Impacts of a Changing Climate in the U.S. Southern Great Plains
Abstract
The Southern Great Plains (SGP) experiences weather that is dramatic and
consequential, from hurricanes and floods to heat waves and drought. A
changing climate exacerbates these extremes, further stressing
infrastructure and seriously impacting the socioeconomic systems of its
rapidly growing and diverse 34-million population, as well as the
natural environment (e.g., ecology, coastal systems). This poster will
outline some of the key climate-related stressors for the SGP, and
discusses the process of developing the SGP chapter and its key
messages/focus areas, for the U. S. Global Change Research Program’s
(GCRP) Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4). NCA4 fulfills a
congressional mandate to provide comprehensive information on climate
change impacts, adaptation, and resiliency, and is the preeminent source
for climate change information within the United States. The SCP chapter
is new for NCA4, providing more regional context and detail relevant to
the region’s public and decision-makers than NCA3 (2014), the former of
which amalgamated climate projections and impacts for the northern and
southern Great Plains. Furthermore, the chapter incorporates some new
ways of evaluating risk, such as risk-based framing, or in providing
some more relevant context, by including potential economic impacts, and
also in considering case studies of successful adaptations to current
climate-related stressors. A team of regional experts consisting of
climatologists, researchers, and federal scientists, spanning multiple
sectors (agriculture, economy, climate science, tribal professional,
infrastructure, health and water resources among others) were selected
to develop this chapter. The team solicited expert input from regional
stakeholders, and the final chapter underwent multiple rounds of public
and governmental review. Each stage of the process and some key outcomes
will be described.