2009

Whale-Song Recording Goes Deep
Nature News, 11/9/2009, Rex Dalton
Silently slipping to 1,000 metres below the ocean surface, an undersea glider equipped with a recording device is cruising off Hawaii to capture unprecedented detail on the sounds made by whales.


Changes in Arctic sea ice coverage from 1978 to 2008
Guardian Unlimited (London), 10/15/2009
The Guardian displays a time-lapse map of changes in Arctic sea ice coverage from 1978 to 2008, developed by Ignatius Rigor at the Applied Physics Lab.


Under the ice in the Arctic
ABC News.com, 10/14/2009
The ABC News Web site features a slide show of a training exercise in the Arctic involving a Navy Submarine. The UW's Applied Physics Laboratory provided support for the exercise.


Arctic sea ice rebounds some in 2009, but still low, new report says
The Oregonian, 10/7/2009, Scott Learn
Sea surface temperatures in the Arctic this season remained higher than normal, but slightly lower than the past two years, according to data from Oceanographer Mike Steele. The cooler conditions, which resulted largely from cloudy skies during late summer, slowed ice loss compared with the past two years.


Intellicheck Mobilisa gets $4.5M Navy contract
Puget Sound Business Journal, 10/1/2009
Intellicheck Mobilisa Inc. said it’s received a $4.48 million contract from the U.S. Navy for wireless security buoys developed in conjunction with the U.S. Dept. of Defense and the University of Washington Applied Physics Lab.


Former Cold War foes team up to probe warming seas
The New York Times (Reuters), 9/16/2009
Rebecca Woodgate had no time for idle chat as her oceanography team scurried on the deck of their research ship during a recent mission in the Bering Strait, a crucial region for studying the impact of global warming.


Chasing after the elusive narwhal
National Public Radio, 8/18/2009, Nell Greenfieldboyce
Thousands of narwhals spend their summers in the fjord Inglefield Bredning, and Kristin Laidre, an oceanographer at the University of Washington, has been coming here for the past eight years. Again and again, she's tried to catch a narwhal by setting up giant nets.


UW gets $1.9 million for ocean observation efforts
The Olympian, 8/14/2009
The University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory is getting $1.9 million from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration to support ocean observing efforts in the Pacific Northwest.


Churning ocean waters, one jellyfish at a time
Time, 8/5/2009, Adi Narayan
The mass movement of marine animals — even tiny zooplankton like krill — may play a significant role in churning the ocean. It may help mix cooler water with warm, and disperse salts, nutrients and pollutants across the various layers of the ocean, which is critical to the strength of ocean currents and the health of the marine ecosystems.


Arctic Ocean’s ice layer thins ‘dramatically,’ study concludes
Bloomberg News, 7/7/2009, Chris Dolmetsch
Scientists from NASA and the University of Washington in Seattle surveyed the ocean’s ice sheet from 2003 through 2008 using observations from the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, to make the first estimate of its thickness and volume


Thin ice the norm in warming arctic
The New York Times, 7/7/2009, Andrew C. Revkin
The thick durable sea ice that routinely cloaked much of the Arctic Ocean in colder decades in the 20th century is increasingly relegated to a few clotted places along northern Canada and Greenland, according to the latest satellite analysis of the warming region.


Post-Enron, Snohomish County utility cultivates own energy
The Daily News Online, 7/4/2009, Phuong Le, The Associated Press
This year, the utility received nearly $1 million from the federal government for a pilot project to install tidal turbines in Puget Sound and to test-drill for geothermal hot spots in the region.


Seaglider monitors climate-related ocean circulation in the Arctic
U.S. News & World Report, 6/10/2009
An intelligent, ocean-going glider has spent six months on a record-breaking deployment to sample the icy waters off western Greenland.


Nature's edge: Under arctic ice
ABC News.com, 5/21/2009
U.S. Navy submarines monitor environmental conditions and test equipment under the arctic ice cap in March during ICEX 2009.


Unique research voyage to set sail from Seattle
King 5 News, 5/20/2009, Glenn Farley
The UW's Applied Physics Laboratory is playing a major role in Ocean Watch, a research trip that will take a vessel from the Arctic to the Antarctic.


