CU Researchers Fan Out Across Globe to Probe Climate Change

Greenland Melting

Record melting on the Greenland ice sheet is causing concern for many climate scientists, including CU-Boulder's Konrad Steffen, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, who has maintained a battery of sensitive climate stations on the ice for nearly two decades.

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The Disappearing Ice: Arctic research on the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and its impact on public policy.

Living on the Ice: Watch how researcher live in the harsh conditions of the Greenland ice sheet.

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Greenland Ice Melt

Listen to Konrad Steffen, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, describe the changes he is seeing on Greenland and how he and his resesarch team -- which includes CU-Boulder undergraduate and graduate students -- are trying to better understand ice sheet and glacier dynamics and their impact on global sea-level rise.

From the Arctic to Antarctica and Costa Rica to Colorado, hundreds of researchers and students from CU-Boulder departments, centers and institutes are chronicling environmental changes to better understand the impacts of both natural and human-caused climate warming.

In September 2007, researchers from CU-Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center found the extent of Arctic sea ice during the annual September minimum broke the previous record by 460,000 square miles – an area the size of Alaska and California combined. A related study in January 2008, led by CU Professor Jim Maslanik of the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, concluded there has been a nearly complete loss of the oldest, thickest Arctic sea ice, and that 58 percent of the remaining perennial ice is precariously thin.

Other research by Mark Meier and colleagues from the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research in 2007 concluded ice loss from glaciers and ice caps will cause more global sea rise during this century than the melt from Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (see below). The researchers found that glaciers and ice caps are currently contributing about 60 percent of the world's ice to the oceans, and the rate has been markedly accelerating.

At Niwot Ridge 35 miles west Boulder, home of INSTAAR’s Mountain Research Station, faculty and students are documenting long-term environmental changes in thousands of acres of forest, tundra, glacial lakes and wetlands.

Environmental science and global change research is underway in several departments including geological sciences, chemistry and biochemistry, ecology and evolutionary biology, atmospheric and oceanic sciences, civil, environmental and architectural engineering, aerospace engineering, environmental studies and geography.

The National Science Foundation’s latest rankings, from 2007, show the CU system, led by CU-Boulder, is first in federally funded research in environmental sciences among 150 public universities. In addition to NSF, other federal agencies like NASA, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior support university environmental research efforts.

CU-Boulder Climate Change Findings

Baffin Island Ice Caps Shrink by 50 Percent Since 1950s, says CU-Boulder study  (Jan. 28, 2008)
A CU-Boulder research team is reporting more sobering news on Arctic ice loss in a study published this month in Geophysical Research Letters. Led by Professor Gifford Miller of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and graduate student Rebecca Anderson, the study indicates ice caps on the northern plateau of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic have shrunk by half in the last 50 years years and will likely disappear by mid-century. The team also found tantalizing evidence that tropical volcanic eruptions triggered the "Little Ice Age," which cooled the climate of Europe for several centuries beginning about 1300 A.D. Listen to Miller describe the study, including the novel radiocarbon dating approach used on Baffin Island.

Listen to interview with: Gifford Miller, INSTAAR        Read news release

Nutrient Pollution Drives Frog Deformities by Ramping Up Infections (Sept. 24, 2007)
When deformed frogs in lakes and ponds around the United States caught the attention of the public more than a decade ago, puzzled scientists speculated the phenomenon might be caused by pesticides, UV radiation or infection. Listen to CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Pieter Johnson describe how a study that he led, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that that high levels of nutrients used in farming and ranching activities fuel frog deformities by enhancing snail populations that spread infectious parasites to tadpoles.

Listen to interview with: Pieter Johnson, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology       Read news release

Glaciers and Ice Caps to Dominate Sea-Level Rise Through 21st Century (July 17, 2007)
Despite the common public perception that melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are the biggest players in rising global sea levels, glaciers and ice caps are currently the primary contributors to sea rise and will be at least through the end of the century, according to CU-Boulder glaciologist Mark Meier. Listen to what Meier has to say about research efforts to chart the melt of glaciers and ice caps and the implications for society.

