energy, economic, and security.

Organization

CESD’s research is organized around three disciplinary 

areas, each comprising specific research activities: 

Atmospheric Sciences includes the Atmospheric 

Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility, Environmental System Science includes the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), and Earth 

and Environmental Systems Modeling includes the 

newly released Energy Exascale Earth System Model 

(E3SM). CESD also supports the Data Management

(DM) activity, which supports the archival of data generated by Earth system models and CESD-supported 

field experiments; the DM activity also invests in 

software and data analytics capabilities for use by the 

scientific community.

Vision and Mission

CESD’s vision is to develop an improved capability for 

Earth system prediction on seasonal to multidecadal 

time scales to inform the development of resilient U.S. 

energy strategies. CESD’s mission is to enhance the seasonal to multidecadal predictability of the Earth system 

using long-term field experiments, DOE user facilities, 

modeling and simulation, uncertainty characterization, 

best-in-class computing, process research, and data analytics and management. The Division’s mission is dedicated to providing the fundamental science needed to 

inform the development and deployment of advanced 

solutions to the nation’s energy challenges.

Goals

To meet its mission, CESD developed this strategic 

plan to articulate the Division’s goals for the period 

2018–2023. Central to its mission, CESD investments 

in basic research address key uncertainties in the 

understanding of Earth system components, as well 

as complex uncertainties that arise from the interactions and interdependencies of these components in 

the coupled Earth system. CESD also makes a special 

effort to exploit unique DOE facilities and capabilities, 

thus CESD has greater investments involving atmospheric, terrestrial and computational issues, while also 

leveraging and coordinating across multiple National 

Science and Technology Council agencies to achieve 

CESD goals. Though following the strategy of the 

previous plan (for the period 2012–2017), the new 

plan focuses primarily on specific scientific questions 

requiring an integrated and coordinated approach, as 

well as the determined effort of multiple CESD programs, projects, and scientific user facilities. In many 

cases, the new plan leverages strategic interagency partnerships and expertise to achieve major advances in 

important areas of scientific research. Furthermore, the 

plan considers scientific needs articulated by DOE’s 

applied energy program offices as complementary to 

the scientific opportunities articulated by the basic 

Executive Summary
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

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Earth system research community within DOE’s Office 

of Science.

Scientific Grand Challenges

CESD’s strategic plan is framed by five scientific grand 

challenges focused on collaborative and integrative 

research across the Division. This research leverages 

capabilities of BER’s scientific, computational, and user 

facilities as well as other BER community resources to 

achieve these scientific grand challenges.

1. Integrated Water Cycle Scientific Grand Challenge. Advance understanding of the integrated 

water cycle by studying relevant processes involving the atmospheric, terrestrial, oceanic, and 

human system components and their interactions 

and feedbacks across local, regional, and global 

scales, thereby improving the predictability of the 

water cycle and reducing associated uncertainties 

in response to short- and long-term perturbations.

2. Biogeochemistry Scientific Grand Challenge. 

Advance a robust, predictive understanding of 

coupled biogeochemical processes and cycles 

across spatial and temporal scales by investigating 

natural and anthropogenic interactions and feedbacks and their associated uncertainties within 

Earth and environmental systems.

3. High Latitudes Scientific Grand Challenge. 

Understand and quantify the drivers, interactions, 

and feedbacks both among the high-latitude components and between the high latitudes and the 

global system to reduce uncertainties and improve 

predictive understanding of high-latitude systems 

and their global impacts.

4. Drivers and Responses in the Earth System Scientific Grand Challenge. Advance 

next-generation understanding of Earth system drivers and their effects on the integrated 

Earth-energy-human system. 

5. Data-Model Integration Scientific Grand Challenge. Develop a broad range of interconnected 

infrastructure capabilities and tools that support 

the integration and management of models, experiments, and observations across a hierarchy of 

scales and complexity to address CESD scientific 

grand challenges.
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

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Mission

1
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

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Terrestrial–Aquatic Interfaces

The mission of the U.S. Department of Energy 

(DOE) is to enhance the security and economic 

growth of the United States through transformative science, technology innovation, and market solutions to meet U.S. energy, nuclear, and environmental 

challenges (U.S. DOE 2014). The first of DOE’s four 

goals focuses on science and energy and seeks to 

“advance foundational science, innovate energy technologies, and inform data driven policies that enhance 

U.S. economic growth and job creation, energy security, and environmental quality....” As part of this goal, 

DOE emphasizes the need for mission-relevant science 

and technology that can inform the development of 

energy infrastructure that is secure and resilient to a 

wide range of environmental and other pressures (U.S. 

DOE 2014).

Basic science supports the objectives of the first goal 

of DOE’s strategic plan by describing and improving 

understanding of environmental and other stressors 

that can introduce risks to 

infrastructures during their 

various lifetimes. Basic science also is needed to design 

and inform prediction tools, 

so that future technologies can be designed and 

deployed to ensure that 

infrastructure (1) provides 

uninterrupted energy to U.S. stakeholders; (2) is 

affordable to public- and private-sector entities; and 

(3) will be resilient to environmental factors such 

as extreme weather, hydrological changes, and other 

phenomena over the multidecadal lifetimes of U.S. 

energy systems.

DOE’s Office of Science provides direct support 

for both fundamental scientific research and for the 

Mission

development, construction, and operation of unique, 

open-access scientific user facilities. The mission of 

the Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

(BER), within the Office of Science, is to support 

fundamental research and scientific user facilities to 

achieve a predictive understanding of complex biological and environmental systems for a secure and 

sustainable energy future. BER research programs seek 

to understand the governing energy-relevant biological and environmental processes that extend from 

submicron to global scales, from individual molecules 

to ecosystems, and from nanosecond to multidecadal 

time scales. The unique value BER adds in support of 

the DOE mission is the extension and integration of 

process-level understanding of complex systems into 

improved capabilities that, in turn, enhance predictability over a wide range of space and time scales. BER 

also guides the strategic directions and activities of 

three DOE scientific user facilities in support of BER 

science [i.e., Atmospheric Radiation Measurement 

(ARM) User Facility, Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), and Joint Genome Institute ( JGI)].

The Climate and Environmental Sciences Division 

(CESD) is one of two BER divisions. CESD’s mission is to enhance the seasonal to multidecadal predictability of the “Earth system” by using long-term 

CESD Mission Statement

CESD’s mission is to enhance the seasonal to multidecadal predictability of the Earth 

system by using long-term field experiments, DOE user facilities, modeling and simulation, uncertainty characterization, best-in-class computing, process research, and data 

analytics and management to inform the development of advanced solutions to the 

nation’s energy challenges.

Chapter 1
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

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environmental stressors affect and interact with the 

U.S. energy system and how the combination of natural 

and human-derived processes lead to variabilities and 

trends within the integrated Earth system. The scientific questions involving climate and climate change 

are treated within the context of the Earth system. 

CESD also addresses DOE’s unique concerns regarding wastes from DOE’s legacy and ongoing energy and 

environmental missions. The scope of CESD process 

research spans scales from molecular to global and 

durations from nanoseconds to many decades.

Chapter 1 – Workshop Summary, Purpose, and Objectives

field experiments, DOE user facilities, modeling and 

simulation, uncertainty characterization, best-in-class 

computing, process research, and data analytics and 

management (see Fig. 1. Gulf Stream Heat Transport, 

this page). This mission is dedicated to provide the 

fundamental science needed to inform development 

and deployment of advanced solutions to U.S. energy 

challenges. Within this context, the Earth system 

includes atmospheric, oceanic, terrestrial, subsurface, 

cryospheric, and human-energy components. Given 

DOE’s mission to 

adequately assess 

energy-relevant 

infrastructure 

risks, CESD 

places great 

emphasis on 

identifying and 

quantifying 

sources of uncertainties across 

the unified Earth system as a means to extend system 

understanding and predictability.

This strategic plan addresses CESD’s mission and goals 

for the period 2018–2023, as framed by its five scientific grand challenges. These grand challenges focus on 

collaborative and integrative research activities across 

CESD that leverage the capabilities of BER’s scientific 

user facilities, DOE’s leadership class computing facilities, and other BER community resources. Central 

to its mission, CESD investments in basic research 

address key uncertainties in the understanding of Earth 

system components, as well as the complex uncertainties that arise from the interactions and interdependencies of these components in the coupled Earth system. 

This research is needed to understand and predict how 

Integrated 

Earth System

The integrated “Earth system” 

comprises a complex set of 

interacting physical, chemical, 

biological, and societal processes that have significant 

coupling with the climatic and 

environmental systems.

Fig. 1. Gulf Stream Heat Transport. The Gulf Stream 

transports heat from the tropics to Europe, as shown by 

surface temperatures in the Model for Prediction Across 

Scales-Ocean (MPAS-O). The divergent white point highlights 

the Gulf Stream at 20 °C. Improving the representation of 

atmospheric, terrestrial, and subsurface processes in Earth 

system models such as MPAS-O increases the quality of 

climate model projections and informs DOE’s energy decisions. [Courtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

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Vision and Values

2
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

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Terrestrial–Aquatic Interfaces

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division 

(CESD) vision: An improved capability for 

Earth system prediction on seasonal to multidecadal time scales to inform the development of 

resilient U.S. energy strategies.

The following fundamental values underlie CESD’s 

mission and vision:

• Basic scientific research is the foundation for fueling future innovation and technologies to support 

the Department of Energy’s (DOE) mission.

• A balanced portfolio of basic research includes 

multi-institutional big science and smaller 

discovery-focused science projects and takes 

advantage of the complementary strengths of the 

DOE national laboratories, DOE user facilities, 

academic community, and broader scientific 

community.

• The DOE national laboratories have unique 

capabilities to conduct integrated, coordinated, 

and sustained research programs to address innovative and sometimes high-risk transdisciplinary 

research problems.

• Scientific user facilities, long-term (e.g., decadal) 

field experiments, community research infrastructure, community databases, advanced Earth 

system modeling capabilities, and analytical tools 

enable mission-relevant Earth system science, 

advance scientific discovery, and broaden the 

impact of CESD-supported research.

