The groundwater that is the lifeblood of many Central Valley farms is imperiled if farmers continue to use it at current levels, according to new research.

A recently released study warns that the current depletion rate of the Central Valley aquifer – the large store of underground water the region's farmers use for irrigation – is unsustainable, and will continue to be so despite the surety that wet years will eventually follow dry ones.

Isabella Velicogna's office in UC Irvine's Croul Hall looks like it belongs to an artist instead of a university scientist. Her paintings and drawings — including charming sketches of mice — adorn the walls, and colorful, handcrafted mobiles dangle from the ceiling.

Forests in the Amazon Basin are expected to be less vulnerable to wildfires this year, according to the first forecast from a new fire severity model developed by university and NASA researchers.

Fire season across most of the Amazon rain forest typically begins in May, peaks in September and ends in January. The new model, which forecasts the fire season’s severity from three to nine months in advance, calls for an average or below-average fire season this year within 10 regions spanning three countries: Bolivia, Brazil and Peru.

Forecasts of a hurricane's intensity are generally much less accurate than forecasts of its most likely path. Large-scale atmospheric patterns dictate where a hurricane will go and how quickly it will get there. The storm's intensity, however, depends on small-scale shifts in atmospheric stratification, upwelling rates, and other transient dynamics that are difficult to predict. Properly understanding the risk posed by an impending storm depends on having a firm grasp on all three properties: the translational speed, intensity, and path.