Hazards
Site news
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Analysis by Stanford researchers shows how strategic investment in undergrounding power lines could shave hours off some long lasting blackouts tied to extreme weather.
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Wildfires are threatening lives, infrastructure, and public health systems across the West. Bay Area fire management officials are implementing effective prevention measures – from prescribed burns to home-hardening rebate programs – yet crucial research gaps remain.
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Stanford researchers are uncovering the journey of microplastics in our environment and their effects on human health, while developing practical solutions to mitigate their impact.
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Wildfire smoke increasingly threatens lives across the country. A new study shows smoke exposure in the coming decades will cause tens of thousands of excess deaths and predicts where exposure will occur so communities and policymakers can prepare for the health burden.
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A new global study finds that extreme weather may trap many populations in place even as it increases migrations of other groups. The analysis shows that age and education strongly shape who migrates in response to severe heat, cold, floods, and droughts.
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A new AI model detects thousands of previously unseen earthquakes in near real time, helping scientists understand changes in an Italian volcanic area where earthquakes have been intensifying since 2018.
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Scholars including Daniel Neamati, a TomKat Center Graduate Fellow, and Tadashi Fukami, a professor of Earth system science, rely on aerial imagery to enhance their understanding of landscape changes and ecological recovery at at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma).
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How do extreme weather events and disasters affect communities long term? Solomon Hsiang explains the consequences for economic growth and human health, and how research can inform better emergency management, mitigation planning, and response.
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While rising temperatures in California are causing fewer cold-related deaths, new research shows hotter temperatures significantly increase emergency department visits – a previously overlooked consequence of climate change that could place greater burden on the healthcare system.
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Adolescents living in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh face dramatically higher rates of anxiety and depression than their peers in lower-risk regions, according to a Stanford-led study that highlights a hidden cost of climate change with potentially devastating long-term consequences.
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Ettore Biondi uses fiber sensing technologies and dense seismic sensor networks to understand the underlying mechanisms and subsurface structures driving geophysical processes such as volcanic system dynamics and earthquake physics.
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How can air quality policies adapt to the new world of pollution trends shaped by wildfire smoke? Learn about the growing problem of air polluted by wildfire smoke, and what the data show about policies that can make a difference.
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With support from the TomKat Center’s Graduate Fellowship in Translational Research, PhD student Daniel Neamati is modeling prescribed burns to better manage wildfires.
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A new Stanford-led study finds that controlled, low-intensity fires known as prescribed burns can slash wildfire intensity and dangerous smoke pollution across the western United States.
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A new water market model for the Colorado River basin could improve water security and restore ecosystems amid intensifying shortages.
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Many U.S. utilities lag in implementing fundamental mitigation steps despite facing considerable wildfire risk, according to a new Stanford white paper. Failing to prepare endangers communities as well as future development of the energy system, according to the researchers.
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Stanford-led sustainability research offers tangible benefits for human health. Scientists are developing new techniques to enhance air and water quality, improve disease monitoring, mitigate risks from extreme weather and severe storms, and more.
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Tribal, local, and private firefighters are often undercounted, despite their growing role in fire response. This makes it harder for planners to know how many firefighters are actually available and can lead to unfair pay, protections, and benefits.
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Researchers tested a low-cost, low-tech intervention to reduce pollution from brick kilns in Bangladesh. Stanford co-authors discuss insights from the study about scaling clean technologies in informal and unregulated industries.
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A Stanford study reveals how climate change has altered growing conditions for the world’s five major crops over the past half century and is reshaping agriculture. The impacts corroborate climate models used to predict impacts, with a couple of important exceptions, according to the researchers.
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New research shows that elevation changes and earthquakes in Italy’s Campi Flegrei volcanic area are caused by rising pressure in a geothermal reservoir – not magma or its gases, as commonly thought. Channeling water runoff or lowering groundwater levels could reduce risks for surrounding communities.
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An epidemiologist is on a mission to reduce pollution where past efforts have failed—and end an environmental health nightmare.
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A SIEPR Policy Forum examined how government, business, and academia can best address the rising economic costs of wildfires.
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A wildfire policy expert explains how California’s ongoing fire crisis is being driven by climate change and poor urban planning. “Whole-of-society” approaches are needed, he says.