• Developing an effective predictive understanding 

across the multiple scales of the Earth system 

requires integrating observational, experimental, 

analysis, and modeling activities, each informing 

the others to advance science.

• Effective use of DOE high-performance computational capabilities and advanced mathematical 

methods is critical to advancing robust, predictive 

understanding and analysis of uncertainties within 

the Earth system.

• Effective data management, including developing 

community data standards and formats and sharing and preserving data, will increase the pace of 

scientific discovery and ensure scientific integrity.

• Engagement with the broader U.S. and international scientific research community and coordination with intra- and interagency partners, 

including the National Science and Technology 

Council and its subcommittees, create synergies of 

activities, capabilities, and tools that accelerate the 

pace and impact of scientific discovery.

• Essential context, relevance, value, and quality of 

CESD research and facility activities are ensured 

through community engagement that includes 

peer reviews and DOE-sponsored workshops.

• Coordination and regular interaction with appropriate applied activities within DOE ensure appropriate alignment of CESD research activities with 

the needs of DOE’s applied energy mission.

• Development of cutting-edge capabilities, 

expertise, and scientific leadership is fostered 

through investments in early-career research and 

technology-development opportunities.

Vision and Values

Chapter 2
Plan Background and Purpose

3
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

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3.1 Background

F

rom 2010 to 2011, the Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD) developed a strategic plan that would frame the Division’s high-level 

research priorities over the next 5 years (2012–2017). 

The Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan was released and published in 2012 (U.S. DOE 

2012). As part of that plan, CESD described a Department of Energy (DOE) mission–relevant science strategy to support creative and innovative basic research 

investments that focused on a vision to improve predictability of climate and environmental systems. With 

implementation of the 2012 plan, CESD adopted a 

systems approach that considered both DOE applied 

mission science needs and scientific sources of major 

uncertainty that needed to be reduced or resolved. 

Relations were built with federal offices engaged in 

electrical grid reliability, renewable energy, and environmental remediation.

Since publication of the 2012 strategic plan, new 

and ongoing major CESD investments and activities have shaped CESD’s evolving long-term vision 

to enhance Earth system predictability. Examples 

of big science research investments during 2012 to 

2017 that were led by national laboratories included 

(1) major terrestrial field projects involving permafrost ecology, tropical ecology, and geomorphology; 

(2) the launch of a comprehensive Earth system 

model (ESM) project designed to run efficiently 

on DOE high-performance computers; (3) polar 

research involving the dynamical modeling of sea 

ice, ice sheets, and ocean-atmosphere-land interactions; (4) above- and belowground biogeochemistry 

research exploiting new experimental manipulation 

studies in northern peatland ecosystems; (5) watershed-scale studies involving hydrobiogeochemistry; 

(6) advanced cloud and aerosol observations using 

experiment, modeling, and simulation; (7) simulation 

and analysis of extreme events as part of a dynamic 

climatic, hydrological, and Earth system; (8) novel 

software and adaptive mesh technologies for system 

modeling; (9) benchmark analysis and uncertainty 

quantification; and (10) new attention to data management and cyberinfrastructure. CESD further 

embraced its approach of coupling experiments and 

modeling under the integrated “model-observationexperiment (ModEx) paradigm” (see Fig. 2, p. 9).

During the past 5 years, CESD increasingly supported research dedicated to integrating and coupling 

of various Earth system components, where both 

atmospheric and oceanic modeling efforts began to 

incorporate nonhydrostatic physics and terrestrial 

ecology research activities incorporated trait-based 

approaches and other new methodologies. Workshops also were conducted to promote joint strategies 

between facilities and science programs that, in turn, 

were translated into interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary funding opportunities. During the same 

period, the modeling of these integrated systems 

increasingly incorporated impacts, adaptation, and 

vulnerability as complements to integrated assessment to more appropriately address how extreme 

phenomena interact with all system components. Key 

collaborations with other agencies also were fostered, 

most notably with the National Science Foundation 

(NSF), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA), U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 

and Office of Naval Research (ONR).

Given the fine spatial and temporal scales that are necessary to advance predictability of modeling systems, 

Plan Background and Purpose

Chapter 3
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

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CESD partnered with DOE’s Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) in developing 

strategies to exploit advanced software and hardware as 

part of the “DOE exascale strategy.” At the finer spatial 

and temporal modeling scales, other opportunities and 

priorities arose within DOE that were clear beneficiaries of CESD’s unique capabilities. These included, for 

example, the improved capability to predict extremes 

in temperatures and storms that, in turn, affect the likelihood of blackouts and cascading failure of connected 

infrastructures.

With a growing interest in integrated hydrological 

interactions within the Earth system and recent 

droughts in the western United States that impact 

U.S. energy systems, CESD expanded its priorities 

to understand the predictability of the water cycle to 

inform understanding of future water supplies. These 

energy-relevant needs further motivated CESD’s evolution to an Earth system–centric focus.

By treating its investments within an Earth system 

context, CESD became better positioned to interact 

Fig. 2. Integrated Model-Observation-Experiment (ModEx) Paradigm. CESD's ModEx approach integrates process 

research, which involves observations, experiments, and measurements performed in the field or laboratory, with modeling 

research, which simulates these same processes. This integrated loop ensures that models incorporate state-of-the-science 

knowledge about critical systems, and the resulting improved models can be used to guide field and laboratory research to 

inform future decisions.
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

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with a broader set of stakeholders who require basic 

science research to address novel questions that 

demand new CESD science and better prediction 

capabilities. For example, questions within DOE over 

the past few years have increasingly focused on how 

variability and change within the Arctic region affect 

energy production and pipeline security; how interannual variability of water supplies affects terrestrial oil 

and gas recovery; and how extremes within the Earth 

system affect energy production and electric grid reliability. The science needed to improve Earth system 

predictability to address these broader questions was 

considered in developing a revised set of scientific 

grand challenges for CESD’s strategy spanning 2018 

through 2023 (see Chapter 4. CESD Scientific Grand 

Challenges for 2018–2023, p. 12).

In November 2017, the Biological and Environmental 

Research Advisory Committee (BERAC) released 

a major report, Grand Challenges for Biological and 

Environmental Research: Progress and Future Vision 

(BERAC 2017). BERAC suggested in the report that 

CESD consider including in its future strategic investments the development of enhanced Earth system 

modeling capabilities that focus on extreme events, 

data-model integration, uncertainty quantification, 

and the DOE exascale agenda; a computational user 

facility to help drive model development and analysis; 

and deployment of integrated field laboratories that 

incorporate newly developed sensing technologies 

and address environments such as urban areas and 

their surrounding ecosystems. While the BERAC 

report emphasized challenges extending over a 20-year 

period (i.e., 2017–2037), CESD incorporates in its 

5-year (2018–2023) strategic plan those BERAC recommendations as a framework for the Division’s nearterm challenges and priorities.

Moving forward, CESD’s use-inspired basic research 

will target new science that demands more sophisticated DOE facilities and capabilities. Meeting this new 

plan’s objectives will enable revolutionary scientific 

advances that are expected to more effectively inform 

DOE’s evolving priorities in energy-sector resiliency 

and security.

3.2 The CESD 2018–2023 Strategic Plan

The CESD strategic plan for the period 2018–2023 

presents a bold set of high-priority CESD grand challenge fundamental scientific research questions that are 

critical to DOE’s science, environmental, and energy 

missions and that CESD is particularly well positioned 

to address. While noting that CESD research is dedicated to long-term scientific challenges, potentially 

extending across multiple decades, this plan focuses on 

the specific scientific questions and priorities needed 

to improve Earth system predictability over the coming 5 to 10 years. As in the previous strategic plan, the 

grand challenges of this new plan require an integrated 

and coordinated approach, as well as the determined 

effort of multiple CESD programs, projects, and scientific user facilities, and, in many cases, leveraging 

strategic interagency and stakeholder partnerships 

and expertise. The new plan places greater emphasis 

on DOE scientific needs, yet its approach is framed by 

science opportunities and directions articulated by the 

research community. As in its previous plan, CESD 

will emphasize the use of DOE’s unique facilities and 

infrastructures.

The plan’s five scientific grand challenges span 

cutting-edge research within water-cycle, biogeochemistry, and high-latitude processes; drivers and 

responses in the Earth system; and the development 

of advanced data-model integration frameworks for 

enhancing scientific discovery. In each case, major 

scientific advances will serve and inform the needs of 

DOE’s mission (see Chapter 4, p. 12).

Following presentation of the research challenges, 

this report provides descriptions of relevant CESD 

activities and facilities that highlight the Division’s 

scope, approaches, expertise, and efforts (see Appendix 1, p. 26). Also described are ongoing high-priority 

CESD investments that are more confined to individual programmatic disciplinary areas such as 

atmospheric research, environmental and terrestrial 

research, and Earth system modeling.
CESD Scientific 

Grand Challenges for 2018–2023

4
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Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

12

4.1 Integrated Water Cycle Scientific 

Grand Challenge

Advance understanding of the integrated water 

cycle by studying relevant processes involving the 

atmospheric, terrestrial, oceanic, and human 

system components and their interactions and feedbacks 

across local, regional, and global scales, thereby improving 

the predictability of the water cycle and reducing associated uncertainties in response to short- and long-term 

perturbations.

Associated Research Questions

1. How are the frequency and intensity of hydrological events affected by coupled, large-scale variability and change within the Earth system? 

2. How are atmospheric moisture; cloud formation and properties; and the location, quantity, 

and phase of precipitation at regional to local 

scales influenced by atmospheric and surface 

processes across a range of scales including largescale atmospheric motions, land-atmosphere 

coupling, heat and moisture transport, 

cloud-aerosol-precipitation interactions, and 

turbulence processes?

3. How does the hydrological functioning of watersheds and river basins, including natural, managed, 

and engineered components, respond to changes 

in precipitation patterns, land use, vegetation 

cover, geomorphology, nutrient and contaminant 

loading, and compounding disturbances?

