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 …

Mitigating The Effects Of Climate Change With Wind Energy And Gis, Rachael Isphording, Richard Snow, Mary Snow

Publications

The climate is changing, and humans are heavily exacerbating these changes. As the effects of climate change are being felt across the planet, scientists and policy makers are uniting to increase mitigation efforts and are researching renewable, clean energy sources to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere during energy production. Of the different renewable energy technologies, wind energy is one of the most researched and implemented. Over the past twenty years, researchers have been applying Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to their climate change studies. GIS allows the user to spatially view, manipulate, and analyze data …

Long Term Ground Based Precipitation Data Analysis: Spatial And Temporal Variability, Luciano Rodriguez, Cyril S. Rakovski, Hesham El-Askary, Mohamed Allali

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

California is an area of diverse topography and has what many scientists call a Mediterranean climate. Various precipitation patterns exist due to El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) which can cause abnormal precipitation or droughts. As temperature increases mainly due to the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, it is rapidly changing the climate of not only California but the world. An increase in temperature is leading to droughts in certain areas as other areas are experiencing heavy rainfall/flooding. Droughts in return are providing a foundation for fires harming the ecosystem and nearby population. Various natural hazards can be induced due …

Odu Hosts White House-Sponsored Event On Sea Level Rise Preparedness, Mitigation, Public Affairs & News Bureau, Old Dominion University

News Items

No abstract provided.

Hampton Roads Sea Level Rise Preparedness And Resilience Intergovernmental Planning Pilot Project, Ray Toll, David Architzel

Presentations, Lectures, Posters, Reports

No abstract provided.

Virginia Accomplishments Since The 2008 Climate Action Plan Release, Center For Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

Virginia has undertaken a variety of actions to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gasses and adapt to climate related changes to our weather, wildlife, and sea level. However, these changes have not been undertaken in a coordinated fashion, nor have they been in clear response to the recommendations of any entity that has approached the problem of climate change as a whole. Greenhouse gas mitigation has taken place in the form of a few policies to capture landfill gas, encourage limited energy efficiency, encourage growth of some renewable energy, and reduce vehicle miles traveled. Additionally, good progress has been made …

The Threat In Hampton Roads, Ray Toll, David W. Titley

News Items

No abstract provided.

Cultivating Communities Of Practice To Develop Local Preparedness For Climate Change, Konda Reddy Chavva

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this research was to study the effectiveness of field facilitators’ (FFs) community of practice in improving ways in which FFs and farmers communicate and work together to strengthen farmers’ climate change preparedness through identifying locally suitable adaptation strategies in drought-prone districts of Andhra Pradesh State in India. In development initiatives like the one studied, FFs are often the key liaison person with each community—farmers in this case. FFs interact regularly with farmers, with whom they establish and sustain critical relationships over time. Further, they take the lead in building farmers’ capacities by contextualizing technical information that professionals …

Differential Effects Of Canopy Trimming And Litter Deposition On Litterfall And Nutrient Dynamics In A Wet Subtropical Forest, Steven J. Hall, Whendee L. Silver, Grizelle González

Steven J. Hall

Humid tropical forests have the highest rates of litterfall production globally, which fuels rapid nutrient recycling and high net ecosystem production. Severe storm events significantly alter patterns in litterfall mass and nutrient dynamics through a combination of canopy disturbance and litter deposition. In this study, we used a large-scale long-term manipulation experiment to explore the separate and combined effects of canopy trimming and litter deposition on litterfall rates and litter nutrient concentrations and content. The deposition of fine litter associated with the treatments was equivalent to more than two times the annual fine litterfall mass and nutrient content in control …

Planning For Adaptation To Climate Change: Lessons From The Us National Wildlife Refuge System, Robert L. Fischman, Vicky J. Meretsky, Alexei Babko, Michael Kennedy, Lei Liu, Michelle Robinson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

US national wildlife refuges have recent, detailed management plans illustrating the state of planning for climate-change adaptation in protected areas. Discussion of and prescriptions for addressing climate change increased in refuge plans between 2005 and 2010 but decreased in 2011. The plans respond to some climate-change impacts on biodiversity and call for monitoring but with little clarity regarding how to act on monitoring results and scant attention to future changes in phenology and community composition. The threats posed by sea-level rise generated the best-developed plan prescriptions. Examples of excellent prescriptions provide models for future planning. Some decision-support tools, such as …

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 …

Warming Reduces Tall Fescue Abundance But Stimulates Toxic Alkaloid Concentrations In Transition Zone Pastures Of The U.S., Rebecca L. Mcculley, Lowell P. Bush, Anna E. Carlisle, Huihua Ji, Jim A. Nelson

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Tall fescue pastures cover extensive acreage in the eastern half of the United States and contribute to important ecosystem services, including the provisioning of forage for grazing livestock. Yet little is known concerning how these pastures will respond to climate change. Tall fescue's ability to persist and provide forage under a warmer and wetter environment, as is predicted for much of this region as a result of climate change, will likely depend on a symbiotic relationship the plant can form with the fungal endophyte, Epichloë coenophiala. While this symbiosis can confer environmental stress tolerance to the plant, the endophyte …

