Ep 75: Irrigation, Evapotranspiration, and Climate
“Once you hit a certain level of warming, particularly under the more extreme climate change scenario cases, and you start to get closer to the end of the century, 2060s, for example, 2070s, that at some point you hit a level of warmth where irrigation can no longer guarantee that you don’t experience very big heat extremes”
A conversation with Professor Sonali McDermid (New York University) about irrigation, evapotranspiration, and impacts on climate systems. Released October 24, 2025.
guests on the show
Sonali McDermid
Sonali McDermid is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Studies at New York State University. She holds a Ph.D. (2011), and M. Phil. (2011) and an M.A. (2009) from the Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, specializing in Atmospheric Science and Climatology. She holds a B.A. in Physics from NYU (2006). McDermid’s research focuses on understanding interactions between climate change and variability, land-use, and agriculture, with an eye towards identifying and quantifying important feedbacks and uncertainties. To this end, she uses a variety of tools and datasets, including global climate and earth system models, process-based crop models, and observed datasets. She has recently undertaken a number of climate-agroecosystem assessments to quantify the impact of agriculture on global and regional environments, and how climate variability and change impacts food security and livelihoods. Her work strives to identify and contextualize the role of environmental preservation in food and nutrition security.
TRANSCRIPT
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