School of Oceanography
May 25, 2016
UW, NOAA deploy ocean robot to monitor harmful algal blooms off Washington coast
Oceanographers from the UW and NOAA deployed a new tool that will automatically test for harmful algal blooms and help warn of when they could hit local beaches.
May 10, 2016
UW part of NOAA-led cruise to study West Coast ocean acidification
University of Washington students, faculty and staff are part of the fifth West Coast Ocean Acidification Cruise that will investigate changes to ocean chemistry from Baja to British Columbia. The ship left Thursday from San Diego to begin sampling on Mexico’s northern coast. It will stop May 21 at San Francisco’s Exploratorium Pier, then travel…
March 30, 2016
Tracking ‘marine heatwaves’ since 1950 – and how the ‘blob’ stacks up
A tally of Northern Hemisphere marine heatwaves since 1950 shows that prolonged warm periods have recurred regularly in the past, but are being pushed into new territory by climate change.
March 17, 2016
Galapagos lakes reveal tropical Pacific climate since Biblical times
University of Washington oceanographers track 2,000 years of El Niño history, showing that it can shift in strength for centuries at a time.
February 11, 2016
Bellingham Bay buoy an opportunity to observe marine waters for Northwest Indian College, world
The Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction, through its education partner the University of Washington, is deploying an oceanographic observing buoy in Bellingham Bay this week that will allow Northwest Indian College students both hands-on experience with the technology as well as the ability to study the data from their computers, through the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems, NANOOS.
August 26, 2015
Lab experiments question popular measure of ancient ocean temperatures
The membranes of sediment-entombed archaea are an increasingly popular way to determine ocean surface temperatures back to the age of the dinosaurs. But new results show that changing oxygen can affect the reading by as much as 21 degrees C.
June 25, 2015
UW researcher helping pinpoint massive harmful algal bloom
A UW research analyst who monitors harmful algae in Washington state is aboard a federal research vessel surveying a massive bloom that stretches from California up to Canada.
June 15, 2015
Genetic switch lets marine diatoms do less work at higher CO2
Oceanographers found the genetic ‘needles in a haystack’ to gain the first hints at how diatoms — tiny drifting algae that carry out a large part of Earth’s photosynthesis — detect and respond to increasing carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels.
June 4, 2015
Warmer, lower-oxygen oceans will shift marine habitats
Warming temperatures and decreasing levels of dissolved oxygen will act together to create metabolic stress for marine animals. Habitats will shift to places in the ocean where the oxygen supply can meet the animals’ increasing future needs.
May 27, 2015
Invisible helpers of the sea: Marine bacteria boost growth of tiny ocean algae
Using seawater collected in Seattle, Whidbey Island and other sites, UW oceanographers show that just as with plants on land, a common species of ocean diatom grows faster in the presence of helpful bacteria.
May 19, 2015
UW’s Deborah Kelley publishes atlas of seafloor volcanoes and deep-ocean life
Oceanographer Deborah Kelley is one of the lead authors of a first-of-its-kind atlas of the deep sea, titled “Discovering the Deep.”
March 12, 2015
Naturally acidic waters of Puget Sound surround UW’s Friday Harbor Labs
For more than 100 years, marine biologists at Friday Harbor Laboratories have studied the ecology of everything from tiny marine plants to giant sea stars. Now, as the oceans are undergoing a historic shift in chemistry, the lab is establishing itself as a place to study what that will mean for marine life. And the…
December 9, 2014
Warmer Pacific Ocean could release millions of tons of seafloor methane
Water off Washington’s coast is warming a third of a mile down, where seafloor methane shifts from a frozen solid to a gas. Calculations suggest ocean warming is already releasing significant methane offshore of Alaska to California.
November 7, 2014
Undergrads use sonar to uncover Lake Union shipwrecks
Undergraduates this week were among the first people to try the latest in seafloor mapping technology — and use it to image a shipwreck on Seattle’s urban lake.
October 9, 2014
Migrating animals’ pee affects ocean chemistry
Tiny animals migrating from the ocean’s surface to the sunless depths helps shape our oceans. During the daylight hours below the surface the animals release ammonia, the equivalent of our urine, that plays a significant role in marine chemistry, particularly in low-oxygen zones.
September 11, 2014
UW-built sensors to probe Antarctica’s Southern Ocean
Floating sensors built at the UW will be central to a new $21 million effort to learn how the ocean surrounding Antarctica influences climate.
September 4, 2014
Predicting when toxic algae will reach Washington and Oregon coasts
Better understanding of how a deadly algae grows offshore and gets carried to Pacific Northwest beaches has led to a computer model that can predict when the unseen threat will hit local beaches.
August 15, 2014
Research from 1960s shakes up understanding of West Coast earthquakes
A new study used seabed samples collected by UW graduate students in the late 1960s to question current interpretations of earthquake frequency along the West Coast.
