WARMING CLIMATE DAMAGES NORTHERN ROADS

Intensification of Northern Hemisphere subtropical highs in a warming climate

Semi-permanent high-pressure systems over the subtropical oceans, known as subtropical highs, influence atmospheric circulation, as well as global climate. For instance, subtropical highs largely determine the location of the world’s subtropical deserts, the zones of Mediterranean climate and the tracks of tropical cyclones. The intensity of two such high-pressure systems, present over the Nort...

Will Climate Change Spark More Wildfire Damages?

Trophic amplification of climate warming

Ecosystems can alternate suddenly between contrasting persistent states due to internal processes or external drivers. It is important to understand the mechanisms by which these shifts occur, especially in exploited ecosystems. There have been several abrupt marine ecosystem shifts attributed either to fishing, recent climate change or a combination of these two drivers. We show that temperatu...

Hurricanes in a Warming Climate

There are fundamental differences between the climate of the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. Largely, these differences are dictated by the obvious differences in the geography of the two hemispheres: the Northern Hemisphere is about 50% land, whereas about 90% of the Southern Hemisphere is ocean. This asymmetry gives a much larger seasonal cycle in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and reduces t...

Assessing the anticipated growth response of northern conifer populations to a warming climate

The growth response of trees to ongoing climate change has important implications for future forest dynamics, accurate carbon accounting, and sustainable forest management. We used data from black spruce (Picea mariana) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana) provenance trials, along with published data for three other northern conifers, to identify a consistent growth response to climate warming in wh...