4. How do energy, water, and land systems, which are 

inextricably linked across local and regional scales, 

co-evolve in response to short- and long-term 

perturbations?

5. To what extent do local-scale heterogeneities and 

anomalies, including both natural and anthropogenic system components, drive larger-scale 

hydrological processes and phenomena, and how 

persistent and predictable are these interactions?

Water is essential for a wide range of life-sustaining 

human activities and is a major component underlying a suite of important Earth system processes and 

interactions that extend from local to regional to global 

scales. The integrated water or hydrological cycle 

involves the hydrology and movement of water among 

ocean, atmosphere, land, and cryosphere, as well as the 

interactions of these components with human activities including withdrawals, consumption, and diversion. Many energy systems such as fossil, nuclear, and 

hydroelectric power plants depend on water availability, as does the growth of biofuels. Improved understanding of the processes underlying the integrated 

hydrological cycle is critical for improving the predictability of water availability and quality for energy 

infrastructure needs and the potential impacts of 

extreme hydrological events on energy infrastructure 

and the environment (see Fig. 3. East River Watershed 

in Upper Colorado River Basin, p. 13). A combination 

of natural variability and human activities affects the 

hydrological cycle, including uses of water for agriculture and energy production. Today’s scientific uncertainties in predicting long-term changes in global and 

regional hydrological cycles and the implications for 

water supplies and energy production (from local to 

regional scales) fundamentally limit the nation’s ability 

CESD Scientific Grand Challenges 

for 2018–2023

Chapter 4
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

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to develop sustainable energy solutions and address 

environmental needs.

To advance a robust, predictive understanding of the 

integrated water cycle, the Climate and Environmental 

Sciences Division (CESD) draws from unique and 

highly relevant research on cloud, aerosol, terrestrialecosystem, watershed, and subsurface processes, as 

well as from integrated energy-Earth system modeling across a variety of spatial and temporal scales. 

Synthesizing new process knowledge and innovative 

computational methods in integrated models of the 

human-Earth system can advance predictive capabilities relevant to Department of Energy (DOE) missions 

(see Fig. 4. Balancing Global Water Availability and 

Use at the Basin Scale, p. 14).

CESD fundamental research on the integrated water 

cycle extends from local to global scales. From a global 

perspective, a major goal is to better understand how 

the hydrological cycle will evolve on seasonal to multidecadal time scales relevant to energy infrastructure. 

From a local perspective, major goals include better 

understanding of (1) processes that control the details 

of precipitation location, type, and intensity and 

(2) how terrestrial-aquatic interfaces, watersheds, 

and river basins function as fully coupled systems 

in response to perturbations and other stresses on 

scales extending from individual storm or flood events 

to long-term droughts. A hierarchy of models with 

varying degrees of resolution and mechanistic fidelity 

must be used to represent the functioning of hydrological systems from local to global scales. Long-term 

observations, field experiments, and laboratory experiments provide a foundational basis for evaluating and 

improving the representation of physical processes in 

the model simulations. Ultimately, this process-based 

understanding of the natural and human components 

of the integrated water cycle is incorporated into complex system models that enable hypothesis testing for 

scientific inquiry and decision support to advance 

DOE’s energy and environmental missions.

4.2 Biogeochemistry Scientific 

Grand Challenge

Advance a robust, predictive understanding of coupled 

biogeochemical processes and cycles across spatial and 

temporal scales by investigating natural and anthropogenic 

interactions and feedbacks and their associated uncertainties within Earth and environmental systems.

Associated Research Questions

1. How can biogeochemical pools and fluxes and 

their associated uncertainties be better constrained and represented in environmental and 

Earth system models at global to local scales?

2. How can improved understanding of biogeochemical interactions and feedbacks within the current 

Earth system be used to improve projections of 

future environmental states?

3. How will compounding short-term perturbations 

and sustained change influence biogeochemical 

cycles and impact the functioning of Earth and 

environmental systems across relevant spatiotemporal scales, and what are the associated critical 

thresholds of those systems?

Fig. 3. East River Watershed in Upper Colorado River 

Basin. At this representative watershed, studies supported 

by the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research activity in the 

Environmental System Science research area are developing 

and testing new approaches and tools to measure and predict how droughts, early snowmelt, and other perturbations 

impact downstream water availability and biogeochemical 

cycling at episodic to decadal time scales. [Courtesy Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

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4. How do natural and anthropogenic changes 

in land cover and land use affect biogeochemical processes and cycles, especially at critical 

land-water-atmosphere interfaces?

5. How do geochemical, genomic, and metabolic interactions influence environmental system dynamics 

from single-measurement sites to watershed scales, 

and how can improved understanding of these processes and interactions be effectively incorporated 

into environmental and Earth system models?

6. What are the key environmental factors that create 

and sustain biogeochemical “hot spots” and “hot 

moments” in specific locations, and to what extent 

are these phenomena important at larger scales?

Advancing the understanding of coupled biogeochemical processes and cycles enables DOE to address a wide 

variety of mission needs. These needs include the representation and long-term prediction of the Earth system, 

understanding the complexities of the energy-water-land 

nexus, and understanding of nutrient availability in soils 

for sustainable biofuel crops. Additionally, understanding and predicting the cycling and transport of nutrients 

and DOE-relevant contaminants in surface water, soils, 

and the subsurface, as well as analyzing science-based 

approaches for handling spent nuclear fuel storage, are 

critical science needs for DOE. Developing a foundational understanding of the transformation, pools 

(stocks), and fluxes (movement) of biogeochemical 

elements in terrestrial and subsurface environments and 

their coupling with hydrology will reduce key uncertainties in Earth and environmental sciences that have implications for the environment and U.S. energy systems 

(see Fig. 5. Carbon and Nutrient Cycling, p. 15). Because 

most DOE mission areas involve human interactions 

with the natural Earth system, there also is a need to 

integrate research to understand natural biogeochemical 

processes and cycles with research to study the influence 

of anthropogenic activities. Achieving this integration 

requires (1) field-based observational and experimental 

research as well as laboratory-based research on realworld systems and (2) incorporation of the findings 

and understanding from these research activities into a 

variety of process and predictive models that span a wide 

range of spatial and temporal scales. 

Model complexity needs to be tailored to particular 

scales and questions. However, current land-process, 

terrestrial-ecosystem, watershed, and reactive-transport 

models inadequately capture the structure of the 

land surface, coastal oceans, freshwater systems, soils, 

groundwater, deeper sediments, and their interfaces. 

These models also do not adequately represent living 

components of the Earth system such as microbes, 

plants, and higher organisms. Finally, they insufficiently 

represent the interfaces and interactions among the 

physical, chemical, and biological processes that compose the interconnected Earth system.

Functional processes of the Earth system include 

(1) emissions of biogenic aerosol precursors from soils 

and waterbodies; (2) biogeochemical reactions in soils 

and aquatic sediments, such as contaminant transformations; (3) interactions and cycling of organic and 

inorganic elements such as carbon, nitrogen, iron, 

sulfur, phosphorous, and many others through the 

bio- and geosphere; (4) plant-microbe interactions in 

rhizospheric reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions in 

aquifers and soil pores; (5) reactive transport of particulates, organic matter, microbes, and contaminants; 

(6) microbe-mineral interactions; and (7) hot spots 

Fig. 4. Balancing Global Water Availability and Use at 

the Basin Scale. Advanced simulation capabilities, enabled 

through the Multisector Dynamics activity in the Earth and 

Environmental Systems Modeling research area, are revealing new insights into the integrated water cycle, including 

regional water resources and demands as well as global 

projections oriented around major river basins. [Courtesy 

iStockphoto.com]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

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and hot moments of disproportionately high levels of 

hydrobiogeochemical interactions relative to the bulk 

of the environment (see Fig. 6. Biogeochemical Hot 

Moments, p. 16). To enable a robust understanding 

of Earth system functions and prediction of major 

changes to the Earth and relevant environmental 

systems following perturbations or even major disturbances, these and many other biogeochemical 

processes need to be more completely investigated and 

understood at their appropriate scales.

4.3 High Latitudes Scientific 

Grand Challenge

Understand and quantify the drivers, interactions, and 

feedbacks both among the high-latitude components and 

between the high latitudes and the global system to reduce 

uncertainties and improve predictive understanding of 

high-latitude systems and their global impacts.

Associated Research Questions

1. How will the surface energy budget be impacted 

by changes in high-latitude atmospheric vertical 

structure, aerosols, clouds, and their interactions 

under current and future conditions?

2. What are the critical coupled high-latitude biogeochemical processes at local scales that have implications for the global Earth system, and how will 

these coupled cycles be impacted by current and 

future high-latitude changes and disturbances?

3. How will the polar cryosphere change under a 

range of potential future conditions; how does this 

compare to historical changes; and what are the 

relevant primary processes, drivers, and feedbacks 

within the Earth system?

4. To what extent are changes in high-latitude 

regions driven by local versus global influences, 

and what are the impacts of high-latitude change 

on lower-latitude systems through, for example, 

shifts in large-scale circulations?

5. What are the uncertainties in high latitude–driven 

global sea level–rise projections, and what are the 

associated coastal impacts, especially when combined with extreme events and other compounding factors? 

The largest observed changes in the Earth system are 

happening in high-latitude regions. The Arctic is experiencing very dramatic changes related to thawing permafrost, melting sea and land ice, and warming oceans. 

