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Spatial Precipitation Variability, Snowfall, and Historical Bison Occurrence in the Northwest United StatesWilliams, Heather Anna 08 August 2005 (has links)
Throughout the Holocene, bison have always been more abundant east of the Rocky Mountains with considerably fewer bison found west of the Rocky Mountains. It is likely that drought frequency and snowfall characteristics have influenced the pattern of historical bison occurrence across the northwest United States. Using monthly average snow and precipitation data from the past several decades, average April snow water equivalent (SWE) and summertime drought frequency were analyzed at sites across the northwest United States. A climatic stress index (CSI) was developed by combining average SWE and drought frequency for sites, as these are the climate factors that will most likely affect bison success. The results of the CSI revealed that locations west of the Rockies experience heavier snowfall and a greater frequency of droughts, thus presenting a “double whammy” of climate conditions that bison would have to endure. The locations of highest combined snow and drought frequencies coincide with locations of low bison occurrence.
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Planning for mitigating climate change risk to metropolitan areas (USA)Grover, Himanshu 02 June 2009 (has links)
In the last couple of decades, there has been increasing evidence of changes in
global climate. With urban areas identified as the primary contributors to the climate
change, there is an impetus for initiatives to persuade major contributors of greenhouse
gases to undertake policy measures for climate change mitigation. The support for such
initiatives at the international level has been mixed with many nations, including the
United States, not accepting the Kyoto protocol. In view of the evident disagreement at
the international level, initiatives promoting local communities to adopt self regulating
policies for climate change mitigation have gained importance. One such initiative is the
Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) supported by the International Council for Local
Environmental Initiatives.
This research explores the differences in the socio-economic and civic
characteristics of metropolitan areas in the contiguous United States that have committed
to CCP (as a policy measure for climate change mitigation) to those that have not. The
data in this study has been primarily collected from the census documents and government publications. The indicators are grouped into risk, stress and civic variables.
The differences amongst the metropolitan areas with CCP committed jurisdictions and
those with non-committed jurisdictions have been analyzed through statistical t-tests and
use of geographical information system (GIS). The research reveals that metropolitan
areas with a higher degree of risk are more likely to commit to climate change mitigation
policies whereas those with higher stress index are less likely to commit. The
metropolitan areas with higher civic index were also found more likely to commit to
policy measures for climate change mitigation. The results of the study are significant as
they reveal that communities that are at risk are not necessarily adding to the climate
stress and those contributing the most to the climatic stress are not committed to climate
change mitigation. The results of the study support the need to discontinue the closed
box approach and instead adopt an approach with vertical integration. Cooperation and
coordination amongst the hierarchical aggregate levels of communities, from a place to a
region, are imperative for effective implementation of climate mitigation initiatives.
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