University of Washington
University of Washington is a university that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.
Why isn’t Colorado’s snowpack ending up in the Colorado River?
The Colorado River and its tributaries provide water for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water in seven U.S. states and Mexico. Much of this water comes from the snowpack that builds up over the winter and then melts each spring. Every year in early April, water managers use the snowpack to predict how much water will be […]
Researchers bring first underwater messaging app to smartphones
For millions of people who participate in activities such as snorkeling and scuba diving each year, hand signals are the only option for communicating safety and directional information underwater. While recreational divers may employ around 20 signals, professional divers’ vocabulary can exceed 200 signals on topics ranging from oxygen level, to the proximity of aquatic […]
Study: Record-breaking heat events to become more common in North America and Europe
Record-breaking heat waves have occurred recently from Delhi to the Pacific Northwest, and the number of these deadly events is expected to increase. New research from the University of Washington and Harvard University gives a range of heat impacts worldwide by the end of this century, depending on future emissions of greenhouse gases. The study was published […]
Is there snow in that tree? Citizen science helps unpack snow’s effect on summer water supplies
The snow that falls in the mountains is good for more than just skiing, snowshoeing and breathtaking vistas. The snowpack it creates will eventually melt, and that water can be used for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water. Researchers want to predict how much water we will get later in the year based on the snowpack. […]
Last ice-covered parts of summertime Arctic Ocean vulnerable to climate change
In a rapidly changing Arctic, one area might serve as a refuge – a place that could continue to harbor ice-dependent species when conditions in nearby areas become inhospitable. This region north of Greenland and the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago has been termed the Last Ice Area. But research led by the University […]
Pine Island Glacier’s ice shelf is ripping apart, causing key Antarctic glacier to gain speed
For decades, the ice shelf helping to hold back one of the fastest-moving glaciers in Antarctica has gradually thinned. Analysis of satellite images reveals a more dramatic process in recent years: From 2017 to 2020, large icebergs at the ice shelf’s edge broke off, and the glacier sped up. Since floating ice shelves help to […]
Limiting warming to 2 C requires emissions reductions 80% above Paris Agreement targets
In 2017, a widely cited study used statistical tools to model how likely the world is to meet the Paris Agreement global temperature targets. The analysis found that on current trends, the planet had only a 5% chance of staying below 2 degrees Celsius warming this century — the international climate treaty’s supposed goal. Now, the same […]
Global warming found to be culprit for flood risk in Peruvian Andes, other glacial lakes
As the planet warms, glaciers are retreating and causing changes in the world’s mountain water systems. For the first time, scientists at the University of Oxford and the University of Washington have directly linked human-induced climate change to the risk of flooding from a glacial lake known as one of the world’s greatest flood risks. […]
In Brazil, many smaller dams disrupt fish more than large hydropower projects
The development of small hydropower dams is widespread throughout Brazil and elsewhere in the world, vastly overshadowing large hydropower projects. The proliferation of these smaller dams is a response to growing energy and security needs. Their expansion, however, threatens many of the remaining free-flowing rivers and biodiverse tropical regions of the world— interrupting the migrations […]