Jeremy Littell is a Research Ecologist with the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center. He conducts research on the role of climate and ecological drought in Alaskan and other forested ecosystems. He also facilitates the use of climate information in planning, adaptation, and vulnerability assessment.
Littell's background is the ecoclimatology of western North America's forests. His doctoral work at the University of Washington focused on ecological and climatic controls on wildfire in the western U.S. and the role of climate in Douglas-fir tree growth across its climatic range. He also worked as a research scientist at the UW Climate Impacts Group, collaborating with resource managers in Federal and state agencies to better understand and use climate information in planning and adaptation. At the Alaska CASC, his current work addresses two main themes:
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Development, coordination, and translation of climate science products for Alaska
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Observing and Understanding the Impacts of climate on Alaskan Forests
He also serves as an author on the Alaska chapter of the National Climate Assessment (NCA).
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., University of Washington
Science and Products
Exposure of cultural resources to 21st-century climate change: Towards a risk management plan
Snowpack signals in North American tree rings
Unfamiliar territory: Emerging themes for ecological drought research and management
Increased drought severity tracks warming in the United States’ largest river basin
Using information from global climate models to inform policymaking—The role of the U.S. Geological Survey
Managing effects of drought and other water resource challenges in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest
1200 years of Upper Missouri River streamflow reconstructed from tree rings
Risks of hydroclimatic regime shifts across the western United States
Alaska
Climate, disturbance, and vulnerability to vegetation change in the Northwest Forest Plan Area
Climate Change in Port Heiden, Alaska - Strategies for Community Health
Future of Fire: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Webinar: Climate Adaptation Planning with Alaska-Based Adaptation Tools
Understanding Species' Range Shifts in Response to Climate Change: Results from a Systematic National Review
Alaska Snowpack Response to Climate Change: Statewide Snowfall Equivalent and Snowpack Water Scenarios
Observing and Understanding the Impacts of Climate on Alaskan Forests
Translating Scientific Information for Use by Decision Makers in Alaska
A network of 31 Upper Missouri River Basin naturalized water-year (Oct-Sep) streamflow reconstructions spanning years 800 - 1998 CE
Science and Products
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 31
Exposure of cultural resources to 21st-century climate change: Towards a risk management plan
Anthropogenic climate change during the 21st century presents a significant challenge to the protection of cultural resources (CRs) on federal lands that encompass ∼ 28% of the U.S. In particular, CRs on this land base may be adversely affected by a wide range of climate-change hazards, including damage by sea-level rise, enhanced deterioration by increasing temperature and precipitation, and destSnowpack signals in North American tree rings
Climate change has contributed to recent declines in mountain snowpack and earlier runoff, which in turn has intensified hydrological droughts in western North America. Climate model projections suggest that continued and severe snowpack reductions are expected over the 21st century, with profound consequences for ecosystems and human welfare. Yet the current understanding of trends and variabilitUnfamiliar territory: Emerging themes for ecological drought research and management
Novel forms of drought are emerging globally, due to climate change, shifting teleconnection patterns, expanding human water use, and a history of human influence on the environment that increases the probability of transformational ecological impacts. These costly ecological impacts cascade to human communities, and understanding this changing drought landscape is one of today’s grand challenges.Increased drought severity tracks warming in the United States’ largest river basin
Across the Upper Missouri River Basin, the recent drought of 2000 to 2010, known as the “turn-of-the-century drought,” was likely more severe than any in the instrumental record including the Dust Bowl drought. However, until now, adequate proxy records needed to better understand this event with regard to long-term variability have been lacking. Here we examine 1,200 y of streamflow from a networUsing information from global climate models to inform policymaking—The role of the U.S. Geological Survey
This report provides an overview of model-based climate science in a risk management context. In addition, it summarizes how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will continue to follow best scientific practices and when and how the results of this research will be delivered to the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and other stakeholders to inform policymaking. Climate change is a risk managementManaging effects of drought and other water resource challenges in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest
This is a Cooperator Report. As such, there is no specific abstract. The physical, ecological, and social environments of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest (PNW) region of the United States are extremely diverse. Alaska ranges from the Arctic Ocean and the very cold, dry environments of the North Slope to the cool and very rainy coastal North Pacific region of Southeast Alaska. Most precipitation1200 years of Upper Missouri River streamflow reconstructed from tree rings
Paleohydrologic records can provide unique, long-term perspectives on streamflow variability and hydroclimate for use in water resource planning. Such long-term records can also play a key role in placing both present day events and projected future conditions into a broader context than that offered by instrumental observations. However, relative to other major river basins across the western URisks of hydroclimatic regime shifts across the western United States
Paleohydrologic reconstructions of water-year streamflow for 105 sites across the western United States (West) were used to compute the likelihood (risk) of regime (wet/dry state) shifts given the length of time in a specific regime and for a specified time in the future. The spatial variability of risks was examined and indicates that regime shift risks are variable across the West. The Pacific-NAlaska
Alaska is the largest state in the Nation, almost one-fifth the size of the combined lower 48 United States, and is rich in natural capital resources. Alaska is often identified as being on the front lines of climate change since it is warming faster than any other state and faces a myriad of issues associated with a changing climate. The cost of infrastructure damage from a warming climate is proClimate, disturbance, and vulnerability to vegetation change in the Northwest Forest Plan Area
Climate change is expected to alter the composition, structure, and function of forested ecosystems in the United States (Vose et al. 2012). Increases in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide [CO2]) and temperature, as well as altered precipitation and disturbance regimes (e.g., fire, insects, pathogens, and windstorms), are expected to have profound effects on biodiClimate Change in Port Heiden, Alaska - Strategies for Community Health
There are two components to this document. The first component is the scope of described environmental change and its impacts in Port Heiden Alaska. The second component is a list of priorities to be addressed that will help Port Heiden achieve its vision for the future. Each priority area incorporates local knowledge with available climate science and takes the expected future changes in to consi - Science
Future of Fire: Towards a National Synthesis of Wildland Fire Under a Changing Climate
Abundant scientific research has characterized the relationships between climate and fire in ecosystems of the United States, and there is substantial evidence that the role of fire in ecosystems is likely to change with a changing climate. Changing fire patterns pose numerous natural resource management challenges and decision makers in natural-resource management increasingly require informationWebinar: Climate Adaptation Planning with Alaska-Based Adaptation Tools
View this webinar to learn how the Alaska CASC and partners are developing climate adaptation tools for Alaskan communities implementing climate adaptation strategies.Understanding Species' Range Shifts in Response to Climate Change: Results from a Systematic National Review
Climate change represents one of the foremost drivers of ecological change, yet its documented impacts on biodiversity remain uncertain and complex. Although there have been many published studies on species shifting their geographic ranges in response to climate change, it is still challenging to identify the specific mechanisms and conditions that facilitate range shifts in some species and notAlaska Snowpack Response to Climate Change: Statewide Snowfall Equivalent and Snowpack Water Scenarios
Understanding how snow will change over the coming century is vital in understanding environmental changes across Alaska. Changes in snow are also economically important to many sectors, from recreation to commercial fishing. An earlier set of rain-snow partitioning and snowfall equivalent projections based on downscaled CMIP3 temperature and precipitation projections have been used extensively. IObserving and Understanding the Impacts of Climate on Alaskan Forests
Changing climate conditions (e.g. changes to air temperature, surface temperature, snowpack duration, and soil temperature) are affecting where trees are able to successfully grow and are bringing changes to the structure of forests throughout many parts of Alaska. In order to understand and project future vegetation changes, scientists use computer models to establish the relationships between clTranslating Scientific Information for Use by Decision Makers in Alaska
As temperature and precipitation patterns change in Alaska, the need for scientific information to inform decision making related to the management of our natural resources becomes ever more important. However, the research being conducted to understand potential future impacts of climate change in Alaska frequently results in output and products that, in their raw forms, are not easily used by st - Data
A network of 31 Upper Missouri River Basin naturalized water-year (Oct-Sep) streamflow reconstructions spanning years 800 - 1998 CE
Paleohydrologic records provide a valuable perspective on the variability of streamflow and hydroclimate that is critical for water resource planning and placing present day and future conditions into a long-term context. Until now, key insights gained from streamflow reconstructions in the other river basins across the Western U.S. been lacking in the Upper Missouri River Basin due to a lack of e - News