The Grand Canyon gets a new birthday

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

New geologic technique suggests the Grand Canyon is 60 million years older than previously thought

hg

There’s no better place to contemplate Earth’s geological mysteries than the rim of the Grand Canyon, which may be quite a bit older than scientists had thought. Photo by Leigh Wadden.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — When you stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon, it becomes a little easier to visualize the almost unimaginably powerful forces that give Earth the shape we know today — and also to get a sense of how long some of those processes have been at work.

New research led by CU-Boulder assistant professor Rebecca Flowers suggests that the Grand Canyon may be 60 million years older than previously thought. An analysis of mineral grains from the bottom of the western Grand Canyon indicates it was largely carved out by about 70 million years ago — a time when dinosaurs were around and may have even peeked over the rim.

The scientists used a dating method that exploits the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium atoms to helium atoms in a phosphate mineral known as apatite, said Flowers, a faculty member in CU-Boulder’s geological sciences department. The technique may help researchers unravel other geological mysteries. (more…)

Filed under: Environment, national parks | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Forests: CU study traces evolution of pine beetle outbreak

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Beetle-killed lodgepole pines dominate the landscape in many parts of Summit County.

2002 drought played key role in accelerating insect invasion

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Drought conditions in the early 2000s helped pine beetle populations surge to unprecedented levels, according to a new University of Colorado study that charts the evolution of the current pine beetle epidemic in the southern Rocky Mountains.

But even when the drought eased, the outbreak continued to gain ground, spreading into wetter and higher elevations and into less susceptible tree stands — those with smaller diameter lodgepoles sharing space with other tree species, according to CU-Boulder doctoral student Teresa Chapman.

“In recent years some researchers have thought the pine beetle outbreak in the southern Rocky Mountains might have started in one place and spread from there,” said Chapman. “What we found was that the mountain pine beetle outbreak originated in many locations. The idea that the outbreak spread from multiple places, then coalesced and continued spreading, really highlights the importance of the broad-scale drivers of the pine beetle epidemic like climate and drought.” (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment, Forest health, forests, global warming, pine beetles | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

CU study eyes water, climate and land-use tipping points

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Reservoirs were left high and dry by this summer’s drought.

National Science Foundation funding enables detailed research on trans-basin water diversions

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — As some West Slope aquatic ecosystems teeter on the brink of collapse due to water diversions, a group of CU researchers will use a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to try and pinpoint tipping points, beyond which systems may be pushed into an unsustainable state.

The research will examine how changes in land use, forest management and climate may affect trans-basin water diversions in Colorado and other semi-arid regions in the western United States, finding thresholds that could compromise the sustainability of the policies and procedures that dictate the timing and quality of water diverted from Colorado’s West Slope to the Front Range.

The grant, part of the National Science Foundation-U.S. Department of Agriculture Water Sustainability Climate Program, was awarded to assistant professor Noah Molotch of the geography department, who singled out Summit County as one focus area for the study. (more…)

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

New CU study shows that nitrogen compounds from cars, power plants and agriculture threaten alpine ecosystems

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Part of Colorado’s alpine landscape may face irreversible changes from nitrogen pollution. Photo by Bob Berwyn.

Acidification of soil is nearly irreversible

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Nitrogen compounds from power plants, auto emissions and agriculture is starting to change the alpine vegetation in Rocky Mountain National Park in “subtle but important” ways, according to a University of Colorado Boulder study conducted at the school’s Mountain Research Station.

In other regions of the world, higher amounts of nitrogen pollutants correlate with decreased biodiversity, acidified soils and dead stream organisms like trout, said research station director Professor William Bowman.

“There is evidence that indicates once these changes occur, they can be difficult if not impossible to reverse. It is best to recognize these early stages before the more harmful later stages happen.” (more…)

Filed under: air quality, biodiversity, Colorado, Environment, national parks | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Global warming: Long-term research by CU Boulder team suggests Colorado’s alpine tundra and forests are in trouble

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Snow-dependent ecosystems highly sensitive to climate change

Some research suggests that Colorado's conifer forests will have a hard time rebounding from beetle-kill impacts due to climate change.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — It might not come as a total surprise that ecosystems dependent on seasonal snow and ice are among the most sensitive to climate change — but some of the impacts may be unexpected.

For example, researchers with the University of Colorado Boulder found that one of their high altitude climate stations has recorded a trend toward wetter and cooler conditions in recent years, while another site nearby, but lower in elevation, has become significantly warmer and drier.

“In the past we tried to look at pristine ecosystems, but those are essentially gone. So we’ve come up with an approach that integrates human activities with our ecological research,” said CU-Boulder Professor Mark Williams, the principal investigator on CU’s Niwot Ridge Long-term ecological research site.

