Author: Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : California
Languages : en
Pages : 28
Book Description
Observed Changes in the Sierra Nevada Snowpack
Author: Potential Effects of Climate Change on Streamflow, Eastern and Western Slopes of the Sierra Nevada, California and Nevada
Author: Anne E JetonPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 58
Book Description
Atmospheric Rivers
Author: F. Martin RalphPublisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030289060
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284
Book Description
This book is the standard reference based on roughly 20 years of research on atmospheric rivers, emphasizing progress made on key research and applications questions and remaining knowledge gaps. The book presents the history of atmospheric-rivers research, the current state of scientific knowledge, tools, and policy-relevant (science-informed) problems that lend themselves to real-world application of the research—and how the topic fits into larger national and global contexts. This book is written by a global team of authors who have conducted and published the majority of critical research on atmospheric rivers over the past years. The book is intended to benefit practitioners in the fields of meteorology, hydrology and related disciplines, including students as well as senior researchers.
Climate Change and Sierra Nevada Snowpack
Author: Tammy Renee JohnsonEvaluating Water Balance Components in the Sierra Nevada
Author: Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Book Description
The work presented here was motivated by a need to better understand components of the water balance in the Sierra Nevada with respect to a warming climate. I present this as two case studies preceded by a summary of a climate data set prepared during the course of this work. The first case study examined the implications of climate warming on snowpack storage in the Merced and Tuolumne River watersheds, which encompass Yosemite National Park, using recent wet and cool (water year 2011) and warm and dry (WY2013) years as starting points. The second study focused on estimating the impact of forest treatment and fire on forest evapotranspiration (ET) at the patch to watershed scale in the American and Kings River basins. Modeled April 1st snowpack storage in the Yosemite area declined 38, 73, and 90% for +2, 4, 6°C dry-year warming scenarios. Seasonal snowpack disappears below 2000 m elevation with 4°C warming in both wet and dry years. Assuming vapor pressure remains constant with increasing temperature resulted in up to 100 mm more late-spring snow water equivalent than the respective constant-relative-humidity scenario with 6°C warming. Reduced snowpack and snow-cover duration will mean less summer melt input to meadow and forest soils, resulting in loss of wetlands and longer forest fire seasons. Other management implications include reduced late-season streamflow for dependent downstream communities and wildlife. Water-limited forests exhibited smaller changes in the normalized difference vegetation index (NVDI) per respective changes in basal area than less water-limited areas. Intensive thinning projects, which reduced forest density 40-50%, resulted in NDVI reductions of 0.09-0.12 units from control plot values of 0.7-0.8, corresponding to ET reductions of 152-216 mm yr−1. The minimum observed change for treated areas was 0.07 NDVI units from an initial value of 0.7 units, associated with a basal area reduction of 9%. Net ET reduction due to forest fires in 1990-2008 in the American River watershed was about 5 times that in the Kings River (65 vs. 14 million m3 yr−1). In addition to reducing the multiple impacts of catastrophic forest fire, forest thinning and managed fire offer the potential to offset water losses due to increased ET in a warming climate.
Review of the Draft Fourth National Climate Assessment
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and MedicinePublisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309471699
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 207
Book Description
Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By taking steps to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the risks to society and the impacts of continued climate change can be lessened. The National Climate Assessment, coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is a mandated report intended to inform response decisions. Required to be developed every four years, these reports provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of climate change impacts available for the United States, making them a unique and important climate change document. The draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report reviewed here addresses a wide range of topics of high importance to the United States and society more broadly, extending from human health and community well-being, to the built environment, to businesses and economies, to ecosystems and natural resources. This report evaluates the draft NCA4 to determine if it meets the requirements of the federal mandate, whether it provides accurate information grounded in the scientific literature, and whether it effectively communicates climate science, impacts, and responses for general audiences including the public, decision makers, and other stakeholders.
