Time and Date:Â The meeting will be held Wednesday, August 15, 2012 from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Place: This meeting will be a conference call. Public access will be available at the office of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Conference Room A, Suite 250, 1717 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20006. Please check the National Climate Assessment Web site for additional information at http://www.globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment
Status:Â The meeting will be open to public participation with a 10-minute public comment period from 4:45-4:55 p.m. The NCADAC expects that public statements presented at its meetings will not be repetitive of previously submitted verbal or written statements. In general, each individual or group making a verbal presentation will be limited to a total time of two minutes. Written comments should be received in the NCADAC Designated Federal Officials (DFO) office by Friday, August 10, 2012, to provide sufficient time for NCADAC review. Written comments received by the NCADAC DFO after Friday, August 10, 2012, will be distributed to the NCADAC, but may not be reviewed prior to the meeting date.
Special Accommodations:Â These meetings are physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for special accommodations may be directed no later than 12 p.m. on Friday, August 10, 2012, to Dr. Cynthia Decker, SAB Executive Director, SSMC3, Room 11230, 1315 East-West Hwy., Silver Spring, MD 20910.
For Further Information Contact: Dr. Cynthia Decker, Designated Federal Official, National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee, NOAA OAR, R/SAB, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910. (Phone: 301–734–1156, Fax: 301–713–1459, Email: Cynthia.Decker@noaa.gov.
Supplementary Information: The National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee was established in December 2010. The committee's mission is to synthesize and summarize the science and information pertaining to current and future impacts of climate change upon the United States; and to provide advice and recommendations toward the development of an ongoing, sustainable national assessment of global change impacts and adaptation and mitigation strategies for the Nation. Within the scope of its mission, the committee's specific objective is to produce a National Climate Assessment.
The USGCRP is looking to fill a student intern position supporting the Adaptation Science Workgroup and the Annual Report to Congress, Our Changing Planet
Student Intern
This position provides an excellent opportunity to learn about ongoing Federal climate change activities, specifically those related to climate change adaptation. Additionally, the student assistant will gain knowledge in federal policies, interagency cooperation, and Congressional reporting mechanisms.
In this role, the incumbent will utilize their experience in the intersection of climate change science and adaptation to (1) support the coordination of interagency planning efforts for the Adaptation Science function by assisting the Inform Decisions Lead with the Adaptation Science Workgroup and related activities; and (2) provide logistical and organizational support for the development of USGCRP’s Annual Report to Congress, Our Changing Planet for Fiscal Year 2014 (OCP FY14).
Apply here. Applications due by Friday, August 10, 2012
A large fracture is visible in a lake bed on the Greenland Ice Sheet after it drained the lake's entire liquid contents. Credit: Joughin/UW Polar Science Center. High resolution image
Featured on NASA.gov, a member of the U.S. Global Change Research Program
“For several days this month, Greenland's surface ice cover melted over a larger area than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations. Nearly the entire ice cover of Greenland, from its thin, low-lying coastal edges to its 2-mile-thick center, experienced some degree of melting at its surface, according to measurements from three independent satellites analyzed by NASA and university scientists.
On average in the summer, about half of the surface of Greenland's ice sheet naturally melts. At high elevations, most of that melt water quickly refreezes in place. Near the coast, some of the melt water is retained by the ice sheet and the rest is lost to the ocean. But this year the extent of ice melting at or near the surface jumped dramatically. According to satellite data, an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface thawed at some point in mid-July.†Read more
Developing and Testing Potential Indicators for the National Climate Assessment
On July 2nd, 2012 NASA announced a new funding opportunity in ROSES 2012 (Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences) pertaining to the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s (USGCRP) National Climate Assessment (NCA). This ROSES element solicits contributions to enhance the use of NASA’s observation and modeling products in future NCAs by encouraging the developing and testing of potential indicators that address the needs expressed in the NCA indicators vision.
The NCA operates under the auspices of the Global Change Research Act of 1990, acting as a generator of status reports on climate change science and impacts. These reports are based on observations made across the country, and compare these observations to predictions from climate system models. The assessments also analyze current patterns in global change and project major trends for the subsequent 25 to 100 years.
NASA supported research on potential indicators will contribute to the NCA’s effort to develop a robust indicator system that informs decisions related to impacts, adaptation, vulnerability, and mitigation associated with climate and global change. NASA is requesting that Notices of Intent be submitted by August 3, 2012. Official proposals are due on October 5, 2012.
For more information on this research opportunity please visit the NASA’s ROSES website and view appendix A.47.
Featured on USGS, a member of the U.S. Global Change Research Program
“Rates of sea level rise are increasing three-to-four times faster along portions of the U.S. Atlantic Coast than globally, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey report published in Nature Climate Change. Since about 1990, sea-level rise in the 600-mile stretch of coastal zone from Cape Hatteras, N.C. to north of Boston, Mass. -- coined a "hotspot" by scientists -- has increased 2 - 3.7 millimeters per year; the global increase over the same period was 0.6 – 1.0 millimeter per year.
Based on data and analyses included in the report, if global temperatures continue to rise, rates of sea level rise in this area are expected to continue increasing. The report shows that the sea-level rise hotspot is consistent with the slowing of Atlantic Ocean circulation. Models show this change in circulation may be tied to changes in water temperature, salinity and density in the subpolar north Atlantic.†Read More
