Digital Commons Network^™

The Karakoram Anomaly? Glacier Expansion And The ‘Elevation Effect,’ Karakoram Himalaya, Kenneth Hewitt

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

In the late 1990s widespread evidence of glacier expansion was found in the central Karakoram, in contrast to a worldwide decline of mountain glaciers. The expansions were almost exclusively in glacier basins from the highest parts of the range and developed quickly after decades of decline. Exceptional numbers of glacier surges were also reported. Unfortunately, there has been no on-going measurement of climatic or glaciological variables at these elevations. The present article examines possible explanations for this seemingly anomalous behavior, using evidence from short-term monitoring programs, low-altitude weather stations, and the distinctive environmental characteristics of the region. The latter involve …

The Impact Of Non-Stationarities In The Climate System On The Definition Of "A Normal Wind Year": A Case Study From The Baltic, S C. Pryor, R J. Barthelmie, Justin T. Schoof

Publications

Wind speeds over the Baltic significantly increased over the second half of the 20th century (C20th), with the majority of the increase being focused on the upper quartile of the wind speed distribution and in the southwest of the region. These changes have potentially profound implications for the wind energy resource. For example, based on the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP–NCAR) reanalysis data it is shown that, owing to this non-stationarity, using the normalization period of 1987–98 to determine the wind resource (as in the Danish wind index) leads to overestimation of the wind energy …

Beringia: Intercontinental Exchange And Diversification Of High Latitude Mammals And Their Parasites During The Pliocene And Quarternary, Joseph A. Cook, Eric P. Hoberg, Anson Koehler, Heikki Henttonen, Lotta Wickström, Voitto Haukisalmi, Kurt Galbreath, Felix Chernyavski, Nikolai Dokuchaev, Anatoli Lahzuhtkin, Stephen O. Macdonald, Andrew Hope, Eric Waltari, Amy Runck, Alasdair Veitch, Richard Popko, Emily Jenkins, Susan Kutz, Ralph Eckerlin

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Beringia is the region spanning eastern Asia and northwestern North America that remained ice-free during the full glacial events of the Pleistocene. Numerous questions persist regarding the importance of this region in the evolution of northern faunas. Beringia has been implicated as both a high latitude refugium and as the crossroads (Bering Land Bridge) of the northern continents for boreal mammals. The Beringian Coevolution Project (BCP) is an international collaboration that has provided material to assess the pattern and timing of faunal exchange across the crossroads of the northern continents and the potential impact of past climatic events on differentiation. …

Lessons From The Unusual Impacts Of An Abnormal Winter In The Usa, David Changnon, Stanley A. Changnon

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

Economic impacts from the near record warm and snow-free winter of 2001–2 in the United States were assessed to ascertain their dimensions and relevance to issues like climate prediction and climate change. Unusual impacts resulted and embraced numerous sectors (heating/energy use, construction, tourism, insurance, government, and retail sales). Many outcomes were gains/benefits totalling $19.6 billion, with losses of $8.2 billion. Some economists identified the sizable positive impacts as a factor in the nation’s recovery from an on-going recession stemming from the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. Understanding the impacts of such a winter reveals how climate predictions of such …

Trends In Extreme Daily Temperature Events In The South-Central United States, Gregory S. Bohr

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Extreme daily temperatures are meteorological events that can have significant impacts on human and natural systems. As natural and anthropogenic climate changes occur, the frequency of extreme events is likely to change. Because extremes do not change linearly with mean temperatures, it is important to directly examine the record of extremes. This dissertation analyzes the temporal pattern of daily extremes over 1948-2001 in the south-central United States, and identifies significant changes in frequency and persistence, as well as relationships between extreme events and atmospheric circulation.

A global warming of approximately 0.6 Centigrade has occurred over the past century, and further …

How Tight Are The Limits To Land And Water Use? – Com-Bined Impacts Of Food Demand And Climate Change, Hermann Lotze-Campen, Christoph Mülle, Alberte Bondeau, Pascalle Smith, Wolfgang Lucht

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

In the coming decades, world agricultural systems will face serious transitions. Population growth, income and lifestyle changes will lead to considerable increases in food demand. Moreover, a rising demand for renewable energy and biodiversity protection may restrict the area available for food production. On the other hand, global climate change will affect production conditions, for better or worse depending on re-gional conditions. In order to simulate these combined effects consistently and in a spatially explicit way, we have linked the Lund-Potsdam-Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ) with a "Management model of Agricultural Production and its Impact on the Environment" (MAgPIE). …

