School of Earth and Climate Sciences

mongolia putnam

Putnam pursues climate clues in Mongolia ice fields

Aaron Putnam, assistant professor with the University of Maine Climate Change Institute, is searching for clues in Mongolia about what “caused the Earth to lurch out of the last ice age.” Kevin Stark, a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, is embedded with Putnam’s research team and is blogging about the expedition. […]

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Antarctica Pollution

Climate scientists: Australian uranium mining pollutes Antarctic

Uranium mining in Australia is polluting the Antarctic, about 6,000 nautical miles away. University of Maine climate scientists made the discovery during the first high-resolution continuous examination of a northern Antarctic Peninsula ice core. Ice core data reveal a significant increase in uranium concentration that coincides with open pit mining in the Southern Hemisphere, most […]

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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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NSF 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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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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Ed Ashworth

UMaine College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture Awards Top Students

The College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture at the University of Maine honored 11 students for their exemplary achievements during a banquet on April 20. The invitation-only event attracted over 400 university students, staff and friends. The College is the largest at the University of Maine, with a faculty that comprises the largest group […]

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aaron putnam

Climate change and the rise of the Mongol Empire

Could the rise of the Mongol Empire, the greatest land empire ever on Earth, have been linked to climate change? Aaron Putnam thinks so. In 2010 and 2011, Putnam, previously at Columbia University and now an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences and the Climate Change Institute at the University of […]

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Peru

UMaine researchers study impact of melting glaciers in Peru

In the context of modern anthropogenic climate change, many Peruvian societies are experiencing the brunt of abrupt climate change impacts. The Peruvian Andes are home to 70 percent of the world’s tropical glaciers, which provide surrounding communities with water for drinking, agriculture and pastoralism, energy production and tourism. Recent studies indicate that glacier coverage in […]

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