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NE CSC Newsletter

Thursday, February 19, 2015

------ NE CSC NEWS: ---------------

Fellow Highlight: Paul Damkot     This NE CSC Graduate Fellow studies how brook trout are affected by and adapt to climate change. For this coldwater species, warmer water could mean moving upstream to find cooler temperatures, and possible habitat loss at the upstream limits of their distribution, making climate change a very big concern for their long-term survival. Read more...

 

Webinar: "Accounting for variability & uncertainty when informing natural resource management"       February 25, 3:30pm ET. Brian Irwin and Tiffany Vidal from the University of Georgia will present.  Natural resource managers often make decisions about systems that are variable across time and space.  Although variability has traditionally been viewed as an impediment to understanding responses to change, it may also be able to serve as an indicator.  In this webinar, we will discuss variance partitioning as a method for estimating component sources of variability (e.g., temporal and spatial), and we will present a case-study example using long-term survey data on the relative abundance of a recreationally important fish population.  Read more…

 

Webinar:  "New Tools for Projecting Impacts of Climate Change on Deer and Waterfowl"    March 12, 11am ET.  Researchers from an NE CSC-funded project will present a 2-part webinar describing updates on the development of Weather Severity Indices for waterfowl and debuting an open-access web-based tool for querying and visualizing WSI data. The researchers will also discuss the development of projections of winter severity using dynamical downscaling.  Read more…

 

Recent Publications from the NE CSC: 

•                Ning, L., E. Riddle and R.S. Bradley. 2015.  Projected changes in climate extremes over the northeastern United States. Journal of Climate

•                Coffel, E., & Horton, R. 2014. Climate change and the impact of extreme temperatures on aviation. Weather, Climate, and Society

•                Russell, M.B., A.W. D’Amato, B.K. Schulz, C.W. Woodall, and G.M. Domke.  2014. Quantifying understorey vegetation in the US Lake States: a proposed framework to inform regional forest carbon stocks. Forestry.

 

 

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Climate information for the eastern United States and Atlantic Canada     Recent and real-time data to help track regional change is listed on the Gulf of Maine Dashboard.  The quarterly Gulf of Maine Region Climate Impacts and Outlook offers a snapshot of recent weather events and anomalies; regional weather impacts on ecosystems and economic sectors; and a forecast for the coming three months. Read more…

 

 

------ LCC NEWS HIGHLIGHTS: -------------------------------------

North Atlantic LCC

Permanent database grows for temporary wetlands 

 

Appalachian LCC

AppLCC and FWS Host Marxan Conservation Planning Tool Workshop

 

Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks LCC

Conservation application of a GCPO LCC dataset:  the Inundation Frequency Dataset

2014 GCPO LCC Annual Report now available

 

 

------ OTHER NEWS: ----------------------------------------------------

Researchers Link Warmer Climate, Monster Hurricanes on East Coast     NE CSC Affiliated Investigator Jon Woodruff and colleagues released evidence of historically unprecedented hurricane activity along the northeast coast of what would become the United States between about 800 to 1700 years ago, which was associated with warmer ocean temperatures similar to levels we may expect in coming centuries with climate change and ocean warming. Read more…

 

Predicting Plant Responses to Drought    A new USGS study shows how plants’ vulnerability to drought varies across the landscape; factors such as plant structure and soil type where the plant is growing can either make them more vulnerable or protect them from declines. Read more…

 

Minnesota Public Radio features forest adaptation projects    In early Feburary, Minnesota Public Radio released a special series called Climate Change in Minnesota, which includes outstanding audio, video, maps, and written content. Read more…

 

Climate change could bring higher temperatures, much higher sea levels, and more flooding to NYC    In a new report issued Tuesday, scientists painted a picture that could be even more frightening than the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. Read more…

 

SMAP satellite to measure soil moisture from space    NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite launched on January 31, and its measurements will improve weather and crop yield forecasts, monitoring and prediction systems for floods and droughts, and capabilities for research on the water, energy, and carbon cycles.  Read more…

 

EPA Awards $1 Million in Grants to Protect and Restore America's Wetlands    All six proposed projects are linked to environmental results and include wetland restoration and training such as the "Living Shoreline Academy." Read more…

 

Executive Order Establishes New Federal Flood Risk Management Standards for Federal Projects     Advocates using a climate-informed science approach and the implementation of natural systems, ecosystem processes, and nature-based approaches to aid decision making. Read more…

 

 

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EPA Releases Stormwater Climate Change Tool   Used by homeowners, landscapers, and developers to estimate the amount of rainwater and frequency of runoff on a specific site based on local soil conditions, land cover, historic rainfall records, and climate change scenarios. Read more…

 

Image of Ocean's Heat Content    Nature Climate Change published a study on rising ocean temperatures, which found that the deepest layers of Earth’s oceans hold the vast majority of heat gains from human-induced climate change. Read more…

 

Risky Business Releases Report on Climate Change and Economic Risk in the Midwest     Explores the many outcomes of climate change in the region including changes to energy demand, agricultural productivity, species migration, extreme heat, and even the resulting effects on crime. Read more…

