Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Impacts Of Climate Change On The World’S Economic, Political, And Demographic Structures, Dino Kanlic

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change will have negative impacts on the political, economic, and demographic structures of society. These include a rise in ethnic tensions in the Indian Sub Continent, massive immigration to Europe, regional economic collapse and political destabilization in Africa, the inundation of island nations and economic losses in the Americas among many other changes which will combine to destabilize humanity for generations. International affairs has failed to come up with a solution because global warming is a universal prevention focused problem that trades short term gains for long term losses. Global warming will be solved by the onset of grid …

Modeling Mussel Mortality: Investigating The Importance Of Swash And The Potential Implications Of Changing Wave Environments, Shadow Leigh Gulledge

Theses and Dissertations

Rising sea level and increases in temperature are causing biogeographic shifts in intertidal zones and can also lead to shifts in the local vertical zonation of organisms due to changes in body temperature during aerial exposure during low tide. Swash is an important determinant of aerial body temperatures, and vulnerability of intertidal zones to changes in climate could potentially depend on how much and how often animals are cooled by waves. While wave heights (and thus swash) are generally expected to increase with climate change, anthropogenic physical structures, such as breakwaters and wave energy converters, can decrease wave height and …

Potential Effects Of Changing Climate On The Physical, Chemical, And Biological Characteristics Of Alpine Lakes, Uinta Mountains, Utah, Usa, Shirley Ngai

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Relationships between climate variables, lake characteristics and diatom community composition were determined for five lakes in the Uinta Mountains, Utah (USA) from spring 2010 to autumn 2013 to provide information to help predict the effects of climate change on lake ecosystems. Surface water temperatures increased with decreasing elevation although microclimates affected this relationship. Deeper water temperatures increased or stayed the same with increasing elevation, probably due to greater transparency or convective heating. Total phosphorus (TP) and chl a concentrations decreased in the spring/summer with warmer fall/winter temperatures, and nitrates in the spring increased with increased fall/winter precipitation. A significant correlation …

Impacts Of Climate Change On The Evolution Of The Electrical Grid, Melissa Ree Allen

Doctoral Dissertations

Maintaining interdependent infrastructures exposed to a changing climate requires understanding 1) the local impact on power assets; 2) how the infrastructure will evolve as the demand for infrastructure changes location and volume and; 3) what vulnerabilities are introduced by these changing infrastructure topologies. This dissertation attempts to develop a methodology that will a) downscale the climate direct effect on the infrastructure; b) allow population to redistribute in response to increasing extreme events that will increase under climate impacts; and c) project new distributions of electricity demand in the mid-21^st century.

The research was structured in three parts. The first …

Connecting Institutional Discourses And Everyday Understandings Of Climate Change: Viewpoints From A Suburban Neighborhood In Tampa, Florida, Christopher Metzger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite a general consensus regarding anthropogenic global climate change across the international scientific community, many of the major greenhouse gas producers in the world, especially the United States, are hesitant to implement strict emissions regulations. According to some prominent atmospheric scientists, such as James Hansen and Michael Mann, if industrialized countries continue to produce carbon emissions at current rates, an irreversible planetary tipping point of raising temperatures 2°C above pre-industrial levels could be reached in less than 40 years. Societies have a wealth of information from the natural sciences to understand the climate problem and currently possess the technological means …

Late Glacial-Holocene Climate Change Recorded In Proglacial Lake Sediment Cores From The Huaguruncho Massif, Central Peruvian Andes, Dane O'Neil

Honors Theses

Alpine glaciers respond rapidly to changes in climate and the growth and decay of alpine glaciers is recorded in sediment cores extracted from lakes immediately downvalley from the margins of former glaciers. These records provide continuous archives of glaciation and climate change that complement the inherently discontinuous records of glaciation preserved by moraines. The aim of this study is to generate a continuous record of glaciation in Jaico cirque from lake sediment cores, which is located on the southeastern side of the quartz-monzonite dominated Huaguruncho Massif (5789 masl) in the eastern Peruvian Andes. The lakes are Laguna Jaico (10.56° S, …

Climate Planning In Politically Conservative Cities: A Case Study Of Seven Climate Action Plans, Coleman Moore Frick

Master's Theses

Current research indicates that the potential risks associated with human-induced climate change are likely to increase in frequency and intensity. Although there have been several attempts, no effective international treaty or policy has been enacted by the United States with the purpose of combating this global issue. In the past decade, local climate action plans (CAPs) have emerged as a planning solution designed to reduce greenhouse emissions (GHGs). Previous studies have examined CAP attributes, but no research has focused solely on climate planning in politically conservative jurisdictions. This research finds that of 245 CAPs completed to date nationally, approximately 90 …

Risky Business: Recommendations For The Insurance Industry To Contribute To Greater Disaster Risk Reduction And Climate Change Adaptation, Jessie G. Rountree

