Alan Thorndike died on Jan 8, 2018 from an aggressive pneumonia. He was 72 years old. For those of you who don’t know, Alan was one of the original AIDJEX gang and founding PIs of PSC. Working with Drew Rothrock, he developed the concept of the thickness distribution that is at the heart of most sea ice models.
read more »
The Verge, a news website for the mainstream, interviewed PSC’s Ignatius Rigor and other researchers to find out how vanishing sea ice in the Arctic impacts the general public.
read more »
PSC’s Ian Joughin and Stefanie Mack, along with Ben Hills, attended the workshop, Rising Coastal Seas on a Warming Earth, at New York University Abu Dhabi Institute to devise ways to understanding how ice sheets and oceans interact at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. UAE’s news source The National reported on the workshop and spoke with a few of the attendees, including Ben.
read more »
UW Today talks to Cecilia Peralta Ferriz about her experiences in Norway, as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, before she returns to Seattle at the end of May.
read more »
Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is a widely used tool for measuring ice sheet velocity in the Polar Regions. However, the ionosphere is a prevalent source of noise in these data. Ian Joughin is a co-author of a study, published in the May 2018 issue of Remote Sensing Environment, where a split-spectrum technique was utilized, and its performance analyzed, for correcting ionospheric effects in InSAR-based ice velocity measurements in Greenland and Antarctica. Read on to learn if the technique effectively reduced noise level…
read more »
Axel Schweiger, Jinlun Zhang, and Mike Steele are co-authors on an article that earned the Editor’s Highlight for AGU’s recent Geophysical Research Letters. Read on to learn why the article, Collapse of the 2017 Winter Beaufort High: A Response to Thinning Sea Ice?, drew such attention…
read more »
Third Pod from the Sun, the American Geophysical Union’s podcast, kicks off the month of March with PSC’s Kristin Laidre.
read more »
The 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM), co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), and The Oceanography Society (TOS), will be held 11–16 February, in Portland, Oregon. Some of the members of PSC will join their colleagues from the University of Washington and other institutions to present and discuss their latest marine science research endeavors.
read more »
The Washington Post spreads the word about PSC’s Anthony Arendt’s current collaborative project, Community Snow Observations (CSO), a citizen snow-measuring program. Read more to learn how the public can participate and why measuring snow is part of the science.
read more »
Erica Escajeda and Kristin Laidre were part of an international team of researchers that studied polar bear maternity dens and compared current data with previously published data through the 1990s. Read the findings published in Polar Biology.
read more »
PSC members join their colleagues and peers at the AGU 2017 Fall Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.
read more »
NPR interviews PSC’s Kristin Laidre on the recent discovery of the narhwals’ unique reaction to stress and why its effects should be quantified.
read more »
National Geographic asks PSC’s Kristin Laidre about a new unaffiliated study of the escape response of East Greenland narwhals.
read more »
The Washington Post covered new research findings on narwhal physiology and asked PSC’s Kristin Laidre what it will mean for the species in a changing Arctic.
read more »
NASA’s Sea Level News provides more details on the agency teaming up with PSC’s Kristin Laidre to further the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) project in progress. Data gathered by tagged narwhals will expand our understanding of both narwhal behavior and melting glaciers. Click below to learn more about the research endeavor and how the partnership came about…
read more »
Matt Alkire leads the PSC team of authors that earned the Editor’s Highlight for AGU’s recent JGR: Oceans issue. Read on to learn why Matt’s article, A meteoric water budget for the Arctic Ocean, was singled out…
read more »
PSC’s Ignatius Rigor took part in buoy deployments near the North Pole, in early September, as part of the International Arctic Buoy Program (IABP) – a partnership of global participants maintaining a network of drifting buoys in the Arctic Ocean. Read the Navy News Service post to learn more about IABP and the joint mission…
read more »
Narwhals are intentionally a part of NASA’S project, Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG). PSC’s Kristin Laidre explains why the whales play a vital role in studying the ice in a recent story from The Washington Post/Bloomberg News and presented by their various news outlets.
read more »
Congratulations to Cecilia, who was chosen to participate in the U.S. Fulbright Scholar program. She will spend 9 months in Norway (from mid-August 2017 to mid-May 2018) doing oceanographic research at the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) in Tromsø, and at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) in Longyearbyen.
read more »
Rolling Stone reports on the changing state of Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica and how it could affect sea levels worldwide. The mainstream article quotes research previously published by PSC’s Ian Joughin, along with Ben Smith and alumnus Brooke Medley.
