News & Blog
Between snow storms PCC gathers to welcome and congratulate
On 6 February 2019, nestled in time between two major snow events (#SnowMageddon2019) was the PCC Winter Welcome (#PCCWinterWelcome). The event attracted a cozy crowd who gathered to reconnect around food and drink with friends and colleagues from across campus. This event is an opportunity to introduce and welcome the first year graduate students who received PCC fellowships, postdocs working on climate from across campus, GCeCS awardees and new PCC board members.
Read moreAnn Bostrom elected to Board of Directors for the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Ann Bostrom, Weyerhaeuser Endowed Professor in Environmental Policy, was elected to the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The AAAS seeks to "advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people." Congratulations, Ann!
Learn more about the AAAS 2018 elections80% Ice Covered, Greenland is 100% Worth the Visit
Stepping on the tarmac of Greenland’s lone international airport in Kangerlussuaq, it’s difficult to anticipate what awaits in this remote, cold, and isolated place. Yet, this territory covered in over 1,700,000 square km of ice and a population of just under 60,000 is filled to the brim with stories and excitement. Even more amazing than the sights were the professors and students who accompanied me on the UW Greenland Exploration Seminar, providing a diverse array of perspectives that allowed me to understand such a foreign place.
Read moreCongratulations to Rebecca Neumann, AGU Award Recipient
Rebecca Neumann, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering is the American Geophysical Union’s 2018 recipient of the Charles S. Falkenberg Award given in “recognition of an early- to middle-career scientist who has contributed to the quality of life, economic opportunities and stewardship of the planet through the use of Earth science information and to the public awareness of the importance of understanding our planet.” Neumann has been an active PCC board member, she is currently on sabbatical.
Read more at UW Civil and Environmental EngineeringPlant response to elevated carbon dioxide amplifies warming
A new study published by Marlies Kovenock, a graduate student in the Department of Biology and member of the PCC, demonstrates how the response of plants to climate change could result in more warming. Plants have been observed to change the thickness of their leaves when subject to increased CO2. Yet, the consequence of this physiological response is still poorly understood. Does this response amplify or dampen the warming caused by the increased CO2? Kovenock suggests that the thicker leaves may amplify the effects of climate change because the leaves would be less efficient in sequestering atmospheric carbon. By not accounting for this response, it means that global temperatures could rise by an extra 0.3 to 1.4 degrees Celsius.
Read More at UW NewsPCC members part of massive international project to monitor Thwaites Glacier
Knut Christianson, an assistant professor of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, and Nick Holschuh, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, are helping to lead a massive international collaboration to better understand the fate of Thwaites Glacier, nicknamed the "world's most dangerous glacier". Their work is just one of eight projects involving over 100 scientists. The project aims to collect better data that will eventually be fed into computer models to forecast the future of Earth’s climate. The data that Christianson and Holschuh will collect will be from scans using two different radars to map the individual layers of snow, ice, and bedrock. Predictions of the near-term fate of Thwaites Glacier depend critically on a more detailed picture of the bed topography where the glacier resides.
Read More at UW NewsPCC members help connect the dots on climate change through an influential and lasting GCeCS capstone
Studying climate change is not always about the science. The science, however, does lay the foundation for adapting to and mitigating climate change. An example of this relationship was shown no better than in a recent presentation given by a few PCC members. Judy Twedt, Michelle Tigchelaar, Miriam Caukins, Alex Lenferna, and Kate Griffith, all members of the climate caucus within the Union of Academic Student Employees at the University of Washington, talked about climate change in a worker-centric environment that sought to move beyond polarization and stereotyping to have honest dialogue. The idea was originally started by Twedt, who proposed developing a short presentation for the climate caucus on climate change and how it will impact residents of Washington state for her Graduate Certificate in Climate Science (GCeCS). After the initial presentation with the climate caucus, other unions requested similar talks for their membership and staff meetings. The talks have since blossomed into a speakers bureau, picking up members from all over the university.
Read More at UAWCompelling animations accompanying a piece in the NYT by Cecilia Bitz, Director of the PCC, show "Hot Times in the Arctic"
Cecilia Bitz, Director of the Program on Climate Change (PCC) and Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, contributed her perspective on the recent warming in the Arctic in an opinion piece in The New York Times. Her piece sheds some light on weather the recent warming event is connected to climate change or anomalous weather. Accompanying the opinion piece, are two separate animations of surface temperature change over the last 30-years and last few months.
Read moreIce-sheets in the Northern Hemisphere drove climate variability in the Southern Hemisphere
A new study by PCC community members, Eric Steig and Brad Markle, is out in Nature. The team, led by researchers at University of Colorado, Boulder, demonstrated that climate variability in the Southern Hemisphere was forced by ice-sheet topography in the Northern Hemisphere. By using a fully-coupled climate model, the team determined the reason for the observed change in the ice core. They demonstrate that the retreat of the Laurentide–Cordilleran ice-sheets fundamentally altered the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere by reducing the strength of interactions between the tropical Pacific and high southern latitudes. Their results show that interannual and decadal variability in West Antarctica was reduced by nearly half during this retreat.
Read More in NatureLuAnne Thompson on climate science and travel
LuAnne Thompson, a Professor of the School of Oceanography and previous Director of the Program on Climate Change (PCC), recently spoke to KUOW about the struggle to reconcile the convenience of flying while being a climate scientist. Many climate scientists travel constantly throughout the year for conferences and advisory meetings causing individual greenhouse gas emission levels to soar. However, Thompson believes we have to acknowledge that, "even with really good web technology, it’s not going to be as good as a face to face meeting and that’s maybe a compromise we need to make.”
Read More at KUOW