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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. |
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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:
 Pierre Mourad (left) and Frank Roberts (right), a researcher in the UW's School of Dentistry, worked together to invent the Ultreo toothbrush (center).  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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