Following the classification schema employed by the CAMEL Project website, this list includes information about past and present climates that can potentially inform models concerning future climate.
Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change Impacts: South Florida on the Front Lines
http://www.ces.fau.edu/index.php
Description: The ICCE Initiative: South Florida is on the front lines of risk associated with climate change impacts. In response, FAU has formed a coalition of research institutes and assembled interdisciplinary teams to assist in developing adaptation and mitigation strategies to prepare for and mitigate climate change effects. This is a collaborative effort with stakeholders at the national, state, and local levels. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Future World; Models
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation: Florida Atlantic University. Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change Impacts: South Florida on the Front Lines. ICCE White Paper, Version 10.0. South Florida Integrative and Collaborative Climate and Energy Initiative, 2009.
Agnotology as a Teaching Tool: Learning Climate Science by Studying Misinformation
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00221341.2010.498121
Description: Despite the existence of a clear scientific consensus about global warming, opinion surveys find confusion among the American public, regarding both scientific issues and the strength of the scientific consensus. Evidence increasingly points to misinformation as a contributing factor. This situation is both a challenge and an opportunity for science educators, including geographers. The direct study of misinformation - termed agnotology (Proctor 2008) - can potentially sharpen student critical thinking skills, raise awareness of the processes of science such as peer review, and improve understanding of the basic science. This potential is illustrated with examples from a small, upper-division -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Future World; Responsibilities
Access: Open Access
Audience: Grades 10 -12, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students, Faculty
Citation: Bedford, Daniel. 2010. "Agnotology as a Teaching Tool: Learning Climate Science by Studying Misinformation." Journal of Geography 109.4: 159-165. doi: 10.1080/00221341.2010.498121.
Americans' Knowledge of Climate Change
http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication/article/Americans-knowledge-of-climate-change
Description: Americans’ Knowledge of Climate Change reports results from a national study of what Americans understand about how the climate system works, and the causes, impacts, and potential solutions to global warming. Among other findings, the study identifies a number of important gaps in public knowledge and common misconceptions about climate change. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation: Leiserowitz, A., N. Smith, and J. R. Marlon. 2010. Americans’ Knowledge of Climate Change. Yale University: New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. http://environment.yale.edu/climate/files/ClimateChangeKnowledge2010.pdf
Analysis of Non-Linear Inundation from Sea-Level Rise Using LIDAR Data: A Case Study for South Florida
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-010-9987-2
Description: By analyzing a digital elevation model (DEM) derived from airborne light detection and ranging (LIDAR) data and airborne height finder measurements, this study demonstrates that a 1.5msea-level rise by 2100 would cause inundation of large areas of Miami-Dade County, southern Broward County, and Everglades National Park. Inundation processes are non-linear: inundation is gradual before reaching a threshold, and speeds up rapidly afterwards due to the regional topography. Accelerated sea-level rise will cause the threshold to be reached sooner by amplifying the non-linear inundation, and must be considered in policy-making. Comparison of inundated areas extracted from 30 m LIDAR and USGS DEMs indicates that the vertical accuracy of a DEM has a great effect on delineation of inundation areas. For a 1.5 m sea-level rise, the inundated area delineated by USGS DEM for Broward County is 1.65 times greater than that indicated by the LIDAR DEM. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Future World; Models
Access: Subscription Required
Audience:
Citation: Zhang, Keqi. 2011. "Analysis of Non-Linear Inundation from Sea-Level Rise Using LIDAR Data: A Case Study for South Florida." Climatic Change 106.4: 537-565. doi: 10.1007%2Fs10584-010-9987-2.