In search of the mysterious narwhal
Smithsonian Magazine, 5/1/2009, Abigail Tucker
Oceanographer Kristin Laidre is perhaps America's leading expert on narwhals, the shy and retiring cetaceans with the "unicorn horn"—actually a giant tooth—found only in the Greenlandic and Canadian Arctic.


UW Seaglider is milestone in climate change research
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 4/29/2009, Monica Guzman
Scientists are concerned that climate change might increase the amount of fresh water exiting the Arctic so much that it could change the density of the Labrador Sea, altering the circulation of the world's oceans. Data obtained by UW's Seagliders will help in showing just how quickly that could be happening.


Jones Soda goes off the grid for Earth Day
King 5 News, 4/22/2009, Jane McCarthy
With the help of experts at the Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington, Jones Soda is celebrating Earth Day by powering its Seattle headquarters with bicycle-generated energy only.


Tidal-energy project stays on course after UW's tests on Puget Sound
The Seattle Times, 4/15/2009, Michelle Ma
Researchers from the University of Washington spent four days last week on board a vessel collecting data, capturing underwater video and measuring velocity in Admiralty Inlet between Port Townsend and Whidbey Island. The channel likely will host one of the nation's largest tidal-energy projects.


UW's "Probcast" takes different tack on weather forecasting
Komo News (Seattle), 4/9/2009, Scott Sistek
Meteorologists over at the University of Washington are trying a slightly different approach to generating a forecast -- using what are called "ensemble" forecast models.


Aging satellites threaten climate research future
National Public Radio, Morning Edition, 3/6/2009, Jon Hamilton
Scientists say the United States will probably have to get along without some critical eyes in the sky at precisely the time it's making multibillion-dollar decisions about how to respond to climate change.

2008

Scientists step closer to saving the ice shelf
USA Today, 11/28/2008, Michelle Kessler
APL-UW Engineer Ian Joughin, with colleagues at Penn State, UC Berkley, UC Irvine, and the Scripps Institution arrived at a mathematic solution to help glaciologists better understand where and when a glacier will calve, or send a sheet of ice crashing into the sea. Their findings are reported in the 28 November issue of Science.


Lack of funding slows research, cleanup of Sound
KIRO 7 News (Seattle), 11/21/2008, Chris Egert
Jan Newton, who studies fish kills in Hood Canal, believes at the end of the day that the work they've done so far is only the tip of the iceberg, and the more research they can do, the more they can know about what is really going on.


Concerns emerge about environmental effects of wave-energy technology
The Seattle Times, 11/17/2008, Michelle Ma
Energy generated from the ocean's waves and tides might be the next source of "green" power in our region, but the technology demands more study. A new marine renewable-energy research center has been launched, giving the University of Washington the lead for tidal-power research.


The sober science of migrating rubber duckies
Wall Street Journal, 11/14/2008, Rorbert Lee Hotz
An armada of tub toys sets sail in new research discipline, 'Flotsam Science,' and helps unravel enduring planetary mysteries.


Time for sailors to answer the call
The Washington Post, 11/2/2008, Angus Phillips
On June 1, the steel, 64-foot sailboat Ocean Watch will depart Seattle on a 25,000-mile circumnavigation of the Americas via the frigid ends of the earth. The Pacific Science Center and the Applied Physics Laboratory are organizing and equipping onboard research projects that will bring in data on climate change, acidification and pollution.


Unique voyage around Americas
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10/28/2008, Robert McClure
The rip from Seattle aims to show the plight of the oceans. Collaborating on the project are the Pacific Science Center and the Applied Physics Laboratory. The trip is led by Stanwood, WA, resident and veteran sailor Mark Schrader, who has twice sailed around the world alone.


Arctic ice melting near record levels
Northwest Cable News, 9/17/2008, Glenn Farley
New pictures from NASA show the ice in the Arctic is melting at near record levels again. Many of the nation's top arctic scientists are very worried about what they're seeing.


North Pole ever closer to having no ice
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 9/16/2008, Lisa Stiffler
For Arctic expert Ignatius Rigor, this is one bet he'd rather lose. He figured he was safe in his wager with fellow polar gurus that the area of ice would have shrunk to a record low this summer, beating last year's astonishing disappearing act.


