Adam Liska is an Associate Professor of Biological Systems Engineering and Program Coordinator, Energy Science Minor.
His lecture will focus on three issues. The first is a presentation of data from the first greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the State of Nebraska, which will be published in the coming weeks. In 2016, emissions from beef cattle made up 23% of net state emissions, and coal for electricity made up 23.7% of net state emissions.
The second issue to be addressed are the impacts of the 2012 drought on agriculture in Nebraska and the region. The drought of 2012 indicates that future droughts in the 21st century in the region can be a dominant influence on the productivity and profitability of agriculture.
As a third issue, the lecture will summarize results from 30 studies published since 2010 that use >100 climate models to project future droughts in Nebraska to 2100. The projections in the 30 studies are largely in agreement that drought will increase in intensity, frequency, and duration, but there is a range of projections from moderate drying to multidecadal megadroughts.