University of Wisconsin–Madison

Climate

A heat map of the world — With warm weather across the country, in places typically coated with snow, we thought it was a good time to revisit this recent Q&A with UW-Madison climate scientist, Dan Vimont. Hopefully you weren’t anticipating a white Christmas this year. A tropical one is beginning to seem more likely … The […]

What the warm? An El Niño Q&A with a climate ...

December 14, 2015 by Kelly April Tyrrell

A side view of the Edmund Fitzgerald — For some under a certain age, the name Edmund Fitzgerald may conjure a Midwestern craft brew, or a haunting song their parents used to listen to by Gordon Lightfoot. But both pay homage to the Great Lakes freighter named Edmund Fitzgerald, which, 40-years-ago today (10 November 1975), disappeared on Lake Superior with all […]

Did a freak wave sink the Edmund Fitzgerald?

November 10, 2015 by Kelly April Tyrrell

A line of clouds ahead of a cold front appears in a satellite image over the Midwest — The UW-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center has long been a pioneer in the science (and art) of satellite imaging. SSEC is actually celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. One of their satellite images caught our eye today. The meteorological GOES-East satellite (one of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) shows the Midwest’s current bout of warm […]

Watch a cold front push November’s warmth out

November 5, 2015 by Kelly April Tyrrell

An aerial view of the Yahara watershed — Minnesota may be called the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but Wisconsin probably has more. Likely, it has more. Or maybe it doesn’t. It’s a matter of opinion. Or, definition. Apparently, the exact number isn’t well known. What is known is that many places in Wisconsin are defined by their lakes, from Rock […]

Modeling the future of a watershed

November 4, 2015 by Kelly April Tyrrell

sucker — If you live in Wisconsin, fish are important. The Friday night fish fry is a sacred, culture-driven meal. Fishing, whether in an urban pond, an icy Driftless Area trout stream or a Vilas County lake, is a cherished tradition, often a bonding experience between parent and child or with friends. […]

Let’s Go Fish!

August 4, 2015 by David Tenenbaum

Mastodon skull on cart — Many of Wisconsin’s most charismatic fossils are of Ice Age megafauna. The Boaz mastodon is Exhibit A. On display at the UW-Madison Geology Museum since 1915, the elephant like mastodon was recently discovered to be a composite of fossil material collected not only at Boaz, a sleepy town just off […]

A Legacy of Pleistocene Megafauna

June 8, 2015 by trdevitt

A sign warns swimmers of the presence of toxic algae in Lake Mendota in Madison, WI, near the UW-Madison campus — “We in Wisconsin can do a lot to build our resilience to climate change,” Stephen Carpenter, director of UW-Madison Center for Limnology (CFL) and a principal researcher on the Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) project, recently told Jenny Seifert, science writer for CFL and outreach coordinator for WSC. The two got together to discuss a paper […]

Creating safe operating spaces for Wisconsin’s lakes could curb climate ...

March 20, 2015 by Kelly April Tyrrell

View of AERI instrument on North Slope of Alaska — The following is a guest post from Jean Phillips, Space Science Engineering Center (SSEC): Field observations from the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) – a ground-based, spectroscopic instrument designed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) – are central to a new study that shows for […]

UW instrument provides first confirmation of increased greenhouse effect at ...

February 25, 2015 by Kelly April Tyrrell

A frozen bubble covered in ice crystals — As we begin another frigid week in Madison – one dominated by subzero temperatures and below-normal highs and lows – UW-Madison’s Steve Vavrus, senior scientist in the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research, has co-authored a new study that may explain why. The study, also from Rutgers University’s Jennifer Francis, looks at the […]

Cold? Buried in snow? Thirsty from drought? Blame a wavy ...

February 23, 2015 by Kelly April Tyrrell