Research

How do you measure snow from space? First, climb a mountain (New York Times)

Gabe Allen — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:59:08 +0000

How do you measure snow from space? First, climb a mountain (New York Times) Gabe Allen Tue, 03/24/2026 - 08:59

New York Times journalists followed the mountain hydrology lab on recent a winter excursion to Niwot Ridge. The researchers were measuring snow on the landscape in real time in order to calibrate data from an overhead satellite.

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Why pristine mountain lakes are suddenly turning green (Scientific American)

Gabe Allen — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:14:20 +0000

Why pristine mountain lakes are suddenly turning green (Scientific American) Gabe Allen Tue, 03/17/2026 - 15:14

Journalist Cody Cottier tells the story of the Oleksy lab's summer expedition to an alpine lake in the San Juan range. The scientists are investigating the source of a mysterious algal bloom that was first spotted by a ranger in 2021.

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Garrett Boudinot and the Many Paths to Entrepreneurship (Leeds School of Business)

Gabe Allen — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 22:30:34 +0000

Garrett Boudinot and the Many Paths to Entrepreneurship (Leeds School of Business) Gabe Allen Thu, 03/12/2026 - 16:30

A recent alum of INSTAAR's organic chemistry lab is the founder of a new climate tech startup called Vycarb. The company amplifies natural processes in the ocean to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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What Colorado’s mountain lakes can tell scientists about climate change (Aspen Times)

Gabe Allen — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 22:40:22 +0000

What Colorado’s mountain lakes can tell scientists about climate change (Aspen Times) Gabe Allen Wed, 03/11/2026 - 16:40

Mountain lakes are the "canary in the coal mine" for how ecosystems are responding to climate change. That's according to the Mountain Liminology Lab's Mary Jade Farruggia, who was featured in an article from the Aspen Times this week.

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A new investigation will evaluate water filtration options in a community plagued by PFAS

Gabe Allen — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000

A new investigation will evaluate water filtration options in a community plagued by PFAS Gabe Allen Wed, 03/11/2026 - 06:00

Gabe Allen

If you are a resident of Airway Heights interested in becoming a research participant, you can visit this link for more information.

INSTAAR fellow Riley Mulhern is launching a new study to evaluate the efficacy of home treatment options for PFAS in a contaminated area outside of Spokane, Washington. (courtesy photo)

INSTAAR fellow and С�� Boulder professor Riley Mulhern first visited Airway Heights, Washington in January of last year. After the trip, he summed up the emotional state of the community in a one-word title to a post on his Substack: “Incensed.”

Mulhern has spent his career fighting for people's access to clean water, through both research and advocacy, and this community was in the midst of a water crisis.

A filtration system guards an Airway Heights home from contaminants. (courtesy photo)

In 2017, the city of Airway Heights found PFAS, a toxic family of industrial compounds also known as forever chemicals, in their municipal water. The contamination stemmed from firefighting foam used in training exercises at a nearby airforce base over decades. A 2022 report by federal agencies subsequently found that many residents of Airway Heights had elevated levels of PFAS in their blood — up to 56 times the national average.

Airway Heights municipal water has since been cleaned up, but many local residents own private wells. They are left to figure out how to test and filter the water that comes into their homes on their own, and many are concerned by a dearth of clear information about how to accomplish these tasks.

“One in seven Americans gets no protection from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, we’re on our own,” said John Hancock, an Airway Heights local and president of West Plains Water Coalition, a community action group formed around the PFAS issue.

This problem is at the center of a new investigation, funded by the Water Quality Research Foundation and led by Mulhern. The study will evaluate commercially available water filtration systems’ efficacy against PFAS contamination.

“There’s a lot of confusing information online about what’s the best way to filter water, how well do these filters work, how are they certified, and so on,” Mulhern said. “So there’s a lot of value in providing third-party evidence of the real world performance of these products.”

First, Mulhern and his collaborators will test the water coming out of pre-existing home filtration systems in Airway Heights. Then, they will install filtration systems at the homes of a second cohort of participants, and monitor their water over two years.

Many filters are already certified by third-party assessors for efficacy against specific PFAS chemicals, such as PFOS and PFOA, which are currently regulated by the EPA. Yet, many more PFAS compounds are unregulated by federal drinking water standards or have not yet been included in third-party certification testing and have unknown health consequences. With this in mind, the new study will test for a broad range of PFAS and other fluorinated organic compounds which make up the larger “class” of chemicals to which PFAS belong.

