NE CSC Newsletter
News and upcoming events related to the Northeast Climate Science Center.
NE CSC January 2013 Stakeholder Meeting materials posted on website! The NE CSC sends a warm thank you to all who participated in the NE CSC's first two Stakeholder Outreach and Science Planning meetings. Both meetings attracted a broad and diverse array of more than 150 natural resource management stakeholders from federal institutions such as US Fish & Wildlife, US EPA, and NOAA to municipal leaders, non-governmental organizations, and tribal representatives.
The meetings were structured around paired presentations from both Consortium scientists and representative stakeholders according to our seven science themes, all related to climate change adaptation through natural resource management. All participants provided comments on specific science needs essential to their organization in planning for climate change. The NE CSC is incorporating this valuable feedback into the 5-year Strategic Science Agenda, which will guide the future science directions of the Center.
We have posted presentations and full summaries of both meetings from our facilitators at the Keystone Center. Please take a look! http://necsc.umass.edu/workshops
The NECSC still welcomes feedback! Please let us know if you have ideas on the following:
- What does success look like for the NECSC from your perspective? (Would you be willing to talk about your vision/ideals for the NE CSC in a video?)
- Please send us communication links and contacts from your organization so that we can be sure to connect with your organization's news and events.
- Where are the biggest gaps in climate science information and tools that the NE CSC can help to fill?
- Are there particular areas that the NE CSC should rely on other partners and not use its limited resources? In other words, you've told us what the NE CSC should do. Now help us narrow the list by suggesting some things that the NE CSC does not need to do.
Participants said:
"The Northeast Climate Science Center will bring a critical new perspective to natural resource managers as they focus on the task at hand-- managing fish and wildlife resources in a changing climate" - Glen Salmon, Eastern Tallgrass Prairie and Big Rivers LCC Coordinator
"Of the many take home messages for me, what stood out was the strong commitment among all to work together to advance our climate science efforts." - Thomas L. Schmidt, Assistant Director, Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service
"I'm very encouraged at the eagerness of the NE CSC team to really engage with the wider community, and their commitment that success will only happen if their stakeholders find the products useful." - Bob Krumenaker, Superintendent, NPS Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
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Monday, February 25, 4:00 PM EST
Northeast Climate Science Center presents,
James Nelson, Postdoctoral Researcher, Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory
To join this webinar, visit: http://necsc.umass.edu/webinars/marsh-canary-what-little-fish-tell-us-about-effects-human-induced-change-salt-marshes
Or join us in person, 134 Morrill Science Center, UMass Amherst
Recently work has shown that saltmarshes are susceptible to nutrient enrichment even in the absence of anoxic/hypoxic conditions. Nutrient induced habitat change in combination with rising sea level could have major consequences for salt marsh productivity. Currently, our knowledge of these impacts on fish production is limited. We examine the effects of moderate nutrient enrichment on the production mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, as part of a 9-year whole ecosystem experiment in a New England, U.S.A saltmarsh. In the initial stages of nutrient enrichment we observed a classic bottom up stimulation response in fish production. However, after the first six years fish production declined rapidly. The mechanism for the decline is not known but we hypothesize indirect interactions with other saltmarsh consumers may play an important role. Our results demonstrates that long-term nutrient enrichment can have complex impacts on the production of saltmarsh fish with major implications for food web connections with the coastal ocean and ultimately fisheries production.
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Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC) For our first Resource Highlight, we would like to point to the Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC) (http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/). Now nearly five years old, the CCRC hosts an impressively extensive coverage of issues related to climate change, from short courses to annotated bibliographies. We think the CCRC could be a go-to place for our partners looking for answers on how climate change will affect different resource areas, as well as what to do about it. In their words:
The Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC) is a reference Web site for resource managers and decisionmakers who need information and tools to address climate change in planning and project implementation. Changing climates have already catalyzed changes in environments throughout the United States, and future effects are expected to be greater. Although future scenarios are daunting, managers can do much to promote adaptation to climate change and encourage reduction of human effects on climate.
The CCRC addresses the manager's question "What can I do about climate change?" by providing information about basic climate sciences and compiling knowledge resources and support for adaptation and mitigation strategies. The site offers educational information, including basic science modules that explain climate and climate impacts, decision-support models, maps, simulations, case studies, and toolkits. The site is a joint project of the Forest Service Research Stations and the Environmental Threat Assessment Centers (WWETAC/EFETAC).