Apocalypse Soon? Dire Messages Reduce Belief in Global Warming by Contradicting Just-World Beliefs
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797610391911
Description: Though scientific evidence for the existence of global warming continues to mount, in the United States and other countries belief in global warming has stagnated or even decreased in recent years. One possible explanation for this pattern is that information about the potentially dire consequences of global warming threatens deeply held beliefs that the world is just, orderly, and stable. Individuals overcome this threat by denying or discounting the existence of global warming, and this process ultimately results in decreased willingness to counteract climate change. Two experiments provide support for this explanation of the dynamics of belief in global warming, suggesting that less dire messaging could be more effective for promoting public understanding of climate-change research. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors
Access: Subscription Required
Audience:
Citation: Feinberg, Matthew, and Robb Willer. 2011. "Apocalypse Soon? Dire Messages Reduce Belief in Global Warming by Contradicting Just-World Beliefs" Psychological Science 22.1: 34-38. doi:
Behavior Frontiers: Can Social Science Combat Climate Change?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-social-science-help-combat-climate-change
Description: Scientists remove some of the guesswork about how individuals will use energy in 2050 by looking at past campaigns to induce personal change and their effectiveness.
Keywords: Causes; Future World; Responsibilities
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation: Palmer, Lisa. 2010. "Behavior Frontiers: Can Social Science Combat Climate Change?" Scientific American, December 28.
Caribbean Islands in a Changing Climate
http://www.environmentmagazine.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/November-December%202010/caribbean-islands-full.html
Description: The Caribbean Sea is the second largest sea in the world, covering an area of approximately 2,515,900 kilometers. The region has the largest number of small island developing states (SIDS) and the highest number of maritime boundaries in the world, involving 22 independent countries and 17 territories with a population of more than 40 million (see Figure 1). Critical to human well-being in the region are the seascape/landscape aesthetics and diverse cultural mix. The region is one of the most tourism-dependent in the world, with the travel industry providing almost 1 million direct and indirect jobs and contributing a quarter of the region's foreign exchange earnings. Economic growth has, however, failed to keep pace with population growth on many islands. That being said, these island states, with a few notable exceptions, are not grouped within the poorest countries of the world. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation: Pulwarty, Roger s., Leonard A. Nurse, and Ulric O. Trotz. 2010. "Caribbean Islands in a Changing Climate." Environment Magazine 52.6: 16-27.
Climate Change in Coastal Areas in Florida: Sea Level Rise Estimation and Economic Analysis to Year 2080
http://www.cefa.fsu.edu/content/download/47234/327898
Description: Florida’s coastal resources provide many services, which contribute to the livelihood of Florida’s economy and its residents. Climate change and rising sea levels threaten the sustainability of these resources by increasing the likelihood of flooding, saltwater intrusion, inundation of low-lying lands, and erosion of beaches and barrier islands. Previous studies have emphasized global trends in sea level rise1 (SLR) and the impacts of these trends on coastal resources. This study, however, estimates regional SLR trends and increases in the risks of inundation and storm surge associated with increasing sea level in six Florida counties: Dade, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Monroe, and Wakulla. The counties were selected as they represented diverse geographic locations around the state, including urban and rural counties, and because of the availability of data on storm surge.This study uses current estimates of SLR from Florida State University’s (FSU’s) Beaches and Shores Resource Center (BSRC) and 2001 estimates from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)2 to evaluate the effect of SLR on the six coastal counties. The results show projected trends in storm surge flood return periods associated with hurricanes (probable change in the frequency of 100-year hurricane-induced storm surge), damage costs associated with flooding from major storm events, and the value and area of land at risk. While these findings do not account for adaptive strategies, they still provide valuable information about potential impacts and resources that are put at risk from SLR. The following section provides a summary of FSU’s projection of SLR in Florida and its analyses of hurricane return period, damage costs, and property values at risk. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation: Harrington, Julie, and Todd L. Walton. Climate Change in Coastal Areas in Florida: Sea Level Rise Estimation and Economic Analysis to Year 2080. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Satte University, 2008.
Climate Change in the Public Mind
http://environment.yale.edu/climate/publications/cancun-presentation-climate-change-in-the-public-mind/
Description: A presentation by Anthony Leiserowitz at the Forum on Climate Change Communication at COP 16 in Cancun, Mexico.