The retreating sea-ice cover in the Arctic and warmer 

temperatures are opening up opportunities for energy 

exploration and shipping. For the Antarctic, several 

ice shelves are particularly susceptible to thinning by 

underlying warm ocean currents, possibly leading to icesheet destabilization and sea-level rise (see Fig. 7. Modeled Ice Speed for the Antarctic Ice Sheet, p. 17). The 

healing of the Antarctic ozone hole affects the Southern 

Hemisphere’s atmospheric and oceanic dynamics. In 

addition, changes in the high latitudes of both the Arctic 

and Antarctic affect the entire planet through shifts in 

atmospheric and oceanic circulations. Both the desire 

for energy security and the need to better understand 

the influence of high-latitude changes on midlatitude 

weather and climate (e.g., in the continental United 

Fig. 5. Carbon and Nutrient Cycling. Coarse roots, such as 

this root mass from a soil core taken in a scrub-oak forest, 

often persist for long periods after tree harvest or disturbances such as fire. Research supported by the Terrestrial 

Ecosystem Science activity in the Environmental System 

Science research area applied ground-penetrating radar to 

image belowground plant structures to help quantify belowground carbon pools. [Courtesy Frank Day, Old Dominion 

University]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

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States) highlight the paramount need to understand the 

sensitivities, interactions, and feedbacks, both within 

and between the individual components (e.g., atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere, and land) of the Arctic and 

Antarctic systems and between these regions and the 

rest of the planet.

Although progress has been made in understanding 

high-latitude systems both at a component level and 

a comprehensive system level, scientific advances in 

the predictability of high-latitude systems have been 

and still are impeded by several factors. These factors 

include sparsity of observations, lack of process knowledge and simulation of individual components and 

their interactions, the multiscale nature of processes, 

and the lack of resolution in global and regional Earth 

system models (ESMs) in capturing the relevant 

processes and their interactions. In addition, unique 

aspects of high-latitude systems continue to limit the 

ability to predict high-latitude variability and change. 

Specifically, the largest interannual variability of the 

Earth system is found in high-latitude regions, yet 

observing and simulating high-latitude processes 

remain extremely challenging, especially when considering permafrost thaw and changing landscape morphology that complicate land-model development (see 

Fig. 8. Landscapes in Transition, p. 18). Furthermore, 

cryospheric and biogeochemical processes are highly 

complex at high-latitude system interfaces between, for 

example, land ice and ocean, land ice and atmosphere, 

and land and ocean.

With unique atmospheric and terrestrial observational investments in the high latitudes and complementary internationally recognized sea-ice, land-ice, 

terrestrial, atmospheric, and oceanic modeling and 

analysis capabilities, CESD is uniquely poised to 

make advances in the understanding of high-latitude 

systems and their feedbacks. To address scientific 

challenges involving high latitudes, CESD seeks 

to strengthen and coordinate its terrestrial, atmospheric, and modeling foci and increase interactions 

with other U.S. agencies and international partners. 

CESD’s terrestrial priority over the next 5 years 

will focus, more specifically, on understanding the 

evolving ecological, physical, and biogeochemical 

interactions in permafrost and boreal systems with 

increased emphasis on interactions with hydrology 

and the atmosphere. The focus on atmospheric processes will be to enhance understanding of changes 

within high-latitude systems, with specific efforts to 

improve knowledge of surface-atmosphere interactions, microphysics of mixed-phase clouds, and the 

impacts of long-range transport versus local production of absorbing aerosols as needed to project 

surface radiation budgets (see Fig. 9. Tethersonde 

Test Flight, p. 18). Implementing the new process knowledge into ESMs with regionally refined 

gridding capabilities for terrestrial, oceanic, and 

atmospheric components is expected to enable a 

sharper focus on regional-scale interactions, thereby 

reducing the model computational cost required 

to capture essential Earth system behavior while 

resolving high-latitude processes that have a global 

impact. Sensitivity analysis performed using ESMs 

will lead to better understanding of relevant drivers, 

interactions, and feedbacks and will help identify the 

Fig. 6. Biogeochemical Hot Moments. Researchers install

in situ, permeable solid phase-groundwater reaction cells 

into wells at DOE’s Rifle, Colorado, field site to investigate 

molecular-scale mechanisms governing uranium mobility 

in response to seasonally changing groundwater conditions. This work is supported by the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research activity in the Environmental System 

Science research area. [Courtesy SLAC National Accelerator 

Laboratory]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

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next set of observations needed to further reduce the 

uncertainties in Earth system projections.

4.4 Drivers and Responses in 

the Earth System Scientific 

Grand Challenge

Advance next-generation understanding of Earth system 

drivers and their effects on the integrated Earth-energyhuman system.

Associated Research Questions

1. How do natural and anthropogenic short- and 

long-lived drivers of the Earth system, such as 

atmospheric aerosols and gases, clouds, land use, 

land cover, oceanic circulations, sea ice, and ice 

sheets, currently interact with the coupled Earth 

system, and how accurately can future interactions 

be predicted?

2. How do timing, intensity, and location of drivers 

interact with natural variability, and how do these 

affect extremes and potential tipping points across 

local, regional, and global scales?

3. How do the hydrological cycle, biogeochemical 

cycle, and high-latitude regions respond to specific 

natural and anthropogenic drivers?

4. How may the responses of the integrated Earth 

system influence the accessibility, availability, 

location, distribution, and usage of U.S. energy 

supplies and connected infrastructure, as well 

as critical interdependencies among the energy, 

water, and land systems? 

Understanding the processes and constituents that drive 

the Earth’s different meteorological regimes, as well 

as the accompanying dynamics within the integrated 

human-natural Earth system, is key to predicting Earth 

system responses to these drivers and the subsequent 

Fig. 7. Modeled Ice Speed for the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Slow-moving ice (blue and green) from the ice sheet’s interior feeds 

fast-moving (yellow and orange) ice streams and ice shelves that ring the continent’s margins. These margins restrain the 

vast body of ice behind them but are susceptible to speed up and destabilization through melting from the ocean below and 

atmosphere above. The Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS)-Albany Land Ice model used for this simulation is supported by the Model Development activity in the Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling research area. [Courtesy Los 

Alamos National Laboratory]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

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implications for the energy sector. These drivers span 

a range of spatial scales, from phenomena the size of a 

forest fire or volcanic plume to the global scale of atmospheric waves and oceanic currents, and temporal scales 

from hours to decades. The multiscale nature of these 

drivers is complicated by the fact that the Earth system 

has teleconnections—changes in one part of the Earth 

system in one location can impact other parts of the 

system in other locations. Further complications include 

the interactions between human activities and Earth 

system natural variability and trends. Additionally, many 

interactions within the Earth system are nonlinear, so 

changes in timing, intensity, or location of a driver may 

interact in unexpected ways with natural variability and 

trends to produce extreme events (see Fig. 10. Sea Surface Temperature Change, p. 19).

A major challenge facing the science community is 

to understand the relative importance of local versus 

large-scale dynamics, as well as natural versus continuously evolving anthropogenic systems and drivers 

of scale-dependent meteorological, climatic, and 

other system phenomena. One example is the need to 

improve understanding of the extent to which spatial 

and temporal changes to the hydrological system, such 

as seasonal to decadal changes in precipitation and 

water availability in particular regions, are influenced 

by local versus large-scale phenomena. Local phenomena include atmospheric particles such as atmospheric 

particulates, as well as terrestrial influences such as 

changes in land use, water withdrawals, and water 

diversion (see Fig. 11. Land-Atmosphere-Cloud Interactions, p. 20). Large-scale phenomena include natural 

cycles of variability in the Earth system such as the El 

Niño–Southern Oscillation. Resulting changes in local 

meteorology or hydrology can impact human communities, including demands on and availability of energy 

systems. Incorporating all these drivers and responses 

within integrated ESMs not only improves the potential understanding of the interdependencies of systems, 

but also leads to understanding how the Earth, energy, 

and human systems may respond and co-evolve based 

on component interdependencies.

Responses of the Earth system to drivers impact all of 

CESD’s scientific grand challenges, and addressing this 

particular grand challenge requires that DOE capabilities and infrastructures be readily available to the 

community. Specifically, CESD will prioritize research 

objectives to (1) observe atmospheric, hydrological, 

Fig. 9. Tethersonde Test Flight. Tethersondes, like this 

one, are used to collect atmospheric measurements at the 

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility’s 

mobile observatory at Oliktok Point, Alaska. [Courtesy ARM 

User Facility]

Fig. 8. Landscapes in Transition. A mechanistic understanding of what controls the coupled nature of hydrology, biogeochemistry, and vegetation dynamics is needed 

for system-wide prediction of permafrost dynamics. The 

Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments–Arctic project, 

supported by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Science activity in 

the Environmental System Science research area, seeks to 

understand how surface and subsurface processes and 

properties are interconnected across permafrost-dominated 

tundra ecosystems. [Courtesy University of Alaska, 

Fairbanks]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

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Chapter 3 – Processes Across Watersheds to Coasts

and terrestrial systems over sufficient time and space 

to record fluctuations in both drivers and major Earth 

system dynamics; (2) implement these component 

systems into models of various scales to study processes, feedbacks, and responses; and (3) perform 

modeling and statistical analysis to isolate the roles of 

drivers in producing responses at various levels within 

the integrated system hierarchy. The latter is essential 

for understanding nonlinear characteristics within the 

integrated Earth system.

4.5 Data-Model Integration 

Scientific Grand Challenge

Develop a broad range of interconnected infrastructure 

capabilities and tools that support the integration and 

management of models, experiments, and observations 

across a hierarchy of scales and complexity to address 

CESD scientific grand challenges.

Associated Research Goals

1. Provide an advanced and innovative cyberinfrastructure for archiving, managing, analyzing, 

and visualizing experimental, observational, and 

model data (and their associated metadata) that 

enables scientists to integrate CESD-generated 

data across projects, scales, and disciplines to 

address CESD’s scientific grand challenges.

2. Develop and use innovative computational tools, 

testbeds, benchmarks, diagnostics, and metrics, 

as well as data at process and global scales, to evaluate and validate models and to characterize and 

understand sources of uncertainty in both observations and model simulations.

3. Enhance efforts to ensure that the results of experiments and observations are used to inform model 

development and, conversely, that model outputs 

and simulations are used to guide the design of 

field experiments and new observational efforts to 

address critical knowledge gaps.

4. Develop a scalable and adaptable framework that 

enables improved compatibility, integration, and 

interoperability of a hierarchical suite of models 

across a range of temporal and spatial scales and 

complexity to address CESD’s scientific grand 

challenges.

