Tropical crops, oil spill response, salmon fishery performance and more: This week’s published research

Each week we share the latest peer-reviewed publications coming from the College of the Environment. Over the holidays, twenty-eight new articles co-authored by members of the College of the Environment were added to the Web of Science database, including studies of retention forestry for biodiversity conservation, steelhead migration, ice floes and more. Check them out!

Global warming not just a blanket—in the long run, it's more like tanning oil

While we’ve heard the analogy that carbon dioxide is like a blanket—wrapping the Earth’s atmosphere and trapping heat—in the long run the “how” of global warming changes, according to new research by scientists here at UW and at MIT. As the planet’s ice melts, and its warmer air carries more water, it will absorb more solar radiation than would have otherwise bounced off of clouds, ice, or snow.

David Battisti, Qiang Fu elected fellows of American Geophysical Union

The College of the Environment congratulates two professors — David Battisti and Qiang Fu — on their election as fellows to the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The organization’s mission is to “promote discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity.” They join the ranks of several other faculty in the College that have been honored as AGU fellows as well.

Atlantic Ocean caught storing heat for decades, creating global warming "staircase"

Following rapid warming in the late 20th century, this century has so far seen surprisingly little increase in the average temperature at the Earth’s surface. At first this was a blip, then a trend, then a puzzle for the climate science community. New research co-authored by Ka-Kit Tung, a UW professor of applied mathematics and adjunct faculty member in atmospheric sciences, has found that the Atlantic Ocean has stored much of the missing heat, as part of a natural cycles.

College scientists elected to the WA State Academy of Sciences

The Washington State Academy of Sciences has elected 18 new members to their ranks this year, including several that work in or closely with the College of the Environment. The organization is charged with providing expert scientific and engineering analysis to inform public policy-making, and works to increase the role and visibility of science in the State of Washington. Among those elected from the College of the Environment are Andre Punt, professor and director of the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences; Eric D’Asaro, professor in the School of Oceanography and the Applied Physics Lab; and Bradley Colman, affiliate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences.