New research from Earth and Space Sciences' Fang-Zhen Teng shows that a common type of volcano isn't just spewing molten rock from the mantle, but contains elements suggesting something more complicated is drawing material out of the Earth's crust.
Months of warning signs from Mauna Loa, on Hawaii’s Big Island, prompted the U.S. Geological Survey to recently start releasing weekly updates on activity at the world’s largest active volcano.
For now, such warning signs can only rely on external clues, like earthquakes and gas emissions. But a University of Washington simulation has managed to demonstrate what’s happening deep inside the volcano.
Sunburst Sensors, based out of Missoula, MT, grabbed the two top spots in the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE, receiving a $1.5 million award for advancing scientist’s ability to measure ocean chemistry as it relates to ocean acidification. Designed as a competition to spur innovation, teams from around the globe competed to develop the most promising technologies in two categories: a device that is easy to use and cost effective and a device that is highly accurate when tracking ocean acidification.
Though the waters of Puget Sound are full of beneficial algae, which provide oxygen, food, and shelter for other creatures, it’s the nasty ones that usually make the news, when they "bloom" into toxic pools, harming fish and humans. Now, researchers working with Washington Sea Grant have started to narrow in on harmful algae’s behaviors, and are developing some slick techniques that they hope will lead to much more effective detection and monitoring.
Each week we share the latest peer-reviewed publications coming from the College of the Environment. Over the past week, fifteen new articles co-authored by members of the College of the Environment were added to the Web of Science database, including articles about stock assessment models, marina development in Seattle, emergency response to marine disease, and more. Read on!
Atmospheric Sciences’ Tom Ackerman and Rob Wood recently contributed to a proposal that would test the effectiveness of spraying sea-salt particles into marine clouds in order to make them brighter. According to The Economist, cloud physicist John Latham hypothesized that brighter clouds could cool the Earth enough to compensate for increased warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions in 1990. Several decades later and with the help of the two UW scientists, field tests on the subject could come to fruition.
Seawater and electronics don’t typically make a good mix. But those were the two key ingredients for a University of Washington undergraduate course that had students build their own Internet-connected oceanographic sensors. The students were getting their feet wet, literally, in a new type of oceanography that uses remote instruments to collect real-time data. During the final class May 31, seven instruments were lowered off the UW’s oceanography dock, immersed in saltwater for the first time, and successfully sent their readings back to laptops on shore.
The College of the Environment Dean’s Office is pleased to announce our 2014-2015 scholarship and fellowship awardees. Graduate and undergraduate students alike compete for multiple funds available and are able to apply them towards tuition and costs in the coming academic year. The Dean’s Office offers numerous scholarship and fellowship opportunities to match the diverse needs of our students and this year over $90,000 was awarded to a total of 23 students.