Predicting Rainfall During Climate Change

Predicting Rainfall During Climate Change

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

Gay Wedding Cake Case, Lack of Innovation, Better Auto-Focus

Episode: Gay Wedding Cake Case, Lack of Innovation, Better Auto-Focus

  • Dec 5, 2017
  • 13:57 mins

Guest: Michael Bliss Singer, PhD, Researcher, Earth Research Institute, UC Santa Barbara and Lecturer, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University All across the arid West, there are dry streambeds that are pretty much always dry. You’ve probably walked over them without noticing, if you’ve spent much time in Nevada or Arizona. But, if you’ve ever been caught in the desert during a summer thunderstorm, you know how fast that dry streambed can turn into a rush of water. These “runoff events” can cause lots of damage if there are homes nearby, but they’re also a critical part of the desert ecosystem and important for rivers downstream.  Hydrologists at UC Santa Barbara’s Earth Research Institute have been trying to understand how drought and climate change are affecting this thunderstorm-runoff equation in the American West.

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