Feb 15, 2017

‘The blob’ of abnormal conditions boosted Western U.S. ozone levels

Researchers use the ski lifts to carry equipment to sample air on the summit. A radon sensor travels to the peak of Mount Bachelor.

An unusually warm patch of seawater off the West Coast in late 2014 and 2015, nicknamed “the blob,” had cascading effects up and down the coast. Its sphere of influence was centered on the marine environment but extended to weather on land. A University of Washington Bothell study now shows that this strong offshore pattern also influenced air quality. The climate pattern increased ozone levels above Washington, Oregon, western Utah and northern California, according to a study published Feb.

Listen to the Earth smash another global temperature record

Federal science agencies announced Wednesday that 2016 was the warmest year on record, beating the previous global temperature record set in 2015, which itself had beat the previous record set in 2014. Now atmospheric scientists at the University of Washington have set the new temperature record to an electronic dance beat. This is their second project to convert scientific data to an audio track, a process known as sonification.

Mountain glaciers are showing some of the strongest responses to climate change

Hintereisferner Glacier in Austria is one of the glaciers analyzed in the study. The edge of the glacier is 2.8 km (1.75 miles) farther up the valley than it was in 1880.

A new study analyzing 37 glaciers around the world shows that because of their decades-long response times, glaciers are among the purest signals of human-driven climate change.

UW Program on Climate Change Director LuAnne Thompson on being a climate scientist

The College of the Environment’s LuAnne Thompson, a faculty member in the School of Oceanography and the director of the Program on Climate Change, has dedicated her career to researching the ocean’s role in climate variability. Having recently returned from France, where she delved into the specifics of measuring an interpreting sea levels from radar altimetry with her academic peers, Thompson reflects on her feelings about the state of climate science and her hopes for the future of climate science outreach and education.

Read more at Program on Climate Change »

Nov 14, 2016

UW Environment scientists discuss what the current political climate will mean for climate education

Sarah E. Myhre, a postdoctoral scholar with the Future of Ice Initiative and the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington, and Marisa J. Borreggine, an undergraduate in the UW School of Oceanography, discuss what the election of President-elect Donald Trump will mean for their professions, their futures and our planet. Here’s a snippet of their conversation via Medium.com. Follow the link for more.