College of the Environment
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.
June 3, 2015
Ocean Modeling Forum to bring human element to herring fishery, others
The Ocean Modeling Forum is trying something very rare — bringing together multiple science models and people who care about a particular ocean resource or fishery to decide what’s most important for its vitality and the communities it serves.
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.”
May 15, 2015
Washington Sea Grant’s Ed Melvin wins presidential award for seabird-saving streamer lines
A Washington Sea Grant staff scientist is sharing top honors for developing gear that nearly eliminates seabird bycatch in long-line fisheries from the West Coast to South Africa.
Chemical tags in ear bones track Alaska’s Bristol Bay salmon
A chemical signature recorded on the ear bones of Chinook salmon from Alaska’s Bristol Bay region could tell scientists and resource managers where they are born and how they spend their first year of life.
May 6, 2015
Fishermen, communities need more than healthy fish stocks
The Fishery Performance Indicators are the most comprehensive, global tool that considers social factors in addition to the usual biological measures when gauging a fishery’s health.
May 4, 2015
Puget Sound’s clingfish could inspire better medical devices, whale tags
Researchers at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories are looking at how the biomechanics of clingfish could be helpful in designing devices and instruments to be used in surgery and even to tag and track whales in the ocean.
April 30, 2015
Sustainability progress should precede seafood market access, researchers urge
A team of researchers has evaluated fishery improvement projects, which are designed to bring seafood from wild fisheries to the certified market while promising sustainability in the future. In a policy paper appearing May 1 in Science, they conclude these projects need to be fine tuned to ensure that fisheries are delivering on their promises.
April 29, 2015
Antarctic ice core shows northern trigger for ice age climate shifts
UW glaciologists were part of a team that used a new Antarctic ice core to discover which region triggered sudden global-scale climate shifts during the last ice age.
April 27, 2015
Tidal tugs on Teflon faults drive slow-slipping earthquakes
Teasing out how slow, silent earthquakes respond to tidal forces lets researchers calculate the friction inside the fault, which could help understand when and how the more hazardous earthquakes occur.
April 9, 2015
‘Warm blob’ in Pacific Ocean linked to weird weather across the U.S.
A patch of warm water off the West Coast, nicknamed “the blob” by a UW scientist, is part of a larger shift in the Pacific Ocean that may be responsible for widespread weather changes.
April 7, 2015
Common birds bring economic vitality to cities, new study finds
A new study finds the economic value of enjoying urban birds to be $120 million each year for Seattle residents and $70 million for people living in Berlin. Residents in both cities spend more than the average U.S. adult on bird-supporting activities, which then benefit the local economies as residents invest in bird food and conservation.
April 6, 2015
Fishing amplifies forage fish collapses
A new study implicates fishing in the collapse of forage fish stocks and recommends risk-based management tools that would track a fishery’s numbers and suspend fishing when necessary.
April 2, 2015
UW, NASA prepare for effort to measure rain, snow on Olympic Peninsula
The University of Washington and NASA are preparing for an effort next winter to measure rain in America’s rainiest place: Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. As part of the current gear-up phase, they are looking for volunteers to help track rain.
March 19, 2015
UW geologist, engineer reflect back one year later on nation’s deadliest landslide
A UW geologist and geotechnical engineer look back at what the past year has meant, personally and professionally, as they helped recovery efforts from the nation’s deadliest landslide in our own backyard.
March 17, 2015
First global review on the status, future of Arctic marine mammals
A University of Washington scientist is lead author on the first census of all Arctic marine mammals, including whales, walruses, seals and polar bears. The multinational report assesses the current status of these populations and makes recommendations for conservation of these species under climate change.
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…
February 26, 2015
Embrace unknowns, opt for flexibility in environmental policies
Two University of Washington professors argue in a Science perspectives article that ecosystem managers must learn to make decisions based on an uncertain future.
February 20, 2015
Winter air campaign tracking how pollution handles the cold
A UW atmospheric scientist is leading a six-week survey of eastern U.S. skies to see how winter conditions affect air quality.
February 16, 2015
Ancient rocks show life could have flourished on Earth 3.2 billion years ago
Some of the oldest rocks on the planet push back scientific estimates of when life could have covered the Earth by 1 billion years.
February 11, 2015
Earthquake early warning begins testing in Pacific Northwest
The first early earthquake warning system for the region has begun testing with a small group of users at businesses and public agencies in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.
January 27, 2015
UW researchers helping region get ready for the next Big One
On the anniversary of a massive earthquake off our region’s coast, UW researchers are working on everything from tsunami evacuation structures to updated seismic hazard maps.
January 20, 2015
Scientists drilling first deep ice core at the South Pole
A UW researcher is chief scientist this month on a project to drill the first deep ice core at the South Pole, to understand the climate history in that section of Antarctica.
January 8, 2015
Epic survey finds regional patterns of soot and dirt on North American snow
University of Washington scientists published the first large-scale survey of impurities in North American snow. An almost 10,000-mile road trip showed that disturbed soil often mattered as much as air pollution for the whiteness of the snow.
January 7, 2015
How the ‘Beast Quake’ is helping scientists track real earthquakes
Scientists with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network will install instruments this Thursday to provide real-time monitoring of the stadium’s movement during the 2015 NFL playoffs. It’s a valuable test of their newest seismic technology.
December 17, 2014
Improving forecasts for rain-on-snow flooding
Many of the worst West Coast winter floods involve heavy rains and melting snow, and UW hydrology experts are using the physics of these events to better predict the risks.
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 25, 2014
‘Subirdia’ author urges appreciation of birds that co-exist where we work, live, play
Surprisingly, the diversity of birds in suburban areas can be greater than in forested areas, according to John Marzluff’s new book “Welcome to Subirdia.”
November 17, 2014
‘Probiotics’ for plants boost detox abilities; untreated plants overdose and die
Scientists using a microbe that occurs naturally in eastern cottonwood trees have boosted the ability of willow and lawn grass to withstand the withering effects of the nasty industrial pollutant phenanthrene.
November 10, 2014
Global warming not just a blanket – in the long run, it’s more like tanning oil
Instead of carbon dioxide, or CO2, creating a blanket that slowly warms the planet, long-term warming happens because a darker surface and more moist air can absorb more of the incoming rays.
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.
November 5, 2014
Incorporate more voices to loosen conservation gridlock, scientists urge
More diverse voices could help break a deadlock gripping the conservation community, say 238 co-signatories – including a dozen from the University of Washington.
October 30, 2014
Trout trick-or-treat: fish gobble furry animals with four feet
Freshwater fish with bellies full of shrews – one trout a few years back was found to have eaten 19 – aren’t as random as scientists have thought.
October 29, 2014
Fires and floods: North Cascades federal lands prepare for climate change
UW scientists worked with managers of federal parks and forests to come up with a strategy to address warmer temperatures, increased wildfires and more flooding in the North Cascades region.
October 24, 2014
Large X-ray scanner to produce 3-D images for labs across campus
A state-of-the-art imaging machine is coming to the University of Washington for use by researchers in a variety of disciplines.
October 10, 2014
Citizen science key to keeping pace with environmental change
Better integration of citizen science into professional science is a growing consideration at the UW and elsewhere.
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 22, 2014
Snail shells show high-rise plateau is much lower than it used to be
Geologists have long debated when and how the Tibetan Plateau reached a 14,000-foot-plus elevation, but new UW-led research shows it once was probably even higher.
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