Key measurements at the Niwot Ridge site — which has climate records going back more than 60 years thanks to pioneering work by CU biology Professor John Marr in the 1950s — are temperature and precipitation logs from two stations, one at 12,700 feet in elevation and a second at 10,000 feet. (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment, global warming | Tagged: , , , , , | 11 Comments »

CU researchers to help assess Himalayan water supplies

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Future climate change impacts to region not clear yet

The High Asia mountains funnel water into such major river basins as the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Indus, Amu Darya and Syr Darya.
—Credit: James Schweithelm, USAID

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY —A meltdown of Himalayan glaciers may not be imminent, but there is a lot of concern about how a changing climate may affect water resources in one of the world’s most densely population regions.

Most of the Indian subcontinent relies on water stored in mountain snowpack and glaciers, yet there is not much in the way of reliable baseline data, so a University of Colorado Boulder team is partnering with the United States Agency for International Development to assess snow and glacier contributions to those water resources.

There is a lot of misinformation in the public arena regarding glaciers, including reports that glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than anywhere else in the world and, if this rapid melting continues, rivers are on track to first flood and then dry up, according to Richard Armstrong, a scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

“Those reports simply are not true,” said Armstrong, who is partnering with Mark Williams of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at CU on the study. (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment, global warming | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Global warming: CU-led study pinpoints Earth’s ice loss

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Arctic sea ice extent is below average in early February, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

New data to help project sea level rise

By Summit Voice

Earth’s glaciers and ice caps outside of the regions of Greenland and Antarctica are shedding about 150 billion tons of ice annually, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

The total mass ice loss from Greenland, Antarctica and all Earth’s glaciers and ice caps between 2003 to 2010 was 1,000 cubic miles, about eight times the water volume of Lake Erie.

“The total amount of ice lost to Earth’s oceans from 2003 to 2010 would cover the entire United States in about 1 and one-half feet of water,” said CU-Boulder physics Professor John Wahr, who helped lead the study. (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment, global warming, Summit County news | Tagged: , , , , , | 18 Comments »

Environment: Pikas still thriving in Southern Rockies

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

A pika in the mountains near Aspen, photographed by Kim Fenske.

Extensive high altitude habitat may serve as a climate refuge for tiny alpine mammals

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Despite concerns about climate-change impacts, it appears that the high-alpine reaches of the southern Rockies still holds plenty of good habitat for American pikas, according to a University of Colorado Boulder study released this week.

The temperature-sensitive mammals have been singled out as a possible bellwether species for global warming impacts in mountain regions, but the extensive CU survey shows that populations appear to be holding their own. Localized population declines appear to be linked to the dryness rather than directly to temperature, according to CU doctoral student Liesl Erb, who led the study. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, climate and weather, Colorado, endangered species, Environment, global warming, Summit County news, wildlife | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

CU team tracks Patagonian droughts and wildfires

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Patagonian beech forests may become more fire-prone as ozone-depleting chemicals and greenhouse gases reinforce a cyclical climate pattern that leads to drought in the region.

Tree-ring study suggests the region could remain fire-prone for a century or more

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A new study by CU Boulder researchers suggests that forests in Patagonia may become more fire-prone in the next 100 years, as a major climate oscillation in the southern hemisphere is reinforced and made more persistent by ozone-depleting chemicals and greenhouse gases.

The researchers used tree ring records dating back to 1506 to link past wildfire activity in the forests of Patagonia with the Southern Annular Mode, a climate cycle that creates low atmospheric pressure in the Antarctic that is tied to warmer and drier conditions in southern South America.

The tree rings showed that, when SAM was in its positive phase, there were widespread fires in both dry woodlands and rainforests in Patagonia, a region that straddles Argentina and Chile, said CU-Boulder Research Associate Andres Holz, lead study author. (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Environment, forest fires, Forest health, forests, global warming, Summit County news | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Global cooling system may be failing fast

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

A NASA satellite image shows Arctic sea ice.

Maximum sea ice extent at record low level as melting season begins

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — With the vernal equinox, the sun starts once again to shine north of the Arctic Circle, and that marks the beginning of the melt season for sea ice in the region.

Researchers with the Boulder-based National Snow and Ice Data Center say this year’s maximum sea ice extent, which on average occurs March 6, is tied with 2006 as lowest on record since satellite measurements began in 1979. The maximum ice extent was 463,000 square miles below the 1979-2000 average, an area slightly larger than the states of Texas and California combined.

Virtually all climate scientists believe shrinking Arctic sea ice is tied to warming temperatures in the region caused by an increase in human-produced greenhouse gases being pumped into Earth’s atmosphere. (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, global warming, world news | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 5,553 other followers