News & Blog
A 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 moreBecky Alexander, PCC Director, giving the Future Horizons in Climate Science lecture at AGU next week
Becky Alexander, professor of atmospheric sciences, and director of the UW Program on Climate Change, was awarded the AGU Future Horizons in Climate Science-Turco Lectureship for 2023. Her lecture, “The role of short-lived climate forcing agents in past and future climate change” is scheduled for next Wed (Dec. 13, 2023) at the AGU’s fall meeting. Get there early to get a seat!
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.
Read moreCan ecological forestry improve public health outcomes? The Graubard Fellowship supports a case study in the Central Sierra
by Claire Schollaert As wildfires become more frequent and severe due to climate change and postcolonial fire management practices, there is growing consensus among the forest management community that prescribed burning should be used on the landscape to reduce excess fuels and mitigate extreme wildfire risk. Despite the benefits of prescribed burning to forest restoration goals, these managed fires still produce smoke, which may impact the health of surrounding communities.
Read moreCoastal states get a report card grade and recommendations based on their current coastal policies, in hopes of creating stronger coastal resilience in the face of climate change.
Written by: Andrea Richter-Sanchez M.M.A 2023 UW School of Marine and Environmental Affairs Andrea worked with the Surfrider Foundation to assess 31 coastal states’ climate and coastal policies in order to produce the 2022 State of the Beach Report– a report that encourages policy makers to follow Surfrider’s recommendations and to empower citizens to work with policy makers to ensure their local communities are effectively planning in the face of climate change.
Read moreTips from the Undergrad Cohort: How to Find Climate Science Research
UW is known for its wide array of research experiences. Yet, as an undergraduate, actually finding and securing these opportunities can be difficult, especially if you don’t already have contacts, past experience, or advanced knowledge of where to look. To address this issue, the PCC Undergraduate Cohort (UCo) annually endeavors to make tips and resources more available, through a seminar/panel titled “How to Get Involved in Climate Science Research as an Undergraduate.” The information session, held on 11/7, featured details on research at UW, how to find it, and even advice from current undergrads engaged in research, and intended to provide everything you need to know about undergraduate climate science research.
Read moreIndustrial-era decline in Arctic methanesulfonic acid is offset by increased biogenic sulfate aerosol
A new Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper authored by Ursula Jongebloed, graduate student in UW Atmospheric Sciences, Becky Alexander, PCC Director and UW Professor in Atmospheric Sciences, and colleagues challenges previous work suggesting that North Atlantic primary productivity is declining. Because certain phytoplankton emit dimethyl sulfide (DMS) which reacts in the air to form methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and sulfate, MSA has been used as a proxy for phytoplankton primary productivity in the past.
Read moreThe Undergraduate Cohort: Back and Bigger Than Ever
As we enter the Program on Climate Change Undergraduate Cohort‘s (UCo) third official year, it is amazing to reflect on how far we have come. What began simply as an interest survey has now blossomed into a Cohort of students dedicated to sharing, learning, and developing together into a new, informed generation of climate scientists at the University of Washington. That newfound connection was underscored at the UCo’s kickoff meeting, on 9/26, which drew over 40 attendees from across the college and university.
Read moreFrom Knowledge to Power: The PCC Could Lead Climate Action - Here's Why it Must
By Brett Anton In the last few weeks of my UW education, I was struck by something one of my professors left me with. “If this is how scared the scientists are…” he said, and then just trailed off. It was not a joyful sentence to finish, but the professor, a member of the ESS department here at UW, had a point.
Read moreCommunity-engaged climate adaptation: partnering with Search and Rescue in Northwest Iñupiaq Alaska
by Charlie Hahn (Anthropology), Chase Puentes (Geography) and Ellen Koukel (Atmospheric Sciences) As part of their graduate research, Charlie, Chase, and Ellen worked collaboratively with a volunteer search and rescue group from the Iñupiaq village of Kivalina, Alaska. Their projects aim to build on the latest in climate science to produce knowledge relevant to both the academy and the community. This past winter, PCC Climate Solutions* funding allowed the students to travel to Kivalina to discuss with their collaborators proposals for better applying their research to community climate adaptation needs.
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