Research

Using aerospace technology to study glacier melt in Greenland

Jeff Zehnder — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:01:25 +0000

Using aerospace technology to study glacier melt in Greenland Jeff Zehnder Fri, 04/10/2026 - 12:01

Jeff Zehnder

Alia Khan is integrating field-based biogeochemical analysis with NASA’s next generation satellite sensors to quantify how biological algae blooms, mineral dust, and wildfire smoke are darkening the Greenland Ice Sheet and accelerating its melt.

Khan, an associate professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and the Environmental Engineering Program at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been awarded a four-year, $857,000 NASA grant to develop tools to improve sea-level rise projections.

The work is focused on Greenland, home to massive amounts of frozen water in a large land-based glacier, also known as an ice sheet, that is nearly two miles thick in some places.

Increasing melt rate

“There are growing dark spots on the Greenland Ice Sheet,” Khan said. “While fresh snow is the most reflective surface on Earth, the ‘bare ice’ exposed during summer melt is naturally darker. When light-absorbing particles like algae and dust accumulate there, they further reduce reflectivity and cause the ice to melt even faster. Currently, this darkening isn't fully captured in most Earth system models, meaning we are likely underestimating future sea level rise.”

The enhanced darkening of the ice sheet is caused by the combined impact of soot, mineral dust, and seasonal ice algae blooms. These particles significantly increase heat absorption, creating a feedback loop that intensifies surface melting as the Arctic warms.

“Wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense, sending plumes of soot to settle on the ice,” Khan said. “At the same time, retreating glaciers leave behind fine dust that the wind blows back onto the surface. These particles, along with algae fueled by increased meltwater nutrients, are transforming the ice sheet from a reflective shield into a heat-absorber.”

New technology

To measure the impact, Khan is leveraging NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite. Launched in 2024, PACE provides high-resolution hyperspectral imagery—capturing a vast spectrum of light from ultraviolet to infrared—to reveal details of the Earth’s surface that were previously invisible to orbiting sensors.

“PACE’s hyperspectral technology allows us to tease apart the unique spectral signatures of mineral dust and living algae,” Khan said. “By mapping these specific characteristics, we can determine exactly how each one contributes to surface melt, allowing us to improve our predictions for the future of the Greenland Ice Sheet.”

Khan will combine this data with planned in-person surveys of the Greenland ice sheet using drone flights and collection and analysis of surface samples of snow and ice.

Sailboats amidst icefloes off the coast of Greenland.

“The samples will be used to validate the satellite imagery and to measure specific quantities of dust, black carbon, and algae. This includes analyzing a suite of photosynthetic and photoprotective pigments, as well as conducting DNA analysis,” she said.

Like nowhere else

Spending time on the ice sheets is a unique and rare opportunity. Accessible only via helicopter, they are places few humans have seen up close.

“There’s a pretty significant wind chill and survival gear is necessary, whether or not we plan to spend the night, but it’s such a privilege to work in a place almost completely untouched by humans,” Khan said.

The collected data and images will be used in the creation of complex new algorithms to more accurately map the dark zones throughout the melt season.

“It takes a lot of computing power, but there’s so much exciting new technology we can apply here to build models we haven’t had before,” Khan said.

As Greenland's ice loss remains a primary driver of global sea-level rise, by refining our understanding of Greenland’s melt rates, Khan’s work fills a critical gap in the climate models used by scientists and policymakers to improve future projections.

Additional investigators on the grant include Peng Xian at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Heidi Dierssen at the University of Connecticut.

Alia Khan is integrating field-based biogeochemical analysis with NASA’s next generation satellite sensors to quantify how biological algae blooms, mineral dust, and...

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Global collaboration to limit air pollution flowing across borders could save millions of lives

Jeff Zehnder — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 18:33:07 +0000

Global collaboration to limit air pollution flowing across borders could save millions of lives Jeff Zehnder Fri, 02/13/2026 - 11:33

This story is adapted from a version published by Cardiff University. Read the original version here.

Ambitious climate action to improve global air quality could save up to 1.32 million lives per year by 2040, according to a new study.

Researchers from 91��ý and Cardiff University in the United Kingdom have found that developing countries, especially, rely on international action to improve air quality, because much of their pollution comes from outside their borders.

The new study, published in Nature Communications, analyzed cross-border pollution “exchanges” for 168 countries and revealed that if countries do not collaborate effectively on climate policy, it could lead to greater health inequality for poorer nations that have less control over their own air quality.

