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.
Ahead of major climate talks at COP21 this year in Paris, scientists are offering insights to the far-reaching effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on the ocean. Spearheaded by the Oceans 2015 Initiative, which brought together 22 scientists and policy experts from nine different countries, the results were published this week in the journal Science and focus on how warming waters, rising seas, and ocean acidification drive changes to the global ocean.
Aquatic and Fishery Sciences’ Kristin Laidre and a team from across the globe just published their findings on what the future looks like for Arctic marine mammals, whose fragile habitats are shifting as a result of sea ice loss and warming temperatures. Their recent study, published in Conservation Biology, found that reductions in sea ice cover are “profound” and that the Arctic’s traditionally short, cool summers are growing longer in most regions by five to 10 weeks.
Spearheaded by the College of the Environment and aimed at jump-starting conversations about science communications, Last Tuesday’s Amplify event focused on identifying strategies researchers can use to effectively communicate their science with elected officials and other decision-makers.
For centuries, scientists have skillfully discerned and built upon our common understanding of the natural world and how it works. Often their discoveries occur in a research lab, the field, or the classroom, but today—more than ever—there’s a need to connect those findings to discussions about public policies and procedures.
The Future of Ice Speaker Series highlighted the complex issues connected to our planet’s polar environments, becoming a tremendously successful quarter-long event on the University of Washington Seattle campus. The subject matter proved a good fit for the middle of winter, providing a platform to highlight a diverse group of speakers and their perspectives related to the Arctic and Antarctic environments.
Students are among the beneficiaries of the UW’s deep polar expertise, which is highlighted in the collaborative and new Future of Ice Initiative made up of multiple units across campus. The Initiative represents a commitment by the University to invest in knowledge about the polar regions, and provide a framework through which to foster collaborative partnerships with stakeholders at high latitudes.
The fifth event in the Future of Ice Speaker Series featured Dee Boersma, a UW scientist who has spent her career studying the ecology of our world’s penguins. Much of her time is spent in Punto Tombo, Argentina, focused on a large population of Magellanic penguins. She and her team have collected an impressive time-series of data on these birds–over 30 years–which has proved instrumental in understanding penguin ecology and the pressures that affect them.
The Future of Ice Speaker Series continued last week with a visit from Paul Nicklen, National Geographic photographer and extreme adventurer. His day on campus was spent visiting with students, faculty, and staff to talk about his storytelling mission though photography and sharing firsthand accounts about the global changes he is seeing. His visit was capped with a 500+ person audience in Kane Hall to hear his tales of frozen and wild landscapes, and to be transported through his pictures of the fantastic animals that live in these environments.
The third installment in our Future of Ice speaker series featured Jody Deming, Walters Endowed Professor and a faculty member in Oceanography and Astrobiology at UW. Her talk explored how life exists in sea ice, the experience of studying sea ice in the Arctic in the dead of winter, and what studying sea ice can tell us about possibility for life on other planets.
The Northwest has long been a hub for Alaska-bound fishing vessels and scientific study of the Arctic. The University of Washington’s new “Future of Ice” initiative seeks to build on that research in a region now undergoing rapid changes. The initiative includes several new hires, a new minor in Arctic studies and a winter lecture series. “This is partly recognizing how much is going on in polar research at the UW,” said initiative director Eric Steig, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences who studies ice cores.
Two new studies involving the University of Washington are shedding new light on the internal workings and risks from volcanoes, especially the ones in the Cascade range in Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Read more and watch video on King5.com
Across the world, big old trees face a dire future globally from agriculture, logging, habitat fragmentation, exotic invaders, and the effects of climate change, warn leading scientists in an article published this week in Science magazine. Jerry Franklin – School of Environmental and Forest Sciences – is a co-author. Read more here.
With overfishing, habitat loss, pollution, the proliferation of dams, and now climate change, the salmon that are a crucial part of so many of the Pacific Northwest’s indigenous peoples’ cultures are in severe decline. Learn about the work of the Tribes to counteract a future with no fish; Alan Hamlet and the Climate Impacts Group are mentioned.
Also check out this video showing the retreat of the South Cascade Glacier in Washingon, a “water tower” providing summer habitat for salmon:
Forestry students from the University of Washington and the University of British Columbia arrived in Darrington on Friday to participate in the 2012 Silviculture Challenge. Read more here.