1 / 15

Climate Impacts on the Pacific Northwest

Climate Impacts on the Pacific Northwest. The Science of Global Warming:. Eric Salath₫ Climate Impacts Group (JISAO/SMA) University of Washington. The Greenhouse Effect ”. Is Our Climate Changing? The Pacific Northwest. 113 stations with long records Almost every station shows warming

hayden-sellers
Download Presentation

Climate Impacts on the Pacific Northwest

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Climate Impacts on the Pacific Northwest The Science of Global Warming: • Eric Salath₫ • Climate Impacts Group (JISAO/SMA)University of Washington

  2. The Greenhouse Effect”

  3. Is Our Climate Changing?The Pacific Northwest • 113 stations with long records • Almost every station shows warming • Urbanization not a major source of warming 100-year Temperature Trends warmingcooling

  4. 1,000 Years of Climate Change

  5. 150 Years of Climate Change

  6. Humans are altering the atmosphere • from a very long term perspective, these changes are enormous • carbon dioxide concentration has increased by ~30% since 1750’s

  7. Whodunit? Human Climate Influence Natural Climate Influence All Climate Influences From IPCC Working Group I

  8. Will Warming Continue?

  9. Future Climate Change • Climate is changing, and humans are partly responsible. • Average surface temperature will probably increase by 3 to 11°F (1.5-6.0°C) by the year 2100. • Other climate changes are likely to accompany this warming (precipitation, storm tracks). • These changes will have both positive and negative consequences.

  10. What Might Climate Change Look Like in the Northwest? • We looked at 7 scenarios of future climate from climate models • Averages of 7 scenarios, compared to 20th century: • 2F warmer by 2020s • 4F warmer by 2050s • Slightly wetter • Winters wetter • Summers ???

  11. The Main Impact: Less Snow April 1 Columbia Basin Snow Extent

  12. Impacts of Hydrologic Changes Less snow, earlier melt means • More water in winter • Less water in summer • Flooding • Irrigation • Salmon • Hydropower • Municipal water Natural Columbia River flow at the Dalles, OR.

  13. Are We Prepared for a Changing Climate? Natural resource management presently assumes Climate does not change But what if it does?

  14. Becoming Climatewise • Use climate information Requires on-going dialogue between decision-makers, climate scientists, and the general public • Create centralized & adaptable management strategies • Learn from the past

  15. Conclusions • Climate change likely to significantly affect the pacific northwest • Main impact: reduction in snowcap, summer streamflow • Will exacerbate existing stresses in many cases • Need to retool institutions and government agencies to respond to climate information and to plan for a changed climate • Consider climate a component of any long-term plan

More Related