Katey Marion Walter Anthony, 2011 WINGS Elected Fellow

"Open your mind and heart to dreams, then put your hands and feet to work to make them come true." — Katey Marion Walter Anthony

Aquatic Ecosystem Ecologist and Professor

Born: 1976-01-01

Hometown: Fairbanks, Alaska

Education: Ph.D., Biology

Achievements

Discoveries: Discovered that methane emissions from Arctic lakes were the likely cause of climate change at the end of the last Ice Age, and that thawing permafrost is causing increased atmospheric methane and a spike in greenhouse gases.

Expeditions: Siberia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Finland, Sweden

Biography

As climate change continues and polar regions warm, permafrost melts are creating new Arctic lakes in a process called Thermokarst Lake formation. Walter Anthony’s research reveals that as the permafrost melts and these new lakes appear, carbon that was locked in the ground for thousands of years, converts to methane and carbon dioxide -- two most potent greenhouses gases. Focusing on emissions from lakes and wetlands in Alaska and Siberia, Walter made headlines in 2007, when she and her team determined that methane bubbling out of Arctic lakes was likely the source of the spike in atmospheric methane at the end of the last Ice Age. Currently Assistant Professor at the Water and Environmental Research Center at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, Walter Anthony has received numerous grants and in 2009, received the National Geographic Society Early Explorer’s award. She is a project coordinator for Russian-U.S. collaboration to monitor long-term climate change in cold regions, and was Research Program Manager at The Prince William Sound Science Center and a member of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. She is on the Advisory Board of the University of New Hampshire’s Coastal Research Response Center. She contributed methane research material to Al Gore’s presentations to the U.S. Senate and has been included in many popular and scientific articles and media ventures on climate change. Discussing Thermokarst lakes in Science Daily, Walter Anthony states “We estimate that as much as 10 times the amount of methane that is currently in the atmosphere will come out of these lakes as permafrost thaws in the future.”

Full Bio from University of Alaska Fairbanks

Katey and her team share their story on YouTube...

University of Alaska Fairbanks Professor Katey Walter Anthony takes us onto a frozen lake in Fairbanks, AK to demonstrate why methane gas has "exploded" onto the climate change scene.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Bible and running shoes

Heroes: My husband, Peter

Awards and Recognition

National Geographic Society Early Explorers Award, 2009 Denali Comission Emerging Energy Technology Grant, 2009 Blackstone Ranch Institute Innovation Challenge Grant, National Geographic Society, 2009 National Conservation Achievement Award in Science, National Wildlife Federation, 2009 NASA and National Science Foundation (NSF) Grants

Publications

Peer reviewed research papers
Methane research for Al Gore
Articles citing Water Anthony's methane discoveries in Scientific American, LA Times, Discover Magazine, BBC Television, History Channel, NPR radio, etc.