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors
Access: Subscription Required
Audience:
Citation:
Climate Scenarios: A Florida-Centric View
http://floridaclimate.org/docs/climate_scenario.pdf
Description: Climate scenarios for the state of Florida.
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Open Access
Audience: Undergraduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Graduate Students, Grades 10 -12, Faculty
Citation:
Communicating Climate Change to Visitors of Informal Science Environments
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1533015X.2010.530890
Description: This article reports findings on visitors' preferences for content presentation of a future global warming and climate change exhibit. The study was conducted with two groups: one from the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, and the other at the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio. The authors explored visitors' preferences for message ordering and overall story flow as well as their reasoning for preferring those narratives on these challenging and oftentimes contentious issues. The results showed that adult visitors to both museums were interested in knowing more about individual actions toward mitigation and adaptation, rather than the simple facts and potential gloom-and-doom approach to the topic. Implications for the findings from this study were developed in collaboration with Koshland museum staff members; the authors offer practical strategies for implementing these results into future exhibitions on global warming and climate change. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors
Access: Subscription Required
Audience:
Citation: Applied Environmental Education & Communication 9.4 (2010): 233-242
A Deeper Partisan Divide over Global Warming
http://www.people-press.org/2008/05/08/a-deeper-partisan-divide-over-global-warming/
Description: The proportion of Americans who say that the earth is getting warmer has decreased modestly since January 2007, mostly because of a decline among Republicans. Republicans are increasingly skeptical that there is solid evidence that the earth has been warming over the past few decades: just 49% of Republicans say there is evidence that the earth’s average temperature has been rising, down 13 points since January 2007.Overall, 71% of Americans say there is solid evidence of higher global temperatures, compared with 77% at the beginning of last year. There is less of a consensus about the cause of global warming. Roughly half of Americans (47%) say the earth is warming because of human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels.But nearly as many people (45%) say that rising global temperatures are either mostly caused by natural environmental patterns (18%), say they do not know the cause of warming (6%), or say that no solid evidence of warming exists (21%).The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted April 23-27 among 1,502 adults, finds that the already substantial partisan divide over global warming has widened in the past year. Fully 84% of Democrats and 75% of independents say there is evidence that the earth’s temperatures have been rising, compared with just 49% of Republicans.Among Republicans, far more moderates and liberals than conservatives say there is evidence of global warming (69% vs. 43%). However, the proportion of both groups expressing this view has declined since January 2007. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors; Values
Access: Open Access
Audience: Faculty, Grades 10 -12, Graduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Undergraduate Students
Citation:
Designing a Built Environment Resilient to Climate Change
http://dirt.asla.org/2011/06/28/designing-a-built-environment-resilient-to-climate-change/
Description: Buildings, landscapes, infrastructure, and even entire cities can be designed to be more resilient to climate, environmental, and population changes, argued a high-profile panel at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) D.C.’s Design D.C. conference. Green technologies and practices have come a long way. Smart policymakers and designers are now applying these tools, figuring out ways to leverage existing systems to serve multiple purposes, learning from their mistakes, and adapting. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Future World; Responsibilities
Access: Open Access
Audience: Undergraduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Graduate Students, Grades 4 - 6, Grades 10 -12, Faculty
Citation:
Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation and Human Security
http://www.gechs.org/downloads/GECHS_Report_3-08.pdf
Description: GECHS Report 2008:3
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation:
Discoveries from EOS Aura
http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftp_docs/2010AuraBrochure.pdf
Description: The Aura MissionAura is NASA’s third large Earth Observing System mission and is dedicated to understanding the changing chemistry of our atmosphere.Aura’s Four Instruments * The High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) * The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) * The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) * The Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES)Aura’s principal Science Questions * Is the ozone layer changing as expected? * What are the processes that control tropospheric * pollutants? * What are the roles of upper tropospheric aerosols, water vapor and ozone in climate change?Aura’s strategy is to obtain measurements of ozone, aerosols and key gases throughout the atmosphere us- ing technologically innovative space instrumentation. Scientists use these data to gain revolutionary insights into the chemistry of our atmosphere.
