May 2, 2019

Atmospheric scientist Chris Bretherton elected to National Academy of Sciences

Chris Bretherton, a University of Washington professor jointly appointed in the departments of Atmospheric Sciences and Applied Mathematics, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He is one of 100 new members elected for their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research” who were announced April 30 by the academy. Chris studies how clouds form and change over time and how to better represent these processes in global climate and weather-forecasting models.

Cecilia Bitz named chair of UW Department of Atmospheric Sciences

The UW College of the Environment is pleased to announce that Cecilia Bitz has been named chair of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, effective July 1, 2019. Cecilia is a professor of atmospheric sciences and studies the role that sea ice plays in shaping the climate in high latitudes. She is actively engaged in research on improving prediction of Arctic sea ice and sea ice data assimilation, investigating wave-ice and coupled air-sea-ice interactions that control large-scale climate.

UW students win national weather forecasting contest

Faculty lead Lynn McMurdie, center, and some of the students from the winning UW team pose on the roof of the Atmospheric Sciences-Geophysics Building.

The University of Washington has won a national competition in which colleges vie to deliver the most accurate daily forecast for cities across the country. A UW student also developed a machine-learning model that for the first time delivered a more accurate forecast than any human competitor. In results announced this week, the UW team placed first among 36 teams in the annual WxChallenge operated by the University of Oklahoma.

Congratulations to Abigail Swann, named an Early Career Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA)

Abigail Swann, an associate professor in both the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and the Department of Biology has been named an Early Career Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA). Swann was elected for her impact advancing understanding of linkages between vegetation change and the atmosphere via “ecoclimate teleconnections,” including an understanding of the climate impacts of plant distributions and plant functioning, and of the processes responsible for plant-climate interactions.

Air quality agencies can breathe easier about current emissions regulations

Co-author Felipe Lopez-Hilfiker (center), then a UW doctoral student in atmospheric sciences, adjusts instruments in 2013 inside the NOAA P-3 aircraft.

As air quality improves, the invisible chemistry happening in the air around us is changing. Skies should clear up as emissions drop, but recent results suggested that declining nitrogen oxides can create an environment where airborne carbon-containing compounds more easily convert into small particles that harm human health. Regulators can now breathe easier. A University of Washington-led study, published in March in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides a fuller picture of the relationship between nitrogen oxides — the tailpipe-generated particles at the center of the Volkswagen scandal, also known as NOx, — and PM2.5, the microscopic particles that can lodge in lungs.