In this issue’s Q&A, Texas+Water Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Todd Votteler, interviews Zong-Liang Yang, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Texas (UT) at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences’ Department of Geological Sciences.
Yang currently holds the John A. and Katherine G. Jackson Chair in Earth System Sciences. He also holds a Dave P. Carlton Centennial Professorship in Geology and is the Director of UT Austin’s Center for Integrated Earth System Science. He teaches classes on physical climatology, hydroclimatology, land-atmosphere interaction dynamics, and climate change. He has a doctorate in atmospheric sciences from Macquarie University and a Master of Science in meteorology from the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Please describe your research on climate change at the University of Texas at Austin?
My research is focused on elucidating the mechanisms of land surface processes and advancing models for weather, hydrology, and climate studies. I am also working with the City of Austin to incorporate climate change into their future water plan.
What do you think are the most important findings in the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report?
The most important finding in the latest IPCC climate change assessment report is the increased certainty in its major conclusion, which states that “human activities are indisputably causing climate change, making heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and droughts more frequent and severe.”
The world appears to be on track to reach carbon dioxide levels that will result in warming well above 1.5 °C. What are the implications of this for the climate extremes of drought and flood in Texas?
Texas has been vulnerable to both droughts and floods. With the warming climate, Texas is subject to a growing risk of flash droughts too, meaning that these droughts are developing at a faster rate or in a shorter period of time. In the meantime, more heavy rainfalls will cause more flash floods, especially for the urban regions.
What do you think are the most important actions for individual Texans and for the state of Texas to take to prepare for these extremes?
For an individual Texan, it is most important to be knowledgeable about climate impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaption. The important action for the state of Texas is to formulate policies that help safeguard the infrastructure against climate extremes.
There seems to be more discussion about carbon removal. What are some of the technologies that seem the most promising, and what role could Texas play in atmospheric carbon removal?
Given the geography and the vast size, Texas could play an important role in using nature-based approaches to remove and store carbon. The nature-based approaches include 1) planting more forests outside the traditionally forested regions, 2) managing soils to store carbon, and 3) bio-energy with carbon capture and storage.
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