Prepared for the 2013 National Climate Assessment and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage, Great Plains Regional Technical Input Report is the result of a collaboration among numerous local, state, federal, and nongovernmental agencies to develop a comprehensive, state of the art look at the effects of climate change on the eight states that encompass the Great Plains region.
The Great Plains states are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, and will likely continue to experience warming temperatures, more extreme precipitation events, reduced snow and ice cover, and rising relative sea levels. The book presents a review of the historic, current, and projected future climate of the region; describes interactions with important sectors of the Northeast and examines cross-sectoral issues, namely climate change mitigation, adaptation, and education and outreach.
Rich in science and case studies, it examines the latest climate change impacts, scenarios, vulnerabilities, and adaptive capacity and offers decision makers and stakeholders a substantial basis from which to make informed choices that will affect the well-being of the region's inhabitants in the decades to come.
About the Author: Dr. Dennis Ojima is a Professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, a Senior Research Scientist for the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University, and University Director of the North Central Climate Science Center at Colorado State University for the Department of Interior. He has been recognized for his contributions in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which received the 2005 Zayed International Prize for the Environment and the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Jean Steiner obtained a B.A. degree in geology from Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa; and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in agronomy with a focus on agroclimatology from Kansas State University. She is Director of the Grazinglands Research Laboratory in El Reno, OK, and the 2014 President-Elect of the American Society of Agronomy. Dr. Shannon McNeeley received her doctoral degree in Environmental Change and Sustainability Science from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) in the interdisciplinary Resilience and Adaptation Program. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the DOI-sponsored North Central Climate Science Center at Colorado State University. Dr. Karen Cozzetto is a research hydrologist with the Western Water Assessment and the acting managing director of the Center for Water, Earth Science, and Technology at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Cozzetto received her Ph.D. in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2009. Amber Childress is a PhD student of Ecology at Colorado State University, working in the Natural Resource Ecology Lab on climate change impacts and adaptation. She holds a bachelor's degree in International Studies and Economics from Austin College and a master's degree from Colorado State University in Ecology.