Climate Change Institute

Sean Birkel, Maine’s state climatologist and a research assistant professor at the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute, was interviewed by the Bangor Daily News for the article, “Lots of rain, above average temperatures recorded in June in northern, eastern Maine.” Above average precipitation throughout the state over the winter and spring helped ease the […]

Maine’s wet 2017 winter and spring eased the 2016 drought conditions, says Sean Birkel, University of Maine research assistant professor and Maine State Climatologist. Winter precipitation was 2.3 inches more than normal on a statewide average, he says, totaling 11.7 inches water equivalent. And spring precipitation was 2.5 inches above normal, totaling 12.3 inches water […]

Carl Tugend | University of MaineGlacier National Park, Montana By Abigail Curtis, BDN Staff June 26, 2017, Posted 6:33 a.m. at Last modified June 27, 2017, at 5:51 a.m. Three years ago, Gardiner native Walter Beckwith was working at a dig at a very old, very high altitude archaeological site in southern Peru, searching for […]

The Free Press reported on an exhibit at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast that features photography and artwork illustrating the diverse research activities of students, faculty and staff of UMaine’s Climate Change Institute. About two-thirds of the art exhibitors are current or former CCI students, including Jill Pelto, whose watercolors have been […]

Data from the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine was included in the Reuters article, “Extreme heat grips Northern Hemisphere on summer solstice.” The CCI recorded temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere were 0.44 C (0.8 F) above the norm on June 20, compared with a global average of 0.25 C above usual, the […]

University of Maine graduate student Dulcinea Groff has been selected to receive a 2017 Shackleton Academic Scholarship. Groff, a doctoral candidate and NSF IGERT Fellow in ecology and environmental science, is one of five recipients from around the world to receive the annual award. The scholarship is given to graduate students who are pursuing research […]

Increasing temperatures are fostering more favorable conditions for the transmission of malaria into the highlands of Ethiopia, according to a study led by University of Maine associate research professor Bradfield Lyon. Traditionally, the cooler climate in the highlands has provided a natural buffer against malaria transmission. But new data indicate rising temperatures over the past […]

A University of Maine assistant professor of marine policy in the School of Marine Sciences and three UMaine graduate students are taking part in The Ocean Conference this week at the United Nations in New York. Participants are slated to discuss solutions to a range of threats to marine ecosystems, including reducing plastic pollution, expanding […]

As the world warms due to human-induced climate change, variations in the global distribution of rainfall can be expected, impacting water resources in many places on Earth, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances. The researchers, led by University of Maine glacial geologist Aaron Putnam, predict a seasonal response in rainfall […]

University of Maine archaeologist Daniel Sandweiss talked with ScienceNews about new findings that indicate the earliest settlers of the Americas perhaps curtailed their coastal migration to stay in the area that’s now northwestern Peru. Excavations at two seaside sites in Peru determined that people intermittently stayed there from about 15,000 to 8,000 years ago, according […]