Contribution of anthropogenic warming to California drought during 2012–2014
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory · Columbia University · +2 more institutions
Abstract
Abstract A suite of climate data sets and multiple representations of atmospheric moisture demand are used to calculate many estimates of the self‐calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index, a proxy for near‐surface soil moisture, across California from 1901 to 2014 at high spatial resolution. Based on the ensemble of calculations, California drought conditions were record breaking in 2014, but probably not record breaking in 2012–2014, contrary to prior findings. Regionally, the 2012–2014 drought was record breaking in the agriculturally important southern Central Valley and highly populated coastal areas. Contributions of individual climate variables to recent drought are also examined, including the…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 48.89
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 67
Authors
6- PWPark WilliamsCorresponding
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
- RSRichard Seager
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
- JTJohn T. Abatzoglou
University of Idaho
- BIBenjamin I. Cook
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
- JEJason E. Smerdon
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
Topics & keywords
- Environmental science
- Precipitation
- Climate change
- Climatology
- Proxy (statistics)
- Global warming
- Anomaly (physics)
- Geography
- Climate action