News | Department of Earth and Space Sciences

Researchers install seismic monitoring equipment on Burley Mountain with Mt. Rainier visible in the background.

Dec 9, 2025 | In the News

UW team from Pacific Northwest Seismic Network installs equipment near Mt. Rainier

In late August at Burley Mountain, a team from the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network installed equipment to detect ground movement. This seismic station joined more than 700 others in the network spanning Washington and Oregon monitoring shaking from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. PNSN Director Harold Tobin is quoted.

ESS Professor Eric Steig introduces UW to the magic of ice cores

The College of the Environment's Program on Climate Change (PCC) is hosting a free, interdisciplinary colloquium each month this academic year. ESS Professor Eric Steig was the third lecturer.

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.

50,000 students and counting: Professor Terry Swanson’s 34 years teaching ESS 101

ESS Teaching Professor Terry Swanson has taught ESS 101 Introduction to Geology and Societal Impacts, or "Rocks for Jocks" for 34 years, reaching over 50,000 students. Swanson is interviewed by The Daily UW. "When I stop loving it, I won't teach it. I still go into the classroom as enthusiastic as I was in 1992."

How ripples in the high atmosphere warned scientists of a tsunami in real time

Harold Tobin, ESS professor and PNSN director, is quoted.

ESS alumna awarded Geological Society of America's prestigious Donath Medal for pioneering Earth science research

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.

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.

Trump cut in Alaska could have major ramifications for California

PNSN Director and Washington state seismologist Harold Tobin is quoted.

Using light to hear the whales

Novel research trial uses Distributed Acoustic Sensing technology by repurposing fiber optic cables to monitor Puget Sound's orca population. The co-primary investigators in the project include ESS Assistant Professor Brad Lipovsky and Associate Professor Marine Denolle. As the project expands, opportunities will open for undergraduate students to participate in data analysis and in-the-field experiments.

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.