Vaughn

  •  Boulder incoming PhD student Paloma Siegel carries an autonomous aircraft (~10 foot wingspan) away from an Alaskan landing strip after a flight
    For the second summer in a row, the Boulder Division of Public Safety's Flight Operations department is supporting important campus research in Alaska, as part of the Navigating the New Arctic project (principal investigator: Tyler Jones), which is being managed by researchers in the Stable Isotope Lab of INSTAAR.

  • A stream on top of an ice shelf ends abruptly in a dramatic waterfall, splashing into the sea.  Photo by Florian Ledoux of the Arctic Arts Project
    Confronted with ever alarming impacts of climate change, longtime INSTAARite Bruce Vaughn has found hope and inspiration in the many bright minds who are working on solutions. Read his essay for the non-profit Arctic Arts Project, which seeks to educate and inspire through impactful imagery, backed by the most current science.
  • A science technician measures a section of an Antarctic ice core as it begins its journey down a core processing line. Scientists and technicians will cut the ice so it can be sent to labs around the country for analysis.  |  Credit: Peter Rejcek, NSF
    Listen to a 6-minute tour of the National Science Foundation’s Ice Core Facility (NSF-ICF) in Lakewood, Colorado. Facility staff will guide you through the world's largest frozen archive of ice, sharing some stories of ice drilling from the Arctic to Antarctica. Bruce Vaughn, co-founder of INSTAAR's Stable Isotope Lab, will show you how ice cores can record a long history of past climate and put the rapid postindustrial rise of CO2 in perspective.
  • Covered in netting to deflect stray golf balls, instruments gather methane data on the seventh hole of Midnight Sun Golf Course. Permafrost is rapidly thawing across the far north, deforming fairways here and releasing the highly potent greenhouse gas, which leads to more warming. PHOTOGRAPH: FRANKIE CARINO
    The Far North is thawing, unleashing clouds of planet-heating gas. Tyler Jones, Bruce Vaughn, and Kevin Rozmiarek use detectors on drones or carried by hand to measure methane release from permafrost in Alaska.
  • While kneeling in the snow, Bruce Vaughn displays an ice core segment, northeast Greenland
    Denver Post profile of a visit to the Stable Isotope Lab, where Bruce Vaughn and Brad Markle shared ice cores, knowledge, and what keeps them going while researching the climate past and present. To read this article, you may need to enter your email address.
  • A bearded Bruce Vaughn in a very furry parka and sunglasses
    Climate change - we all know that it's happening, but how do we actually know this scientifically? Bruce Vaughn studies glaciers up at the North Pole, looking at ice cores to study how our climate has changed over the Earth's history. We talk about how this is done, and also how we are now entering uncharted territory of atmospheric CO2, warming, and what we as a species can do about it.
  • A satellite view of the Yukon River watershed in Alaska
    A new INSTAAR-led project will engage Indigenous and Western knowledge systems to better understand abrupt permafrost change in Alaska. The National Science Foundation selected the project as part of its Navigating the New Arctic funding area, one of ten “Big Ideas” that NSF is investing in as an area of profound national challenge and opportunity. The research project brings Alaskan communities together with social and natural scientists to examine changes in permafrost thaw lake environments, including associated effects on villages in the Yukon River watershed.
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