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Climate Change

Climate change refers to the increasing changes in the measures of climate over a long period of time – including precipitation, temperature, and wind patterns. At the California Water Science Center, scientists are researching the effects of climate change in California. Area of concern include increased wildfires and drought, diminished snowpack and water availability in California reservoirs, and the impact on the groundwater supply, and the effects on wildlife and ecosystems.

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Delta wetland near Rio Vista, California.

Delta Wetlands and Resilience: Blue Carbon and Marsh Accretion

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) are coastal ecosystems, such as tidal marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses, with manageable and atmospherically significant carbon stocks and fluxes. The tidal marshes and scrub-shrub wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) of California are examples of BCEs. The Delta is a 2,400 square kilometer tidal freshwater region located at the landward end of the...
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California Water Science Center
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Delta Wetlands and Resilience: Blue Carbon and Marsh Accretion

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) are coastal ecosystems, such as tidal marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses, with manageable and atmospherically significant carbon stocks and fluxes. The tidal marshes and scrub-shrub wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) of California are examples of BCEs. The Delta is a 2,400 square kilometer tidal freshwater region located at the landward end of the...
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LoRa-cellular gateway with EnviSense data logger/transmitter

Monitoring Drought Conditions in the Upper Feather River Watershed

The Upper Feather River Watershed is one of California’s regions of highest precipitation. Its runoff provides the majority of water delivered by the State Water Project, an average 3.2 million-acre feet each year feeding into Lake Oroville.
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California Water Science Center, National Innovation Center
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Monitoring Drought Conditions in the Upper Feather River Watershed

The Upper Feather River Watershed is one of California’s regions of highest precipitation. Its runoff provides the majority of water delivered by the State Water Project, an average 3.2 million-acre feet each year feeding into Lake Oroville.
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Backhoe breaching Humboldt dike

The influence of geomorphology on sediment accretion and soil carbon development in a restored tidal wetland, White Slough, Humboldt Bay National Refuge, CA

Coastal vegetated habitats, such as tidal wetlands, play an active role in the global carbon cycle. This is done through the removal of CO2 by living vegetation through photosynthesis and by the decay of organic matter and its burial for hundreds to thousands of years.
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California Water Science Center
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The influence of geomorphology on sediment accretion and soil carbon development in a restored tidal wetland, White Slough, Humboldt Bay National Refuge, CA

Coastal vegetated habitats, such as tidal wetlands, play an active role in the global carbon cycle. This is done through the removal of CO2 by living vegetation through photosynthesis and by the decay of organic matter and its burial for hundreds to thousands of years.
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Lake Oroville showing extremely low water under the Enterprise Bridge during 2021 drought.

California Drought

The USGS closely monitors the effects of drought through data collection and research. USGS science supports water managers in preparing for possible future drought by providing information that takes into account long-term hydrologic, climatic, and environmental changes. These studies support successful planning and science-based decision-making by water managers who must address complex issues...
By
California Water Science Center, Land Subsidence in California
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California Drought

The USGS closely monitors the effects of drought through data collection and research. USGS science supports water managers in preparing for possible future drought by providing information that takes into account long-term hydrologic, climatic, and environmental changes. These studies support successful planning and science-based decision-making by water managers who must address complex issues...
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Longfin smelt captured in San Pablo Bay, November 2018.

Longfin Smelt Distribution in the Coastal Pacific Ocean

Longfin Smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys) is a pelagic fish species found in waters along the Pacific coast, from Alaska to central California. Its complex life cycle makes it vulnerable to threats in both freshwater and at sea. Longfin Smelt is listed as a threatened species by the state of California.
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California Water Science Center
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Longfin Smelt Distribution in the Coastal Pacific Ocean

Longfin Smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys) is a pelagic fish species found in waters along the Pacific coast, from Alaska to central California. Its complex life cycle makes it vulnerable to threats in both freshwater and at sea. Longfin Smelt is listed as a threatened species by the state of California.
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murky water body surrounded by green trees

Sediment transport, streamflow, and climate change: long-term resilience of the Bay-Delta

Sediment supply is important to the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and San Francisco Bay (Bay-Delta) ecosystem. Sediment eroded from upland source areas in the Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds is transported through the rivers to the Bay-Delta where it is deposited in mudflats and tidal wetlands, which in turn helps protect against the effects of sea-level rise. Sediment...
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California Water Science Center
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Sediment transport, streamflow, and climate change: long-term resilience of the Bay-Delta

Sediment supply is important to the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and San Francisco Bay (Bay-Delta) ecosystem. Sediment eroded from upland source areas in the Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds is transported through the rivers to the Bay-Delta where it is deposited in mudflats and tidal wetlands, which in turn helps protect against the effects of sea-level rise. Sediment...
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scrublands with hills in the background

Evaluation of groundwater resources of the Anza-Terwilliger area, Anza, California

Groundwater is the sole source for water use to the rural community and two Native American tribes in the Cahuilla Valley and Terwilliger Valley groundwater basins, which are located approximately 35 miles southwest of Palm Springs, California. The characteristics and sustainable yield of the basins are not well understood and are threatened by increasing water use and potential changes in water...
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California Water Science Center
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Evaluation of groundwater resources of the Anza-Terwilliger area, Anza, California

Groundwater is the sole source for water use to the rural community and two Native American tribes in the Cahuilla Valley and Terwilliger Valley groundwater basins, which are located approximately 35 miles southwest of Palm Springs, California. The characteristics and sustainable yield of the basins are not well understood and are threatened by increasing water use and potential changes in water...
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Scientist adjusts equipment mounted on tower at the Suisun Marsh in California.

