Publications
Peer-reviewed Research:
| Unprecedented Threats to Cities from Multi-century Sea Level Rise October 2021, Environmental Research Letters— Using state-of-the-art new global elevation and population data, we show here that, under high emissions scenarios leading to 4 ○C warming and a median projected 8.9 m of global mean sea level rise within a roughly 200- to 2000-year envelope, 50 major cities, mostly in Asia, would need to defend against globally unprecedented levels of exposure, if feasible, or face partial to near-total extant area losses. |
| Economic Damages from Hurricane Sandy Attributable to Sea Level Rise Caused by Anthropogenic Climate Change May 2021, Nature Communications— Using historical and alternative sea level reconstructions, plus flood simulations to determine how much climate change contributed to damage inflicted by the 2012 storm, this study found that sea level rise caused by carbon emissions accounted for approximately 13% ($8.1 billion) of the $62.7 billion in losses incurred by New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from Hurricane Sandy. |
| Impact of the Climate Matters Program on Public Understanding of Climate Change October 2020, Weather, Climate, and Society — In this national study based on 10 years of survey data, researchers examined relationships between use of Climate Matters material by weathercasters in U.S. media markets and public attitudes about climate change in those markets. “Results show that people from media markets that had higher Climate Matters prevalence had more scientific beliefs (stronger certainty in the reality of climate change and perception of human causation) than people from media markets with less Climate Matters prevalence.” |
| A method for regional estimation of climate change exposure of coastal infrastructure: Case of USVI and the influence of digital elevation models on assessments March 2020, Science of the Total Environment— This study tests the impacts of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data on an exposure assessment methodology developed to quantify flooding of coastal infrastructure from storms and sea level rise on a regional scale. |
| Localized climate reporting by TV weathercasters enhances public understanding of climate change as a local problem: Evidence from a randomized controlled experiment January 2020, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society— Providing climate information via trusted communicators in local media is an effective approach to increasing understanding and acceptance of, concern about, and engagement with climate change across the political ideology spectrum. |
| Meeting the looming policy challenge of sea-level change and human migration December 2019, Nature Climate Change— Minimizing the adverse consequences of sea-level change presents a key societal challenge. New modelling is necessary to examine the implications of global policy decisions that determine future greenhouse gas emissions and local policies around coastal risk that infuence where and how we live. |
| Employment accessibility and rising seas December 2019, Transportation Research Part D: Transportation and the Environment— Recent projections suggest worst-case scenarios of more than six ft (1.8 m) of global mean sea-level rise by end of century, progressively making coastal flood events more frequent and more severe. The impact on transportation systems along coastal regions is likely to be substantial |
| Meeting the looming policy challenge of sea-level change and human migration November 2019, Nature Climate Change— Minimizing the adverse consequences of sea-level change presents a key societal challenge. New modelling is necessary to examine the implications of global policy decisions that determine future greenhouse gas emissions and local policies around coastal risk that influence where and how we live. |
| Reporting on climate change by broadcast meteorologists: A national assessment October 2019, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society— Television weathercasters are uniquely situated to inform their audiences about the local impacts of global climate change and a growing number of them are adopting the role of climate change educator. |
| New elevation data triple estimates of global vulnerability to sea-level rise and coastal flooding October 2019, Nature Communications— By 2050 sea level rise will push average annual coastal floods higher than land now home to 300 million people. |
| Extreme sea level implications of 1.5 °C, 2.0 °C, and 2.5 °C temperature stabilization targets in the 21st and 22nd centuries March 2019, Environmental Research Letters— Sea-level rise is magnifying the frequency and severity of extreme sea levels that can cause coastal flooding. The rate and amount of global mean sea-level rise is a function of the trajectory of global mean surface temperature. Therefore, temperature stabilization targets have important implications for coastal flood risk. |
| CoastalDEM: a global coastal digital elevation model improved from SRTM using a neural network March 2018, Remote Sensing of the Environment — This paper Introduces an improved global coastal elevation dataset, called CoastalDEM, and the methodology used to develop it. |
| Evolving understanding of Antarctic ice-sheet physics and ambiguity in probabilistic sea-level projections December 2017, Earth's Future — We link a probabilistic framework for sea‐level projections to a small ensemble of Antarctic ice‐sheet (AIS) simulations incorporating these physical processes to explore their influence on global‐mean sea‐level (GMSL) and relative sea‐level (RSL). |
| TV Weathercasters’ Views of Climate Change Appear to Be Rapidly Evolving October 2017, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society — More than 90% of weathercasters indicated that climate change is happening and approximately 80% indicated that human-caused climate change is happening in this survey update. |
