New research from UW-Bothell shows that the upper atmosphere is working as a chemical reactor that transforms elemental mercury into oxidized mercury, which makes it more able to be deposited in aquatic ecosystems and, eventually, to enter the food chain.  Read more here. 

With mudslide season approaching, officials are looking at what could be done to minimize disruptions to passenger train service. David Montgomery, professor of Earth and space sciences, is quoted in this article, which also includes research from the Climate Impacts Group. 

Check out this UWTV ocean acidification video that features work from our researchers in SAFS. 

Fin whales sing at frequencies that overlap with those of underwater earthquakes.  This has led seismologists to develop techniques to remove the “noise” from the “signal”, to better understand earthquakes.  But scientists from the College of the Environment have switched these definitions, and at last week’s AGU conference they presented extensive tracking data that detail times, locations, and even groupings of fin whales around the Juan de Fuca Ridge.  

Nitrogen pollution from human activities can be found in lake bed sediments from over 100 years ago, and in areas thousands of miles away from any city, farm or factory, CoEnv scientists have found.  SAFS’ Gordon Holtgrieve, Daniel Schindler and Lauren Rogers, and others, published these results in the December 16 issue of Science.  Their findings are based on the chemical composition of lake bed sediments from 36 different lakes, and mark both the time and the planetary scale at which nitrogen pollution has effected ecosystems.