News & Blog
Paleoclimate Constraints on Future Climate: A Graduate Student Reflection on the 2025 PCC Summer Institute
by Sophia Ludtke, Graduate Student, University of Washington Earth and Space Sciences Has paleoclimate genuinely changed our understanding of modern day climate? With an animated pre-Summer Institute paper discussion this past August, my PhD journey at UW began. Starting graduate school with an immersion in current thinking on paleoclimate via three days spent at Friday Harbor Laboratories attending the Summer Institute felt fitting.
Read moreFinding My Research Focus: From Broad Curiosity to Methane Science
I started at the University of Washington in Fall 2024 with a broad interest in atmospheric sciences and a desire to understand how human and natural systems interacted to shape the Earth’s climate. As an undergraduate, I was drawn to questions that connected physical processes in the atmosphere to the real-world climate impacts, but I also recognized that my interests were still evolving.
Read moreGraubard Fellowship Supports Reconstructing Past Arctic Sea-Ice Coverage
The Arctic region is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet. Consequently, sea-ice coverage has reduced rapidly, with the summer minimum September sea-ice declining by about 40% since 1979. Sea-ice loss threatens the food security and infrastructure of coastal communities, drives unresolved changes in biological productivity, and promotes further global warming through ice-albedo feedback. However, model projections of the timescale of Arctic sea-ice decline and the resulting changes to the Arctic ecosystem vary widely.
Read morePCC Graduate Students Present at the COE Symposium
The UW College of the Environment Symposium gave the opportunity to showcase current research from students and faculty. The Program on Climate Change featured six presenters funded by PCC philanthropic initiatives, including Climate Science Research Acceleration Fund projects awarded to T.J. Fudge, Alison Gray, and Mira Berdahl, and Graubard Fellowships awarded to John Morgan Manous, Christina Bjarvin, and Tongxin (Joyce) Cai.
Read moreConnecting two Ice Sheets: Glacier and Snow Seasonality in Greenland and Antarctica
As we continue to expand our understanding of climate change, it is crucial to study its effects on both short- and long-term time scales. Seasonality is the study of sub-annual patterns in data that are significant to long-term data trends. Here, I present my main PhD work on the seasonality of outlet glaciers in Greenland and a side project on the seasonality of firn, which led me to do fieldwork in Antarctica!
Read moreGraubard Fellowship supports high resolution mapping of Sea Surface Temperature anomalies
by Naomi Wharton The ocean can store approximately 1000 times more heat than the atmosphere. As a result, where and when energy is released from the ocean to the atmosphere can have significant consequences for weather and climate patterns. Sea surface temperature (SST) is a key indicator of air-sea processes that transfer energy between the ocean and atmosphere across many spatial and temporal scales.
Read moreRoles of Uncultured Microbes in the Nitrogen Cycle of Oxygen Deficient Zones
by Jordan Winter, UW Oceanography Graduate Student Oxygen deficient zones (ODZs) are areas of the ocean with sluggish circulation that result in anoxic water columns hundreds of meters thick. These regions harbor many unique microbes and are expanding in depth and extent due to climate change. A common energy strategy for ODZ microbes is denitrification, which is the multi-step process of reducing nitrate to nitrogen gas.
Read moreAccelerating Progress in Climate Science: Research and Graduate Student Funding leverage the framework built by the Program on Climate Change
The Program on Climate Change maintains a unique framework of intense cross-disciplinary collaboration that advances research and education in climate science, building knowledge, actions and solutions to address the climate crisis. New gift funds established by generous donors are providing new professors, post-doctoral scholars, and students the opportunity to leverage the PCC framework to pursue their ideas, making new connections among the UW climate community.
Read moreA Shifting Snowpack Links Climate Change with Wildlife Habitat Selection in the Northeast Cascades
by Ben Sullender, UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, PCC Graubard Graduate Fellow Climate change is rapidly reshaping what winter looks like in the Pacific Northwest. In maritime climates like western Washington, much of the seasonal snowpack accumulates in temperatures near freezing, so even a slight increase in temperature could switch winter precipitation from snow to rain. Colder, higher elevations, on the other hand, might maintain or even gain more snow as we get more precipitation in the winter.
Read moreForecasting the spatial extent of marine heatwaves
by Jacob Cohen, UW Oceanography, Recipient of a PCC Graubard Graduate Fellowship The ocean has absorbed 90% of recent warming associated with anthropogenic climate change; as a result, extreme ocean heat events, known as marine heatwaves (MHWs), are becoming more frequent and more intense. These extreme events can have detrimental impacts on marine ecosystems as well as coastal industries. Accurate MHW forecasts will allow local decision makers and industries to respond to and plan for these events.
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