The team’s work focuses on the impact of exposure to fine particulate matter, what scientists call “PM2.5,” which is the leading environmental risk factor for premature deaths globally.

“Some climate policies could inadvertently make air pollution inequalities worse, specifically for developing nations that might rely heavily on their neighbors for clean air,” said Daven Henze, senior author of the new study and professor at the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at 91��ý.

“Holistic climate policy should therefore evaluate how dependent a nation is on others’ emissions reductions, how mitigation scenarios reshape air-pollution flows across borders, and whether global efforts are helping or harming equity.”

Lead author Omar Nawaz at the Cardiff University School of Earth and Environmental Sciences said: “While we know climate action can benefit public health, most research has ignored how this affects the air pollution that travels across international borders and creates inequalities between countries.

“Our analysis shows how climate mitigation decisions made in wealthy nations directly affect the health of people in the Global South, particularly in Africa and Asia.”

The research team used advanced atmospheric modeling and NASA satellite data to simulate different future emissions scenarios for the year 2040. The researchers used this data and a health burden estimation to understand how countries could make an impact through climate policy.

“We were surprised to find that although Asia sees the most total benefits from climate action to its large share of the population, African countries are often the most reliant on external action, with the amount of health benefits they get from climate mitigation abroad increasing in fragmented future scenarios,” said Nawaz.

According to the researchers’ projections, the balance of pollution flowing across borders could shift, even if total global air pollution declines.

These insights could inform policymaking and global aid work that seeks to address climate change.

In a sustainable socioeconomic development scenario, for example, pollution flowing across the U.S.-Mexico border would substantially decrease. Mexico would contribute much more to the health benefits that come from this shift than the United States.

The team plans to do further research exploring how climate change itself alters the weather patterns that transport this pollution, as well as looking at other pollutant types like ozone and organic aerosols.

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'Hiding in plain sight': Scientists reflect on years studying life in Antarctic desert

Jeff Zehnder — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:11:13 +0000

'Hiding in plain sight': Scientists reflect on years studying life in Antarctic desert Jeff Zehnder Wed, 02/11/2026 - 09:11

Antarctica—the coldest, driest and most remote continent on Earth—is proof that life can thrive even in the most unlikely of places.

For humans, it’s hard to imagine a much harsher environment: Inland temperatures in Antarctica can drop below negative 76 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, and a sheet of ice and snow more than a mile thick covers most (though not all) of the land.

Few plants and animals can survive in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys, a frigid desert that is free of ice. But researchers from 91��ý have made trips to the area for more than 30 years to study the unique streams and organisms that inhabit the area in the summer months.

The water level in the region’s streams varies greatly year over year, so scientists are fascinated by how life has continued to thrive there at all. The organisms there must adapt to extreme conditions to survive—and they do.

Diane McKnight collects measurements from a stream during the Antarctic summer. (Credit: Diane McKnight)

Researchers pose for a photo near Lake Fryxell in Antarctica. (Credit: Mike Gooseff)

A helicopter perches on Canada Glacier while shepherding researchers to the McMurdo Dry Valleys. (Credit: Mike Gooseff)

“I've been struck by how robust these stream ecosystems are,” said Diane McKnight, a distinguished professor at 91��ý’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) and a founding principal investigator of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program.

“The idea of these stream ecosystems just waiting for water—that sounds like they're just at the edge of existence. But we've learned that isn't really true.”

McKnight, who has spent 27 seasons in Antarctica, reflected her years of Antarctic research at a campus event on Thursday, Feb. 5. She explained how environmental changes can easily upset the delicate ecological balance in the dry valleys. Still, the region has a lot to teach us, not only about the environment in Colorado and other parts of the world, but also about personal resilience in the face of adversity.

The talk was part of a series of events commemorating INSTAAR’s 75th anniversary.

Life in the McMurdo Dry Valleys

Despite the challenges of living in Antarctica, cold-water fish, seals, whales and penguins thrive in the freezing waters off the coast. Plankton, krill and algae provide vital food sources.

Inland, the landscape becomes more desolate. But even in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, streams still flow during the short Antarctic summer and are home to a diverse ecosystem of algae and microorganisms.

“You see it in stream beds. You see these carpets of algae. We see it under the lake ice or at the bottoms of the lakes,” said Mike Gooseff, a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at 91��ý and a fellow at INSTAAR.