Listen to interview with: Mark Meier, INSTAAR       Read news release

Climate Change and Tropical Storms, Clouds and Ozone (June 27, 2007)

Professor Brian Toon, chair of CU-Boulder's atmospheric sciences department, describes a $12 million NASA mission that will chart global climate change by studying tropical storms, clouds and stratospheric ozone processes over Costa Rica and Panama.

Listen to interview with: Brian Toon, Atmospheric Sciences       Read news release

Climate Change Archive

Effects of Warming on Glaciers, Ice Sheets and Sea Ice           

• Baffin Island Ice Caps Shrinking (Jan. 28, 2008)
• Alaska’s Kennicott Glacier Lurching (Jan. 15, 2008)
• Older Arctic Sea Ice Gives Way to Thinner Ice (Jan. 10, 2008)
• Greenland Melt Accelerating in 2007 (Dec. 10, 2007)
• 2007 Arctic Sea Ice Extent Shatters Record Low (Oct. 1, 2007)
• Arctic Sea Ice Extent Shatters Record Low (Oct. 1, 2007)
• Arctic Sea Ice Bottoms Out in 2007 (Sept. 20, 2007)
• Sea Ice outlook for 2007 Gloomy (Aug. 16, 2007)
• Glaciers and Ice Caps to Dominate Sea Level Rise (July. 19, 2007)
• Glaciers, Ice Caps to dominate Sea Rise in 21st Century (July. 19, 2007)
• Vast Regions of Antarctica Melted in 2006-2007 (May. 15, 2007)
• Arctic Sea Ice Narrowly Misses Winter Low (April 4, 2007)
• Sea Ice Decline Could Trigger Climate Cascade (March 15, 2007)
• Greenland Ice Sheet Losing Mass, Says GRACE Satellite Data (Sept. 20, 2006)
  

Global and Regional Climate Change            

• Enhancing Altered Ecosystems in Global Change World (Jan. 15, 2008)
• CU-Boulder shares in 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (Oct. 12, 2007)
• Unmanned Aircraft Used for Climate Change Research (Sept. 27, 2007)
• Nutrient Pollution Drives Frog Deformities (Sept. 24, 2007)
• Climate Change Impact on Native Communities Charted (Sept. 17, 2007)
• CU Partners on NASA Climate Change Mission in Tropics (June 27, 2007)
• Mountain Dust Cover leads to Early Snow Melt (June 25, 2007)
• CU Environmental Sensor used in DOE Climate Study (June 4, 2007)
• NASA’s AIM Mission to Study Clouds Signaling Global Change (April 10, 2007)
• CU-Boulder to Lead Massive Ecological Research Effort in West (March 14, 2007)
• CIRES Director Kicks off International Polar Year (Feb. 22, 2007)
• Does Climate Change Communication Help Solve Problems? (Feb. 16, 2007)
• NASA Satellite Tracks Earth Water Cycles (Jan. 31, 2007)
• Western Wildfires Linked to Atlantic Surface Temperatures (Dec. 26, 2006)
  

Atmospheric Climate Change       

• Rising CO2 May Mean More Storms for Northern Hemisphere (Dec. 10, 2007)
• Wildfires Big Contributors to CO2 in Atmosphere (Oct. 31, 2007)
• Invisible Gases Form Most Organic Haze (July 9, 2007)
• Ancient Ocean CO2 Burps Help Scientists Understand Global Change (May 10, 2007)
• Ozone Recovering in Changing Atmosphere on Earth (May 3, 2006)
• Declining Snow Pack Cools Winter CO2 Emissions (Feb. 9, 2006)

Contact Information

• Jim Scott
  Office of News Services
  303-492-6431
  jim.scott@colorado.edu