Erika Wise
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of Arizona
"My research integrates geospatial techniques with traditional climatological methods and field-based tree-ring science to study the causes of climate variability and the impacts of climate change and variability on physical, biological, and human systems."
Addressing our current environmental challenges will require a better understanding of the natural range of climate variability, climate driving forces, and how climate interacts with the Earth's biophysical and human systems. My contribution to these challenges can be categorized into the following three lines of research:
Climatology
My climatology research focuses on climate variability and change, teleconnections (such as El Niño), and synoptic-scale circulation patterns. My current projects are centered on hydroclimatology in the western U.S. Studies of precipitation variability across the West have identified a north-south “seesaw” pivoting on a transition zone that separates Northwest and Southwest centers of action. The stability of this pattern over time and space is highly variable, and the exact boundaries and properties of the transition zone had not previously been well-quantified. My work examines the spatial limits of the transition zone, the associated controlling processes, and changes in these characteristics over time. I incorporate climate model projections to assess how well they capture the variability characterized through my research and to examine the potential impacts of climate change on this complex area (e.g., through shifting jet stream patterns).
Dendrochronology
My dendrochronology work utilizes tree rings to gain information on past climate conditions. Tree-ring records can be used as proxy climate indicators to provide an important source of information on multi-century water supply variability, extending the short instrumental record and allowing for a better assessment of natural climatic variability. The main objective of my current research is to reconstruct past streamflow in the upper Snake River, a potential “hot spot” for future water supply crises due to its variability and the large number of people who depend on its flow. Through this research, I am placing the region’s recent droughts in the context of climatic variability over the past 400 years, improving understanding of atmospheric controls on streamflow, and assessing implications of climate change in this sensitive mountain area.
Hazards, Health, and Resource Applications
My applied research examines the impacts of climate variability on phenomena interacting with human systems. In past research, I aimed to improve understanding of how climate influences air quality in the southwestern United States and provide specific guidance as to the probability of climate variability threatening air quality across the region in the future. Follow-on research included studies of urban air quality impacts from wildfires and the modeling of future changes in air quality under different climate change scenarios. I am applying my current analyses to water management and drought issues. My project linking streamflow reconstructions to climatic conditions through dendroclimatology is aimed at providing a better understanding of the physical processes that impact particular water basins, as well as the processes that control the flux between basins – a vital component of mitigating drought and flood impacts. Providing planners and managers with useful data and working with them to facilitate implementation are important objectives of my research.
Courses:
Undergraduate
44:003 Introduction to Earth Systems Science - An overview of the Earth System including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere with an emphasis on their interactions and implications of changes in these systems.
44:101 Climatology - An introductory course examining the fundamentals of weather and climate using a combination of lecture and lab activities, with emphasis on synoptic climatology, applied climate concepts, and issues related to climate change and its impacts.
Grants:
Recent Awards and Grants
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency STAR Fellowship, 2006-2009
Andrew Ellicott Douglass Memorial Scholarship, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, 2009
Pruitt National Fellowship for Dissertation Research, Society of Women Geographers, 2007-2008
IKON Student-Faculty Interaction Grant, University of Arizona, 2008
P.E.O. Scholar Award, P.E.O. International, 2006-2007
Margaret Trussell Memorial Fund Scholarship, Association of Pacific Coast Geographers Women’s Network, 2006
Lewis and Clark Field Scholar Award, American Philosophical Society, 2006
Exploration Fund Award, The Explorers Club, 2006
Other Information:
Office
328 Jessup Hall
Mailing Address
Department of Geography
316 Jessup Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa 52242
Phone: (319) 335-0157
Fax: (319) 335-2725
E-mail: erika-wise@uiowa.edu
Publications:
Refereed Publications
Wise, E.K. 2009. Climate-based sensitivity of air quality to climate change scenarios for the southwestern United States. International Journal of Climatology 29 (1): 87-97.
Wise, E.K. 2008. Meteorologically influenced wildfire impacts on urban particulate matter and visibility in Tucson, Arizona, USA. International Journal of Wildland Fire 17 (2): 214-223.
Wise, E.K. 2008. Clean Air Act, U.S. In Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, Philander, S.G. (ed). SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA, 198-199.
Tamerius, J., E.K. Wise, C.K. Uejio, A. McCoy, and A.C. Comrie. 2007. Climate and human health: Synthesizing environmental complexity and uncertainty. Stochastic Environmental Research & Risk Assessment 21 (5): 601-613.
Wise, E.K. and A.C. Comrie. 2005. Meteorologically adjusted urban air quality trends in the southwestern United States. Atmospheric Environment 39 (16): 2969-2980.
Wise, E.K. and A.C. Comrie. 2005. Extending the Kolmogorov-Zurbenko filter: Application to ozone, particulate matter, and meteorological trends. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association 55 (8): 1208-1216.
Other Publications
Wise, E.K. 2008. Tree rings and streamflow in the north-central Rocky Mountains. Pacifica Fall: 1, 6, 8.
Wise, E.K. 2005. Air quality effects from southeast Arizona wildfires. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 86 (12): 1719-1721.
Wise, E.K. 2005. Urban air quality impacts of wildfires in the U.S. Southwest. Pacifica Fall: 1, 5, 6.
Wise, E. and A. Comrie. 2004. Assessing meteorological controls on ozone trends in the southwestern United States. In Zerefos, C.S. (ed) 2004. Proceedings of the XX Quadrennial Ozone Symposium. University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Wise, E.K. 2003. CLIMAS studies air quality trends, variables in Southwestern cities. CLIMAS Update 6 (2-3): 1-6.
Kendall, C., C.C. Chang, R.F. Dias, D. Steinitz, E.K. Wise, and E.A. Caldwell. 1999. Tracing food web relations and fish migratory habits in the Everglades with stable isotope techniques. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-181.
