Online resource identifies 'time of emergence' for Puget Sound climate impacts

When and where will we see the impacts of climate change in Puget Sound? A web-based tool factors in dozens of site-specific variables for watersheds throughout the Pacific Northwest. The resource was developed by the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group with support from the EPA, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Center for Data Science, University of Washington-Tacoma.

An example of a search query for climate impacts in King County, WA
An example of a search query for climate impacts in King County, WA

Resource description

"This tool – and the science behind it – were designed to help users explore the basic question: when and where could climate change matter across the Pacific Northwest? This is a new approach to delivery of climate change information that focuses on identifying the time when climate change causes local conditions to deviate significantly from the past, which we call the Time of Emergence of climate change.

This tool presents the results of Time of Emergence analysis for 35 climatic variables during different times of the year, for counties, watersheds and major rivers of the Pacific Northwest. These results, combined with information on local sensitivities, design standards or critical thresholds, and the effort need to prepare for change, can be used to help prioritize decisions about when, where and for which climate change impacts preparatory actions are most urgent."

--University of Washington Climate Impacts Group

 

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