Some Wider Perspectives on the Current California Drought

Presented by Glen M. MacDonald, Ph.D.
John Muir Memorial Chair of Geography, Director of the White Mountain Research Center and Distinguished Professor, UCLA

Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Time: 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. Lecture

Light lunch served at 11:30 a.m.

Location: UCI University Club Library (directions). The event is free and open to the public. Parking is free of charge in the University Club lot.

This event is free and open to the public.
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Abstract

The 2011-Present drought has demonstrated California’s vulnerabilities in current water resource infrastructure to cope with long-term aridity such as experienced over the past 5 years.  Not only has surface water infrastructure been insufficient, but the limitations of shifting to the consumption of more groundwater, particularly in the Central Valley, has been shown to be a poor strategy going forward into the 21^st century. Analysis of instrumental and paleo hydroclimatic records indicates that the precipitation deficit of this drought is not exceptional, but the coupling of the deficit with extraordinarily high temperatures makes this drought exceptional in terms of integrated measures such a Palmer Drought Severity.  The southern portion of the state has been particularly impacted. The current drought bears the fingerprint of anthropogenic climate change and is likely a harbinger of California hydroclimatology of the 21^st century.  Although policy and infrastructure remedies might allow adaptation in terms of consumptive water demands, remote sensing analysis of vegetation response, shows strong decreases in greenness in the southern portions of the state and along the western flanks of the Sierra Nevada. This conveys the reality that although impacts on consumptive use may be mitigated by infrastructure and policy, there is little that can be done to mitigate the long term impacts of a more arid climate on California’s wildland ecosystems.