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation:
Education, Politics and Opinions about Climate Change Evidence for Interaction Effects
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-010-9957-8
Description: U.S. public opinion regarding climate change has become increasingly polarized in recent years, as partisan think tanks and others worked to recast an originally scientific topic into a political wedge issue. Nominally 'scientific' arguments against taking anthropogenic climate change seriously have been publicized to reach informed but ideologically receptive audiences. Reflecting the success of such arguments, polls have noted that concern about climate change increased with education among Democrats, but decreased with education among Republicans. These observations lead to the hypothesis that there exist interaction (non-additive) effects between education or knowledge and political orientation, net of other background factors, in predicting public concern about climate change. Two regional telephone surveys, conducted in New Hampshire (n = 541) and Michigan (n = 1,008) in 2008, included identical climate-change questions that provide opportunities to test this hypothesis. Multivariate analysis of both surveys finds significant interactions. These empirical results fit with theoretical interpretations and several other recent studies. They suggest that the classically identified social bases of concern about the environment in general, and climate in particular, have shifted in recent years. Narrowcast media, including the many Web sites devoted to discrediting climate-change concerns, provide ideal conduits for channeling contrarian arguments to an audience predisposed to believe and electronically spread them further. Active-response Web sites by climate scientists could prove critical to counterbalancing contrarian arguments. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors
Access: Subscription Required
Audience: Faculty, Graduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Undergraduate Students
Citation: Hamilton, Lawrence C. 2011. "Education, Politics and Opinions about Climate Change Evidence for Interaction Effects" Climatic Change 104.2: 231-242
Experts Develop Framework to Evaluate Environmental Literacy
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/12/environmental_literacy_is_a_ph.html
Description: A small group of experts in the subject—backed by a National Science Foundation grant—has been working on a project over the year of 2011 to address environmental literacy. A condensed framework of the study can be found here:http://www.naaee.net/sites/default/files/framework/EnvLiteracyExeSummary...
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience: Undergraduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Graduate Students, Faculty
Citation:
Fewer Americans See Solid Evidence of Global Warming
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1386/cap-and-trade-global-warming-opinion
Description: There has been a sharp decline over the past year in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising. And fewer also see global warming as a very serious problem; 35% say that today, down from 44% in April 2008.
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
Flooded! An Investigation of Sea-Level Rise in a Changing Climate
Description: Gillette and Hamilton discuss fundamental concepts concerning sea-level change and its impact of coastal populations. They suggest activities that can be used to engage students in investigations concerning the effects of sea-level impacts and conclude with a list of resources.
Keywords:
Access: Subscription required
Audience: Secondary
Citation: Gillette, Brandon, and Cheri Hamilton. 2011. "Flooded! An Investigation of Sea-Level Rise in a Changing Climate." Science Scope 34.7: 25-31.
Florida and Climate Change: The Costs of Inaction
http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/rp/FloridaClimate.html
Description: The report is the first detailed analysis on the potential consequences of continued climate change for the state’s economy. The report concludes that, if left unchecked, climate change will significantly harm Florida’s economy in the next several decades, and that impacts on just three sectors – tourism, electric utilities, and real estate – together with effects of hurricanes would shrink Florida’s Gross State Product by 5% by the end of this century.Includes an executive summary version, as well as a full report version in both high and low resolution.
