UA News

Biosphere 2's "Extreme Water" lecture series explores topics such as America's water crisis, the search for life in earth's driest desert and ways to cope with a warming world.

This spring, Biosphere 2 continues its successful "Let's Talk Science!" lecture series. The public is invited to take advantage of the University of Arizona's tremendous expertise in water research.

World-renown water researchers who are at the very leading edge of solving problems related to water-use issues, climate change and a variety of sustainability problems are joining together to share their knowledge during the series.

Under the umbrella topic of "Extreme Water" seven UA scientists and thinkers will discuss pressing topics such as America's coming water crisis, Arizona river hydrology, the vulnerability of societies to climate change and the search for life in the Earth's driest environments.

"The research process does not end with the publication of a data set in a science journal," according to Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman, Biosphere 2 assistant research professor and member of the Biosphere 2 Earthscience Education and Outreach Steering Committee.

"We as researchers, and members of the community, have an obligation to share our enthusiasm, questions and answers with the general public.  Lecture series such as these are one way that Biosphere 2 can help fulfill this obligation by providing an informal setting to present and discuss exciting and cutting-edge research," he added.

"These speakers are not only pre-eminent water researchers, they all are involved in helping to address real-world water problems," says Gary Woodard, associate director of the SAHRA Water Center at the UA. "They write popular books on major water issues, have run water districts, serve as elected and appointed representatives on water boards, advise major water utilities, and help shape global climate change policy. In short, they put their research into practice."

All "Let's Talk Science!" lectures are included with the price of tour admission. For more information about the lectures, tour prices, directions and hours of operation, please call 520-838-6200 or visit www.b2science.org.

TOPICS AND SPEAKERS:

February 6, 2010

"Unquenchable:  America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It" (Talk and Book Signing)

Robert Glennon, the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy

UA James E. Rogers College of Law

America's self-inflicted water crisis is coming. According to Glennon, the nation's water woes will get worse before they get better because people are slow to change their ways, and because water is the overlooked resource. He says, "It's happening again: Washington's love affair with biofuels will turn to heartbreak once America realizes that thousands of gallons of water are required to produce one gallon of fuel." Glennon tells how a celebrated, new ethanol plant in Minnesota-The Land of 10,000 Lakes!-is already sucking local wells dry.

Glennon argues that the nation cannot engineer its way out of the problem with the usual fixes or the zany-but very real-schemes to tow icebergs from Alaska or divert the Mississippi River to Nevada. America must make hard choices-and Glennon's answer is a provocative market-based system that values water as a commodity and a fundamental human right.

February 13, 2010

"The Search for Life in the Driest Desert on Earth - The Atacama Desert in Chile"

Raina Maier, professor in the UA Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science

and

Julia Neilson, principal research specialist in the UA Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science 

Is there a limit to life on earth? There are regions of the Atacama Desert where no precipitation has been recorded for as long as humans have kept records of rainfall. Some scientists claim to have found the dry limit of microbial life in these hyperarid regions. The talk will describe the search for signs of microbial life in the absolute core of the Atacama Desert and explore whether the biosignatures found give us clues to past precipitation history. The Atacama is considered an analog for Mars, thus researchers hope that the signs of life found in this desert could guide them in the search for life on other planets.

February 27, 2010

"Water Sustainability Challenges in Arizona"

Sharon Megdal, director of the UA's Water Resources Research Center

Learn how Arizona's 1980 water law was designed to stop groundwater overdraft in parts of the state while not regulating water use in other parts. What has the law achieved and what challenges remain after 30 years? What issues must be addressed in order to achieve sustainable water management in Arizona? The presentation is designed to assist in deciding how full the state's water glass is. Free background reading available: "The Layperson's Guide to Arizona Water"
http://ag.arizona.edu/azwater/publications.php?rcd_id=50

March 6, 2010

"Cool waters - The Hydrology of the Perennial Rivers of Arizona"

Thomas Meixner, associate professor in the UA Hydrology and Water Resources Department

Water is scarce in Arizona so the few remaining perennial waters are prized resources for society and for ecosystems.  This talk will shed light on research into the sources of water sustaining various rivers in the Arizona deserts and how these rivers are influenced and studied by humans.

March 13, 2010

"Tree Rings and Colorado River Drought: A Message from the Past with Implications for the Future"

Connie Woodhouse, associate professor in the UA School of Geography and Regional Development

The gage record for the Colorado River is barely 100 years long. While that may seem like a long span of time, the record contains just three major droughts. Are these droughts representative of the range of droughts that are possible? Should humans expect more severe droughts in the future? Tree rings allow for the reconstruction and history of past river flows, dating back 12 centuries.The reconstruction of Colorado River flow shows that droughts much more severe have occurred in the past, under natural climate variability alone. In this presentation, the audience will see how reconstructions from tree rings describe the droughts of the medieval period and discuss how information from the past is relevant to the future.

March 20, 2010

"Floods, Climate and 'Cuisinart' Hydrology:  A Recipe for Disaster?"

Katie Hirschboeck, chair of the Global Change Graduate Interdisciplinary Program and associate professor of climatology at the UA Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research

What causes flooding in the Desert Southwest?  Why worry about floods in Arizona when the rivers are dry most of the time? What is a "100-year flood"? What can be learned from large floods of the past? Will climate change make floods more extreme? These and many other questions about the phenomenon of flooding will be addressed in a presentation covering the flood hydroclimatology of the rivers and streams of Arizona. 

March 27, 2010

"Six Degrees of Separation: Can We Live with a World much Warmer than Today?"

Diana Liverman, co-director of the UA Institute of the Environment

Diana Liverman will talk about her research on the impacts of climate change and the choices faced in responding to such changes in the Southwest and globally. She is an expert on climate and food security and on how societies can become less vulnerable to climate change.