| The Views of Weathercasters Are Rapidly Evolving 2017, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society — Findings from the most recent surveys of TV weathercasters – which are methodologically superior to prior surveys in a number of important ways – suggest that weathercasters' views of climate change may be rapidly evolving. |
| Defining ecological drought for the 21st century June 26, 2017, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society — Droughts of the 21st century are characterized by hotter temperatures, longer duration and greater spatial extent, and are increasingly exacerbated by human demands for water. |
| Most Americans Want to Learn More About Climate Change June 2017, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society — American Meteorological Society (AMS) members have long played leading roles in climate science research in the United States and internationally. |
| Rapid escalation of coastal flood exposure in US municipalities from sea level rise May 2017, Climatic Change — While earlier studies estimate magnitudes of future exposure or project rates of sea level rise, here, we estimate growth rates of exposure, likely to be a key factor in how effectively coastal communities can adapt. |
| TV Weathercasters as Local Climate Educators August 2016, Oxford — Global climate change is influencing the weather in every region of the United States, often in harmful ways. Yet, like people in many countries, most Americans view climate change as a threat that is distant in space. |
| Global DEM Errors Underpredict Coastal Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise and Flooding 2016, Frontiers in Earth Science — Elevation data based on NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) have been widely used to evaluate threats from global sea level rise, storm surge, and coastal floods. |
| Climate Matters: A Comprehensive Educational Resource Program for Broadcast Meteorologists June 2016, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society — Broadcast meteorologists are ideally positioned to educate Americans about the current and projected impacts of climate change in their community. |
| Consequences of twenty-first-century policy for multi-millenial climate and sea-level change February 2016, Nature Climate Change — we argue that the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a period during which the overwhelming majority of human-caused carbon emissions are likely to occur, need to be placed into a long-term context that includes the past 20 millennia, when the last Ice Age ended and human civilization developed, and the next ten millennia, over which time the projected impacts of anthropogenic climate change will grow and persist. |
| Carbon choices determine US cities committed to futures below sea level 2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — Anthropogenic carbon emissions lock in long-term sea-level rise that greatly exceeds projections for this century, posing profound challenges for coastal development and cultural legacies. |
| Climate change education through TV weathercasts: Results of a field experiment January 2014, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society — The nation’s TV meteorologists and weathercasters the vast majority of whom work in local TV—are a potentially important source of informal science education about climate change for a wide cross section of the U.S. population. |
| Probabilistic 21st and 22nd century sea‐level projections at a global network of tide‐gauge sites 2014, Earth's Future — Sea-level rise due to both climate change and non-climatic factors threatens coastal settlements, infrastructure, and ecosystems. |
| Tidally adjusted estimates of topographic vulnerability to sea level rise and flooding for the contiguous United States 2012, Environmental Research Letters — Because sea level could rise 1 m or more during the next century, it is important to understand what land, communities and assets may be most at risk from increased flooding and eventual submersion. |
| On Retrieving Legal Files: Shortening Documents and Weeding Out Garbage 2008, Proceedings of the Sixteenth Text Retrieval Conference — This paper describes our participation in the TREC Legal experiments in 2007. |
Other Reports:
| TV Weathercasters Are Increasing Americans’ Understanding of Climate Change July 2020 — In this paper we present evidence of the impact of the Climate Matters program on American’s science-based understanding of climate change. |
| Sea-Level Rise Threats in the Caribbean: Data, tools, and analysis for a more resilient future February 2018 — This report describes methodology used to develop extensive assessments of sea-level rise and coastal flood likelihoods and hazards in the Caribbean Basin, and summarizes high-level findings. |
| National Survey of Broadcast Meteorologists March 2017 — The aim of this survey is to explore weathercasters’ views about climate change, and to better understand their interests and activities in reporting on the local impacts of climate change. |
| Bangladesh & The Surging Sea: A Vulnerability Assessment with Projections for Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flood Risk February 2017 — Due to its unique topography and high population density, Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels this century. |
| Pennsylvania and the Surging Sea July 2016 — In records running back to 1900, Philadelphia has never seen waterfront flooding that reaches 4 feet above the local high tide line. |
| National Survey of Broadcast Meteorologists March 2016 — The aim of this survey is to explore weathercasters’ views about climate change, and to better understand their interests and activities in reporting on the local impacts of climate change. |
| Human-caused Coastal Floods February 2016 — Human-caused climate change is contributing to global sea level rise and consequently aggravating coastal floods. |
