ECSC 0353
Hydroclimate and Wildfire
Hydroclimate and Wildfire in the Western US
Rainfall extremes and wildfire impacts in the western US are becoming increasingly prevalent in popular discourse. In this course we will draw on a variety of resources, including scientific papers, paleoclimate proxy data, long-form journalism, and indigenous knowledge to explore the climate history of the western US, with a focus on variability in the hydrologic cycle and wildfire patterns over the last ~20,000 years. We will discuss how climate change and other anthropogenic factors like water infrastructure and land management practices, interface with these natural systems and will situate the current hydroclimate/wildfire paradigm of the western US in the broader geologic context of the late Pleistocene and Holocene.
Rainfall extremes and wildfire impacts in the western US are becoming increasingly prevalent in popular discourse. In this course we will draw on a variety of resources, including scientific papers, paleoclimate proxy data, long-form journalism, and indigenous knowledge to explore the climate history of the western US, with a focus on variability in the hydrologic cycle and wildfire patterns over the last ~20,000 years. We will discuss how climate change and other anthropogenic factors like water infrastructure and land management practices, interface with these natural systems and will situate the current hydroclimate/wildfire paradigm of the western US in the broader geologic context of the late Pleistocene and Holocene.
- Subject:
- Earth & Climate Sciences
- Department:
- Earth & Climate Sciences
- Division:
- Natural Sciences
- Requirements Fulfilled:
- SCI