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Climate Change

Featuring research and hands-on efforts around climate change

portraits of ucsb political scientists Matto Mildenberger and Neil Narang against the backdrop of the White House
Political scientists Matto Mildenberger (left) and Neil Narang

UCSB scholars join podcast recap of national headlines from 2025

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drone footage of river with water based plastic trash collectors
Photo Credit
Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory
A depiction of various river plastic collection technologies utilized for data collection

How plastic pollution flows from rivers to oceans — and how to stop it
Old, abandoned barn in a large field with white wildflowers and prairie grass.
Photo Credit
Richard McMillin via iStock
While global trends dominate environmental outcomes, decisions about recultivating or rewilding abandoned fields can influence habitat health.

Protecting nature may depend on where — not just how — we farm
Five Black men in different uniforms and non uniformed dress are in a group talking
Photo Credit
UN Photos
UN peacekeepers and members of the Malian military discuss outbreaks of violence with village residents in Mopti, Mali.

Trust in peacekeepers linked to reduced violence
Dead corn and cracked earth under an orange sky.
Photo Credit
piyaset via iStock
Warmer air can suck more moisture in dry regions and dump more rain in wet regions. New research reveals that the atmosphere’s drying capacity is outpacing increases to rainfall.

The atmosphere’s growing thirst is making droughts worse, even where it rains
cargo ships queueing at Los Angeles and Long Beach port during COVID pandemic
Cargo vessel congestion at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex during the COVID pandemic

A cheap and easy potential solution for lowering carbon emissions in maritime shipping
A sweaty child on a playground.
Photo Credit
Yaoinlove via iStock
Children are more sensitive to heat than adults, and chronic overheating can affect their experience and engagement at school.

Heat exposure in California schools prompts multi-campus research project
Joan Dudney with hiking gear in the mountains.
Photo Credit
Courtesy Image
Joan Dudney studies the impacts of global change on forests to develop science-based management strategies.

Ecologist Joan Dudney studies forest change in a warming world
blue lights in shape of trees and roots
Photo Credit
Ethan Turpin & Naomi Tague
"Tree Water," detail, 2024

How an artist and a scientist uncovered hidden landscapes  
The Earth gradually becoming whiter.
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
On its own, Earth would shift toward another ice age in about 10,000 years, scientists say. But humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions may have radically shifted the climates trajectory.

Scientists match Earth’s ice age cycles with orbital shifts
A line of clouts stretches from the tropical Pacific to western North America where it becomes a massive storm.
Photo Credit
Stuart Rankin via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
The Pineapple Express — an atmospheric river originating in the tropical Pacific — walloped western North America in February 2017. These systems are becoming more frequent at higher latitudes, leaving mid latitudes drier.

Atmospheric rivers are shifting toward the poles, possibly following a long-term cycle
UCSB professor Deron Burkepile explores the North shore of Moorea’s fore reef.
Photo Credit
Andrew Thurber
The structural complexity of a healthy coral reef provides habitat for a diversity of lifeforms.

Dead coral skeletons hinder reef regeneration by sheltering seaweed
Sand dunes surround palms, trees, shrubs and a small lake in the UAE.
Photo Credit
Jing Yang via iStock
A desert oasis is perhaps the most striking example of a groundwater-dependent ecosystem.

Groundwater is key to protecting global ecosystems
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