Where did it come from? Climate research

Andy McIlroy warmly recalls Labs Director James Peery’s first visit to Sandia’s California site in January 2020.

“He’d been on the job for less than two weeks, yet he was laser-focused on discussing a strategy for how Sandia approaches climate change,” Andy said.

James asked Andy to champion development of a climate strategy in his role as associate labs director of the Energy and Homeland Security portfolio and emphasized the importance of seeking opportunities to tap into capabilities across the Labs.

“So that’s how we approached this effort,” said Andy, “and that’s the strength of the Labs’ current Climate Security Strategy — it brings all of Sandia together to consider how we can contribute.”

That strength also comes from more than 50 years of Sandia providing the nation with climate-related innovations. “Our current opportunity space in climate change traces back to our roots as a nuclear weapons lab. What we did back in the ’50s and ’60s created a platform that has allowed us to get to where we are today.”

That very early meteorological work examining the effects of nuclear and environmental testing included forecasting and tracking weather to predict how fallout traveled, and studies of the impact of weather on blast effects that eventually led to Sandia’s expertise in modeling weather.

Later, building on meteorological expertise and balloon experiments, Sandia researchers like Bernie Zak stepped into pollution studies in the 1970s. At the same time, Dan Hartley began studying computational solutions to aerodynamic heating problems for the weapons program, which ultimately led to studies in efficient combustion and the inauguration of the Combustion Research Facility at Sandia California.

Andy added, “It was a bit of a winding road, but it actually goes way, way back, and it’s worth remembering this as part of Sandia’s 75th anniversary celebrations.”

Read more of the history of climate-related work at Sandia.