ESS Course Webpages

• Tiny Meteorites and Computer Models Suggest CO2 Blanketed Early Earth | GeekWire
  Today, rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a cause for concern, but 2.7 billion years ago, high levels of CO2 probably kept our planet warm enough for life even though the ... - Read More

• Early 'soda Lakes' May Have Provided Missing Ingredient Key to the Origin of Life | Space
  The first life-forms on Earth needed a pu pu platter of ingredients to exist, but one of those ingredients, the mineral phosphorus, has long puzzled scientists. No one knew how ... - Read More

• By the Numbers: UW in the Media in 2019
  

   

  In 2019, the University of Washington was mentioned in 4,143 news articles around the world. Among those, UW experts were quoted 2,290 times: 1,185 in national or ... - Read More

• Opinion: Investing in Soil Health is an Investment in the Future | The Spokesman-Review
  "We've been treating soil like dirt for too long. Dirt needs to be fed in order to produce. Healthy soil contains tens of thousands of microbes pulling carbon out of the ... - Read More

• Early 'soda Lakes' May Have Provided Missing Ingredient Key to the Origin of Life | Live Science
  The first life-forms on Earth needed a pu pu platter of ingredients to exist, but one of those ingredients, the mineral phosphorus, has long puzzled scientists. No one knew how ... - Read More

• Earthquake: Disaster Foretold in the Pacific Northwest | KING 5
  This KING 5 special report covers the "the Big One," the massive earthquake and tsunami that is expected to occur along the Cascadia subduction zone. Bob Freitag, director of the ... - Read More

• Here's What Seismologists Are Saying About the Flurry of Northwest Earthquakes | Bellingham Herald
  Five moderate to strong earthquakes Monday at the northern end of the Cascadia Subduction Zone fault don't have seismologists too worried. Paul Bodin, UW research professor of ... - Read More

• Scientists Lay out Scenario for Life to Emerge from Carbonate-rich Lakes | GeekWire
  Where did life on Earth get its start? In a newly published study, researchers from the University of Washington argue that carbonate-rich lakes would have been the best place for ... - Read More

• Life Could Have Emerged from Lakes with High Phosphorus
  

  Life as we know it requires phosphorus. It’s one of the six main chemical elements of life, it forms the backbone of DNA and RNA molecules, acts as the main currency for ... - Read More

• Using Ice to Track How Nature Has Removed Greenhouse Gases from the Atmosphere in the Past | KNKX
  Researchers are using ice to track the history of the atmosphere. Peter Neff, a postdoctoral researcher in Earth and space sciences at the UW, is - Read More

• Watch: How 800,000-year-old Ice Sounds when Dropped in Antarctic Glacier | KOMO
  While studying how the Earth's air cleans itself, one UW researcher made a viral discovery: the sound a piece of ice makes when dropped down a 90-meter-deep Antarctic glacier ... - Read More

• Analysis: Where Does Beach Sand Come From? | The Conversation
  "There's more to beach sand than meets the eye. It has stories to tell about the land, and an epic journey to the sea. That's because mountains end their lives as sand on ... - Read More

• New Landslide Research from UW | KOMO 4
  New research from the UW is tracking the underlying causes to large landslides. Sean LaHusen, a graduate student in Earth and space sciences at the UW, is - Read More

• Barrels of Ancient Antarctic Air Aim to Track History of Rare Gas
  

   

  Ancient air samples from one of Antarctica’s snowiest ice core sites may add a new molecule to the record of changes to Earth’s atmosphere over the ... - Read More

• Hercules Dome, Antarctica: UW Glaciologists Begin Radar Work in Anticipation of the Next Deep-ice Drilling Project
  UW glaciology project jointly led by Knut Christianson and Eric Steig to obtain ice from the last time it was warm in Antarctica, 125,000 years - Read More

• A Dirty Truth: Humans Began Accelerating Soil Erosion 4,000 Years Ago | Eos
  Recent research combining analysis of carbon dating, sediment accumulation rates and pollen records from 632 lake beds worldwide finds deforestation is tied to increased soil ... - Read More

• New Kind of Alien 'mineral' Created on Earth | National Geographic
  The discovery is helping researchers understand what might linger on the bizarre surface of Saturn's moon Titan. Baptiste Journaux, research associate in Earth and space sciences ... - Read More

• Six UW Faculty Members Named AAAS Fellows Including ESS Prof. Eric Steig
  

  The American Association for the Advancement of Science has named six faculty members from the University of Washington as AAAS Fellows, including ESS Professor Eric Steig, ... - Read More

• Drones Reveal Earthquake Hazards Hidden in the Abyss | Science
  Drones can now help scientists track movement of underwater subduction zones. Harold Tobin, professor of Earth and space sciences at the UW, is - Read More

• Beneath the Ice | Scientific American
  To predict how much climate change will raise sea level, researchers are studying ice shelves, where vast expanses of ice meet the ocean. Eric Steig, professor of Earth and space ... - Read More

• PNSN Records SounderFC Soccer Shakes
  Besides a blog post on the pnsn.com web site several news media picked up our efforts to record the shaking due to SounderFC fans at the MLS Cup finals on Nov. 10, 2019 in ... - Read More

• Experts Agree More Tools Are Needed to Monitor Local Volcanoes | Skagit Valley Herald
  Mount Baker, in plain sight as a white-capped dome on days when the sky is clear, and Glacier Peak, a somewhat camouflaged mountain in a sea of jagged ridges, are volcanoes that ... - Read More

• Seismologists Record 'soccer Shake' During Sounders' MLS Championship Game | KING 5
  The MLS championship game at Century Link Field gave a special opportunity for researchers from the University of Washington-based Pacific Northwest Seismic Network to see if the ... - Read More

• Latest Science Shows How the 'biggest One' Will Unfold in the Northwest | KING 5
  We often think of earthquakes originating from one single spot, spreading out like a bulls-eye. But the Cascadia subduction zone would be more like ripping a sheet. Erin Wirth, a ... - Read More

• Cargo Spaceship Lifts off with Satellite Made by Students in Seattle | GeekWire
  Northrop Grumman launched a robotic Cygnus cargo capsule to the International Space Station on Saturday, marking one giant leap for a small satellite built by students at the ... - Read More

• 'HuskySat-1' Docks with International Space Station | KIRO 7
  Over the weekend the first Washington student-built satellite launched into space, destined for the International Space Station. - Read More

• Washington Students to Make Satellite History with HuskySat-1 | KOMO 4
  Students are often told words of encouragement, such as "the sky is the limit." These University of Washington students opted to shoot for the stars - Read More

• Phenomenally Powerful Superbolts Follow Unusual Patterns | Geographical Magazine
  An analysis of nine year's worth of lightning data, covering two billion strikes has led to some unusual discoveries about the phenomenally powerful "superbolt." Robert Holzworth, ... - Read More

• Washington's First Student-built Satellite Preparing for Launch
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• Rediscovery of Old Sediment from Beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet
  Rare samples of ice & sediment from beneath the Greenland ice sheet, recently rediscovered after nearly 30 years in freezers in Copenhagen, are the subject of a new study ... - Read More

• Can Regenerative Agriculture Reverse Climate Change? Big Food is Banking on It | NBC News
  Regenerative agriculture works to draw carbon out of the atmosphere and into the soil, but there's an ongoing debate on how much carbon can be stored there and for how long. David ... - Read More

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