Pacific Northwest Archives - State of the Planet

A Study Offers New Insights Into the Record 2021 Western North America Heat Wave

Several weeks during summer 2021 saw heat records in the western United States and Canada broken not just by increments, but by tens of degrees, an event of unprecedented extremity. To what degree was it climate change, bad luck, or a combination?

by |November 24, 2022

Understanding Ice With Lasers: New Tool Helps Researchers Study Remote Glaciers

Researchers at the University of Oregon have created a portable tool that uses lasers to study glacier retreat in remote areas that are typically difficult to reach.

by |October 18, 2022

Declining Salmon Lead Eagles to Seek Out Food in Washington’s Agricultural Areas

As warming streams reduce the populations of chum salmon in northwest Washington, bald eagles are exploring adjacent farmland for alternative foods.

by |August 30, 2022
The Tulsequah Glacier, British Columbia

Melting Glaciers Could Produce More Than 3,000 Miles of New Pacific Salmon Habitat

Once filled with ice, glacial valleys are now flowing with water in a warming climate, opening up new habitat for the Pacific salmon and revealing opportunities for a modern-day gold rush in parts of British Columbia and Alaska, a new study finds.

by |March 1, 2022

Searching for the Megathrust Fault at Cascadia

Researchers have set sail to find and map a fault that causes giant earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest.

by |June 29, 2021

Ocean Sediments Off Pacific Coast May Feed Tsunami Danger

Tightly packed sediments help the Cascadia Subduction Zone generate large earthquakes, and could boost its ability to trigger a large tsunami.

by |November 20, 2017
Axial Seamount

Live, from the Bottom of the Sea

Lamont-Doherty scientist Timothy Crone is at sea off the Northwest U.S. coast, dropping sensors into the deep ocean as part of a major initiative to better understand oceans, climate and plate tectonics. Watch a live video feed from the latest dive at 3 p.m. EST.

by |August 25, 2011