Daniel Swain, Ph.D.
Climate Scientist
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
LaKretz Hall, Suite 300
619 Charles E Young Dr. E
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Research Focus
As a climate scientist, I study the dynamics and impacts of the Earth’s changing climate system. I’m especially interested in how climate change is affecting regional weather (and “weather-adjacent”) extremes—including the nuanced spatial, temporal, and intensity characteristics of events like droughts, floods, and wildfires.
My recent work has focused primarily on two parallel but related tracks.
First, I have sought to understand shifting regional hydroclimates–including the processes driving (and impacts resulting from) amplification of severe droughts and “megafloods” in a warming climate. Collectively, this line of research seeks to answer the question: how will “hydroclimate volatility” change in a warming world?
Second, I have embarked on multiple collaborative research projects focused on understanding the climate-related factors behind increasingly severe and destructive wildfires across the American West–as well as how climate change might affect efforts to mitigate the escalating wildfire crisis.
A collective aim of both these research tracks is to develop empirically-supported approaches to natural hazard mitigation that benefit both society and the environment in an era of increasing climate extremes.
I currently hold joint appointments as a climate scientist within UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, a research fellow in the Capacity Center for Climate and Weather Extremes at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and as the California Climate Fellow at The Nature Conservancy.
Science Communication and Outreach
I author the Weather West blog, which provides real-time perspectives on California weather and climate. I also engage extensively with journalists and other partners to facilitate broadly accessible, scientifically-informed media coverage surrounding climate change–serving as a climate and weather science liaison to print, radio, television, and web media outlets. You can find me on Twitter (@Weather_West) and on YouTube.
CV, Publications, and More
My full, up-to-date curriculum vitae is available here.
My recent publications may be found below, as well as on Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and ORCID.
