An apparent slow-down, or “hiatus”, in global warming has led some to question the human influence on climate. Records show that the average rate of global warming during the 15 years from 1998 to 2012 is markedly lower than was the average rate over the latter half of the 20thcentury. Likely reasons for the apparent…
Month: February 2014
CIRC Featured Researcher Denise Lach
CIRC is co-led by OSU Professor Denise Lach, director of the School of Public Policy. Lach has worked on the sociology of environmental and natural resources management, effectiveness of data visualization, and sociological dimensions of climate change impacts and adaptation. She earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in sociology from University of Oregon, and also served…
Calculating Trends in Flood Risks and Water Stress
Changes in climate do not occur independently. Rather, they occur alongside changes in population, technology, patterns of development, and other factors. Yet most studies of future climate-change impacts ignore the interactions of these various trends. For example, the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) scenarios, which are widely used by researchers at OCCRI, CIRC and many other…
Wetlands Act as Powerful Carbon Sinks
Wetlands in the Pacific Northwest are recognized for providing a variety of ecosystem services ranging from fisheries production to mitigation of flood risk. Now, a new report suggests that estuaries play an important role in managing greenhouse gas emissions. The report, prepared for Restore America’s Estuaries, estimates that wetland losses due to historic land-use changes…
The Climate CIRCulator 