Research
Climate change implications for tourism in the U.S. Great Lakes and Midwest
Sunday, November 17th, 2019
Because the Great Lakes are so large and deep, they influence local and regional weather and climate, which, in turn, influence things like agricultural practices, shipping, and tourism. Winter tourism, for instance, is highly dependent on temperature, snow cover, snowfall, length of the snow season, and the presence or absence of snow during winter holidays….
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High‐resolution climate projections for the northeastern U.S.
Tuesday, October 1st, 2019
Earth system models are able to simulate the interactions of the atmosphere, ocean, land, ice, and biosphere to estimate the state of the global climate under a variety of conditions and for past, present, and future time periods. These models, however, are not able to provide detailed analysis of climate change at regional and local…
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Amazonian peatlands could shift from a carbon sink to a carbon source under a changing climate
Thursday, August 1st, 2019
Amazonian peatlands store a large amount of soil organic carbon (SOC). These natural carbon “sinks” keep carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere, and, when left undisturbed, peatlands store more carbon dioxide than all other vegetation types on Earth combined. But when they are drained and deforested, they can release large amounts of heat-trapping gases…
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Reconstruction of past climate provides clues about future climate change
Monday, June 24th, 2019
Sediment cores drilled from the seafloor by the JOIDES Resolution research vessel helped researchers create a timeline of temperature throughout the Eocene. New research results indicate that greenhouse gases were the main driver of climate change throughout the Eocene, a period of time between 56 million years and 34 million years ago, and a time that…
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Severe thunderstorms are expected to occur more often in a warmer climate
Monday, May 27th, 2019
Commonly known as thunderstorm, hazardous convective weather (HCW) such as damaging wind gusts, large hail, tornadoes and flash flooding, pose a significant threat to life and property and remain a prominent source of weather-related losses in the United States. While the risk for weather disasters certainly increases as the population grows and people move into…
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The growing risk to the U.S. electricity grid
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019
A secure and resilient electric grid is vital to national security, a strong economy, and critical services like those provided by water utilities and hospitals. As the demand for power continues to grow, the aging U.S. grid is being stretched to capacity. Moreover, supply risk can result from climate-induced shifts in electricity use and/or damaged…
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The ecology of peace: preparing Colombia for new political and planetary climates
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019
Current efforts for achieving peace in Colombia and ongoing changes in global climate will combine to shape the future of Colombia’s tropical forests, one of Earth’s biodiversity hotspots. A new paper led by Alejandro Salazar (PhD 2017, Biological Sciences; currently a postdoc researcher at the University of Iceland) examines the potential impacts of these transformative events,…
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Pathways to smallholder adaptation to climate change
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019
Smallholder farmers across the globe are vulnerable to environmental, climatic, and weather-related stress. Future changes in climatic conditions are expected to both exacerbate existing challenges and create new ones for smallholders. Adaptation strategies offer opportunities to adjust agriculture and agricultural livelihoods to the impacts of a changing climate, but professor Zhao Ma’s (Forestry and Natural Resources) work shows that the…
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A rapid assessment of damaged residential buildings in the Florida Keys after Hurricane Irma
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019
With maximum winds of 185 miles per hour, Irma was the most powerful hurricane in recorded history to exist in the Atlantic Ocean outside of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Irma sustained those maximum winds speeds for 37 hours and spent three consecutive days as a category 5 hurricane, making it the longest of…
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Understanding changes in soil organic carbon
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019
Knowledge of how soil organic carbon (SOC) content changes within a landscape and over time will help improve our understanding of both how agricultural practices contribute to climate change and how climate change affects agriculture. Changes to both shallow and deep SOC result from belowground transformations such as microbial decomposition and addition of plant material,…
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