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2009 News
January-March | April-June | July-September | October-December
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March 23, 2009
7 Selected For CIRES Graduate Research Fellowships
Seven Ph.D. students at CU-Boulder will have the unique opportunity to tackle exciting science questions with top researchers in their fields as part of the CIRES Graduate Student Research Fellowship program. The students will explore a variety of creative geoscience topics, from modeling the influence of melt water on the ice dynamics of the Greenland ice sheet to surveying airborne microbial communities across different landscapes. |
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March 20, 2009
De Gouw To Serve As Editor
CIRES Fellow Joost de Gouw will be picking up the pen (or, maybe, hitting the keyboard) in his new role as an appointed editor of JGR Atmospheres. The science journal is a publication of the American Geophysical Union and focuses on the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere. De Gouw researches the emissions, chemistry, and loss processes of organic carbon in Earth's atmosphere. He also studies the formation of secondary pollutants, such as ozone and aerosols, and their effects on air quality and climate. |
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March 20, 2009
14 CIRES Scientists Win NASA Group Achievement Award
CIRES and NOAA scientists earned NASA's kudos for their "outstanding achievements in atmospheric science during the Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling (TC4) Mission in Costa Rica and Panama in 2007." The award recognizes the following CIRES scientists: Geoff S. Dutton, Karl Froyd, Dale F. Hurst, Fred L. Moore, J. David Nance, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Peter Popp, Eric Ray, Todd Sanford, Joshua Schwarz, Ryan Spackman, David Thomson, Troy Thornberry, and Laurel Watts. |
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March 18, 2009
New Literacy Guide Provides Quick Notes On Climate System
Aiming to address misconceptions about climate science, University of Colorado at Boulder science outreach specialists, in partnership with NOAA, have helped produce a new set of climate literacy guidelines to aid teachers, policy makers, and the general public in understanding the intricacies of the climate system. [ source: News & Events ] |
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March 16, 2009
CIRES Fellow Margaret Tolbert To Receive American Chemical Society Award
University of Colorado at Boulder chemistry and biochemistry Professor Margaret Tolbert has been awarded the American Chemical Society's Creative Advances in Environmental Sciences and Technology Award for her groundbreaking research in atmospheric chemistry. Tolbert is best known for her research on polar stratospheric clouds, which form 10 to 15 miles above Earth's poles each winter and provide surfaces where chemical reactions linked to stratospheric ozone destruction occur. [ source: News & Events ] |
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March 11, 2009
CIRES Fellow Rainer Volkamer Wins NSF CAREER Award
CU-Boulder chemistry and biochemistry Assistant Professor Rainer Volkamer has won the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program, or CAREER, Award, one of the NSF's most prestigious awards. The award recognizes junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars, providing at least $500,000 over a five-year period. [ source: News & Events ] |
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March 5, 2009
Fires Linked To Arctic Haze
Last spring, "Arctic haze" over northern Alaska and the Arctic region had unexpectedly high signatures of faraway sources: wildfires and biomass burning activities occurring in Asia, according to work by researchers at NOAA and CIRES. The new study was named an "Editors' Highlights" in the science journal Geophysical Research Letters. [ source: News & Events ] |
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March 3, 2009
CIRES Fellow Solomon Inducted Into Women's Hall Of Fame
An internationally recognized leader in the field of atmospheric science, CIRES Fellow Dr. Susan Solomon pioneered the theory explaining how and why the ozone hole occurs in Antarctica. Dr. Solomon was announced as one of the 2009 Inductees to the National Women’s Hall of Fame.[ source: News & Events ] |
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February 26, 2009
Maritime Shipping Makes Hefty Contribution To Harmful Air Pollution
Globally, commercial ships emit almost half as much particulate matter pollutants into the air as the total amount released by the world’s cars, according to a new study led by NOAA and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU). The findings appear online this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research. [ source: News & Events ] |
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February 24, 2009
CIRES Involved In New CU Space Sciences And Engineering Initiative
University of Colorado at Boulder administrators have launched a comprehensive space science and engineering initiative that will bring together faculty and students from aerospace engineering sciences, astrophysical and planetary sciences, atmospheric and oceanic sciences, and campus institutes like CIRES. [ source: News & Events ] |
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February 21, 2009
Aurora Students Take First In CIRES' Ocean Science Competition
Despite their landlocked geography, high school students from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and South Dakota showcased their mastery of ocean science Saturday, as they matched off in a fast-paced, quiz-style competition for a spot at the National Ocean Sciences Bowl this April. After nine rounds of individual buzzer questions and team long-answers, Smoky Hill High School of Aurora claimed the win. [ source: News & Events ] |
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February 18, 2009
Gov. Ritter Honors Life-Saving Impact of Inhalable Vaccine