A modern and effective cyberinfrastructure for 

archiving, managing, analyzing, and visualizing experimental, observational, and model-generated data is 

critical for supporting scientific investigation of Earth 

system processes. Such a cyberinfrastructure will 

enable CESD to strategically manage the large volumes and diversity of data from CESD-supported user 

facilities, community capabilities, measurement sites, 

field campaigns, and individual experiments. Leveraging CESD’s existing data infrastructure, developing 

enhanced open-source software and capabilities for 

incorporating observational and experimental data 

into CESD-supported models, and making effective 

use of DOE’s high-performance computing facilities 

Fig. 10. Sea Surface Temperature Change. The highresolution Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) 

simulates the strongest storms with surface winds exceeding 150 miles per hour, such as hurricanes that leave 

cold wakes 2–4 °C cooler than their surrounding waters. 

This simulation represents how sea surface temperature 

changes evolve as a hurricane (seen here approaching the 

U.S. East Coast) moves across the Atlantic and how the 

resultant cold wake affects subsequent intensification of the 

next hurricane. [Courtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

20

will better equip the scientific community to address 

CESD’s scientific grand challenges and enable breakthroughs at the frontiers of Earth system science.

The data needed for effective Earth system research 

to better understand climatic and environmental variabilities and change over multiple scales continue to 

increase, both in volume and complexity. To effectively 

use and steward this information, strong data management practices including quality control, uncertainty 

characterization, comprehensive metadata, standardization, and discoverability are critical. Scalable opensource software for advanced analysis techniques such 

as data mining, machine learning, pattern scaling, and 

visualization will enable scientific discovery. Advanced 

workflows will enable the reproducibility of research 

results and simulations and the ability to easily apply 

new techniques to existing datasets. Digital object 

identifiers (DOIs) for datasets and development of 

new tools and techniques for tracking data metrics will 

illustrate the scientific impact of CESD data.

A key goal of CESD’s cyberinfrastructure development 

is to use innovative computational techniques to better enable the coupling of simulation, observational, 

and experimental data to support process science, 

evaluation of model simulations, and improvements 

in predictability (see Fig. 12. Jet Stream Visualization, 

this page). Such techniques include more robust methodologies to quantify uncertainty; more sophisticated 

approaches involving adaptive grids, instrument simulators, data assimilation, and efficient input/output 

(I/O) methods; and improved methods for use of 

data for model initialization. CESD will continue to 

develop and support innovative testbeds, diagnostics, 

and metrics for evaluating models with observational 

and experimental data. CESD also will explore the use 

of models to improve collection of observational data 

through techniques such as Observation System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) and analysis of model 

uncertainty to identify specific regions or processes for 

which more data are needed.

The cyberinfrastructure framework will improve 

consistency and compatibility across the hierarchy of 

models used by CESD scientists through integration 

of modern software practices including increased 

modularity and use of common code libraries, while 

moving toward a vision of interoperability across a 

range of models. Consistency across models of different scales and complexity will enable scientists to 

more easily inform simpler models with more complex 

ones, add higher resolution or more detailed process 

understanding for simulations of particular regions or 

phenomena, and couple models across disciplines as 

needed to address critical science questions.

Fig. 11. Land-Atmosphere-Cloud Interactions. The 

Integrated Cloud, Land-Surface, and Aerosol System Study 

(ICLASS), supported by the Atmospheric System Research 

activity, relies heavily on observational datasets being 

collected at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement 

(ARM) User Facility’s Southern Great Plains site. This project 

is designed to understand and model key interactions 

among clouds, aerosols, and the land surface. [Courtesy 

ARM User Facility]

Fig. 12. Jet Stream Visualization. An interactive visualization of the jet stream (zonal wind velocity) using combined 

isosurface, slice, and volume renderers in vcs3D, the visualization component of Community Data Analysis Tools (CDAT) 

supported by DOE and the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA). [Courtesy Thomas Maxwell, NASA 

Center for Climate Simulation, Goddard Space Flight Center]
Implementation Strategy

5
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

22

T

he vision of the Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD) is an improved capability 

for Earth system prediction across seasonal to 

multidecadal time scales to inform the development 

of resilient U.S. energy strategies. Complementing this 

vision, the CESD mission is to enhance this multiscale 

temporal predictability of the Earth system using longterm field experiments, Department of Energy (DOE) 

user facilities, modeling and simulation, uncertainty 

characterization, best-in-class computing, process 

research, and data analytics and management to inform 

the development of advanced solutions to U.S. energy 

challenges. The CESD vision and mission, while being 

science centric, are designed to inform applied science 

needs that address the mission and national security 

challenges across DOE.

As part of this strategy, core research projects supported 

by CESD and carried out by national laboratories 

and universities will, therefore, become increasingly 

complex, interdisciplinary, and collaborative to more 

rapidly advance the relevant science. The integrated 

model-observation-experiment paradigm (ModEx; see 

Fig. 2, p. 9) that was established in CESD’s previous 

strategic plan is strengthened in this new plan. The 2018 

plan’s scientific focus emphasizes the need to understand system nonlinearities such as thresholds and 

tipping points, as well as potential system interdependencies. Because of this emphasis, CESD will prioritize 

investments that can lead to improved scale-aware, process-level understanding over time horizons that extend 

from the smallest-scale biogeochemical interactions to 

interdecadal oscillations acting on oceans, the atmosphere, and continents on the largest scale.

The five scientific grand challenges framing this strategy are sufficiently difficult to demand decadal-scale 

research efforts to make significant advancement and 

discovery. Even though this plan covers 5 years, CESD 

anticipates updating it periodically, based on scientific 

discoveries, new technical capabilities, and collaborative opportunities that are currently unknown. Therefore, CESD expects the plan to be dynamic, revisiting it 

every few years to evaluate progress and timeliness, as 

well as presenting opportunities for re-direction.

Furthermore, the ambition level for the grand challenges is sufficiently bold that no single program or 

agency can comprehensively address the plan’s tough 

scientific questions without significant coordination 

and collaboration involving multiple agencies. For 

example, CESD’s ambitions to advance the science 

of predictability on topics involving ocean dynamics, 

sea ice, ice, and ice sheets will require data gathered 

by other agencies such as the National Aeronautics 

and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. 

Geological Survey (USGS), and National Science 

Foundation (NSF). Joint funding of solicitations with 

these agencies is a potential avenue by which to leverage expertise and capabilities, and it also allows a more 

robust framework to reduce redundancy and maximize 

scientific output in support of multiple agency goals. 

In particular, emerging efforts across multiple agencies 

to advance understanding of the water cycle, including 

groundwater and the terrestrial-aquatic interface, will 

require coordination across modeling, data, and data 

assimilation disciplines at agencies including USGS, 

NOAA, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department 

of Homeland Security, NSF, and Army Corps of Engineers. Without these interagency collaborations, DOE 

would not be able to easily achieve the new scientific 

advancements and capabilities that the nation so desperately needs. Other agencies will similarly achieve 

their goals more efficiently and cost-effectively through 

these collaborations.

Implementation Strategy

Chapter 5
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

23

The paradigm governing CESD’s approach to implementation of this 2018–2023 strategic plan will continue to embrace the coupled ModEx template that was 

implemented during the past 5 years. With ModEx, 

field experiments will be organized based partly on deficiencies in model systems, and new knowledge gained 

from observational science will be rapidly incorporated 

into improved predictive capabilities. The Division 

anticipates that its continued commitment to the 

ModEx paradigm, together with increased attention to 

data and cyberinfrastructure developments, will enable 

CESD to shorten the time between discovery and 

societal benefit, thus increasing the value of science to 

stakeholders.

This strategic plan’s implementation requires careful 

investments at DOE national laboratories as well as 

academic institutions. CESD views the national laboratories as intellectual hubs and integrators of DOE 

scientific investments. CESD’s investments in the laboratories will continue to be dominated by long-term 

funding via the Science Focus Areas (SFAs) and longterm field experiments (see Fig. 13. Spruce and Peatland 

Responses Under Changing Environments Project, 

this page). As in the past, SFAs will continue to serve 

as academic hubs for the community and emphasize an 

integrated, team-based approach to advance challenging 

multidisciplinary research that, in turn, exploits assets, 

capabilities, and facilities (e.g., Atmospheric Radiation 

Measurement User Facility, Environmental Molecular 

Sciences Laboratory, data, and computing) at participating DOE national laboratories. SFAs and their 

scientific teams also will be expected to demonstrate 

that they continually tap into the best ideas across the 

scientific community. To complement these core laboratory activities, CESD will continue to support smaller, 

yet focused research efforts at universities and other 

institutions. Other academic research will continue to 

be supported through targeted Funding Opportunity 

Announcements (FOAs) and Cooperative Agreements 

(CAs) that seek high-reward projects, which also may 

have high risk, that often align with or complement the 

longer-term national laboratory investments. CESD 

will increasingly align priorities within both laboratory 

and university communities to foster long-term growth 

for CESD science, thus meeting DOE’s mission and 

national security challenges.

Addressing the scientific grand challenges described in 

Chapter 4 (see p. 12) requires careful coordination of 

Fig. 13. Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) Project. Experimental enclosures provide warming from the tree tops to the deep soil for the Terrestrial Ecosystem Science-supported SPRUCE project. SPRUCE is 

an ecosystem-scale manipulation study to assess the response of northern peatland ecosystems to increases in temperature 

and exposures to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. [Courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

24

research portfolios and partnerships. Coordination of 

this multidisciplinary and multi-institutional approach 

to science is a difficult but recognized strength of DOE 

and CESD. CESD’s scientific business model strives 

to build long-term, integrated research activities that 

benefit from the capabilities at the national laboratories in managing innovative, team-based projects and 

supplement that expertise with focused activities and 

expertise from the academic research community. The 

laboratories increasingly will be expected to propose 

and lead dedicated long-term projects, whereas the 

academics-based efforts will provide short-term targeted exploration of scientific issues, often addressing 

research questions that complement national laboratory 

research. Examples of successful multi-institutional 

scientific coordination that started in recent years 

include the Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments 

(NGEE) in the Arctic and tropics, Energy Exascale 

Earth System Model (E3SM) project, and Subsurface 

Biogeochemical Research SFAs. These examples have 

resulted in multifaceted research that can exploit ideas 

and talent across the scientific community, meeting 

CESD’s long-term vision and research objectives. Additionally, CESD will continue to embrace the need for 

open-source, community cyberinfrastructure frameworks that, in turn, support a broad range of programs 

and projects. Ultimately, this approach is expected to 

increasingly accelerate innovation and efficiency, as well 

as produce new science that will more rapidly advance 

system predictive capabilities.

