EEM Professorial Lecturer Dr. Rachael Jonassen presented the keynote address at an Environmental and Water Resources Institute Symposium in Sacramento, California on March 7, 2013. The symposium focused on challenges for realigning regulations so water managers can respond to climate change. Prof. Jonassen's presentation was entitled "Managing for Uncertainty: The New Reality in Contemporary Climate Change Adaptations for the Water Industry."
A copy of the Symposium brochure, prominently featuring Prof. Jonassen, can be seen at the following link: EWRI Climate Change Symposium Brochure.
Prof. Jonassen also recently completed a study for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on better integration of NOAA climate services with the needs of the U.S. national security community. The study identifies six major challenges and recommends actions to address each. These include clarifying the distinctions between climate variability and climate change; developing climate change predictions endorsed by the federal government; increasing support to the national security community for use of NOAA climate products; ensuring secure data access to provide better use of climate data; sustaining cooperation in multiple sectors; and addressing two emerging areas. In this latter, she identified a major weakness in forecasts of future tidal range and suggested ways to improve mobility planning in Arctic areas.
The report, "Climate: Opportunities for Improving Engagement Between NOAA and the US National Security Community,” can be seen at the following link: Climate Change Opportunities Report.
Prof. Jonassen also recently has been appointed to a new NATO Modeling and Simulation Task Group to lead work on Climate Change and Humanitarian Assistance. The objective of this effort is to develop new tools in a field called ‘data farming’ to understand how climate change will affect future support efforts for humanitarian crises, such as that in Somalia.
Initial efforts in this work are reported in “Data Farming and Security Implications of Climate Change,” MODSIM World 2013, Paper No. 15611.