ATOC in the News

ATOC Graduate Student Devon Dunmire has received an AGU OSPA (Outstanding Student Presentation Award) for her oral presentation at the AGU Fall Meeting last December (entitled "Observations of Subsurface Meltwater Lake Collapse on an East Antarctic Ice Shelf”).

Some solutions to climate change and drought are more, well, science fiction-y than others.

The Future Horizons in Climate Science: Turco Lectureship was established through a donation by Richard P. and Linda S. Turco and highlights signal research on climate change through noteworthy lectures by recognized leaders in the field. The recorded lecture can be watched after registering here: https://fallmeeting.agu.org/2018/anywhere/ .

Ozone layer depletion has increased snowfall over Antarctica in recent decades, partially mitigating the ongoing loss of the continent’s ice sheet mass, new University of Colorado Boulder research finds.

Regional patterns of sea-level rise have been observed from satellites since 1993 and are associated with increased coastal impacts in many regions. It is unknown whether such patterns will be transient, arising from natural climate variations, or persistent, driven by external climate forcing.

The objective of the Antarctic Firn Aquifer expedition is to verify the presence of firn aquifers on the Antarctic Ice Sheet by surveying two key sites on the Antarctic Peninsula: the Wilkins Ice Shelf and the southern George VI Ice Shelf. These field sites were identified using our mapping method and data from two satellite microwave instruments: a C-band radar scatterometer (EUMETSAT’s Advanced SCATterometer – ASCAT) and an L-band microwave radiometer (aboard NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive Satellite–SMAP). The longer wavelength of ASCAT and SMAP microwaves, and their sensitivity to the presence of liquid meltwater, allow them to see firn aquifers on ice sheets or ice shelves as deep as ~60 meters (200 feet). Over time, distinct patterns in the microwave signals can be used to distinguish firn aquifers from areas that do not store meltwater at depth.

The study, by University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) scientists working with University of Denver and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers, combines economic analysis with atmospheric modeling to demonstrate that these wake effects -- which occur when groups of turbines reduce wind speed for up to several miles behind them -- are measurable and predictable, yet remain largely overlooked.

CU Boulder is ranked No. 1 in the world for geosciences, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 Best Global Universities standings. In the four previous years, CU Boulder held the No. 2 spot for geosciences.

Please join ATOC in congratulating Assistant Professor Jen Kay for receiving the Provost's Faculty Achievement Award for her paper, “The Community Earth System Model (CESM) Large Ensemble Project” published in BAMS.

There will be an additional plane in the air over wildfires in the northwestern United States in coming weeks, but it won't be there trying to put them out.