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93 results
Fort Monroe, Virginia: Freedom’s Fortress at Risk from Higher Seas and Heavier Rains
Fort Monroe, a national monument in Virginia with significant history regarding the beginning and end of slavery in North America, is highly vulnerable to climate change. Water levels near the fort have risen nearly 1.5 feet since the 1920s, and projections suggest coastal waters could rise up to six feet by the end of the century. The site faces increased frequency and severity of flooding from storm surges and heavy rainfall, as evidenced by significant damage from Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Current protections, such as a seawall built by the Army Corps of Engineers, are based on historic rather than projected rates of sea level rise, leaving the site at risk of further inundation and sewage leaks into Chesapeake Bay.
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Document type: Case study
Climate information and services in BRACED countries
The document examines climate information services in BRACED countries, noting that while access is increasing, end-users struggle with data quality, inappropriate spatial scales, and poor communication. It details regional weather drivers like the ITCZ in Africa and the monsoon in Asia, and argues for a service-oriented approach that integrates localized, two-way communication into resilience programming to improve decision-making at the community level.
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Document type: Research paper
southeast-brazil-drought-2014-2015
The study investigates the 2014/15 drought in southeast Brazil, specifically focusing on the impacts in São Paulo. Using a multi-method approach including historical observations and climate model simulations, the researchers found limited evidence that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions increased the hydrometeorological hazard. Instead, the severe impacts on water supply were primarily attributed to rapid population growth and increased water consumption.
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Document type: Research paper
Dengue Fever in the Belize District
The study identifies a positive association between dengue fever occurrence in the Belize District and both precipitation and minimum temperature. Projections for the 2050s suggest a general warming trend with an increase in the frequency of days where minimum temperatures exceed 18°C, which may increase DF occurrence. Conversely, a projected increase in days where maximum temperatures exceed 32°C may create less favourable conditions for the disease. The report emphasizes that non-climate factors, including changes in health reporting structures and socio-economic drivers, also influence DF trends.
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Document type: Case study
Ethiopia drought 2015
The 2015 drought in north and central Ethiopia was an extremely rare event, estimated to occur once every few hundred years in the current climate. Analysis by World Weather Attribution indicates that a strong El Niño enhanced the drought, making it significantly drier during the Kiremt season. However, the study found no conclusive evidence that human-induced climate change influenced the event, as results from various climate models were inconsistent and spanned a range from the drought being less likely to more likely. Despite the severity of the event, which affected nearly 10 million people and caused significant crop and livestock losses, the impact was lower than droughts in 1973 and 1984, suggesting improved national resilience.
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Document type: Research paper
An Integrated Assessment of Water, Energy, and Climate Change in Sacramento, California: How Strong is the Nexus?
The study utilizes integrated basin-scale models to analyze the water-energy-climate nexus in Sacramento, California. It finds that hot dry years, characterized by a 4C temperature increase and 25% precipitation decrease, would lead to a more than 35% increase in regional electricity imports due to constrained local power production.
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Document type: Research paper
ACCESSING AND USING CLIMATE DATA AND INFORMATION IN FRAGILE, DATA-POOR STATES
The report addresses the critical shortage of local climate data in fragile states, where conflict and weak governance often destroy meteorological infrastructure. It categorizes climate information into historical, current, and prospective data, and provides a directory of satellite-based alternatives and international forecasting centers. The document argues that integrating these data into different humanitarian planning horizons—from immediate relief to long-term strategic planning—is essential for sustainable peacebuilding. It concludes by outlining priorities for rebuilding national meteorological services, using examples from Haiti and Sierra Leone.
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Document type: Report
Technical appendix for the report Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region: Impacts on Our Communities and Ecosystems
The document outlines the use of HadCM3 and Parallel Climate Model (PCM) data, combined with IPCC 2000 emission scenarios and a century of historical records, to project climate changes in the Great Lakes region. The analysis indicates greater temperature increases, especially in summer, and general drying during summer and fall compared to previous assessments.
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Document type: Report
Economic Impact Assessment of Climate Change for Key Risks in Nepal
The study finds that current climate variability already costs Nepal 1.5–2% of its annual GDP, with future climate change projected to add another 2–3% of current GDP per year by mid-century. The most significant drivers of these costs are water-induced disasters, particularly floods. Sectoral analysis indicates that while agriculture faces net losses of approximately 0.8% of current GDP per year by the 2070s, the hydroelectricity sector faces high uncertainty, with projections ranging from increased investment costs of US$2.6 billion due to decreased dry season flows to potential savings of US$170 million if flows increase. To address these risks, the study recommends an iterative adaptation pathway, estimating a need for US$2.4 billion in additional investment by 2030 to mainstream resilience.
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Document type: Briefing
Economic Impact Assessment of Climate Change for Key Risks in Nepal
The study finds that current climate variability already costs Nepal 1.5–2% of its annual GDP, with future climate change projected to add another 2–3% of current GDP per year by mid-century. Key risks include significant agricultural losses in the Terai region, highly uncertain impacts on hydroelectricity investment costs depending on river flow projections, and a 20–100% increase in the intensity and frequency of high river flows. To address these, the report recommends an iterative adaptation pathway, estimating a need for US$2.4 billion in additional investment by 2030 to mainstream resilience.
