The PNW has many rivers, but no system for gauging landslide dam risk

Scientists have a new tool for estimating lesser known hazards in the Pacific Northwest: landslide dams and outburst floods. In a new study, published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences and led by ESS Graduate Student Paul Morgan, UW researchers debut a mathematical approach to mapping landslide dam hazards based on valley width and projected slide size.

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New research uses fiber optic cables to predict glacier loss in Greenland

 

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2026 Geochemistry Fellow David Catling reflects on a career spent trying to answer science’s biggest questions

 

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Leveraging mathematical models to uncover Antarctica’s role in sea-level rise

Recent ESS Colloquium speaker Assistant Professor Ching-Yao Lai (Stanford University) is interviewed.

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UW study on soil structure helps explain the ‘why’ in plowing debate

 

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On the Seattle Fault, the biggest quakes aren't the most likely

Smaller quakes from secondary faults occur more frequently than previously thought, says new study published in Geology by ESS researchers Elizabeth Davis and Juliet Crider. PNSN Director Harold Tobin is also quoted.

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Planets need more water to support life than scientists previously thought

In a new study, Haskelle White-Gianella and Joshua Krissanen-Totton show that an Earth-sized planet likely needs at least 20 to 50% of the water in Earth’s oceans to maintain a critical natural cycle — the geologic carbon cycle — that keeps water on the surface. These new parameters could exclude many exoplanets in the so-called habitable zone and help narrow the search for life.

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New study shows fluid in Cascadia Subduction Zone creates variability in earthquake impacts

A new study authored by Maleena Wjeratna Kidiwela, with mentorship from ESS Associate Professor Marine Denolle, indicates that a difference between the northern and central areas of the Cascadia Subduction Zone may create variability in how earthquakes rippling out of the fault could spread.

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Overnight offshore earthquake swarm poses no danger to Pacific Northwest, expert says

A swarm of offshore earthquakes near the Pacific Northwest poses no threat to land, says ESS Professor and PNSN Director Harold Tobin.

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Earth sciences and Geophysics among top in nation in recent ranking

Two disciplines in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences ranked in the top 10 nationwide in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Graduate Schools released April 6. Earth sciences tied for 9th, and Geophysics remained in a three-way tie for 9th (ranked in 2024).

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