Some PowerPoint presentations are available for download. Please click on session presentation titles below to access the download link.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n Session Chairs:<\/b><\/p>\n Glenn Hodgkins and Robert Dudley Description:<\/b><\/p>\n How is climate change affecting \u2013 or projected to affect \u2013 Maine\u2019s freshwater, estuarine, and coastal resources and what new tools, methods, and data are available to help analyze changes? This session will cover hydrologic and ecological studies of climate-related patterns, trends, and projections for Maine, or regional studies that include Maine.<\/p>\n Session Presentations:<\/strong><\/p>\n Abstracts:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a>Synoptic Climatology and Generating Mechanisms of Annual Floods in New England and Atlantic<\/em> Canada<\/em><\/strong> Mathias J. Collins<\/span>1<\/sup>, Johnathan P. Kirk2<\/sup>, Joshua Pettit3<\/sup>, Arthur T. DeGaetano4<\/sup>, M. Sam McCown5<\/sup>, Thomas C. Peterson5<\/sup>, Tiffany N. Means6<\/sup>, and Xuebin Zhang7<\/sup><\/p>\n New England and Atlantic Canada are characterized by mixed flood regimes that reflect different storm types, antecedent land surface conditions, and flood seasonality.\u00a0 Mixed flood regimes can complicate flood risk analyses, yet the synoptic climatology and precipitation mechanisms that generate annual floods in this region have not been described in detail. We analyze long-term annual flood records at climate-sensitive stream gauges across the region and classify the synoptic climatology of each annual flood, quantitatively describe the precipitation mechanisms, and characterize flood seasonality. We find that annual floods here are primarily generated by Great Lakes-sourced storms and Coastal lows, known locally as \u201cnor\u2019easters\u201d.\u00a0 Great Lakes storms tend to produce lower-magnitude annual floods (75th percentile).\u00a0 Tropical cyclones account for few of all annual floods, including extreme events, despite causing some of the region\u2019s largest and most destructive floods.\u00a0 Late winter-early spring is when the greatest number of annual floods occurs region-wide, and rainfall is the dominant flood-producing mechanism. Rainfall in combination with snowmelt is also important.\u00a0 Both mechanisms are expected to be impacted by projected regional climate change. We find little evidence for associations between flood-producing synoptic storm types or precipitation mechanisms and large-scale atmospheric circulation indices or time periods, despite increases in annual flood magnitudes in New England in recent decades. To better investigate such associations, flood series that include more floods than just the largest of each year, and their associated synoptic climatologies and precipitation mechanisms, should be analyzed.<\/p>\n <\/a>Vulnerability of Water Conveyance Infrastructure Due to Changing Landscape within the Context of a Changing Climate<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n Michael Simpson<\/span>1<\/sup>, Latham Stack2<\/sup>, Trisha Moore3<\/sup>, Robert Roseen4<\/sup>, James Gruber5<\/sup><\/p>\n \u00a0Results will be presented from NOAA and US EPA funded research from 2007 through 2013, in the context of rural, the peri-urban and urban watersheds in New England and the upper Midwest. This research examined the hydrologic impact of climate change and land use scenarios on existing water conveyance infrastructure.<\/p>\n The built infrastructure in the watersheds were assessed and mapped with a standardized protocol. Field and spatial data is then utilized to create a nested GIS model that calculates current and projected runoff volumes for the 24-hour precipitation events. Based on current zoning ordinance regulations, multiple build-out analyses were developed for the study watersheds.<\/p>\n These build-out scenarios were combined with estimated, mid-21st century storm magnitudes based upon downscaled global greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Once vulnerable infrastructure was identified, a marginal cost analysis was completed for alternative actions of response.<\/p>\n The technical outputs of these studies informed concurrent community resilience building processes that increased stakeholder capacity at the local level in adapting to change. The studies\u2019 approach demonstrates the implementation of a quantified, local-scale, and actionable protocol for maintaining historical risk levels for communities facing significant impacts from climate change and population growth.<\/p>\n <\/a>Using GIS to bring Superstorm Sandy to Maine: Updating Maine\u2019s Hurricane Surge<\/em> Maps<\/em><\/strong> Rachael E., Dye1<\/sup>, Peter A. Slovinsky<\/span>1<\/sup>,\u00a0Christian H. Halsted<\/span>1<\/sup>, Joseph Young2<\/sup><\/p>\n In 2006, the US Army Corps of Engineers created hurricane surge maps for the Maine coastline to aid emergency management planning efforts.\u00a0 This dataset was created using outputs from the National Hurricane Center\u2019s Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model along with best-available topographic data, which at the time, had a 10-m cell size and an approximate vertical accuracy of 2.44 m RMSE.\u00a0 Since then, the SLOSH model basin was updated by the NHC to provide higher resolution grids of potential storm surge heights associated with landfalling hurricanes.\u00a0 The entire Maine coastline has also been mapped using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) in a series of flights, and a bare earth digital elevation model (DEM) with 2-m cell size and a vertical accuracy of 0.15m RMSE created.\u00a0 The Maine Geological Survey, in partnership with the Floodplain Management Office and funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, used these datasets to create updated hurricane surge maps for Category 1 and 2 hurricanes making landfall at mean and mean high tide.\u00a0 An ArcGIS 10.1 script tool was created to analyze the data and create output GIS layers.\u00a0 Outputs include the spatial extent of inundation, SLOSH model error bands, and potential inundation depths.\u00a0 These datasets are being shared with the emergency management planning communities at the local, regional, and state levels to help prepare for the \u201cwhat if\u201d scenario of a hurricane landfall in Maine.<\/p>\n Are Maine marshes losing area with accelerated sea-level rise?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
U.S. Geological Survey, New England Water Science Center<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Synoptic Climatology and Generating Mechanisms of Annual Floods in New England and Atlantic Canada<\/a>
<\/em>Mathias J. Collins, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/li>\n
Vulnerability of Water Conveyance Infrastructure Due to Changing Landscape within the Context of a Changing Climate<\/em><\/a>
Michael Simpson, Antioch University New England<\/li>\n
Afternoon break<\/li>\n
Using GIS to bring Superstorm Sandy to Maine: Updating Maine\u2019s Hurricane Surge Maps<\/em><\/a>
Peter A. Slovinsky and Christian H. Halsted, Maine Geological Survey<\/li>\n
Are Maine marshes losing area with accelerated sea-level rise?<\/em><\/a>
Kristin R. Wilson, <\/sup>Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/em>PowerPoint presentation available for download.<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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<\/em>PowerPoint presentation available for download.<\/a><\/p>\n\n