CAMBRIDGE, MD (April 3, 2017)—If you’ve noticed that when it rains these days, it really pours—you’re right. The Chesapeake region receives about 4.5 inches more of rain per year than it did a century ago. This is what climate change looks like.
Scientists Victoria Coles and Raleigh Hood of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science have spent the past two years working to help the public visualize how much climate in the Chesapeake Bay region has changed during their lifetimes. They examined 114 years of data and found clear evidence that physical climate changes are well underway and species and habitats are responding those changes.
They measured extremes and variability in particular—how much of a month’s rainfall was really extreme versus light rain, how many warm nights were there, what was the coldest temperature in a month—because it resonates well in people’s memories.
The group then made graphics to help visualize the data and shared it with community members. The research team hopes the project will help individuals understand how the climate is changing and how they have a responsibility to help the environment.
“Organisms and people feel weather; they don’t really feel climate,” said Victoria Coles. “Climate dictates what your annual average fuel bill is maybe, but it’s the weather events that you’re actually experiencing and those weather events are changing. Those are things that people notice.”
How much it rains matters because nutrient management strategies are dependent on the intensity of rainfall. If it comes in large events, storm water management system upgrades may be critical. If it’s coming in light or moderate events, rain gardens could be useful. Not being prepared could be environmentally and financially costly.
In addition to more extreme rain events, the researchers found that there are 30 more warm summer nights per year now than 100 years ago (the number of days in a year where the minimum temperature does not go below 68°F). The length of the growing season has increased by more than 30 days over the last century. The number of frost days per year has dropped by more than 30.
Longer summers could increase someone’s exposure to harmful human pathogens that naturally occur in the Bay. Higher temperatures could kill off underwater grasses that act as key nursery areas for crabs and young fish. Shifts in the timing of spring and fall could impact wildlife that rely on environmental cues to know when to migrate.
“Let’s face it, addressing climate change ultimately has to happen at the individual level. We all are going to have to reduce our emissions. We all need to understand that we have to go to alternative energy sources,” Hood said. “That’s why it’s important to show how our weather and climate extremes are changing right here in our communities, we want people to understand that their own lives are impacted by changing climate.”
The project has been a collaborative research effort between the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the National Estuarine Research Reserves (a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Chesapeake Environmental Communications, and NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, which also funded the effort.
Find out more at http://www.chesapeakedata.com/
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science leads the way toward better management of Maryland’s natural resources and the protection and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. From a network of laboratories located across the state, UMCES scientists provide sound advice to help state and national leaders manage the environment, and prepare future scientists to meet the global challenges of the 21st century. www.umces.edu
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