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Northwest Florida Climate Change
1. & the Effects of Global Climate Change Chelsea Landsberg The Northwest Region of Florida
2. The Northwest Region of Florida Borders the Gulf of Mexico As the Ocean rises due to global warming, the Northwest Region of Florida will be losing land. This greatly effects wildlife, vegetation and human activity.
4. Hurricanes and the Northwest Hurricane damage over the years has helped to expedite the decrease in coastal lands on this island.
5. Threat of Physical Costal Erosion and Sea Level Rise in the Northwest Region(due to Climate Change) Significant shoreline changes and flooding of the current vegetation zones under all IPCC (1996) sea-level rise predictions Large portion of coastal pinelands will be lost by a projected sea-level increase of .95 meters high over the next century There will be a costal transgression and reduction of terrestrial habitat within the area, including wild-life refuges located throughout the northwest region.
6. Socioeconomic Effects – Is it all bad? Local economy is largely dependent on the shellfish industry, an increase in coastline could ENHANCE the local fisheries Population predictions for FL counties are far above national averages. Wakulla, Jefferson, and Taylor Counties are expecting population increases ranging from 31% - 57% within a 25 year span.
7. Coping Strategies Beings there is a minimal loss in terms of economic factors, this study doubts there will be minimal effort to remediate the coastal transgression. With a shallow limestone base and underground channels to coastal waters, the costs and benefits would not warrant engineering alternatives to combat the sea level rise. Overall, costal revetment would do more harm than good. It would reduce estuary size and functions, effecting productivity and actually spurring a negative effect on the economy.
8. Florida State University Is Currently Completing a study in the Northwest Region of Florida focusing on the anticipated seal-level rise and effects associated with Climate Change of the next 100 years. Hypothesizing that “The historic storm record, which extends back only about 150 years, isn’t a reliable indicator of true storm frequency, but the long-term geologic record is.”
9. Key Points of Study Funded by a $1.03 million grant from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) Scientific research program headed by the US Department of Defense partnered with the Department of Energy and US Environmental Protection Agency By 2012, this study is expected to produce models and methodologies that will help coastal planners and managers in all low-lying coastal regions better understand, address and mitigate the near-future effects of sea-level rise.
10. Reason for Using Northwest Region of Florida The Eglin Air Force Base is located in region The coast has many natural features Close proximity to Florida State University (Panama City) Long lived coastal lakes that will provide sediments containing a long record of the coastal environment for about the last 4,000 to 6,000 years
11. Goals of Study To employ a variety of possible sea level scenarios that would allow for more detailed climate models which would be used to predict the changing future for the coastal region.
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13. Landlocked with a deepwater harbor which is linked to the gulf via channel
16. In Conclusion Florida’s northwest coast is becoming smaller by the year, but without an economic reason to come up with prevention measures, attempts are few and far between. Florida State University’s study will allow for more accurate predictions and computer imaging regarding the future of climate change and the coast line.
This is the projected land lost due to a rise in sea level. Notice the amount of land lost in the northwest region. I’m going to focus on the information based off of as study on the effects of the northwest’s coastal changes.
I very quickly would like to touch on hurricanes. It is well known that hurricane intensity greatly depends on the temperature of the ocean water. As the temperature goes up, the intensity of the hurricanes is also likely to increase. Current models for measuring storm strength suggest that the intensity of hurricanes and typhoons should increase by 5 percent for every 1ºC (1.8ºF) rise in sea surface temperature. So what does this have to do with the northwest?With more intense hurricanes hitting the coast, the greater the damage to the coastline will be, which could expedite the process of the already decreasing coastline.
Meaning, the rates of change in environmental parameters predicted for the near future are much greater then those of the past. For example, worst-case sea-level rise predicted for the near future haven’t been experienced for more than 8 K years.
I’m going to highlight the city of Panama City, Florida for my presentation. Panama City is a port of entry on the St. Andrew Bay, off of the Gulf of MexicoPopulation of about 37,188 (2000 figure)Panama City’s landlocked, deepwater harbor is on the Intracoastal Waterway and is linked to the gulf by a channelThe U.S. Navy’s Coastal Systems Station conducts research on warfare, and Tyndall Air Force Base is just southeast of the city. Located at about 95 miles east of Pensacola, FloridaTourism and military are chief economic factors Florida State University Campus located in Panama City along with Gulf Coast Community Collegealong with manufacturing (including paper products and chemicals), fishing, and shipbuildingThere is a
