Extreme Events in California’s Changing Climate

About this episode

Sasha Gershunov discusses the connection between global warming and extreme weather events in California.

How does global warming connect to the extreme weather people experience close to home? Drawing on the work of the Weather Extremes and Climate Impacts Analytics group, Sasha Gershunov of Scripps Institution of Oceanography outlines the accelerating warming trend, the role of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide, and the greenhouse effect, and how it relates to extreme weather. He also traces key milestones in climate science, including the long-term carbon dioxide measurements begun by Charles David Keeling. The discussion then turns to how climate change may affect heat waves, floods, droughts, storms, wildfires, and sea level rise. Series: "Osher UC San Diego Distinguished Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 41412]

People in this episode

Guest: Sasha Gershunov

Topics covered

• climate change
• extreme weather
• global warming
• fossil fuels
• greenhouse effect
• climate science
• environmental impacts

Keywords

• climate change
• extreme events
• global warming
• weather impacts
• carbon dioxide
• greenhouse gases
• climate science
• heat waves
• floods
• wildfires

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Weather Extremes and Climate Impacts Analytics group, Osher UC San Diego Distinguished Lecture Series

More episodes of UC San Diego (Video)

• Ethical Sourcing in Health Data Supply Chains: Considerations for ML/AI Training · June 8, 2026 · 24 min
• Stem-Cell Aging and Pathways to Precancer Evolution · June 5, 2026 · 22 min
• From Electronic Health Records to Space Medicine: Building the Future of Space Healthcare · May 30, 2026 · 12 min
• From Orbital Experiments to Curing Earthling Diseases: How Space-Enabled Biotechnology is Advancing Neuroscience on Earth · May 25, 2026 · 10 min
• Climate Faith and Collective Responsibility with Bill McKibben · May 23, 2026 · 1h 27m
• Microgravity at Scale: Turning Insight into Impact · May 18, 2026 · 7 min