Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Yearly Population Data At Census Tract Level Revealed That More People Are Now Living In Highly Fire-Prone Zones In California, Usa, Slade Lazeweski, Shenyue Jia, Jessica E. Viner, Wesley Ho, Brian Hoover, Seung Hee Kim, Menas C. Kafatos

Institute for ECHO Articles and Research

In California (CA), the wildland-urban interface (WUI) faces escalating challenges due to surging population and real estate development. This study evaluates communities along CA's WUI that have witnessed substantial population growth from 2010 to 2021, utilizing demographic data and the 2020 WUI boundaries by the University of Wisconsin-Madison SILVIS Lab. Employing the Mann-Kendall test, we analyze yearly population trends for each census tract along the CA WUI and assess their significance. House ownership, affordability, and wildfire risk are examined as potential drivers of this demographic shift. Our findings indicate that 12.7% of CA's total population now resides in census tracts …

High Spatial And Temporal Resolution Census Data Reveals Communities At Risk Along The Wildland-Urban Interface (Wui) In California, Usa, Jessica E. Viner, Slade T. Laszewski, Wesley Ho, Justin Ewoldt, Pionnah Gregorio, Liz Lyon, Brian Hoover, Shenyue Jia

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We tracked census tract level population change along California's wild land-urban interface (WUI) during the past decade (2010-2019), an ecological sensitive region transitioning from developed land to wilderness. Our results from Mann-Kendall analysis, a method employed for monotonic trend detection showed that about one-third (29.1%) of census tracts in California’s WUI have seen a significant population increase from 2010 to 2019, affecting 12.7% population in California.

The population increase along WUI is largely driven by the sixteen counties in the San Francisco Bay Area (10) and Southern California (6). We also found that higher proportion of WUI residents in Bay …

High Spatial And Temporal Resolution Census Data Reveal Communities At Risk Along The Wildland-Urban Interface (Wui) In California, Usa, Shenyue Jia, Slade Lazeweski, Jessica E. Viner, Wesley Ho, Brian Hoover

Institute for ECHO Articles and Research

We tracked census tract level population change along California's wild land-urban interface (WUI) during the past decade (2010-2019), an ecological sensitive region transitioning from developed land to wilderness. Our results from Mann-Kendall analysis, a method employed for monotonic trend detection showed that about one-third (29.1%) of census tracts in California’s WUI have seen a significant population increase from 2010 to 2019, affecting 12.7% population in California. The population increase along WUI is largely driven by the sixteen counties in the San Francisco Bay Area (10) and Southern California (6). We also found that higher proportion of WUI residents in Bay …

The Economics Of Residential Solar Panels: A Comparison Of Energy Charges For Different Load Profiles, Rate Plans, And Panel Orientations, John B. Broughton, Candace E. Ybarra, Prashanth U. Nyer

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This paper examines the effect of different residential electrical load profiles (electrical energy consumption patterns within a day) on energy charges for customers with solar panels under different Southern California Edison time-of-use (TOU) rate plans. We identify the TOU plan which would be the most cost effective for solar customers with each load profile. The impact of the orientation of the solar panel array (whether it faces south or west or east) and shading patterns on electricity charges are examined. We also determine the ideal usage offset (the percentage of electricity consumption provided by the solar array) for the various …

The Economics Of Battery Storage For Residential Solar Customers In Southern California, John B. Broughton, Prashanth U. Nyer, Candace E. Ybarra

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Battery storage coupled with solar panels became a consideration after the original net metering program in California (NEM 1.0) ended and gave way to the current net metering program (NEM 2.0). Under NEM 2.0, battery storage gives customers under time-of-use (TOU) rate plans the ability to store the excess electrical energy generated by their panels during sunlight hours (when electricity usage and resale rates are low) and then use that energy in the evening when rates are significantly higher. This reduces the amount of expensive electricity that the customer would have to purchase from the grid. It is widely expected …

Investigating The Lagged Relationship Between Smap Soil Moisture And Live Fuel Moisture In California, Usa, Shenyue Jia, Seung Hee Kim, Son V. Nghiem, Keun Hang S. Yang, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Live fuel moisture (LFM), defined as the ratio between water in the fresh biomass out of the dry biomass, is a vital measurement of vegetation water content and flammability. In this study, we investigated the dynamics of in-situ measurement of LFM at all the active sites in California, USA and revealed the difference between evergreen forest and shrub/scrub, the two dominant land cover types in California's fire-prone regions. We found that LFM of evergreen forest responses to soil moisture increase later than shrub/scrub, due to a later occurrence of major precipitation, a lower air temperature, and the different plant physiology. …

Patterns Of Population Displacement During Mega-Fires In California Detected Using Facebook Disaster Maps, Shenyue Jia, Seung Hee Kim, Son V. Nghiem, Paul Doherty, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The Facebook Disaster Maps (FBDM) work presented here is the first time this platform has been used to provide analysis-ready population change products derived from crowdsourced data targeting disaster relief practices. We evaluate the representativeness of FBDM data using the Mann-Kendall test and emerging hot and cold spots in an anomaly analysis to reveal the trend, magnitude, and agglommeration of population displacement during the Mendocino Complex and Woolsey fires in California, USA. Our results show that the distribution of FBDM pre-crisis users fits well with the total population from different sources. Due to usage habits, the elder population is underrepresented …

Impacts Of Pacific Ssts On Atmospheric Circulations Leading To California Winter Precipitation Variability: A Diagnostic Modeling, Boksoon Myoung, Sang-Wook Yeh, Jinwon Kim, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

One of the primary meteorological causes of the winter precipitation deficits and droughts in California (CA) is anomalous developments and maintenance of upper-tropospheric ridges over the northeastern Pacific. In order to understand and find the key factors controlling the winter precipitation variability in CA, the present study examines two dominant atmospheric modes of the 500 hPa geopotential height in the Northern Hemisphere using an Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) and their associated large-scale circulation patterns for the last 41 winters (1974/75–2014/15). Explaining 17.5% of variability, the second mode (EOF2) shows strong anti-cyclonic circulations in the North Pacific and cyclonic circulations in …