Robots explore the ocean's depths
MSNBC, 9/9/2008, Bryn Nelson
A half-century after satellites began providing unprecedented views of the world’s oceans, a new generation of robots darting beneath the waves has begun filling in the vast gaps in oceanographic knowledge that extend all the way down to the seafloor and beyond.


Low levels of Arctic sea ice signal global warming's advance
McClatchy Newspapers, 9/9/2008, Renee Schoof
Ignatius G. Rigor, a scientist who researches Arctic sea ice and the atmosphere at the Polar Science Center, said he still thinks there's a chance this year's minimum will hit a new low.


Tracking the narwhal
BBC, 9/8/2008
Kristin Laidre led a research team during summer 2008 to the Greenland coast. They are interested in climate change and how reduced ice and warmer waters affect Narwhals.


Shrinking Arctic Ocean sea ice signals climate change
The Christian Science Monitor, 9/4/2008, Peter N. Spotts
Global warming may have accelerated the irreversible loss of ice shelves that are thousands of years old, say scientists.


UW becomes member of University of the Arctic
University Week, 7/24/2008, Catherine O
Growing international interest in the Arctic led the UW in June to become a member of the University of the Arctic. Polar Science Center researchers Harry Stern and Kristin Laidre are charter participants.


What's the answer to Hood Canal's low-oxygen problem?
The Kitsap Sun, 7/14/2008, Christopher Dunagan
Oxygen levels in Hood Canal can be pushed into the danger zone by human activities, researchers now say with near certainty. But that doesn't mean the solutions are obvious.


Fun with robots!
KUOW Radio, Seattle, 7/3/2008, Steve Scher
The University of Washington unveils its latest underwater inventions, RoboFish and Seagliders, and makes strides in robotic technology. Find out the latest in robotics — both on land and under the sea — from the inventors themselves.


People helping to suffocate Hood Canal, scientists say
The Seattle Times, 7/1/2008, Warren Cornwall
People drawn to the beauty of Hood Canal are helping suffocate the very waters that brought them here. Septic systems leaking nitrogen from sewage into the southern end of the picturesque fjord are contributing to a chain reaction that kills fish and depletes the richness of underwater life.


Cold reality: Polar bears on threatened list
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 5/15/2008, Jane Kay, San Francisco Chronicle
The No. 1 threat to polar bear survival is the growing disappearance of sea ice -- triggered in large part by climate change -- but the Bush administration wouldn't use the act to limit emissions on industrial sources such as coal plants or otherwise regulate greenhouse gases.


Narwhals more at risk to Arctic warming than polar bears
USA Today, 4/25/2008, Seth Borenstein
The polar bear has become an icon of global warming vulnerability, but a new study found an Arctic mammal that may be even more at risk to climate change: the narwhal.


Chalk one up for coccolithophores: Single-celled algae successfully fight ocean acidification, UW scientists say
UW News and Information, 4/24/2008, Sandra Hines
Excess carbon dioxide absorbed into the ocean causes acidification, which not only changes the acidity but can change the chemical mix in the water such that corals and other organisms can't get enough calcium carbonate -- or chalk -- which they need to build and maintain shells or skeletons, according to Eric Rehm, a graduate research assistant with the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory and a co-author of a paper published in Science.


Good signs from Greenland's ice sheet
National Public Radio, 4/17/2008, Richard Harris
Scientists project that sea level is likely to rise a foot or two this century as a result of climate change. But there's one important asterisk here: How will the Greenland ice sheet respond to global warming? This week, scientists report a bit of reassuring news.


Skeptics on human climate impact seize on cold spell
The New York Times, 3/3/2008, Andrew C. Revkin
The world has seen some extraordinary winter conditions in both hemispheres over the past year. It is no wonder that some scientists, opinion writers, political operatives and other people who challenge warnings about dangerous human-caused global warming have jumped on this as a teachable moment.


Cruise information plays part in Sound solutions
UW News and Information, 2/14/2008, Sandra Hines
The most extensive sampling for zooplankton ever in Puget Sound and the first measurements for acidification of the Sound's waters -- something of concern because it's happening in the open ocean and could affect the skeletons and shells of creatures large and small here in the Sound -- were among the tasks last week on the UW's vessel Thomas G. Thompson.


