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Fourth Assessment Report on Climate Change 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Presented By
The Fourth Assessment Report was released on April 6, 2007. It presents new findings on observed impacts of recent warming; specific information about climate change impacts on systems, sectors, and regions; and evaluates the interactions between adaptation and mitigation responses to climate risks. Systems and sectors considered are water, ecosystems, agriculture, health, coasts, and industry and settlements. The Report also addresses key topics including adaptive capacity, vulnerability, extreme events, and sustainability development. Some discussion on New York City as an urban heat island, climate change, and the relationship with asthma incidence will also be discussed.
Biography
Cynthia Rosenzweig, PhD, is a senior research scientist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and leader of its Climate Impacts Group. Dr. Rosenzweig's primary research involves the development of interdisciplinary methodologies by which to assess the potential impacts of and adaptations to global environmental change. She has joined impact models with global climate models (GCMs) to predict future outcomes of both land-based and urban systems under altered climate conditions. Advances include the development of climate change scenarios for impact analysis, and the application of impact models at relevant spatial and temporal scales for regional and national assessments. Recognizing that the complex interactions engendered by global environmental change can best be understood by coordinated teams of experts, Dr. Rosenzweig has organized and led large-scale interdisciplinary, national, and international studies of climate change impacts and adaptation. She is the Co-Leader of the Metropolitan East Coast Regional Assessment of the U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, sponsored by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. She leads the Climate Impacts research group at the Goddard Institute of Space Studies, whose mission is to investigate the interactions of climate (both variability and change) on systems and sectors important to human well-being.