Every day, measles kills 500 people, most of whom have no access to vaccinations, according to University of Colorado at Boulder Professor Robert Sievers. Also a fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Sievers - with support from students and research colleagues - has been working to put an end to such preventable deaths by developing a cheaper, easier-to-distribute and needle-free version of the traditional measles vaccine. [ source: News & Events ] |
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February 11, 2009
Landlocked States Vie For Ocean Science Bowl Win
High school students from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and South Dakota will gather at CU Saturday to match off in a high-energy, quiz-style, regional science bowl competition for a chance to compete in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. this April.[ source: News & Events ] |
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January 26, 2009
Climate Change Largely Irreversible
CIRES Fellow Susan Solomon's new study shows that changes in global surface temperature, rainfall, and sea level, caused by increased levels of greenhouse gases, may be largely irreversible...at least for some 1,000 years after carbon dioxide emissions are completely stopped. The new study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week. [ source: News & Events ] |
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January 27, 2009
Emperor Penguins At Risk
NSIDC scientists contributed to a new report that suggests emperor penguins could be headed towards extinction, as climate change in the Antarctic continues. According to the report, the median population size of a large emperor penguin colony in Terre Adelie, Antarctica, likely will shrink from its present size of 3,000 to only 400 breeding pairs by the end of the century. For more information, see Science Daily: "Emperor Penguins March Toward Extinction?" and NSIDC Scientist Contributes to Study on Penguin Decline. |
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January 16, 2009
CIRES Tracks Earth's Most Abundant Greenhouse Gas
Fifty years after the first continuous CO2 measurements were launched, CIRES Fellow David Noone is tracking another, and equally important, greenhouse gas at NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory. By analyzing the isotopic fingerprint of moisture passing over Mauna Loa, Noone can learn how air masses journey through the global water cycle, as well as whether this journey will shift as the climate changes. [ source: News & Events and Science Features ] |
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Notable & Quotable
March 16, 2009
Climate Discoveries Have Downsides
"Science is exciting when you make [climate change] findings," CIRES Director Konrad Steffen told the AFP ("Climate change blues: how scientists cope"). "But if you stop and look at the implications of what is coming down the road for humanity, it is rather scary. I have kids in college -- what do they have to look forward to in 50 years?"
March 11, 2009
Sea Levels Rising Faster
"The upper range of sea level rise by 2100 might be above 1m or more on a global average, with large regional differences depending where the source of ice loss occurs", CIRES Director Konrad Steffen reported at the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen this month (see the Science Daily article).
February 18, 2009
"Stimulating" Research
According to the Daily Camera ("Ten ways for federal cash to come to Boulder"), Boulder's wealth of federal and university research, including cutting-edge atmospheric research at CIRES, is likely to bring stimulus dollars to town.
January 29, 2009
Follow The Water (Vapor)
Isotope measurements of water vapor may be key to improving our understanding of the global water cycle and its role in the climate system, CIRES Fellow David Noone told the Christian Science Monitor ("Researchers study the other greenhouse gas: water vapor"). Read more at LiveScience to learn how scientists are studying water vapor's role as a greenhouse gas.
January 29, 2009
Seismographs At Sea
CIRES Fellows Peter Molnar and Anne Sheehan are dropping 30 seismographs to the ocean floor to study earthquake hazards near New Zealand. Watch their interview with New Zealand's TV One.
January 27, 2009
Sounds Of Ice
ESOC Director Waleed Abdalati spoke with KGNU about measuring Greenland's ice loss from space. Listen to the "How on Earth" interview here.
January 9, 2009
Scambos Participates in Antarctic Expedition
Ted Scambos, Antarctic Ice Sheet expert and Lead Scientist at CIRES' National Snow and Ice Data Center, is one of a group of scientists conducting a traverse beginning at the South Pole.
January 8, 2009
Covering Climate in the News
"The climate change story is now 100% political. Science plays a role in it, but there is no separating the science from the politics," CIRES Fellow Roger Pielke Jr. told CU's Center for Environmental Journalism (CEJournal). "Climate policy needs more options, not less," he also said.
January 7, 2009
Arctic Sea Ice Observations Make NASA's Top Story List For 2008
Though last September's Arctic sea ice extent didn't break a record, it came awfully close. The 2008 minimum was the second-lowest on record since the dawn of satellite observations and made NASA's list of top 2008 science stories. LiveScience.com also picked Arctic sea ice for their top 2008 science discovery. NSIDC scientists, who analyze the satellite data, have now posted their own 2008 year-in-review as part of their ongoing Arctic sea ice blog.
January 5, 2009
Zhang Receives Reviewer Award for Service to Journal
CIRES Fellow Tingjun Zhang has received a Reviewers Certificate award from the Elsevier journal Cold Regions Science & Technology. The certificate was awarded to five reviewers who had gone above and beyond the normal peer review process. Zhang has been a member of the Cold Regions Science & Technology editorial board for more than five years. He also served as a guest editor of a recent special issue, entitled "The Qinghai-Tibet Railroad: A milestone project and its environmental impact."
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