Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Pamela Grothe

Pamela Grothe, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, discussed the results of her recent study on how El Ninos and La Ninas have intensified in a story on WVTF Radio IQ entitled “VA Scientist Finds Another Reason for Extreme Weather.”

In a study led by Kim Cobb, principal investigator and a professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Grothe, the study’s first author, compared temperature-dependent chemical deposits on recently extracted coral to older coral records showing relevant sea surface temperatures from the past 7,000 years. The researchers discovered that El Ninos and La Ninas have intensified since the beginning of the Industrial Age, becoming 25 percent stronger around the time that people began burning coal and oil.

“The industrial record really sticks out like a sore thumb,” Grothe said. “If you look at the last twenty years – at the intensity of these swings — they are stronger than any 20-year period from the pre-industrial record.”

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Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Pamela Grothe

Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science Pamela Grothe has had the results of a study she co-authored published in several scientific journals and websites, as well as Forbes. According to the study, originally published in Geophysical Research Letters, El Niño swings have intensified to 25% stronger in the Industrial Age. Grothe performed the study under Kim Cobb, principal investigator and professor in Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. As the study’s first author, Grothe compared temperature-dependent chemical deposits on coral that was recently extracted to that of older coral records showing relevant sea surface temperatures from the past 7,000 years. Then, with the assistance of Georgia Tech collaborators and other partner research institutions, she identified patterns in the El Niño Southern Oscillation, swings of heating and cooling equatorial Pacific waters that cause El Niños and La Niñas to form every few years.

New and Strange Climate Pattern Includes More Violent El Nino Swings (SciTechDaily)

Pacific Ocean temperature swings violently in industrial age: Study (The Tribune, India; Daily Excelsior)

El Nino seeing extreme swings in the industrial age (Space Daily)

Has El Nino Become More Intense In The Industrial Age? (Forbes)

Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Pamela Grothe

Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science Pamela Grothe and her students were featured in an article in The Free Lance-Star titled “UMW students plunge into restoring coral reefs.” The article discussed a new course taught by Grothe called “UMW in Bonaire: Coral, Climate and Conversation,” which was offered this past spring semester. The students learned about climate change and its impact on coral reefs and the marine life that lives within them. They also learned coral conservation methods. Thanks to a partnership with The Scuba Shack dive shop in Fredericksburg, Grothe’s students became scuba-certified so they could apply their research during a trip to the Caribbean island of Bonaire this May. Read more.

Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Pamela Grothe

Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Pamela Grothe was quoted in an article in Meaww.com on a new study that predicts that global sea levels will rise by more than 2 meters – or 6.6 feet – by the end of the 21st century if emissions continue unchecked. Experts have said this will be catastrophic and that major cities such as New York City and Shanghai would be submerged, displacing approximately 187 million people. The study showed that sea levels will rise much faster than earlier estimates because of the rapid rate that ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting. Grothe said, “This new estimate is astonishing, which is about twice as high as what we previously thought. It would displace millions of more people living in low-lying coastal regions.” Read more.