November 25, 2024
Video: UW-led research links wildfire smoke exposure with increased dementia risk
An analysis of the health care records of 1.2 million Southern California residents found that higher long-term smoke exposure was associated with a significant increase in the odds that a person would be diagnosed with dementia. Exposure to non-wildfire PM2.5 also increased a person’s risk of dementia, but to a much lesser degree.
September 30, 2024
UW Climate Impacts Group contributes to new WA State Climate Resiliency Strategy
The University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group has supported a newly released plan for state agencies to address the regional impacts of climate change. The plan, led by the Department of Ecology, includes 10 state agencies’ strategies to address climate impacts.
September 25, 2024
Q&A: UW Climate Risk Lab focuses on financial impacts of climate change
Phillip Bruner, executive director of the UW Climate Risk Lab and professor of practice of sustainable finance, and other representatives from the lab, will participate Sept. 22-29 in Climate Week NYC. Based in the Foster School of Business, the Climate Risk Lab brings together experts in finance, climate data, and business to research climate-related financial risk.
May 14, 2024
UW-led project to study ozone, atmospheric layers a finalist for next-generation NASA satellite
A project led by the University of Washington to better understand our atmosphere’s complexity is a finalist for NASA’s next generation of Earth-observing satellites. STRIVE will receive $5 million to conduct a one-year concept study, and then will hear whether it is selected for launch.
April 10, 2024
New report ‘braids’ Indigenous and Western knowledge for forest adaptation strategies against climate change
Forests could also be potential bulwarks against climate change. But, increasingly severe droughts and wildfires, invasive species, and large insect outbreaks — all intensified by climate change — are straining many national forests and surrounding lands. A report by a team of 40 experts outlines a new approach to forest stewardship that “braids together” Indigenous knowledge and Western science to conserve and restore more resilient forestlands. Published March 25, the report provides foundational material to inform future work on climate-smart adaptive management practices for USDA Forest Service land managers.
February 8, 2024
Foul fumes pose pollinator problems
Scientists at the University of Washington have discovered that nighttime air pollution — coming primarily from car exhaust and power plant emissions — is responsible for a major drop in nighttime pollinator activity. Nitrate radicals (NO3) in the air degrade the scent chemicals released by a common wildflower, drastically reducing the scent-based cues that its chief pollinators rely on to locate the flower. The findings, published Feb. 9 in Science, are the first to show how nighttime pollution creates a chain of chemical reactions that degrades scent cues, leaving flowers undetectable by smell. The researchers also determined that pollution likely has worldwide impacts on pollination.
January 16, 2024
UW research helps California forest managers assess smoke hazards from prescribed burns
An international team led by researchers at the University of Washington built a framework to help land managers assess the air quality implications of land management scenarios with different levels of prescribed burning.
November 14, 2023
5th National Climate Assessment authors include UW climate experts
Three UW experts are among the authors of the newly released Fifth National Climate Assessment, an overview of climate trends, impacts and efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change across the nation.
September 5, 2023
UW, Stanford launch resource to help health care professionals respond to climate concerns
The case studies in Medicine for a Changing Planet, collated from clinical encounters around the world, support health professionals in recognizing and treating a variety of health-related conditions that can be traced to environmental stressors.
August 28, 2023
UW research links wildfire smoke to increased risk of emergency room visits for people of all ages
Taken together, the two papers’ findings suggest that wildfire smoke poses a risk to people of all ages, not just young children and older adults.
August 21, 2023
REBURN: A new tool to model wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and beyond
Researchers with the University of Washington and the U.S. Forest Service have developed a new tool, REBURN, that can simulate large forest landscapes and wildfire dynamics over decades or centuries under different wildfire management strategies. The model can simulate the consequences of extinguishing all wildfires regardless of size, which was done for much of the 20th century and has contributed to a rise in large and severe wildfires, or of allowing certain fires to return to uninhabited areas to help create a more “patchwork” forest structure that can help lessen fire severity. REBURN can also simulate conditions where more benign forest landscape dynamics have fully recovered in an area.
July 11, 2023
Joan Casey
Joan A. Casey is an environmental epidemiologist who focuses on environmental health, environmental justice, and sustainability. Her research uses large secondary health datasets, such as electronic health records, to study the relationship between emerging environmental exposures and population health across the lifecourse. She also considers vulnerable populations, joint social and environmental exposures, and health disparities,…
April 18, 2023
Q&A: County-scale climate mapping tool helps Washington agencies prepare for the future
The UW Climate Impacts Group created an interactive tool that lets state agencies and local governments see what climate scientists project for their county and what they might want to consider when developing their districts’ comprehensive plans through 2100.
