Article Database

An intuitive metric to quantify and communicate tropical cyclone rainfall hazard

Abstract:

Recent tropical cyclones (TCs) have highlighted the hazards that TC rainfall poses to human life and property. These hazards are not adequately conveyed by the commonly used Saffir–Simpson scale. Additionally, while recurrence intervals (or, their inverse, annual exceedance probabilities) are sometimes used in the popular media to convey the magnitude and likelihood of extreme rainfall and floods, these concepts are often misunderstood by the public and have important statistical limitations. We introduce an alternative metric—the extreme rain multiplier (ERM), which expresses TC rainfall as a multiple of the climatologically derived 2-yr rainfall value. ERM allows individuals to connect (“anchor,” in cognitive psychology terms) the magnitude of a TC rainfall event to the magnitude of rain events that are more typically experienced in their area. A retrospective analysis of ERM values for TCs from 1948 to 2017 demonstrates the utility of the metric as a hazard quantification and communication tool. Hurricane Harvey (2017) had the highest ERM value during this period, underlining the storm’s extreme nature. ERM correctly identifies damaging historical TC rainfall events that would have been classified as “weak” using wind-based metrics. The analysis also reveals that the distribution of ERM maxima is similar throughout the eastern and southern United States, allowing for both the accurate identification of locally extreme rainfall events and the development of regional-scale (rather than local-scale) recurrence interval estimates for extreme TC rainfall. Last, an analysis of precipitation forecast data for Hurricane Florence (2018) demonstrates ERM’s ability to characterize Florence’s extreme rainfall hazard in the days preceding landfall.

Climate research priorities for policy-makers, practitioners, and scientists in Georgia, USA

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Climate change has far-reaching effects on human and ecological systems, requiring collaboration across sectors and disciplines to determine effective responses. To inform regional responses to climate change, decision-makers need credible and relevant information representing a wide swath of knowledge and perspectives. The southeastern U. S. State of Georgia is a valuable focal area for study because it contains multiple ecological zones that vary greatly in land use and economic activities, and it is vulnerable to diverse climate change impacts. We identified 40 important research questions that, if answered, could lay the groundwork for effective, science-based climate action in Georgia. Top research priorities were identified through a broad solicitation of candidate research questions (180 were received). A group of experts across sectors and disciplines gathered for a workshop to categorize, prioritize, and filter the candidate questions, identify missing topics, and rewrite questions. Participants then collectively chose the 40 most important questions. This cross-sectoral effort ensured the inclusion of a diversity of topics and questions (e.g., coastal hazards, agricultural production, ecosystem functioning, urban infrastructure, and human health) likely to be important to Georgia policy-makers, practitioners, and scientists. Several cross-cutting themes emerged, including the need for long-term data collection and consideration of at-risk Georgia citizens and communities. Workshop participants defined effective responses as those that take economic cost, environmental impacts, and social justice into consideration. Our research highlights the importance of collaborators across disciplines and sectors, and discussing challenges and opportunities that will require transdisciplinary solutions.

Risks, health consequences, and response challenges for small-island-based populations: observations from the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season

Abstract:

The intensely active 2017 Atlantic basin hurricane season provided an
opportunity to examine how climate drivers, including warming oceans and rising seas,
exacerbated tropical cyclone hazards. The season also highlighted the unique
vulnerabilities of populations residing on small island developing states (SIDS) to the
catastrophic potential of these storms. During 2017, 22 of the 29 Caribbean SIDS were
affected by at least one named storm and multiple SIDS experienced extreme damage.
This paper aims to review the multiplicity of storm impacts on Caribbean SIDS
throughout the 2017 season, explicate the influences of climate drivers on storm
formation and intensity, explore the propensity of SIDS to sustain severe damage and
prolonged disruption of essential services, document the spectrum of public health
consequences, and delineate the daunting hurdles that challenged emergency
response and recovery operations for island-based, disaster-affected populations.

Climate Feedback–Based Provisions for Dam Design, Operations, and Water Management in the 21st Century

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Basta Ya Con Las Microagresiones: Expanding Notions of Violence for Latinas

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When I Grow Up: Assessing American Children’s Perspectives on College and Career Readiness through Drawings

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College and career readiness has become a key educational priority in the United States. Framed by neoliberal discourses, current conceptions of college and career readiness narrowly define literacy as discrete sets of cognitive skills and curricular knowledge and reduce literacy learning to scores on high-stakes assessments. To disrupt these neoliberal ideologies, we invited 24 American children in a summer reading programme to share their perspectives on college and career readiness. Twelve boys and 12 girls created a series of drawings depicting their dream careers, the people helping them achieve their career goals and the specific literacy skills they perceived as necessary for future career success. Afterwards, the children discussed the meanings of their drawings through interviews. Analyses revealed that American children visually represented and verbally articulated college and career readiness as (1) aspiring towards productive professional work, (2) envisioning complex professional literacy repertories and (3) acknowledging the importance of family, community and school in college and career preparation. Our findings urge American schools to shift from standardised, high-stakes measures of college and career readiness towards multiple, learner-oriented measures which make visible the creativity, critical thinking and communicative literacies that children will need to fulfill their personal and professional aspirations.

Poetic Possibilities: A Conversation with WordSong Editor Rebecca Davis on the Beauty and Passion of Poetry

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This interview features a discussion with Rebecca Davis, senior editor at WordSong (an imprint of Boyds Mills Press), that celebrates the beauty, power, and possibility of poetry.

Motivating tweens to read: Insights from author Tom Angleberger

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Tales and Testimonies: Viewpoints on Diverse Literature from Duncan Tonatiuh and Violet J Harris

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This article features a discussion with Mr. Duncan Tonatiuh and Dr. Violet J. Harris about the importance of diverse literature for children in the United States

Career Dream Drawings: Children’s Visions of Professional Identities, Tools, and Literacies on Future Workscapes

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