To promote CESD’s ambition to achieve challenging 

science, the Division will continue to regularly solicit 

and entrain the best ideas from the community via 

workshops, town halls, and conferences. These community outreach efforts are critical for identifying key 

research priorities within CESD’s scientific grand challenges. On the federal level, CESD also will maintain a 

significant DOE presence within the relevant National 

Science and Technology Council subcommittees, 

such as the U.S. Global Change Research Program, to 

exchange information, coordinate strategies, and promote collaborative arrangements.

While the Division’s managing organization, the DOE 

Office of Science, does not directly invest in education, 

CESD will continue to strongly endorse the entrainment of students and postdoctoral researchers as part 

of its university- and laboratory-funded projects and 

facilities. In addition, CESD will continue to participate 

in the DOE Office of Science Early Career and Graduate Student Research programs on topics in which 

the Division anticipates growth during the upcoming 

years. CESD also will maintain a strong commitment to 

diversity to achieve the goals outlined throughout this 

strategic plan.

CESD is excited about its new strategic plan. With a set 

of bold scientific research challenges and an approach 

to more rapidly assimilate new scientific research into 

more sophisticated predictive capabilities, the Division 

not only is committed to advancing basic science, but 

also is dedicated to building and enhancing the scientific careers of theoreticians, experimentalists, and modelers participating in the CESD community.
Appendices
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan May 2018

26

CESD Activity and Facility Descriptions

T

he Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD) of the Office of Biological and 

Environmental Research (BER), within the 

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, is organized around three disciplinary areas: 

atmospheric sciences, environmental sciences, and 

modeling. User facilities are included as part of the 

disciplinary studies. In addition to these areas, the 

Data Management activity supports the full breadth 

of CESD's research investments.

Atmospheric Sciences

Atmospheric Sciences research supported by CESD 

comprises the Atmospheric System Research (ASR) 

activity and its companion Atmospheric Radiation 

Measurement (ARM) User Facility. The goal of the 

ASR activity is to improve understanding of key cloud, 

aerosol, precipitation, and radiation processes that 

affect the Earth’s radiative balance and hydrological 

cycle, especially processes that limit the predictive 

ability of regional and global models (see Fig. 14. 

Marine Cloud Drizzle, this page). For the most part, 

ASR investments use ARM’s measurements of radiation, aerosols, clouds, precipitation, thermodynamics, 

turbulence, and state variables. ARM’s continuous 

observational datasets are supplemented with process models, laboratory studies, and shorter-duration 

ground-based and airborne field campaigns to target 

specific atmospheric processes in different locations 

and across a range of spatial and temporal scales.

Atmospheric System Research

ASR has four priority research areas that correspond to 

atmospheric regimes with large uncertainties in Earth 

system prediction: aerosol processes, warm boundary 

layer processes, convective processes, and high-latitude 

processes. To better connect research teams working 

on the processes and process interactions within each 

of these areas, ASR is organized into four working 

groups that focus on objectives in their respective 

research areas.

Aerosol Processes Working Group: Seeks to 

improve the understanding of processes governing 

the spatial and temporal distribution of atmospheric 

particles and their chemical, microphysical, and optical 

properties.

Warm Boundary Layer Processes Working Group: 

Seeks to improve understanding and model representation of processes controlling the structural and 

radiative properties of clouds, aerosols, and their interactions with the underlying surface in the lowest few 

kilometers of the atmosphere.

Convective Processes Working Group: Seeks to 

improve the understanding and model representation 

of convective cloud processes and properties including 

Fig. 14. Marine Cloud Drizzle. A drizzling marine stratocumulus cloud over the northeast Pacific Ocean. Marine low 

clouds represent one of the largest uncertainties and most 

important feedback factors in current-generation climate 

models. [Courtesy ARM User Facility]

Appendix 1
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

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cloud cover, precipitation, life cycle, dynamics, and 

microphysics over a range of spatial scales.

High-Latitude Processes Working Group: Seeks 

to improve understanding and model representation 

of cloud, aerosol, and surface processes controlling 

the surface energy budgets in northern and southern 

high-latitude regions.

ASR-supported research results are incorporated into 

Earth system models (ESMs) supported by CESD 

both to understand the processes that govern atmospheric components and to improve ESM predictions 

of these processes.

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement 

User Facility

The ARM facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility, provides the scientific research community with 

strategically located in situ and remote-sensing observatories to improve the understanding and representation of relevant atmospheric processes in ESMs.

The ARM facility consists of three fixed observation 

sites; three mobile observatories; an aerial observation 

component; and infrastructure to collect, process, 

and deliver data to the research community. The three 

fixed sites are located in meteorologically distinct locations to sample continental and marine conditions in 

midlatitude and Arctic environments [i.e., U.S. Southern Great Plains (see Fig. 15. Radar Row, this page), 

the north slope of Alaska, and the Azores]. ARM 

also has three mobile facilities that can be used in 

variable-duration experiments across the Earth. ARM’s 

aerial component complements the ground-based 

observations by providing information on spatial variability as well as detailed information on aerosol and 

cloud microphysical properties that can be obtained 

only through in situ measurements.

Each of ARM’s fixed and mobile observatories 

contains a comprehensive set of cutting-edge, 

remote-sensing in situ instruments for measuring 

(1) the physical and radiative properties of aerosols, clouds, and precipitation; (2) the atmospheric 

state; and (3) detailed components of the surface 

energy balance. Some observatories also contain 

co-located instrumentation for studying the impacts of 

land-atmosphere interactions on aerosols and clouds. 

ARM measurements are made at high temporal resolution and over extended time periods, providing statistically robust sampling of many different meteorological 

conditions. The ARM facility is continually updating 

its instrumentation and measurement strategies to provide the best data to the community.

ASR and ARM priorities for the next 5 years include:

1. Coupling ARM observations and high-resolution 

atmospheric models to accelerate the application 

of ARM observations for understanding key atmospheric processes.

2. Focusing on critical high-latitude aerosol and 

cloud processes through analysis and modeling 

projects leveraging targeted ARM measurements 

at the fixed site at Barrow, Alaska; the mobile 

observatory deployment at Oliktok Point, 

Fig. 15. Radar Row. In 2016, the ARM Southern Great Plains 

site reconfiguration took another step toward completion 

with the Raman lidar’s reinstallation near the scanning 

radars, commonly referred to as ARM’s radar row. [Courtesy 

ARM User Facility]
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Alaska; and two ship-borne mobile observatory 

deployments in the Southern Ocean and central 

Arctic Ocean.

3. Enhancing ARM’s aerial capabilities including 

upgrades for an unmanned aerial system and 

tethered balloon systems, as well as replacement 

of the current G-1 aircraft, to enable critical in situ

observations of the spatially variable structure of 

the atmosphere, aerosols, and clouds.

4. Developing data products, analysis tools, and 

computational capabilities that facilitate the scientific community’s use of cutting-edge ARM instruments, such as scanning cloud radars.

5. Integrated studies of the key aerosol, boundarylayer, and convective processes driving aerosolcloud-precipitation-surface-radiation interactions 

in continental, marine, and high-latitude 

environments.

Environmental System Science

The goal of Environmental System Science (ESS) is to 

advance a robust, predictive understanding of the set 

of interdependent physical, biogeochemical, ecological, hydrological, and geomorphological processes for 

use in ESMs and local-scale models.

ESS uses a systems approach to understand surface and 

subsurface ecosystems over multiple scales that can 

be represented in models [e.g., single-process models, 

system models, and DOE’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM)]. This emphasis on the capture of 

advanced understanding in models has two goals. First, 

it seeks to improve the representation of these ecosystem processes in coupled models, thereby increasing 

the sophistication of the projections from those models. 

Next, it exercises those models and compares the results 

against observations or other datasets to identify critical 

uncertainties that can inform future research directions.

The ESS research portfolio focuses on terrestrial ecosystems and processes that are regionally and globally 

important, climatically or environmentally sensitive, 

comparatively understudied or underrepresented in 

ESMs and process models, and relevant to DOE’s mission needs.

An important ESS focus area seeks to understand how 

watersheds function as complex hydrobiogeochemical 

systems and how these systems respond to perturbations (see Fig. 16. Flow Simulation Models, p. 29). 

Predictive understanding of the interactions between 

biogeochemical processes and hydrology will enable 

the quantification of watershed responses to a range of 

natural and anthropogenic perturbations. Thereby, this 

knowledge will enhance water and energy security by 

reducing the uncertainty in assessing the cost, waste, 

and environmental impacts of energy production, use, 

and disposition. This integrated hydrobiogeochemical perspective is particularly important for assessing 

the full extent of challenges posed by DOE’s persistent contaminant plume issues and for developing 

approaches to manage them.

ESS has several current research emphases:

1. Understanding the role of disturbances in altering 

ecosystem functions or influencing Earth or environmental system forcing.

2. Gaining a mechanistic understanding of the role of 

belowground processes (e.g., microbiology, hydrobiogeochemistry, root or rhizosphere, and soil 

processes) in the terrestrial carbon and relevant 

biogeochemical cycles and their coupled feedbacks to the Earth and environmental systems.

3. Supporting large-scale coupled modeling and 

process research projects as well as large-scale, 

long-term ecosystem manipulations to understand 

environmental variability and response to change.

4. Expanding emphasis on the Arctic and boreal ecosystems and the role of their critical biogeochemical stocks and fluxes in a changing environment.

5. Addressing key relevant ecological and biogeochemical gaps in the understanding of terrestrial-aquatic 

interfaces at local to global scales.

