$1.6 Million Abrupt Climate Change Program Approved by Senate Appropriations Committee
Contact: Media contact: Nick Houtman, Dept. of Public Affairs, 207-581-3777
ORONO, Maine — The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a proposed $1.6 million research program to be led by the University of Maine on abrupt climate change, senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) announced today. As contained in legislation to be brought to the Senate floor, the program would create a national research program to address the potential for the Earth’s climate to change significantly within a decade or less.
“There’s no longer any doubt that the climate system in the past has changed relatively quickly from one state to another,” says Paul Mayewski, director of the Climate Change Institute at UMaine. Mayewski led the Greenland Ice Sheet Project (GISP2) that, in 1992, surprised scientists with the conclusion that in the past, average temperatures, storm frequency, precipitation patterns and even ocean currents have changed substantially in less than a decade.
“It’s unlikely that there’s a single cause, although in my opinion, changes in the amount of energy output from the sun could play an important role,” adds Mayewski.
Mayewski and his colleague George Denton, UMaine Libra Professor of Geological Sciences, are working with Collins to develop the federal research program on abrupt climate change. As currently envisioned, the program would involve a UMaine-led consortium including the University of New Hampshire, the University of Washington, Penn State, and the Lamont-Doherty Laboratory at Columbia University.
The subject is of more than academic interest. Climate changes are considered to be a major factor in human history. The fate of ancient civilizations as far apart as Peru and the Middle East appear to have been influenced by changes in the frequency and severity of flood and drought.
If scientists could get to the bottom of climate shifts, says Mayewski, they might be able to predict future climate with more reliability. Such knowledge could have major implications for energy, agriculture and even political stability.