National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Member and Distinguished Professor of University of California (UC) Dennis P. Lettenmaier visited the Key Laboratory of Land Surface Process and Climate Change, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI) on May. 16. 

Prof. Letternmaier gave an academic report with the title “Understanding hydrologic change: The Western U.S. as a case study”. There were 80 faculty and postgraduates attended the symposium. 

The academic report introduced some new developments on drought monitoring and latest discovery on drought issues in the southwestern United States from the results of data analysis and numerical simulation. Prof. Letternmaier point out that the response of drought to climate change in California is similar to Colorado River basin and the droughts are superimposed on long-term increases in temperature, which has led to declines in snowpack, changes in seasonal runoff timing, and declines in stream flow volumes. He said that both the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Rocky Mountains are at high elevation, and the research results on climate change and hydrology in those area could exchange. After the presentation, Prof. Lettenmaier interacted with postgraduates and highly praised the students’ works, then he gave some detailed advices and suggestions.  

After the lecture, Prof. Lettenmaier visited the Cold and Arid Regions Science and Innovation Museum with the company of the laboratory director Prof. WEN Jun and deputy director Prof. GAO Yanhong, and Prof. GAO introduced the history, research fields, faculty and staff and major innovative achievements of CAREERI to Prof. Lettenmaier. 

Dennis P. Letternmier was the 2016 CAS President’s International Fellowship for Distinguished Scientists winner. He became a Distinguished Professor of Geography  with interests in hydrologic modeling and prediction, hydrology-climate interactions, and hydrologic change, University of California, Los Angeles since 2014. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He was the first Chief Editor of the American Meteorological Society Journal of Hydrometeorology, and is a past president of the hydrology Section of the American Geophysical Union.  

 The meeting site

 Prof. Dennis P. Lettenmaier visited Cold and Arid Regions Science and Innovation Museum