6. Analyzing long-term ecosystem observational 

records to inform and evaluate models.
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

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Fig. 16. Flow Simulation Models. Scientists seek to determine how perturbations (e.g., floods, drought, and early snowmelt) to mountainous watersheds affect the downstream delivery of water, nutrients, carbon, and metals over seasonal to 

decadal time scales through the development and testing of scale-adaptive models. [Courtesy Lawrence Berkeley National 

Laboratory]

7. Quantifying and predicting the mechanisms by 

which hydrology drives fine-scale biogeochemical 

processes and the exchange of water in coupled 

surface-subsurface systems.

8. Quantifying how biological behavior and feedbacks and abiotic-biotic interactions leading to 

molecular transformations influence mobility, 

transformation, fluxes, cycling, and fate of key 

nutrients, carbon, inorganic elements, and legacy 

DOE contaminants.

9. Translating information across relevant molecular 

to watershed scales.

10. Identifying, quantifying, and predicting watershed 

responses to natural and anthropogenic perturbations and shifts to new states.

11. Translating predictive understanding of watershed 

function and evolution to underpin environmental 

and energy strategies.

12. Encouraging exploratory research addressing previously unrecognized or innovative topics.

ESS seeks to connect its projects closely to other 

research activities within CESD, across BER, and in 

coordination or collaboration with other federal agencies. ESS activities will increase coordination with 

CESD’s modeling activities by coordinating research 

solicitations and jointly funding projects. Examples of 

such coordination include Next-Generation Ecosystem 

Experiments (NGEE), E3SM co-development, International Land Model Benchmark project (ILAMB), 

Interoperable Design of Extreme-scale Application 
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Software (IDEAS) project, hydrology modeling frameworks, and land-atmosphere measurements. In addition, 

ESS management will, in adhering to the 2018 strategic 

plan, forge stronger programmatic coordination with 

other CESD user research areas [e.g., Data Management 

and the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory 

(EMSL) user facility]; ESS also will increase coordination with the Genomic Science Program (within BER’s 

Biological Systems Science Division).

ESS will reinforce its historical coordination with 

DOE priorities involving environmental management and expand its engagement with other agencies 

involved in the modeling of hydrological and ecological systems (e.g., National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration and U.S. Geological Survey).

Environmental Molecular Sciences 

Laboratory

EMSL is a DOE Office of Science user facility located 

at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, 

Washington. EMSL advances discovery and mechanistic understanding at the molecular to mesoscale 

of biological, chemical, and physical processes and 

interactions that underpin systems-level biological, 

environmental, and energy challenges. EMSL provides 

scientists with access to a wide range of premier instruments for experimental research, as well as the capacity 

computing and data analytics that enable users to 

validate simulations and conduct model-driven experimentation across a range of temporal and spatial scales 

(see Fig. 17. NanoSIMS Instrument, this page).

EMSL is strategically aligned with the DOE mission 

to ensure the security and prosperity of the United 

States by enabling transformative science and technology development. EMSL also supports the Office of 

Science and BER priorities to understand natural and 

anthropogenic inputs to Earth and its environmental 

system processes, improve predictions of key environmental and atmospheric processes, and obtain a 

systems-level understanding of how genomic information is translated into functional capabilities of living 

systems. User science at EMSL is driven by science 

themes that reflect Office of Science and BER strategic 

directions and EMSL’s scientific expertise.

EMSL provides the community with access to scientists and capabilities for microscopy, tomography, 

spectroscopy, spectrometry, sensing, cell culture, 

sequencing, elemental detection and deposition, and 

other analyses. It also makes available capacity computing and associated software codes for modeling atomic 

and molecular chemistry, molecular and structural 

dynamics, metabolic processes, reactive transport, and 

continuum processes. EMSL maintains premier experimental capabilities and advances scientific techniques 

through procurements and internal design-and-build 

projects that result in new instruments and significantly 

enhance existing capabilities. EMSL scientists create, 

make use of, and enhance open-source computational 

codes to meet their evolving computational needs.

EMSL collaborations enable users to obtain insights 

into the fundamental mechanisms that influence biological and environmental system science. These areas 

include elemental and nutrient cycling and transport 

in soils, groundwater, watersheds, and terrestrial environments; land-atmosphere interactions and aerosol 

particle formation, evolution, and atmospheric transport; rhizospheric processes; microbial, mineral, and 

contaminant interactions; intracellular interactions 

Fig. 17. NanoSIMS Instrument. Supporting studies in atmospheric science, biology, geochemistry, materials science, 

and nanoparticulates, EMSL’s nanoSIMS instrument is a 

new-generation ion microprobe that extends secondary ion 

mass spectrometry (SIMS) analysis to extremely small areas 

or volumes while maintaining extremely high sensitivity at 

high mass resolution. [Courtesy EMSL]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

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and metabolism in bacteria, archaea, fungi, and plants; 

microbial, fungal, and plant community interactions; 

and biodesign for bioenergy.

EMSL priorities for the next 5 years include:

1. Understanding the cycling, transformation, and 

transport of critical biogeochemical elements 

(e.g., carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, potassium, manganese, iron, and calcium), water, contaminants, particulates, and other complexes and materials.

2. Understanding biological processes, interactions, 

and signaling within microbial (i.e., archaea, bacteria, and algae), fungal, and plant cells; among cells 

in communities; and between cellular membrane 

surfaces and their local hydrobiogeochemical 

environment.

3. Investigating how microbial, geochemical, and 

physical interactions enable “hot spots” and “hot 

moments” of biological activity that influence 

Earth system processes and dynamics and contaminant transformations and transport.

4. Characterizing the Earth system’s fundamental 

biogeochemical, hydrological, microbial, vegetative, and ecological processes and their interfaces 

and interactions, from molecular to mesoscale.

5. Incorporating the physical, chemical, and biological structural components of the living Earth system and their mechanistic interactions, kinetics, 

and other functional information into appropriate 

mechanistic and multiscale models.

Earth and Environmental 

Systems Modeling

The goal of Earth and Environmental Systems 

Modeling (EESM) is to simulate and understand 

DOE-relevant predictability of the Earth system by 

describing processes and process interactions over multiple temporal and spatial scales. EESM investments 

focus on model development, model analysis, and 

understanding of the role of multisector interactions 

with the physical-human system. The vision for EESM 

is to provide DOE with the best possible information 

about the evolving Earth system, so that, for example, energy assets and infrastructures remain robust 

throughout their lifetimes. Key examples of critical 

Earth system information supporting the DOE mission include projections of water availability, drought 

incidence and persistence, temperature extremes 

such as prolonged heat stress, probability of storms, 

opening of the Arctic Ocean, and convolved sea-level 

and storm-surge interactions with coastal regions. To 

provide this information, considerable effort is needed 

to develop optimum-fidelity Earth system simulations, 

with suitably accurate representations of atmospheric 

dynamics, clouds and chemistry, ocean circulation and 

biogeochemistry, land biogeochemistry and hydrology, 

sea ice and dynamic land ice, and in each case including 

elements of human activities that affect these systems 

such as water management and land use.

EESM uses the mathematical and computational 

expertise within DOE laboratories, often in partnership with academia. Together, laboratory and 

university researchers coordinate and collaborate 

to produce more creative insights and innovations 

to explain complex phenomena. These researchers 

employ, for example, efficient, accurate, and advanced 

algorithms for Earth system processes; improved 

methods for model initialization; optimal component coupling and uncertainty of system simulation; 

and scale-aware climate projections. A major goal is 

to optimize Earth system codes to run efficiently on 

DOE’s best-in-class high-performance supercomputers, using modern and sustainable software and workflows and providing accessibility to high-resolution, 

coupled Earth system simulation capability for energy 

and related sector requirements.

Central to the EESM activity is the Energy Exascale 

Earth System Model (E3SM) project, launched 

by BER in 2014 and released for open scientific 

research in April 2018. The E3SM project team 

is dedicated to the development of an efficient, 

high-resolution Earth system model that runs on 

DOE high-performance computers, simulating the 

near-term past (e.g., for model validation) and future 

(e.g., 3 to 4 decades) in support of DOE science 

and DOE’s mission. The E3SM project designs and 
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performs high-resolution Earth system simulations, 

targeting the research community’s more challenging science questions, such as those involving water 

cycle science, cloud-aerosol interactions, ice-sheet 

physics and dynamics, biogeochemical cycles, 

ocean-eddy dynamics, and the interdependence of 

low-frequency variability and extreme weather (see 

Fig. 18. Coupled Ocean–Sea Ice Simulation, this 

page). Other EESM-supported activities complement and enhance E3SM, including the development 

of future-generation E3SM capabilities within the 

Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing 

(SciDAC) activity, which is a partnership with BER 

and DOE’s Office of Advanced Scientific Computing 

Research (ASCR), and supporting collaborative and 

community codes that are developed and used by 

multiple climate and weather groups.

Given that no single modeling approach can adequately 

represent all observed behaviors of the Earth system, 

EESM also invests in the use of hierarchical models 

ranging from the most complex high-resolution climate 

models (e.g., E3SM) to superparametrized models 

using nonhydrostatic physics and land use–sector 

models that incorporate changing landscapes. EESM 

also uses idealized configurations of complex models 

and reduced-complexity models for hypothesis testing. 

Configuring, diagnosing, and evaluating the complex 

behavior of models through systematic comparison 

with available observations represent core capability 

investments that are critical to CESD’s strategy.

