California Drought in Spatial and Temporal Context

Drought is a major concern for the future of California. To guide our understanding of how drought will manifest with future warming, we investigate the hydroclimate of dry periods past, during the Holocene, and Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. Further, we investigate how climate throughout the Pacific is teleconnected with the climate of California. We present records of terrestrial paleoclimate derived from pollen in marine sediments off the coast of California. For added context we also present records of terrestrial hydroclimate derived from leaf wax stable isotope ratios from peatland sediments in south coastal Alaska, montane Hawaii, and New Zealand's South Island. This combination of paleoclimate records allows us to fully explore drought in Southern California during past warm intervals as well as the atmospheric mechanisms and tropical and high-latitude teleconnections that produce drought.