read more »
Science Daily reports on a study recently published in Geophysical Research Letters where satellite measurements assessed glacier flow in the Antarctic Peninsula. PSC’s Ian Joughin was part of an international team of researchers, led by the UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at the University of Leeds, and is one of the co-authors.
read more »
Satellite tags and video cameras are successfully tracking movement and recording images of humpback whales along the Antarctic Peninsula. National Geographic asks PSC’s Kristin Laidre about the arduous methods used to collect data on marine mammals in polar environments.
read more »
The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), publisher of the largest academic ranking of global universities, has released their global rankings of academic disciplines for 2017. Find out which UW programs made the list…
read more »
The publication Conservation Biology announced its awards for 2016 and PSC’s Kristin Laidre is the lead author of the paper that earned the second highest altmetric score, Arctic Marine Mammal Population Status, Sea Ice Habitat Loss, and Conservation Recommendations for the 21st Century.
Laidre led the collaborative effort which involved PSC colleagues Harry Stern and Eric Regehr (at present), along with other researchers from Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and other US institutions. Congratulations to Kristin and the team!
Matt Alkire, John Guthrie and Jamie Morison were part of an international team of researchers that studied the effects of the Atlantic Ocean on sea ice cover in the eastern Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean. Read the findings published in Science Magazine.
read more »
News station KING 5 interviews PSC’s Jamie Morison, as environmental policies change under the new administration resulting in strong, public response. Watch the clip of the PSC oceanographer discussing his own research observations, Arctic data available from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), and the need to continue polar research.
read more »
APL-UW has produced a video about Polar Science Weekend, an annual public outreach event centering around polar research. Watch APL-UW scientists, including veteran PSW participants PSC’s Ben Smith and Wendy Ermold, explain their research in ways that apply the principles of physics via hands-on activities to the community.
read more »
Polar bears are now a noticeable presence in the Arctic village of Kaktovik, Alaska. The New York Times provides in-depth coverage of their living situation and talks to Eric Regehr, among others, about the loss of habitat and sustenance and the hard adjustments to come for the species.
read more »
The UW Today reports on the open-access study recently published in the Journal of Applied Ecology by PSC’s Eric Regehr and a collaborative team, including Harry Stern. The team combined data collected on polar bear subpopulations with that of sea ice extent and identified ways to carry on subsistence harvesting with the least amount of negative impact already caused by habitat loss.
read more »
The Christian Science Monitor reports on research findings that a large portion of sea ice decline in the Arctic is caused by natural changes. The study was recently published in Nature Climate Change and CSM interviews some of the authors Qinghua Ding, Axel Schweiger and David Battisti.
read more »
UW Today talks with Qinghua Ding and Axel Schweiger about a new study published in Nature Climate Change of how natural variability affects sea ice loss in the Arctic. Ding, now a PSC affiliate, along with Schweiger and other colleagues from UW and NOAA used decades of data to examine the contribution of the atmospheric circulation to Arctic sea-ice variability.
read more »
PSC researchers Eric Regehr and Harry Stern contribute to a new polar bear study on the balance between conservation and subsistence needs. The British Ecological Society reports on the published findings.
read more »
Polar Science Weekend at Pacific Science Center, returns for the twelfth straight year March 3-5, 2017. The annual interactive exhibit offers the public a view into the many facets of polar research.
read more »
48° North covers the changing state of the Northwest Passage from a sailor’s point of view. The magazine also includes their brief conversation with PSC’s Harry Stern who provides some of the science behind the fluctuating Arctic sea ice.
read more »
The Pew Charitable Trust has awarded Kristin Laidre one of their fellowships for marine conservation. Her research will involve the effect of melting sea ice on polar bears and the indigenous communities that rely on them. Read more about it in UW Today. Congratulations, Kristin!
read more »
UW Today reports on the results of a study recently published in The Cryosphere, involving PSC’s Ben Smith, Alex Huth, and Ian Joughin who teamed up with the University of Edinburgh and, using satellite data, identified a considerable drainage of interconnected lakes below West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier.
read more »
The Alaska Dispatch News reports on the study published in Global Change Biology of beluga whale migration patterns influenced by changes of the annual Arctic freeze-up. PSC authors include Donna Hauser, Kristin Laidre, and Harry Stern. The article also makes a parallel comparison to a study of ice retreat, published in JGR Oceans, co-authored by PSC’s Rebecca Woodgate.