UW climatologist says sea ice likely to continue shrinking
KOMO TV News, 2/12/2008, Scott Sistek
Ignatius Rigor, speaking at the Alaska Forum on the Environment, says Arctic sea ice next summer may shrink to an amount even smaller than last year's record-setting low area.


Narwhals help scientists track global warming
ABC Good Morning America, 2/5/2008
Narwhals thrive in ice-chocked Arctic waters. Kristin Laidre of the Applied Physics Laboratory has tagged narwhals with satellite transmitters that track the animals' movements and measure water temperatures in a region where rapid warming appears to be taking place.


Giant internal waves caught breaking
Discovery Channel News, 1/22/2008, Larry O
A 900-mile-long string of scientific instruments across a stretch of the open ocean has revealed the first evidence of giant internal waves partially "breaking" inside the oceans.


Scientists oppose move to restrict satellite data
Tacoma News Tribune, 1/15/2008, Les Blumenthal
A committee under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Geological Survey reviews civilian requests for classified reconnaissance information and makes a recommendation to the intelligence community, which has the final say on what is declassified. The spy data can be helpful to scientists studying volcanoes, forest fires, earthquakes and landslides, climate change, hurricanes, flooding and pollution.

2007

Greenland glacier studied for insight into warming
National Public Radio, 12/24/2007, Richard Harris
Scientists are studying the Greenland glacier to see how quickly it might melt in a warming world. Lakes form on the surface of the glacier in midsummer, and that water pours down through the ice, to the bedrock below — and ultimately to the ocean.


Arctic melting even faster, new satellite data show
The Associated Press, 12/12/2007, Seth Borenstein
An already relentless melting of the Arctic greatly accelerated this summer, an event that some scientists worry could mean global warming has passed an ominous tipping point.


Oxygen levels help Hood Canal fish, research project flourish
The Kitsap Sun, 11/27/2007, Christopher Dunagan
Hood Canal researchers are thrilled that a major fish kill did not occur this year — and not just for the sake of the fish.


Arctic melt unnerves the experts
The New York Times, 10/2/2007, Andrew C. Revkin
The Arctic ice cap shrank so much this summer that waves briefly lapped along two long-imagined Arctic shipping routes, the Northwest Passage over Canada and the Northern Sea Route over Russia. Over all, the floating ice dwindled to an extent unparalleled in a century or more, by several estimates.


Explorers find thin ice at the North Pole
National Public Radio, 9/25/2007, Elizabeth Arnold
Dr. James Morison,of the Polar Science Center at the University of Washington, has spent more than 30 seasons in the arctic. This one, he says, is the worst.


‘Bringing the ocean to the world,’ in high-def
The New York Times, 9/4/2007, William Yardley
“This is a mission to Planet Ocean,” said Mr. Delaney, a professor at the University of Washington. “This is a NASA-scale mission to basically enter the Inner Space, and to be there perpetually. What we’re doing is bringing the ocean to the world.”


State ferries could monitor water quality, more
The News Tribune, 7/9/2007, Les Blumenthal
Scientists at the University of Washington hope the state's ferries will start carrying monitoring equipment that would help track water conditions in Puget Sound.


Ultrasound-toothbrush maker lands $11.3 million
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 6/15/2007, John Cook
The technology was created in 2003 at the University of Washington by Pierre Mourad, a research associate professor in the UW Department of Neurological Surgery. The university, which has licensed the technology to Ultreo, has a small stake in the company.


Detergent gives clues to Hood Canal pollution
The Kitsap Sun, 5/24/2007, Christopher Dunagan
Scientists track down fluorescent compounds to determine the levels of nitrogen coming from human sources.


$335 million, UW's "Neptune" system to help scientists study ocean floor
The Seattle Times, 5/16/2007, Nick Perry
A consortium of ocean scientists today will announce that the National Science Foundation (NSF) will invest about $335 million over six years to build a three-phase international ocean-observing system. Central to the project will be the University of Washington's "Neptune" system, measuring changes on the Juan de Fuca Plate.


UW scientists to build largest underwater lab
KOMO News (Seattle), 5/16/2007
Scientists at the University of Washington plan to dig deeper into the mysteries of the ocean by building the world's largest underwater laboratory.


