Focused CoPe: Heat waves in the Southern California coastal zone: Their oceanic and atmospheric drivers, human health impacts, and sustainable adaptation

Focused CoPe: Heat waves in the Southern California coastal zone: Their oceanic and atmospheric drivers, human health impacts, and sustainable adaptation

This Hub will study how the ocean influences extreme heat waves that impact the coastal region of Southern California, presently and in the future. Efforts will concentrate on the linkage among the atmosphere, ocean, and land, while trying to understand the role of coastal clouds on the heat waves. Emphasis will also be on the relationship between heat waves and human health and how the effects can be mitigated equitably with greening strategies in coastal areas of Southern California.

Greening strategies will be guided by studies of interactions among plants and freshwater resources under a changing climate. The study will involve different non-academic sectors to plan strategies for heat wave adaptation and to assess how these strategies can be equitable and sustainable. Findings should be transferrable to other coastal regions in the world.

The Hub will train more than 100 high school teachers around San Diego, CA, and will provide internships to disadvantaged high school and community college students.

This proposed Hub will study the spatial and human-dimension dynamics of extreme heat waves, originating from the ocean, as part of climate change (i.e., in the present and future). Research on the atmosphere-land-ocean linkage will a) increase understanding of the interaction between coastal cloud processes and marine/terrestrial heat waves; b) create a data product capable of resolving weather patterns influencing heat waves in coastal regions; c) examine the impact of heatwaves on people’s health through environmental-focused epidemiological research; and d) advance ecohydrological research by examining how interactions among plants, hydrology and climate change affect greening zones.

The study will further explore the sustainability and equity of decisions designed to combat heat waves in the coastal zone of Southern California. The Hub will result in co-produced research and outputs that will be based on science and that will be driven by data. Co-produced results will guide planning strategies for heat adaptation in Southern California.

Activities should be transferable to other coastal regions in different parts of the world. The Hub will provide professional learning for ~125 local high school teachers in the San Diego, CA, area. It will furnish internships to underrepresented high school and community college students to participate in climate research and education.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.