College of the Environment
April 25, 2013
Keeping beverages cool in summer: It’s not just the heat, it’s the humidity
Drops forming on the outside of your drink don’t just make the can slippery. Experiments show that in hot, humid weather, condensation heats a drink more than the surrounding air.
April 17, 2013
A key to mass extinctions could boost food, biofuel production
A substance implicated in several mass extinctions could greatly enhance plant growth, with implications for global food supplies biofuels, new UW research shows.
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 14, 2013
Recent Antarctic climate, glacier changes at the ‘upper bound’ of normal
In recent decades the thinning of glaciers at the edge of Antarctica has accelerated, but new UW-led research indicates the changes, though dramatic, cannot be confidently attributed to human-caused global warming.
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.
March 20, 2013
Some Alaskan trout use flexible guts for the ultimate binge diet
The stomach and intestines of certain Dolly Varden trout double to quadruple in size during month-long, salmon-egg-eating binges in Alaska each August. It’s the first time researchers have documented such fish gut flexibility in the wild.
March 12, 2013
News Digest: UW Tower Green Fair Thursday, Restoration Ecology Network recognized
Demos, films, exhibits at UW Tower Green Fair Thursday || Society recognizes UW Restoration Ecology Network
March 11, 2013
Long-term relationships, access to data drive sustainability institutions’ success
Successful sustainability initiatives need to be grounded in long-standing relationships among scientists, local communities and decision-makers, UW’s Lisa Graumlich told a session on sustainability science at AAAS.
Remote clouds responsible for climate models’ glitch in tropical rainfall
One of the most persistent biases in global climate models is due to poor simulation of cloud cover thousands of miles to the south.
March 7, 2013
Tracking sediments’ fate in largest-ever dam removal
Any day now, the world’s largest dam-removal project will release a century’s worth of sediment . For geologists, it’s a unique opportunity to study natural and engineered river systems.
February 28, 2013
Changes in cloud distribution explain some weather patterns
Regional cloud changes may be as important for climate change as the overall amount of cloud cover.
February 21, 2013
Using amount of fish caught as measure of fisheries health is misleading
Do changes in the amount of fish caught necessarily reflect the number of fish in the sea? “No,” say UW researchers in a “Counterpoint” commentary in Nature.
February 20, 2013
Searchable by cell phone or GPS unit, interactive map for arboretum being created
UW Botanic Gardens is digitizing 55 years of handwritten plant records and creating an interactive GIS map for the Washington Park Arboretum.
February 18, 2013
Mussels cramped by environmental factors
The fibrous threads helping mussels stay anchored are more prone to snap when ocean temperatures climb higher than normal.
February 6, 2013
Smartphones, tablets help UW researchers improve storm forecasts
Atmospheric scientists are using pressure readings from some new smartphones and tablet computers to improve short-term thunderstorm forecasts. A weather station in every pocket would offer an unprecedented wealth of data.
January 15, 2013
International study: Where there’s smoke or smog, there’s climate change
A new international assessment found that soot, or black carbon, is a major contributor to global warming — second only to carbon dioxide.
January 14, 2013
Salmon runs boom, go bust over centuries
Salmon runs are notoriously variable: strong one year, and weak the next. New research shows that the same may be true from one century to the next.
Potential harvest of most fish stocks largely unrelated to abundance
Fisheries managers should sharpen their ability to spot environmental conditions that hamper or help fish stocks, and not assume that abundance translates to sustainable harvest.
December 31, 2012
In rain and snow at home, Seahawks much more likely to win
The Seahawks win four times as many home games as they lose when the weather is inclement, compared to less than two to one when it’s not.
December 17, 2012
Plumes across the Pacific deliver thousands of microbial species to West Coast
Microorganisms – 99 percent more kinds than had been reported in findings published just four months ago – are hitching rides in the upper troposphere from Asia.
December 12, 2012
Award recognizes UW oceanographer’s talent for engaging public
The American Geophysical Union has presented its top prize for engaging the public in science to UW’s John Delaney.
December 10, 2012
Armbrust shares $35 million to investigate tiniest ocean regulators
Oceanographer Ginger Armbrust has received a multi-million dollar award to spend as she wishes on her research into ocean microbes and their role in regulating ocean environments and our atmosphere.
October 12, 2012
U.S. fish and wildlife director, a UW alum, considers challenges posed by landscape changes
It’s time to think differently about how we interact with nature because we’re increasingly disconnected from the natural world, said Dan Ashe during visit to campus.
October 2, 2012
News Digest: Fish and Wildlife director speaks Oct. 3, Rideshare options in face of bus cuts
Fish and Wildlife director, a UW alum, speaks Oct. 3 || UW Rideshare options in face of Metro bus route cuts
UW scientists team with Coast Guard to explore ice-free Arctic Ocean
UW scientists are teaming with the U.S. Coast Guard to study the new frontier in the Arctic Ocean opened up with the melting ice.
August 21, 2012
66th field season underway in world’s longest-running effort to monitor salmon
The UW’s Alaska Salmon Program, now in its 66th field season, focuses not just on fisheries management, but on ecology and evolution as well, and has just won a top fisheries prize.
August 20, 2012
Experiment would test cloud geoengineering as way to slow warming
A University of Washington scientist has proposed an experiment to test cloud brightening, a geoengineering concept that alters clouds in an effort to counter global warming.
May 3, 2012
Increasing speed of Greenland glaciers gives new insight for rising sea level
Changes in the speed that ice travels in more than 200 outlet glaciers indicates that Greenland’s contribution to rising sea level in the 21st century might be significantly less than the upper limits some scientists thought possible, a new study shows.
November 29, 2011
$2M grant could make early earthquake warning a reality in the Northwest
A grant to the University of Washington from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation could pave the way for a system to provide a warning seconds to minutes in advance of a major offshore earthquake in the Northwest.
September 22, 2011
Model provides successful seasonal forecast for the fate of Arctic sea ice
Relatively accurate predictions for summer sea ice extent in the Arctic can be made the previous autumn, but forecasting more than five years into the future requires understanding of the impact of climate trends on the ice pack.
October 18, 2007
Improved forecasting of volcanic eruptions is part of Malone’s legacy
When Steve Malone retired earlier this month, he could take satisfaction in the great strides that have been made in forecasting volcanic eruptions, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.
April 24, 2000
Twenty years after big blast: Mount St. Helens leaves legacy of more accurate eruption predictions
Steve Malone began studying Mount St. Helens in 1973. He didn’t know that just seven years later he would be tracking swarms of earthquakes signaling that the mountain was about to blow its top.
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