Check out this great interview with KING5’s Jeff Renner, about the challenges and joys of being a meteorologist, and the importance of UW’s research for weather prediction for our community. 

Since 1900, six earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater have been recorded as having caused damage in Snohomish and Island counties, or were centered within the counties’ borders. ESS‘ Bill Steele is quoted; read more here. 

NASA reported this week that Greenland’s surface ice is undergoing a major melt event this summer. Such an event is rare — the last wide surface melt was in 1889. DotEarth’s Andy Revkin discusses this phenomenon and the press surrounding the story; a video with ESS‘ Bob Hawley is included. 

In a paper published in the journal Climate of the Past, the researchers use Antarctic and Greenland ice cores to examine the time lag between changes in temperature and in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in the past. Their findings suggest that feedbacks in the climate system – in which warming is linked to natural carbon dioxide increase, driving further warming – may operate faster than previously thought. 

The nautilus, a creature that pulled easily through the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs,  now hangs on the brink of extinction because it has become coveted by human beings. Read more here; ESS‘ Peter Ward is quoted.