Ask Dr. Global Change

Regional Impacts

Where can I learn about permafrost and climate change?

Last updated 01 January 2006
Originally answered 28 February 2001

Full Question

Where can I learn about permafrost and climate change?

Answer

The best starting point is Chapter 6 (Cryosphere and Hydrology) [PDF] of the the 1042-page scientific report of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, published in November 2005. See especially section 6 of Chapter 6, as it specifically focuses on permafrost.

Other sources of information:

• Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.  Report by Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Chapter 16 of the report is on Polar Regions (Arctic and Antarctic) and includes a section on permafrost.
• The Alaska portion of the US National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change.
• Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts
• The National Snow and Ice Data Center

Impacts of climate change on agriculture in Taiwan

Last updated 28 October 2002
Originally answered 28 October 2002

Full Question

What may be the impacts of climate change on agriculture in Taiwan?

Answer

Here are some resources for you to learn about the potential impacts of climate change on agricultural production in Taiwan:

Check your library for databases such as AGRICOLA, BioAgIndex, etc. They will lead you to whatever peer-reviewed research is available in the literature. For example, I found this article by searching for “climate change AND Taiwan” in BioAgIndex:

Chang, Ching-Cheng. The potential impact of climate change on Taiwan’s agriculture. Agricultural Economics v. 27 no1 (May 2002) p. 51-64.

Searching Google for search words like “taiwan climate change agriculture” or “east asia global warming agriculture impacts” leads to a host of relevant sites. Among them are:

Global Change Research Center (GCRC) at the National Taiwan University
http://www.gcc.ntu.edu.tw/2002GCRC/English.htm (check links under “current activities")

The government of Taiwan has issued a report called “Green Vitality: Taiwan’s Sustainable Development”.
http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/eco/eco3.htm

The Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency has a “Climate Change Taiwan” website at http://sd.erl.itri.org.tw/fccc/en/

Climate Change and Rice
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rbmatthews/rbm_cc1.htm

Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica in Taiwan
http://botany.sinica.edu.tw/personnel/419.html

How might climate change affect flooding, especially in North Carolina?

Last updated 18 April 2000
Originally answered 18 April 2000

Full Question

How might climate change affect flooding, especially in North Carolina?

Answer

The USGS, Water Resources of North Carolina.
http://nc.water.usgs.gov/
They have historic streamflow data if you’re planning to do your own statistical analysis. A new addition to the site, is Flooding in Eastern NC. This site is still under construction but you may find some useful resources or contacts.

The US EPA Global Warming site has information on the potential impact of climate change on coastal zones, and on each state.
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/impacts

Floods As Usual. Academic Press.
http://www.apnet.com/inscight/12091997/grapha.htm
A news report covering a research talk from the 1997 fall AGU (American Geophysical Union) meeting. Researchers from the USGS presented data supporting the view that recent flooding was not an abnormal climate pattern. This should be a good lead for finding some published papers about this research.

The National Climatic Data Center.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/climate/globalwarming.html

Global Warming and Changes in Flood Potential.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/rcsg/wflooding/gwcfp.html