News | Department of Earth and Space Sciences

Jun 2, 2026 | In the News

Researchers assess probability of rare landslide hazard in PNW

A UW study, led by ESS graduate student Paul Morgan and co-author ESS Associate Professor Alison Duvall, published April 16 develops a workflow to map dam susceptibility at a regional scale, using stream width and landslide volume to project susceptibility within the Oregon Coast Range.

Decades of satellite data show Himalayan rivers migrating rapidly in response to climate change

Featured in the UW News May research highlights, a new study published in Science show that rivers in the Tibetan Plateau moved twice as much from 2000 to 2020 as they did from 1980 to 2000. The international team, including co-author and ESS Professor David Montgomery, attributes their observations to climate change, which is driving temperatures up faster here than many other places.

ESS Professor David Catling elected as fellow of the Royal Society

David Catling, professor of Earth and Space Sciences (as well as adjunct professor of Atmospheric and Climate Science and interim director of the UW Astrobiology Program) has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society. Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is the national academy of sciences of the United Kingdom and the world’s oldest continuous scientific academy, famous for its historic fellows including Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Benjamin Franklin and Dorothy Hodgkin, among many others.

Read the full press release at College of the Environment

ESS Affiliate Professor Brian Atwater speaking to a group of students and teachers about evidence of past tsunamis.

May 26, 2026 | In the News

Hazards without disasters - ESS researchers look for hazards with Ocosta teachers and students in Grays Harbor

A Westport school rooftop refuge completed in 2016 serves as Cascadia’s first engineered refuge for tsunamis. Area residents funded the structure through a bond of the Ocosta School District. Most years, an Ocosta science teacher takes secondary-school students on canoe trips to view Grays Harbor evidence for the hazards for which the structure was designed. This year's outing, on May 22, mixed Ocosta students with university scientists and graduate students. Elizabeth Davis, Carolyn Garrison-Laney, Audrey Dunham, and Brian Atwater represented ESS.

UW study suggests that major Seattle fault earthquakes may be less frequent than previously thought

A new study conducted by UW researchers suggests that the Seattle fault zone may produce its largest earthquakes less frequently than scientists previously estimated. Published in the journal Geology, the study, led by ESS Research Scientist Elizabeth Davis and co-author ESS Associate Professor Juliet Crider, found evidence that only one major earthquake of roughly magnitude 7.5 has occurred on the Seattle fault zone in the past 11,000 years.

Joel Thornton selected as dean of the College of the Environment

University of Washington Provost Tricia R. Serio announced that Joel Thornton, a professor and chair of the College’s Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science, will serve as the next Maggie Walker Dean of the College of the Environment. Thornton has served as interim dean since last July, filling the position vacated by Maya Tolstoy. Thornton is an atmospheric chemist who studies the impacts of human activities on air quality and climate through changes to the atmosphere’s composition and chemistry.

Near miss tsunami in Alaska during tourist season last year highlights increasing environmental instability

A team of researchers published a Science paper describing the massive landslide generated tsunami in Alaska last August. ESS Professor Gerard Roe and Research Scientist Mira Berdahl made vital contributions to the study, described in more detail in the UW News release. Their analysis attributed the 481-meter wave to glacial retreat from global warming and in this region, they found that 100% of the industrial era warming was human caused.

Seattle Fault gets 5,000 more years of sleep

Just over 1,100 years ago an earthquake on the Seattle fault rocked — and reshaped — the Puget Sound region. It lifted the sea floor and sent a powerful tsunami through the sound. Researchers have estimated that this fault, which runs east to west beneath the middle of the city, will produce a large earthquake every 5,000 years or so. However, a UW analysis, recently published in Geology, pushes that estimate back to 11,000 years. ESS Research Scientist Elizabeth Davis is lead author and ESS Associate Professor Juliet Crider is co-author.

Read more on UW News April Research Highlights

May 1, 2026 | In the News

Can arid planets keep their cool?

The geologic carbon cycle has been an important tool for balancing carbon dioxide and stabilizing the climate of Earth over billions of years. The authors of today’s bite, ESS graduate student Haskelle White-Gianella and Assistant Professor Joshua Krissansen-Totton, explore why dry planets may be missing this critical climate-stabilizing thermostat.

Researchers discover the fossil of a new hamster-sized mammal that lived alongside dinosaurs on the Pacific Coast

A research team, led by UW Biology Professor and ESS Adjunct Professor Gregory Wilson Mantilla, has identified a new species in the Cimolodon genus from a fossil the team discovered at a research site in Baja California.