Apr 4, 2024

In the Field: UW researchers travel to capture total solar eclipse

a view of the total solar eclipse in 2017

On Monday, large parts of the United States will experience a total solar eclipse. This eclipse is expected to be a more significant event than the one in 2017, and the next one visible from the U.S. won’t happen until 2044. The sky will darken in Uvalde, Texas, just seconds before 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 p.m. local time in Texas) on April 8.

Marine Cloud Brightening Program studies clouds, aerosols and pathways to reduce climate risks

Clouds play a particularly powerful role in the climate system since they can change rapidly and have a strong effect on Earth’s reflectivity. That’s why researchers are working to better understand clouds, and how both inadvertent and possibly intentional changes to atmospheric particles affect clouds.

Signs of life detectable in single ice grain emitted from extraterrestrial moons

This image shows red streaks across the surface of Europa, the smallest of Jupiter’s four large moons.

The upcoming Europa Clipper mission will send instruments to investigate Europa, shown here, the smallest of Jupiter’s four large moons. New UW research shows that one of the instruments destined for the next mission could find traces of a single cell in a single ice grain ejected from the planetary body’s interior.

AI analysis of historical satellite images show USSR collapse in 1990s increased methane emissions, despite lower oil and gas production

The capital city of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, in 2009.

The collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991 had social, political and economic effects worldwide. Among them was a suspected role in slowing human-generated methane emissions. But new University of Washington research uses early satellite records to dispute that assumption.

Enrollment at UW College of the Environment continues to climb

The UW College of the Environment has experienced tremendous growth in undergraduate student majors since its inception 15 years ago, with most of that growth coming in recent years. In the 2011-12 academic year, the College enrolled nearly 1,050 undergraduate students across seven different majors offered throughout the College. Fast forward to the current academic year, and there are nearly 1,900 students enrolled in eight majors (Marine Biology was added as a major in 2018-19).