Climate change, drought, and El Niño

Citation

(2001), "Climate change, drought, and El Niño", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310cag.002

Climate change, drought, and El Niño

Climate change, drought, and El Niño

NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC)http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/ http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/Drought/ http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/ENSO/

The mission of the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC) is to understand climate variations on time scales ranging from a month to centuries and to use this information to predict climate variations. The CDC provides several Internet resources, including its "Map Room Weather Products" (http://www.cdc.noaa.gov~map/maproom/text/weather_products.shtml/), "Map Room Climate Products" (http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/~map/maproom/text/climate_products.shtml/), and "Display and Analysis Web Pages for CDC Climate Data" (http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/PublicData/web_tools.html/).

At the second URL above, the CDC offers a page entitled "Current and Anticipated Precipitation Anomalies over the US" that provides information on drought situations in the USA. The page includes maps, graphics, other information, and forecasts regarding developing precipitation anomalies. At the third address, the site provides "El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Information" covering such questions as: What happens during an El Niño/La Niña cycle? What are the effects of El Niño/La Niña on climate and individual weather systems? and, What is the current state of El Niño/La Niña? Also included are FAQs, a glossary, other links and publications, forecasts and advisories, and educational resources.

National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC)http://enso.unl.edu/ndmchttp://enso.unl.edu/monitor/monitor.html

Readers may be wondering where they can find the latest information on drought conditions. Seek no longer. The Web site of the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln offers everything you need, both to understand the current situation and to plan for and mitigate future events. At the second URL, the center now offers a "Drought Monitor", a comprehensive analysis of the current situation. Released each Thursday, the monitor reviews conditions across the country and provides an outlook for the coming weeks.

US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)http://www.nacc.usgcrp.gov

The National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change for the United States is being conducted under the auspices of the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which coordinates participation of federal agencies in global climate change research. The assessment will provide a detailed understanding of the consequences of climate change for the nation and is examining the possible coping mechanisms that exist to adapt to such change.

The assessment, which includes regional activities, sectoral activities, and a broad synthesis, attempts to involve concerned stakeholders from both public and private institutions in evaluating consequences for the environment, economy, and society. A draft report of the National Assessment Synthesis Team, Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change is now available on the USGCRP Web site above. It notes several potential consequences – for example, increased summer drought and increased winter flooding – that should be of note to hazards researchers and managers. Much additional information about this major national assessment is also available from this URL.