Emissions Pathways, Climate Change, And Impacts On California, Katherine Hayhoe, Daniel Cayan, Christopher B. Field, Peter C. Frumhoff, Edwin P. Maurer, Norman L. Miller, Susanne C. Moser, Stephen H. Schneider, Kimberly Nicholas Cahill, Elsa E. Cleland, Larry Dale, Ray Drapek, R. Hanemann, Laurence S. Kalkstein, James Lenihan, Claire K. Lunch, Ronald P. Nielson, Scott C. Sheridan, Julia H. Verville

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering

The magnitude of future climate change depends substantially on the greenhouse gas emission pathways we choose. Here we explore the implications of the highest and lowest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emissions pathways for climate change and associated impacts in California. Based on climate projections from two state-of-the-art climate models with low and medium sensitivity (Parallel Climate Model and Hadley Centre Climate Model, version 3, respectively), we find that annual temperature increases nearly double from the lower B1 to the higher A1fi emissions scenario before 2100. Three of four simulations also show greater increases in summer temperatures as compared with …

Correlation Between Atmospheric Co2 Concentration And Vegetation Greenness In North America: Co2 Fertilization Effect, C. Lim, Menas Kafatos, P. Megonigal

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The possibility that rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations are influencing plant growth in contemporary ecosystems has received little attention, and the studies that exist have been done on a small spatial scale. We correlated the monthly rate of relative change in normalized differenced vegetation index (NDVI) from advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) data to the rate of change in atmospheric CO2 concentration during the natural vegetation growing season for evidence of a possible CO2 fertilization effect on vegetation development. The study addressed seasonal and annual patterns in spatially averaged NDVI for 3 different ecological regions in North America from 1982 …

Agenda: Water, Climate And Uncertainty: Implications For Western Water Law, Policy, And Management, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, United States. National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration, National Center For Atmospheric Research (U.S.), Western Water Assessment (Program), University Of Colorado Boulder. Cooperative Institute For Research In Environmental Sciences, Hydrosphere Resource Consultants, Colorado Foundation For Water Education, Bp North America

Water, Climate and Uncertainty: Implications for Western Water Law, Policy, and Management (Summer Conference, June 11-13)

The swollen creeks of Boulder, Colorado provided a fitting backdrop for the “Water, Climate and Uncertainty” conference at the Natural Resources Law Center of the University of Colorado in June 2003. Recognizing the importance of providing a forum for discussions between water managers, lawyers, policy makers, and scientists, Doug Kenney, the conference's organizer, assumed the responsibility of master of ceremonies, providing thoughtful transitions between speakers and sessions while throwing some humor into the mix. Under his direction, luminaries in the fields of science, law and policy engaged a wide range of issues related to the future of water management.

The …

The Role Of Climate In Shaping Western Water Institutions, Gregory J. Hobbs Jr.

Water, Climate and Uncertainty: Implications for Western Water Law, Policy, and Management (Summer Conference, June 11-13)

61 pages.

"Justice Greg Hobbs, June 11, 2003"

This preliminary paper was later published in Justice Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr., The Role of Climate in Shaping Western Water Institutions, 7 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 1 (2003).

Evidence For Survival Of Pleistocene Climatic Changes In Northern Refugia By The Land Snail Trochoidea Geyeri, David Posada, Markus Pfenninger, Frederic Magnin

Faculty Publications

The study of organisms with restricted dispersal abilities and presence in the fossil record is particularly adequate to understand the impact of climate changes on the distribution and genetic structure of species. Trochoidea geyeri (Soos 1926) is a land snail restricted to a patchy, insular distribution in Germany and France. Fossil evidence suggests that current populations of T. geyeri are relicts of a much more widespread distribution during more favourable climatic periods in the Pleistocene. Results: Phylogeographic analysis of the mitochondrial 16S rDNA and nuclear ITS-1 sequence variation was used to infer the history of the remnant populations of T. …

Historical Changes In Mid-Water Stands Of Common Reed In The Winnebago Pool Lakes, Wisconsin, Anthony O. Gabriel, Leo R. Bodensteiner

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Despite the tolerance of common reed grass to environmental extremes, mid-water stands in the Winnebago pool lakes of central Wisconsin appear to be diminishing. Formerly occupying shoreline locations, water level manipulations subsequent to dam construction beginning in the 1850's have isolated reed stands off shore. These stands have persisted but casual observations indicate that stand size has been declining. To address this perception we obtained an approximately decadal series of aerial photographs dating back to 1937 for four stands in Lake Poygan. Annual records were available for 1986–94. Using image analysis software, we determined shape and size metrics. Changes in …

Agenda: A Cartography Of Governance: Exploring The Province Of Environmental Ngos, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law, University Of Colorado Boulder. Environmental Program, University Of Tulsa. National Energy-Environment Law & Policy Institute, University Of Colorado Boulder. United Government Of Graduate Students

A Cartography of Governance: Exploring the Province of Environmental NGOs (April 7-8)

Presented by: the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy on April 7 & 8, 2001. Symposium director: Lakshman D. Guruswamy.

