Jan 8, 2015

Epic survey finds regional patterns of soot and dirt on North American snow

Snow is not as white as it looks. Mixed in with the reflective flakes are tiny, dark particles of pollution. University of Washington scientists recently published the first large-scale survey of impurities in North American snow, to see whether they might absorb enough sunlight to speed melt rates and influence climate. The results, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, show that North American snow away from cities is similar to Arctic snow in many places, with more pollution in the U.S.

How the ‘Beast Quake’ is helping scientists track real earthquakes

It’s not just the football players who have spent a year training. University of Washington seismologists will again be monitoring the ground-shaking cheers of Seahawks fans, this year with a bigger team, better technology and faster response times. Scientists with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network will install instruments this Thursday to provide real-time monitoring of the stadium’s movement during the 2015 NFL playoffs.

Tropical crops, oil spill response, salmon fishery performance and more: This week's published research

Each week we share the latest peer-reviewed publications coming from the College of the Environment. Over the holidays, twenty-eight new articles co-authored by members of the College of the Environment were added to the Web of Science database, including studies of retention forestry for biodiversity conservation, steelhead migration, ice floes and more. Check them out!

Humans adding ‘fossil’ carbon to rivers

New research from the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences suggests that the choices we make about how we use our lands—such as for agriculture or development—has an impact on a landscape’s ability to effectively store carbon. Published in Nature Geoscience, the authors find that disturbance reintroduces carbon that is locked up on land back into the carbon cycle, often through runoff that deposits it into our rivers and wetlands.

Oceanography undergrads blog from Vancouver Island

The Research Vessel Thomas G. Thompson—UW’s 274-foot-ship capable of accessing the world’s oceans—provided a platform for research and a home to several oceanography students as they wrapped up their quarter’s research in mid-December. Sending scientific instruments overboard to capture and record all sorts of ocean data, the students blogged about their adventures along the west coast of Canada and shared what they learned.