August 13, 2014
Snow has thinned on Arctic sea ice
Historic observations and NASA airborne data provide a decades-long record showing that the snowpack on Arctic sea ice is thinning.
August 8, 2014
Ancient shellfish remains rewrite 10,000-year history of El Niño cycles
Piles of ancient shells provide the first reliable long-term record for the powerful driver of year-to-year climate changes. Results show that the El Niños 10,000 years ago were as strong and frequent as they are today.
August 7, 2014
Ocean’s most oxygen-deprived zones to shrink under climate change
Predictions that the lowest-oxygen environments in the ocean will get worse may not come to pass. UW research shows climate change, by weakening the trade winds, will shrink these extremely low-oxygen waters.
August 1, 2014
A unique lab class: UW students explore nation’s largest dam removal
A spring research apprenticeship course had nine undergraduates living at Friday Harbor Labs and studying what will happen to sediment released by dam removals on the Elwha River.
July 16, 2014
Tracking the breakup of Arctic summer sea ice
An international team has placed sensors on and under Arctic sea ice to monitor this season’s retreat. Scientists hope to understand the physics of the ice edge in order to predict summer conditions in the Arctic Ocean.
June 6, 2014
Ocean technology course ends spring quarter with a splash
A University of Washington undergraduate class has students design, build and test their own Internet-connected oceanographic sensors. The students are getting their feet wet, literally, in a new type of oceanography.
April 29, 2014
Benjamin Hall, Eric D’Asaro elected to National Academy of Sciences
Benjamin Hall and Eric D’Asaro are among the 84 new members elected fellows the National Academy of Sciences.
April 14, 2014
Puget Sound’s rich waters supplied by deep, turbulent canyon
UW oceanographers found fast-flowing water and intense mixing in a submarine canyon just off the Washington coast.
March 27, 2014
Citizen scientists: UW students help state legislator with climate policy
Four graduate students were part of a year-long legislative process in Olympia working to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in Washington state.
March 13, 2014
Tethered robots tested for Internet-connected ocean observatory
The UW this fall will complete installation of a huge high-tech ocean observatory. Dozens of instruments will connect to power and Internet cables on the seafloor, but the observatory also includes a new generation of ocean explorers: robots that will zoom up and down through almost two miles of ocean to monitor the water conditions and marine life above.
February 24, 2014
Vitamin water: Measuring essential nutrients in the ocean
Oceanographers have found that archaea, a type of marine microbe, can produce B-12 vitamins in the ocean.
September 30, 2013
UW researchers helped draft international assessment of climate change
UW faculty members were among international researchers who compiled the fifth climate-change assessment report. The UW will host a seminar Tuesday, Oct. 1 with some of the Seattle-area authors.
September 18, 2013
Cables, instruments installed in the deep sea off Pacific Northwest coast
In a seven-week cruise this past summer, oceanographers and students laid 14 miles of extension cable and installed about a dozen instruments for a historic deep-sea observatory.
September 9, 2013
Breaking deep-sea waves reveal mechanism for global ocean mixing
Oceanographers for the first time recorded an enormous wave breaking miles below the surface in a key bottleneck for global ocean circulation.
August 30, 2013
New ocean forecast could help predict fish habitat six months in advance
UW researchers and federal scientists have developed the first long-term seasonal forecast of conditions for the Northwest ocean ecosystem.
July 1, 2013
Work this summer extends reach of cabled deep-ocean observatory
A UW research vessel leaves July 2 for six weeks at sea, during which oceanographers will install miles of cable for a new type of deep-sea observatory.
May 22, 2013
New documentary on cabled ocean observatory airs on UWTV
A new half-hour documentary about a UW research expedition to Axial Seamount, an underwater volcano off the Washington coast, airs tonight at 9:30 p.m. on UWTV.
May 20, 2013
Amazon River exhales virtually all carbon taken up by rain forest
A study published this week in Nature Geoscience shows that woody plant matter is almost completely digested by bacteria living in the Amazon River, and that this tough stuff plays a major part in fueling the river’s breath.
May 13, 2013
Using earthquake sensors to track endangered whales
Oceanographers are using a growing number of seafloor seismometers, devices that record seafloor vibrations, to carry out inexpensive and non-invasive studies of endangered whales.
May 6, 2013
UW research vessel Clifford A. Barnes marks its 1,000th cruise
This week marks the 1000th cruise for the UW’s Clifford A. Barnes research vessel, a converted tugboat that has spent decades exploring Puget Sound and Pacific Northwest waters and is now reaching the end of its UW career.
April 15, 2013
Preparing to install the world’s largest underwater observatory
Engineers at the UW’s Applied Physics Laboratory are under pressure to build and test parts for installation this summer in the world’s largest deep-ocean observatory off the Washington and Oregon coasts.
April 11, 2013
Space-age domes offer a window on ocean acidification
At Friday Harbor Labs, students are conducting a three-week study on the effects of ocean acidification using a strategy that’s midway between a controlled lab test and an open-ocean experiment.
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