EARTH - Environmental Sciences and Risk Analyses Tools

This image from NASA depicts a full view of the Earth, taken by the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite (GOES-8). The red and green charnels represent visible data, while the blue channel represents inverted 11 micron infrared data.

(Image courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA])

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has a strong core technical capability for integrating and developing software for source-term, fate and transport, exposure, and health impact analyses.

Environmental sciences and risk analyses tools have changed dramatically in the last decade. Government agencies and interested parties are focusing on holistic approaches to understanding the environmental fate and transport of contaminants and their potential impacts on humans and the environment. Software must reflect these changes and PNNL is meeting that challenge by developing integrated software systems that allow users to assess individual and/or multiple environmental pathways in a systematic, holistic approach. PNNL software systems (i.e., FRAMES, MEPAS, GENII, and CAPP) all take a holistic approach to modeling and evaluating environmental and risk-related phenomena.

One of the keys to PNNL's holistic approach to developing the environmental and risk analysis software is the interdisciplinary teaming of highly qualified staff. PNNL has the depth of staff to cover all areas of expertise, but more important is the teaming of these staff from different fields of expertise. Computer science, biological and physical chemistry, environmental and physical sciences, toxicology, risk assessment, statistics, process technology, and risk management fields are represented by PNNL's cross-cutting teams. This teaming results in strong scientifically based software with state-of-the-art interfaces and visualization.