Co-sponsored by: University of Colorado School of Law, University of Colorado Environmental Program, University of Tulsa National Energy-Environment Law and Policy Institute, University of Colorado United Government of Graduate Students.

The papers and edited proceedings of the conference will be published in a special symposium issue of the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law & Policy (CJIELP).

"The first objective of the Symposium was to understand and explore the growing importance of nongovernmental actors, and delineate the manner …

Climate Change And Crises Of International Law: Possibilities For Geographic Reenvisioning, Hari M. Osofsky

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Racing The Rising Tide: Legal Options For The Marshall Islands, J. Chris Larson

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note first describes the threat posed by accelerated sea-level rise. A review of scientific data shows that global warming causes ocean levels to rise and that RMI may need to be evacuated. The current diplomatic efforts to decrease global warming offer few assurances to RMI. In fact, the countries that have obligated themselves to reduce global warming are actually increasing emissions of gases that cause global warming.

Climate Change And Alaska's Forests: People, Problems, And Policies, Roger Burnside, Glenn Juday, Matthew Berman

ISER Reports

Forests cover over one-third of the total land area of Alaska, and forests border the communities in which about 90 percent of Alaska’s residents make their homes. Climate change has begun to affect the growth and condition of these forests (Juday et al. 1998). Plausible amounts of additional climate change would likely change both the extent and the character of Alaska’s forests (Juday et al. 1998). Alaska residents and public officials would face significant challenges in coping with hypothesized global change effects in its forests. Forest managers face the dilemma of being required to implement often irreversible plans that influence …

Effects Of Land Cover, Water Redistribution, And Temperature On Ecosystem Processes In The South Platte Basin, Jill S. Baron, Melannie D. Hartman, Timothy G. F. Kittel, Larry E. Band, Dennis S. Ojima, Richard B. Lammers

Faculty Publications

Over one‐third of the land area in the South Platte Basin of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming, has been converted to croplands. Irrigated cropland now comprises 8% of the basin, while dry croplands make up 31%. We used the RHESSys model to compare the changes in plant productivity and vegetation‐related hydrological processes that occurred as a result of either land cover alteration or directional temperature changes (−2°C, +4°C). Land cover change exerted more control over annual plant productivity and water fluxes for converted grasslands, while the effect of temperature changes on productivity and water fluxes was stronger in the mountain vegetation. …

The Loving Eye Vs. The Arrogant Eye: A Christian Critique Of The Western Gaze On Nature And The Third World, Sallie Mcfague

Macalester International

No abstract provided.

Climatology Of The Daily Temperature Range Annual Cycle In The United States, Daniel J. Leathers, Michael A. Palecki, David A. Robinson, Kenneth F. Dewey

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Many researchers are presently interested in detecting long-term trends in annual or seasonal daily temperature range (DTR), and attributing these changes to anthropogenic origins. However, very little work has been done to confirm the mechanisms that are important to determining the long-term average annual cycle of the DTR. Therefore, the focus of this work is to examine the spatial and temporal difference in the DTR average annual cycle across the United States, and to associate the patterns of these cycles with potential causal variables. Three major types of DTR annual cycle exist in the United States: high sun season maximum …

Environmental Stress Effects On Vigor, Mortality, And Growth In Northern Hardwood Forests Along A Pollution-Climate Gradient, Neil W. Macdonald, John A. Witter, David R. Reed, Andrew J. Burton, Kurt S. Pregitzer, Hal O. Liechty

Peer Reviewed Publications

Concern exists over the effects of interacting environmental stresses on the ecological integrity of temperate forests. Coincidence of sensitivity to drought, increasing occurrence of defoliation, and elevated pollutant deposition has produced speculation that northern hardwood forests may be susceptible to the increased climatic stresses projected for the Great Lakes region. The objective of our study was to examine relationships among environmental stress factors, vigor, mortality, and growth in northern hardwood forests located along a pollution-climate gradient in the Great Lakes region. Between 1987 and 1993, we quantified climatic variables, pollutant deposition, insect defoliation, and tree vigor and growth at five …

