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April 20, 2020
Find out more about the briefings in this series below:
During EESI’s Climate Data Adaptation Week we highlighted a few of the innovative ways climate data is being used to build climate resilience along the nation’s coasts. Decision-makers at all levels are working to integrate new climate data into existing systems, obtain localized data to inform community-level decisions, integrate social science data into resiliency planning, and more. It is clear that access to useable climate data will continue to be critical for the development of coastal resilience to climate impacts.
On Monday, April 13, Dr. Ian Miller and Nicole Faghin of Washington Sea Grant discussed localizing sea level rise projections for decision-makers. After noticing a gap between the importance of sea-level rise information to coastal managers and the resources available to respond to the problem, the Washington Sea Grant, along with a host of partners in the region, developed localized sea-level rise projections for the coast of Washington state. These new projections not only factored in changes in ocean conditions but also land movement, which is different across the region. According to Dr. Miller, projected uplift versus subsidence determines sea level rise at the community level. For example, Neah Bay and Seattle are only about 60 miles apart, but since the land is rising in Neah Bay, observed sea level there has been declining, whereas the subsidence of land in Seattle has caused a rise in observed sea level. Localized sea level data gives decision-makers the specific information they need to plan for their community’s needs.
Tuesday’s briefing, Assessing National Park Asset Flood Risk: Retreat, Adapt, Fortify?, featured Dr. Rob Young of Western Carolina University’s Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines. While describing his work assessing the vulnerability of infrastructure in coastal national parks to climate impacts, Dr. Young emphasized that data is only useful if it can be integrated with the existing systems that managers use. In the case of the National Park Service, managers have existing databases of information on their infrastructure assets. Dr. Young’s project takes those databases and populates them with data from the vulnerability assessments so that new data can inform decision-making without the need for additional analysis. For data to be useful, it must be easy to access and translate into action. This approach can be replicated for other institutions and municipalities and has already been used by Dr. Young and his team for the coastal town of Duck, North Carolina.
During Wednesday’s briefing, Dr. Marcy Rockman of the ICOMOS-IPCC Climate Change and Heritage Working Group and Co-Equal discussed cultural heritage and climate change. Dr. Rockman highlighted three ways archaeological data can be used to inform responses to climate change. First, archaeological records show how societies have sustainably managed resources. Dr. Rockman shared the example of a community in Iceland that has sustainably managed wildlife resources since the region’s first settlement in the tenth century, which could serve as a model for modern societies trying to develop systems that are sustainable in the long term. Second, researchers have been able to trace the development of economic and labor conditions in Lowell, Massachusetts, that detail the history of the industrial processes that have caused climate change, thereby informing our understanding of the roots of this global challenge. Finally, the National Historic Preservation Act, which regulates the designation of historic places in the United States, includes a set of criteria for determining historic places. This list could serve as a protocol for guiding decisions on which locations are most important to preserve and protect in conjunction with an analysis of anticipated climate impacts.
On Thursday, Dr. Amy Snover, of the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group and Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, shared her perspectives on bridging the gap between science and decision-making. Drawing on the Climate Impacts Group’s work with tribes in the Northwest, Dr. Snover emphasized the need to co-create knowledge with groups impacted by climate change to generate the data and support they want and need. Prior to the CIG’s collaboration with tribes, climate change projections were only available for temperature and precipitation change on reservations in Washington state. CGI’s collaboration with a tribal advisory board led to the creation of a database that now includes changes to wildlife, water availability, and wildfires at the watershed, county, traditional territory, and ceded land levels. CIG also recognized that information alone is not enough, so they established the Tribal Technical Support Desk to provide technical assistance to tribes using climate data in resilience planning.
The series concluded on Friday, April 17, with Mary Austerman’s presentation, Weather and Social Data to Inform Participatory Planning Initiatives. Austerman works for the New York Sea Grant in the Great Lakes Region where she has led a vulnerability assessment with Sodus Point, New York. The assessment used data from multiple sources including a close collaboration with the National Weather Service. To communicate this data and integrate it with perspectives from the community, Sea Grant coordinated a visioning workshop with community leaders and planners to identify and assess community features that have been affected by floods, assess how the community will be impacted by future floods, and develop steps forward to improve resilience. As a part of the workshop, participants developed resilience actions such as a communications strategy and a Coastal Erosion Hazard Area designation system. These strategies were actually put into action in 2019 when the community experienced its most recent prolonged flood event. This process highlights the need to involve communities in the planning process and to customize strategies to meet community needs.
Looking across the briefing series, what emerges is a clear message: Data is critical to understanding the changing world around us. Yet while data and well-designed databases are necessary, they are insufficient. For data to really be understood and integrated into daily decision-making, it must be meshed with existing management processes, technical support must be easily accessible when decision-makers hit roadblocks, and the data must match the needs communities identify for themselves. When all these pieces line up, as they have in a number of programs described above, the results can be transformative.
To learn more about how data is informing climate adaptation actions across the coastal United States, check out the full briefings and the briefing highlight notes.
Author: Abby Neal
Advancing science-based climate solutions
Top-Rated Climate Nonprofit – 4-Star Charity