NE CSC Newsletter

Thursday, April 21, 2016

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*** NEXT WEEK *** Wednesday, April 27, 3:30pm EST

A Research and Decision Support Framework to Evaluate Coastal Landscape Change Erika Lentz of the USGS will present this seminar on the UMass campus (134 Morrill Science Center) as part of our engaging stakeholders in climate adaptation seminar series. To join remotely, visit: https://necsc.umass.edu/webinars/“-research-and-decision-support-framework-evaluate-coastal-landscape-change”

Coastal change occurs in response to a variety of processes and drivers over a range of timescales. Over the longer term, the impacts of sea-level rise (SLR) will vary across the coastal landscape. Inundation is a relatively straightforward impact to understand and model, and dominates many of the online tools and resources to provide SLR decision support; however this approach does not adequately account for the resilience of some areas. A more comprehensive assessment of SLR impacts requires accounting for dynamic change; many areas have the potential to adapt to either preserve their current morphologic or ecologic state or transition to a new one (e.g. a forest becomes a marsh) under various SLR scenarios instead of simply inundating. Recent work has resulted in a high resolution (30 x 30 m) coastal response model using a probabilistic (Bayesian network) approach that produces the likelihood of observing inundation or dynamic response for the Northeastern U.S. from Maine to Virginia. Outcomes can be translated using standardized uncertainty terminology to demonstrate decision-making applications as well as highlight research gaps. Applying these results over a broad scale provides comparison with inundation-model guidance, and allows decision makers to identify and prioritize areas that may provide near- and longer-term tradeoffs in a regional context. The USGS and collaborators are also exploring the application of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) as a coastal mapping tool that can be rapidly deployed to capture site-specific seasonal and storm-driven changes to morphology and habitat to better inform our understanding of coastal evolution and resilience in the near-term.

Erika Lentz is a Research Geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey stationed at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center. She received her PhD in Geology from the University of Rhode Island in 2010, and from 2012 to 2014 was a USGS Mendenhall Research Fellow. Her research focuses coastal change and the processes that drive it over a range of spatial (barrier island to regional) and temporal (storms to sea level rise) scales in both natural and built environments.

Northeast Coastal Response to Rising Seas [NE CSC NEWS, April 14] Read More >>

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State-level Climate Projections NE CSC Principal Investigator, Ray Bradley, with NE CSC Postdoctoral Fellow Ambarish Karmalkar have created individualized reports for 19 states of the Northeast and Midwest of climate projections and impacts. Ray, Ambarish and colleagues from UMass Amherst’s Climate System Research Center (CSRC), including intern Kathryn Woods, released these easily referenced and illustrative reports to coincide with the Earth Day signing of the COP21 climate agreements by world’s leaders, making the climate change projections relevant at the state level. Read More >>

NCCWSC and Climate Science Centers’ Annual Report Accomplishments in 2015 included initiating a national effort to understand the influence of drought on wildlife and ecosystems; providing numerous opportunities for students and early career researchers to expand their networks and learn more about climate change effects; and working with tribes and indigenous communities to expand their knowledge of and preparation for the impacts of climate change. Read More >>

Climate Science Center Hosting (Re)Competition to Open Soon USGS plans to release a Program Announcement (“request for proposals”) to host Climate Science Centers in four regions. Three of these – Alaska, Northwest and Southeast – are re-competitions of the hosting arrangements currently in place in those regions. The fourth is a planned new Midwest CSC. Read More >>

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LCC Network Lookout Check out the updated e-newsletter highlighting the latest stories from the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives and partners. Read More>>

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

Wednesday, April 27, 3:30 pm EST

Northeast Climate Science Center presents

A Research and Decision Support Framework to Evaluate Coastal Landscape Change

Erika Lentz, USGS Woods Hole

To join, visit: https://necsc.umass.edu/webinars/“-research-and-decision-support-framework-evaluate-coastal-landscape-change”

Wednesday, April 27, 12:00pm EST

Tribal Climate Change Webinar

Managing Resilient Tribal Forests Under Emerging Climate Change Impacts

Speakers TBA

To register, visit: https://usgs.webex.com/usgs/j.php?MTID=me7d5392cfc7717e3172a4382e7bf34b5

Thursday, April 28, 9:30-10:30 am EST