As Earth’s average temperature rises, climate change impacts are being felt across the globe. Hurricanes and wildfires are bigger and more destructive. Extreme rain events are more common. Droughts last longer. But, surprisingly, one big …
water quality
Water We Talking About? Is It Safe to Swim?
Happy Friday! We are 9finally) back with Water We Talking About – a series where kids send us freshwater-related questions and we track down real-life scientists to answer them. This week, brothers Will and Tom …
Learn Your Lakes: Spring Runoff and Nutrient Loading
This weekend, my family and I went on a drive. These days, any chance to leave the house while still practicing safe social distancing feels like a blessing and this drive felt especially so. There …
Amid Clean Water Act Rollbacks, a New Chemical of Concern emerges
The health of U.S. waters are often steered in whichever way the political winds are blowing. In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under leadership appointed by the Obama administration, expanded the definition of what …
What Causes the Algae Blooms in Madison’s Lakes?
After last week’s massive cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) bloom in Lake Mendota and smaller (but no less unpleasant) blooms reported in Lake Monona and Waubesa, we received all sorts of questions on what causes these blooms, …
Massive Blue-Green Algae Bloom Stretches Across Lake Mendota
A couple of weeks ago, after yet another round of intense rain in the Madison area, we headed over to the website of the Wisconsin State Climatology office, curious if we were seeing more rain …
A Cocktail of Contaminants: Moving Away From Single Chemical Science
Efforts to relax environmental regulations and weaken wetland protections have been in the news a lot in Wisconsin recently, which made the post we just read from The Fisheries Blog even more relevant. What’s in …
1st Ever Science on Tap-Madison! Can We Have Clean Lakes & Ice Cream, Too?
Join us Monday, March 20th for an early celebration of World Water Day at Madison brewery, Ale Asylum. There will be no lecture, no PowerPoint, just a conversation with UW-Madison researchers about water quality and …
Steve Carpenter On “Fake Facts,” Trust in Science and Hope For the Future
The following “Know Your Madisonian” profile ran in today in the Wisconsin State Journal Know Your Madisonian: UW-Madison’s Stephen Carpenter makes Madison, state lakes his laboratory by Karen Rivedal, Wisconsin State Journal As an antidote …
Guest Post: Focus on Phosphorus Control to Improve Water Quality
As the year winds to a close, we’re taking a look back at some of the the CFL’s most popular blog posts from 2016. Here’s one published on August 16th by CFL director, Steve Carpenter, …