News out of ESS

In a new documentary, UW researchers investigate when Greenland was ice-free

“The Memory of Darkness, Light and Ice” — a documentary film featuring Eric Steig, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences — tells the story of a U.S. military and research base established in Greenland during the Cold War, and how the samples collected there are driving modern climate science.

Using light to hear the whales

Researchers from UW Bothell, the UW School of Oceanography, and ESS laid nearly two kilometers of fiber optic cable off the San Juan Islands. The project could revolutionize marine conservation by using existing global telecommunications cables to monitor endangered marine species on a large scale.

Coral skeletons left by a medieval tsunami whisper warning for Caribbean region

A new collaborative study led by scientists at the University of Washington and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science proposes that a tsunami struck the Caribbean island of Anegada between 1381 and 1391, carrying huge coral boulders inland and leaving behind a valuable record of geologic and climatic history.

Discovery of organic compounds bolsters case that Saturn’s moon Enceladus could support life

A new analysis of data from the Cassini space probe has identified organic compounds within jets of water ice erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The study, conducted in part by a UW researcher, contributes to mounting evidence that Enceladus could support life.

Researchers find key to Antarctic ice loss blowing in the north wind

Antarctic ice is melting at a startling pace, and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in climate projections. Researchers thought westerly winds were accelerating ice loss, but a new study from UW flips the narrative by 90 degrees, pointing instead to winds from the north.

An earthquake warning in your hand

Rumblings started underground – and phones lit up. For the first time ever in Washington, ShakeAlert sent real-time warnings just seconds before the shaking began. PNSN Director Harold Tobin is quoted.

Awards and Honors

ESS alumna Julia Kelson awarded GSA’s prestigious Donath Medal

ESS alumna and Indiana University Bloomington Assistant Professor Dr. Julia Kelson was awarded the Geological Society of America’s 2025 Young Scientist Award. Kelson got her Ph.D. from UW Earth and Space Sciences in 2019, advised by Professor Kate Huntington.

Assistant Professor Baptiste Journaux awarded annual IAPWS Helmholtz award

ESS Assistant Professor Dr. Baptiste Journaux was recognized this past summer with the International Association for the Properties of Water & Steam’s Helmholtz Award.

Multiple ESS faculty honored at 2025 AGU conference

Assistant Professors Joshua Krissansen-Totton and Michelle Muth have been awarded prestigious honors, to be given at the annual AGU gathering in New Orleans, LA in December, and Professor Fang-Zhen Teng was named an AGU Fellow.

UW ESS in the Media

ESS Professor Eric Steig introduces UW to the magic of ice cores, The Daily UW // Steig was the third lecturer for the College of the Environment Program on Climate Change’s monthly interdisciplinary colloquium.

50,000 students and counting: Professor Terry Swanson’s 34 years teaching ESS 101, The Daily UW // Terry Swanson is interviewed. “When I stop loving it, I won’t teach it. I still go into the classroom as enthusiastic as I was in 1992.”

Mariners fans’ cheers cause ground to shake, reach seismic level, KING 5 // The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network measured the intensity of fan energy in the Oct. 10 winner-take-all game against the Detroit Tigers. PNSN field engineer Mickey Cassar is quoted.

Link between Cascadia and San Andreas Fault earthquakes discovered 30 years after lost vessel stumbled across key data, Live Science // Geological records hint that earthquakes at the Cascadia subduction zone might trigger the San Andreas fault. ESS Professor and PNSN director Harold Tobin is quoted.

Major climate change indicators broke records in 2024, Physics Today // The BAMS Annual State of the Climate report documented record-breaking temperatures, humidity and glacier melt. It also included a section written in part by, and quoting, Prof. Robert Holzworth’s work on lightning climatology.

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