Climate change: drying rivers and drowning coasts

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Climate change drying rivers and drowning coasts
Ron Carroll, Director-Science, River Basin
Center, UGA
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The two growing problems in the southeast

• We have the fastest growing population
• And
• We use the most energy

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Climate change in Georgia

• Certainties
• Sea level will rise
• Many salt marshes will deteriorate
• Ecological and economic damage will be
  significant

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Climate change in Georgia

• Likely and worth worrying about
• Summer river flow will drop and some will run
  dry
• New diseases will emerge

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Climate change in Georgia

• But, we arent helpless
• We can reduce greenhouse gases
• We can reduce the consequences of climate
  change..
• We know what to do but do we know how to make it
  happen??

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First, the consequences

• Rising sea levels

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0.4 Ft. Sea-level Rise Blackwater National
Wildlife Refuge, Maryland.
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Change in Extension of Land and Marsh
2001 Current Sea-level
2100 1.8 Ft. Sea-level Rise
Hugo G. Collantes Institute of Ecology University
of Georgia
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Current high tide. Note winter storm debris by
wall
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High tide with sea level rise
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Sea level rise with average winter storm surge
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Low tide with sea level rise no beach
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Present day flow
River Flow
Fall Winter Spring Summer
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Present day flow Climate change flow
River Flow
Fall Winter Spring Summer
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Urban concrete and asphalt watersheds dominate
our river basins
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Suwanee River during summer 2000 drought
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Spring Creek during normal summer flow
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Spring Creek during summer 2000 drought
Creek is segmented into a series of isolated pools
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Who loves warm isolated pools??? especially
without fish
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Aedes aegypti, the vector for Dengue fever (among
other diseases), breeds in isolated pools
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Dengue is among the most rapidly expanding
diseases. No vaccine exists.
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Reported cases of Dengue 1980-1996
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So, what can we do?

• Reduce use of fossil fuels (duh)
• Remove excess CO2
• Get ready for the consequences