Update: Professor Turetsky moved from INSTAAR to RASEIin 2023

Rows and rows of silver tubes holding ice cores in an NSF freezer facility

Cores 3.0: Future-proofing Earth sciences’ historical records (Eos)

June 24, 2021

Core libraries store a treasure trove of data about the planet’s past. What will it take to sustain their future?

Tundra fires in Alaska

Blazes that refuse to die: ‘Zombie fires’ (New York Times)

May 20, 2021

With a changing climate, fires in far northern forests that smolder throughout winter and erupt again in spring could become more common.

Forest fire burns the forest floor in Saskatchewan

“Zombie fires” detected in Alaska and Canada, set to increase as climate warms (Axios)

May 20, 2021

"Zombie fires" may sound like something straight out of science fiction, but they're a real phenomenon that is likely to become more common in the area ringing the Arctic, and possibly the Arctic itself, as climate change continues, a new study finds. Merritt Turetsky comments on the study and explains its context.

Woman using a hose to water a vegetable field, Vietnam

Our place in the food security chain (Eos)

Jan. 27, 2021

Food insecurity is a growing threat in many places around the world. This situation is exacerbated by two events that many geoscientists are tasked to study: natural hazards and our changing climate. The February issue of Eos, organized by Ben Zaitchik and Merritt Turetsky, looks at how geoscientists are using their research to help create resilient communities around the world that can always be sure of food in their pantries.

Scottish bog with highland mountains, clouds, and rain

For the love of peat (99 Percent Invisible)

Oct. 13, 2020

Trees versus peat as carbon sequesters: an example from Scotland. Listen to the 40 minute podcast episode.

As part of research on Arctic wildfires, Merritt Turetsky inspects a long soil core at a field site in the Northwest Territories, Canada.

The Arctic is burning in a whole new way

Sept. 28, 2020

Widespread wildfires in the far north aren’t just bigger; they’re different—with strong consequences for the global climate—warn international fire scientists in a commentary published today in Nature Geoscience.

Carolyn Gibson stands in the middle of a collapse scar representing wet, degrading permafrost in the Arctic

Alaska is getting wetter. That’s bad news for permafrost and the climate

July 24, 2020

Alaska is getting wetter. A new study spells out what that means for the permafrost that underlies about 85% of the state, and the consequences for Earth’s global climate.

Flames burn in the foreground as smoke eddies through treetops in the background during a wildfire in the Irkutsk region of Russia.

Rapid Arctic meltdown in Siberia alarms scientists (Washington Post)

July 3, 2020

Merritt Turetsky is quoted in a Washington Post story on the record-setting heat wave across Siberia that is leading to massive wildfires and permafrost melt.

Close view of permafrost soil, covered in mosses and puddles.

Why a ‘feverish’ Arctic will affect everyone on the globe (PBS News Hour)

June 26, 2020

A historic heat wave is occurring in the Arctic, already the fastest-warming place on Earth due to the increasing accumulation of greenhouse gases. Dr. Merritt Turetsky has studied the Arctic for decades. She joins William Brangham on PBS NewsHour to discuss causes and consequences of the Arctic's rising temperatures.

The corner of a Russian apartment building is collapsed from uneven permafrost thaw in Chersky. Photo by Vladimir Romanovsky, University of Alaska Fairbanks

The ticking time bomb of Arctic permafrost (Eos)

June 24, 2020

Arctic infrastructure is under threat from thawing permafrost, explains this story in Eos featuring Merritt Turetsky.

Pages