To understand how Puget Sound has changed, we first must understand how it used to be. Unlike most major estuaries in the U.S. — and despite the abundance of world-class oceanographic institutions in the area — long-term monitoring of Puget Sound fish populations did not exist until 1990. Filling in this missing information is essential to establishing a baseline that would provide context for the current status of the marine ecosystem, and could guide policymakers in setting more realistic ecosystem-based management recovery targets.
Read more at UW News »Diversity, equity and inclusion in Washington Sea Grant
The College of the Environment is proud to house organizations like Washington Sea Grant (WSG), who provide research, technical expertise, and educational activities that support the responsible use and conservation of ocean and coastal ecosystems. To do this, WSG partners with international, federal, tribal, state and local governments, local communities, and K-12 schools on a variety of marine-related projects. Earlier in the 2020-21 academic year, WSG published their 10-year Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) roadmap.
Read more »UW Oceanography's Jodi Young named Sloan Fellow
One faculty member at UW Environment was awarded an early-career fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The new Sloan Fellow, announced Feb. 16, is Jodi Young, an assistant professor in the School of Oceanography. Open to scholars in eight scientific and technical fields — chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics — the fellowships honor those early-career researchers whose achievements mark them among the next generation of scientific leaders.
Read more at UW News »Q&A: ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system arriving in Pacific Northwest
After years in development, an earthquake early warning system known as ShakeAlert is on the cusp of being released in Oregon and Washington. The system that spans the West Coast was launched in California in late 2019. It launches to the public in Oregon on March 11, the 10th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and in Washington in May.
Read more at UW News »Online tool displays Pacific Northwest mountain snow depth
How’s the snow on Northwest mountains this year? Overall a little deeper than normal, but it depends where you look. A new collaboration between the University of Washington and the Northwest Avalanche Center lets you see how the current snow depth compares to past years for nine sites in Washington and two in Oregon. The new mountain snow depth tool is freely available on the Office of the Washington State Climatologist’s website.
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