May 15, 2003
Lecturers to discuss global climate impacts
How global climate may change in the future and how that may alter how we live in the Pacific Northwest are the subjects of lectures the next two Tuesdays that are free and open to the public.
In the final University of Washington Science Forum lecture of the year, atmospheric sciences professor Dennis Hartmann will present “The Science of Global Warming: How will Climate Change in the Future?” May 20, 7 p.m., in Kane Hall 130, and in the annul lecture sponsored by the UW Program on Climate Change, research scientist Nate Mantua will discuss, “Global Changes, Local Impacts: Consequences of natural and human-caused climate change for life in the Pacific Northwest,” May 27, 7 p.m., 120 Kane.
Climate changes have been relatively small the past 8,000 years but now changes to the atmosphere and land surfaces are causing the temperature to increase and may lead to mean temperatures on Earth that are warmer than at any time in the past million years, says the Science Forum flier about Hartmann’s lecture. He will review the evidence for global warming, focusing particularly on the key scientific issues that need to be resolved to reduce the uncertainty in projections of future climates and the role of humans in triggering these changes.
Both Hartmann and Mantua will discuss the most likely scenario for climate change in the Pacific Northwest and what that variability could mean for the people living here.
The 1998-99 world-record 100 feet of snowfall on Mount Baker and the North Cascades, followed a few short years later by the severe drought of 2001 serve as dramatic reminders that our climate has the potential for surprising behavior, Mantua says.
He will present examples of how climate has affected salmon, evergreen forests, mountain snow pack and river runoff showing the climate sensitivities and vulnerabilities to economically and ecologically important natural systems in the region. Most of Mantua’s research focuses on the water cycle and marine ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest, and how climate information is or isn’t being used in resource management decisions.
This is the second annual lecture sponsored by the Program on Climate Change. Launched last year to take better advantage of some of the nation’s best research and teaching on climate, the program’s goal (see http://depts.washington.edu/uwpcc/) is to coordinate research and undergraduate and graduate teaching among units that conduct research in wide ranging subjects that include atmospheric chemistry, carbon cycling, oceanography, sea ice, hydrology and paleoclimate.
Through the Program on Climate Change, faculty can receive support to develop new interdisciplinary courses on climate change that will then become part of various departmental curricula.