Redmond's Ultreo prepares launch of ultrasound toothbrush
The Seattle Times, 5/3/2007, Kirsten Orsini-Meinhard
Redmond's start-up company Ultreo has introduced an ultrasound toothbrush that it claims is more effective than any power toothbrush on the market. The ultrasound technology behind the toothbrush was invented by the UW's Pierre D. Mourad, Principal Physicist in the Applied Physics Laboratory and Research Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery.


Study suggests natural high-low oxygen cycle in Hood Canal
The Olympian, 4/25/2007
Deposits at the bottom of Hood Canal suggest a natural cycle of high and low oxygen levels, and the last 50 years have been on the high side despite recent fish kills, according to a recent study.


Northwest company rolls out toothbrush invented at the UW
University Week, 4/19/2007, Hannah Hickey
A new product developed from technology invented at the UW aims to change the way you brush your teeth. It will make ultrasound -- now available only at the dentist's office -- part of the daily dental routine.


Scientists enlist nature's divers to sample icy sea
The Washington Post, 4/16/2007, Juliet Eilperin
For years, scientists have been trying to get a sense of the ocean north of Greenland but have been deterred by the harsh weather there. Now they have finally found deep-diving oceanographers willing to do their work for them: narwhals.


UW scientists prominent as 'International Polar Year' is launched
University Week, 3/1/2007, Sandra Hines
While dignitaries gathered Monday in Washington, D.C., for the launch of International Polar Year, ice-camp logistic experts with UW's Applied Physics Laboratory were just days from heading north to establish a runway and a camp on the ice with a dozen tents and buildings. They'll be responsible for the wellbeing of 40 to 50 people a night when the camp is at its height.


Underground lakes may help explain glacier habits
National Public Radio, 2/16/2007, Richard Harris
Scientists have discovered a vast network of lakes beneath the ice in Antarctica. That discovery could help them resolve one of the great outstanding questions about global warming. The question is how quickly the Earth's vast glaciers might melt, which would affect how quickly sea levels might rise.


Glaciers not on simple, upward trend of melting
UW News and Information, 2/13/2007, Sandra Hines
Two of Greenland's largest glaciers shrank dramatically and dumped twice as much ice into the sea during a period of less than a year between 2004 and 2005. And then, less than two years later, they returned to near their previous rates of discharge.


Science Notebook
The Washington Post, 2/12/2007, Juliet Eilperin
Two of Greenland's largest glaciers that flow to lower elevations and the ocean are waxing and waning rapidly, researchers reported last week, suggesting that the effects of global warming on sea levels may be difficult to predict.

2006

Arctic is heating up, scientists say
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11/17/2006, Tom Paulson
An international panel of scientists reports that the Arctic is undergoing substantial and unprecedented warming despite sporadic signals of a cooling trend. James Morison, Principal Oceanographer at the Polar Science Center, comments.


Currents, weather blamed in die-off
The Seattle Times, 9/22/2006
Scientists have concluded that Tuesday's fish die-off in southern Hood Canal was triggered by a combination of salty ocean currents and windy weather that pushed low-oxygen water to the surface.


Fish die-off plagues Hood Canal
The Seattle Times, 9/20/2006, Warren Cornwall
For the third time in five years, a major fish die-off has struck Puget Sound's beleaguered Hood Canal, adding to evidence that the fjord remains sick.


Hood Canal fish suffocate
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 9/20/2006, Robert McClure
Scientists are scrambling to document what appears to be the most widespread fish kill to date in Hood Canal, the deep and poorly flushed waterway that researchers say suffers from oxygen levels at their lowest ebb in at least five decades.


Researchers say alarming rapid melting of winter sea ice over the Arctic Ocean linked to man-made global warming
The CBS Evening News, 9/14/2006
If you thought it was especially warm this summer, climate experts confirmed today this will go down as the hottest summer in the continental United States in 70 years. Government scientists expect the warming to continue, and they're warning that we're running out of time.


Medical-device startup gets $4M in venture capital
The Seattle Times, 8/25/2006, Luke Timmerman
Mirabilis Medica, which has an exclusive license to technology developed at the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory, plans to use high-powered, tightly focused waves of ultrasound that can heat up and mechanically break up uterine fibroids without invasive surgery.