Sustainability Planning, Environmental Justice And Climate Change: Applications Of The Long Island Markal Model, David S. Friedman, Yehuda Klein, Jose Pillich, Michael T. Sullivan

Suburban Sustainability

As pointed out by many authors, sustainability is often vague and amorphous (See, for example, Dovers, 1989; Faber, et al, 2005; Glavič, et al. 2007). There is a clear need to make analytical and data-driven analyses of established and or proposed plans. MARKAL (MARKet ALlocation model) is an analytical tool that can be used characterize the impacts of sustainability plans at multiple spatial scales: global, national, regional, and local. In this study we apply the Long Island MARKAL model to answer three interrelated issues: 1, the development and incremental improvement of local and regional sustainability plans; 2, the impact of …

Climate Change And The Next Generation, Jugal Patel

News Items

No abstract provided.

Collaborative Research: Globec Panregional Synthesis: Pacific Ocean Boundary Ecosystems: Response To Natural And Anthropogenic Climate Forcing, Andrew C. Thomas

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This is a Collaborative project POBEX (www.POBEX.org) under the the overall direction of M. DiLorenzo, GaTech. A separate FINAL report was submitted by DiLorenzo for the overall project in 2013. Using US and international observational datasets combined with physical and biological models, this project investigates the mechanisms of climate-related variability in three Pacific boundary ecosystems: Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and California Current System (CCS) referred to as the Northeast Pacific (NEP), the Humboldt or Peru-Chile Current System (PCCS), and the Kuroshio-Oyashio Extension (KOE) region. The research goals of this project can be summarized as follows:

(1) Assess to what extent, …

Warming, Competition, And Bromus Tectorum Population Growth Across An Elevation Gradient, Aldo Compagnoni, Peter B. Adler

Green Canyon Environmental Research Area, Logan Utah

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is one of the most problematic invasive plant species in North America and climate change threatens to exacerbate its impacts. We conducted a two‐year field experiment to test the effect of warming, competition, and seed source on cheatgrass performance across an elevation gradient in northern Utah. We hypothesized that warming would increase cheatgrass performance, but that warming effects would be limited by competing vegetation and by local adaptation of cheatgrass seed sources. The warming treatment relied on open top chambers, we removed vegetation to assess the effect of competition from neighboring vegetation, and we reciprocally …

Fearless: Gettysburg's Environmental Concerns Organization (Geco), Chrisitina L. Bassler

SURGE

Gettysburg’s Environmental Concerns Organization (GECO) fearlessly advocates for environmental change, promotes awareness and encourages better sustainability practices on our campus, and the world around us.

Last weekend, 19 students from Gettysburg joined the People’s Climate March in New York City. With over 400,000 people – four times the number expected – this was the largest march for environment change in history. Junior Jolina Kenney was instrumental in planning the trip. As an Environmental Science major, She became involved with GECO “as an extension of her interest in the environment.” With the help of professor Lane, Jolina and the GECO team …

Mcauliffe Launches Climate Change Commission, Bill Sizemore

News Items

No abstract provided.

Aboriginal Maple Syrup Values Summary, Annette Chrétien, Brenda Murphy, Charles Restoule, Melanie Smits

Contemporary Studies

This report examines the values associated with maple syrup practices in Aboriginal contexts. It is based on fifteen interviews conducted with Aboriginal people who have knowledge of maple syrup practices in Ontario. The interviewees included both First Nations and Metis people.

Aboriginal Maple Syrup Values Report, Annette Chrétien

Contemporary Studies

This report examines the values associated with maple syrup practices in Aboriginal contexts. It is based on fifteen interviews conducted with Aboriginal people who have knowledge of maple syrup practices in Ontario. The interviewees included both First Nations and Metis people.

Wind Energy Projection For The Philippines Based On Climate Change Modeling, Angeli Silang, Sherdon Niño Uy, Julie Mae Dado, Faye Abigail T. Cruz, Gemma T. Narisma, Nathaniel Joseph C. Libatique, Gregory Tangonan

Physics Faculty Publications

To complement the existing method of wind energy assessment, this study presents wind energy projection by downscaling a regional climate model, RegCM3, which is also used in predicting rainfall and temperature changes, and using a conversion method using the Weibull distribution. A couple of papers which used long-term predicting models focused on two regions, China and the US High Plains, show a decrease of about 14% and 7%-17% respectively in wind power density due to global warming over the next century. This paper focuses on a smaller grid size of 10 km x 10 km to concentrate on a specific …

Optimized Method For Black Carbon Analysis In Ice And Snow Using The Single Particle Soot Photometer, I. A. Wendl, James A. Menking, R. Färber, M. Gysel, Susan D. Kaspari, M. J. G. Laborde, M. Schwikowski

