Project Information

Project Timeline: August 2012- September 2013. This project has been completed.
Principal Investigator: Ryan P. Boyles, Ph.D., Adrienne Wootten, NC State University
Implements Science Plan Theme: 1: Develop Climate Projections and Determine Appropriate Projections to Use for Resource Management

Key Points

• Modified existing global models for use in local decision making
• Evaluated several methods for downscaling projections and released information to be publicly available
• Provides guidance for using downscaled models in resource management decision making

Overview

Climate change has many effects on ecosystems in the Southeast US. Global climate models (GCMs) show these effects at very large scales. But, conservation managers can’t use them for local decision making. Scientists have created downscaled projections to solve this problem. These projections use information from GCMs translated to regional or local scales.

Scientists use several techniques to make these downscaled climate projections. Users have to decide which technique is the best for their needs. This project worked with ecologists in the Southeast US to understand their needs for downscaled climate projections. Based on these needs, we evaluated several downscaled climate projections. We then used this information to write a public report with our findings. This guidance will help resource managers make climate change adaptation decisions.