DRI scientists Joe McConnell and Nathan Chellman co-authored a new study that examines a 6,000-year-old forest preserved in a Rocky Mountain ice patch. The research, which was led by the USGS and Montana State University, used the fossil wood to develop tree-ring based temperature estimates of the mid-Holocene period. The study can provide insight into the future elevational movement of forests under climate change, the scientists say.
Lead exposure is responsible for a range of human health impacts, with even relatively low levels impacting the cognitive development of children. DRI scientists have previously used atmospheric pollution records preserved in Arctic ice cores to identify periods of lead pollution throughout the Roman Empire, and now new research expands on this finding to identify how this pollution may have affected the European population.
DRI scientists Joe McConnell and Nathan Chellman are co-authors on a new study that sheds light on a historical mystery that has plagued historians and scientists alike for nearly two centuries. Using Arctic ice core records, the team identified the volcano responsible for an enormous eruption in 1831 that caused global cooling of around 1°C, leading to crop failures and famines around the world.
DRI’s annual awards and recognition ceremonies were held at our Reno and Las Vegas campuses in early October to honor scientists and staff members for their achievements. Along with the below awardees, several faculty and staff were recognized for their long-term service to the institute. DRI prides itself on fostering a fulfilling workplace that builds internal community and inspires scientific discovery.
The new study helps illuminate how changes in forest composition followed European settlement and natural changes in climate.
An international team of scientists led by DRI found evidence of Southern Hemisphere heavy metal pollution preserved in Antarctic ice cores from early Andean cultures and Spanish Colonial mining that predates the Industrial Revolution by centuries.
An international team of scientists have assembled the first complete record of carbon monoxide concentrations in the southern hemisphere, based on measurements of air.
A team of DRI scientists returned to Greenland in May 2023, where they are drilling a 150m long ice core to study interactions between ice chemistry and microbial life.
In May 2022, a team led by scientists from DRI in Reno, Nevada departed for Greenland, where they plan to collect a 440 meter-long ice core that will represent 4,000 years of Earth and human history.
An international team of researchers led by Desert Research Institute analyzed ice core samples from Antarctica’s James Ross Island and found early human activity caused significant changes to the earth’s atmosphere. Their findings were just released in a new Nature journal article.