A team of researchers from the University of Washington and U.S. Geological Survey have made used satellite images of Glacier National Park, to examine patterns in huckleberry plants that turn a brilliant red color each fall. Tracking where huckleberry plants live now — and where they may move under climate change — would help biologists predict where grizzly bears will also be found.
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Off the coast of Washington, columns of methane bubbles are being squeezed out of sediment and rising up through the water. A study by the University of Washington and Oregon State University suggests that the locations of these bubble plumes provide important clues to what will happen during a major offshore earthquake. Analysis of the underlying geology suggests that the bubbles emerge here because of the gas and fluid rising through faults which are generated by the motion of geologic plates—the same plates that produce major offshore earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest.
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Research led by the UW’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences proposes a new idea that may explain why some Antarctic icebergs are tinged emerald green rather than the normal blue, potentially solving a decades-long scientific mystery. Most icebergs appear white or blue when floating in seawater, but since the early 1900s, explorers and sailors have reported seeing peculiar green icebergs around certain parts of Antarctica.
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Rachel Fricke and Alanna Greene don’t just want you to know about UW’s scientists, they want you to like them too. That’s what’s driving the two seniors at The UW’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences to broadcast Earth Tones, a weekly podcast dedicated to showcasing University of Washington science grads and the stories naturally emerging from their research. The podcast is a labor of love for Fricke and Greene, who both believe that the human stories associated with scientific research—the personalities, pitfalls and the comedy—are often as relevant as the core findings more commonly published.
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Fifty-five million years ago there were crocodiles above the Arctic circle and the deep ocean was 12 degrees Celsius warmer than today. Also, the difference in temperature between the poles and the equator was much less than present day, and this has been a challenge for climate scientists to understand. This week a new study, co-authored by ATMO’s Brian Rose, provides an explanation to this paradox; read more in this MIT article.
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