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation:
Global CO2 Rise Leads to Reduced Maximum Stomatal Conductance in Florida Vegetation
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/02/16/1100371108
Description: A principle response of C3 plants to increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 (CO2) is to reduce transpirational water loss by decreasing stomatal conductance (gs) and simultaneously increase assimilation rates. Via this adaptation, vegetation has the ability to alter hydrology and climate. Therefore, it is important to determine the adaptation of vegetation to the expected anthropogenic rise in CO2. Short-term stomatal opening–closing responses of vegetation to increasing CO2 are described by free-air carbon enrichments growth experiments, and evolutionary adaptations are known from the geological record. However, to date the effects of decadal to centennial CO2 perturbations on stomatal conductance are still largely unknown. Here we reconstruct a 34% (±12%) reduction in maximum stomatal conductance (gsmax) per 100 ppm CO2 increase as a result of the adaptation in stomatal density (D) and pore size at maximal stomatal opening (amax) of nine common species from Florida over the past 150 y. The species-specific gsmax values are determined by different evolutionary development, whereby the angiosperms sampled generally have numerous small stomata and high gsmax, and the conifers and fern have few large stomata and lower gsmax. Although angiosperms and conifers use different D and amax adaptation strategies, our data show a coherent response in gsmax to CO2 rise of the past century. Understanding these adaptations of C3 plants to rising CO2 after decadal to centennial environmental changes is essential for quantification of plant physiological forcing at timescales relevant for global warming, and they are likely to continue until the limits of their phenotypic plasticity are reached. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Subscription Required
Audience: Undergraduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Graduate Students, Faculty
Citation:
Global Warming’s Six Americas in May 2011
http://environment.yale.edu/climate/publications/SixAmericasMay2011/
Description: Nearly 40 percent of American adults are in the two groups most concerned about climate change – the Alarmed and the Concerned – while 25 percent of Americans are in the two groups least concerned about the issue – the Dismissive and Doubtful. Different Questions: If given the chance to talk to an expert on global warming, the Alarmed and Concerned would most like to know what the nations of the world can do to reduce global warming, and if there's still time to do so. The Disengaged would most like to ask whether global warming is actually occurring, and what harm it will cause. The Cautious, Doubtful and Dismissive would most like to have an expert explain how scientists know that global warming is happening and is caused by human activities.Scientific Agreement: While approximately 97% of publishing climate scientists agree that climate change is occurring and that it is caused primarily by human activities, this high level of scientific agreement is understood by only 44 percent of the Alarmed, 18 percent of the Concerned, 12 percent of theCautious, and 5 percent or fewer of the Disengaged, Doubtful and Dismissive. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors; Values
Access: Open Access
Audience: Undergraduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Graduate Students, Faculty
Citation:
The Habitable Planet Unit 12
http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=12&secNum=0
Description: Earth's climate is a sensitive system that is subject to dramatic shifts over varying time scales. Today human activities are altering the climate system by increasing concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which raises global temperatures. In this unit, examine the science behind global climate change and explore its potential impacts on natural ecosystems and human societies.