State lawmakers see science on Hood Canal first-hand
The Kitsap Sun, 8/22/2006, Christopher Dunagan
Five state legislators involved in Hood Canal funding and policy issues grew closer to the science Monday when they went out on the water with researchers involved in the Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen Program.


Using ultrasound for war wounds
The Seattle Times, 8/20/2006, Luke Timmerman
Sometimes late at night, a team of elite physicists and engineers in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood gathers around its conference room and reflects on the photos it has seen of U.S. troops bleeding to death in Iraq. The images help fire up these physicists and engineers to do the most challenging and creative work of their lives.


Greenland's ice loss is accelerating, satellite studies suggest
USA Today, 8/16/2006, Dan Vergano
Greeland's ice sheet holds about 10% of the world's glacial ice and is shedding it at a rate of about three times faster than in past years. Global warming may be accelerating an increase in sea levels.


No easy solutions to die-off at Hood Canal
The Seattle Times, 6/19/2006, Craig Welch
A year into a three-year investigation, scientists are figuring out how best to breathe new life into an oxygen-depleted waterway whose banks are now home to 50,000 people.


A freak-wave flip-out? Not likely
The New York Times, 5/13/2006, Kari Haskell
Could a real cruise ship get its world turned upside-down, as happens to Hollywood's make-believe behemoth? APL-UW's Bill Asher weighs in.


Shivering and unsung, scientists monitor the Arctic year after year after year
The New York Times, 5/9/2006, Andrew Revkin
On April 22, two divers from the University of Washington entered a manhole-size opening in the veneer of floating sea ice around the North Pole.


The North Pole Was Here: New York Times reporter writes about chilling in the Arctic
University Week, 4/20/2006, Sandra Hines
Andrew Revkin, a reporter for The New York Times, has written of his experiences in the arctic in 2003 in a new book titled The North Pole Was Here.


Diver on a rope in the hole at top of the sea
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 4/15/2006, Robert McClure
Any day now, not too far from the North Pole, Seattle scientist Jim Osse will don scuba gear and disappear into a hole in the ice atop the Arctic Ocean to gather information on how global warming is affecting the planet.


Greenland glaciers moving more quickly to the ocean
National Public Radio, 3/24/2006, Christopher Joyce
Scientists say the growing number of earthquakes another sign that global warming is speeding up the transfer of freshwater locked up in Arctic regions to the oceans, and it's moving faster than expected.


Second year of arctic sea ice shortfall recorded
The New York Times, 3/15/2006, Andrew Revkin
For the second year in a row, the cloak of sea ice on the Arctic Ocean failed to grow to its normal winter expanse, leading some climate experts to predict a record expansion of open water this summer.


Scientists study sound, marine creatures
USA Today, 2/26/2006, Tara Godvin
Jeff Nystuen is studying how sound travels through the ocean, to better understand how loud, man-made noises might affect marine creatures.


Devices tease out individual sounds from underwater racket
University Week, 2/23/2006, Sandra Hines
Passive Aquatic Listeners can identify underwater sounds coming from such things as ships, whales, volcanic eruptions, rainfall and breaking waves. Tallying sound budgets determines the noise levels incident on marine mammals in an area.


Pacific Science Center in grips of polar blast
University Week, 2/23/2006, Sandra Hines
APL-UW's Polar Science Center teams with Seattle's Pacific Science Center to present the "Polar Science Weekend."


Fewer gray whales on Pacific migration
The Los Angeles Times, 2/11/2006
The number of gray whales making the yearly migration from the North Pacific to breed in Mexico's warm lagoons dropped this year, possibly because of changing weather patterns.


Ultrasound on the move
The Seattle Times, 1/5/2006, Benjamin J. Romano
Hand-held, high-resolution ultrasound imaging devices may become common instruments in physicians' exam rooms. The pioneers in diagnostic ultrasound capitalized on research into sonar conducted at APL-UW.


Sweeping change reshapes Arctic
The Seattle Times, 1/3/2006, Craig Welch
Researchers on the ice offshore Barrow, AK, are measuring how the physical properties of ice affect the passage of the sun's energy through it.

