Recent projections of 21st-century climate change and watershed responses in the Sierra Nevada

Abstract

In the near future, the Sierra Nevada’s climate is projected to experience a new form of climate change due to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the global atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities. If the changes occur, they presumably will be added to the large interannual and longer-term climate variations in the recent and distant past that have been described in this chapter. The projected changes include much-discussed warming trends as well as important changes in precipitation, extreme weather, and other climatic conditions, all of which may be expected to affect Sierra Nevada rivers, watersheds, landscapes, and ecosystems.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the Sierra Nevada Science Symposium

Citation

Dettinger, Michael D.; Cayan, Daniel R.; Knowles, Noah; Westerling, Anthony; Tyree, Mary K. 2004. Recent projections of 21st-century climate change and watershed responses in the Sierra Nevada. In: Murphy, Dennis D. and Stine, Peter A., editors. Proceedings of the Sierra Nevada Science Symposium. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-193. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: 43-46