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What Do We Know About Mountain Snowpack, Runoff? Far Too Little

November 8, 2017
Most Americans may not realize it, but we really don’t know with a lot of accuracy how much snow there is sitting in the mountains during winter. We also don’t always have a precise picture of where the snow level is when a storm moves in, or how much will run off when the snow melts...

Tubbs Fire in Sonoma County is most destructive in state history

October 20, 2017
The onslaught of fires that laid waste to huge swaths of Northern California this month reached a new level of infamy Friday when the 36,432-acre Tubbs Fire in Sonoma County became the most destructive wildfire in modern state history. The fire, which destroyed an estimated 5,300 structures,...

Yes, Climate Change Is Driving Wildfire Activity

October 19, 2017
FEATURING LEROY WESTERLING – The record-breaking wildfires in California’s Napa and Sonoma Counties were the most devastating such disasters that area has experienced in decades. Dozens of people died and huge swathes of residential neighborhoods and vineyards were completely destroyed...

Climate Change Has Doubled Area Hit By Forest Fires in US

October 17, 2017
biography Dr. LeRoy Westerling is Associate Professor of Management at UC Merced and Co-Director of the Center for Climate Communication. His research interests include applied climatology and seasonal forecasting for wildfire management, climate change impacts on wildfire and related aspects of...

Sierra Foothill Charter School Partners with UC Merced to Help with National Science Foundation Grant

October 16, 2017
When UC Merced Associate Professor and Sierra Foothill Charter School parent Carolin Frank was working on her grant application to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the bacteria in conifer leaves and figure out if they take nitrogen from the air and give it to the tree, she knew she...

See it, say it: Climate change

October 14, 2017
“NOTHING MORE than ash and bones.” That grim description of how some victims were found underscores the horror of the wildfires that swept through and devastated Northern California. At least 38 people were killed , including a 14-year-old boy found dead in the driveway of the home...

How climate change is "turning up the dial" on California wildfires

October 13, 2017
The deadly wildfires ravaging northern California have destroyed more than 3,500 homes and businesses, leveling entire neighborhoods and forcing thousands of residents to flee the flames. At least 31 people have died in the blazes, which have burned 265 square miles of land and rank among the...

Don’t blame wildfires on climate change

October 13, 2017
Climate change means we will have more and more destructive wildfires. It’s an interesting theory but it’s not the real story. No one can argue with observations such as the University of California, Merced research that show the Western United States fire season has grown longer due...

Scientists See Climate Change in California's Wildfires

October 12, 2017
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — As wildfires engulf nearly 170,000 acres of Northern California wine country, questions are swirling about the role of climate change in causing damage of historic proportions. The fires, which started late Sunday night in the hills of Napa and Sonoma counties, quickly...

Another First for Nobile: NIH Outstanding Investigator Award

October 10, 2017
Professor Clarissa Nobile is changing the way we look at microbes. She wants to understand them as they’re found in nature, not as they exist in the laboratory. And she was just awarded a five-year, $1.89 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to bolster her efforts....

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