Gooseff is also the current principal investigator of the Dry Valleys LTER, a decades-long research project that studies life in the region.

“A lot of that life is hiding in plain sight. If you walk through this environment, or you fly over it, you don't see it. It doesn't jump out at you as life. But there is this whole really interesting—and in some cases, sensitive—ecosystem,” he said.

McKnight said that some of the most interesting inhabitants of the region are diatoms—single-celled algae that are surrounded by glassy cell walls. Like plants, they can perform photosynthesis, converting sunlight to energy and carbon dioxide into oxygen. Diatoms collectively produce 20% to 50% of Earth’s atmospheric oxygen.

Research by McKnight, Gooseff and others has uncovered key features of the streams that allow life to thrive in the dry valleys. Algae growing on rocks underwater, for example, take up nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. Eventually, they release those nutrients, which settle into the sediment at the bottom of the streams. In a full-circle moment, the nutrients later filter back into the water from the sediment.

“This is not just happening in the dry valleys,” McKnight said. “It’s probably happening in lots of places where there are slimy rocks and algae growing on the rocks. We think this kind of cycle is happening in other desert streams, and these sediments underneath the streams are like repositories or reservoirs for nutrients when there is water and the algae can grow.”

But conditions in the environment can affect how well this cycle works. Gooseff remembers that in 2002, a particular bad flood season caused water levels in one lake to rise by about 40 inches. The extra water stirred up so much sediment in the lake that the phytoplankton couldn’t get enough light for photosynthesis.

These kinds of disturbances can have big impacts on the environment, not just in the Dry Valleys but in other aquatic environments around the world, too.

What’s ahead?

Both McKnight and Gooseff hope the LTER will continue long into the future. The Dry Valleys are a unique ecosystem where scientists can study specific processes, like those cycles of nutrients, without animals and plants affecting their results.

A long-term study like the LTER gives the researchers better perspective on what is and isn’t normal for the area and how the ecosystem responds to different conditions over time, Gooseff said. A shorter-term project might not capture some of the changes that happen from year to year.

But Antarctica itself offers a lot of lessons in resilience.

“We call Antarctica a ‘harsh environment,’” Gooseff said. “But there is a recognition that these ecosystems thrive.”

McKnight said Antarctica has taught her to be more resilient and overcome unexpected situations and challenges. She has also gotten special joy from bringing students there over the years.

“As the lead scientists, we never get jaded, because we have all this awe and wonder. But it is also rewarding to be with the graduate students who go down there, and then see how being in this challenging environment prepares them to test themselves—they think they can do anything.”

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Curbing climate change would also reduce harmful air pollutants, saving millions of lives

Jeff Zehnder — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 18:25:20 +0000

Curbing climate change would also reduce harmful air pollutants, saving millions of lives Jeff Zehnder Wed, 12/10/2025 - 11:25

If nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, they could slow climate change. Those actions would also have the added benefit of saving over two million lives globally that might be lost because of harmful air pollutants by 2050, according to preliminary data in new 91��ý research.

The findings come from an ongoing study led by Patrick Wiecko, a doctoral student in the Environmental Engineering Program. He will present the data at the American Geophysical Union annual conference (AGU25) in New Orleans on Dec. 18. The results have not been peer-reviewed.

Patrick Wiecko

Air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), and ozone are among the main components of the smog that often shrouds urban skies. These pollutants can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, leading to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, asthma and premature death.

Globally, chronic exposure to these air pollutants kills more than seven million people each year, including 150,000 in the United States.

These numbers could rise or fall depending on how nations choose to curb emissions over the next few decades, Wiecko said. The same sources that emit greenhouse gases, such as the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants and factories, are also major contributors of air pollutants.

Wiecko and his team analyzed how the number of deaths associated with air pollution would change under three different global emission scenarios: one in which nations cooperate on the global stage to drastically reduce their emissions, one that maintains “business as usual” emissions, and one in which nations ramp up emissions without considering their global impacts.

Using a computer program, the researchers simulated how emitted pollutants move and react in the atmosphere, considering meteorological factors such as wind, temperature, sunlight and humidity.

The researchers paired those projections with global health data to estimate how shifts in air quality under the three scenarios could affect premature deaths by 2050.

