Without water, life cannot exist.  Yet, our most precious resource faces major threats which are pushing it to the brink of depletion in many regions. How might climate change and population growth affect the way your water is replenished? Jay Famiglietti explores this question for both Texas and California using innovative satellite technology.

Famiglietti is a professor of Earth System Science at the University of California – Irvine and director of the UC Center for Hydrologic Modeling. He focuses on modeling and remote sensing of the terrestrial and global water cycles, and his Hydrology & Climate Research Group is taking a lead role in accelerating the  development of next-generation hydrological models for use in  addressing a number of high priority issues.

Famiglietti’s work has implications for how we understand the Earth’s water cycle, its interactions in the land-ocean-atmosphere-ice system, and for monitoring changes in freshwater availability in the face of global environmental change.  He was a featured scientist in the film “Last Call at the Oasis,” which was produced by the same company that made “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Famiglietti’s talk is part of the “Hot Science/Cool Talks” series sponsored by the University of Texas’ Environmental Science Institute.

Location: Student Activity Center auditorium, University of Texas  (Discounted parking will be available at the San Jacinto Garage.)