U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Environment

Projects/Programs

Displaying 1 - 25 of 86
Photograph of a labeled amber bottle containing SRM 2429.

Activated Carbon and FGD Gypsum Standard Reference Materials

Completed
The role of mercury in the environment is now receiving close scrutiny because ultimately it can bioaccumulate as alkyl mercury in seafood with subsequent risk to human health through trophic transfer. Many industrial sources of mercury have been effectively reduced in recent years, but atmospheric
Figure 1

Advanced Microscopy for Trace and Bulk Particle Characterization

Ongoing
The goal of this project is to help develop innovative metrologies and measurement protocols for micro/nano-scale analysis of particles. In this project, state-of-the-art optical and electron-based microscopy are used to conduct research for quantitative and qualitative analysis of chemical
nanoparticle model

Assessing the Environmental, Health and Safety Impact of Nanoparticles

Completed
Impact Nanomaterials have already been incorporated into a large range of commercial products including pharmaceuticals, sunscreens, automobile additives, personal care products, detergents and plastics. Although nanotechnology is changing the way we live, the accidental release of nanomaterials
Photograph of gas cylinders

Audit of EPA Protocol Gas Suppliers

Ongoing
Protocol gas standards are employed in measurements made for compliance purposes; one of the major uses is for measurements of regulated gaseous species from stationary source emitters, i.e., stack gases. Many of these stationary sources are regulated through the Cap and Trade program; therefore

Biogenic Modeling and Measurements

Ongoing
For purposes of top-down GHG emissions monitoring, a high-resolution biospheric model is needed that can resolve fine-scale variability in the atmosphere due to biospheric fluxes. Therefore, we currently focus on models that resolve the diurnal cycle and can be run at high spatial resolutions (e.g

Biosurveillance and Pathogen Detection

Ongoing
NIST has established partnerships with other federal agencies to develop standards and measurement solutions to support biosurveillance. These efforts are supported in part through interagency agreements with partner agencies listed below to address their standards needs. PROGRAMS Standards for
Long_Feature_Image

Bringing the SI to Global Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Measurement

Ongoing
This multifaceted program leverages expertise in three complementary technical focus areas- all of which involve SI-traceable measurements of relevant atmospheric species such as carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor and oxygen. The efforts include gravimetrically based preparation of primary

Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage

Ongoing
Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage (CCUS) requires a suite of technologies to capture carbon dioxide from industrial point sources, the atmosphere, and the ocean; convert carbon dioxide into products such as fuels, chemical feedstocks, and building materials; and sequester carbon dioxide deep
Image showing a variety of gas tanks with carbon dioxide

Carbon Dioxide Measurements and Reference Materials

Ongoing
CO 2 Reference Materials The Gas Sensing Metrology Group at NIST has a long history of providing reference materials to industry, monitoring communities, and academia. The program began in the 1970’s by developing an initial suite of CO2 primary standard mixtures (PSMs) to support the US Department
Carbon capture as CO2 reducing with emission utilization tiny person concept. Greenhouse gas pollution control with sequestration process vector illustration.

Carbon Dioxide Removal Consortium

Ongoing
Industry is developing a variety of carbon capture and removal techniques including nature-based, hybrid, and engineered solutions. The scientific understanding, measurements, and models of these complex systems are still evolving. Furthermore, advanced technologies that enhance the applicability
Wordcloud consisting of words CCQM metrology group task etc.

CCQM Activities in the Gas Analysis Working Group

Ongoing
The results from these Key comparisons will be used to benchmark the appropriate Calibration and Measurement Claims (CMCs) of the participating NMIs. CMCs are basically the declared capabilities that an NMI offers to customers, and they are included in a searchable database at the BIPM web site
Photograph of three Standard Reference Materials of various soil matrices.

Certification of Three Soil SRMs for Inorganic Environmental Measurements

Completed
The three NIST soil SRMs, 2709, 2710 and 2711, have been used worldwide by hundreds of laboratories; combined sales typically exceed 800 units per year. Use of these SRMs provides our customers with tools that are essential for achieving quality assurance in the analysis of contaminant elements in
Map of the Northern hemisphere Pacific Ocean, with environmental specimen sampling sites indicated with data points in the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska, and Bering Sea locations.

Classification Methods for the NIST Biorepository

Ongoing
NIST has been archiving biological and environmental specimens, including marine animal and environmental samples, for over 40 years. Currently, these biospecimens are stored at cryogenic temperatures in the NIST Biorepository located at the Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, SC. Various
Illustration of satellite sensing of sunlight reflected by buildings, roads, water and trees to assess radiative warming of the earth.

Climate Science

Ongoing
This program encompasses multifaceted efforts to advance the metrology of climate science. Projects include: development of ultra-high accuracy optical standards and technologies to determine greenhouse gases (GHGs) concentrations, atmospheric lifetimes, and aerosol radiative forcing development of

Coastal Inundation: Hazard Characterization and Structural Design

Ongoing
Objective - To develop next-generation methods and tools to better characterize coastal inundation hazards, associated loads, and response of structures, thus enabling performance-based standards for designing structures that resist coastal inundation. What is the new technical idea? Current design
NIST

Community Resilience Program

Ongoing
Objective - By 2028, deliver novel resilience planning and analysis methods and tools to support informed decision making by communities of all sizes. By 2028, implement multifaceted outreach, collaboration, and engagement to ensure the effective dissemination of community resilience guidance
Compare Logo

Comparative Mammalian Proteome Aggregator Resource (CoMPARe) Program

Ongoing
Comparative proteomics strives to gain insight into key underlying molecular changes that result in unique phenotypes across related taxa. Proteomic analysis complements comparative genomics by providing evidence of protein abundance, orthogonal to gene copy number and amount of transcript. To
Serum Project Logo

Comparative Serum Proteomics Project

Ongoing
State-of-the-art biomolecular analysis is no longer limited to model organisms and is becoming routine in non-model organisms. Major drivers of this emerging bioanalytical capacity include increasing accessibility and quality of sequenced genomes as well as high-resolution fast-duty cycle mass
Big data analysis report on 3D effects.AI technology generated image

Data Tools for Environmental Metrology

Ongoing
A recent addition to operations in the NIST Biorepository, we seek out places where NIST scientists get bogged down by the complexity of their data. Research at NIST can generated some of the most complex data in the world, at times requiring six months or more of processing to get to the data

Design Methods for Resilient Community Systems

Completed
Objective - To advance design and assessment methods for buildings and infrastructure to improve their ability to support the social and economic functions they support and community resilience. What is the technical idea? Quantitative approaches to identify and evaluate the performance of the built

Development of a First-Generation Community-Resilience Systems Model

Ongoing
Objective - By 2028, develop and test an efficient, interactive computer-based tool, Alternatives for Resilient Communities (ARC), to facilitate exploration of decision alternatives at the community scale for infrastructure systems (e.g., buildings, water, power, transportation) and their impacts on

Development and Implementation of the Community Resilience Planning Guides

Ongoing
Objective - By 2028, publish updated community resilience planning and decision-making guidance documents that are supported by multi-objective resilience planning & analysis tools, based on collaboration and engagement with end-user communities, professional organizations, and government agencies