NOAA funds Washington Sea Grant to help communities protect their coasts

Whidbey’s Island County, seen here in a 2006 photo, is an initial partner on the project.

Washington SeaGrant was recently awarded nearly $900,000 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help coastal communities protect against hazards, including tsunamis, winter storms and sea-level rise. The three-year project will help prepare Washington’s roughly 3,100 miles of coastline and more than 45 coastal cities for current and future hazards. The award is one of six NOAA Regional Coastal Resilience Grants awarded this year. 

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UW Climate Impacts Group report outlines region's future under climate change

Cover photo of the State of Knowledge: Climate Change in Puget Sound report

The Puget Sound watershed, the area west of the Cascades Mountains that stretches from the state capitol up to the Canadian border, is warming. It also faces rising seas, heavier downpours, larger and more frequent floods, more sediment in its rivers, less snow, and hotter, drier summer streams. A new report by the University of Washington synthesizes all the relevant research about the future of the Puget Sound region to paint a picture of what to expect in the coming decades, and how best to prepare for that future. 

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Seattle Times lauds UW's Climate Impacts Group and Arctic studies program

Arctic ice with water between large chunks of ice.

In a piece published by The Seattle Times, the editorial board calls for the United States to get out from behind the curve in addressing emerging challenges and opportunities in the Arctic. They call for comprehensive policies that will position the U.S. to capitalize on the upcoming changes — many of which are already here — and cite the University of Washington’s new Arctic Studies Program and the Climate Impacts Group as leaders in the kind of interdisciplinary thinking and approach it will take to be successful. 

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Climate change could leave Pacific Northwest amphibians high and dry

A typical mountain wetland in the Pacific Northwest.

Far above the wildfires raging in Washington’s forests, a less noticeable consequence of this dry year is taking place in mountain ponds. The minimal snowpack and long summer drought that have left the Pacific Northwest lowlands parched have also affected the region’s amphibians through loss of mountain pond habitat. According to a new paper published Sept. 2 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, this summer’s severe conditions may be the new normal within just a few decades. 

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