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Tuesday, February 26, 12:00 - 1:00 EST
Ohio State University Changing Climate webinar series presents,
"Climate Change & Public Health"
George Luber, PhD, Centers for Disease Control
To register for this webinar, visit: http://changingclimate.osu.edu/webinars/
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Wednesday, February 27 at 3:30 PM EST
USGS National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center and US FWS National Conservation Training Center presents,
"Preliminary Results from 'La Florida' - A Land of Flowers on a Latitude of Deserts"
Dr. Tom Smith, Research Ecologist at the USGS Southeast Ecological Science Center
To register for this webinar, visit: https://nccwsc.usgs.gov/webinars?q=webinar/179
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February 26-27, 2013, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST
EPA Research Forum on Extreme Event Impacts on Air Quality and Water Quality with a Changing Global Climate
To register for the webinar visit: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/events/#feb2613.
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Wednesday, February 27, 1:00 PM EST
EPA's Climate Ready Water Utilities (CRWU) presents,
"Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) 101"
An introduction to CRWU’s risk assessment tool, the CREAT. This webinar outlines CREAT’s risk assessment process, how it can help utilities build more resilient systems, and examples of threats and adaptation options.
To register for this webinar, visit: https://epa.connectsolutions.com/e3lqjmjp9qd/event/registration.html
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Thursday, February 28, 1:00 PM EST
OneNOAA Science Seminar Series presents,
"Ocean Acidification: Is The Sky Really Falling?"
Dr. Jeremy Mathis, NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Lab
To join this webinar, visit: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/2013/02-feb.html#OneNOAAScienceSeminars_28Feb2013_NMS
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Wednesday, March 6, 1:00 PM EST
EPA's Climate Ready Water Utilities (CRWU) presents,
"Extreme Events Workshop Planner"
A demonstration of the Workshop Planner which contains all of the materials a water utility would need to conduct a workshop to manage the impacts of more frequent and intense extreme events. The webinar reviews the steps to plan a workshop and engage with stakeholders, the customizable materials included, and five extreme event scenarios.
To register for this webinar, visit: https://epa.connectsolutions.com/e9cqxisamm3/event/registration.html
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Wednesday, March 6, 12:00 PM EST
Bard National Climate Seminar presents,
"After Sandy, What Next?"
Brenda Ekwurzel, Climate Scientist, Assistant Director of Climate Research and Analysis, Union of Concerned Scientists
To join this webinar, visit: http://www.bard.edu/cep/ncs/schedule.php
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Thursday, March 7, 2:00 PM EST
OneNOAA Science Seminar Series presents,
"Pelagic Fish and Climate"
Dave Checkley (UCSD)
To join this webinar, visit: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/2013/03-mar.html#OneNOAAScienceSeminars_07Mar2013_NWFSC
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Plains and Prairie Potholes LCC webinar video Jonathan Haufler, Executive Director, Ecosystem Management Research Institute discusses efforts relating to climate change response and the updated South Dakota State Wildlife Action Plan. Climate change is one of the greatest threats to maintaining wildlife populations and overall biodiversity. Wildlife biologists need to be addressing this threat both in policy arenas as well as in on-the-ground management activities. Read more and See video…
What's impacting Great Lakes water levels? From Michigan Radio - The Great Lakes are experiencing low water levels. Lakes Huron and Michigan just reached record lows, and Governor Snyder recently called for an emergency action plan to address the problem. Michigan Radio spoke with a few experts who gave us a run down of the factors, big and small, contributing to the extreme lows. Read more…
19th Century Weather Data Archive from Midwestern Regional Climate Center What was the weather like during the Civil War? … during Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Long Cold Winter? … or when your great grandparents were alive? How variable was the weather during the 1800s as compared to the 1900s? During the 19th century, starting a few years after the “year with no summer” (1816), organized efforts were made to observe and record weather across the continental United States. Read more…
Cities Lead Over Feds on Climate Change Adaptation Superstorm Sandy offered another reminder of how vulnerable communities around the world are – and will be – to the impacts of climate change. So it's hardly surprising that cities are being more proactive than federal governments - in fact, two-thirds of cities around the world are actively planning for the impacts of global warming, says the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Read more or Download ICLEI study...
