scholarly journals Impact to Coral Reef Populations at Hā‘ena and Pila‘a, Kaua‘i, Following a Record 2018 Freshwater Flood Event

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ku’ulei S. Rodgers ◽  
Matthew P. Stefanak ◽  
Anita O. Tsang ◽  
Justin J. Han ◽  
Andrew T. Graham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Northern Coast ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Storm Effects ◽  
Strategic Design ◽  
Low Salinity ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Aquatic Resource ◽  
Before And After

Many corals and reef-dwelling organisms are susceptible to the impacts of storm events, which are typically characterized by large inputs of freshwater, sediment, and nutrients. The majority of storm effects are focused on shallow, nearshore reef flats, as low salinity and sedimentation tend to dissipate with depth and distance from shore. In April 2018, record rainfall on the northern coast of Kaua‘i caused extensive flooding and landslides, introducing large amounts of freshwater and sediment into nearshore reefs. Using benthic and fish transects from 2016–2019 and temperature, sediment, and rainfall data gathered pre- and post-flood, this study aimed to quantify and explicate the effects of flooding on the various biotic populations of two reef habitats at Pila‘a and Hā‘ena, Kaua‘i. Results from the shallow Pila‘a reef suggest sediment and freshwater-associated declines in mean urchin abundance (−52.0%) and increases in mean coral bleaching (+54.5%) at the flood-prone eastern sector. Additionally, decreases in mean urchin (−65.7%) and fish (−42.3%) populations were observed at shallow Hā‘ena transects, but not deep sites, supporting the occurrence of depth-specific affliction. Multivariate community-level analyses affirmed much of these results, showing a significant shift in community structure before and after the flood at both Pila‘a and Hā‘ena. The outcomes of this study are pertinent to strategic design and solution development by local aquatic resource managers, especially as anthropogenic climate change continues to increase the frequency, duration, and intensity of storm events.

scholarly journals Importance of Protection Service Against Erosion and Storm Events Provided by Coastal Ecosystems Under Climate Change Scenarios

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacinto Cunha ◽  
Fábio Santos Cardona ◽  
Ana Bio ◽  
Sandra Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Northern Coast ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Property Damage ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Coastal Habitats ◽  
Trade Offs

Increasing sea level rise (SLR), and frequency and intensity of storms, paired with degrading ecosystems, are exposing coastal areas to higher risks of damage by storm events. Coastal natural habitats, such as dunes or saltmarshes, can reduce exposure of coastlines to these events and help to reduce the impacts and the potential damage to coastal property. The goal of our study was to evaluate the current vulnerability of the Portuguese northern coast to erosion and flooding caused by extreme events and to assess the contribution of natural habitats in reducing both vulnerability and property damages considering SLR scenarios. The Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) Coastal Vulnerability model was used to produce an Exposure Index (EI) for the northern Portuguese coastline, for the current situation, and for future International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5, considering the presence and absence of coastal habitats. Results showed an increase in exposure with rising sea levels and expansion of high vulnerability areas. Coastal habitats contributed to a 28% reduction of high exposed segments for the Current scenario, corresponding to a potential reduction of coastal property damage of 105 M€ during extreme events. For the SLR scenarios, coastal habitats could potentially reduce the amount of property damage by 190 M€ in 2050 and 285 M€ in 2100, considering RCP8.5 projections. This study highlighted the importance of natural habitats in protecting vulnerable coastlines and reducing the potential damages to properties from flooding. Such results can be incorporated in management plans and support decision-making toward implementing an ecosystem-based approach to increase the resilience of coastal communities to cope with future environmental changes.

scholarly journals Responses of invasive silver and bighead carp to a carbon dioxide barrier in outdoor ponds

2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron R. Cupp ◽  
Richard A. Erickson ◽  
Kim T. Fredricks ◽  
Nicholas M. Swyers ◽  
Tyson W. Hatton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Silver Carp ◽  
Fish Passage ◽  
Bighead Carp ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Hypophthalmichthys Molitrix ◽  
Dissolved Carbon ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Before And After

Resource managers need effective methods to prevent the movement of silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) from the Mississippi River basin into the Laurentian Great Lakes. In this study, we evaluated dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) as a barrier and deterrent to silver (278 ± 30.5 mm) and bighead (212 ± 7.7 mm) carp movement in continuous-flow outdoor ponds. As a barrier, CO2 significantly reduced upstream movement but was not 100% effective at blocking fish passage. As a deterrent, we observed a significant shift away from areas of high CO2 relative to normal movement before and after injection. Carbon dioxide concentrations varied across the pond during injection and reached maximum concentrations of 74.5 ± 1.9 mg·L–1 CO2; 29 532 – 41 393 μatm (1 atm = 101.325 kPa) at the site of injection during three independent trials. We conclude that CO2 altered silver and bighead carp movement in outdoor ponds and recommend further research to determine barrier effectiveness during field applications.

Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities: Did This Principle Ever Exist?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Armin Rosencranz ◽  
Kanika Jamwal
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Clean Development Mechanism ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Historical Responsibility ◽  
Common But Differentiated Responsibilities ◽  
Self Differentiation

This article argues that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)’s conception of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDRRC) was never effectively implemented through the Kyoto Protocol. The investments under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism suggest that CBDRRC has been used by developed countries to buy a “right to pollute”, i.e., maintaining or even increasing their greenhouse gas emissions, while investing in clean energy in developing nations, thus defeating the essence of CBDRRC as intended under the UNFCCC. Second, it points out that the Paris Agreement reflects a significant shift in the CBDRRC, both in terms of its textual understanding as well as its implementation. A qualifier, “in the light of national circumstances”, was added to the principle of CBDRRC in the Paris Agreement, allowing a form of voluntary self-differentiation. This qualifier diluted a top-down, objective analysis of States’ commitments. For several scholars, this shift has meant a softening of the principle, making the “differentiation” more dynamic and flexible. In the authors’ opinion, the qualifier is a fundamental modification of the principle to make it politically more palatable. It completely disregards the notion of historical responsibility for climate change, which was the cornerstone of CBDRRC as conceived under the UNFCCC. Therefore, rather than presenting a more flexible understanding of UNFCCC’s conception of CBDRRC, the Paris Agreement marks a total departure from it. Lacking an explicit redefinition of the principle of CBDRRC, it is misleading to contend that the Paris Agreement is still anchored in it.

scholarly journals Thirty-Nine-Year Wave Hindcast, Storm Activity, and Probability Analysis of Storm Waves in the Kara Sea, Russia

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 648
Author(s):  
Stanislav Myslenkov ◽  
Vladimir Platonov ◽  
Alexander Kislov ◽  
Ksenia Silvestrova ◽  
Igor Medvedev
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Pareto Distribution ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Wind Waves ◽  
Kara Sea ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Storm Activity ◽  
Significant Linear Trend ◽  
The Impact

The recurrence of extreme wind waves in the Kara Sea strongly influences the Arctic climate change. The period 2000–2010 is characterized by significant climate warming, a reduction of the sea ice in the Arctic. The main motivation of this research to assess the impact of climate change on storm activity over the past 39 years in the Kara Sea. The paper presents the analysis of wave climate and storm activity in the Kara Sea based on the results of numerical modeling. A wave model WAVEWATCH III is used to reconstruct wind wave fields for the period from 1979 to 2017. The maximum significant wave height (SWH) for the whole period amounts to 9.9 m. The average long-term SWH for the ice-free period does not exceed 1.3 m. A significant linear trend shows an increase in the storm wave frequency for the period from 1979 to 2017. It is shown that trends in the storm activity of the Kara Sea are primarily regulated by the ice. Analysis of the extreme storm events showed that the Pareto distribution is in the best agreement with the data. However, the extreme events with an SWH more than 6‒7 m deviate from the Pareto distribution.

scholarly journals Impact Assessment Analysis of Sea Level Rise in Denmark: A Case Study of Falster Island, Guldborgsund

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7503
Author(s):  
Alexander Boest-Petersen ◽  
Piotr Michalak ◽  
Jamal Jokar Arsanjani
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Projection Data ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Cascading Effects ◽  
Local Levels

Anthropogenically-induced climate change is expected to be the contributing cause of sea level rise and severe storm events in the immediate future. While Danish authorities have downscaled the future oscillation of sea level rise across Danish coast lines in order to empower the coastal municipalities, there is a need to project the local cascading effects on different sectors. Using geospatial analysis and climate change projection data, we developed a proposed workflow to analyze the impacts of sea level rise in the coastal municipalities of Guldborgsund, located in Southeastern Denmark as a case study. With current estimates of sea level rise and storm surge events, the island of Falster can expect to have up to 19% of its landmass inundated, with approximately 39% of the population experiencing sea level rise directly. Developing an analytical workflow can allow stakeholders to understand the extent of expected sea level rise and consider alternative methods of prevention at the national and local levels. The proposed approach along with the choice of data and open source tools can empower other communities at risk of sea level rise to plan their adaptation.

scholarly journals Co-developing Indigenous seasonal calendars to support ‘healthy Country, healthy people’ outcomes

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 26-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Woodward ◽  
Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart
Keyword(s):  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Healthy People ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Indigenous Australians ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Aquatic Resource ◽  
Observational Practice

