Assessment Research
California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment is a portfolio of reports, research, and resources that contribute to the scientific foundation for understanding climate-related vulnerability throughout the state to help communities understand and develop informed responses to the impacts of climate change. The Fifth Assessment’s research and tools are designed to fill knowledge gaps about California’s climate future, inspire strategic climate actions, and shape planning, investments, and policies at the state, regional, and local scales. These products are accessible below by category, or see the full list.
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Reports
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The Impacts of Climate Change on Atmospheric River Storms and California’s Water Resource Infrastructure
Atmospheric rivers (ARs) and extratropical cyclones (ETCs) are the predominant sources of precipitation in California. As a result, these weather phenomena are responsible for nearly all flood hazards in the state with impacts that could be amplified in a warmer, low-to no snow future. This project will analyze the AR-ETC…
Resarch: Core Climate Research -
Assessing Cost Effectiveness of Coastal Climate Adaptation Solutions in California: CoSMoS Adapts
California’s coast faces significant climate change challenges that threaten the coastal economy, critical infrastructure, communities, and a rich natural system. In response, State agencies and local communities have been scaling up adaptation efforts, increasingly embracing a “pathway” approach, but they have expressed a lack of tools to evaluate local adaptation…
Resarch: Core Climate Research -
Sierra Nevada Montane Meadows: Keystone Ecosystems for Carbon Stability and Ecosystem Services Under Climate Change
Montane meadows in the Sierra Nevada region are inland mineral soil wetlands that provide important habitat for over half of the region’s vertebrate species, are critical components of California’s water infrastructure, and contain high densities of soil carbon. Despite the importance of these keystone ecosystems, they remain understudied, particularly compared…
Resarch: Core Climate Research -
Pollination in a Changing World: The Effects of Habitat and Temperature on the Health of California’s Wild Pollinators
Pollinator-dependent crops in California are valued at more than $11 billion, making California the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the United States. However, California’s reliance on managed honeybees for pollination is problematic. The high cost and carbon emissions associated with hive transport, along with the persistently high rates…
Resarch: Core Climate Research -
Estimating the Impact of Drought on California’s Housing Needs
The increases in housing supply needed to help address the state’s growing shortage of affordable housing sit in stark contrast to the risks of declining water available to meet these housing needs. At the same time, climate change is increasing the frequency and magnitude of drought, resulting in loss of…
Resarch: Core Climate Research -
Climate Refugia for Pacific Sardine and Red Abalone in the California Current Ecosystem
Climate change is impacting California marine ecosystems: rising temperatures, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation. In addition, the impact of episodic marine heat waves, El Niño events, and increasing ocean variability are not uniform across space or time. Climate change refugia are areas characterized by relatively stable climate conditions and therefore have…
Resarch: Core Climate Research -
Building an Inclusive Future: A Participatory Approach to Transformative Climate Change Resilience
The unevenly distributed future of climate change means that some people are on the frontlines today. How they are learning to respond, adapt, and find resilience will matter to all Californians in the next decade–from households to policy decision-makers. This research project asks: what if we center and amplify low-income…
Resarch: Core Climate Research -
Evaluation of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for California’s Adjudicated Groundwater Basins to Assess Impacts on Water Sustainability for Vulnerable Communities
Groundwater is a critical water supply source for many communities and an essential back-up source of water during droughts. Over a century, the volume of groundwater withdrawn generally exceeded recharge with concomitant negative impacts to vulnerable communities and the resource. Climate change projections of increased temperatures and more extreme droughts…
Resarch: Core Climate Research -
Weathering the Weather: Strategies to Reduce Harm to People Living Unsheltered
As the climate changes, California will experience more dangerous and frequent heat waves, incidents of toxic wildfire smoke, and flooding from heavy precipitation events. During these hazards, public health advice often centers around encouraging people to stay home or stay inside. This is not always easy or possible for the…
Resarch: Core Climate Research -
Climate Change Impact on Compound and Cascading Hazards in California
Multiple hazard events (whether extreme or not) can occur concurrently or in a series (cascading) to produce compound hazards with extreme impacts on societal, natural, and built systems that have far greater negative consequences than the independent hazards. The overarching goal of this project is to develop and apply a…
Resarch: Core Climate Research