{"id":11384,"date":"2012-05-29T13:42:35","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T18:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=11384"},"modified":"2012-05-29T14:47:02","modified_gmt":"2012-05-29T19:47:02","slug":"why-climate-change-may-increase-water-demands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/05\/29\/why-climate-change-may-increase-water-demands\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Climate Change May Increase Water Demands"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University<\/p>

Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas State Climatologist<\/p><\/div>\n

Climate change has entered the discussion on water availability once again. \u201cThe same amount of water won\u2019t go as far as it used to,\u201d says John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas State Climatologist<\/a> at Texas A&M University. Nielsen-Gammon shed some light on the relationship between climate change<\/a> and water availability at the 2012 Texas Water Summit<\/a> held by the University of Texas at Austin\u2019s Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science<\/a>\u00a0last week.<\/p>\n

Nielsen-Gammon and a team of researchers have built climate change models using data derived from the short term climate fluctuations known as La Ni\u00f1a<\/a>. \u201cWe can use short-term issues as a window to understanding what we have to deal with in the long-term,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

While a La Ni\u00f1a year may be predicted several months in advance, long-term climate fluctuation is a tougher nut to crack. Many factors feed long-term climate change, Nielsen-Gammon said, including variations in solar intensity, large volcanic events, greenhouse gases, the orbit of the earth, particulate matter, land cover, variations in oceanic conditions, and atmospheric chaos. Unfortunately, the bulk of these variables are, on average, quite difficult to predict.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s where attention directed toward short-term climate variation pays off.<\/p>\n

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