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First PEER Winner Reports on New York's Global Warming Three
Grants to be Given in New Round of Awards
Global warming is part of New York's future, says Hunter
College professor William Solecki. And the consequences, if
unchecked, might be dire for the city's geography as well as
its health, he cautions.
Solecki's report, co-authored with researchers Wenge Ni-Meister
and Hongmian Gong, was funded by NNYN and CUNY through their
PEER award program -- part of NNYN's support of scientific research
on the impacts of global warming on the urban environment and
ways to mitigate it. NNYN created the PEER awards to specifically
engage CUNY faculty in research related to New York and its
environs. The success of the first has resulted in increasing
the number of grants for the second round to three.
Solecki's project -- "Climate Change and a Global City: The
Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change in
Metropolitan New York" - was the winner of a competitive review
process that was co-chaired by Jake Kheel and David Rosane of
NNYN and representatives of CUNY. A condition of the grant is
that researchers have to publicly report their findings and
also submit a major grant proposal to expand on their work.
The second round of awards (www.cuny.edu/research) expands the
nature of the work that can be done and also allows for greater
cooperation between researchers of the CUNY system.
For "Climate Change and a Global City" the researchers used
satellite data to study how the local climate and environment
of New York is affected by urban land use. They discovered that
warming would increase the sea level and increase the frequency
of so-called "100 year floods" to three and four year cycles.
They also found that the sea level increase could lessen the
city's wet lands and affect wildlife in the area. In addition,
say the researchers, warming would clearly heighten the urban
heat island effect.
What will warming do? It will result in an increase in the sea
level and the "100-year floods" will occur more frequently -
such as in three and four-year cycles. The impact of the sea-level
rise will be greatest on the city's coastal ecosystems, especially
in the lessening of the city's wetlands. It also will impact
the wildlife living in that area. The data also suggests that
a heightening of the urban heat island effect, which tends to
increase the need for air conditioning and increase pollution.
Some of the problems can be remediated, says Solecki. The raising
of drainage pipes above the water level, architectural redesigns
to include cooler roofing and pavement materials should help.
Mitigation strategies should also include more planting to expand
the vegetation that acts as a buffer against warming. But the
coastal areas might also need redevelopment to cope with gradual
warming.
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