Water Resources Research has published a “debate” series on the role of information theory in Earth Science, led by Praveen Kumar and Hoshin Gupta. There are five papers in this collection, three of which were co-authored by SICCS’ Ben Ruddell. Serious information theory, modeling, and statistics geeks should consider diving in! Also,… Read more Fallowing cattle-feed farmland simplest way to alleviate western water shortage, FEWSION-based study finds
An important new study published this week in Nature Sustainability finds that irrigated crop production accounts for 86 percent of all water consumed in the western U.S.—and of all the water used on western farms, by far the largest portion goes to cattle-feed crops such as alfalfa and grass hay. To alleviate the severe shortage of water in the… Read more
How does snowmelt in the Rockies affect diners in New York? NAU data mapper part of national study to make those connections
Ben Ruddell,
Director and Associate Professor
Experts estimate that snowmelt accounts for as much as 75 percent of water supplies in the western United States. As the climate warms, however, it’s not hard to imagine a future when declining snowpack on western mountain ranges means less snowmelt. Scientists and water managers have already seen worrying changes in the… Read more
What data teaches about flood forecasting: NAU researcher co-leading crowdsourced app to gauge flood water
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), flooding is the most damaging natural hazard in the world, and most flood damage occurs in cities. As exemplified by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, this damage is projected to rapidly increase, both due to increasing extreme precipitation events and urban sprawl into marshes and floodplains—so it is critical that cities learn to… Read more
Data scientists mapped supply chains of every U.S. city. What it says is bigger than just where your food comes from.
April 29, 2019
No matter where you are in the United States, some food in your kitchen probably started its life in Fresno, California.
How do you know? Vegetables, like every other product, follow a supply chain that moves it from where it’s grown to where it’s used. That supply chain can be tracked through data, and that data… Read more
Water security conflicts and solutions: FEWSION
Dr. Ben Ruddell is leading the FEWSION project aimed at building the first complete empirical description of the U.S. food, energy, and water system so that every citizen and policymaker in the U.S. can see where their food, energy, and water come from.