February 27, 2023
Human-wildlife conflicts rising worldwide with climate change
Research led by scientists at the University of Washington’s Center for Ecosystem Sentinels reveals that a warming world is increasing human-wildlife conflicts globally. They show that climate shifts can drive conflicts by altering animal habitats, the timing of events, wildlife behaviors and resource availability. It also showed that people are changing their behaviors and locations in response to climate change in ways that increase conflicts.
May 24, 2022
Video: Experts collaborate to troubleshoot necessary fires and harmful smoke
Forest fire smoke can make you sick, and we’re experiencing more them. In terms of public health, it seems logical to reduce forest fires to limit unhealthy air pollution, but forest managers are increasingly seeing prescribed burning as an essential tool to reduce explosive wildfires. How should we plan to deal with the impacts of these fires?
May 7, 2022
Consensus approach proposed to protect human health from intentional and wild forest fires
All forest fire smoke is bad for people, but not all fires in forests are bad. This is the conundrum faced by experts in forest management and public health: Climate change and decades of fire suppression that have increased fuels are contributing to larger and more intense wildfires and, in order to improve forest health…
April 29, 2022
ArtSci Roundup
Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Carving out a brave space: Courage in art May 3, 7:00 PM | HUB Lyceum & Online “Have something to say. Be brave enough to say it. Use your art to change the world.” UW Drama Professor and Head of Directing & Playwriting…
April 6, 2022
UW-housed RAPID Facility receives $6M renewal grant
The first-of-its-kind center has received a $6 million renewal grant from the National Science Foundation.
February 28, 2022
UW authors in IPCC report emphasize threats to human health and well-being
Two University of Washington experts in climate change and health are lead authors of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The new report titled Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptations and Vulnerability, published Monday morning, details in over three thousand pages a “dire warning” about the consequences of inaction on reducing…
January 4, 2022
Mass die-off of Magellanic penguins seen during 2019 heat wave
In 2019, University of Washington researchers witnessed the consequences of an extreme heat event in Argentina at one of the world’s largest breeding colonies for Magellanic penguins. On Jan. 19, temperatures at the site in Punta Tombo, on Argentina’s southern coast, spiked in the shade to 44 C, or 111.2 F. As the team reports in a paper published Jan. 4 in the journal Ornithological Applications, the extreme heat wave killed at least 354 penguins, based on a search for bodies by UW researchers in the days following the record high temperature. Nearly three-quarters of the penguins that died — 264 — were adults, many of which likely died of dehydration, based on postmortem analyses.
December 13, 2021
Artificial intelligence can create better lightning forecasts
New research shows that machine learning — computer algorithms that improve themselves without direct programming by humans — can be used to improve forecasts for lightning, one of the most destructive forces of nature.
October 28, 2021
After California’s 3rd-largest wildfire, deer returned home while trees were ‘still smoldering’
In a rare stroke of luck, researchers from the University of Washington, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, were able to track a group of black-tailed deer during and after California’s third-largest wildfire, the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire. The megafire, which torched more than 450,000 acres in northern California, burned across half of an established study site, making it possible to record the movements and feeding patterns of deer before, during and after the fire.
August 25, 2021
For researchers & staff
Experts Directory The UW News Experts Directory is used by journalists around the world to find people who can speak to various topics in the news. We have nearly 300 experts in the directory, but we are always looking for additional UW researchers across subject areas to add. To inquire about getting your profile added,…
August 20, 2021
With extreme heat increasingly common, UW expert calls for urgent planning to protect health in new Lancet series
In a new series on increasingly common extreme heat waves and their impact on human health published Thursday in the British medical journal The Lancet, a University of Washington climate change and health expert joined more than a dozen international experts to warn that we better prepare. “The preventable heat stress and deaths during this summer’s…
August 6, 2021
UW expert discusses protecting workers from wildfire smoke
With wildfire smoke forecast for next week in Seattle and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Oregon posting rules for keeping workers safe during increasingly smoky conditions and heat in that state, we caught up with a University of Washington expert on worker safety for advice. Check out Professor Baker’s advice on worker safety…
August 5, 2021
Drier, warmer night air is making some Western wildfires more active at night
Firefighters have reported that Western wildfires are starting earlier in the morning and dying down later at night, hampering their ability to recover and regroup before the next day’s flareup. A study by University of Washington and U.S. Forest Service scientists shows why: The drying power of nighttime air over much of the Western U.S. has increased dramatically in the past 40 years.