A Snow Water Equivalent Reanalysis Approach to Explore Spatial and Temporal Variability of the Sierra Nevada Snowpack
Author: Manuela GirottoPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Precipitation (Meteorology)
Languages : en
Pages : 143
Book Description
The availability and variability of snowmelt has become a serious concern because of increased water demand, and because of the high degree of uncertainty related to climate variability posing a threat to the magnitude and timing of this precious resource. Understanding the geophysical controls and interannual variability of the spatial patterns of seasonal montane snowpacks are critical for understanding the effects of a warmer climate on the snowpack water storage. To explicitly resolve snow hydrological controls in complex montane environments, it is necessary to provide high resolution spatially and temporally distributed estimates of snow water equivalent, while also taking into consideration the uncertainties in the system. Toward this end, this dissertation developed a retrospective data assimilation technique (SWE reanalysis) that aimed to optimally merge VIS-NIR remote sensing data into a snow prediction model, and at the same time, account for the limitations of measurements, forcings, and model errors. The SWE reanalysis was: first developed and implemented over a small region, in order to investigate the performance of the methods under their nominal scenarios; second implemented for the full Landsat-5 record (27 year) over a regional scale domain in order to test accuracy and gain insight on the spatial and interannual controls on the SWE patterns; third extended to the entire Sierra Nevada in order to benchmark the reanalysis for its application to the full Sierra Nevada and to preliminarly [i.e. preliminarily] understand what are the spatial controls on SWE patterns. The key findings of this dissertation can be summarized as follows: 1) The SWE reanalysis approach provided accurate spatially and continuous estimates of SWE and of its uncertainties due to measurement, forcings, and model errors. 2) The methods were found to be robust to input errors such as biases in solar radiation and precipitation, and robust to the number of available VIS-NIR observations. 3) The application of the methods over the Kern watershed for the full Landsat-5 record suggested that SWE accumulation patterns were in general not interannually consistent and that the interannual variability was dependent on whether a dry or wet year was analyzed. 4) The trend test analysis showed that peak-SWE and day-of-peak have not drastically changed over the analyzed 27 years for the Kern River watershed, but suggested that the lower elevations may be more susceptible to climate variability and change. 5) Elevation was found to be the primary control on spatial patterns of peak-SWE and day-of-peak for the entire Sierra Nevada range; however different patterns were found across the watersheds of the Sierra Nevada depending on their location. Ultimately, the methods can be applied to the full Sierra Nevada and other montane regions over the modern remote sensing record to generate a dataset that should be useful to scientists and practitioners not only in hydrology, but other fields where seasonal snow processes are a key driver such as biogeochemistry, mountain meteorology, and water resource management.
Biodiversity in a Changing Climate
Author: Terry Louise RootPublisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520961803
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Book Description
One major consequence of climate change is abrupt, dramatic changes in regional biodiversity. Even if the most optimistic scenarios for mitigating climate change transpire, the fate of many wild species rests on the shoulders of people engaged in conservation planning, management, and policy. Providing managers with the latest and most useful climate change research is critical and requires challenging the conventional divide between scientists and managers. Biodiversity in a Changing Climate promotes dialogue among scientists, decision makers, and managers who are grappling with climate-related threats to species and ecosystems in diverse forms. The book includes case studies and best practices used to address impacts related to climate change across a broad spectrum of species and habitats—from coastal krill and sea urchins to prairie grass and mountain bumblebees. Focused on California, the issues and strategies presented in this book will prove relevant to regions across the West, as well as other regions, and provide a framework for how scientists and managers in any region can bridge the communication divide to manage biodiversity in a rapidly changing world. Biodiversity and a Changing Climate will prove an indispensable guide to students, scientists, and professionals engaged in conservation and resource management.
Methods of Dendrochronology
Author: E.R. CookPublisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401578796
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 403
Book Description
This book is a review and description of the state-of-the-art methods of tree-ring analy~is with specific emphasis on applications in the environmental sciences. Traditionally, methods of tree-ring analysis, or more properly in this case methods 0/ dendrochronology, were developed and used for dating archaeological and historical structures and for reconstructing past climates. The classic book Tree Rings and Climate, by H.C. Fritts, published in 1976, provided a superb introduction to the science and an in-depth description of techniques useful for extracting climatic information from tree rings. This book, which was published by Academic Press, is sadly out of print and, even though only 12 years old, lim ited in its methods and applications. This is owing to the extremely rapid development of the science since the 1970s. Only recently have tree rings as environmental sensors been fully recog nized as a valuable tool in detecting environmental change. For example, tree ring measurements have been critically important in studies of forest decline in Europe and North America. There are also attempts to use tree-ring analysis for ecological prognosis to solve large-scale regional problems including the sustain ability of water supplies, prediction of agricultural crops, and adoption of silvi cultural measures in response to ecological changes. More speculatively, dendro chronological methods are also used for dating and evaluating some astrophysical phenomena and for indicating possible increase in the biospheric carrying capac ity due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
Author: U.S. Global Change Research ProgramPublisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521144078
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 193
Book Description
Summarizes the science of climate change and impacts on the United States, for the public and policymakers.