January 2018 Newsletter
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New Flood Risk Identified By FIU Researcher

South Florida raises groundwater levels to fight salt water intrusion, the threat of flooding from within will only increase, according to FIU research. Current groundwater levels in South Florida are a major contributor to inland flood damages, especially during the wet season or extreme rain events. Traditional flood models account for drainage systems, rivers, streams and canals but do not account for the groundwater beneath our feet. FIU hydrologist Michael Sukop has released a model that focuses on South Florida's groundwater as a cause of flooding.

Natural Climate Patterns Create Hot Spots of Rapid Sea Level Rise

Arnoldo Valle-Levinson and Andrea Dutton (UF) have published an article in The Conversation describing an "x-factor" in coast flooding: natural climate patterns that create hot spots of rapid sea level rise. In a study they co-authored with colleague Jon Martin (UF), they showed that two converging natural climate processes created a "hot spot" from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to Miami where sea levels rose six times faster than the global average between 2011 and 2015. They also showed that such hot spots have occurred at other points along the Eastern Seaboard over the past century. Now they see indications that one is developing in Texas and Louisiana, where it likely amplified flooding during Harvey - and could make future coastal storms more damaging.

Award-Winning Journalist Cynthia Barnett Joins UF's Bob Graham Center

Cynthia Barnett is an environmental journalist who has covered water and climate stories worldwide, from the decline in Florida's signature springs, to epic drought in California and Australia, to the rainiest place on Earth in Cherrapunji, India. Barnett's appointment at UF is shared with UF's College of Journalism and Communications, where she is Environmental Journalist in Residence and oversees student environmental reporting projects such as award-winning Blue Ether and the recent series Energy Burden.

FSU Researcher Receives National Geographic Grant

Stephanie Pau (FSU) has been awarded a National Geographic grant for her research on tropical forest phenology and climate change by the organization's Committee for Research and Exploration. Phenology, often referred to as "nature's calendar," is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events, such as the timing of plant bud bursts or bird migrations, and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors, such as elevation.

Available Now! A New Book from the FCI: Florida's Climate: Changes, Variations, & Impacts

A new book published by the Florida Climate Institute focuses on Florida's climate, changing sea levels, the impacts of these changes, and how our societal and natural systems may adapt to anticipated changes. Florida's Climate: Changes, Variations, & Impacts provides a thorough review of the current state of research on Florida's climate, including physical climate benchmarks; climate prediction, projection, and attribution; and the impacts of climate and climate change on the people and natural resources in the state.

The book is available for purchase in paperback and Kindle format at Amazon.com. Individual chapters may be accessed on the FCI website.
Honors / Awards / Projects

Ryan Moyer (FWC) is PI on a new project titled "Assessment of Plant Biomass and Ecosystem Service Loss in Southwest Florida Coastal Wetlands Affected by Hurricane Irma." He received a $75,000 grant for the project from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
Additional News


Infographic: Extreme Weather ( NASEM - Jan 2018)

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article190076179.html#storylink=cpy

Florida Could Be Close to a Real Estate Reckoning ( Insurance Journal - Jan 2, 2018)

Funding Opportunities
Job Opportunities

Resilience Programs Manager City of Miami, FL | Open until Filled

Postdoctoral Associate - Range Cattle Research Center and Archbold Biological Station University of Florida | Gainesville, FL | Open until Filled

Energy Specialist - Florida State University Cenergistic | Tallahassee, FL | Open until Filled

Assistant Professor - Global Change Agroecology University of Florida | Gainesville, FL | Apply by Jan 20, 2018, for Full Consideration

Sustainability Water, Energy and Projects Coordinator City of West Palm Beach, FL | Open until Filled

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Events
  



    
Publications
FCI affiliates and/or authors from FCI member universities are in bold.
 
Abbas, G., Ahmad, S., Ahmad, A., ... Boote, K. J., & Hoogenboom, G. (2017). Quantification the impacts of climate change and crop management on phenology of maize-based cropping system in Punjab, Pakistan. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 247, 42-55.
 