August 2, 2021
New report: State of the science on western wildfires, forests and climate change
Seeing the urgent need for change, a team of scientists from leading research universities, conservation organizations and government laboratories across the West has produced a synthesis of the scientific literature that clearly lays out the established science and strength of evidence on climate change, wildfire and forest management for seasonally dry forests. The goal is to give land managers and others across the West access to a unified resource that summarizes the best-available science so they can make decisions about how to manage their landscapes.
July 29, 2021
Climate change to fuel increase in human-wildlife conflict, UW biologist says
Climate change is further exacerbating human-wildlife conflicts by straining ecosystems and altering behaviors, both of which can deepen the contacts — and potential competition — between people and animals. In an article published July 30 in the journal Science, Briana Abrahms, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Washington and its Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, calls for expanding research into the many ways that climate change will impact the complex interplay between human activities and wildlife populations.
July 27, 2021
Possible future for Western wildfires: Decade-long burst, followed by gradual decline
A model of the eastern California forests of the Sierra Nevada looks at the longer-term future of wildfires under future climate change scenarios. Results show an initial roughly decade-long burst of wildfire activity, followed by recurring fires of decreasing area — a pattern that could apply to other hot, dry forests in the West.
June 29, 2021
Air pollution from wildfires impacts ability to observe birds
Researchers from the University of Washington provide a first look at the probability of observing common birds as air pollution worsens during wildfire seasons. They found that smoke affected the ability to detect more than a third of the bird species studied in Washington state over a four-year period. Sometimes smoke made it harder to observe birds, while other species were actually easier to detect when smoke was present.
November 2, 2020
Flying through wildfire smoke plumes could improve smoke forecasts
The biggest study yet of West Coast wildfire plumes shows how a smoke plume’s chemistry changes over time. Results suggest current models may not accurately predict the air quality downwind of a wildfire.
October 22, 2020
Simple actions can help people survive landslides, UW analysis shows
Simple actions can dramatically improve a person’s chances of surviving a landslide, show records from 38 landslides in the U.S. and around the world. People who survived landslides tended to have moved upstairs or to higher ground, among other key actions.
October 15, 2020
Are climate scientists being too cautious when linking extreme weather to climate change?
Climate science has focused on avoiding false alarms when linking extreme weather to climate change. But when meteorologists warn of hazardous weather, they include a second key measure of success — the probability of detection.
October 14, 2020
Video: Highlights from UW President Ana Mari Cauce’s annual address
UW President Ana Mari Cauce delivered her annual address to the community Oct. 12 at wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House on the University of Washington campus. Highlights of the speech are reflected in this video. The audience was entirely virtual this year in accordance with public health guidelines.
September 16, 2020
Most landslides in western Oregon triggered by heavy rainfall, not big earthquakes
Researchers at the University of Washington, Portland State University and the University of Oregon have shown that deep-seated landslides in the central Oregon Coast Range are triggered mostly by rainfall, not by large offshore earthquakes. The open-access paper was published Sept. 16 in Science Advances. “Geomorphologists have long understood the importance of rainfall in triggering…
September 15, 2020
Wildfire smoke disproportionally harms poorer communities, remedies necessary to address health inequity
With most of the Northwest blanketed by wildfire smoke, public officials and health experts suggest staying inside as much as possible to reduce exposure to the significant health risks of wildfire smoke. However, inequity in our communities means not every home provides great protection and many workers in disadvantaged populations can’t afford to stay home,…
Video: How to make your own home air purifier
With wildfire smoke blanketing most of the western U.S. this week, public health experts suggest staying inside as much as possible to protect yourself from smoky air. If you don’t have air conditioning or an air purifier in your home, it’s possible to make your own inexpensive purifier. Here’s how.
September 3, 2020
Fighting fire with fire in the Methow Valley
Agencies that are well practiced in putting out wildfires are now learning a new skill: how to set the spark and fan the flames. That’s the case for the state Department of Natural Resources, which is starting to use prescribed burning as part of its strategy for fighting wildfires.
July 29, 2020
Expert FAQ: Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest during the COVID-19 pandemic
The University of Washington has a long history of leading research into the impacts of wildfires from an ecological and health perspective. We worked with two experts to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, including the ways that the pandemic is increasing our community’s vulnerability to extreme wildfire events in the region.
April 1, 2020
Study synthesizes what climate change means for Northwest wildfires
A University of Washington study, published this winter in Fire Ecology, takes a big-picture look at what climate change could mean for wildfires in the Northwest, considering Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana.
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