Resilience in a Changing Climate: Sonoma County Adaptation Forum

April 15, 2015

CW3E director Marty Ralph and scientist Julie Kalansky presented at the Sonoma County Adaptation Forum on April 8th. The forum was modeled after state forums, but was the first regional adaptation forum in California. The forum focused on information and approaches to help mitigate the impacts of climate change in Sonoma County and surrounding areas. The audience of over 200 people included city and county leaders, utility managers, environmental groups and the public.

Both Marty and Julie presented in the first session of the morning entitled “Extreme Weather Science; Drought and Deluge in Sonoma County.” Jay Jasperse, Chief Engineer and Director of Groundwater Management at Sonoma County Water Agency, moderated the session. The other panelists included Tim Doherty, from NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, who discussed the impacts of sea level rise on the region, and Dr. Lisa Micheli, Executive Director of Pepperwood Preserve, who presented on the importance of downscaling climate models to understand the regional response to climate change. Marty Ralph discussed the importance of atmospheric rivers (ARs) to the water supply as well as the potential flooding risk associated with ARs. This led into an explanation of the FIRO, forecast informed reservoir operations, project for improving the water supply resilience of Lake Mendocino. At the end of his presentation he introduced the first part of an ongoing NOAA-NIDIS and Sonoma County Water Agency funded project to examine how the frequency and intensity of ARs may change in future. The link below is to an interview with Marty Ralph about atmospheric rivers and the forum that was broadcasted on North Bay Public Radio.

http://radio.krcb.org/post/charting-local-adaptations-climate-change

After Marty’s presentation, Julie presented on the second part of the study including the development of a “mega-drought” stress test for the region and working with the community to understand the all the different dimensions of drought. During Julie’s presentation, she was able to involve the audience and received feedback on the vulnerabilities to drought and the difficult decisions that surround drought. The day was a great success in bringing together scientists, decisions makers and the public to discuss how to make the community more resilient to climate change.