News | Research

INSTAAR research is featured in thousands of news stories and more than 10,000 social media posts per year. Outlets include the New York Times, Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, National Public Radio, and as well as more regional news outlets like High Country News, 9News, and the Denver Post. Selected highlights are listed below. Additional stories are noted .

Photo of sea ice floes

Smoke from Western wildfires can influence Arctic sea ice (Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine)

July 27, 2022

New CU Boulder 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.

Narrow canyon in Lake Powell showing lowered water level

Climate change will make it hard to predict the amount of snow and water that will be available (ABC News)

July 20, 2022

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.

Mountain stream flows in a wide grassy valley with snowcapped peaks in background

Water resources to become less predictable with climate change (NCAR & UCAR News)

July 18, 2022

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.

Map of dry vs wet conditions for coterminous US

These maps illustrate the seriousness of the western drought (Washington Post)

June 16, 2022

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.

Glacial blue lake in Tibet after a sudden drop in lake level due to an outburst flood

Nepal’s mountains are melting (Nepali Times)

June 5, 2022

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.

Drawing of Genyornis newtoni, a thunderbird from the pleistocene of Australia

Egg-eating humans helped drive Australia’s ‘thunder bird’ to extinction (Science)

May 27, 2022

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.

Gifford Miller collects fragments of eggshells believed to be remnants of the extinct Genyornis

Bits of an extinct bird’s eggshells may be clue to why megafauna vanished (Washington Post)

May 26, 2022

A new study led by Giff Miller suggests that the 500-pound Genyornis newtoni 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.

Rows of grape vines in a Napa Valley vineyard. (Credit: Eve-Lyn Hinckley)

Toward more sustainable wine: Scientists can now track sulfur from grapes to streams (CU Boulder Today)

May 24, 2022

New research from the University of Colorado Boulder 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.

Banner from the CSDMS Spring School website, showing the name of the workshop and the dates May 9th - 19th 2022

CSDMS Spring School supports programming, modeling skills for Earth surface process research

May 22, 2022

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.

Colorado State House Science Committee meets around the table with CU science leaders

U.S. House committee, Colorado congressional delegation visit campus (CU Boulder Today)

May 4, 2022

On May 3, members of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and Colorado congressional delegation joined leaders and scientists from CU Boulder, including INSTAAR Director Merritt Turetsky, to showcase university research and federal partnerships.

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