Greg Pederson, Ph.D.

Research Interests

Of particular interest is the magnitude of low-frequency hydroclimatic variability and its implications for drought risk, as well as the climatic drivers associated with observed changes in mountain snowpack, streamflow, glaciers, and forest disturbance events. Understanding the time intervals and spatial scales over which these processes operate requires a long-term perspective, and for that I rely on proxy records primarily from tree-ring and lake sediments along with instrumental and modeled climate records.  Recent and ongoing studies have addressed the susceptibility of natural resources to climate variability and change, and sought to apply both the modern and paleoclimatic records to present day resource management problems.

Current Research Projects Include:

• Drivers of Drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin [DOI Southwestern CSC]
• Multi-century perspectives on current and future streamflow in the Missouri River Basin [NSF P2C2]
• Reconstructions of Columbia River flow from winter and summer precipitation sensitive proxies in the Northwestern U.S. with implications for 21st century flow [CSC and CLU]
• A Broader view of North American climate over the past two millennia: Synthesizing paleoclimate records from diverse archives [USGS Powell Center]
• Holocene climate variability in Alaska from relict wood [DOI Alaska CSC]
• Holocene climates of the Northern Rockies from relict wood emerging from ice patches [CLU]
• Megadroughts and uncertainty in Upper Colorado River flow low-frequency variability [CLU]