Click here to listen to John talk with Science Friday’s Ira Flatow about how reservoirs make methane in a piece called Good Thing Bad Thing; A Carbon Contradiction.

The new study synthesizes reservoir CH₄, CO₂, and N₂O emission data with three main objectives: (1) generate a global estimate of GHG emissions from reservoirs, (2) identify the best predictors of these emissions, and (3) consider the effect of methodology on emission estimates.

The study finds that greenhouse gas emissions from reservoir surfaces account for 0.8 Pg CO₂ equivalents per year, with the majority (~80%) of this forcing due to CH₄.

The paper was highlighted as the “Editor’s Choice” and is accompanied by a nice podcast interview with study lead-author Bridget Deemer.

A new paper synthesizing information about reservoir greenhouse gas emissions led by Bridget Deemer is set to appear in BioScience next Wednesday, October 5.  The paper is already attracting some attention from the press and has been featured in Science Magazine, the Washington Post, the Seattle Times, Popular Science, the Spokane Spokesman-Review, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and the Vancouver Columbian.

Here is a link to the WSU press release.

A 4-year, $3 million collaborative proposal to study the Food-Energy-Water Nexus in the Columbia River Basin (Harrison Co-PI) was recently approved for funding.  Our group is now seeking a Ph.D. student to work on understanding and modeling interactions between water, food, and energy in the Pacific Northwest U.S..  This large, interdisciplinary, multi-investigator project has the following overarching aims:

Aim 1: develop a theoretical foundation characterizing our region’s FEW system that is generalizable to national and global scales

Aim 2: integrate state-of-the-science computational models to capture FEW system interactions

Aim 3: evaluate FEW solutions (identifying ancillary benefits or unintended consequences) using the modeling platforms

Aim 4: utilize a two-way stakeholder engagement approach to develop new strategies and remove barriers to strategy adoption

Bridget will be starting an exciting postdoctoral position with the USGS in Flagstaff next month.  Good luck Bridget!!

The most recent issue of the WSU Vancouver Alumni Magazine NW Crimson and Gray has just published a nice article highlighting some of our recent work, available here.

Please join me in welcoming Sarah Kintner to our group!  Sarah joins us from Eau Claire Wisconsin.  She begins a MS in Environmental Science this fall, co-advised with Kevan Moffett.

Please join me in welcoming Sofia D’Ambrosio to WSU and to our group!  Sofia comes to us most recently from Maryland (via California) and will be pursuing a MS in Environmental Science starting this fall.

Please join me in welcoming Corey Ruder to our group!  Corey comes to us from Minnesota (via Siberia).  She arrived on campus today and will be starting a PhD this fall.