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Document type: Executive summary
Hydrological response to climate change for Gilgel Abay River in the Lake Tana Basin Upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia
Using the Statistical Downscaling Tool (SDSM) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), the study projects that while the Gilgel Abay River may experience a decrease in precipitation and flow volume between 2010 and 2040, these trends are expected to reverse with significant increases by 2070-2100. Overall, climate change is projected to increase annual flow volume, potentially benefiting small-scale irrigation and dam projects, though low flow conditions are expected to remain largely unaffected.
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Document type: Research paper
Infrastructure and climate change: impacts and adaptations for the Zambezi River Valley
The study estimates that Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia face a potential US$596 million cost to maintain and repair road infrastructure due to climate-driven temperature and precipitation changes by 2050.
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Document type: Research paper
CLIMATE ADAPTATION & TRANSPORTATION Identifying Information and Assistance Needs
The report identifies a critical gap between climate science outputs and the operational needs of transportation practitioners. It argues that adaptation requires not only improved climate data—such as updated precipitation atlases and sea-level rise projections—but also a deep understanding of local non-climate factors like infrastructure elevation and soil saturation. The document emphasizes the need for a 'central clearinghouse' of information, better 'Climate-to-English' translation of scientific terms, and the integration of climate risk into existing asset management and budgeting processes. It highlights various pilot projects and tools, including the FHWA Risk Assessment Model and Toronto's Climate Change Risk Assessment Tool, as pathways toward increasing the adaptive capacity of transportation systems.
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Document type: Report
Tree rings point to drought as trigger of social conflict
Analysis of Polylepis tarapacana tree rings in the Bolivian Altiplano reveals a severe drought between 1316 and 1371 that coincided with the abandonment of vulnerable valley villages in favor of fortified hilltop sites (Pukaras). This evidence supports the hypothesis that water scarcity for consumption and irrigation led to social conflict. The document further notes that contemporary warming, glacier shrinkage, and increasing demands from mining, agriculture, and population growth are heightening the risk of future water shortages and political-economic conflict in the region.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Sensitivity Analysis of Climate Variability and Civil War
The paper challenges the finding that warming is robustly linked to civil war in Sub-Saharan Africa by replicating and testing the model used by Burke et al. (2009). Through influence diagnostics, alternative operationalizations of civil war, and expanded sample periods, the authors find that the reported positive effect of temperature is tenuous and often disappears. The analysis suggests that the original results were driven by a few influential observations involving foreign intervention and that climate variables provide negligible predictive power compared to country-specific fixed effects and time trends.
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Document type: Research paper
Decision support system (DSS) for risk reduction in agriculture phase II: soybean DSS for Eastern Paraguay and Rio Grande do Sul (SGP-HD014)
The project introduced soybean producers in eastern Paraguay and southern Brazil to seasonal climate forecasts and a crop growth model to evaluate adaptive management options, such as varying planting dates and soybean varieties, under different El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) scenarios. To ensure the delivery of trustable, science-based information, the project collaborated with local cooperatives, three of which funded weather stations. The resulting decision support tools for yield and climate risks were adapted for Paraguay and planned for Rio Grande do Sul, utilizing a probabilistic approach to climate forecasts and a web-based information system.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Second year report of the project CRN-2094 The Impact of Land Cover and Land Use Changes on the Hydroclimate of the La Plata Basin
The report details progress in modeling land-atmosphere interactions in the La Plata Basin, specifically testing the use of Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs) to better represent interannual vegetation variability. It describes the development of a South American Land Data Assimilation System (SALDAS) and the evaluation of various atmospheric reanalyses for precipitation accuracy. Additionally, the document covers efforts to estimate evapotranspiration using MODIS data, the potential remote effects of Amazonian deforestation on the basin, and the implementation of an agricultural decision support system in Paraguay.
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Document type: Report
Adapting to Future Weather Insights from Saskatchewan Agricultural Producers
The document examines the experiences of farmers in southern Saskatchewan, specifically in the rural municipalities of Pense, Redburn, Benson, and Estevan. It details the impacts of extreme weather events since the mid-1990s, such as droughts and floods, and outlines the short-term and long-term strategies producers use to mitigate losses, including insurance and zero-till farming.
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Document type: Fact sheet
At-a-glance guide to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report findings on physical science
The document outlines the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report's findings on the physical science of climate change, emphasizing that global warming is primarily caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas increases. It details observed changes in surface temperatures, the water cycle, sea levels, and ocean acidification, while noting that many climate impacts will persist for centuries even if greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilized.
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Document type: Guide
Drought Assessment & Projection for the Eastern Caribbean Using the CARiDRO Tool
The study uses the CARiDRO tool and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) to analyze the 2009-2010 drought in the Eastern Caribbean and project future risks. It finds that the 2009-2010 event was a 1 in 40 years occurrence, but future droughts are projected to be more frequent, with an average recurrence of 1 in 5 years. The report suggests that the area affected by drought will increase after the middle of the 21st century, necessitating improved planning in water management and agriculture.
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Document type: Case study