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Geoscience Impacts Nearly Every Aspect of Our Lives

From sustainable energy and climate change, to earthquakes, volcanoes, rivers and glaciers, from the origin of life on Earth to the potential for life on other planets, we lead in educating and inspiring the next generation of scientists.

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ESS Awards Ceremony and Reception - May 8, 2025

Two students working in a lab conducting research.

Degrees and Programs

The Department of Earth and Space Sciences offers an expansive educational experience. We provide a rigorous interdisciplinary program in which students develop an understanding of the fundamentals of Earth, space, and planetary sciences, and learn relevant skills for a variety of careers.

Research in Earth and Space Sciences

The Earth and space sciences — geology, geophysics, geobiology and geochemistry — play a critical and unique role in the advancement of knowledge, improvement of the quality of life, and in understanding humanity’s place in the universe. Research in Earth and space sciences draws on methods and theory from chemistry, physics, biology and computational sciences.

Faculty in our department are concerned both with fundamental research and with the dissemination of Earth-science knowledge in the service of society.

Limited resources, geologic hazards, and related environmental change are among the most serious challenges we face.  We use our expertise to provide the training and education required to address these challenges, and we are engaged in serious efforts to include a more diverse community of scientists, students and stakeholders than in the past.

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News

| Announcements

Joel Thornton selected as dean of the College of the Environment

University of Washington Provost Tricia R. Serio announced that Joel Thornton, a professor and chair of the College’s Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science, will serve as the next Maggie Walker Dean of the College of the Environment. Thornton has served as interim dean since last July, filling the position vacated by Maya Tolstoy. Thornton is an atmospheric chemist who studies the impacts of human activities on air quality and climate through changes to the atmosphere’s composition and chemistry.

Read more at UW News
| Publications, In the News

Near miss tsunami in Alaska during tourist season last year highlights increasing environmental instability

A team of researchers published a Science paper describing the massive landslide generated tsunami in Alaska last August. ESS Professor Gerard Roe and Research Scientist Mira Berdahl made vital contributions to the study, described in more detail in the UW News release. Their analysis attributed the 481-meter wave to glacial retreat from global warming and in this region, they found that 100% of the industrial era warming was human caused.

Read more at UW News
| Publications, In the News

Seattle Fault gets 5,000 more years of sleep

Just over 1,100 years ago an earthquake on the Seattle fault rocked — and reshaped — the Puget Sound region. It lifted the sea floor and sent a powerful tsunami through the sound. Researchers have estimated that this fault, which runs east to west beneath the middle of the city, will produce a large earthquake every 5,000 years or so. However, a UW analysis, recently published in Geology, pushes that estimate back to 11,000 years. ESS Research Scientist Elizabeth Davis is lead author.

Read more on UW News April Research Highlights
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