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Last Year’s Drought Cost Ag Industry More Than $1 Billion, Thousands of Jobs, New Analysis Shows

February 24, 2022
The 2021 drought directly cost the California agriculture sector about $1.1 billion and nearly 8,750 full- and part-time jobs, according to estimates in a new analysis led by UC Merced researchers. Once the effects on other economic sectors are considered, total impacts are estimated at $1.7...

Environmental Systems Student Earns Graduate Student Policy Award

February 16, 2022
Environmental Systems Ph.D. student Zachary Malone was awarded the Ecological Society of America’s (ESA) Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award. This award provides graduate students with the opportunity to participate in virtual Congressional Visits Day and to learn about...

Hotter, Drier Nights Mean More Runaway Fires

February 16, 2022
Thanks to the warming climate, the potential for more severe nighttime wildfires is increasing, and warmer nights mean firefighters will not be able to rely on cooler temperatures to help them get a handle on fires, a new study shows. Forty years ago, cool, moist nights regularly provided relief...

Update: TID accepts grant for solar panels on canals. When, where will project happen?

February 9, 2022
.mcclatchy-embed{position:relative;padding:40px 0 56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%}.mcclatchy-embed iframe{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%} The Turlock Irrigation District board voted to accept a state grant to demonstrate solar panels on canals on Feb. 8...

Solar-paneled Canals Getting a Test Run in San Joaquin Valley

February 8, 2022
A research project conducted by a UC Merced graduate student is becoming a reality as the Turlock Irrigation District (TID) approved piloting the first-in-the-nation construction of solar panels over water canals. The project is based on research commissioned by a company called Solar AquaGrid...

Wildfires in January? Scientists say climate change could fuel 'a continuous fire season'

January 26, 2022
Even with all the wildfires California has endured, it was a shock to see flames searing the Big Sur coast this week — in the middle of winter. The January blaze, which on Wednesday had burned 700 acres and still was smoldering near homes in the rugged Palo Colorado Canyon, is believed to...

Faculty Report IDs Top Climate Challenges Facing Valley

January 11, 2022
California’s Central Valley is on the front lines of climate change. The Fourth Regional Climate Change Assessment, by a team of UC Merced and affiliated researchers, illustrates the biggest problems — and possible solutions — facing California’s unique biomes and...

Microorganisms Consume Last Bits of Oxygen from Low-oxygen Ocean Zones, Study Shows

December 7, 2021
Even the tiniest organisms have a surprisingly huge effect on life in the oceans, eating up the last bits of oxygen in certain areas, preventing larger marine life from surviving there, a new study shows. Department of Life and Environmental Sciences Professor Michael Beman published...

Hotter Summer Days Mean More Sierra Nevada Wildfires, Study Finds

December 7, 2021
The hottest summer days in the Sierra Nevada in California greatly increase the risk that wildfires will ignite or spread, and as the planet keeps warming the risks will increase even more, scientists said Wednesday. The research, which examined daily temperatures and data from nearly 450 Sierra...

California’s water supplies are in trouble as climate change worsens natural dry spells, especially in the Sierra Nevada

December 7, 2021
California is preparing for a third straight year of drought, and officials are tightening limits on water use to levels never seen so early in the water year. Most of the state’s water reservoirs are well below average, with several at less than a third of their capacity. The ...

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