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Disaster Management

Understanding disasters in advance so we can be prepared in the moment. Our research explores the human, environmental and economic impacts of disasters, enabling us to proactively prevent–and reactively recover–from emergencies.

a picture of smoke rising from a wildfire in the hills behind a coastal city
The Palisades Fire of January, 2025, burned watersheds in the Santa Monica Mountains, subsequently impacting water quality at several Southern California beaches

Researchers link wildfires in California’s coastal watersheds to the water quality at the beach

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aerial photo of fractal shape on landscape created by erosion
Vegetation highlights a self-similar repeating pattern created in the landscape by erosion

UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow uses fractals to study erosion
sunset photo of Grand Canyon Lodge
The Grand Canyon Lodge before it burned down in 2025

Thousands of America's historic landmarks face significant wildfire risk
A woman tends to casava while carrying a baby on her back.
Photo Credit
Annie Spratt via Unsplash
Rain forecasts and drought warnings can save lives in regions like Sierra Leone, where subsistence farming is still a major part of society.

New rainfall dataset enhances global monitoring of extreme weather
nighttime photo of cars in the foreground, wildfire in the background

Six roads to safety: New study finds a critical threshold for wildfire survival
wildfire smoke rises behind a row of houses

Wildfire resilience has always been the goal. Now it's a number
An aerial shot of a pumping plant for the California Aqueduct. The channel continues through pipes into the background toward parched hills.
Photo Credit
halbergman via iStock
While reducing demand is important, most successful cases of groundwater recovery also involve moving huge amounts of water to meet demand.

Why some regions are winning the fight against groundwater depletion
An anemometer against clouds and sky.
Photo Credit
Pixfly via iStock
3D printed instrumentation means that national meteorological services in Africa can take full ownership of their networks, building, repairing and sustaining them independently.

3D-printed weather station initiative enhances local monitoring in Southern Africa
A super cargo ship is tended to by cranes and trucks in a commercial terminal. Lights from the port brighten the dimming sky, with mountains and low clouds in the distance.
Photo Credit
SHansche via iStock
Curtailing overconsumption may be the easiest target for reducing the societal and environmental impacts of climate change.

UCSB professor tapped to co-author the seventh IPCC assessment report on climate change mitigation
grains and pulses with scoops in baskets.
Photo Credit
Pierivb via iStock
Addressing world hunger requires an accurate account of those in need.

Global measure underestimates the severity of food insecurity
A forest sits atop an eroding bluff.
Photo Credit
Maksim Safaniuk via iStock
Anna Trugman researches how plants respond to climate change, while Gen Li studies erosion and weathering — the natural processes that break down rocks and transport sediment.

Two UCSB professors recognized for contributions to the Earth sciences
A hotshot in an orange hardhat, yellow Nomex jacket and sunglasses glances to the right backlit by an inferno engulfing the pines a few dozen yards behind him, with the book cover to the right.
Photo Credit
Jordan Thomas/ Penguin Publishing Group
Centuries of misguided policy, politics and prejudice have primed the land for the unprecedented infernos that wildland firefighters now face every year.

Hotshots, history and the human choices behind megafires
mudslide into ocean
Photo Credit
iStock

Eckart Meiburg receives NSF award to study sediment dynamics behind mudslides and erosion
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