Drought in the Southwestern United States

Overview:

A large part of the southwestern United States has been suffering from extreme to exceptional drought. Dr. Amir AghaKouchak is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Irvine and discussed topics including:

• How human activity is contributing to the ongoing drought;
• The implications of indefinite drought for the ecosystems, people, and industries in the region; and
• Snow drought: How this year’s scant snowfall will affect the amount and timing of springtime runoff, and the implications of “snow droughts” for ecosystems, agriculture, hydropower, wildfires and more.

Recent Media Examples:

Dr. AghaKouchak gave a TEDxUCIrvine talk on the human causes of drought, was interviewed by the New York Times about climate change raising the risk of dam failures, and spoke on the NPR’s Science Friday about hurricane-induced flooding.

Availability:

Dr. AghaKouchak spoke to members of the media on Wednesday, March 31 from 12:30 to 2:00 pm ET. He was also interviewed by SciLine. To request the video of SciLine’s interview with Dr. Brashares, email Sara Brinda sbrinda@aaas.org.