When you try to imagine what a happy, calm beluga whale looks like, what images do you conjure up? A smiling white blob, reclining on a chaise lounge with a shrimp cocktail? A zen-like cetacean emerging from a meditation workshop session with a rolled-up mat under its flipper? For Manuel Castellote, a researcher at the Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies (CICOES), the image is less absurd but more exciting.
Read more »Expert FAQ: Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest during the COVID-19 pandemic
Forest fires are one of nature’s oldest land management tools. For more than 10,000 years, Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest have harnessed the power of fire to control the threat of destructive wildfires and encourage new growth across landscapes. In recent centuries, as the number of people living in forested areas has increased and large amounts of fuel have built up over years of suppression, large seasonal wildfires are becoming more common.
Read more at UW News »Dean's letter: Connecting with the good around us
I write this from my home office, where I have fashioned a standing desk from an ironing board and a stack of books. In the next room, I can hear my 17-year-old daughter trying to make sense of the virtual classroom environment that has been thrust upon her. It goes without saying that COVID-19 is testing all of us in different ways.
Read more »What does a hot day in Bali have to do with a dry day in Seattle?
Consider this: the U.S. West Coast has seen a decrease in rainfall between 1981-2018. UW scientists think a phenomenon called the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) might be to blame. A stormy disturbance that occurs several times a year in the tropics, the MJO is similar to the El Nino Southern Oscillation, which is notorious for generating extreme winter weather in the Pacific Northwest.
Read more at Nature »How do we know so much about ancient climates?
Scientists know a lot about the Earth’s climate. Over the past sixty years, they have collected temperature and precipitation information, measured the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, and charted the changing weather. But what if we want to compare today’s climate to past climates—say, a million years ago or more? Traces of those past climates—referred to as paleoclimates—remain in rocks and ice as particles that once made up the ancient atmosphere, rain and soil.
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