An atmospheric peculiarity the Earth shares with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune is likely common to billions of planets, University of Washington astronomers have found, and knowing that may help in the search for potentially habitable worlds. First, some history: It’s known that air grows colder and thinner with altitude, but in 1902 a scientist named Léon Teisserenc de Bort, using instrument-equipped balloons, found a point in Earth’s atmosphere at about 40,000 to 50,000 feet where the air stops cooling and begins growing warmer.
Read more »Washington Ocean Acidification Center funds forecasting project
The Washington Ocean Acidification Center recently awarded funding to a local group of oceanographers, giving them the green light to develop an ocean acidification forecasting model for the Pacific Northwest. The first of its kind, the model will allow aquaculture and natural resource managers to better predict how ocean acidification is taking shape throughout the numerous waterways of our state. “We are excited to launch this project funded by the Center,” said Jan Newton, the Center’s co-director.
Read more »Jumping fans register a magnitude 1 or 2 quake during Seahawks TD fumble return
Earth and space sciences professor John Vidale studies earthquakes, the vast majority of which are caused naturally. But he and a team of researchers have a seismometer — which measures motion in the ground — located near CenturyLink Field that picked up a small tremor on Monday night caused by something entirely different. Read more in the Seattle Times.
Read more »Special issue of Conservation Biology addresses climate change and the Endangered Species Act
A special issue of the journal Conservation Biology includes a paper written by a team of authors from the Climate Impacts Group, USGS, NOAA, and Stony Brook University on choosing and using climate change scenarios for ecological impacts assessments and conservation decisions. Published in December, the paper’s guidelines are relevant to a diverse range of resource managers. Amy Snover, assistant dean of applied research at the College of the Environment and director of the Climate Impacts Group, is the lead author on the paper entitled Choosing and Using Climate-Change Scenarios for Ecological-Impact Assessments and Conservation Decisions.
Read more »Dean’s Office working toward sustainable administration practices
The staff of the College of the Environment’s dean’s office are inspired by the work in the College and across campus to understand and address the environmental challenges of our time. This past year, following sustainability efforts of many students, faculty, and staff in the college and beyond, the dean’s office worked with the Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Office to identify and align our practices and policies with the goals of sustainable resource use.
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