Master's Projects and Capstones

The private insurance industry is susceptible to increasing risk from climate change and can serve as a catalyst to change behavior to minimize loss. The research examined the current impact and future potential of the insurance industry to reduce both physical and financial risk. The insurance industry currently raises awareness, assigns an economic value to risk, advocates for climate change action, and takes measures to reduce physical risk through mitigation. As well, the industry has proven to be a critical influencer to encourage risk-adverse behavior and regulation. Recommendations to the industry to have a greater impact include: 1) pursue more …

Carbon Sequestration In Tidal Salt Marshes And Mangrove Ecosystems, Carlos Eduardo Quintana-Alcantara

Master's Projects and Capstones

Wetlands are dynamic systems that provide support to vital environmental functions and services. Wetlands take part in the global carbon cycle by holding organic carbon in biomass, soils and sediments. In recent years, the wetland carbon sequestration capacity has been researched worldwide due to the increase of the concentrations of greenhouse gasses implicated in global warming and climate change. Although coastal wetlands release the greenhouse gasses carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, these ecosystems maintain high performance in offsetting significant amounts of atmospheric carbon. This paper investigated the carbon sequestration capacity of coastal wetland ecosystems summarizing the environmental conditions and …

Integrated Remote Sensing And Forecasting Of Regional Terrestrial Precipitation With Global Nonlinear And Nonstationary Teleconnection Signals Using Wavelet Analysis, Lee Mullon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Global sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies have a demonstrable effect on terrestrial climate dynamics throughout the continental U.S. SST variations have been correlated with greenness (vegetation densities) and precipitation via ocean-atmospheric interactions known as climate teleconnections. Prior research has demonstrated that teleconnections can be used for climate prediction across a wide region at sub-continental scales. Yet these studies tend to have large uncertainties in estimates by utilizing simple linear analyses to examine chaotic teleconnection relationships. Still, non-stationary signals exist, making teleconnection identification difficult at the local scale. Part 1 of this research establishes short-term (10-year), linear and non-stationary teleconnection signals …

Teaching Climate Literacy Using Geospatial Tools, Steven L. Babcock

LSU Master's Theses

Antarctica is the world’s coldest, driest and windiest continent. It is a harsh environment that few people will ever see but it is a very important part of our Earth system. Over the past 34 million years the climate in Antarctica has deteriorated from one that supported lush vegetation to the conditions observed today. By studying this trend and the associated changes to ice and vegetation we can gain critical insight into climate changes taking place today. This thesis presents three pieces of curricula that will help students and the general public understand some of the research currently underway in …

Comparison Of Instrumentation To Measure Air And Soil-Surface Temperature Variability In Northern Alaska, Katrina Keleher

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) project has been observing permafrost (perennially frozen ground) and its overlaying active layer (which freezes and thaws annually) in northern Alaska’s Kuparuk River watershed and throughout the polar regions since the mid 1990’s to detect long-term responses to climatic change. The soil-surface temperature data is collected by thermistors that were positioned immediately below the surface of the ground at nine locations within a transect of 1-ha plots arranged from north to south across the region. Locations within each plot were individually selected to represent a full range of microsite conditions, with distinctions in vegetation, …

The Impacts Of Multiple Anthropogenic Disturbances On The Montane Forests Of The Green Mountains, Vermont, Usa, Carolyn Ann Pucko

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

How and why species’ ranges shift has long been a focus of ecology but is now becoming increasingly important given the current rate of climatic and environmental change. In response to global warming, species will need to migrate northward or upward to stay within their climatic tolerances. The ability of species to migrate will determine their fate and affect the community compositions of the future. However, to more accurately predict the future extent of species, we must identify and understand their responses to past and current climatic and environmental changes. The first place change is expected to occur is within …

Changing The Climate Narrative: How A Long-Term Climate Change Might Save Our Lives, Natalie P. Harreld

CMC Senior Theses

The goal of this paper is to offer new insights into the climate change debate by shifting away from the heated anthropologic arguments that dominate politics, media, and popular science. Instead, I choose to rely on the long-term impacts of a changing climate on our planet. The paper begins with a break down of key processes involved in short-term and long-term climate change, using the latest research. After a foundational understanding of climate sciences is established, we will discuss the failure of the climate change debate in educating the general public about the facts of a changing climate. Finally, the …

Wetlands And Greenhouse Gas Fluxes: Causes And Effects Of Climate Change – A Meta-Analysis, Robert E. Ventura

Pomona Senior Theses

Climate change is one of the largest problems facing this generation. Anthropogenically caused increases of greenhouse gas emissions is a significant culprit to this problem. Although the obvious problems such as cars, industry, and urbanism garnish a significant amount of the criticism, natural sources such as wetlands are also beginning to contribute to this issue. This is becoming increasingly significant as wetlands shift from being sinks of greenhouse gases to becoming sources as various anthropogenic impacts, including global warming itself, begin to affect the health of the wetlands. The aim of this project is to look at four common types …