Climate Commons^™

Recent Increase In Black Carbon Concentrations From A Mt. Everest Ice Core Spanning 1860-2000 Ad, Susan D. Kaspari, M. Schwikowski, M. Gysel, M. G. Flanner, S. Kang, S. Hou, P. A. Mayewski

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

A Mt. Everest ice core spanning 1860–2000 AD and analyzed at high resolution for black carbon (BC) using a Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) demonstrates strong seasonality, with peak concentrations during the winter‐spring, and low concentrations during the summer monsoon season. BC concentrations from 1975–2000 relative to 1860–1975 have increased approximately threefold, indicating that BC from anthropogenic sources is being transported to high elevation regions of the Himalaya. The timing of the increase in BC is consistent with BC emission inventory data from South Asia and the Middle East, however since 1990 the ice core BC record does not indicate …

Slides: Environmental Water In Australia, Chris Arnott

Conversation with Water Management Reps from Colorado and Australia: "Adapting to Climate Change: Lessons Learned from Australia" (February 14)

Presenter: Chris Arnott, Managing Director, Alluvium Consulting

30 slides

Slides: Adapting To Climate Change: Lessons Learnt From The Australian Water Experience, Will Fargher

Conversation with Water Management Reps from Colorado and Australia: "Adapting to Climate Change: Lessons Learned from Australia" (February 14)

Presenter: Will Fargher, National Water Commission, Australian Government

18 slides [4 have titles only and are missing images]

Climate Modeling: From Global Climate Models To Regional Climate Applications, John F. Mejia, Darko Koracin

Climate Change Seminar Series (NNE)

- Establish a sustainable Global/Regional Climate Modeling team that is capable of simulating regional climate and predicting future hydrological resources - Develop a necessary computer facility for regional climate modeling and links to model and measurements data bases - Educate future scientists in this area of climate research

The Effect Of Zonally Asymmetric Ozone Heating On The Northern Hemisphere Winter Polar Stratosphere, J. P. Mccormack, T. R. Nathan, E. C. Cordero

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

[1] Previous modeling studies have found significant differences in winter extratropical stratospheric temperatures depending on the presence or absence of zonally asymmetric ozone heating (ZAOH), yet the physical mechanism causing these differences has not been fully explained. The present study describes the effect of ZAOH on the dynamics of the Northern Hemisphere extratropical stratosphere using an ensemble of free-running atmospheric general circulation model simulations over the 1 December - 31 March period. We find that the simulations including ZAOH produce a significantly warmer and weaker stratospheric polar vortex in mid-February due to more frequent major stratospheric sudden warmings compared to …

Lsuhsc Facilities Biweekly Update: February 2011, Lsuhsc Property And Facilities Management

LSUHSC Facilities Biweekly Updates: 2011

LSUHSC Facilities Biweekly Updates from February 11 and 25, 2011.

These updates describe damage and a timeline of repairs at the LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans campus due to Hurricane Katrina which made landfall August 29, 2005.

Lsuhsc Facilities Daily Updates: February 2011, Lsuhsc Property And Facilities Management

LSUHSC Facilities Daily Updates: 2011

LSUHSC Facilities Daily Updates from February 2011.

These updates describe damage and a timeline of repairs at the LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans campus due to Hurricane Katrina which made landfall August 29, 2005.

Fire Whirl Evolution Observed During A Valley Wind-Sea Breeze Reversal, Daisuke Seto, Craig B. Clements

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

This observational study documented the atmospheric environment of a prescribed fire conducted in a narrow valley when a small fire whirl developed during a mesoscale wind reversal. Based on analysis of in situ meteorological measurements, it is hypothesized that the fire whirl formed due to the presence of strong vertical wind shear caused by the interaction of a sea breeze front with a weaker up-valley wind. Vorticity generated by the interaction of the wind shear and the fire front was estimated to be ~0.2 s−1. Peak turbulence kinetic energy was caused by the wind shear rather than the buoyancy generated …

A Financial Impact Assessment Of Ld 1725: Stream Crossings (Presentation), New England Environmental Finance Center, Muskie School Of Public Service

Water

This report looks at the potential financial impact of LD 1725 on the estimated 30,000 stream crossings in the State of Maine that would be affected by the law. Our research for this report included the analysis of nearly 2000 stream crossings and the data collection necessary for the development of extensive stream crossing replacement cost models. We found that the 1.2 bankfull requirements in LD 1725 would result in a 75% ‐ 250% increase in structure widths for stream crossing projects across the state. An upsize of this magnitude would increase the cost of replacing stream crossings statewide by …

A Financial Impact Assessment Of Ld 1725: Stream Crossings Presentation, New England Environmental Finance Center

Economics and Finance

This report looks at the potential financial impact of LD 1725 on the estimated 30,000 stream crossings in the State of Maine that would be affected by the law. Our research for this report included the analysis of nearly 2000 stream crossings and the data collection necessary for the development of extensive stream crossing replacement cost models. We found that the 1.2 bankfull requirements in LD 1725 would result in a 75% ‐ 250% increase in structure widths for stream crossing projects across the state. An upsize of this magnitude would increase the cost of replacing stream crossings statewide by …

Farmer Perceptions Of Sustainable Agriculture Practices And Drought Risk Reduction In Nebraska, Usa, Cody L. Knutson, Tonya Haigh, Michael J. Hayes, Melissa Widhalm, J. Nothwehr, M. Kleinschmidt, L. Graf

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Social factors, such as farming methods, have an impact on farm vulnerability to drought, but have received little research or policy attention. Some researchers and advocates have argued that sustainable agriculture systems are less vulnerable to climate risk than conventional systems because sustainable agriculture requires producers to have skills promoting adaptability. In this paper, we investigate producers’ perceptions on the use of sustainable agriculture in reducing drought risk, and what they believe would help them better adapt to drought. We surveyed and interviewed farmer members of two sustainable agriculture organizations in Nebraska, USA, during a multi-year drought period from 1999 …

The Global Drought Monitor Portal, Michael J. Brewer, Richard R. Heim Jr.