Archer, M. R., Shay, L. K., & Johns, W. E. (2017). The Surface Velocity Structure of the Florida Current in a Jet Coordinate Frame. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 122(11), 9189-9208.
 
David, R. B., & Tobin, G. A. (2017). Understanding water policy sustainability: A case study in San Francisco and San Jose California. Environmental Science & Policy, 78, 167-172.
 
Fares, A., Bayabil, H. K., Zekri, M., Mattos-Jr, D., & Awal, R. (2017). Potential climate change impacts on citrus water requirement across major producing areas in the world. J Water Climate Change, 8(4), 576-592.
 
Hinson, A. L., Feagin, R. A., Eriksson, M., Najjar, R. G., Herrmann, M., Bianchi, T. S., ... Hutchings, J. A., et al. (2017). The spatial distribution of soil organic carbon in tidal wetland soils of the continental United States. Glob Change Biol, 23(12), 5468-5480.
 
Jones, I. M., & Koptur, S. (2017). Dead land walking: the value of continued conservation efforts in South Florida's imperiled pine rocklands. Biodivers Conserv, 26(14), 3241-3253.
 
Kamenkovich, I., Haza, A., Gray, A. R., Dufour, C. O., & Garraffo, Z. (2017). Observing System Simulation Experiments for an array of autonomous biogeochemical profiling floats in the Southern Ocean. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 122(9), 7595-7611.
 
 
Kuras, E. R., Richardson, M. B., Calkins, M. M., ... Uejio, C. K., et al. (2017). Opportunities and Challenges for Personal Heat Exposure Research. Environmental Health Perspectives, 125(8).
 
Langston, A. K., Kaplan, D. A., & Putz, F. E. (2017). A casualty of climate change? Loss of freshwater forest islands on Florida's Gulf Coast. Glob Change Biol, 23(12), 5383-5397.
 
Larson, S. M., Kirtman, B. P., & Vimont, D. J. (2017). A Framework to Decompose Wind-Driven Biases in Climate Models Applied to CCSM/CESM in the Eastern Pacific. J. Climate, 30(21), 8763-8782.
 
Lewis, L. R., Ickert-Bond, S. M., Biersma, E. M., ... & McDaniel, S. F. (2017). Future directions and priorities for Arctic bryophyte research. Arctic Science, 3(3), 475-497.
 
Liang, X., Spall, M., & Wunsch, C. (2017). Global Ocean Vertical Velocity From a Dynamically Consistent Ocean State Estimate. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 122(10), 8208-8224.
 
Liu, B., Asseng, S., Wang, A., Wang, S., Tang, L., Cao, W., et al. (2017). Modelling the effects of post-heading heat stress on biomass growth of winter wheat. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 247, 476-490.
 
Long, X., & Robinson, W. A. (2017). Dynamical Heating of the Arctic Atmosphere during the Springtime Transition. J. Climate, 30(23), 9539-9553.
 
Ma, S., Jiang, J., Huang, Y., Shi, Z., Wilson, R. M., Ricciuto, D., et al. (2017). Data-Constrained Projections of Methane Fluxes in a Northern Minnesota Peatland in Response to Elevated CO2 and Warming. J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci., 122(11), 2841-2861.
 
 
 
Otto-Bliesner, B. L., Braconnot, P., Harrison, S. P., ... Dutton, A., et al. (2017). The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 - Part 2: Two interglacials, scientific objective and experimental design for Holocene and Last Interglacial simulations. Geosci. Model Dev., 10(11), 3979-4003.
 
Pau, S., Okamoto, D. K., Calderon, O., & Wright, S. J. (2017). Long-term increases in tropical flowering activity across growth forms in response to rising CO2 and climate change. Global Change Biology, early view.
 
Potter, H., Drennan, W. M., & Graber, H. C. (2017). Upper ocean cooling and air-sea fluxes under typhoons: A case study. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 122(9), 7237-7252.
 
Qu, B., Aho, K. S., Li, C., Kang, S., Sillanpää, M., Yan, F., et al. (2017). Greenhouse gases emissions in rivers of the Tibetan Plateau. Sci Rep, 7(1).
 
