A “super El Niño” is predicted for this winter. What is El Niño, how might it impact local areas, and how does it relate to atmospheric rivers and climate change? The following UC Davis experts, listed alphabetically, are available to discuss with reporters these and other related questions.

Clouds are notoriously hard to pin down, especially in climate science. 

A study from the University of California, Davis, and published in the journal Nature Geoscience shows that air temperature and cloud cover are strongly influenced by the buoyancy effect of water vapor, an effect currently neglected in some leading global climate models.

Meteorologists use a wide array of instruments to measure weather conditions. At University of California, Davis, students studying atmospheric science get an up-close look at those various instruments — some of which were first designed in the late 1800s — to gather data to predict the weather.

Aerosols carried in wildfire smoke plumes that are hundreds of hours old can still affect climate, according to a study out of the University of California, Davis. 

The research, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, suggests that wildfire emissions even 10 days old can affect the properties of aerosols — suspended liquid or particles that are key to cloud formation.