Extreme weather in Alaska : state and federal response to imminent disasters in the Arctic : hearing before the Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental Relations, and the District of Columbia of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, first session : field hearing in Anchorage, Alaska, September 13, 2

Examines the climate of Alaska and its diversity through narrative and maps, tables, and charts. Focuses on climatological features such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, and atmospheric pressure.--(Source of description unspecified.)

Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By taking steps to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the risks to society and the impacts of continued climate change can be lessened. The National Climate Assessment, coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is a mandated report intended to inform response decisions. Required to be developed every four years, these reports provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of climate change impacts available for the United States, making them a unique and important climate change document. The draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report reviewed here addresses a wide range of topics of high importance to the United States and society more broadly, extending from human health and community well-being, to the built environment, to businesses and economies, to ecosystems and natural resources. This report evaluates the draft NCA4 to determine if it meets the requirements of the federal mandate, whether it provides accurate information grounded in the scientific literature, and whether it effectively communicates climate science, impacts, and responses for general audiences including the public, decision makers, and other stakeholders.

The frequency and intensity of certain extreme weather events in Alaska are increasing, largely due to climate warming from greenhouse gas emissions. Future projections indicate that these trends will continue, potentially leading to billions of dollars in climate-related damages this century. Expected damages arise from increases in extreme precipitation, severe wildfire, altered ocean chemistry, land subsidence from permafrost thaw, and coastal erosion. This dissertation applies new downscaled reanalysis and climate model simulations from the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project to enhance current understanding of climate extremes in Alaska. Model output is analyzed for a historical period (1981-2010) and three projected periods (2011-2040, 2041-2070, 2071-2100) using representative concentration pathway 8.5. Unprecedented heat and precipitation are expected to occur when compared to the historical period. Maximum 1-day and consecutive 5-day precipitation amounts are expected to increase by 53% and 50%, respectively, and the number of summer days per year (Tmax > 25°C) increases from a statewide average of 1.5 from 1981-2010 to 29.7 for 2071-2100. Major alterations to the landscape of Alaska are anticipated due to a decreasing frequency of freezing temperatures. Growing season length extends by 48-87 days by 2071-2100 with the largest changes in northern Alaska. In contrast, projections indicate a reduced snow season length statewide and many locations in southwest Alaska no longer have continuous winter snow cover. Changes to these metrics indicate that a climate-warming signal emerges from the historical inter-annual variability, meaning that future distributions are entirely outside of those previously observed. The largest changes to extremes may be avoided by following a lower emissions trajectory, which would reduce the impacts and associated costs to maintain infrastructure and human health.