Author: Clare Aslan

In the desert Southwest, urbanization increasingly alters the availability and distribution of water. Due to groundwater mining and surface water diversion, natural riparian and spring habitats are disappearing. To compensate for this loss of natural sources, artificial water sources in open deserts are commonly developed by wildlife managers and environmental impact mitigators. It is clear that both artificial water sources themselves, as well as the moisture-loving vegetation in proximity to the water, can provide essential resources for a variety of desert species. (Read More)

Climate change could substantially impact the energy system in the Southwest through less efficient power generation, reduced electricity distribution, and threats to energy infrastructure—all while peak energy demands increase. In this blog, the fourth in a series about the recently released Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest U.S., I expand upon these and other key findings from Chapter 12, which describes the vulnerability of our energy system to climate change. (read more)

The monsoon is here! In the July Southwest Climate Podcast, Zack Guido, Mike Crimmins, and guest speaker J.J. Brost from the National Weather Service discuss the mechanics behind the monsoon, what we can expect from the rest of the season, and the mechanics behind fires starting at the beginning of the monsoon, such as the Yarnell fire near Prescott.

Continuing the theme from previous blogs, this post completes the Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest U.S. blog series with another perspective from one of the coordinating lead authors of the chapter on adaptation and solutions, “Climate Choices for a Sustainable Southwest.” Susanne Moser, the Director and Principal Researcher of Susanne Moser Research & Consulting, is a leading expert on adaptation, science-policy interactions, decision support, and climate change communication. Below she gives her opinion on the same questions we’ve asked the other authors in this series. (Read more)

The fifteenth chapter of the Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States, entitled “Human Health”, explores the current state of knowledge with regards to climate-related public health threats, such as respiratory ailments from dust and fire-related particulate matter, changes in disease transmission and risk, and heat-related morbidity and mortality. 

Key findings: When it comes to climate impacts on health in the Southwest, the authors focus on three areas—air quality, heat extremes, and diseases: (read more)

In our last blog, Gregg Garfin introduced the Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States. This week, we focus on the ecosystems chapter (Chapter 8: Natural Ecosystems) where Coordinating Lead Author Erica Fleishman from University of California, Davis and a dozen other authors describe observed changes in geographic distributions and phenology (timing of life cycle events such as blooming and migrations) in southwestern ecosystems. They also examine disturbances affecting ecosystems such as wildfires and outbreaks of forest pathogens. (Read more)

What has been the character of the past "decade of drought" in AZ and NM? Can we still expect to see a large wildfire season? What are the climate models showing for this year's monsoon? Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins answer these questions and much more in this month's episode.

Dr. Jeremy Weiss, a senior researcher with UA’s Environmental Studies Laboratory, will discuss the importance of seasonality and elevational gradients for understanding the effects of drought and warming on vegetation in topographically complex regions like the Southwest, and explain how projected changes in future regional climate may potentially further or alter these effects. (read more)

This blog is the second in a two-part series about using feedback from rural Arizonans to improve climate change adaptation research in the region. 

In my last blog, I wrote that discussions with many groups of rural Arizonans revealed that they are highly aware of and concerned about changes that are occurring in our weather and climate, and that they already are engaged in adaptation efforts. What to do with that information? We used qualitative methods to analyze the group discussions, and then developed a model of rural Arizonans’ approach to climate change adaptation. (Read More)