David Battisti, Edward Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, Stephen Po-Chedley, and Ryan Eastman of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and Eric Steig of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences recently published a paper in Nature about the influence of high-latitude atmospheric circulation changes on summertime Arctic sea ice. The study found that a substantial amount of summer sea ice loss in recent decades was due to natural variability in the atmosphere over the Arctic Ocean.

UW Glaciologists, Alexander Huth and Ian Joughin,and Noel Gourmele of the University of Edinburgh used data from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 to study a sudden drainage of large pools below Thwaites Glacier. Thwaites Glacier is one of two fast-moving glaciers at the edge of the West Antarctic ice sheet. The recently published study in The Cryosphere shows four interconnected lakes that drained in eight months. The glacier sped up by about 10 percent during that time, showing that the glacier’s long-term movement is fairly oblivious to trickles at its underside.

“A study led by researchers at the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration connects the unprecedented West Coast toxic algal bloom of 2015 that closed fisheries from southern California to northern British Columbia to the unusually warm ocean conditions — nicknamed “the blob” — in winter and spring of that year.” – Hannah Hickey