Their model showed that in 2019, PM 2.5 was responsible for 4.3 million deaths worldwide, ozone for 880,000 and nitrogen dioxide for 2 million. If the world makes significant efforts toward reducing emissions and developing green technologies by 2050, it could save 2.7 million lives globally, including 86,000 in the United States and 1.1 million in China.

“Countries like China that have made huge progress in shifting away from fossil fuels—by electrifying their vehicle fleets, for example—could see substantial health benefits,” Wiecko said.

But if the world backtracks its coordinated climate efforts and fails to keep warming below 1.5°C, some nations might see more deaths from air pollution. In India, for example, 65,000 more people would die from deteriorating air quality.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries have pledged to reduce emissions and limit global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century to avert the worst impacts of climate change. But the latest projection shows the global average temperature is likely to rise by 2.5 to 2.9°C if countries stick to current policies.

Because air pollution crosses borders, the team also examined how many deaths each nation could prevent by cutting emissions, both at home and abroad. Under the low-emission scenario, for example, the United States could see 86,000 fewer deaths. Domestic efforts account for 72,000 of those saved lives, while the remaining 14,000 depend on pollution-cutting measures implemented by neighboring countries.

“A lot of the costs of emissions are felt elsewhere,” Wiecko said.

He added that air pollution not only damages lungs, but also harms crops and ecosystems.

“It’s going to impact other parts of our society, like crop failure stemming from higher ozone concentrations,” Wiecko said. “Even if we don’t always see it or feel it, we’re all connected by the air we share, and we all have a role in cleaning it up.”

Beyond the story

Our sustainability impact by the numbers:

First student-run campus environmental center in the U.S.
No. 11 university for environmental and social impact in the U.S.
First zero-waste major sports stadium in the U.S.

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Students study metal contamination in Colorado waterways

Jeff Zehnder — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 17:37:24 +0000

Students study metal contamination in Colorado waterways Jeff Zehnder Fri, 09/12/2025 - 11:37

Jeff Zehnder

Collecting water samples in the field.

In the most beautiful places in Colorado, hazards to aquatic life lurk in the water.

A team at the University of Colorado Boulder is studying heavy metal pollution in a watershed near Aspen. Their efforts have a dual goal: contributing to efforts to clean up the area, and studying the potential of recovering some of those metals, including rare earth elements, from other similarly polluted streams.

“We gave a presentation to the public, and when you mention valuable minerals in Aspen, ears perk up,” said Adam Odorisio, a master’s student in environmental engineering.

The issue concerns tributaries of Lincoln Creek, which feed into a large reservoir above Aspen. The metals in the water represent more than just pollution. The potential for recovering and utilizing the rare earth elements found in natural and mine acidic drainage is an area of active research, driven by increasing demand for these elements in many industries, such as electronics manufacturing.

Metals often leach from old mines, a process called acid mine drainage. In the case of Lincoln Creek, the primary contamination is a natural phenomenon, according to Athena Bolin, a 2025 environmental engineering master of science graduate student working on the project.

“The leaching of metals and rare earth elements can be caused by humans when they excavate and expose rock formations, but it can also occur naturally. This happens when mineral-rich rock weathers and the resulting acidic water leaches metals from rocks along its flow path. Both processes can cause significant environmental pollution,” Bolin said.

Bolin and Odorisio are part of Professor Diane McKnight’s research team and 91��ý’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, which have been studying the problem. The contamination has caused significant fish kills in the area, and the team has determined that metal concentrations are increasing significantly, a trend that is evident both seasonally and over many years in multiple watersheds in the Colorado Rocky Mountains as summers have become warmer.

“We analyzed a sediment core from Grizzly Reservoir,” Odorisio said. “The reservoir was built in 1936, and the core shows the contamination is getting worse. The thought is the world is heating up, which is melting sub-surface permafrost more quickly, which flows through the ground and eventually reaches the surface.”

The study involves taking on-site samples of water from a small tributary, a mine outflow, and the main stream, as well as a type of sediment called flocculant material, and aquatic insects, bringing them back to the laboratory, and using analytical methods to determine elemental concentrations.

Sediment core processing in the lab.

“One of the things we've found in the samples is copper is more elevated. That causes a lot of environmental damage. It can be extremely harmful to fish. They can't breathe. They suffocate,” Odorisio said.

As regional officials investigate the best solutions for Lincoln Creek, McKnight’s group is also working with colleagues to see if it would be cost-effective to recover the metals and rare earth elements for sale at similar sites.