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

In this study we attempt to optimize the method for measuring black carbon (BC) in snow and ice using a Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2). Beside the previously applied ultrasonic (CETAC) and Collison-type nebulizers we introduce a jet (Apex Q) nebulizer to aerosolize the aqueous sample for SP2 analysis. Both CETAC and Apex Q require small sample volumes (a few milliliters) which makes them suitable for ice core analysis. The Apex Q shows the least size-dependent nebulizing efficiency in the BC particle diameter range of 100–1000 nm. The CETAC has the advantage that air and liquid flows can be monitored …

Enhanced Acidification Of Global Coral Reefs Driven By Regional Biogeochemical Feedbacks, Tyler Cyronak, Kai G. Schulz, Isaac R. Santos, Bradley D. Eyre

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Physical uptake of anthropogenic CO₂ is the dominant driver of ocean acidification (OA) in the open ocean. Due to expected decreases in calcification and increased dissolution of CaCO₃ framework, coral reefs are thought to be highly susceptible to OA. However, biogeochemical processes can influence the pCO₂ and pH of coastal ecosystems on diel and seasonal time scales, potentially modifying the long‐term effects of increasing atmospheric CO₂. By compiling data from the literature and removing the effects of short‐term variability, we show that the average pCO₂ of coral reefs throughout the globe has increased ~3.5‐fold …

Seasonal And Elevational Variations Of Black Carbon And Dust In Snow And Ice In The Solu-Khumbu, Nepal And Estimated Radiative Forcings, Susan Kaspari, T. H. Painter, M. Gysel, S. M. Skiles, M. Schwikowski

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Black carbon (BC) and dust deposited on snow and glacier surfaces can reduce the surface albedo, accelerate snow and ice melt, and trigger albedo feedback. Assessing BC and dust concentrations in snow and ice in the Himalaya is of interest because this region borders large BC and dust sources, and seasonal snow and glacier ice in this region are an important source of water resources. Snow and ice samples were collected from crevasse profiles and snow pits at elevations between 5400 and 6400 m a.s.l. from Mera glacier located in the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal during spring and fall 2009, …

Precipitation Variability And Nitrogen Deposition Alter Root Distribution In A Tallgrass Prairie, Emmalyn P. Terracciano, Michael Schuster, Jeffrey Dukes

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Climate change and increases in nitrogen deposition impact ecosystems globally. Projected atmospheric warming allows rain to fall in larger events with longer dry periods in between, increasing rainfall variability in many regions. Concurrently, the combustion of fossil fuels and the heavy use of nitrogen fertilizers continue to increase the availability of nitrogen globally. However, not much is known about how these global change factors, increased rainfall variability and nitrogen deposition, interact with each other to affect ecosystem functions, particularly belowground where root production contributes to soil carbon pools- an important component in regulating climate. In order to study these factors, …

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 …

Rainfall Variability Analysis In The Nira River Basin Using Multi-Model Gcm Ensemble, Asmita Ramkrishna Murumkar, Dhyan Singh Arya

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Observed daily rainfall data during baseline period i.e. 1961-1990 of four raingauge stations namely Akluj, Baramati, Bhor and Malsiras located in the Nira River basin in Central India were analyzed to study the impact of climate change on rainfall. LARS-WG incorporating 15 GCM’s from the CMIP3 predictions for A1B, A2 and B1 emission scenarios was used to statistically downscale the daily rainfall data during three time spans centred at 2020’s, 2055’s and 2090’s. Uncertainty in GCMs rainfall predictions was analyzed on monthly, seasonal and annual scales. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Student’s t-test, and Fisher test have shown average to good performance during …

The Effect Of Flood Reduction And Water Conservation Of Decentralized Rainwater Management System, Dong Geun Kwak, Moo Young Han

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Climate change and increase of surface runoff by urbanization caused the urban flooding. Therefore, a sustainable new paradigm is required to recover sound water circulation and overcome the limitations of the existing water management system vulnerable to flooding. Recently Rainwater management is widely known and its legal obligation is strengthened to improve the control capacity for flooding reduction and water conservation in urban areas. Multipurpose DRMS(Decentralized Rainwater Management System) is a new paradigm proposed and recommended by NEMA(National Emergency Management Agency) for both flood control and water conservation. In this study, a flood prone area in Suwon of South Korea …

A Spatial-Temporal Downscaling Approach To Construction Of Rainfall Intensity-Duration-Frequency Relations In The Context Of Climate Change, Van-Thanh-Van Nguyen, Myeong-Ho Yeo

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

This paper proposes a spatial-temporal downscaling approach to construction of the intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) relations at a local site in the context of climate change and variability. More specifically, the proposed approach is based on a combination of a spatial downscaling method to link large-scale climate variables given by General Circulation Model (GCM) simulations with daily extreme precipitations at a site and a temporal downscaling procedure to describe the relationships between daily and sub-daily extreme precipitations based on the scaling General Extreme Value (GEV) distribution. The feasibility and accuracy of the suggested method were assessed using rainfall data available at eight …