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<\/a><\/p>\nThis week at work I was researching predicted sea-surface temperatures in 2100 for each ecoregion. I also had to find values for each of International Panel on Climate Change\u2019s Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). These are emission scenarios that could occur over the course of the century depending on emission restrictions and other climate change initiatives that we pursue. The four scenarios are 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5\u2014named after the range of possible radiative forcings in 2100. As I am finding four projections for each of the twelve ecoregions, I have to find 48 values. However, the literature does not have all of those numbers and I am waiting until this week to talk to one of mentors, Henry, to get his opinion on what the course of action should be as he was out of town most of this past week.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, what I have found has been worrisome. All of the values I have found project at least a 1\u02daC increase by the end of the century with some scenarios predicting up to a 5\u02daC increase. In order to determine organisms\u2019 relative vulnerability to an increase in sea surface temperature, Henry is developing a table of thermal cutpoints for each ecoregion based on current mean sea surface temperature data and the projected sea surface temperature values. None, low, moderate, and high risk of temperature increase for the species will be determined through the species\u2019 thermal tolerance which is indicative of their current biogeographical distribution. Henry developed a complicated series of rules that I don\u2019t completely understand and don\u2019t think I can properly explain quite yet.<\/p>\n In addition to researching sea surface temperature, the other intern working in my office, Christina (my other mentor), and I were all supposed to get field work training on a boat last Friday; however, the intern was sick and we postponed the trip until next week. Since I was waiting for Henry to return, I didn\u2019t have much research to do. Instead, I helped Christina write an abstract for a climate conference that she will attend in November. She will be presenting a poster on CBRAT and how it is incorporating climate change impacts and specific values to assess species\u2019 vulnerability. She has presented at this conference before, but this will be the first time she is able to report on the climate side of CBRAT which will surely please the climatologists at the conference\u2014many of whom have published studies that I have obtained values from.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am no longer writing for this blog as a teenager! My twentieth birthday was Saturday and my family and best-friend came down to Newport for the weekend! We walked around Hatfield, we walked along the Bay front, visited the … Continue reading ![\"IMG_20150711_154106\"](\"https:\/\/farm1.staticflickr.com\/317\/19651302345_8c2e9b3763_z.jpg\")
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