Damaging heavy metal drainage occurs at locations across Colorado and regions with mining history. Being able to generate revenue from cleanup presents a unique opportunity in locations that often present complex remediation challenges.

“This takes place in a very remote wilderness area above 11,000 feet. A standalone recovery operation would not be financially viable. However, if recovery from the small tributaries and mine outflows were to happen concurrently with remediation, the income from the operation could help offset the cost of cleanup,” Bolin said.

Regardless of the eventual outcomes, Odorisio said the research and public response have been a positive experience in an area of study that can be discouraging.

“There’s a lot of doom and gloom in environmental engineering,” Odorisio said. “It’s just the nature of the job. Here we have two different motivations. We have the potential utility of it, recovering rare earth elements, and understanding how to make creeks like this one more environmentally friendly sites.”

In the most beautiful places in Colorado, hazards to aquatic life lurk in the water. A team at the University of Colorado Boulder is studying heavy metal pollution in a watershed near Aspen. Their efforts have a...

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Mortenson Center innovations delivering clean water to more than 16 million worldwide

Jeff Zehnder — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 21:08:54 +0000

Mortenson Center innovations delivering clean water to more than 16 million worldwide Jeff Zehnder Tue, 06/17/2025 - 15:08

Approximately two billion people worldwide rely on drinking water sources contaminated with fecal matter, according to the World Health Organization. That figure has remained stubbornly high, even after decades of international investment and development efforts, as many water systems continue to fail—breaking down, delivering unsafe water or becoming financially unsustainable for the communities they were intended to serve.

The Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience at the University of Colorado Boulder is building a new model for global water access, one that is grounded in a deep understanding of why so many past efforts have fallen short. Rather than focusing on infrastructure alone, the Center treats clean water as a long-term service that requires sustainable financing, ongoing monitoring and built-in accountability.

Led by Professor Evan Thomas, director of the Mortenson Center and a former NASA engineer, the Center’s approach blends engineering, data science and climate finance to design safe water systems that not only function but also endure. By focusing on long-term service delivery rather than one-time infrastructure projects, the Mortenson Center is redefining how clean water is brought to communities in low-resource settings.

So far, this approach has reached an estimated 16 million people. More than six million have gained access to clean water through programs the Mortenson Center has directly implemented. An additional ten million have been served through governments, nonprofits and private companies that have adopted its methods—applying its technologies, monitoring tools and financing models in programs around the world.

For decades, low-income communities have been expected to operate and maintain drinking water systems on their own, even as wealthier countries heavily subsidize water for their populations. Unsurprisingly, many systems collapse. Pumps break, water becomes unsafe and local governments or nonprofits lack the funding and tools to respond.

The Mortenson Center's approach is belief in locally driven innovation.

The Mortenson Center addresses these gaps by integrating performance-based financing with rigorous, real-time data systems. One breakthrough came in 2007, when Professor Thomas launched the first United Nations–accredited programs to generate carbon credits for water treatment. These programs reduce the need to boil water over firewood or fossil fuels—cutting emissions and generating revenue to keep systems operational.

Working with partners including the Millennium Water Alliance, Swiss nonprofit Helvetas, the Eastern Congo Initiative, Virridy and LifeStraw, the Mortenson Center is currently supporting clean drinking water services for more than one million people across Kenya, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar. These programs are on track to reach three million people by 2030 and generate over one million carbon credits—a key funding mechanism that supports long-term system maintenance. Buyers of these credits include companies such as Mortenson Construction in Minneapolis.

To ensure clean water actually reaches the people it’s meant to serve, the Mortenson Center has also developed and commercialized a suite of satellite-connected monitoring technologies. These include a water quality sensor that uses tryptophan-like fluorescence and machine learning to detect E. coli contamination in real time, turning water safety into a verifiable, measurable outcome. These tools have been deployed in over ten countries by NGOs, governments and private companies.

At the core of the Mortenson Center’s approach is a belief in locally driven innovation. Graduate students from Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Ghana are leading research on the technical, financial and policy dimensions of clean water programs, ensuring that future solutions are not only globally informed but locally grounded.

As climate change intensifies pressure on global water systems, the Mortenson Center’s model offers a rare combination of technical innovation, financial sustainability and measurable impact—charting a scalable, sustainable path to clean water for millions still in need.