Radabaugh, K. R., Moyer, R. P., Chappel, A. R., Powell, C. E., Bociu, I., Clark, B. C., & Smoak, J. M. (2017). Coastal blue carbon assessment of mangroves, salt marshes, and salt barrens in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. Estuaries and Coast, , 1-15.
 
Reina Ortiz, M., Le, N. K., Sharma, V., Hoare, I., ... Naik, E., ... & Izurieta, R. (2017). Post-earthquake Zika virus surge: Disaster and public health threat amid climatic conduciveness. Sci Rep, 7(1).
 
Scheiner, S. M., Barfield, M., & Holt, R. D. (2017). The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XV. Genetic assimilation, the Baldwin effect, and evolutionary rescue. Ecol Evol, 7(21), 8788-8803.
 
Schettini, C. A. F., Valle-Levinson, A., & Truccolo, E. C. (2017). Circulation and transport in short, low-inflow estuaries under anthropogenic stresses. Regional Studies in Marine Science, 10, 52-64.
 
Sealy, K. S., & Strobl, E. (2017). A hurricane loss risk assessment of coastal properties in the caribbean: Evidence from the Bahamas. Ocean & Coastal Management, 149, 42-51.
 
Soden, B., & Chung, E. - S. (2017). The Large-Scale Dynamical Response of Clouds to Aerosol Forcing. J. Climate, 30(21), 8783-8794.
 
Sukop, M. C., Rogers, M., Guannel, G., Infanti, J. M., & Hagemann, K. (2018). High temporal resolution modeling of the impact of rain, tides, and sea level rise on water table flooding in the Arch Creek basin, Miami-Dade County Florida USA. Science of The Total Environment, 616-617, 1668-1688.
 
Sun, Z., Lotz, T., & Chang, N. - B. (2017). Assessing the long-term effects of land use changes on runoff patterns and food production in a large lake watershed with policy implications. Journal of Environmental Management, 204, 92-101.
 
Tompkins, A. M., Ortiz De Zárate, M. I., Saurral, R. I., ... Kirtman, B., et al. (2017). The Climate-System Historical Forecast Project: Providing Open Access to Seasonal Forecast Ensembles from Centers around the Globe. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 98(11), 2293-2301.
 
Towle, E. K., Palacio-Castro, A. M., Baker, A. C., & Langdon, C. (2017). Source location and food availability determine the growth response of Orbicella faveolata to climate change stressors. Regional Studies in Marine Science, 10, 107-115.
 
Uscinski, J. E., & Olivella, S. (2017). The conditional effect of conspiracy thinking on attitudes toward climate change. Research & Politics, 4(4).
 
Wall, C. B., Mason, R. A. B., Ellis, W. R., Cunning, R., & Gates, R. D. (2017). Elevated pCO(2) affects tissue biomass composition, but not calcification, in a reef coral under two light regimes. R. Soc. Open Sci., 4(11), 170683.
 
Wang, C., Wang, X., Weisberg, R. H., & Black, M. L. (2017). Variability of tropical cyclone rapid intensification in the North Atlantic and its relationship with climate variations. Clim Dyn, 49(11-12), 3627-3645.
 
Wang, R., Fu, Y., Xian, T., Chen, F., Yuan, R., Li, R., & Liu, G. (2017). Evaluation of Atmospheric Precipitable Water Characteristics and Trends in Mainland China from 1995 to 2012. J. Climate, 30(21), 8673-8688.
 
Williams, D. E., Miller, M. W., Bright, A. J., Pausch, R. E., & Valdivia, A. (2017). Thermal stress exposure, bleaching response, and mortality in the threatened coral Acropora palmata. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 124(1), 189-197.
 
Zhang, M., Chen, X., Kumar, M., Marani, M., & Goralczyk, M. (2017). Hurricanes and tropical storms: A necessary evil to ensure water supply? Hydrological Processes, 31(24), 4414-4428.
 
 

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The Florida Climate Institute (FCI) is a multi-disciplinary network of national and international research and public organizations, scientists, and individuals concerned with achieving a better understanding of climate variability and change.  

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