College of the Environment
May 31, 2017
Support for tidal energy is high among Washington residents
A new University of Washington study finds that people who believe climate change is a problem and see economic, environmental and/or social benefits to using tidal energy are more likely to support such projects. Also, connecting pilot projects to the electricity grid is an important factor in garnering public support.
May 23, 2017
Wolves need space to roam to control expanding coyote populations
Wolves and other top predators need large ranges to be able to control smaller predators whose populations have expanded to the detriment of a balanced ecosystem, a new study in Nature Communications finds.
May 22, 2017
Weathering of rocks a poor regulator of global temperatures
Evidence from the age of the dinosaurs to today shows that chemical weathering of rocks is less sensitive to global temperature, and may depend on the steepness of the surface. The results call into question the role of rocks in setting our planet’s temperature over millions of years.
May 18, 2017
Seattle seawall’s novel fish features are a potential model for the world
As tourists and residents visit Seattle’s downtown waterfront, it may not be immediately apparent they are walking on arguably the largest, most ambitious urban seawall project in the world that prioritizes habitat for young fish and the invertebrates they feed on.
May 17, 2017
Earth’s atmosphere more chemically reactive in cold climates
A study of a Greenland ice core shows that during large climate swings, chemically reactive oxidants shift in a different direction than expected, which means we need to rethink what controls these molecules in our air.
May 15, 2017
Code of conduct needed for ocean conservation, study says
A diverse group of the world’s leading experts in marine conservation is calling for a Hippocratic Oath for ocean conservation ― not unlike the pledge physicians take to uphold specific ethical standards when practicing medicine.
May 9, 2017
Shrubs, grasses planted through federal program crucial for sage grouse survival in Eastern Washington
A federal program that pays farmers to plant agricultural land with environmentally beneficial vegetation is probably the reason that sage grouse still live in portions of Washington’s Columbia Basin, according to a new study by UW, state and federal researchers.
May 8, 2017
Pumping up a new record: 10 million gallons of sewage diverted from Washington waters in 2016
In 2016, a record 10 million gallons of raw sewage was diverted from Puget Sound, Lake Washington and other state waterways that previously would have been dumped into vulnerable water.
May 4, 2017
UW seismologist John Vidale elected to National Academy of Sciences
John E. Vidale, a UW professor of seismology and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
May 2, 2017
New book by UW’s David R. Montgomery addresses how to rebuild Earth’s soils
“Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life,” is a good-news environment story about how shifts in farming practices can restore health and fertility to soils.
May 1, 2017
Researchers find more efficient way to make oil from dead trees
A University of Washington team has made new headway on a solution to remove beetle-killed trees from the forest and use them to make renewable transportation fuels or high-value chemicals. The researchers have refined this technique to process larger pieces of wood than ever before ― saving time and money in future commercial applications.
April 24, 2017
Conservation not an effective tool for reducing infectious disease in people, study finds
Conservation projects that protect forests and encourage a diversity of plants and animals can provide many benefits to humans. But improved human health is not among those benefits ― at least when health is measured through the lens of infectious disease. That’s the main finding of a paper published April 24 in Philosophical Transactions of…
April 17, 2017
Models, observations not so far apart on planet’s response to greenhouse gas emissions
New analysis debunks reports that recent observations are showing that Earth’s temperature responds less to greenhouse gases than predicted by climate models.
April 10, 2017
USGS, partners launch a unified, West Coast-wide earthquake early warning system
Events Monday celebrated the launch of a West Coast-wide earthquake early warning prototype system, and initial test users in Washington and Oregon.
March 29, 2017
Tackling resilience: Finding order in chaos to help buffer against climate change
A new paper by the University of Washington and NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center aims to provide clarity among scientists, resource managers and planners on what ecological resilience means and how it can be achieved.
March 28, 2017
Using a method from Wall Street to track slow slipping of Earth’s crust
An algorithm for stock prices can be used with GPS data to automatically detect slow-slip earthquakes at a single station, offering a new way to monitor seismic activity.
March 27, 2017
15 years of success for UW center in recruiting, supporting female STEM faculty
In the 15 years since the ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change opened its doors, the UW has nearly doubled the number of female faculty across 19 science, technology, engineering and math departments.
March 13, 2017
Rapid decline of Arctic sea ice a combination of climate change and natural variability
Dramatic declines in Arctic sea ice during the past four decades are due to a mixture of global warming and a natural decades-long hot spot over Greenland.
March 7, 2017
‘Black swan’ events strike animal populations
A new analysis by the University of Washington and Simon Fraser University is the first to document that black swan events also occur in animal populations and usually manifest as massive, unexpected die-offs.
February 22, 2017
Large-scale experiment on the rural Olympic Peninsula to test innovations in forest management
Scientists at the University of Washington and the state Department of Natural Resources intend to test a management approach that mimics natural disturbance patterns and processes across a large portion of the Olympic Peninsula, an area known for having the most rainfall in the lower 48 states, high tree-growth rates and old-growth forests, part of which remain today.
