Fall Colloquium continues with Dr. Ben Livneh

Abstract:

Extreme precipitation is projected to increase in many parts of the world, which raises concerns about flooding and its associated hazards. However, while heavy rainfall is often assumed to be the main cause of extreme flooding, observations and models suggest that other factors, such as low antecedent moisture, can obscure or offset this relationship. In this presentation, I will first focus on the role of precipitation timing in reducing the flood potential of heavy rainfall. The second part of this presentation will evaluate the characteristics of post-wildfire landslide triggers by comparing the precipitation preceding events in both burned and unburned locations. The final part of this presentation will evaluate how the relationship between snowpack and streamflow is expected to change across western North America as temperatures rise throughout the remainder of this century. Overall, this research aims to foster discussion and advance our understanding of the various ways in which precipitation changes can impact the Earth system.

Bio:

Ben Livneh is the director of the Western Water Assessment and is an associate professor in the department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, and a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research group focuses on solving problems that explore how land cover and climate changes affect water availability across western North America. Recent projects have focused on changes in snowpack and drought prediction, as well as studying post-wildfire hydrology and water.