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 and a research fellow in the Capacity Center for Climate and Weather Extremes at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research.
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.
