Jan 10, 2017

Rapid Arctic warming has in the past shifted Southern Ocean winds

Author Bradley Markle examines a section of ice core at the West Antarctic field site. He spent two months in the field as a member of the drilling team.

The global climate is a complex machine in which some pieces are separate, yet others are connected. Scientists try to discover the connections to predict what will happen to our climate, especially in a future with more heat-trapping gases. A dramatic pattern in our planet’s climate history involves paroxysms in Arctic temperatures. During the last ice age, tens of thousands of years ago, Greenland repeatedly warmed by about 10 degrees Celsius over just a few decades and then gradually cooled.

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Jan 6, 2017

Arctic sea ice loss impacts beluga whale migration

The annual migration of some beluga whales in Alaska is altered by sea ice changes in the Arctic, while other belugas do not appear to be affected. A new study led by the University of Washington finds that as Arctic sea ice takes longer to freeze up each fall due to climate change, one population of belugas mirrors that timing and delays its migration south by up to one month.

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Jun 8, 2016

See, hear, and study the deep sea: Ocean Observatories Initiative data now live

Data is now streaming from the deep sea, thanks to an observatory installed off of the Pacific Northwest coast by the UW as part of a larger National Science Foundation (NSF) initiative to usher in a new age of oceanographic research.

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Jun 2, 2016

UW researchers attend sea ice conference—above the Arctic Circle

University of Washington polar scientists are on Alaska’s North Slope this week for the 2016 Barrow Sea Ice Camp. Supported by the National Science Foundation, the event brings together U.S.-based sea ice observers, satellite experts, and modelers at various career stages to collect data and discuss issues related to measuring and modeling sea ice. The goal is to integrate the research community in order to better observe and understand the changes in Arctic sea ice.

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May 31, 2016

Deep, old water explains why Antarctic Ocean hasn't warmed

New research from the University of Washington and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology finds that ocean currents explain why the seawater has stayed at roughly the same temperature while most of the rest of the planet has warmed.

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