CIRES’ annual magazine, Spheres, presents highlights of our research every year. In 2024 and 2025, CIRES scientists and their colleagues:

• Kept eyes on the Arctic and Antarctic, where ice is disappearing, the days are warming, and the caribou population is diminishing
• Examined the impacts of wildfire on the air, the built environment, and the humans who live in its path
• Projected hurricane risk by monitoring ocean waves and storm surge
• Observed the relationships between otters and sea kelp forests (otters help them grow); seaweed and coral skeletons (the skeletons provide protection for seaweed, which in turn interferes with regrowth of the reef)
• Modeled weather patterns to predict the flow of the Colorado River
• Monitored air quality high and low via aircraft, at 24/7 measurement stations, and driving specially equipped vehicles through cities like Denver and Las Vegas
• Used role-playing games to give students and educators actionable tools to help them lead and engage in community discussions on resilience
• Found evidence of geologic processes that explain how continents are built

You can read these stories and more here.