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 .

Valerie Morris, in puffy fur-lined parka, carries a section of the GISP2 ice core in a wooden tray at the NSF Ice Core Facility.

Old core, new data: Students unlock knowledge about past Arctic climates

June 27, 2024

Tyler Jones, Brad Markle, and Valerie Morris are leading a group of students in resampling the Greenland Ice Sheet Project Two (GISP2) core to investigate mechanisms of abrupt climate change and extreme events of the past. The original measurements (e.g., water isotopes) numbered a few thousand while the new measurements will create millions of data points.

CU Boulder incoming PhD student Paloma Siegel carries an autonomous aircraft (~10 foot wingspan) away from an Alaskan landing strip after a flight

Flight Ops supports INSTAAR research in Alaska (CU Boulder Public Safety)

June 25, 2024

For the second summer in a row, the CU Boulder Division of Public Safety's Flight Operations department is supporting important campus research in Alaska, as part of the Navigating the New Arctic project (principal investigator: Tyler Jones), which is being managed by researchers in the Stable Isotope Lab of INSTAAR.

The Imja Glacier was in 1960 one of the largest in the Khumbu region and is now a lake. Photos by Erwin Schneider / Alton Byers

Las fotos de cien años de escaladas al Everest muestran el impacto del deshielo: “Es la escena de un crimen” (El Diario)

June 17, 2024

Scientists, climbers and local communities come together to warn of the impact of warming on the Himalayas, which is evident when comparing photographs taken over time, and puts the lives of millions of people at risk. Many of the most revealing photographs of the valleys near Everest have been taken by Alton Byers, who has been repeating the photos made by pioneering climbers for years to show the spectacular changes taking place in this region.

Six people stand behind a low table, which holds a number of silicon molds of animal footprints, at the Natural History Museum in Kathmandu, May 2023. They include Alton Byers (third from left) and Ganesh Bahadur Thapa (fourth from left).

Tracking Himalayan wildlife (Nepali Times)

June 13, 2024

The Natural History Museum in Kathmandu revives the ancient art of tracking with an exhibit that includes casts of wildlife tracks made by INSTAAR research scientist Alton Byers.

An American pika forages avens on Niwot Ridge. Photo by Craig Stevenson.

Seminar series starts at Mountain Research Station

June 5, 2024

Seminars at the Mountain Research Station will address the plants, animals, soils, permafrost, fires, and water of the Front Range, and how climate change interacts with all of them. All are welcome to the seminars, which are free and open to the public.

An aerial view of the rust-colored Kutuk River in Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska. Photo by Ken Hill, National Park Service.

Rivers in Alaska are turning orange. The reason surprised even scientists (CNN)

June 4, 2024

A new paper by a team of USGS and CU Boulder scientists is mentioned in this news story on rivers and streams in Alaska changing color. The streams are turning from blue to rusty orange because of toxic metals released by thawing permafrost and leaching into stream water.

A mountain chickadee eats seeds from an auto feeder after landing on the perch that matches its radio tag and opens the feed door. Photo: Nicholas Goda, via 鶹Ƶ

Colorado’s chickadees may lose their good memory to adapt to climate change, researchers find (The Colorado Sun)

May 28, 2024

The common mountain bird has an excellent memory for the right perch for free seeds, and has the flexibility to handle climate change. New research from the University of Colorado and colleagues has tightened a claw around the sets of genes that make mountain chickadees some of the most remarkable return-navigators in nature.

A mountain stream in the upper Mancos river basin, displaying a rusty red bed, flows toward the viewer. Mountain slopes covered with pine trees are in the background. Photo by Andrew Manning.

Colorado's streams are being loaded with toxic heavy metals (Newsweek)

May 22, 2024

Colorado's mountain streams are facing a "real challenge" from a rising concentration of heavy metal levels. These rising levels are only worsening with climate change, a new study found.

This enhanced-color image shows a 45-meter-diameter crater on the surface of Mars, appearing as a glistening sphere on a rusty red background. Glistening material is interpreted as water ice slowly subliming. Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Modeling ice and snow on planets

May 16, 2024

A new model makes better predictions of the behavior of ice on Mars—and any other rocky planet with an atmosphere.

A stream with rusty orange streambed, centered in steep slopes with scree and evergreen trees, with a mountain in the background.

Warming climate is putting more metals into Colorado’s mountain streams

April 23, 2024

Warming temperatures are causing a steady rise in copper, zinc and sulfate in the waters of Colorado mountain streams affected by acid rock drainage. Concentrations of these metals have roughly doubled in these alpine streams over the past 30 years, a new study finds, presenting a concern for ecosystems, downstream water quality and mining remediation.

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