Environmental Indices For The Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (Minnesota, Usa) Urban Heat Island - 1989, Paul E. Todhunter

Geography & Geographic Information Science Faculty Publications

A homogeneous, high-density, daily maximum and minimum air temperature dataset was assembled for the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA), Minnesota, USA, to conduct basic urban climatological investigations on the spatial structure and temporal-scale dependence of the urban heat island, and to quantify the urban heat island effect upon several derived environmental indices. By combining data from National Weather Service cooperative stations, the University of Minnesota-St. Paul field station, and the previously unused KSTP-TV cooperative weather station network, a merged dataset of 26 stations was assembled for the TCMA for the year l989. Extensive quality control was conducted to identify suspect …

Lter Correspondence & Letters, Jerry F. Franklin

Long Term Ecological Research Network

1st. Letter written by Jerry F. Franklin, chair of LTER Network, addressed to David Greenland of the department of Geography. Franklin extends an invitation to the upcoming Coordinating Committee meeting taking place from October 19-21.

2nd. Letter written by Jerry F. Franklin, chair of LTER Network, addressed to Joshua Greenberg of he College of Forest Resources. Franklin extends an invitation to the upcoming Coordinating Committee meeting taking place from October 19-21.

3rd. Letter written by Jerry F. Franklin, chair of LTER Network, he writes on the significant decisions taken place over the LTER/CC meeting held on April 22-24.

4th. Letter …

Climate Variability And Ecosystem Response: Opportunities For The Lter Network, Long Term Ecological Research Network

Long Term Ecological Research Network

Unusual ecosystem responses are frequently driven by meteorological events. The frequency and magnitude of these events and responses can be char­acterized through Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER). The LTER Climate Com­mittee identifies four issues to be considered in future investigations:

(1) the need to clarify terms and definitions used in dis­cussing climate variability,

(2) the impor­tance of recognizing the various time and space scales of climate variability and eco­system response,

(3) the need to expand data beyond dependence on traditional summaries of temperature and precipita­tion, and

(4) the value of insights gained from examining similarities and dissimilari­ties among climate episodes and …

Late Holocene Earthflows Of The Willard Playa/Dune Complex, Estancia Valley, New Mexico; A Geomorphic Response To Climatic Change, Kurt A Goebel

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Late-middle to late Holocene dune sediment that overlies Pleistocene lacustrine sediment marks the onset of xeric conditions in the Estancia Valley, central New Mexico. Incised into the underlying lacustrine sediments, the modern deflation basins are enclosed by parabolic dunes composed of clay and gypsum derived from the underlying sediment; Located on the in-facing duneslopes of the deflation basins, the most striking geomorphic feature of this dune complex are numerous elongated scars. These relict scars document a geomorphically distinct earthflow event. Arroyos that cut into flow scars expose eolian earthflow sediment overlying lacustrine deposits. In the zone of depletion, erosional-flow evidence …

Population, Migration, And Problems Of Atoll Development In The South Pacific, John Connell

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Flooding Of The Red River Of The North : An Analysis Of Climatic And Land-Use Parameters, John L. Hammen

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Into The Design Qualities, Ecological Requirements, And Potential Use Of Some Native Trees And Shrubs Of The Mountains Of Northeastern Utah, Richard K. Sutton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purposes of this paper are threefold: 1) To provide a justification for the increased use of native plants in mountain land development, not only in northeastern Utah, but in the entire western United States. 2) To investigate and delineate what the physical needs of a plant materials list are. 3) To provide a nearly comprehensive list of basically unused plants native to northeastern Utah and to highlight their landscaping potentials based on the earlier investigation.

Also touched upon, to help landscape architectural students and professionals alike, are two cursory case studies and a chapter which deals briefly with the …

Modeling And Analyzing Supply-Demand Relationships Of Water Resources In Xinjiang From A Perspective Of Ecosystem Services, Li Feng, Li Yaoming, Zhou Xuewen, Yin Zun, Liu Tie, Xin Qinchuan

Journal of Arid Land

Water shortage is one bottleneck that limits economic and social developments in arid and semi-arid areas. As the impacts of climate change and human disturbance intensify across time, uncertainties in both water resource supplies and demands increase in arid and semi-arid areas. Taking a typical arid region in China, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, as an example, water yield depth (WYD) and water utilization depth (WUD) from 2002 to 2018 were simulated using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model and socioeconomic data. The supply-demand relationships of water resources were analyzed using the ecosystem service indices including water …