As promised, here is the first of forty questions from the Georgia Climate Project Roadmap. This one is from the Weather and Climate section. To mix them up, I won’t be listing them all in order, but choosing from a different section each week to give you a feeling for the variety of questions we discussed.
For each question, GCP lists some reasons why we think this is an important question to understand. Responsible managers plan for their future, and to do that well, you need to know what to expect, both in the average conditions and in the potential for extremes. For references, check the publication at https://roadmap.georgiaclimateproject.org/.
1. What short-, mid-, and long-term climate impact scenarios should Georgia be planning for?
Why this question is important: The impacts of future climate change on Georgia are likely to be diverse. Climate models project increases in the future frequency and/or magnitude of hazards (Melillo et al. 2014; Walsh et al. 2014) and downscaling from global models can provide crucial information at regional levels (Hay et al. 2002; Trail et al. 2013). To support effective planning and efficient investments, research is needed to quantify the most likely levels of impact and their upper and lower extremes for particular regions within the State. At the same time, planning horizons must consider that climate change impacts will accumulate through time, requiring the optimization of near-term investments to mitigate near-term risks (e.g., for a 10-yr time horizon) while recognizing the need for adaptability of longer-term investments to mitigate longer term (e.g., for a 50-yr time horizon) climate change-related risks.
