It has generally been thought that flooding made the northern floodplains on our planet fertile.  But in reality, those waters contained almost no nitrogen which is a key ingredient for growing plants.  So how did the nitrogen get there that’s so important for plant life? School of Environmental and Forest Sciences Professor and Director Tom DeLuca explains the key link that has allowed grasslands to thrive in this region.  

Many people use tree ring records to see into the past. But redwoods – the iconic trees that are the world’s tallest living things – have so far proven too erratic in their growth patterns to help with reconstructing historic climate.  A University of Washington researcher has developed a way to use the trees as a window into coastal conditions, using oxygen and carbon atoms in the wood to detect fog and rainfall in previous seasons.  

In a recent paper published in Nature Geoscience, College of the Environment researchers discuss why the northern hemisphere of our planet experiences more rainfall than the southern hemisphere.  The story involves ocean circulation, the Earth’s poles, warmer climates – and how they all connect to influence rainfall patterns. Read more in UW Today. 

Oceanographers at the College of the Environment recently returned from sea, engaging in cutting-edge research that will yield new insights into how our oceans work.  Part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, the work involves wiring the seafloor to have a continuous presence in the Pacific Ocean which allows scientists to monitor conditions in real time.  Read more about this work and watch a video that shows some of what the scientists are seeing on the bottom of the ocean.