 

Study Published on Probabilistic Reanalysis of Twentieth-Century Sea-Level Rise    The study found that previous research on that record had slightly overestimated the amount of sea-level rise in the 20th century. By revising estimates downward, predictions now match records rather neatly. This may increase scientists' confidence that they understand precisely why the ocean is rising, and improve the ability to project future increases. Read more…

 

 

------ WEBINARS: --------------------------------------------------------

Monday, February 23, 1:00pm ET

EPA presents, 

"Moving Toward Sustainability: Sustainable and Effective Practices for Creating Your Water Utility Roadmap"

Speakers not specified

To register, visit: http://water.epa.gov/scitech/climatechange/Calendar-of-Events.cfm

 

Tuesday, February 24, 2:00pm ET

National Highway Institute/FHWA's Building a Climate Resilient Transportation System Webinar Series presents,

"(SR200) FHWA tools: Developing Projections for Future Temperature and Precipitation Scenarios"

Robert Kafalenos, FHWA

To register, visit: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/webinars/

 

Wednesday, February 25 1:00pm ET

Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals presents, 

"Climate Change Funding and Technical Resources"

Kathy Lynn, University of Oregon; Sue Wotkyns, Northern Arizona University

To resister, visit: http://water.epa.gov/scitech/climatechange/Calendar-of-Events.cfm

 

Wednesday, February 25, 2:00pm ET

EBM Tools Network Webinar Series presents, 

"Application of the Sea-Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) to New York and Connecticut"

Amy Polaczyk, Warren Pinnacle Consulting

To register, visit: http://www.ebmtools.org/tools_training/presentations.html

 

Wednesday, February 25, 3:30pm ET

Northeast Climate Science Center presents, 

"Accounting for variability & uncertainty when informing natural resource management" 

Brian Irwin, USGS &  Tiffany Vidal, University of Georgia

To join, visit:  https://necsc.umass.edu/webinars/accounting-variability-uncertainty-when-informing-natural-resource-management

 

Wednesday, Februar 25, 4:00pm ET

OneNOAA Science Seminar Series presents, 

"Addressing a Major Model Challenge: Improving the Representation of Clouds in Climate and Earth System Models"

Chris Golaz, NOAA GFDL; Steve Krueger, University of Utah; Roger Marchand, University of Washington

To register, visit: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/index.html

 

Thursday, February 26, 12:00pm ET

Weathering Change: Local Solutions for Strong Communities webinar series presents,

"Collaborating for Resilience"

Sarika Tandon, Center for Whole Communities, and Veda Truesdale, Rutgers University

To register, visit: http://www.antiochne.edu/community/center-climate-preparedness-community-resilience/webinar-series-2/

 

Tuesday, March 3, 2:00pm ET

FHWA's Building a Climate Resilient Transportation System Webinar Series presents, 

"FHWA Tools: Engineering Roads and Other Transportation Assets to be Resilient to Climate Change"

To register, visit: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/webinars/

 

Wednesday, March 4, 4:00pm ET

CCRUN Green Infrastructure, Climate, and Cities Seminar Series presents, 

"Assessing Ecosystem Services Associated with Urban Trees"

To register, visit: http://ccrun.org/seminars

 

Tuesday, March 10, 12:00pm ET

OneNOAA Science Seminar presents, 

"Ensemble data assimilation and model validation studies using cloud and water vapor sensitive infrared brightness temperatures"

Jason Otkin, University of Wisconsin/SSEC

To register, visit: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/index.html

 

Tuesday, March 10, 2:00pm ET

OneNOAA Science Seminar presents, 

"Modeling the Stratosphere: Ozone, Reanalysis, Predictability, and connections with the Troposphere"

Ming Cai, Florida State University, and Judith Perlwitz, NOAA ESRL

To join, visit: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/index.html

 

Tuesday, March 10, 2:00pm ET

FHWA's Building a Climate Resilient Transportation System Webinar Series presents, 

"FHWA Tools: Developing Future Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Scenarios"

Speakers TBD

To register, visit: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/climate_change/adaptation/webinars/

 

Wednesday, March 11, 3:30pm ET

Northeast Climate Science Center presents, 

“FISHTAIL:  A decision support mapper for conserving stream fish habitats of the NE CSC region”  

Wes Daniel & Nick Sievert, University of Missouri

To join, visit:  https://necsc.umass.edu/webinars/fishtail-decision-support-mapper-conserving-stream-fish-habitats-ne-csc-region

 

Thursday, March 12, 11:00am ET 

Northeast Climate Science Center and Gulf Coastal Plains & Ozarks LCC presents, 

“New Tools for Projecting Impacts of Climate Change on Deer and Waterfowl”     

Michael Schummer, SUNY Oswego and Michael Notaro, University of Wisconsin

To register, visit: https://mmancusa.webex.com/mmancusa/j.php?RGID=r78715a12f4ba07ecd33d910574ed64f3