Research
Grasslands’ biodiversity and resilience to disturbances such as fire, heat and drought is the result of a slow process over hundreds of years, like that of old growth forests, finds new CU research led by INSTAAR Katharine Suding that was published today in Science. An implication of the research is that it's important to conserve grasslands that are still intact.
New CU Â鶹ӰԺ research by Patricia DeRepentigny, Alexandra Jahn, and others finds that the presence of clouds—or lack thereof—caused by the smoke of wildfires thousands of miles away can either help protect or endanger Arctic sea ice.
A new study that included Will Wieder and Keith Musselman finds that snow-free seasons are expected to last longer, putting Northern Hemisphere water supplies at risk.
Water resources will fluctuate increasingly and become more difficult to predict in snow-dominated regions across the Northern Hemisphere by later this century, according to a comprehensive new climate change study. Even regions that keep receiving the same amount of precipitation will experience more variable and unpredictable streamflow as snowpack recedes.
Historic drought has depleted groundwater, melted the snowpack, and dried up lakes--and it will get worse. Washington Post visual story (paywall) illustrated by maps from the Mountain Hydrology Lab.
Climate scientist Alton Byers takes a close look at three recent and poorly understood glacial lake outburst floods in the Himalaya. The stored lake water that is suddenly released can cause enormous death and devastation downstream.
The giant bird Genyornis newtoni disappeared from Australia 45,000 years ago, and researchers have long puzzled over whether human hunters or climate change was the culprit. Now, a new analysis of ancient eggshells—the leftovers of a prehistoric feast—suggests humans were responsible. Study led by Giff Miller. Illustration by Nobu Tamura.
A new study led by Giff Miller suggests that the 500-pound <em>Genyornis newtoni<em> laid the eggs marked by cooking fires in Australia, and not a smaller bird. The study could shed light on an even bigger scientific mystery, of why megafauna went extinct shortly after the advent of humans on the continent.
New research from the Â鶹ӰԺ is the first to show that agricultural sulfur has a unique fingerprint that can be traced from application to endpoint. Led by Eve-Lyn Hinckley, who is transitioning her research team from INSTAAR to CIRES, the study paves the way to protect waterways downstream from unintended impacts of anthropogenic sulfur application.
25 students from diverse backgrounds are in SEEC completing the CSDMS Spring School, a week-long coding camp designed to build students’ cyberinfrastructure skills needed in Earth science careers.