80 mph speed record for glacier fracture helps reveal the physics of ice sheet collapse

Illustration of an iceberg with a rift extending from the above water surface to well below under the water

There’s enough water frozen in Greenland and Antarctic glaciers that if they melted, global seas would rise by many feet. What will happen to these glaciers over the coming decades is the biggest unknown in the future of rising seas, partly because glacier fracture physics is not yet fully understood. A critical question is how warmer oceans might cause glaciers to break apart more quickly. 

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Earth and Space Sciences professor Fang-Zhen Teng elected as a Geochemistry Fellow

Fang-Zhen Teng of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences has been elected as a 2024 Geochemical Fellow of the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry. This international award, established in 1996, is bestowed upon outstanding scientists who have made a major contribution to the field of geochemistry. Nearly 380 geochemists worldwide have been honored with this esteemed recognition. 

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Video: Bringing stars back to the sea

sea stars in a caged area underwater

At the Friday Harbor Laboratories, recovery is afoot. Scientists at this University of Washington facility in the San Juan Islands are working to help sunflower stars — a type of sea star — grow and thrive once again after their populations along the West Coast were devastated by a mysterious disease. “They’re gone in a lot of places, and a lot of what we’re doing here is testing out ideas for reintroduction,” said Jason Hodin, a researcher at the lab.  

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