Climate Change and Extreme Events

Description

Climate Change and Extreme Events uses a multidisciplinary approach to discuss the relationship between climate change-related weather extremes and their impact on human lives. Topics discussed are grouped into four major sections: weather parameters, hydrological responses, mitigation and adaptation, and governance and policies, with each addressed with regard to past, present and future perspectives. Sections give an overview of weather parameters and hydrological responses, presenting current knowledge and a future outlook on air and stream temperatures, precipitation, storms and hurricanes, flooding, and ecosystem responses to these extremes. Other sections cover extreme weather events and discuss the role of the state in policymaking. This book provides a valuable interdisciplinary resource to climate scientists and meteorologists, environmental researchers, and social scientists interested in extreme weather. Front Matter Copyright Contributors Extreme events and climate change: A multidisciplinary approach Introduction Overview of the chapters Weather parameters Hydrological responses Mitigation, adaptation, and governance References Temperature extremes in a changing climate Background Temperature change Impacts of extremely hot temperatures Temperature extreme analysis and projection Metrics and indices Observational analysis Temperature projection Global climate models Energy balance models (the 1950s) Radiative convective models (the 1960s to 1970s) General circulation models/Global climate models (the 1970s to 1980s) Earth system models (starting from the 1990s) Regional climate models Integrated assessment models Ensemble modeling Coupled model intercomparison project phase five Coupled model intercomparison project phase six Weighted and unweighted ensemble simulation Downscaling techniques Statistical downscaling Dynamical downscaling Mitigation and adaptation strategies Overview of mitigation and adaptation strategies Strategy evaluation Summary and conclusions References Climate change and extreme river temperature Introduction What are river thermal extremes? Thermal processes affected by climate change Past and current trends and shifts in observations River thermal modeling and scenarios at global, regional, and local scales Future work Conclusions References Severe convective storms in a changing climate Observations and trends Environments SCSs and climate change Convection-permitting dynamical downscaling Drivers of interannual variability Future research Forecasting of SCS events Climate change and SCS References Response of terrestrial net primary productivity to precipitation extremes: Patterns, mechanisms, and uncertai ... Introduction Changes to precipitation extremes Precipitation extremes and the carbon cycle Defining an extreme climate event Patterns and mechanisms of net primary productivity responses to PPT extremes Interannual timescales Patterns of NPP sensitivity to interannual precipitation across ecosystems Dynamics of within-ecosystem NPP responses to PPT extremes Intraannual timescales Intra and interannual interactions Uncertainties and pathways forward Uncertainties Characteristics of precipitation extremes Plant community dynamics and change Recovery dynamics Interaction with other climatic and global change drivers Pathways forward Cross-site distributed experiments Improving ecosystem models with ecological experiments Summary References Flood early warning systems under changing climate and extreme events Introduction FWS concept and methodology Gauge network hardware and software Remote sensing precipitation measurement methods Hydrologic and hydraulic modeling Flood monitoring system Radar-based FWSs National water model Iowa flood information system Texas Medical Center-Rice University flood alert system Data-driven FWS Communications Challenges and future of FWSs Summary and conclusions References Lifeline infrastructures and hydroclimate extremes climate: A future outlook Introduction Organization of the chapter Quantifying risk from extreme events Analyzing extremes Generalized extreme value distribution Estimation of return levels Precipitation extremes volatility index Trend analysis Spatiotemporal variability in volatility Network perspective on critical infrastructure Mitigation analysis on Mumbai and Indian Railway Networks Gathering network data Visualizing and analyzing networks Robustness and recovery characteristics Conclusion Acknowledgment References Form, function, and nomenclature: Deconstructing green infrastructure and its role in a changing climate Introduction Systematic review Characteristics of green infrastructure Literature review Green infrastructure functions Air pollution abatement Temperature regulation Carbon reduction and sequestration Stormwater management Biodiversity and pollinator support Building energy efficiency Green infrastructure benefits Economic benefits Health benefits Green infrastructure nomenclature Conclusions References Further reading Adaptation to climate extremes and sea level rise in coastal cities of developing countries Introduction Typologies of coastal adaptation to climate change Methodology Climate risks in coastal cities of developing countries Adaptation response to climate extremes and SLR Protection measures Accommodation measures Managed retreat Discussions Conclusions Appendix: List of case studies and documents used as a primary data source References Multilevel governance in climate change adaptation: Conceptual clarification and future outlook Introduction Multilevel governance-Conceptual clarification Evolution of the concept Inclusiveness of MLG The boundary of MLG Approaches of MLG MLG concept in climate adaptation Research trends in climate adaptation using MLG and future outlook Theme I: Structure and process of MLG Theme II: Power interplay in MLG Theme III: Barriers to adaptation in MLG Conclusion References Is the local fulfilling its promise as the agent and site of global climate change governance? The status of ... Introduction and background US climate change policy and politics The national level: Politics over policy The state level: Some policy and fewer politics The local level: Policy and some politics Data and methods Data Methods The status of CAPs The spatial distribution of CAPs Why localities take on climate mitigation? Progress of GHG CAPs The nature of CAPS GHG emissions reduction Discussion and conclusion References The risk of the electrical power grid due to natural hazards and recovery challenge following disasters and r ... The electrical power grid is a critical infrastructure: What can happen, and how can it fail? The vulnerability of CIs and hazards to which they are exposed Climate change potential additional stress on the CI: The flood case Risk assessment and complexity: Limitations and development Assessing flood and outage risk based on past events Resilience definition, quantification, and concept Resilience to damage of CIs fights power system outages Emergency response and system recovery Emergency system failure rates for Hurricane Katrina and the Fukushima nuclear events Enhancing power grid ``resilience´´ Managing the response and improving the systems: What next? References Further reading Index A B C D E F G H I K L M N P R S T U W