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Flash Forward 100 Years: Climate Change Scenarios in California’s Bay-Delta

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2011Environmentchinook salmon, climate change, ecosystem, endangered delta smelt, farmland, fish and wildlife service, francis parchaso, frequency of winter flooding, global climate change, irrigation water, james cloern, marcia mcnutt, native species, noaa, rising sea level, salinity, sea-level rise, state of california, temperature, the delta, warming scenarios

USGS scientists and academic colleagues investigated how California’s interconnected San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (the Bay-Delta system) is expected to change from 2010 to 2099 in response to both fast and moderate climate warming scenarios. Results indicate that this area will feel impacts of global climate change in the next century with shifts in its biological communities, rising sea level, and modified water supplies.

“The protection of California’s Bay-Delta system will continue to be a top priority for maintaining the state’s agricultural economy, water security to tens of millions of users, and essential habitat to a valuable ecosystem,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “This new USGS research complements ongoing initiatives to conserve the Bay-Delta by providing sound scientific understanding for managing this valuable system such that it continues to provide the services we need in the face of climate uncertainty.” (more…)

Scientists Project Changes in Rainfall Patterns for Next 30 Years

By Guest PostOctober 16, 2011Environmentaquifer management, chase norton, climate change, coral reef degradation, flash floods, frequency of heavy rainfall events, gcms, general circulation models, hawaii, hawaiian islands, intergovernmental panel on climate change, ipcc, marine environment, pao shin chu, rainfall data, rainfall gauges, rainfall intensity, soest, southern shoreline of oahu, statistical model, thomas schroeder, uh manoa, university of hawaii at manoa

Scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa have projected an increased frequency of heavy rainfall events, but a decrease in rainfall intensity during the next 30 years (2011–2040) for the southern shoreline of Oʻahu, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Chase Norton, a Meteorology Research Assistant at the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at UH Mānoa, and colleagues (Professors Pao-Shin Chu and Thomas Schroeder) used a statistical model; rainfall data from rainfall gauges on Oahu, Hawaiʻi; and a suite of General Circulation Models (GCMs) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to project future patterns of heavy rainfall events on Oʻahu. GCMs play a pivotal role in the understanding of climate change and associated local changes in weather. (more…)

Britain’s Wildlife Will Benefit from Better Coastal Structures

By Guest PostOctober 1, 2011Environmentanimals, australia, breakwaters, Britain, climate change, coastal structures, coasts, david baxter, ecological enhancement, environment agency, ilfracombe in devon, jetties, larissa naylor, newlyn in cornwall, plants, plymouth and treweek environmental consultants, plymouth university, richard thompson, rock armour, seattle harbour, seawalls, south west coast, sydney harbour, universities of exeter, usa

*Plants and animals that live on Britain’s coasts could benefit from changes to the way coastal structures such as seawalls, breakwaters, rock armour and jetties are designed and built.*

*Research by the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth and Treweek Environmental Consultants, supported by the Environment Agency, has led to the development of recommendations for the design and construction of coastal defence structures.*

The team has produced guidance on how the ‘ecological enhancement’ of hard coastal structures can be embedded in the design and planning process, from conception through to construction.

Past research has found that hard structures are poor ecological substitutes for natural rocky shores, often supporting only a few dominant, opportunistic species such as green algae. The research team assessed the suitability of different materials, surface roughness, positioning and height for coastal habitats. They examined structures across the South West coast, including Ilfracombe in Devon and Newlyn in Cornwall, as well as looking further afield to work from Sydney Harbour in Australia and Seattle Harbour in the USA. They focused on organisms such as barnacles and limpets as these dominate many rocky shore environments and rapidly colonise hard surfaces placed in the sea, including harbour walls. Once these organisms have established themselves, other plants and animals typically follow, to the benefit of species such as salmon. (more…)

Hurricane Irene: Scientists Collect Water Quality and Climate Change Data from Huge Storm

By Guest PostAugust 31, 2011Environmentclimate change, climate change data, global warming, hurricane irene, storm

Researchers pursue new information from East Coast hurricane

While Hurricane Irene had officials along the East Coast preparing for mass evacuations, scientists at the Stroud Water Research Center and the University of Delaware were grabbing their best data collection tools and heading straight for the storm’s path. (more…)

New Technologies (and Tires) Reconstruct Ancient Bison Hunts

By Guest PostAugust 2, 2011Scienceamerican indian, american indian tribes, ancient hunters, benjamin curry, bison kill sites in montana, blackfeet tribe, christopher roos, cliff edge, climate change, dale fenner, humans, jeff jones, jesse ballenger, kacy hollenback, kutoyis archaeological project, kutoyis project, landscape, maria nieves zedeño, matt pailes, meriwether lewis, montana, northern great plains, old tires, prehistoric bison hunting societies, school of anthropology, traditional bison hunt, two medicine valley, university of arizona, william clark

*UA researchers are looking for, among other things, how fire changed the landscape of the Northern Great Plains as ancient hunters went after big game.*

Researchers from the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona are investigating the complex relationship between climate change and modifications that humans have made to the landscape. And among the tools they are using in the pursuit of this knowledge are a bunch of old tires.

Led by Maria Nieves Zedeño from the UA Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, the Kutoyis Archaeological Project is a four-year collaboration focused on prehistoric bison hunting societies in the Northern Great Plains. The project is funded by the National Park Service and the National Science Foundation. (more…)

Exeter Scientists Grow Plants with Friendly Fungi

By Guest PostAugust 1, 2011Environmentclimate change, drought tolerance, friendly fungi, higher food prices, plant growth, strain of trichoderma

The lack of rainfall and higher-than-average temperatures in spring 2011 were predicted to hit harvests, leading to higher food prices.

Climate change may mean that these dry and hot conditions will become more common in the UK, so researchers are looking at ways to make plants more tolerant of dry spells. (more…)

Climate Adaptation of Rice

By Guest PostJuly 17, 2011Environmentadaptability of rice, climate adaptation, climate change, rice, salt tolerant

Symbiogenics — a New Strategy for Reducing Climate Impacts on Plants

Seattle – Rice – which provides nearly half the daily calories for the world’s population – could become adapted to climate change and some catastrophic events by colonizing its seeds or plants with the spores of tiny naturally occurring fungi, just-published U.S. Geological Survey-led research shows. (more…)

First Person: U.N. Climate Conference Sparked Passion, Inspiration

By Guest PostJuly 15, 2011Environmentclimate change, climate change dialogue, climate voices, human impacts, max webster

Max Webster, an undergraduate who founded and directs Climate Voices, a Yale-based NGO working to publicize the human rights impacts of climate change, recently attended the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany. He shared his experiences, frustrations and insights about the meeting and his own mission with the Yale Daily Bulletin. (more…)

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