| Mapping Choices: Carbon, Climate, and Rising Seas — Our Global Legacy November 2015 — Carbon emissions causing 4 degrees Celsius of warming (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) — a business-as- usual scenario — could lock in enough eventual sea level rise to submerge land currently home to 470 to 760 million people globally. |
| Louisiana and the Surging Sea August 2015 — Low-end sea level projections lead to a greater than even chance of record-breaking floods exceeding 6 feet above the high tide line by 2040 at Grand Isle, Louisiana, on the sinking Mississippi Delta. |
| Mississippi and the Surging Sea August 2015 — Low-range sea level projections lead to an even chance of floods exceeding 6 feet above the high tide line by mid-century, at sites across Mississippi’s coastline, exposing nearly $1.5 billion in today’s property. |
| Alabama and the Surging Sea August 2015 — Low-range sea level projections lead to an even chance of floods exceeding 6 feet above the high tide line by mid-century at sites across Alabama’s coastline, exposing more than $8 billion in today’s property. |
| National Survey of Broadcast Meteorologists April 2015 — The aim of this survey is to explore weathercasters’ views about climate change, and to better understand their interests and activities in reporting on the local impacts of climate change. |
| Virginia and the Surging Sea September 2014 — Floods exceeding today’s historic records are likely to take place within the next 20 to 30 years at sites across Virginia under mid-range sea level rise projections. |
| Maryland and the Surging Sea September 2014 — An intermediate high sea level rise scenario leads to better than even chances of record-breaking coastal floods within the next 60 years in the Baltimore and Annapolis areas, and as soon as 20 years in other parts of the state. |
| Washington D.C. and the Surging Sea September 2014 — Washington, D.C. is likely to see record flooding by 2040 under a mid-range sea level rise scenario. A low-range scenario leads to a better-than-even chance by 2030 of flooding more than 6 feet above the local high tide line – a level topped just once in the last 70 years. |
| Delaware and the Surging Sea September 2014 — Under a low-range sea level rise scenario, Delaware is likely to see record-breaking coastal floods within the next 20 years, and near certain to see floods more than 5 feet above the high tide line by 2100. |
| South Carolina and the Surging Sea July 21, 2014 — Floods exceeding today’s historic records are likely to take place within the next 20-30 years in the Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach areas, about 3.5 feet above the local high tide line, under mid-range sea level rise projections. |
| North Carolina and the Surging Sea July 15, 2014 — Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, and the scientific community is confident that global warming is the most important cause. |
| California, Oregon, Washington and the Surging Sea June 2014 — Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, and the scientific community is confident that global warming is the most important cause. |
| New England and the Surging Sea April 2014 — Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, and the scientific community is confident that global warming is the most important cause. |
| Florida and the Surging Sea April 2014 — Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, and the scientific community is confident that global warming is the most important cause. |
| New York and the Surging Sea April 2014 — Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, and the scientific community is confident that global warming is the most important cause. |
| New Jersey and the Surging Sea April 2014 — Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, and the scientific community is confident that global warming is the most important cause. |
| A Roadmap to Climate-Friendly Cars 2013 — An electric car is only as good for the climate as the electricity used to power it. And in states that rely heavily on fossil fuels like coal and natural gas for their electricity there are many conventional and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. |
| Natural Gas and Climate Change May 2013 — Knowing how much methane is leaking from the natural gas system is essential to determining the potential climate benefits of natural gas use. |
| A Roadmap to Climate-Friendly Cars 2012 — America’s high-carbon electricity grid is shortcircuiting efforts to give consumers climate-friendly, electric-vehicle options. |
| Can U.S. Carbon Emissions Keep Falling October 2012 — A Climate Central analysis of the American energy economy shows that the nearly 9 percent reduction in annual carbon emissions in the U.S. since 2005 is unlikely to continue in the years ahead without major departures from the ways energy is currently produced and used. |
| Sea Level Rise Threatens Hundreds of U.S. Energy Facilities April 2012 — Sea level rise from global warming is well on the way to doubling the risk of coastal floods 4 feet or more over high tide by 2030 at locations nationwide. |
| Surging Seas March 14, 2012 — Global warming has raised sea level about eight inches since 1880, and the rate of rise is accelerating. Scientists expect 20 to 80 more inches this century, a lot depending upon how much more heat-trapping pollution humanity puts into the sky. |
| Surging Seas Factsheets March 14, 2012 — Simple, quotable information on odds of extreme floods with and without global warming; historic and projected sea level rise; population, homes and land at risk; and towns, cities and counties facing the largest threats; plus research notes and reusable graphics. |
| National Survey of TV Meteorologists About Climate Change Education June 2011 — Among the most trusted and familiar sources of informal science education for most Americans, weathercasters are optimally positioned to help enhance public understanding of climate change, including how it is influencing local and regional weather patterns across the United States. |
Featured Research
