Climate Impacts Group

New resources support tribes in preparing for climate change

As the natural world responds to climate change, American Indian tribes across the country are grappling with how to plan for a future that balances inevitable change with protecting the resources vital to their cultural traditions. The Climate Impacts Group and regional tribal partners have developed a collection of resources that may be useful to tribes at any stage in the process of evaluating their vulnerability to climate change. The resources, mainly online, include a climate tool that provides interactive summaries of projected climate change on annual precipitation, stream temperatures, growing season, fire danger and other variables. 

Upcoming Workshop: Managing Western WA Wildfire Risk in a Changing Climate

The Puget Sound Climate Preparedness Collaborative, Tulalip Tribes, University of Washington Climate Impacts Group and the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center are hosting a workshop, Managing Western Washington Wildfire Risk in a Changing Climate, on December 3rd, 2018, in Tulalip, WA.

Recent smoke events in western Washington, driven by large wildfires across the Northwest, British Columbia and California, have raised concerns among western Washington communities about climate change and the impacts of more wildfire in the region. How will climate change affect the potential for wildfire west of the Cascades and what can western Washington communities do to address that risk? 

Join Our Team! The Climate Impacts Group Seeks Deputy Director

 *We are still accepting applications.*

The Climate Impacts Group is seeking a full-time Deputy Director to support and advance our innovations in connecting science and practice to increase climate resilience.

The Deputy Director will play a leading role in and have oversight responsibilities for the Climate Impacts Group’s climate research and stakeholder engagement efforts, including internal operations (research coordination, fiscal planning and oversight, project management, employee supervision and strategic planning) and externally-facing activities (building and maintaining external relationships with diverse stakeholders and collaborators, grant-writing and public and private fund-raising, public speaking). The Deputy Director will lead and participate in applied interdisciplinary climate impacts and adaptation research. 

A New Tool for Farmers in a Changing Climate

In partnership with The Nature Conservancy, we have produced a new mapping tool that allows farmers to see modeled results of flood risk in Snohomish County during the 1980s, 2050s and 2080s. The mapped information is now available as a publicly available web app through the Coastal Resilience website. This simple tool lets farmers easily view the maps that interest them via a combination of the flood factors. You can also access the technical report by the Climate Impacts Group describing the flood modeling process. 

Q & A: HOW WILL SNOHOMISH FARMS ENDURE CLIMATE CHANGE?

The Snohomish Conservation District recently partnered with the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group and The Nature Conservancy to model and map various historic and future flood scenarios across the Snohomish and Stillaguamish watersheds. How will these data be used and why are they important? Read a great interview with Cindy Dittbrenner, Natural Resource Program Manager for the Snohomish Conservation District, about why these data and the project’s webmap are so important for farmers in Snohomish County. 

Art-Science Collaboration to Communicate the Impacts of Sea Level Rise

CIG researcher, Heidi Roop, has teamed up with local artist, Anna McKee, and UW glaciologist, Peter Neff, to create an art installation about the regional impacts of sea level rise for the 2018 Surge exhibition at the Museum of Northwest Art. The installation, called Evidence Wall, is a series of “maps” that explores the unique relationship between ice sheet decline in West Antarctica and rising sea levels in the Pacific Northwest.

CIG researcher, Guillaume Mauger, also served as an advisor to artists participating in this year’s Surge exhibit, through his participation in a art-science residency at PLAYA in July, 2018. 

New look for the NW Climate Adaptation Science Center website

The Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (NW CASC) recently launched a new website! The new site offers improved navigation and usability and more dedicated space for highlighting NW CASC’s science, research fellows and partners. Check out their new look and learn more about their work increasing climate resilience around the Northwest: https://nwcasc.uw.edu/

New Chapter for Climate Impacts Group Research Scientist Se-Yeun Lee

After more than five years as a Research Scientist with the Climate Impacts Group, Se-Yeun Lee is leaving to start a new chapter as a full-time instructor at Seattle University.

During her time at Climate Impacts Group, Se-Yeun has been involved in interdisciplinary research focusing on understanding and modeling the complex interactions between climate, hydrology and natural resource management. With a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington, research interests in climate change impacts on hydrology, and a drive to work directly with managers and decision-makers, Se-Yeun’s work has greatly contributed to our mission of advancing understanding of climate risks and building regional climate resilience.  

Upcoming Washington Wildfire Smoke & Health Symposium

Please join us on October 30, 2018 for the Wildfire Smoke Risk Communication Stakeholder Symposium. Hosted by the University of Washington ColLABorative on Extreme Event Resilience, Program on Climate Change, and Climate Impacts Group, the symposium aims to bring together the University of Washington climate and health research community with local, state, tribal, and federal practitioners working on wildfire smoke and health issues in Washington State.

The symposium will convene regional stakeholders to share lessons learned from the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons, and to foster academic-practice partnerships to address existing challenges related to wildfire smoke and health in Washington State. 

New Report Released on the Disproportionate Impacts of Climate Change Facing Communities in Washington State

The Climate Impacts Group, in collaboration with the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Urban@UW and Front and Center, has just release a new report that explores who is at risk in Washington state from climate impacts, and why. This report strives to clarify how communities of color, indigenous peoples and communities with lower incomes may be exposed differently to climate-related hazards in Washington state and how factors like race/ethnicity, wealth, income, level of education and health status affect the ability to cope with climate impacts, or related harm.