Climate Change

Kimberley Rain Miner

Emerging environmental leader earns prestigious Switzer Fellowship

Kimberley Rain Miner, Ph.D. candidate in Earth and climate sciences at the University of Maine, was recently selected as a Switzer Environmental Fellow by the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation. This year, the Switzer Foundation awarded 20 fellowships of $15,000 each for emerging environmental leaders who are pursuing graduate degrees and are dedicated to positive […]

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BDN reports on new guide by Orono Bog Boardwalk founder, professor emeritus

The Bangor Daily News reported on a new book written by Ronald Davis, professor emeritus at the University of Maine School of Biology and Ecology and Climate Change Institute. Davis’ book, “Bogs and Fens: A Guide to Peatland Plants of the Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada,” was released June 7 by the University Press […]

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Close up view of a microscope

Three more UMaine students earn prestigious NSF graduate fellowships

Three University of Maine graduate students have received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which recognizes outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. The three fellows awarded in 2016 — incoming students Anna McGinn and William Kochtitzky in the Climate Change Institute and School of Earth and Climate Sciences, respectively, […]

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Andean Past journal now published on Digital Commons

The journal Andean Past, founded at Cornell University in 1986 by Dan Sandweiss, is now sponsored by the University of Maine and published on Digital Commons. The latest volume is online; prior issues will be uploaded in the coming months. Andean Past is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal dedicated to research in the archaeology and ethnohistory […]

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Birkel’s research finds 2015 warmest year in Northern Hemisphere, WVII reports

WVII (Channel 7) reported on recent research conducted by Sean Birkel, Maine state climatologist and University of Maine research assistant professor with the Climate Change Institute. Birkel found December 2015 through February 2016 — the meteorological winter — was the warmest or near warmest on record in Maine since 1871. While cold weather still occurs, […]

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Sunset over a the snowy Maine coast.

2015 warmest year, on average, across Northern Hemisphere

For many Mainers, ice-skating and snowmobiling weren’t part of last December’s holiday break. There was open water on lakes and green grass throughout much of the state as daytime high temperatures reached into the 50s. In fact, December 2015 through February 2016 — the meteorological winter — was the warmest or near warmest on record […]

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Inilchek Glacier

Grigholm: Ice cores indicate increases in atmospheric heavy metals

Glacial ice core records indicate that humans have significantly altered the atmosphere in Central Asia during the 20th century, say climate scientists from the University of Maine. Climate Change Institute researchers say evidence from ice cores extracted from Inilchek Glacier in the Tien Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan reveals that rapid growth of industry and agriculture […]

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Putnam quoted in articles on Mongol Empire, weather research

Aaron Putnam, the George H. Denton Assistant Professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, was quoted in articles by The Christian Science Monitor, New Scientist and Tech Times about the effects weather had on the fall of the Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire swept through Eastern Europe until an abrupt withdrawal in 1242, […]

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AP, Press Herald report on grant awarded to track diseased lobsters

The Associated Press and the Portland Press Herald reported the Maine Department of Marine Resources awarded more than $127,000 for a lobster shell study led by University of Maine researchers. The grant will aid the development of the project, “A Proactive Approach to Addressing Lobster Health in the Context of a Changing Ecosystem,” which will […]

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