Hannah Hickey

2 months ago | washington.edu | Hannah Hickey

Environment  |  News releases  |  Research  |  Science The blue whale is the largest animal on the planet. It consumes enormous quantities of tiny, shrimp-like animals known as krill to support a body of up to 100 feet (30 meters) long. Blue whales and other baleen whales, which filter seawater through their mouths to feed on small marine life, once teemed in Earth’s oceans. Then over the past century they were hunted almost to extinction for their energy-dense blubber.

2 months ago | phys.org | Hannah Hickey

As we burn fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere is gradually rising, and with it, the planet's average temperature. How fast the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide—and with it, the temperature—goes up matters for the ability of humans and ecosystems to adjust. A slower increase gives humans time to move away from low-lying areas and animals time to move to new habitats.

2 months ago | washington.edu | Hannah Hickey

Environment  |  Research  |  Science  |  UW News blog As we burn fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere is gradually rising, and with it, the planet’s average temperature. How fast the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide — and with it, the temperature — goes up matters for the ability of humans and ecosystems to adjust. A slower increase gives humans time to move away from low-lying areas and animals time to move to new habitats.

Dec 27, 2024 | scitechdaily.com | Hannah Hickey

The “warm blob” marine heat wave has resulted in the death of 4 million common murres in Alaska, with the population not recovering due to altered food webs and persistent warming trends. Murres are common seabirds that resemble flying penguins. These stout, tuxedo-patterned birds dive and swim in the ocean to catch small fish, then fly back to islands or coastal cliffs where they nest in large colonies.

Dec 9, 2024 | spacedaily.com | Hannah Hickey

Antarctic sea ice can be explained and forecast months out by patterns in windsby Hannah Hickey for UW NewsSeattle WA (SPX) Dec 09, 2024 Amid all the changes in Earth's climate, sea ice in the stormy Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica was, for a long time, an odd exception. The maximum winter sea ice cover remained steady or even increased slightly from the late 1970s through 2015, despite rising global temperatures. That began to change in 2016.