Pierre Dutrieux

A new study reveals the first evidence of a direct link between human-induced global warming and melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. A research team led by the British Antarctic Survey that included the University of Washington found that curbing greenhouse gas emissions now could reduce this region’s future contribution to global sea level rise.

Ongoing ice loss in West Antarctica has increased over the past few decades. Scientists previously found that ice loss in this region is caused by ocean-driven melt, and that varying winds in the region cause transitions between relatively warm and cool ocean conditions around key glaciers. But until now it was unclear how these naturally occurring variations in the winds could cause ongoing ice loss.

The study by U.S. and U.K. scientists published Aug. 12 in Nature Geoscience finds that in addition to the natural variations, which last about a decade, there has been a longer-term change in the winds that can be linked with human activities. Continued ice loss in this region could cause global oceans to rise tens of inches by the year 2100.

“These results solve a longstanding puzzle,” said co-author Eric Steig, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences. “We have known for some time that varying winds near the West Antarctic Ice Sheet have contributed to the ice loss, but it has not been clear why the ice sheet is changing now.”

“Our work with ice cores drilled in the Antarctic Ice Sheet have shown, for example, that wind conditions have been similar in the past,” Steig said. “But the ice core data also suggest a subtle long-term trend in the winds. This new work corroborates that evidence and, furthermore, explains why that trend has occurred.”

The researchers combined satellite observations and climate model simulations to understand how winds over the ocean near West Antarctica have changed since the 1920s in response to rising greenhouse gas concentrations. They found that human-induced climate change has caused a long-term change in the winds, and that as a result, warm ocean conditions have gradually become more prevalent.

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Marc Biundo/University of Washington

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) today announced $10.4 million in funding to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN), based at University of Washington, to support the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system. Some $7.3 million of the funding will go to the UW.

The PNSN is responsible for monitoring earthquakes and volcanoes in Washington and Oregon. It is a partnership between the University of Washington, the University of Oregon and the USGS. The support for the PNSN is among the new ShakeAlert cooperative agreements announced today by the USGS.

The first year’s funding of $5.4 million to the PNSN begins this month. The UW will receive about $3.75 million in direct support of its PNSN activities and $1.66 million will support the PNSN team at the University of Oregon. The second-year funding, of an additional $5 million, is contingent on approval by Congress and will be similarly shared.

“This investment in the PNSN represents a major increase in federal support for earthquake monitoring in the Cascadia region,” said Harold Tobin, director of the PNSN and professor in the UW’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences. “At the end of the two years of funding we anticipate having essentially doubled the number of seismic stations across our whole region that contribute to real-time earthquake early warning. This would allow for full public alerts of any potentially damaging earthquakes, across our entire region of Washington and Oregon, by the end of the two-year period.”

This new award will allow for installation of 104 new seismic stations in Washington state and 44 in Oregon, during the two-year period. It will also support improved, more-sophisticated detection of earthquakes as they begin, and new efforts to engage potential users of the warnings.

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Most of us think of wildfire in Washington state as something that happens east of the mountains. There’s a reason for that: more than 99 percent of wildfires in the last 40 years have been east of the Cascade Crest.

But forest fires are a natural, though rare, occurrence on the west side of the mountains as well. These verdant forests don’t immediately seem like burnable material. But, with the right conditions, these areas can also experience wildfires. Years without fire allow trees and understory brush to grow and accumulate significant biomass, which can produce large, severe wildfires.

Brian Harvey, assistant professor in the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, is studying fires in Washington that burn on the west side of the Cascade Crest. He and his research team are building on evidence that suggests Western Washington has a history of large wildfires, each burning hundreds of thousands of acres. We might not be familiar with them, because most happened centuries ago.

“Being able to understand these systems is really critical to our ability to manage them as a society, and make really smart decisions about how we’re going to manage forests,” said Harvey. “That’s particularly important as the human footprint continues to expand.”

Gathering data on west side fires may help determine risks for people who have built homes and communities near wooded areas. It might help in planning how to protect watersheds, and in thinking about forest products and recreation that are part of our economy and culture.

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With water-related challenges on the rise around the world, there is a splash of good news. A newly established Ivanhoe Foundation Endowed Fellowship will support UW graduate students who are gearing up to tackle some of the most pressing water-related challenges in developing countries.

Addressing complex water-related challenges around the globe requires creative problem-solving and the ability to translate cutting-edge research into real-world solutions, according to the Ivanhoe Foundation. Therefore, the fellowship will fund graduate students passionate about tackling the world’s greatest water resource challenges, especially those who are pursuing solutions to challenges faced by developing nations, such as limited access to safe and clean drinking water and insufficient water for food and energy.

The fellowship will support graduate students in both the College of Engineering and the College of the Environment. Graduate students and faculty from the two colleges are already collaborating on water research through the Freshwater Initiative, which promotes innovative research in the water science and engineering communities to address complex freshwater issues both locally and around the globe.

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Luke Parsons

The Southwest has always faced periods of drought. Most recently, from late 2011 to 2017, California experienced years of lower-than-normal rainfall.

El Niño is known to influence rain in the Southwest, but it’s not a perfect match. New research from the University of Washington and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution explores what conditions in the ocean and in the atmosphere prolong droughts in the Southwestern U.S.

The answer is complex, according to a study published Aug. 6 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

“What causes droughts that last for decades in some parts of the world, and why does that happen? Can we predict it?” said first author Luke Parsons, a UW postdoctoral researcher in atmospheric sciences. “Our study shows that when you have a large El Niño event, and a La Niña event is coming next, that could potentially start a multiyear drought in the Southwestern U.S.”

The general rule of thumb had been that El Niño years — when the sea surface in a region off the coast of Peru is at least 1 degree Celsius warmer than average — tend to have more rainfall, and La Niña years, when that region is 1 degree Celsius cooler than average, tend to have less rain. But that simple rule of thumb doesn’t always hold true.

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Abrandon67/Wikipedia

From searching for extraterrestrial life to tracking rainfall, non-experts are increasingly helping to gather information to answer scientific questions.

One of the most established hands-on, outdoor citizen science projects is the University of Washington-based Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team, COASST, which trains beachgoers along the West Coast, from California to Alaska, to monitor their local beach for dead birds.

With about 4,500 participants in its 21-year history and roughly 800 active participants today, COASST’s long-term success is now the subject of scientific study in its own right. What makes people join citizen science projects, and what motivates people to stick with them over years?

A UW-led paper published in the July issue of Ecology and Society explores the interests and identities of participants who join and remain active in citizen science. Results could help other science projects aiming to harness the power of large teams.

“I came to the UW to analyze a gold mine of social science datasets accumulated by COASST,” said social scientist and lead author Yurong He, a postdoctoral researcher in the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.  “Over a four year period, hundreds of participants responded to survey questions about why they were joining – or continuing – with the program. This represents an unparalleled opportunity.”

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning program and Washington Sea Grant’s support for COASST. Other authors on the paper were Julia Parrish, a UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences and director of COASST, Timothy Jones, a UW postdoctoral researcher in aquatic and fishery sciences, and Shawn Rowe, an associate professor at Oregon State University.

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