Dry Year Program (1978)

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | January 1st, 1978

The importance of water was emphasized to all Californians during the 1975-76 water year. A high pressure system persisted off the West Coast for months, preventing Pacif

The importance of water was emphasized to all Californians during the 1975-76 water year. A high pressure system persisted off the West Coast for months, preventing Pacific storms from depositing moisture on major areas of the State. As a consequence, the 1975-76 period turned out to be the third driest water year in recorded State history, being surpassed only by the droughts of 1923-24 and 1930-31. With most of the State•s surface reservoirs substantial l y depleted and meager prospects for normal runoff, Governor Brown - on the last day of 1976 - announced an eight-point drought emergency program. In effect, the emergency program marshaled the resources and personnel of all state agencies in an effort to ease, as much as possible, the social and economic impact on Californians if the drought should continue for a second year . As it developed, 1976-77 became the driest year of record, amply justifying the Governor's foresight. The State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) role in the emergency program was to develop a program of water conservation in cooperation with the University of California; to determine the quantity of water which could be expected in critically dry areas; and to protect the priority of uses of that limited supply in accordance with the State's water rights law. This was particularly important in the case of agriculture, the State's No. 1 industry. It appeared likely that the available supply of water would not meet the needs of farms and orchards for the full growing season or meet the full demand of municipal and industrial users and instream needs. The State Board was concerned that water users would inadvertently interfere with the water rights of others unless forewarned of the extent of availability of water to them. In addition, the warnings would be conducive to early implementation of conservation measures. The State Board established the Dry Year Program as a function within its Division of Water Rights ( Division) . This program, designed to protect and enforce the priorities of users of surface water had four objectives : 1. To identify critical drought-impacted areas in Northern and Central California. 2. To provide information on water conservation and shortage to diverters in these areas. 3. To assure that the limited water supply available would be used in accordance with established rights. 4. To take enforcement action against violations of permit and license conditions, illegal diversions and waste or unreasonable use of water.

Dynamic flood modeling essential to assess the coastal impacts of climate change

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | March 13th, 2019

Coastal inundation due to sea level rise (SLR) is projected to displace hundreds of millions of people worldwide over the next century, creating significant eco

Coastal inundation due to sea level rise (SLR) is projected to displace hundreds of millions of people worldwide over the next century, creating significant economic, humanitarian, and national-security challenges. However, the majority of previous efforts to characterize potential coastal impacts of climate change have focused primarily on long-term SLR with a static tide level, and have not comprehensively accounted for dynamic physical drivers such as tidal non-linearity, storms, short-term climate variability, erosion response and consequent flooding responses. Here we present a dynamic modeling approach that estimates climate-driven changes in flood-hazard exposure by integrating the effects of SLR, tides, waves, storms, and coastal change (i.e. beach erosion and cliff retreat). We show that for California, USA, the world’s 5th largest economy, over $150 billion of property equating to more than 6% of the state’s GDP and 600,000 people could be impacted by dynamic flooding by 2100; a three- fold increase in exposed population than if only SLR and a static coastline are considered. The potential for underestimating societal exposure to coastal flooding is greater for smaller SLR scenarios, up to a seven-fold increase in exposed population and economic interests when considering storm conditions in addition to SLR. These results highlight the importance of including climate-change driven dynamic coastal processes and impacts in both short-term hazard mitigation and long-term adaptation planning.

Dynamical and Thermodynamical Causes of Large-Scale Changes in the Hydrological Cycle over North America in Response to Global Warming

American Meteorological Society (AMS) | October 15th, 2014

The mechanisms of model-projected atmospheric moisture budget change across North America are exam- ined in simulations conducted with 22 models from phase 5 of t

The mechanisms of model-projected atmospheric moisture budget change across North America are exam- ined in simulations conducted with 22 models from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. Modern-day model budgets are validated against the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Interim Re-Analysis. In the winter half year transient eddies converge moisture across the continent while the mean flow wets the west from central California northward and dries the southwest. In the summer half year there is widespread mean flow moisture divergence across the west and convergence over the Great Plains that is offset by transient eddy divergence. In the winter half year the models project drying for the southwest and wetting to the north. Changes in the mean flow moisture convergence are largely responsible across the west but intensified transient eddy moisture convergence wets the northeast. In the summer half year widespread declines in precipitation minus evaporation (P 2 E) are supported by mean flow moisture divergence across the west and transient eddy divergence in the Great Plains. The changes in mean flow convergence are related to increases in specific humidity but also depend on changes in the mean flow including increased low-level divergence in the U.S. Southwest and a zonally varying wave that wets the North American west and east coasts in winter and dries the U.S. Southwest. Increased transient eddy fluxes occur even as low-level eddy activity weakens and arise from strengthened humidity gradients. A full explanation of North American hydroclimate changes will require ex- planation of mean and transient circulation changes and the coupling between the moisture and circulation fields.

Dynamical and thermodynamical modulations on future changes of landfalling atmospheric rivers over western North America

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | September 12th, 2015

This study examines future changes of landfalling atmospheric rivers (ARs) over western North America using outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase

This study examines future changes of landfalling atmospheric rivers (ARs) over western North America using outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). The result reveals a strikingly large increase of AR days by the end of the 21st century in the RCP8.5 scenario, with fractional increases between 50% and 600%, depending on the seasons and landfall locations. These increases are predominantly controlled by the super-Clausius-Clapeyron rate of increase of atmospheric water vapor with warming, while changes of winds that transport moisture in the ARs, or dynamical effect, mostly counter the thermodynamical effect of increasing water vapor, limiting the increase of AR events in the future. The consistent negative effect of wind changes on AR days during spring and fall can be linked to the robust poleward shift of the subtropical jet in the North Pacific basin.

