May 21, 2024

S2 E1: Alison Duvall and Tectonic Geomorphology

alison duvall holds a rock standing in a river

Season 2 of FieldSound, the official UW College of the Environment podcast, launches today with this episode! Be sure to like, share and subscribe to catch a new episode each Tuesday. In this episode, Associate Professor of Earth and Space Sciences Alison Duvall shares about tectonic geomorphology, her work with the Cascadia CoPes Hub to increase knowledge about natural hazards and empower communities to build resilience in the face of environmental change, and her path to becoming a scientist.

May 21, 2024

UW geologist connects landslide research with communities in high-risk regions

a group of five pose for a photo with grassy hills behind.

Alison Duvall, University of Washington associate professor of Earth and Space Sciences, is working to understand how climate and climate change might affect the frequency, severity and downstream impacts of landslides, and bring what she learns to community partners working to reduce risk in vulnerable places.

Oct 18, 2023

UW researchers land $10.6M to build subduction zone observatory

Scientists and engineers from the UW School of Oceanography, Department of Earth and Space Sciences and the Applied Physics Lab, along with partners at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, recently were awarded more than $10 million to build an underwater observatory in the Cascadia subduction zone. The funding comes from the National Science Foundation and aligns with larger efforts to better understand subduction zones more broadly.

Aug 22, 2022

Annual research trip off Oregon coast gives students once in a lifetime experience at sea

Most things that humans build need a little maintenance every now and again. That’s no different for the Regional Cabled Array, a high-tech engineering marvel off the Pacific Northwest coast studded with all kinds of oceanographic equipment that gives humans a real-time, 24/7 look at what’s happening under the sea surface. The lengths that scientists and engineers go to keep the array working and up to snuff is extraordinary, and they are currently at sea providing its annual check-up.

Jun 14, 2022

UW, Seattle Public Library, Seattle Public Utilities collaboration uses VR goggles to visualize sea level rise in Seattle

The VR experience begins by explaining how gases like carbon dioxide create an invisible blanket around Earth, trapping solar radiation. The user can hold up a magnifying glass that makes Earth’s atmosphere appear blue. Later in the experience the narrator explains how glaciers in Antarctica, right, contribute to rising seas.

A new project uses virtual reality to help communicate what climate models are predicting: Greenhouse gas emissions are increasing Earth’s temperature, melting glaciers that could create many feet of global sea level rise by the end of this century. The Our Future Duwamish project, available to community groups through The Seattle Public Library, uses Oculus Quest 2 goggles to help viewers imagine rising seas from a vantage point along the South Seattle waterway.