California and the U.S. Archives

Study Suggests New Climate Threats To California’s Oysters

August 8, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /KQED News (San Francisco, Calif.)by Kevin Stark

In the winter, rainstorms soak California’s coastline. In the spring and summer, strong winds blow waves into the narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean. For the briny bivalves that live in the bay, this is part of the natural rhythm of life. But now, because of climate change, the torrents of winter rain run with increasing severity, and for oysters, all that freshwater can be dangerous. Summer’s waves bring increasingly acidic water, making it harder for small oysters to build their calcium-based shells. For years, scientists have warned that ocean acidification threaten oysters, but new research from UC Davis suggests that climate change ravages the creatures in a multitude of ways.

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Is It Too Late to Save Wild Salmon?

August 8, 2019/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Bloomberg (New York, N.Y.)by James Tarmy

Some of the world’s most famous conservationists have been hunters. Teddy Roosevelt, John James Audubon, and Ernest Hemingway each have the somewhat dubious distinction of saving animals’ habitats to try to kill them. Pacific salmon aren’t often mentioned alongside Roosevelt’s elephants or Hemingway’s tigers, but in Tucker Malarkey’s Stronghold (Random House, $28), fish is the biggest game of all. Malarkey’s protagonist is a charming misfit named Guido Rahr, who also happens to be her cousin. A naturalist almost as soon as he could walk, Rahr got hooked on fly fishing in his late teens, only to realize, to his horror, that the hydroelectric dams, agricultural runoff, commercial fishing industry, deforestation, and climate change in the Pacific Northwest could bring wild salmon to extinction.

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Spillway Boat Ramp Reopens Friday At Lake Oroville

August 7, 2019/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Chico Enterprise-Record (Chico, Calif.)by Oroville Mercury Register

The Lake Oroville Dam spillway boat ramp will officially reopen to the public (at least, on a partial basis) on Friday — more than two and a half years after it was closed in the aftermath of the spillway incident in February 2017. “We are thrilled to announce the reopening of the largest boat ramp facility at Lake Oroville,” said California’s Department of Water Resources director, Karla Nemeth, in a press release. “We want to thank the public for their patience during the Oroville spillway’s reconstruction.” DWR officials also recently gave the OK to reopen public access to the top of the Oroville Dam in late June.

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The Future Of Water Security | Serving Up Science

August 7, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /WKAR (Lansing, Mich.)by Sheril Kirshenbaum & Karel Vega

Water is critically important to agriculture as well as many aspects of our lives. On this week’s segment Sheril and Karel speak with Dr. Jay Famiglietti, director of the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada about the future of water.

How much of Earth’s water is fresh water and why is that so important?

Famiglietti: It’s important because that’s the that’s the stuff that that helps us survive and flourish. And it turns out to be just a very small fraction of all the water that covers the earth. But ninety seven percent is ocean water, saline water, and only three percent is freshwater. Of that three percent, most of that is frozen.

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How The Pacific Ocean Influences Long-Term Drought In The Southwestern U.S.

August 6, 2019/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /UW News (Seattle, Wash.)by Hannah Hickey

The Southwest has always faced periods of drought. Most recently, from late 2011 to 2017, California experienced years of lower-than-normal rainfall. El Niño is known to influence rain in the Southwest, but it’s not a perfect match. New research from the University of Washington and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution explores what conditions in the ocean and in the atmosphere prolong droughts in the Southwestern U.S. The answer is complex, according to a study published Aug. 6 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. “What causes droughts that last for decades in some parts of the world, and why does that happen? Can we predict it?” said first author Luke Parsons, a UW postdoctoral researcher in atmospheric sciences.

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Winnemem Chief Asks Delta Tunnel Amendment Negotiators: When Will Tribal Water Rights Be Discussed?

August 6, 2019/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Daily Kosby Dan Bacher

Despite the fact that new Delta Tunnel project supported by Governor Gavin Newsom has not been approved, the Department of Water Resources is proceeding forward with negotiations with its water contractors over the State Water Contract Amendment for the Delta Conveyance. DWR held two meetings, the first on July 24 and the second on July 31. Most of the meeting time on July 24 was not open to the public. DWR was caucusing in its room as the State Water Contractors were caucusing in their room — and those sessions were not open to the public.

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Mapping The Strain On Our Water

August 6, 2019/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Washington Postby Bonnie Berkowitz and Adrian Blanco

The United States has enough water to satisfy the demand, but newly released data from the World Resources Institute shows some areas are out of balance. The WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas researchers used hydrological models and more than 50 years of data to estimate the typical water supply of 189 countries compared to their demand. The result was a scale of “water stress” — how close a country comes to draining its annual water stores in a typical year. Of course, many years are not typical, and unpredictable weather patterns of a changing climate can have drastic consequences.

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The California Coast Is Disappearing Under The Rising Sea: Our Choices Are Grim

August 6, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Phys.orgby Rosanna Xia

The California coast grew and prospered during a remarkable moment in history when the sea was at its tamest. But the mighty Pacific, unbeknownst to all, was nearing its final years of a calm but unusual cycle that had lulled dreaming settlers into a false sense of endless summer. Elsewhere, Miami has been drowning, Louisiana shrinking, North Carolina’s beaches disappearing like a time lapse with no ending. While other regions grappled with destructive waves and rising seas, the West Coast for decades was spared by a rare confluence of favorable winds and cooler water. This “sea level rise suppression,” as scientists call it, went largely undetected.

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Several US States Face Significant Stress On Their Water Availability, Data Shows

August 6, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Guardianby Emily Holden

A handful of US states – including New Mexico and California – are facing significant strains on their water supplies that will only intensify with global heating, according to new rankings. New Mexico tops the list and is the only state with “extremely high” pressures on its water availability. The state’s score is on par with the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East and Eritrea in Africa, the World Resources Institute (WRI) found. California ranks second, followed by Arizona, Colorado and Nebraska. “We’re stretching our water supply pretty much as far as it can go … and even further,” said Leah Schleifer, a spokeswoman for WRI’s water program. Experts with WRI said the data shows a global water crisis. “The picture is alarming in many places around the globe, but it’s very important to note that water stress is not destiny,” said Betsy Otto, WRI’s global water director. “What we can’t afford to do any longer is pretend that the situation will resolve itself.”

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9 Foods That Are Making The Drought Even Worse

August 6, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /HuffPostby Jodi Helmer

Farmers are struggling to keep crops from withering on the vine thanks to a severe drought affecting more than 4.5% of the continental United States ― and turning on the sprinklers could make the problem worse. California, which grows two-thirds of our fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts, experienced a drought that lasted from 2011 to March 2019. The World Resources Institute estimates that more than 25% of the world’s crops are grown in regions with high water stress (we’re looking at you, California almonds). “The shift toward more meat-based diets is becoming a major problem that puts pressure on water resources around the world,” said Heather Cooley, director of research at the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit focused on finding solutions to worldwide water challenges.

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