Early California Laws and Policies Relating to California Indians

California Research Bureau (CRB) | September 1st, 2002

Did the State of California enact laws that prohibited California Indians from practicing their religion, speaking their languages or practicing traditional ceremonies an

Did the State of California enact laws that prohibited California Indians from practicing their religion, speaking their languages or practicing traditional ceremonies and customs?  Senator John L. Burton requested that the California Research Bureau research this question. The initial investigation and research contained in this report led to a focus on four examples of early State of California laws and policies that significantly impacted the California Indians’ way of life: ·  The 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians and related amendments; ·  California militia policies and “Expeditions against the Indians” during 1851 to 1859; ·  The State of California’s official response to federal treaties negotiated with California Indians during 1851 to 1852; and ·  Early and current state fish protection laws that exempt California Indians from related prohibitions. The 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians facilitated removing California Indians from their traditional lands, separating at least a generation of children and adults from their families, languages, and cultures (1850 to 1865). This California law provided for “apprenticing” or indenturing Indian children and adults to Whites, and also punished “vagrant” Indians by “hiring” them out to the highest bidder at a public auction if the Indian could not provide sufficient bond or bail. The California Legislature created the laws that controlled California Indians’ land, lives and livelihoods, while enforcement and implementation occurred at the county and local township levels. Some examples include: ·  County-level Courts of Sessions and local township Justices of the Peace determined which Indians and Indian children were “apprenticed” or  indentured pursuant to the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. ·  Under the same act, Justices of the Peace, mayors or recorders of incorporated towns or cities, decided the status and punishment of “vagrant” Indians. ·  Under the California Constitution and state militia laws, California governors ordered local sheriffs to organize the men to conduct the “Expeditions against the Indians.” From 1851 to 1859, the California Legislature passed twenty-seven laws that the State Comptroller relied upon in determining the total expenditures related to the Expeditions against the Indians. The total amount of claims submitted to the State of California Comptroller for these Expeditions against the Indians was $1,293,179.20. The California Legislature was involved in influencing the U.S. Senate’s ratification process of the 18 treaties negotiated with California Indians during 1851 to 1852. These treaties were never ratified, and kept secret from 1852 until 1905. Prior to the President submitting the treaties to the Senate, the California Legislature conducted considerable debate, made reports, drafted and passed resolutions that mostly opposed ratification of the treaties. The California Legislature also enacted laws during the first fifteen years of statehood that accommodated Indian tribes’ traditional fishing practices. California laws exist today that continue to protect fish and exempt California Indians from related prohibitions.

Early Reclamation and Abandonment of the Central Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

Sacramento Historical Society | September 15th, 2006

Early warnings and emerging accountability: Total’s responses to global warming, 1971–2021

Global Environmental Change (Elsevier) | November 29th, 2021

Building upon recent work on other major fossil fuel companies, we report new archival research and primary source interviews describing how Total responded to evolving c

Building upon recent work on other major fossil fuel companies, we report new archival research and primary source interviews describing how Total responded to evolving climate science and policy in the last 50 years. We show that Total personnel received warnings of the potential for catastrophic global warming from its products by 1971, became more fully informed of the issue in the 1980s, began promoting doubt regarding the scientific basis for global warming by the late 1980s, and ultimately settled on a position in the late 1990s of publicly accepting climate science while promoting policy delay or policies peripheral to fossil fuel control. Additionally, we find that Exxon, through the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA), coordinated an international campaign to dispute climate science and weaken international climate policy, beginning in the 1980s. This represents one of the first longitudinal studies of a major fossil fuel company’s responses to global warming to the present, describing historical stages of awareness, preparation, denial, and delay.

Earth’s clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | December 19th, 2024

For more than 20 years, NASA instruments in space have tracked a growing imbalance in Earth’s solar energy budget, with more energy entering than leaving the planet. Mu

For more than 20 years, NASA instruments in space have tracked a growing imbalance in Earth’s solar energy budget, with more energy entering than leaving the planet. Much of that imbalance can be pinned on humanity’s greenhouse gases emissions, which trap heat in the atmosphere. But explaining the rest has been a challenge. The loss of reflective ice, exposing darker ground and water that absorb more heat, isn’t enough to explain the deficit, and the decline in light-reflecting hazes as countries clean up or close polluting industry falls short as well. “Nobody can get a number that’s even close,” says George Tselioudis, a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Earthquakes and High Water as Levee Hazards in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | September 30th, 2016

East Bay Plain Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan

East Bay Municipal Utilities District (East Bay MUD) | January 26th, 2022

The Plan Area lies within the boundaries of Contra Costa and Alameda counties, including all or portions of the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryvill

The Plan Area lies within the boundaries of Contra Costa and Alameda counties, including all or portions of the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Hayward, Oakland, Piedmont, Richmond, San Leandro, and San Pablo. Unincorporated areas (including San Lorenzo) within the subbasin are covered by the respective county general plans (GPs), and various city GPs cover the other portions of the Subbasin. The Subbasin does not contain state lands, but does include some federal lands including Lytton Tribal lands. Due to size, this document has been divided into separate files. Executive Summary, Executive Summary Chapters 1-5, Appendix 1 (Chapter 1), Appendix 2 (Chapter 2), Appendix 3 (Chapter 3), Appendix 4 (Chapter 4), (No Appendix for Chapter 5), Appendix 6