Climate Change Institute

The Associated Press cited a University of Maine Climate Change Institute analysis in a report looking at what is causing the Arctic blast that has moved south to affect central and eastern United States. Super cold air is normally locked up in the Arctic in the polar vortex, which is a gigantic circular weather pattern […]

Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie, a postdoctoral David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow at the University of Maine, wrote an opinion piece for the Bangor Daily News titled, “National parks belong to Americans. They should remain accessible to all.” MacKenzie studies alpine and subalpine plant communities, climate change and conservation across New England.

By Chris Mooney December 19 The ice core drilling camp at 13,000 feet on Alaska’s Mount Hunter, where 18 feet of snow falls each year, up from eight feet before the Industrial Revolution. (Erich Osterberg) A team of scientists presented surprising data on Tuesday suggesting that even as the state of Alaska has warmed up extremely rapidly in […]

Reuters , Daily Mail , The Straits Times and Business Day reported on a new study conducted by researchers from Dartmouth College, the University of Maine and the University of New Hampshire. The study, which was published in the journal Scientific Reports, found snowfalls atop an Alaskan mountain range have doubled since the start of […]

The Inside Science article, “Melting glaciers release pollutants frozen decades ago,” focuses on research presented by Kimberley Miner, an earth and climate scientist and graduate student at the University of Maine, at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in New Orleans. Miner’s analysis suggests that people who live in the shadow of melting glaciers […]

The Climate Change Institute’s Climate Reanalyzer was included in an online Discover Magazine blog post titled, “Move over record-setting warmth: A brutal blast of winter misery straight out of the Arctic appears to be on its way.” An Arctic blast is forecast for the Midwest and eastern United States around Dec. 10, according to the […]

  Major volcanic eruptions in Iceland have disrupted flights and affected communications throughout Europe and the Northern Atlantic in recent years, making headlines worldwide. Large volcanic eruptions are known to alter climate for extended periods of time by releasing massive clouds of ash and gases into the stratosphere which can lower surface temperature — by […]

The Bangor Daily News reported on the prehistoric shell middens, or refuse heaps, along the Maine coast that are threatened by rising sea levels, beach erosion and development. The middens include clam shells, fish bones and other artifacts left behind by people who lived along the coast thousands of years ago. “The paleo information is […]

This year, two CCI faculty and two CCI graduate students are attending the annual UN climate negotiations as part of the first-ever UMaine/Climate Change Institute delegation. Dr. Aaron Strong (CCI/School of Marine Sciences) is studying the incorporation of ocean and coastal issues in the negotiations and is also tracking issues of climate justice in climate […]

University of Maine marine geologist Joseph Kelley and 2017 honorary doctorate recipient Donna Loring will take part in a discussion that explores connections between art, environmental concerns and people’s relationship to the natural world at 5:30 p.m. 10 . 26 in Osher Auditorium at Maine College of Art. Kelley will discuss his research about Maine’s […]