Keywords: Causes; Past History
Access:
Audience: Grades 10 -12
Citation:
Hurricanes and Coastal Zone Vulnerability in Central America and the Caribbean
http://www.iai.int/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=108
Description: The month of November has been hit with news about Hurricane Tomas, which poured torrential rains over already severely stricken Haiti. Also in this season, four cyclones developed in the western Caribbean and brought much rain and flooding to Central America and Mexico, where thousands had to be evacuated, since the heavy rains in the mountains had river banks bursting in coastal regions downstream. People had to live in temporary shelters for weeks. Large populations that settle in floodplains and coastal lowlands are commonplace in many developing countries where regulations on urban sprawl are not usually enforced. As the end of the 2010 hurricane season approaches, two major questions remain: is the frequency of hurricanes really increasing in the Caribbean as a result of climate change? And can we predict them in better ways, to reduce damage and death? -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation: IAI Communiqué 3, November (2010): 1-4
Hydrology, Phenology and the USA National Phenology Network
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2010/3083/
Description: Phenology is the study of seasonally-recurring biological events (such as leaf-out, fruit production, and animal reproduction and migration) and how these events are influenced by environmental change. Phenological changes are some of the most sensitive biological indicators of climate change, and also affect nearly all aspects of ecosystem function. Spatially extensive patterns of phenological observations have been closely linked with climate variability. Phenology and hydrology are closely linked and affect one another across a variety of scales, from leaf intercellular spaces to the troposphere, and over periods of seconds to centuries. Ecosystem life cycles and diversity are also influenced by hydrologic processes such as floods and droughts. Therefore, understanding the relationships between hydrology and phenology is increasingly important in understanding how climate change affects biological and physical systems. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation:
If We Seek, Do We Learn? Predicting Knowledge of Global Warming
Description: Derived from the risk information seeking and processing model (RISP), this study sought to isolate predictors of the public's knowledge of global warming. Using a national sample (N = 805), multiple regression yielded a number of significant relationships among 13 moderators. Notably, the number of media sources used for information about global warming, information seeking effort, and general education were relatively strong predictors of knowledge. Counter to expectations, informational subjective norms were inversely related to knowledge. -- Authors
Keywords:
Access: Subscription required
Audience:
Citation: Kahlor, LeeAnn, and Sonny Rosenthal. 2009. "If We Seek, Do We Learn? Predicting Knowledge of Global Warming." Science Communication 30.3:380-414. Accessed July 17, 2014. doi: 10.1177/1075547008328798.
Investor Network on Climate Risk
http://www.ceres.org/Document.Doc?id=279
Description: Given the sweeping nature of climate change, climate risks are embedded in every investment portfolio. As fiduciaries entrusted with trillions of dollars of fund assets, we remain firmly convinced that climate change presents both material risks and significant opportunities for investment portfolios.Since the last Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) action plan in 2005, more investors have been taking steps to engage companies and reduce climate risks in their portfolios. More businesses, responding to investor concern, have started to disclose their climate risks and account for the impacts of climate change on their financial performance and competitiveness. More investors and companies have called on political leaders to enact legislation that would provide greater regulatory certainty, provide incentives for climate solutions, and minimize the risks that climate change poses to businesses, investors, and the economy. But greater efforts are needed. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Future World; Models
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation:
Knowledge of Climate Change Across Global Warming's Six Americas
http://environment.yale.edu/climate/files/Knowledge_Across_Six_Americas.pdf
Description: 'Knowledge of Climate Change across Global Warming's Six Americas' reports results from a national study of what the American public understands about how the climate system works, and the causes, impacts and potential solutions to global warming.; Publisher
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience: Grades 10 -12, Audience: Secondary, Audience: Lifelong Learners, Audience: Undergraduate Students
Citation:
New England Climate Change Impacts
http://www.cns.umass.edu/neclimate/
Description: This website provides news and information about research, events, and workshops at UMass Amherst related to climate change impacts in New England. Our goals include continuous learning about on-going interdisciplinary research on climate change and impacts, encouraging collaboration within the New England climate research community, making connections between regional stakeholders and climate researchers, as well as helping to focus future directions of regional climate change research. This project is an outgrowth of support from the UMass President's Office Science and Technology Funding Program.