Creating a Model to Predict Future Carbon Levels in Tidally-driven Marshes

Tidal marshes are important ecosystems in the San Francisco-Bay Delta. They remove carbon from the atmosphere, they build up soils that buffer our communities from sea level rise, they provide critical habitat and food resources for a diversity of species, and they reduce excessive nutrients which have a negative impact on water quality. As a result of land-use change and urbanization, the San...
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California Water Science Center
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Creating a Model to Predict Future Carbon Levels in Tidally-driven Marshes

Tidal marshes are important ecosystems in the San Francisco-Bay Delta. They remove carbon from the atmosphere, they build up soils that buffer our communities from sea level rise, they provide critical habitat and food resources for a diversity of species, and they reduce excessive nutrients which have a negative impact on water quality. As a result of land-use change and urbanization, the San...
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Nursery grown trees that will be replanted in forests

Researching Climate Conditions for CAL FIRE Wildfire Restoration Efforts

In California, drought and warmer climates have increased the prevalence, severity, and duration of wildfires. These fires have destroyed over 129 million trees. In the aftermath of this devastation, there is heightened urgency to increase the capacity of seedling production, particularly for the lower-elevation and private lands that CAL FIRE is responsible to help manage. To support CAL FIRE in...
By
California Water Science Center
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Researching Climate Conditions for CAL FIRE Wildfire Restoration Efforts

In California, drought and warmer climates have increased the prevalence, severity, and duration of wildfires. These fires have destroyed over 129 million trees. In the aftermath of this devastation, there is heightened urgency to increase the capacity of seedling production, particularly for the lower-elevation and private lands that CAL FIRE is responsible to help manage. To support CAL FIRE in...
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Image: A Wall of Fire in Southern California

Characterizing the Influence of Fire on Hydrology in Southern California

The frequency of fire in southern California forests has steadily increased over time as a result of ignitions at the growing wildland-urban interface, as well as a result of warming due to climate change. Understanding the implications of increased wildfire on hydrologic conditions and water supply is particularly important given the increasing demands for water resources to satisfy growing...
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California Water Science Center
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Characterizing the Influence of Fire on Hydrology in Southern California

The frequency of fire in southern California forests has steadily increased over time as a result of ignitions at the growing wildland-urban interface, as well as a result of warming due to climate change. Understanding the implications of increased wildfire on hydrologic conditions and water supply is particularly important given the increasing demands for water resources to satisfy growing...
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Water-supply basins in California that drain to the SF Bay Delta

Estimates of soil water deficit during California drought, January 1, 2014: U.S. Geological Survey Data Release

Because the following information has immediate and time-sensitive relevance to public health and welfare owing to the Governor's declared drought emergency it is being released as preliminary information. As preliminary information, it had been reviewed and approved to meet the needs for timely best science, but the methodology is subject to refinement. The information is provided on the...
By
California Water Science Center
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Estimates of soil water deficit during California drought, January 1, 2014: U.S. Geological Survey Data Release

Because the following information has immediate and time-sensitive relevance to public health and welfare owing to the Governor's declared drought emergency it is being released as preliminary information. As preliminary information, it had been reviewed and approved to meet the needs for timely best science, but the methodology is subject to refinement. The information is provided on the...
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map of Indian Wells Valley displaying subbasin boundaries and shaded by recharge in mm/year

Using the Basin Characterization Model (BCM) to Estimate Natural Recharge in Indian Wells Valley, California

Located in the northern Mojave Desert, the Indian Wells Valley has an arid environment, receiving only 4-6 inches of precipitation annually. Like most desert areas, Indian Wells Valley communities rely mostly on groundwater for their available groundwater supply. Increases in urban and agricultural development have resulted in increased groundwater pumpage for public and agricultural use, causing...
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California Water Science Center
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Using the Basin Characterization Model (BCM) to Estimate Natural Recharge in Indian Wells Valley, California

Located in the northern Mojave Desert, the Indian Wells Valley has an arid environment, receiving only 4-6 inches of precipitation annually. Like most desert areas, Indian Wells Valley communities rely mostly on groundwater for their available groundwater supply. Increases in urban and agricultural development have resulted in increased groundwater pumpage for public and agricultural use, causing...
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