Coordinated with and complementing the E3SM capability are research investments involving physical system interactions with energy, water, and other land-use 

Fig. 18. Coupled Ocean–Sea Ice Simulation. Time-averaged, column-integrated ocean speed (m/s) from a global, highresolution, coupled ocean–sea ice simulation that includes ocean circulation under Antarctic ice shelves. This unique E3SM 

capability is being used to better understand and explore the causes and effects of increased submarine melting of Antarctic 

ice shelves in the context of sea-level rise from ice sheets. [Courtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

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sectors. More specifically, multisector analysis strives

to advance scientific understanding of the complex 

interactions, interdependencies, and co-evolutionary 

pathways within the human-Earth system, including 

nonlinear system behaviors, the potential for cascading 

failures among sectors and infrastructures, and feedbacks within the coupled system. Particular emphasis 

is placed on understanding the energy-water-land 

nexus at regional and subregional scales that, in turn, 

incorporates elements of land-use change, socioeconomic evolution, and decision theory (see Fig. 19. Collaborative Modeling Research, this page). A particular 

focus includes model development and improvements, 

which can be used to understand how extreme events 

influence the physical, biogeochemical, and multisector components of the Earth system, as well as how the 

component interactions can influence future extremes.

Because variability and change within the Earth system 

are highly nonlinear and regionally dependent, the 

EESM activity has developed a multifaceted, multisystems approach to understanding how the system works 

over various temporal and spatial scales. This approach 

involves research to probe and understand the physical, chemical, and biological drivers and feedbacks 

acting both within and between the atmospheric, 

oceanic, terrestrial, cryospheric, and human components. Analysis takes the form of simulation using 

multiple model types and the use of novel diagnostic 

and machine-learning techniques. The role of clouds, 

biogeochemistry, extreme statistics, and low-frequency 

variability are used to explore causes of variability and 

change, as well as the uncertainties, in regions of interest to both science and DOE.

EESM strategic goals for the coming decade include:

1. Ongoing development of the high-resolution, 

regionally refined E3SM with advanced software 

and workflows to run efficiently on continually 

advancing computational architectures.

2. Ongoing development of scale-aware atmospheric 

physics parameterizations based on ARM and 

other data for use in next-generation large eddy 

simulations and both regional and global Earth 

system models.

3. Continued development of energy, water, agriculture, and other sector models as part of regional 

and global Earth system models, including E3SM, 

to analyze co-evolution and sector interdependencies in response to extreme phenomena and 

recovery.

4. Development of advanced and efficient methods 

for characterizing how Earth system uncertainty 

affects uncertainty in the projected changes for the 

coupled system.

5. Optimization of observational requirements 

needed for global Earth system model calibration, bias-reduction, and effective high-resolution 

initialization.

6. Regionally refined versions of E3SM for areas of 

particular interest to CESD science and the DOE 

mission, including polar regions, coastal regions, 

and the United States.

Fig. 19. Collaborative Modeling Research. Scientists 

supported by the Multisector Dynamics activity in the EESM 

research area are discovering the potential implications of 

Earth system changes on land use, bioenergy production, 

and agricultural yields. [Courtesy DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center] 
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7. Improved understanding of the dynamics governing precursors and evolution of extreme events 

and their relationships to teleconnections.

8. Improved representation of land systems that 

incorporate application-appropriate detail of hydrobiogeochemistry and microbial communities, 

particularly in regions exposed to rapid change 

and sharp spatial gradients (e.g., coastal regions).

9. Further analyses of variabilities and change based 

on robust techniques involving metrics, diagnostics, machine learning, and multiscale analysis.

Data Management

The Data Management (DM) activity within CESD 

emphasizes data standards, preservation, and federation to benefit all DOE scientists. To date, the DM 

activity supports the Earth System Grid Federation 

(ESGF) and ESS Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE; see Fig. 20. ESS-DIVE, this page).

A general goal of this activity is to develop and make 

available to the community novel, scale-aware visualization and analysis methods involving observational 

and model-generated data. The DM activity also prioritizes the further development of tools to quantify 

uncertainty and adapt to different modeling frameworks that will enable integrated analysis and comparison of data from multiple sources and across variable 

experimental conditions. The massive volumes of data 

and the demand for data security require a federated 

data archiving and dissemination construct. Shortterm goals are to develop user-focused publication 

tools, using an open-source scripting approach, that 

are required to organize, manipulate, and publish 

data; design visualization and analytics tools by leveraging existing community capabilities and interfaces 

that allow multiscale data analytics and model integration; and demonstrate capabilities within existing 

federated constructs.

While CESD supports many activities with integrated 

experimental and computational functions, dramatic 

improvements in technologies and analytic methodologies during recent years have shifted the bottleneck 

in scientific productivity from data production to new 

opportunities and challenges in data interpretation 

and visualization. For example, novel computational 

strategies for integration and interpretation of information generated from different scales are needed to 

further explain the underlying design principles of 

different system elements and the association between 

different phenomena. Statistical data analytics, 

machine learning, and inference are central to virtually 

all scales of data analytics in the climate, Earth, and 

environmental sciences, and this activity will pursue 

all of them.

Given that data volumes already exceed exabyte 

scales, the federated data system approach adopted 

by CESD will need future expansion. This advancement will require that data providers maintain a set of 

Fig. 20. Environmental System Science-Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE). The ESS-DIVE 

long-term vision is to provide a data archive that enables 

ESS research through community engagement. Key: DOI, 

digital object identifier. [Courtesy Lawrence Berkeley 

National Laboratory] 
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

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Fig. 21. Earth System Grid Federation’s (ESGF) Decentralized 

Approach. ESGF ensures equal access to large disparate datasets (e.g., 

simulation, observation, and reanalysis) that in the past would have 

been accessible across the climate science community only with great 

difficulty. The ESGF infrastructure enables scientists to evaluate models, 

understand their differences, and explore the impacts of climate change 

through a common interface, regardless of data location.

geographically dispersed nodes accessible 

by the scientific community and that, 

through linkages, these nodes increasingly 

will be required to serve as archived data 

repositories. Thus scientists will be able 

to access all data as if that data were on 

their own system (see Fig. 21. ESGF’s 

Decentralized Approach, this page). Such 

an integrative system also will require prototyping of new algorithms for new model 

representations, uncertainty quantification, and intelligent pattern recognition 

(BERAC 2013).
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References

BERAC. 2013. BER Virtual Laboratory: Innovative Framework for 

Biological and Environmental Grand Challenges; A Report from 

the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee, 

DOE/SC-0156 (science.energy.gov/~/media/ber/berac/pdf/

Reports/BER_VirtualLaboratory_finalwebHR.pdf).

BERAC. 2017. Grand Challenges for Biological and Environmental 

Research: Progress and Future Vision; A Report from the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee, DOE/

SC–0190, BERAC Subcommittee on Grand Research Challenges for Biological and Environmental Research (science.

energy.gov/~/media/ber/berac/pdf/Reports/BERAC-2017-

Grand-Challenges-Report.pdf).

U.S. DOE. 2012. Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan, DOE/SC-0151, U.S. Department of Energy Office of 

Science (science.energy.gov/~/media/ber/pdf/CESD-StratPlan-2012.pdf).

U.S. DOE. 2014. U.S. Department of Energy Strategic Plan, 2014–

2018. U.S. Department of Energy (www.energy.gov/sites/prod/

files/2014/04/f14/2014_dept_energy_strategic_plan.pdf).

Appendix 2
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research 

 May 2018 Climate and Environmental Sciences Division Strategic Plan

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Chapter 1: Mission. Treeline along an elevational 

gradient in the Colorado Rockies, where Terrestrial 

Ecosystem Science-supported researchers are 

studying the effects of climate warming on mountaintop plants and soils. [Courtesy Aimee Classen, 

University of Vermont]

Chapter 2: Vision and Values. Visualization of 

global water-surface temperatures, with the surface 

texture driven by vorticity. Cool temperatures are 

designated by blues and warmer temperatures by 

reds. Trapped regions of warmer water (red) adjacent 

to the Gulf Stream off the U.S. East Coast indicate 

the Model for Prediction Across Scales-Ocean’s 

(MPAS-O) capability to simulate eddy transport of 

heat within the ocean, a key component necessary to 

accurately simulate global climate change. [Courtesy 

Los Alamos National Laboratory]

Chapter 3: Plan Background and Purpose. 

Magnified view of a red pine (Pinus resinosa) root and 

associated microbiome. [Courtesy Environmental 

Molecular Sciences Laboratory]

Chapter 4: CESD Scientific Grand Challenges 

for 2018–2023. Images represent a broad range of 

natural systems that drive CESD-supported science. 

These systems are not only structurally and spatially 

complex with many different interacting parts 

Chapter Cover Image Descriptions and Credits

Appendix 3

spanning molecular to global scales, but they are 

also spatially complex, encompassing processes that 

occur over time scales ranging from nanoseconds to 

centuries. [Ball-and-stick representation of atoms 

within a molecule, Pacific Northwest National 

Laboratory. Ribosome molecular complex image, 

Ditlev Brodersen, Aarhus University. Magnified 

view of a red pine (Pinus resinosa) root and 

associated microbiome, Environmental Molecular 

Sciences Laboratory. Forest ecosystem image, U.S. 

National Park Service. Mountain and Earth images, 

iStockphoto.com.]

Chapter 5: Implementation Strategy. Interactive 

volume rendering of cubed sphere data using vcs3D, 

the visualization component of Community Data 

Analysis Tools (CDAT) supported by the Department 

of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA). [Courtesy Thomas Maxwell, 

NASA Center for Climate Simulation, Goddard Space 

Flight Center]

Appendices. Installation of an aquifer tube to 

monitor the hydrological exchange of river water 

and groundwater and associated biogeochemical 

processes in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia 

River. This work is supported by the Subsurface 

Biogeochemical Research activity. [Courtesy Pacific 

Northwest National Laboratory]
U.S. Department of Energy • Office of Biological and Environmental Research

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ARM Atmospheric Radiation Measurement

ASCR DOE Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research

ASR Atmospheric System Research

BER DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research

BERAC Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee

CESD BER Climate and Environmental Sciences Division

DM Data Management

DOE U.S. Department of Energy

E3SM Energy Exascale Earth System Model

EESM Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling

EMSL Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

ESGF Earth System Grid Federation

ESM Earth system model

ESS Environmental System Science

ESS-DIVE Environmental System Science-Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem

ModEx integrated model-observation-experiment paradigm

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NGEE Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments

NOAA National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration

NSF National Science Foundation

SFA Science Focus Area

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

Acronyms and Abbreviations