Drought, Fire and Extreme Weather
Drought, Fire and Extreme Weather
CASC-supported scientists throughout the country are working to understand how drought, fire and extreme weather are changing under climate change and how they are impacting important natural and cultural resources. Browse our science on these topics below.
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Impacts of Global Change on Biotic Resistance, Resilience, and Ecosystem Services in Caribbean Fish Assemblages, Fisheries, and Aquatic Ecosystems
Extreme events not only affect people but can have detrimental impacts on natural resources, such as fish and freshwater habitats. Impacts of extreme events, like hurricanes, tornadoes, and extreme flooding, have immediate consequences, but also have the ability to alter habitats and animals far in the future by providing opportunities for exotic species to colonize new areas. Some fish communitie
Improving Characterizations of Future Wildfire Risk in Alaska
In Alaska, recent research has identified particular areas of the state where both a lack of soil moisture and warming temperatures increase the likelihood of wildfire. While this is an important finding, this previous research did not take into account the important role that melting snow, ice, and frozen ground (permafrost) play in replenshing soil moisture in the spring and summer months. Th
Learning From Recent Snow Droughts to Improve Forecasting of Water Availability for People and Forests
In the dry southwestern United States, snowmelt plays a crucial role as a water source for people, vegetation, and wildlife. However, snow droughts significantly lower snow accumulations, disrupting these critical water supplies for local communities and ecosystems. Despite its large influence on land- and water-resource management, snow drought has only recently been properly defined and its hist
NW CASC Research Fellowship Program: Training Early-Career Scientists in Developing Decision-Relevant Science
The Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (NW CASC) advances actionable science relevant to today’s emerging climate-related risks by supporting research by early-career NW CASC Fellows. The NW CASC’s Research Fellowship Program enables graduate students and postdocs from a variety of scientific backgrounds to co-produce actionable science in collaboration with regional natural resource mana
Projecting Future Wildfire Activity in Alaska’s Boreal Forest
Wildfires are a natural occurrence in interior Alaska’s boreal forest. There is extreme variability in the severity of the wildfire season in this region. A single year in which more than one million acres of forest burns can be followed by several years of low to moderate fire activity. In addition, fires in high latitude zones appear to be responding to changes in climate. Warmer temperatures ra
Spoilt for Choice: A Review and Evaluation of Downscaled Climate Data for the Pacific Northwest
In order to assess and understand the potential impacts of climate change on important natural resources, managers, planners, and decision-makers need climate information at a local or regional scale. In general, Global Climate Models (GCMs) provide data at coarser scales than most natural resource managers need but Regional Climate Models (RCMs) are starting to deliver finer scale results. The pr
The Effects of Wildfire on Snow Water Resources under Multiple Climate Conditions
The Colorado and Rio Grande Rivers provide drinking water to millions of people in the Southwest and South Central U.S. Snowmelt accounts for 70% of streamflow in these rivers, meaning that water use downstream is directly impacted by snow accumulation and snowmelt patterns in the mountains. Mountain forests are a critical part of the hydrologic cycle that feeds these rivers, providing water suppl
The Role of Climate in Shaping Invasive Plant Abundance across Different Spatial Locations
Invasive plants are a major land management problem in the Western U.S. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is the most prominent and problematic invader in cold deserts, with negative effects on rangeland fire patterns, wildlife habitats, and forage/vegetation. Red brome (B. madritensis) is an invader in the Mojave Desert, and can similarly introduce a new fire patterns to sensitive warm desert scrub. T
Wildfire Probability Mapping Based on Regional Soil Moisture Models
Wildfires scorched 10 million acres across the United States in 2015, and for the first time on record, wildfire suppression costs topped $2 billion. Wildfire danger modeling is an important tool for understanding when and where wildfires will occur, and recent work by our team in the South Central United States has shown wildfire danger models may be improved by incorporating soil moisture inform
Webinar: Co-producing Science and Tools for Drought Preparedness with the Wind River Reservation's Tribal Water Managers
View this webinar to learn about drought preparedness on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
Webinar: Understanding Water Availability Across Landscapes in a Time of Increasing Drought
View this webinar to learn about a new initiative to address knowledge gaps in water availability at the landscape scale.
Assessing the Use of Biochar for Drought Resilience and Crop Productivity
Climate change impacts on water resources in the Pacific Northwest are predicted to have transformational effects on agriculture. Loss of winter snow pack, reduced summer stream flows, and increased summer temperatures are all phenomena that have already been observed, and are expected to worsen over this century. Research is ongoing in the Northwest to understand agriculture practices that might