2005

Scientists believe open water in summer has become key to declining arctic ice
UW News and Information, 11/9/2005, Sandra Hines
APL-UW's Ron Lindsay and Jinlun Zhang discuss how the Arctic Ocean may have reached a tipping point where too much open water in summer results in a winter with less ice and water too warm to develop an ice cover as thick as those observed in the past.


In a melting trend, less arctic ice to go around
The New York Times, 9/29/2005, Andrew Revkin
The floating cap of sea ice on the Arctic Ocean shrank this summer to what is probably its smallest size in at least a century of record keeping.


Of slime and sea ice: Microorganisms have physicists considering biology
University Week, 5/11/2005, Sandra Hines
Microorganisms appear to make ice malleable affecting how sea ice changes and melts in the Arctic.


Pairs of Seagliders set endurance records
UW News and Information, 3/5/2005, Sandra Hines
Two ocean-diving gliders built at the University of Washington were retrieved late last month near the Hawaiian island of Kauai after setting a world record by traveling a quarter of the way across the Pacific Ocean.

2004

APL-UW number one recipient of DoD dollars
University Week, 11/18/2004, Sandra Hines
Directors of 12 university-based laboratories met at APL-UW to share science and technology developments.


Polar science mission takes arctic temperature
The Seattle Times, 4/23/2004, Sandi Doughton
Are the driving forces of climate change in the Arctic man-made, natural, or both? APL-UW scientists, funded by NSF, travel to the top of the world each spring to find out.


Climate theories run hot and cold
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 4/16/2004, Tom Paulson
UW scientists are studying a number of events in the polar regions related to climate change.

2003

Seas' magnetic fields
New Scientist.com, 11/13/2003, Nicola Jones
Scientists at APL-UW and GeoForschungsZentrum, Germany, have shown for the first time that ocean-generated magnetic fields can be identified in measurements of Earth's overall magnetic field.


All Things Considered: Study Analyzes Changes in Ice Cap
National Public Radio, 11/3/2003, Richard Harris
Satellite and submarine data show that the ice cap over the North Pole has shrunk in the last 25 years.


Scientists, others trying to make sense of Arctic changes
USA Today, 10/31/2003, Jack Williams
People who live around the Arctic and scientists who study it are seeing clear signs that most of the top of the Earth is getting warmer.


Polar winds are spinning faster; scientists would like to know why
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10/29/2003, Tom Paulson
Above the North Pole is a massive maelstrom of air, a "polar vortex," that scientists have shown is speeding up and may explain some of the dramatic changes now being observed in the Arctic environment.


Signs of radical change in Arctic ecosystem
The Seattle Times, 10/29/2003, J. Patrick Coolican
Several disparate observed phenomena are signs of a radical change in the Arctic ecosystem.


Researchers fear decline in sea ice is changing climate
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10/24/2003, Lee Bowman
NASA scientists released new evidence that the Arctic region is warming up and its sea ice cover is diminishing, with implications for further climate change worldwide.


The ice man
UW News and Information, 8/21/2003, Sandra Hines
Principal Field Engineer Fred Karig sets up and supplies research camps in the coldest places.


Internal waves appear to have muscle to pump up mid-lats
UW News and Information, 6/24/2003, Sandra Hines
Using decades of mooring data, Oceanographer Matthew Alford has calculated how much energy internal waves carry through the global ocean as they propagate thousands of miles from where they originate.


Scientists go to extremes to study warming, currents
The Seattle Times, 5/31/2003, Alexandra Witze
Researchers have journeyed to the center of the arctic ice pack, taking water samples and planting scientific buoys. If all goes well, the buoys will drift with the ice for the next year, serving as remote scientific sentinels.

2002

Defense budget aids local projects
The Seattle Times, 10/18/2002, Tricia Duryee
Therapeutic ultrasound technology may be on the battlefield two to three years faster thanks to $7 million in defense spending targeted to the program.


Researchers sweat out global warming: Fast pace, regional variations make consensus difficult
The San Francisco Chronicle, 9/9/2002, David Perlman
Through observations and climate models, polar scientists try to discern why the warming trend around the globe has been most dramatic and variable in regions around the poles.


