We’re climate scientists Katharine Hayhoe (Texas Tech) and David
Easterling (NOAA/NCEI). Ask us anything about climate change in the
United States!
Abstract
In a year where we experienced record-breaking forest fires, floods,
hurricanes, heat waves, and cold spells, one can’t help but wonder - in
what ways is climate change already impacting American communities? Are
the extreme weather events that the US has endured in the recent past
indicative of climate change, or are the just a run of bad luck? If they
are, how should we expect them to change in the future? But most
importantly - how do we communicate the complexities of these answers to
the public? To answer these questions and more, we’ve assembled a group
of scientists who have dedicated significant effort to collaborate with
other like-minded researchers and put together documents such as the
National Climate Assessment and the Climate Sciences Special Report.
Panelists Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist whose research
focuses on understanding what climate change means for people and the
places where we live. She is a professor and directs the Climate Science
Center at Texas Tech University and has been named one of TIME’s 100
Most Influential People and Fortune’s 50 World’s Greatest Leaders. David
Easterling is a Supervisory Physical Scientist with the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental
Information (NOAA/NCEI) in Asheville, North Carolina. David received his
Ph.D. in 1988 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and
served as an Assistant Professor in the Atmospheric Sciences Program,
Department of Geography, Indiana University-Bloomington from 1987 to
1990. In 1990 he moved to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center as a
climate scientist, He has authored or co-authored more than 90 research
articles and book chapters on climate science. David was a Lead Author
on the Nobel Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC Special Report on Climate
Extremes, the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, and a Convening Lead Author
for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Synthesis and
Assessment Product (SAP) 3.3 on Climate Extremes. He is a Fellow of the
American Meteorological Society, and has been awarded four NOAA
Administrator’s Awards, and three NOAA Bronze Medals. 3:56 PM (CST) - Hi
all, we’re jumping into your questions now! David Easterling is joining
us on the floor of the American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting,
and Katharine Hayhoe is joining us online. We’re excited for the
discussion! 5:00 PM (CST) - We’ve just about finished answering most of
people’s questions. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any
more!