read more »
Are climate scientists able to talk about their research without politics today? The Seattle Times talks with PSC researchers Axel Schwieger, Mike Steele, and Harry Stern who try to inform the public of the science behind climate change.
read more »
The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently released their Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the polar bear. Required under the Endangered Species Act, the CMP outlines what must be done for a species to recover and avoid extinction. Kristin Laidre comments for the New York Times.
read more »
The University of Washington news produced a video with the Polar Science Center highlighting a six-year study of Beluga whale populations. Donna Hauser, Kristin Laidre, and Harry Stern participated from PSC.
read more »
Eurasia Review reports on the results of the lengthy study of beluga whale migration led by PSC and published in the journal Global Change Biology. The news post includes previous comments by some of the authors, Donna Hauser and Kate Stafford.
read more »
The news source International Business Times, out of the UK, reports on findings recently published in Global Change Biology of a decades-long research study involving Beluga whales. Donna Hauser, Kristin Laidre, Harry Stern and colleagues examined changes in autumn migration timing of Beluga whale populations since the 1990s.
read more »
Geographical reports on the findings of an extensive study of polar bear populations published in Biology Letters. Read the online article with remarks from one of PSC’s contributors to the study, Kristin Laidre.
read more »
Science Daily, the popular science news website, posts coverage of the recently published study of the annual migration of some beluga whales altered by sea ice changes in the Arctic. The study and findings were published in Global Change Biology, authored by Donna Hauser, Kristin Laidre, Harry Stern and Kate Stafford, among others.
read more »
Results of an Australian-led research cruise in 2014-15, was recently published in the journal Science Advances. Warm waters from deep in the Southern Ocean are melting the Totten Glacier through two undersea channels, from the bottom up. The online news source Mashable asks other experts in the field, including PSC’s Ian Joughin, to comment.
read more »
Nature has reported on the Global Land Ice Velocity Extraction project (GoLIVE), recently announced at the AGU Fall Meeting 2016. This NASA-funded project uses perpetual data from the Landsat 8 satellite to monitor glaciers and ice sheets. The news source asked PSC Glaciologist Ian Joughin for comment.
read more »
Harry Stern served as a respondent at the International Policy Institute (IPI) Arctic Fellows Research Symposium which took place on Friday, December 9 at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies on campus. The theme of the symposium was Arctic Indigenous Economies in Inuit Nunangat (Canada) and the Circumpolar World.
read more »
NOAA released its annual “Arctic Report Card” and Gizmodo presented research findings by Kristin Laidre, among others, to help readers interpret the “grade”.
read more »
Reuters Environment reports on a polar bear study led by Eric Regehr and its findings which were presented by co-author Kristin Laidre at a panel discussion during the America Geophysical Union’s 2016 Fall Meeting. Satellite data documenting sea-ice loss also forecasts declines in polar bear population. Reuters briefly talks to Regehr about the specifics of the global assessment.
read more »
Kristin Laidre participated in a panel discussion held at AGU’s 2016 Fall Meeting in San Francisco. She presented population projections for polar bears across the Arctic during the discourse of how satellites observe habitat change and help scientists forecast how species will respond.
read more »
PSC members join their colleagues and peers at the AGU 2016 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California.
read more »
The 13th annual Polar Science Weekend at Pacific Science Center on 2–4 March delighted more than 5700 visitors, as 130 volunteer scientists and students (including 30 from APL-UW) presented 20 hands-on activities — from: penguins to polar bears, sea ice to glaciers, wave tanks to seagliders — visitors learned the intricacies of polar science from the enthusiastic scientists who travel to the polar regions and conduct research there.
Polar Science Weekend is a partnership between Pacific Science Center and APL-UW. Stay tuned for PSW 2019!
read more »
PSC research analyzes the future of supraglacial lakes on the Greenland Ice Sheet and how they will, or will not, contribute to global sea level over the coming decades.
read more »
When doing research in the Arctic the elements are big challenge not just for the humans working there but also for the instruments used to collect data. Ignatius Rigor has set up a testing site outside of Barrow, Alaska to monitor an array of instruments and test their reliability and accuracy. Watch the video to learn more about the project.
read more »
This new data set is a concerted effort to collect as many observations of sea ice thickness as possible in one place with consistent formats and with clear and abundant documentation. It will allow the community to better utilize what is now a considerable body of observations from moorings, submarines, aircraft, and satellites.
read more »
The Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly time series is calculated using the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) developed at APL/PSC. Updates will be generated at approximately monthly intervals.
read more »