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought monitoring, assessment, response, mitigation, adaptation, and early warning systems have been created in a number of countries around the world, and some regional and continental efforts have been successful. However, the creation of a Global Drought Early Warning System (GDEWS) remains elusive. A GDEWS incorporates forecasting and research improvements, in addition to monitoring, impact, planning, mitigation and adaptation and recovery information. At a series of workshops in 2010, the U.S. National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) agreed to take the first step toward a GDEWS, the formation of a Global Drought Monitoring Portal (GDMP). This effort currently covers three …

Colorado's Large Snow Events' Impact On Tree Ring Growth And Dillon Reservoir, Katrina Leona Marzetta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Meteorological observations from 1894 through 2010 suggest that 17 historically large snow events occurred in the mountains of Colorado within Denver's water supply region. Of these 16 events, 14 can be identified in precipitation sensitive tree ring records as positive climatic pointer years. If these storms were to occur today, they would have the potential to fill reservoirs in Denver Water's supply system, even after years of sustained drought. These "drought busters" have the potential to refill Dillon Reservoir by increasing average yearly inflow up to 146% of the previous year's inflow. Such drought busters can help Denver recover from …

State Of The Climate In 2010, Jessica Blunden, Derek S. Arndt, Molly O. Baringer

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Several large-scale climate patterns influenced climate conditions and weather patterns across the globe during 2010. The transition from a warm El Niño phase at the beginning of the year to a cool La Niña phase by July contributed to many notable events, ranging from record wetness across much of Australia to historically low Eastern Pacific basin and near-record high North Atlantic basin hurricane activity. The remaining five main hurricane basins experienced below- to well-below-normal tropical cyclone activity. The negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation was a major driver of Northern Hemisphere temperature patterns during 2009/10 winter and again in late …

Droughtscape, Winter 2011, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Register for the U.S. Drought Monitor Forum

La Niña Brings Southeast, Southwest Drought

International Efforts

Drought Returns in 2010

Impacts Emerge “Before” Summer Drought in East

October-December Quarterly Impacts Summary

Climate Adaptation for Local Government

NDMC Elicits Missouri River Basin Recollections

Woudenberg Coordinates Educational Booklet

Influence Of Karst Landscape On Planetary Boundary Layer Atmosphere: A Weather Research And Forecasting (Wrf) Model–Based Investigation, Ronnie Leeper, Rezaul Mamood, Arturo I. Quintanar

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Karst hydrology provides a unique set of surface and subsurface hydrological components that affect soil moisture variability. Over karst topography, surface moisture moves rapidly below ground via sink holes, vertical shafts, and sinking streams, reducing surface runoff and moisture infiltration into the soil. In addition, subsurface cave blockage or rapid snowmelt over karst can lead to surface flooding. Moreover, regions dominated by karst may exhibit either drier or wetter soils when compared to nonkarst landscape. However, because of the lack of both observational soil moisture datasets to initialize simulations and regional land surface models (LSMs) that include explicit karst hydrological …

Engineering Our Climate: A Critical Review Of The Geoengineering Response To Climate Change, Gary Huff

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Various responses to greenhouse gas induced climate change have been proposed within the literature. While the most desirable response is to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, technological and financial obstacles make it difficult to realize the reductions necessary to solve the climate change problem. Several geoengineering schemes have been proposed that would compensate for increased greenhouse gas concentrations by reducing the solar energy absorbed by Earth. The most notable of these shortwave climate engineering schemes involves injection of sulfur aerosols into the stratosphere in order to disperse incoming radiation. This paper examines the geoengineering responses to climate change and demonstrates …

Reconstructing Sea Level Using Cyclostationary Empirical Orthogonal Functions, B. D. Hamlington, R. R. Leben, R. S. Nerem, W. Han, K.-Y. Kim

CCPO Publications

Cyclostationary empirical orthogonal functions, derived from satellite altimetry, are combined with historical sea level measurements from tide gauges to reconstruct sea level fields from 1950 through 2009. Previous sea level reconstructions have utilized empirical orthogonal functions as basis functions, but by using cyclostationary empirical orthogonal functions and by addressing other aspects of the reconstruction procedure, an alternative sea level reconstruction can be computed. The procedure introduced here is capable of capturing the annual cycle and El Nio-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) signals back to 1950, with correlations between the reconstructed ENSO signal and common ENSO indices found to be over 0.9. The …

Review Of The Simulation Of The Precis Regional Climate Model Over Tropical South America Using Gcm And Reanalysis Lateral Boundary Conditions, Dana Mcglone

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

High-resolution regional climate models (RCM) run over a limited domain are increasingly used to simulate seasonal to interannual climate variability over South America and to assess the spatiotemporal impact of future climate change under a variety of emission scenarios. Global climate models (GCM) are often too coarse to resolve local circulations and the topography of the Andes, leading to problems with simulation of temperature and precipitation patterns throughout the domain. A RCM model can also better represent the climate at a regional scale; however, they are subject to errors introduced by the driving global models. For this study, the Hadley …

Biogeographic Consequences Of Historic And Contemporary Climate Change In Boreal Forest Birds, Joel Ralston

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this dissertation, I combine ecological niche models (ENMs), which can be extrapolated through time to predict historic and future changes in species distributions, with mitochondrial and nuclear genetic markers to study the biogeographic consequences of historic and contemporary climate change on boreal forest birds, and in particular Blackpoll Warbler.