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A forest in the southern Rocky Mountains with trees killed by bark beetles.

Forests bouncing back from beetles, but elk and deer slowing recovery

Feb. 13, 2020

New research reveals that even simultaneous bark beetle outbreaks are not a death sentence to the state’s beloved forests.

A mushroom cloud erupts during the Castle Bravo nuclear weapon test at Bikini Atoll in 1954.

First-of-its-kind study examines toll of nuclear war on world’s oceans

Feb. 5, 2020

A new study finds that a nuclear war could throw the world's ocean chemistry for a loop—and coral reefs could pay the price.

A forest sinks into a thawed permafrost lake.

Arctic permafrost thaw plays greater role in climate change than previously estimated

Feb. 3, 2020

Abrupt thawing of permafrost will double previous estimates of potential carbon emissions from permafrost thaw in the Arctic and is already rapidly changing the landscape and ecology of the circumpolar north, a new CU Boulder-led study finds.

Phi Phi Island in Thailand packed with tourists

What’s Hollywood’s dirtiest secret? Its environmental toll

Jan. 27, 2020

From classics such as “Gone with the Wind” to modern films such as “Avatar,” the movie industry packs a serious, and often hidden, environmental cost, says film scholar Hunter Vaughan.

Oil and gas operation

Air pollution from oil and gas production sites visible from space

Jan. 16, 2020

Oil and gas production has doubled in some parts of the U.S. in the last two years, and scientists can use satellites to see impacts of that trend: a significant increase in the release of the lung-irritating air pollutant nitrogen dioxide, for example, and a more-than-doubling of the amount of gas flared into the atmosphere.

A shot of clouds in the sky

Iodine may slow ozone layer recovery

Jan. 15, 2020

A new paper quantifying small levels of iodine in Earth’s stratosphere could help explain why some of the planet’s protective ozone layer isn’t healing as fast as expected.

The loss of Antarctic ice as seen inĚýLandsat images.

Ice in motion: Satellites capture changes to polar regions

Dec. 10, 2019

CU Boulder graduate student Devon Dunmire is searching for the lakes hidden beneath Antarctica's surface—features that, she said, could have huge influences on the future of polar ice sheets.

The group of 100 intrepid women seeking to become global leaders in environmental sustainability while on a three-week Antarctic expedition organized by Homeward Bound Project.

CU Boulder professor and 100 women set sail for Antarctica

Dec. 6, 2019

Cassandra Brooks is sharing her love and knowledge of the southernmost continent with a group of 100 intrepid women seeking to become global leaders in environmental sustainability.

A polar landscape

Warming at the poles will have global consequences

Dec. 4, 2019

The poles may be warming faster than anywhere else on Earth. A new study explores the consequences for these icy regions—and for the rest of the world.

An Arctic ice storm affects the RV Polarstern

A ship frozen in the Arctic ice confronts the first big storm

Dec. 4, 2019

A powerful winter storm swept over the German RV Polarstern icebreaker recently, tearing new cracks in the ice floe next to the ship, sending ice-based instruments adrift and forcing a rescue-and-reconstruction process that could take weeks of work by CU Boulder and other scientists.

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