U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) Announces Suite of Climate Scenarios The USGCRP recently announced the online availability of a suite of scenarios on climate, sea level rise, land use and land cover, and other conditions. These scenarios were developed as input to the U.S. National Climate Assessment. The scenarios were developed by multiple agencies in consultation with a National Climate Assessment working group whose members include both university-based and federal research scientists. Read more…
NC CSC product: paper on using workflow management software for habitat modeling The Software for Assisted Habitat Modeling (SAHM) has been created to both expedite habitat modeling and help maintain a record of the various input data, pre- and post-processing steps and modeling options incorporated in the construction of a species distribution model through the established workflow management and visualization VisTrails software. This paper provides an overview of the VisTrails:SAHM software including a link to the open source code, a table detailing the current SAHM modules, and a simple example modeling an invasive weed species in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA. Read more...
Coastal Hazards Summit 2013: Working Together towards a Resilient and Sustainable Coast to be Held February 13-14, 2013 in St. Augustine, Florida Held by the University of Florida, the purpose of this summit is three-fold: to bring together federal agencies, state agencies, researchers, insurance and other businesses, and coastal communities to share the latest advances in coastal hazard research and planning/preparation/mitigation/response activities; to explore ways to apply the latest findings and products in coastal hazard research to assist stakeholders planning activities; and to identify critical research needs to enhance the stakeholders continued planning and preparation effort for a hazard resilient and resource sustainable coast. Read more…
Climate-Smart Agriculture Conference to be Held March 20-22, 2013 in Davis, California The University of California Davis has been asked by The World Bank to host a global conference focused on the topic "climate smart agriculture." The conference will take place March 20-22, 2013 on the University of California Davis campus. This will be the second science-based conference on the topic; the first was held in October 2011. Participants will have the opportunity to contribute science-based knowledge to help shape the global policy discussions about how agriculture can play a positive role in the environmental challenges the world is facing. Read more…
American Water Works Association Announces Sustainable Water Management Conference, April 7-10, 2013 in Nashville, TN Participants will learn the benefits of sustainability planning and how it leads to cohesive communities and utility systems optimization. The conference will address a wide range of topics concerning sustainable water management, including energy efficiency and water conservation, demand forecasting and utility revenue projections, and community involvement in watershed health. Read more…
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Release of Northeast Climate database website from NOAA, the North Atlantic LCC, National Wildlife Federation, and EPA NEclimateUS.org is a searchable database that targets regional planners and managers within the Eastern region (South Carolina to Maine, including West Virginia and Ohio) by offering information useful to plan and resource climate-related projects and programs. The website catalogues state-level needs for climate information, directs users to useful data, products and services, and maintains an up-to-date record of planned and ongoing projects within the associated states. We have also included information for various sectors (e.g., natural resources, coastal, fisheries, infrastructure). Our intention is to offer information that assists in the selection of collaborative projects that address regional needs without duplication. Read more…
Pest and Crop Growing Degree-Days calculators from the Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring Program (WARM). The Daily Pest Degree Day calculator utilizes a process which compares daily maximum and minimum temperatures to a base temperature, specific for a particular pest, above which development will occur. Over 30 different common pests, which affect crops from corn and soybeans to fruit trees and home gardens, can be selected. The Daily Crop Growing Degree calculator tracks and projects development of crops in Illinois from daily weather data, utilizing algorithms developed for tracking crops, with two different development thresholds. Growing Degree Days for corn and cold weather crops can both be calculated. Visit Daily Pest Degree Day calculator or Daily Crop Growing Degree calculator
The Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options (TACCIMO) is a Web-based tool that provides land owners, managers, and planners with the most current climate change science available. Developed by EFETAC researchers in partnership with USDA Forest Service Southern Regional Planning, Land and Resource Management; Southern Regional Cooperative Forestry; and Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center, TACCIMO’s scientific literature database now contains information from more than 1,000 peer-reviewed sources describing the effects of climate change on natural resources as well as land management options that can help forests adapt to changing conditions. Read more…
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Postdoctoral Fellowship – Climate and Bird Distribution in the Gulf of Maine The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) seeks a postdoctoral fellow to analyze relationships among weather conditions and migratory bird abundance, distribution, phenology, and/or routes of movement, and use the results to forecast potential future changes in bird ecology. The postdoc can use a variety of approaches to address these issues, which might include analyzing historical empirical data and modeled data to analyze climate, oceanographic, and ecological variables. We expect that the findings from this research will have direct relevance to the management of protected areas throughout the Gulf of Maine. For questions contact @email. Read full description…
