News Archive - Environment

Marine Ecosystem Survey Encounters a New Variable: Falling Ash from Los Angeles Fires

The devastating fires in Los Angeles have numerous secondary effects as scientists are finding out now off the coast of Southern California.

Researchers Awarded $3M NSF Grant for Next-Generation Forest Mapping and Monitoring

Researchers at the University of California San Diego, University of Florida and Arizona State University have been awarded $3.28 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to build OpenForest4D – a web-based cyberinfrastructure platform for next-generation 4D forest mapping...

Mangrove Loss in Acapulco Likely Worsened the Devastation of Hurricane Otis

New research led by UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography highlights the critical role of mangroves in protecting coastal communities from the devastating effects of climate change—particularly hurricanes.

Solving Engineering Challenges to Make Fusion a Viable Clean Energy Source

The way scientists think about fusion changed forever in 2022, when what some called the experiment of the century demonstrated for the first time that fusion can be a viable source of clean energy. But a whole host of engineering challenges must be addressed before fusion can be scaled up to become a safe, affordable source of virtually unlimited clean power. In other words, it’s engineering time.

Scientists Combine Immersive Technology and Collaboration to Address Climate Challenges

A team of scientists and science communicators affiliated with the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), part of the School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences at UC San Diego, and the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience at UC Santa Cruz have developed an initiative called EcoViz focused on immersive technology—advanced hardware and software to simulate environments and experiences—and collaboration to address environmental challenges ranging from fire management to reef restoration and more.

Accelerating Climate Modeling with Generative AI

The algorithms behind generative AI tools like DallE, when combined with physics-based data, can be used to develop better ways to model the Earth’s climate. Computer scientists in Seattle and San Diego have now used this combination to create a model that is capable of predicting climate patterns over 100 years 25 times faster than the state of the art.

UC San Diego Receives 10 DURIP Awards from Department of Defense

Scientists at the University of California San Diego received 10 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program awards from the Department of Defense. The highly competitive awards program solicits proposals from university scientists conducting basic and applied research that boosts the nation's technological advantage.

Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources Will Increase Price Tag to Decarbonize the Grid

A new study warns that current plans to achieve zero emissions on the grid by 2050 vastly underestimate the required investments in generation and transmission infrastructure. The reason: these plans do not account for climate change’s impacts on water resources.

New Gene Drive Reverses Insecticide Resistance in Pests… Then Disappears

UC San Diego geneticists have developed a gene drive-based solution to the widespread problem of insecticide resistance. In an effort to protect valuable crops, the researchers created an “e-Drive” that reverses insecticide resistance and then disappears from the insect population.

CalCOFI at 75

Seventy-five years ago, a group of California scientists was tasked with a mission. CalCOFI is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the program that has delivered is priceless in understanding the ocean off of California.