UW’s Kristin Laidre awarded Pew marine fellowship to study effects of climate change, subsistence hunting on polar bears
A new, two-part project led by the UW’s Kristin Laidre aims to explore the interacting effects of climate change and subsistence hunting on polar bears, while also illuminating the cultural value of the species to indigenous peoples and the role they play in conservation.
February 21, 2017
Winners, losers among fish when landscape undergoes change
A new study by the University of Washington and Simon Fraser University finds that some fish lose out while others benefit as urban and agricultural development encroaches on streams and rivers across the United States.
February 15, 2017
‘The blob’ of abnormal conditions boosted Western U.S. ozone levels
Ozone levels in June 2015 were significantly higher than normal over a large swath of the Western U.S. Analysis ties this air quality pattern to the abnormal conditions in the northeast Pacific Ocean, nicknamed “the blob.”
February 8, 2017
Hidden lakes drain below West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier
Drainage of four interconnected lakes below Thwaites Glacier in late 2013 caused only a 10 percent increase in the glacier’s speed. The glacier’s recent speedup is therefore not due to changes in meltwater flow along its underside.
January 25, 2017
Monsoons to mosquitoes: UW researchers attend national weather conference in Seattle
Researchers from across the UW are presenting their work at the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting this week in Seattle.
January 18, 2017
Listen to the Earth smash another global temperature record
The year 2016 was officially the hottest in recent history, beating previous records in 2014 and 2015. UW scientists let you hear the data speak for itself.
Climate change prompts Alaska fish to change breeding behavior
A new University of Washington study finds that one of Alaska’s most abundant freshwater fish species is altering its breeding patterns in response to climate change, which could impact the ecology of northern lakes that already acutely feel the effects of a changing climate.
Vitamin B-12, and a knockoff version, create complex market for marine vitamins
Vitamin B-12 exists in two different, incompatible forms in the oceans. An organism thought to supply the essential vitamin B-12 in the marine environment is actually churning out a knockoff version.
January 17, 2017
Conditions right for complex life may have come and gone in Earth’s distant past
Conditions suitable to support complex life may have developed in Earth’s oceans — and then faded — more than a billion years before life truly took hold, a new University of Washington-led study has found.
Diversification key to resilient fishing communities
Fishing communities can survive ― and even thrive ― as fish abundance and market prices shift if they can catch a variety of species and nimbly move from one fishery to the next, a new University of Washington study finds.
January 12, 2017
Ocean acidification to hit West Coast Dungeness crab fishery, new assessment shows
The acidification of the ocean expected as seawater absorbs increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will reverberate through the West Coast’s marine food web, but not necessarily in the ways you might expect, new research shows.
January 11, 2017
UW oceanographer dropping robotic floats on voyage to Antarctica
Autonomous floating sensors built at the UW are being deployed to track conditions in the waters surrounding Antarctica.
January 10, 2017
Rapid Arctic warming has in the past shifted Southern Ocean winds
Ice core records from the two poles show that during the last ice age, sharp spikes in Arctic temperatures triggered shifts in the winds around Antarctica.
January 5, 2017
Arctic sea ice loss impacts beluga whale migration
A new study led by the University of Washington finds the annual migration of some beluga whales in Alaska is altered by sea ice changes in the Arctic, while other belugas do not appear to be affected.
January 4, 2017
Eelgrass in Puget Sound is stable overall, but some local beaches suffering
Eelgrass, a marine plant crucial to the success of migrating juvenile salmon and spawning Pacific herring, is stable and flourishing in Puget Sound, despite a doubling of the region’s human population and significant shoreline development over the past several decades.
January 3, 2017
Songbirds divorce, flee, fail to reproduce due to suburban sprawl
New research finds that for some songbirds, urban sprawl is kicking them out of their territory, forcing divorce and stunting their ability to find new mates and reproduce successfully, even after relocating.
December 19, 2016
Investing in fisheries management improves fish populations
Research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that successful fisheries management can be best achieved by implementing and enforcing science-based catch or effort limits.
December 16, 2016
What makes influential science? Telling a good story
Researchers from the University of Washington have found that scientific papers written in a more narrative style were more influential among peer-reviewed studies in the climate change literature. Their results were published Dec. 15 in the journal PLOS ONE.
December 15, 2016
Underwater volcano’s eruption captured in exquisite detail by seafloor observatory
The cracking, bulging and shaking from the eruption of a mile-high volcano where two tectonic plates separate has been captured in more detail than ever before. A University of Washington study published this week shows how the volcano behaved during its spring 2015 eruption, revealing new clues about the behavior of volcanoes where two ocean…
December 12, 2016
Mountain glaciers are showing some of the strongest responses to climate change
A University of Washington study addresses controversies over the cause of mountain glacier retreat, and finds that for most glaciers the observed retreat is more than 99 percent likely due to climate change.
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