Phil Mote: "Changes in Northwest Climate and their Significance for Aquatic Organisms"

Start Date/Time: Thursday, January 29, 2009, 11:00 AM
Location: *Northwest Fisheries Science Center Auditorium*_ at 2725 Montlake Blvd. E., Seattle.

ABSTRACT
Our perceptions of climate are often quite different from what instrumental records tell us. Recent cool weather last spring and again in December has led some to question whether global warming has stopped, whereas when the governor declared a drought in 2005 many were wondering whether global warming was to blame. Or is it PDO? This talk describes observed variability and change in Northwest temperature, precipitation, snowpack, and streamflow, and related environmental factors like forest fires. It also reviews the latest model projections for future changes in environmental variables of relevance to aquatic and coastal organisms.

Speaker Bio
Philip Mote is a research scientist in the Climate Impacts Group (CIG), and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. His research interests include Northwest climate and its effects on snowpack, streamflow, and forest fires. A frequent public speaker, he has also written over 70 scientific articles and edited a book on climate modeling, published in 2000. In 2003 he became the Washington State Climatologist. He served as a lead author of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in 2007. He earned a PhD in atmospheric sciences from UW and an AB in physics from Harvard.

Monster Seminar JAM Series Information available at:
http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/events/monster.cfm