In caring for Country, Indigenous Australians draw on laws, knowledge and customs that have been inherited from ancestors and ancestral beings, to ensure the continued health of lands and seas with which they have a traditional attachment or relationship. This is a reciprocal relationship, whereby land is understood to become wild/sick if not managed by its people, and in turn individuals and communities suffer without a maintained connection to Country. It is well understood by Indigenous people that if you ‘look after country, country will look after you’. Indigenous knowledge systems that underpin the local care (including use and management) of Country are both unique and complex. These knowledge systems have been built through strong observational, practice-based methods that continue to be enacted and tested, and have sustained consecutive generations by adapting continually, if incrementally, to the local context over time. This paper describes a research partnership that involved the sharing and teaching of Ngan’gi Aboriginal ecological knowledge in order to reveal and promote the complex attachment of Ngan’gi language speakers of the Daly River, Australia, to water places. This engagement further led to the incremental co-development of an Indigenous seasonal calendar of aquatic resource use. The seasonal calendar emerged as an effective tool for supporting healthy Country, healthy people outcomes. It did this by facilitating the communication of resource management knowledge and connection with water-dependent ecosystems both inter-generationally within the Ngan’gi language group, as well as externally to non-Indigenous government water resource managers. The Indigenous seasonal calendar form has subsequently emerged as a tool Indigenous language groups are independently engaging with to document and communicate their own knowledge and understanding of Country, to build recognition and respect for their knowledge, and to make it accessible to future generations.

scholarly journals The Realization of Extreme Tornadic Storm Events under Future Anthropogenic Climate Change

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (14) ◽  
pp. 5251-5265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Trapp ◽  
Kimberly A. Hoogewind
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Convective Available Potential Energy ◽  
Wrf Model ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽  
Basic Question ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Atmospheric State ◽  
Convection Initiation

Abstract This research seeks to answer the basic question of how current-day extreme tornadic storm events might be realized under future anthropogenic climate change. The pseudo global warming (PGW) methodology was adapted for this purpose. Three contributions to the CMIP5 archive were used to obtain the mean 3D atmospheric state simulated during May 1990–99 and May 2090–99. The climate change differences (or Δs) in temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and winds were added to NWP analyses of three high-end tornadic storm events, and this modified atmospheric state was then used for initial and boundary conditions for real-data WRF Model simulations of the events at high resolution. Comparison of an ensemble of these simulations with control simulations (CTRL) facilitated assessment of PGW effects. In contrast to the robust development of supercellular convection in each CTRL, the combined effects of increased convective inhibition (CIN) and decreased parcel lifting under PGW led to a failure of convection initiation in many of the experiments. Those experiments that had sufficient matching between the CIN and lifting tended to generate stronger convective updrafts than CTRL, although not in proportion to the projected higher levels of convective available potential energy (CAPE) under PGW. In addition, the experiments with enhanced updrafts also tended to have enhanced vertical rotation. In fact, such supercellular convection was even found in simulations that were driven with PGW-reduced environmental wind shear. Notably, the PGW modifications did not induce a change in the convective morphology in any of the PGW experiments with significant convective storminess.

Identifying threshold storm events and quantifying potential impacts of climate change on sediment yield in a small upland agricultural watershed of Ontario

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 920-931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narayan Kumar Shrestha ◽  
Nabil Allataifeh ◽  
Ramesh Rudra ◽  
Prasad Daggupati ◽  
Pradeep K. Goel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Agricultural Watershed ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

scholarly journals Influencing Attitudes and Preferences Toward Climate Change using a Multi-Player, Transportation Themed Board Game

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Xiaoyi Kjorven
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Board Game ◽  
Life Choices ◽  
Board Games ◽  
Effective Combination ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Game Board

Traditional tabletop board games have soared in popularity in recent years, and used often as tools for education and entertainment. Board games are an especially engaging format for studying themes of collective-action problem solving. This study looks at one of the most complex collective-action problems of this generation, climate change, and evaluates how individual attitudes and preferences may be altered by playing a board game specifically designed to influence how people relate to an issue. The board game Wheels was introduced and taught to 18 participants, who engaged in five separate playtesting sessions where observation, survey and interview data were collected. The study evaluates participants' attitudes and preferences toward certain transportation and climate change topics before and after playing the game. The game showed promise in changing players' preferences toward certain modes of transportation - increasing preferences toward electric vehicles and cycling, and decreasing preference towards gas powered cars. These findings indicate that the effective combination of select climate change game mechanics in a highly personalized theme may produce an engaging and entertaining experience that has the potential to transcend the game board and impact players' outlook upon real life choices.

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