NEW: this week’s CoEnv published research! (via Web of Science)

As a new feature of our news blog, each week we will be sharing the latest publications coming from the College of the Environment. We hope you enjoy perusing the studies. CoEnv authors’ names are linked to their public profile pages!

This week, 2 new articles published by members of the College of the Environment were added to the Web of Science, a giant database of academic papers:

1.  Title: Microbial community structure of Arctic multiyear sea ice and surface seawater by 454 sequencing of the 16S RNA gene (free access!)

Authors: Bowman, Jeff S.1,2; Rasmussen, Simon3; Blom, Nikolaj3Deming, Jody W.1,2; Rysgaard, Soren4; Sicheritz-Ponten, Thomas3

1. Univ Washington, School of Oceanography
2. Univ Washington, Astrobiol Program
3. Tech Univ Denmark
4. Greenland Inst Nat Resources

Journal: The ISME Journal

 

2.  Title: To flee or not to flee? Risk assessment by a marine snail in multiple cue environments (paywall)

Authors: Mach, Megan E.1Bourdeau, Paul E.1

1. Univ Washington, Friday Harbor Labs

Journal: Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Nature Commentary: can the economy deal with the decline of oil supplies? – UW News

J Murray, U of Washington/D King, U of Oxford/Nature Source: US Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook 2011

In this week’s Nature, Oceanography’s James Murray and colleague commented that peak oil has past. In this UW News article, the commentary is discussed with the first author.

Oil’s tipping point has already passed – Nature Comment

In a Nature Comment on climate policy, Oceanography’s James Murray and Oxford University’s David King suggest that peak oil has already happened, and that this should lead to policy adjustments in light of short-term economic threats, something that has been slow in coming with the relatively long-term threat of climate change. Read this Comment here.

The 2012 Orca Bowl, the regional ocean sciences competition for high school students, is coming! – Washington Sea Grant

Each year, students from across Washington come together for a day of exciting competition and enrichment experiences at Orca Bowl, the regional competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl®.  Hosted by Washington Sea Grant, this year the Orca Bowl is on March 3rd, from 8am to 5pm, on UW campus!  Although team registration is now closed, you can sign up to be a volunteer or a sponsor.  Volunteers get to help with logistics of the day’s events, or even serve as competition officials.  Check it out here!

Injured “Kilo Moana” research vessel’s scientists, crew safely on land – KHON

A research vessel off the coast of Hawaii incurred a base-ball sized hole in its hull on Friday, causing it to take on about 400 gallons of water per hour.  Luckily the ship was assisted by the US Coast Guard and all on board are now safely on land.  Some of our own researchers are in this group, including OCEAN’s Matthew Alford.  Read more about this story here.
 

Hemisphere-wide and decades-long atmospheric shift brings epic Arctic freshening – UW News

James Morison lowers instruments to measure salinity. Direct measurements were combined with data from NASA satellites revealing a major redistribution of freshwater in the Arctic. (UW News/NSF)

Just published in Nature, a new study from UW’s Applied Physics Laboratory finds that three Russian rivers have been diverted by what’s called the “Arctic Oscillation”.  This broad shift in ocean circulation added what amounts to 10 feet of fresh water onto the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea from 2005 to 2008. APL’s James Morison is the first author on this paper; Cecilia Peralta-Ferriz, a graduate student in the School of Oceanography, is a co-author. Read the UW News coverage here.

Milestone events for OOI in 2011, 2012 – Ocean Observatories Initiative

2012 will be an exciting year for the Ocean Observatories Initiative, with continued construction of the cabled ocean observatories network and multiple other facets of the project.  John Delaney is mentioned.  Read more here.