“We are essentially trying to future-proof the public health recommendations we can make around household filter use,” Mulhern told the Water Quality Research Foundation. “Measuring the broader category of organic fluorine through household filters will provide increased confidence in these products for handling PFAS as a class, rather than just for specific types.”

When Mulhern first visited Airway Heights, he came as a volunteer. He spoke about water filtration options at a meeting organized by West Plains Water Coalition, drawing on his experiences working in North Carolina communities affected by PFAS. Now, he is happy to return with the necessary funding to offer more substantive support.

“We won the award because we have a strong foundation with the community already,” Mulhern said. “Even more important than that is that there is a community group that is so well organized and ready and willing to participate in research like this.”

A map illustrates data on water quality around Airway Heights, Washington. X's mark PFAS source sites, while orange dots mark private wells at risk. (courtesy photo)

If you have questions about this story, or would like to reach out to INSTAAR for further comment, you can contact Senior Communications Specialist Gabe Allen at gabriel.allen@colorado.edu.

INSTAAR fellow Riley Mulhern is launching a new study to evaluate the efficacy of home treatment options for PFAS in a contaminated area outside of Spokane, Washington.

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New minor spans disciplines in studying climate science (Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine)

Gabe Allen — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:12:27 +0000

New minor spans disciplines in studying climate science (Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine) Gabe Allen Tue, 02/24/2026 - 17:12

The interdisciplinary climate science minor, available in Fall 2026, will offer undergraduates a window into С�� Boulder's world class climate research. INSTAAR fellows Bradley Markle and Robert Anderson make the case for the new program.

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Inaugural Sustainability Research Initiative Research Fellows unveiled (RIO)

Gabe Allen — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:42:15 +0000

Inaugural Sustainability Research Initiative Research Fellows unveiled (RIO) Gabe Allen Mon, 02/23/2026 - 11:42

INSTAAR fellows Keith Musselman and Irina Overeem have been named to the inaugural cohort of SRI fellows at С�� Boulder. The fellows will form a year-long sustainability research incubator across academic disciplines.

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Tahoe avalanche: What causes snow slopes to collapse? A physicist and skier explains, with tips for surviving (The Conversation)

David J Lubinski — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 04:13:09 +0000

Tahoe avalanche: What causes snow slopes to collapse? A physicist and skier explains, with tips for surviving (The Conversation) David J Lubinski Wed, 02/18/2026 - 21:13

Nathalie Vriend updated an article for The Conversation that explains what happens in an avalanche, techniques for surviving one, and how they are impacted by climate change.

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'Hiding in plain sight': Scientists reflect on years studying life in Antarctic desert (С�� Boulder Today)

David J Lubinski — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 23:48:47 +0000

'Hiding in plain sight': Scientists reflect on years studying life in Antarctic desert (С�� Boulder Today) David J Lubinski Wed, 02/11/2026 - 16:48

Researchers at the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research Program have spent more than three decades studying ecosystems in one of the world’s most hostile environments. Diane McKnight and Mike Gooseff discuss the importance of the research, its challenges, and its rewards.

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Some tropical land may experience stronger-than-expected warming under climate change (С�� Boulder Today)

David J Lubinski — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 23:03:58 +0000

Some tropical land may experience stronger-than-expected warming under climate change (С�� Boulder Today) David J Lubinski Wed, 02/04/2026 - 16:03

Lina Pérez-Angel and Julio Sepúlveda led a team to study a sediment record millions of years old from the tropical Andes. They found that the region heated up dramatically when atmospheric CO2 levels were similar to today’s.

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Research

How do you measure snow from space? First, climb a mountain (New York Times)

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Why pristine mountain lakes are suddenly turning green (Scientific American)

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Research

How do you measure snow from space? First, climb a mountain (New York Times)

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Why pristine mountain lakes are suddenly turning green (Scientific American)

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Garrett Boudinot and the Many Paths to Entrepreneurship (Leeds School of Business)

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Tahoe avalanche: What causes snow slopes to collapse? A physicist and skier explains, with tips for surviving (The Conversation)

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Some tropical land may experience stronger-than-expected warming under climate change (С�� Boulder Today)