CoEnv Currents

Oceanography’s billion-dollar baby

jjmeyer — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 22:56:52 +0000

On a sunny day in July, it takes 90 minutes for the R/V Thomas G. Thompson to traverse the locks connecting Seattle’s inland waters to Puget Sound. On deck, John Delaney looks impatiently out to sea. As an oceanographer at the University of Washington in Seattle, he has made this trip many times to explore

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Why do we keep hearing global fisheries are collapsing?

jjmeyer — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 22:54:33 +0000

Some marine scientists say many of the world’s fish stocks are nearing collapse, but the data suggest otherwise. So why is the media still reporting that we’re on the verge of a fisheries collapse? Read more, including an essay by aquatic and fishery sciences professor Ray Hilborn, on Mother Nature Network.

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Dogs help scientists spy salamanders

Jen Davison — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 22:54:15 +0000

High in the mountains of northern New Mexico, the UW Center for Conservation Biology’s dogs have found a new poo to track: that of the endangered Jemez Mountain salamander. Learn about how these dogs do it, and why, in this story by the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Scientists work to clarify the Cascadia Subduction Zone

Jen Davison — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 22:41:35 +0000

The Cascadia Subduction Zone runs from Cape Mendocino, Calif., to Vancouver Island, B.C. It is the place where the rocky plate underneath the Pacific Ocean pushes under North America, and the last time it moved (in 1700) it triggered a 9.0 earthquake and a massive tsunami. OCEAN and ESS professor Paul Johnson is one of

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Wind and rain belts will shift north as planet warms

Jen Davison — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 22:32:05 +0000

With climate change, a northward shift of Earth’s wind and rain belts could make a broad swath of regions drier, including the Middle East, American West and Amazonia, while making Monsoon Asia and equatorial Africa wetter. This is based on new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is supported by

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UW intern with Climate Change Youth Initiative learns importance of outreach

Jen Davison — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 22:52:13 +0000

What did you do this summer? This intern in the Climate Change Youth Initiative got to spend her summer studying salmon in the Sitka National Historic Park, and talking to the public about climate change. Watch as she shares her summer experiences.

UW engineers get grant to make cookstoves 10 times cleaner for developing world

jjmeyer — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 20:44:04 +0000

Nearly 500 million households – roughly 3 billion people, or 42 percent of the world’s population – rely on burning materials such as wood, animal dung or coal in stoves for cooking and heating their homes. Often these stoves are crudely designed, and poor ventilation and damp wood can create a smoky, hazardous indoor environment

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In Washington state, the spirit of the Elwha River flows again

jjmeyer — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 20:38:42 +0000

It was green everywhere. Low on the forest floor, on stones and on rotting old logs just outside my car window, the moss was vibrant green — a soft, velvety refuge. The slim licorice ferns were a paler green, as the rain pelted down on them. Eighty feet above the ground, so high they seemed

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Doris Duke Charitable Foundation announces new grants to support conservation research experiences for undergraduate students

jjmeyer — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 18:05:58 +0000

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation today announced $4.5 million in grants to launch the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program at universities across the country.

The University of Washington, Northern Arizona University and University of Florida will each receive $1.5 million to provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to participate in mentored research activities in conservation

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groundfish abundance, hydrothermal vents, climate feedbacks & more–this week’s CoEnv published research

Jen Davison — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 22:37:31 +0000

Each week we share the latest publications coming from the College of the Environment. Over the holiday weeks, six new articles co-authored by members of the College of the Environment were added to the Web of Science or published online.

1. Title: Evolution of the Population of Precipitating Convective Systems over the Equatorial Indian Ocean

Continue reading groundfish abundance, hydrothermal vents, climate feedbacks & more–this week’s CoEnv published research

Mantas, devil rays butchered for apothecary trade now identifiable

jjmeyer — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 22:27:01 +0000

Since dried filters from the mouths of filter-feeding rays hit apothecary shop menus in Asia – the thought being that eating ground-up filters will cleanse one’s liver – there’s been no way to know which of these gentle-natured rays was being slaughtered. Unlike predatory rays that attack and crush prey with their mouths, the filter-feeder

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What It Takes — How to green the Ivory Towers of higher education

jjmeyer — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 18:24:58 +0000

Over the past 10 months, the Huffington Post has offered a variety of views on the role of higher education in global sustainability efforts.

Focusing on the University of Washington (UW), the series “Students of Sustainability: How Higher Education Can Teach the World To Be More Planet-Minded” was launched with a piece from Michael Young,

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Cables, instruments installed in the deep sea off Pacific Northwest coast

jjmeyer — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 21:49:57 +0000

After almost seven weeks at sea, University of Washington scientists and engineers have installed pieces for a historic observatory. Sitting on the ocean floor are 14 miles of cable connected to sensors, seismometers and a high-definition video camera, poised to send status updates from the deep ocean. Read more in UW Today.

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Stronger winds explain puzzling growth of sea ice in Antarctica

jjmeyer — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 21:48:04 +0000

Much attention is paid to melting sea ice in the Arctic. But less clear is the situation on the other side of the planet. Despite warmer air and oceans, there’s more sea ice in Antarctica now than in the 1970s – a fact often pounced on by global warming skeptics. The latest numbers suggest the

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Andre Punt discusses ocean acidificaiton’s effect on marine resources

jjmeyer — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 19:45:05 +0000

Watch Andre Punt–professor and director of fishery and aquatic science–and others discuss ocean acidification and its effect on natural resources on the PBS Newshour.

Stanley Asah appointed to federal advisory council

jjmeyer — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 19:39:04 +0000

Assistant Professor Stanley Asah–Environmental and Forest Sciences–was recently appointed to the Advisory Council to the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking. Read more about the Advisory Council and its members on the White House and Fish and Wildlife Service webpages. Congratulations, Dr. Asah!

New Zealand takes root in Seattle

jjmeyer — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 22:28:39 +0000

The New Zealand Forest exhibit opened Sunday at the Washington Park Arboretum. Read more about this new exhibit in the Seattle Times.

Ocean species relocate in response to climate change, study finds

jjmeyer — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 19:46:27 +0000

As climate change heats our oceans, you’d expect temperature-sensitive marine species to flee poleward to cooler waters. So why have some headed to warmer regions toward the equator? Read more about this phenomenon in today’s LA Times.

Sea Change – the Pacific’s perilous turn

jjmeyer — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 17:54:03 +0000

Ocean acidification, the lesser-known twin of climate change, threatens to scramble marine life on a scale almost too big to fathom. Read more about this issue in this multi-part story in the Seattle Times.

Restoration effects on armorized shorelines, and more in this week’s CoEnv published research

Jen Davison — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:05:41 +0000

Each week we share the latest publications coming from the College of the Environment. Over the holiday weeks, five new articles co-authored by members of the College of the Environment were added to the Web of Science or published online.

1. Title: The Effect of Host Star Spectral Energy Distribution and Ice-Albedo Feedback on the

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