Maryland at Risk: Sea-level rise adaptation and response
Action is needed now to stem not only the drivers of climate change but also to prepare for the inevitable consequences. With over 3,000 miles of coastline, Maryland is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Historic tide-gauge records reveal that sea levels along Maryland's extensive coastline have risen approximately one foot over the past one hundred years. This relative sea level rise is due to a combination of global sea-level rise and localized land subsidence. As our climate changes, sea levels are expected to continue to rise and the rate of sea level rise is expected to increase, potentially twice as fast in the 21st century as the 20th century. Thus, sea level rise in Maryland could be another one foot by 2050 and as much as three feet by 2100. Low lying regions in Maryland will be placed further at risk due to innudation and flooding.
Global Warming is Here poster
In 2007, Governor O'Malley asked a scientific team, chaired by University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) President Donald F. Boesch, to assess the impacts of climate change in Maryland. The results of that assessment were published in an August 2008 report entitled Global Warming and the Free State. Comprehensive Assessment of Climate Change Impacts in Maryland. IAN staff produced this poster summarizing the key points from the report. The poster is being displayed at a Horn Point Laboratory faculty climate change exhibit at the Lab Open House on October 11, 2008.
New Science Communication Intern - Kim Kraeer
Kim graduated from Washington College in 2007 where she majored in Biology and Environmental Studies. She has previously worked with the MD/DC Breeding Bird Atlas, as well as the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and currently works two days a week at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. There she works with exotic birds and reptiles as well as atlantic bottlenose dolphins. In her free time she enjoys swimming and scrapbooking. She is in the process of applying to graduate programs.
New Science Communication Intern - Lucy Van Essen-Fishman
Lucy originally comes from New Jersey, and graduated this past spring from Swarthmore College with a major in Greek. At Swarthmore, she worked in the writing center and spent a summer on an archaeological dig. Since graduating, she has been working as a boat driver and maintenance worker in the Adirondack Mountains. She is applying to graduate schools and hopes to attend a university in the United Kingdom.