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91��ý leading effort to improve water quality in Rockies’ rivers

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 21:50:45 +0000

91��ý leading effort to improve water quality in Rockies’ rivers Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/04/2024 - 15:50

Jeff Zehnder

Video: How the Mortenson Center at 91��ý is Improving Water Security

Kat Demaree and Jason Quinn installing an in-situ water quality tool with multiple sensors providing near-continuous measurements of turbidity, chlorophyl-a, conductivity, and fluorescing dissolved organic matter (fDOM) along the Yampa River near Steamboat Springs.

Using machine learning for better water quality

University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State University researchers are teaming up to improve river water quality in the Rockies.

A team led by Environmental Engineering Professor Evan Thomas has received a $650,000 Convergence Accelerator grant from the National Science Foundation, to measure and mitigate pollution in the Cache la Poudre and Yampa Rivers in Colorado through new sensor technology, monitoring, and a voluntary carbon credits trading system with industry.

The Convergence Accelerator grant complements other Thomas-led initiatives also working to improve water quality. The work has also been funded by the Moore Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation. Thomas was influential in scoping the $160 million dollar NSF funded Colorado-Wyoming Regional Innovation Engine, and recently received a United States Congressional earmark directed-grant from NASA also targeted at the Yampa and Poudre rivers.

Thomas has been working with Colorado State Senators Cleave Simpson and Jeff Bridges, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to advance legislation that could accelerate watershed restoration in Colorado by pairing wastewater utility water quality obligations under the Clean Water Act with restorative programs.

A central component of these projects is the use of ongoing, instream water quality measurements that will allow the team the ability to trace back negative changes, said Thomas, who also serves as director of the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering and Resilience.

“Typically, this work is done with point-in-time measurements when someone goes out and manually takes a sample, which is very expensive and infrequent. These new sensors we have are robust and durable and will allow us to do things continuously,” Thomas said.

The sensor data, enabled by a partnership with Fort Collins based sensor company In-Situ, will be fed into a machine learning system to develop predictive models that can track pollution and determine sources.

“Machine learning and AI aren’t new, but we’re applying these techniques in a place they haven’t been applied before – managing watersheds and enabling climate finance to pay for ongoing performance,” Thomas said.

Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, a professor of environmental engineering at 91��ý and co-investigator on the project, said the grant builds on a wealth of earlier research.

"I am excited about taking all we have learned about wildfires and water quality and focusing now on how we can proactively work with communities to limit these impacts and the stresses they have on water infrastructure," Rosario-Ortiz said.

Being able to track back pollution sources has been a long-sought goal of environmental

Evan Thomas

researchers. While it is simple to monitor pollution coming from fixed-point sources, like the outlet of a wastewater treatment plant, it is much harder to analyze diffuse sources, like runoff from industrial agriculture, mining, or forestry operations.

“It has been a technology barrier, and regulators have been reluctant to approve water quality projects that are hard to measure,” Thomas said. “We hope to change this. We’re working with landowners, stakeholders, and cities to make positive changes for restorative agriculture, irrigation, and wildfire management.”

In addition to water researchers at 91��ý and CSU, the team has built a network of outside partners, including the cities of Steamboat Springs and Fort Collins, Friends of the Yampa, and Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, as well as Virridy Inc., a 91��ý spinout company that develops global water security programs.

A second key part of the project is a voluntary carbon market that aims to build industry investment in green infrastructure to improve water quality. Although the project is just getting underway, Mortenson Construction has already purchased $2 million in credits through it. Thomas said this market could generate as many as 1.6 billion carbon credits per year.

Thomas has been involved in large scale drinking water treatment carbon credit programs in Africa over the last 15 years, reaching over 5 million people with improved water security. This represents the first major effort in the United States.

“This is a way for industry and companies to demonstrate to shareholders and customers they’re committed to climate impact,” Thomas said. “It takes local water problems and brings them into the global market, creating business opportunities.”

In addition to Thomas and Rosario-Ortiz, the team at 91��ý includes Kat Demaree, environmental engineer and doctoral student. At Colorado State University, the effort is being led by Matt Ross, an assistant professor of ecosystem science and sustainability, and Jason Quinn, a professor of mechanical engineering. Also involved in the project is Krister Andersson, a sustainable development professor at Notre Dame who previously was a 91��ý faculty member.

Using machine learning for better water quality. University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State University researchers are teaming up to improve river water quality in the...

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