Scientists zero in on Arctic, hemisphere-wide climate swings
UW News and Information, 8/29/2002, Sandra Hines
A review of recent climate change in the Arctic by APL polar scientists Richard Moritz and Cecilia Bitz, and co-author Eric Steig of the UW's Quaternary Research Center, appears in the August 30th special polar-science issue of Science.


UW scientists tout cancer therapy
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 7/30/2002, Tom Paulson
CIMU Director Lawrence Crum and colleagues hosted the second annual symposium on therapeutic ultrasound where they presented data and made a case for moving the technology to the fast track.


Research ongoing on device to spot, halt internal bleeding
The Seattle Times, 7/15/2002, Eran Karmon
Within five years, a portable device for detecting and stopping internal bleeding may be a reality. The device would act like an acoustic blowtorch, using intense sound waves to cook bleeding tissue shut, cauterizing it like a hot iron.


Scientists recover North Pole mooring from 2 1/2 miles deep in ocean
UW News and Information, 5/7/2002, Sandra Hines and Peter West
Scientists and engineers recovered the mooring that had been anchored to the Arctic Ocean floor in April 2001, deployed a new mooring near the same location, conducted CTD surveys across hundreds of miles, and deployed a small fleet of drifting buoys on the ice.


A new way to keep an eye on sockeye
KOMO 4 News, 2/20/2002
The DIDSON (Dual frequency IDentification SONar) now saves salmon. Originally designed to give the U.S. Navy "underwater eyes," DIDSON provides surveillance to prevent explosives from being attached to ships.


Hawaiian Ridge HOME efforts to understand deep-ocean mixing
UW News and Information, 2/11/2002, Sandra Hines
PL-UW oceanographers are studying how waves generated by the internal tide interact with topography and how this interaction may produce up to 90% of the mixing throughout the world's oceans.


Sonar will be tested on Alaska salmon count
The Seattle Times, 2/6/2002
APL-UW engineers have developed a long-range ultrasound video system that counts and measures the length of spawning salmon in rivers.

2001

UW 'bloodless surgery' project crucial in wartime
The Seattle Times, 12/12/2001
Researchers at the Center for Industrial and Medical Ultrasound (APL-UW) are working on an ultrasound-based surgical method that could reduce battlefield casualties and revolutionize civilian medical care.


Now North Pole researchers can monitor ice thickness and water temps throughout a year
University Week, 4/26/2001, Sandra Hines
PL-UW scientists from the Polar Science Center lead a five-year, $3.9 million project, funded by the National Science Foundation, to take the year-round pulse of the Arctic Ocean and learn how the world's northernmost sea helps regulate global climate.


Grant-funded project to tackle uncertainty of weather forecasting
University Week, 4/5/2001
Associate Director Miyamoto is part of a multi-disciplinary team whose efforts will improve weather forecasting tools for aircraft pilots and ship captains.


UW receives $3.6 million for studies in new field of space medicine
UW News and Information, 2/22/2001, Sandra Hines
High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) may find applications in space, where astronauts could use a HIFU device to stop internal bleeding caused by trauma.

The Applied Physics Laboratory works closely with science and engineering departments on the University of Washington campus. For reporters who want more information about APL-UW and the science and engineering departments on campus, please contact:
Sandra Hines
UW News and Information
206.543.2580
shines@u.washington.edu




Oceanographer Jim Thomson briefs members of the Seattle-area press corps on tidal-energy research aboard the R/V Robertson.




The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf along the coast of Ellesmere Island in northern Canada is rapidly disintegrating. (See: "Shrinking Arctic Ocean sea ice signals climate change.")




A small hut erected on the ice near the North Pole gives Mike Welch and Jamie Morison a place to prepare scientific equipment.




An APL-UW diver in a special dry suit goes under the ice to locate and attach a retrieval line to a mooring being recovered from near the North Pole.



A Seaglider is retrieved after having traveled one-quarter of the way across the Pacific Ocean on a data-gathering mission.



Students make a short documentary about microorganisms that live in the sea ice environment near Barrow, Alaska.



Wendy Ermold leads a educational demonstration about the salinity of seawater, showing participants that their tongues are very sensitive salinometers.



An Absolute Velocity Profiler is used to measure the energy flux of internal tides at the Hawaiian Ridge.

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