Greg Pederson, Ph.D.
Greg Pederson is a research scientist working primarily on the role of climate variability in driving changes in water resources, and other biological and physical components of mountainous ecosystems in western North America.
Research Interests
Of particular interest is the magnitude of low-frequency hydroclimatic variability and its implications for drought risk, as well as the climatic drivers associated with observed changes in mountain snowpack, streamflow, glaciers, and forest disturbance events. Understanding the time intervals and spatial scales over which these processes operate requires a long-term perspective, and for that I rely on proxy records primarily from tree-ring and lake sediments along with instrumental and modeled climate records. Recent and ongoing studies have addressed the susceptibility of natural resources to climate variability and change, and sought to apply both the modern and paleoclimatic records to present day resource management problems.
Current Research Projects Include:
- Drivers of Drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin [DOI Southwestern CSC]
- Multi-century perspectives on current and future streamflow in the Missouri River Basin [NSF P2C2]
- Reconstructions of Columbia River flow from winter and summer precipitation sensitive proxies in the Northwestern U.S. with implications for 21st century flow [CSC and CLU]
- A Broader view of North American climate over the past two millennia: Synthesizing paleoclimate records from diverse archives [USGS Powell Center]
- Holocene climate variability in Alaska from relict wood [DOI Alaska CSC]
- Holocene climates of the Northern Rockies from relict wood emerging from ice patches [CLU]
- Megadroughts and uncertainty in Upper Colorado River flow low-frequency variability [CLU]
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. Watershed Management & Ecohydrology. 2010. University of Arizona, School of Natural Resources.
M.S. Environmental Science. 2004. Montana State University
B.S. Ecology and Evolution in Botany & Zoology. 2000. Michigan State University
Affiliations and Memberships*
Greg is affiliate faculty with the Earth Sciences department and the Institute on Ecosystems (IoE) at Montana State University.
Science and Products
Water reliability in the west -- SECURE Water Act Section 9503(C)
A regional spatio-temporal analysis of large magnitude snow avalanches using tree rings
Snowpack signals in North American tree rings
Upper Colorado River Basin 20th century droughts under 21st century warming: Plausible scenarios for the future
High elevation ice patch documents Holocene climate variability in the northern Rocky Mountains
Yellowstone's Old Faithful Geyser shut down by a severe 13th century drought
Does signal-free detrending increase chronology coherence in large tree-ring networks?
2,200-Year tree-ring and lake-sediment based snowpack reconstruction for the northern Rocky Mountains highlights the historic magnitude of recent snow drought
Increased drought severity tracks warming in the United States’ largest river basin
Basinwide hydroclimatic drought in the Colorado River basin
Millennial-scale climate and human drivers of environmental change and fire activity in a dry, mixed-conifer forest of northwestern Montana
Dynamics, variability, and change in seasonal precipitation reconstructions for North America
Science and Products
Water reliability in the west -- SECURE Water Act Section 9503(C)
A regional spatio-temporal analysis of large magnitude snow avalanches using tree rings
Snowpack signals in North American tree rings
Upper Colorado River Basin 20th century droughts under 21st century warming: Plausible scenarios for the future
High elevation ice patch documents Holocene climate variability in the northern Rocky Mountains
Yellowstone's Old Faithful Geyser shut down by a severe 13th century drought
Does signal-free detrending increase chronology coherence in large tree-ring networks?
2,200-Year tree-ring and lake-sediment based snowpack reconstruction for the northern Rocky Mountains highlights the historic magnitude of recent snow drought
Increased drought severity tracks warming in the United States’ largest river basin
Basinwide hydroclimatic drought in the Colorado River basin
Millennial-scale climate and human drivers of environmental change and fire activity in a dry, mixed-conifer forest of northwestern Montana
Dynamics, variability, and change in seasonal precipitation reconstructions for North America
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government