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Drought in the West
Climate scientist Julie Kalansky discusses how drought in California and Nevada is a common occurrence, with the attendant water restrictions and threat of severe wildfires bringing the reality of climate change into sharp focus. Future climate projections for the region suggest a trend toward more extremes, including more severe and prolonged drought as well as […]
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Getting Warmer? Ocean Temperatures off the California Coast
Local fishermen, surfers, and beachgoers know that ocean temperatures off California’s coast vary, often expectedly, and sometimes unexpectedly – you know, when the water is suddenly below sixty-degrees in the middle of an August heatwave! Join Scripps oceanographer and remote observation vehicle expert Katherine Zaba to learn how scientists deploy innovative ocean technology and just […]
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Oxygen Loss in the Ocean: The Blinding Truth
Ocean oxygen levels are changing globally as a result of both natural and human-influenced processes, and in some areas low oxygen events are becoming more common. While research on terrestrial animals has shown that low oxygen levels can affect vision – a vital function for finding food and shelter and avoiding predators – the impact […]
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Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions
Climate change is an urgent problem that affects everything from human health and food security to immigration patterns and water resources. With unchecked emissions of climate pollutants, there is a 50% probability for the planetary warming to cross the so-called dangerous threshold of 20C by 2050; and there is at least a 5% probability the […]
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Oceans Out of Breath
Scripps climate scientist Yassir Eddebbar takes you on an exploration of the ocean’s interior to reveal a fascinating phenomenon – oxygen minimum zones (OMZs). Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are regions of the global ocean that present low dissolved oxygen concentrations. Although they represent only a small fraction of the global ocean volume, they are considered […]
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Climate Change Making Allergies Worse
People with allergies know that daily weather determines symptoms and that symptoms vary by season. Dr. Katherine Gundling, an allergy and immunology specialist at UCSF, looks at how the warming of our planet might affect allergic respiratory disease. What is emerging from data collected at pollen counting stations around the world is that the length […]
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The Future of Food and Agriculture in the Face of Climate Change
California is the top agriculture-producing state in the country, and that big business presents big challenges. California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross addressed many of the key issues during a speech presented by UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. Secretary Ross talks at length about the impact climate change has already […]
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Sea Star Wasting Disease Update 2017
The years from 2013 through 2015 witnessed the largest non-commercial marine mass mortality event on record (as of 2013) as up to 96% of all Ochre Sea Stars on the coasts of California and Oregon perished. This created a ‘natural experiment’ and an opportunity to study genomic changes in wild populations with unprecedented detail. Rather […]
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Confronting Climate Change
Rosina Bierbaum, formerly of President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and an Adaptation Fellow at the World Bank, shows how climate change will affect all regions and sectors of the economy, and disproportionately affect the poorest people on the planet. Therefore, improving the resilience, adaptation, and preparedness of communities must be […]