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Western River Compacts Were Innovative in the 1920s but Couldn’t Foresee Today’s Water Challenges
The Western U.S. is in a water crisis, from California to Nebraska. An ongoing drought is predicted to last at least through July 2022. Recent research suggests that these conditions may be better labeled aridification – meaning that warming and drying are long-term trends.
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As Lake Powell Dries Up, the U.S. Turns to Creative Accounting for a Short-Term Fix
A new agreement calls for Western states to leave their drinking water in the reservoir — and act as if they didn’t.
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Risk Models Overlook an Important Element
Earthquakes themselves affect the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates, which in turn could impact on future earthquakes, according to new research. This new knowledge should be incorporated in computer models used to gauge earthquake risk, according to the researchers behind the study.
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Risk Models Overlook an Important Element
Earthquakes themselves affect the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates, which in turn could impact on future earthquakes, according to new research. This new knowledge should be incorporated in computer models used to gauge earthquake risk, according to the researchers behind the study.
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The Social Impact of Disasters
A human geographer and a physicist conduct research into weather and climate risks. Their methods may be different, but they agree that the scale of a disaster is often determined more by societal decisions than by the natural hazard itself.
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To Reduce Growing Climate Dangers, the World Needs to Consider Sunlight Reflection
Nothing about the present climate crisis or its implications is natural. Perhaps how the world deals with a warming planet shouldn’t be either.
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Bringing Big Science to Address the Climate Challenge
Tackling the climate crisis and achieving an equitable clean energy future are among the biggest challenges of our time. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the largest Department of Energy science and energy laboratory in the country, says it is deeply invested in the big science capabilities and expertise needed to address the climate challenge on multiple fronts.
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Human-Induced Climate Change Is Affecting Hurricane Severity
A study that analyzed the entire 2020 North Atlantic hurricane season — in conjunction with human activity that affects climate change — found that hourly hurricane rainfall totals were up to 10 percent higher compared to hurricanes that took place in the pre-industrial (1850) era.
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Predictive Models of Wildfire Behavior
New partnership will work to Advance fire research capabilities to help support the work of fire-, land-, and emergency managers.
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Bolstering Planetary Defense
A new survey identifies scientific priorities and opportunities and makes funding recommendations to maximize the advancement of planetary science, astrobiology, and planetary defense in the next ten years.
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Climate Change Will Transform How We Live, but Tech and Policy Experts See Reason for Optimism
Climate change has advanced so far, it’s now inevitable that societies will either transform themselves or be transformed. Existing solutions can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help people adjust to impacts of climate change that can’t be avoided. The problem is that these solutions aren’t being deployed fast enough.
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How Do We Learn to Live with Extreme Events?
From weather dictionaries to AI physics, new approaches try to anticipate the next catastrophic flood, tornado, or hurricane.
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Many Factors Influenced the Severity of Burns from Oregon's 2020 Megafires
In early September 2020, severe winds, high heat, and prolonged drought conditions led to the explosive growth of wildfires along the western slopes of the Cascades Mountains in the Pacific Northwest. New research confirms that extreme winds over the Labor Day holiday were the primary driver of the destructive force of the fires yet demonstrates how forest vegetation structure (e.g., canopy height, the age of trees, etc.) and topography played a significant role in burn severity patterns.
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U.S. Flood Damage Risk Is Underestimated
Researchers used artificial intelligence to predict where flood damage is likely to happen in the continental United States, suggesting that recent flood maps from FEMA do not capture the full extent of flood risk.
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Drenching Rains Pose Greater Threat to Fire-Damaged Areas in West
Areas in the western U.S. scarred by wildfires now face even more dangers: drenching rains. These rains inundate the burnt areas, causing significant destruction, including debris flows, mudslides, and flash floods, because the denuded landscape cannot easily contain the drenching moisture.
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The long view
Diminishing Snowmelt to Make Colorado, Utah, Wyoming Resemble the Arid Southwest
New research predicts that changes in mountain snowmelt will shift peak stream flows to much earlier in the year for the vast Colorado River Basin, altering reservoir management and irrigation across the entire region. As a result, upper basin in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming may more closely resemble the arid Southwest.
Challenges to Tidal Flats Pose Risks to 41M Americans Living in Coastal Counties
About 29 percent of the United States’ population live in coastline counties – more than 41 million are in Atlantic counties. This high population density poses a critical challenge to sustainable developments in coastal areas.
Boosting Efforts to Predict Harmful Solar Weather Events
When big blasts of energy from the sun envelop the Earth, they can very strong: a 2015 event so weakened Earth’s protective magnetic field that it penetrated to the atmosphere, posing a threat to everything from circling space station astronauts to delicate electronics and communication systems.
Mitigating Flood Disasters
Engineers have proposed a flood control measure which recommends designing permeable pavements to specifically suit local rainfall and soil conditions and reduce flood impacts.