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation:
Palm Beach County Shrinks Coastal ‘Hazard Areas,' Opens Door to Development
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-10-11/news/fl-coastal-hazard-palm-20111011_1_hazard-sea-level-rise-areas#tugs_story_display
Description: Even as South Florida braces for a growing threat from sea level rise, Palm Beach County commissioners Tuesday made it easier for developers to build more homes in what was long considered a 'coastal high-hazard area.' -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience: Undergraduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Graduate Students, Faculty
Citation:
Personal Efficacy, the Information Environment, and Attitudes Toward Global Warming and Climate Change in the United States
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2008.01010.x
Description: Despite the growing scientific consensus about the risks of global warming and climate change, the mass media frequently portray the subject as one of great scientific controversy and debate. Andyet previous studies of the mass public’s subjective assessments of the risks of global warming and climate change have not sufficiently examined public informedness, public confidence in climate scientists, and the role of personal efficacy in affecting global warming outcomes. By examining the results of a survey on an original and representative sample of Americans, we find that these three forces—informedness, confidence in scientists, and personal efficacy—are related in interesting and unexpected ways, and exert significant influence on risk assessments of global warming and climate change. In particular, more informed respondents both feel less personally responsible for global warming, and also show less concern for global warming. We also find that confidence in scientists has unexpected effects: respondents with high confidence in scientists feel less responsible for global warming, and also show less concern for global warming. These results have substantial implications for the interaction between scientists and the public in general, and for the public discussion of global warming and climate change in particular. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors
Access: Open Access
Audience:
Citation: Risk Analysis 28.1 (2008): 113-126
Predictions of Turbidity Due to Enhanced Sediment Resuspension Resulting from Sea-Level Rise on a Fringing Coral Reef: Evidence from Molokai, Hawaii
http://dx.doi.org/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-09-00064.1
Description: Accelerating sea-level rise associated with global climate change will affect sedimentary processes on coral reefs and other shoreline environments by increasing energy and sediment resuspension. On reefs, sedimentation is known to increase coral stress and bleaching as particles that settle on coral surfaces interfere with photosynthesis and feeding, and turbidity induced by suspended sediment reduces incident light levels. Using relationships developed from observations of wave orbital velocity, water-surface elevation, and suspended-sediment concentration on a fringing reef flat of Molokai, Hawaii, predictions of the average daily maximum in suspended-sediment concentration increase from ~11 mg/l to ~20 mg/l with 20 cm sea-level rise. The duration of time concentrations exceeds 10 mg/l increases from 9% to 37%. An evaluation of the reduction of wave energy flux through breaking and frictional dissipation across the reef flat shows an increase of ~80% relative to the present will potentially reach the shorline as sea level increases by 20 cm. Where the shoreline exists on low, flat terrain, the increased energy could cause significant erosion of the shoreline. Considering the sediment budget, the sediment flux is predicted to increase and removal of fine-grained sediment may be expedited on some fringing reefs, and sediment in storage on the inner reef could ultimately be reduced. However, increased shoreline erosion may add sediment and offset removal from the reef flat. The shifts in sediment availability and transport that will occur as result of a modest increase in sea level have wide application to fringing coral reefs elsewhere, as well as other shoreline environments. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Subscription Required
Audience:
Citation: Journal of Coastal Research 26.6 (2010): 1027-1037
Public Opinion on Global Warming: An In-Depth Study of Florida, Maine, and Massachusetts
http://woods.stanford.edu/research/state-surveys.html
Description: Large majorities of the residents of Florida, Maine and Massachusetts believe the Earth has been getting warmer gradually over the last 100 years (81 percent, 78 percent and 84 percent, respectively), and large majorities favor government action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to July 2010 public opinion research by Professor Jon Krosnick, a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Past History; Recent Evidence
Access: Open Access
Audience: Faculty, Grades 10 -12, Graduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Undergraduate Students
Citation:
Saving Florida's Vanishing Shores
http://epa.gov/climatechange/effects/coastal/saving_FL.pdf
Description: A brochure featuring information Florida's vulnerability to sea level rise and the environmental costs associated with such changes. Also available in Spanish, via: http://epa.gov/climatechange/effects/coastal/saving_FL_Spanish.pdf
Keywords: Causes; Future World; Models
Access: Open Access
Audience: Undergraduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Grades 4 - 6, Grades 10 -12, Grades 1 - 3
Citation:
Students' Understanding of the Greenhouse Effect, the Societal Consequences of Reducing CO2 Emissions and the Problem of Ozone Layer Depletion
http://na-serv.did.gu.se/publist/pubfiler/greenhouse.pdf
Description: This study is an attempt to contribute to the growing body of knowledge about students' conceptions and views concerning environmental and natural resource issues. Answers have been sought to the following questions: 'How do Swedish students in grade 9 (15 - 16 years old) and grade 12 (18 - 19 years old) explain the greenhouse effect?', 'How do they think reduction of CO2 emission would affect society?' and 'How do they explain that the depletion of the ozone layer is a problem?' The method chosen to answer these questions was to give students written tasks of the open-ended type. Five models of the greenhouse effect appear among the answers, all more or less incomplete, but nevertheless with potential for development. The students' responses also indicate that they do not fully understand what fundamental societal changes would occur as a result of a drastic reduction in CO2 emission. On the other hand, they are rather well informed about how injurious depletion of the ozone layer is to humans. The findings are discussed, including implications for teaching. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors; Human Factors
Access: Open Access
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Citation: Journal of Research in Science Teaching 37.10 (2000): 1096-1111
Temperature Rising
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/science/earth/01forest.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Description: Trees, natural carbon sponges, help keep heat-trapping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. But insect and human threats are taking a heavy toll on them.
