PMEL in the News
A big plus for this winter: A plentiful snowpack
Think of the snowpack as a giant reservoir. And this year, it's filled to the brim. "We haven't had a winter like this for a while," said Nick Bond, the state climatologist. Bond said the benefits of a healthy snowpack are many: more water for farmers in Eastern Washington, more hydro power for everyone, colder water for trout and salmon and possibility less of a chance of wildfires.
Snow lengthens school year, but it was a typical winter
There is a joke among parents that their kids will still be going to school in July. After tagging on two make-up snow days to the end of the school year, students in Edmonds won’t be released for summer break until June 27. Many are crossing their fingers that spring is on the way.
Scientists just measured a rapid growth in acidity in the Arctic ocean, linked to climate change
The Arctic is suffering so many consequences related to climate change, it’s hard to know where to begin anymore. It’s warming more rapidly than almost any other part of the planet; its glaciers are melting and its sea ice is retreating; and its most iconic wildlife, including polar bears and walruses, are suffering.
International research team reports ocean acidification spreading rapidly in Arctic Ocean in area and depth
Ocean acidification (OA) is spreading rapidly in the western Arctic Ocean in both area and depth, according to new interdisciplinary research reported in Nature Climate Change by a team of international collaborators, including University of Delaware professor Wei-Jun Cai.
Too Hot to Handle: 7 Sizzling Places on Planet Earth
Voodoo may not be the hottest place, but it's a bustling paradise for countless marine creatures. "Imagine a vast deep-sea desert, where there is not enough food or energy to survive. It's cold and inhospitable," said David Butterfield, a principal research scientist of oceanography at the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, a collaboration between the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "In the middle of that desert, there are these amazing oases of life."