EVEN Professor Ben Livneh recently co-authored a chapter in the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) which summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future, Chapter 22: Northern Great Plains.
NCA4: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States consolidates key messages and supporting evidence from the findings of the various national-level, regional, and societal response strategies chapters. It addresses communities, economy, health, water and actions to reduce the risks of disasters caused by a warming climate. The impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country. More frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events, as well as changes in average climate conditions, are expected to continue to damage infrastructure, ecosystems, and social systems that provide essential benefits to communities. If no action is taken, rising temperatures, sea level rise, and extreme events are expected to increasingly disrupt and damage critical infrastructure and property, labor productivity, and the vitality of our communities. Future risks from climate change depend primarily on decisions made today.
Chapter 22: Northern Great Plains focuses on the states of Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. It goes into detail about precipitation and how it affects flooding, agriculture, energy, recreation and tourism. In the Northern Great Plains, the timing and quantity of both precipitation and runoff have important consequences for water supplies, agricultural activities, and energy production. Changes in amount and magnitude of extreme events are likely to overwhelm average changes in both the eastern and western regions of the Northern Great Plains. Major flooding across the basin in 2011 was followed by severe drought in 2012, representing new and unprecedented variability that is likely to become more common in a warmer world. To read more about the report and its chapters click the links below.
Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States