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Open Access
Audience: Undergraduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Graduate Students, Grades 4 - 6, Grades 10 -12, Faculty
Citation:
To Fight Climate Change, Clear the Air
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/opinion/28victor.html
Description: Published November 27, 2010 for The Opinion Pages, The New York Times.
Keywords: Causes; Present Factors
Access: Open Access
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Citation:
Understanding Earth's Deep Past: Lessons for our Climate Future
http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13111
Description: There is little dispute within the scientific community that humans are changing Earth's climate on a decadal to century time-scale. By the end of this century, without a reduction in emissions, atmospheric CO2 is projected to increase to levels that Earth has not experienced for more than 30 million years. As greenhouse gas emissions propel Earth toward a warmer climate state, an improved understanding of climate dynamics in warm environments is needed to inform public policy decisions. In Understanding Earth's Deep Past, the National Research Council reports that rocks and sediments that are millions of years old hold clues to how the Earth's future climate would respond in an environment with high levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases.Understanding Earth's Deep Past provides an assessment of both the demonstrated and underdeveloped potential of the deep-time geologic record to inform us about the dynamics of the global climate system. The report describes past climate changes, and discusses potential impacts of high levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases on regional climates, water resources, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the cycling of life-sustaining elements. While revealing gaps in scientific knowledge of past climate states, the report highlights a range of high priority research issues with potential for major advances in the scientific understanding of climate processes. This proposed integrated, deep-time climate research program would study how climate responded over Earth's different climate states, examine how climate responds to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and clarify the processes that lead to anomalously warm polar and tropical regions and the impact on marine and terrestrial life.In addition to outlining a research agenda, Understanding Earth's Deep Past proposes an implementation strategy that will be an invaluable resource to decision-makers in the field, as well as the research community, advocacy organizations, government agencies, and college professors and students. -- Authors
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Subscription Required
Audience: Undergraduate Students, Lifelong Learners, Graduate Students, Faculty
Citation:
Understanding Future Sea Level Rise: The Challenges of Dating Past Interglacials
http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=32918
Description: Workshop ProgramUnderstanding future sea level rise: The challenges of dating past interglacialsWoods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionSeptember 21-25, 2009Organizers: Bill Thompson, Mark Siddall, Claire Waelbroeck
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Open Access
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Citation:
In Ventura, a Retreat in the Face of a Rising Sea
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/16/local/la-me-surfers-point-20110116
Description: Higher ocean levels force Ventura officials to move facilities inland, an action that is expected to recur along the coast as the ocean rises over the next century.
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Open Access
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Citation:
Working Together with Water
http://www.deltacommissie.com/doc/deltareport_full.pdf
Description: Findings of the Deltacommissie 2008
Keywords: Causes; Future World
Access: Open Access
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