HR: 14:00h
AN: A23A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Detecting Climate Change in the Great Lakes
AU: * Oaida, C M
EM: oaidac@umich.edu
AF: University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, United States
AU: Andronova, N G
EM: natand@umich.edu
AF: University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, United States
AB: The Great Lakes hold specific significance to the economy and ecology of the eight states it unites. For this project, using the 25-year long record of meteorological data from NOAA's National Buoy Data Center (NDBC) for ice-free conditions, it can be shown that despite large variability, climate change effects on the Great Lakes region can be detected. This was achieved by: (1) compiling mean monthly values from raw hourly data from the NOAA NDBC for period 2002-2005 which had not been done yet; (2) statistically analyzing monthly data for period 1980- 2005; and (3) comparing our results to other climate indicators related to events such as ENSO (El-Nino Southern Oscillation), PNA (Northern American Pattern), and NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation). Preliminary findings for the considered period indicated an increase in the temperature median of 2°C; a decrease in the high extreme of pressure correlating to an increase in the high extreme of wind velocity. Additionally, in dependence on the buoy location, we observed two to four-year cycle in the summer mean lake temperature values. Understanding and attributing such climate behavior in the Great Lakes can help in both adjusting economically to probable changes, as well as understanding global climate changes.
DE: 0429 Climate dynamics (1620)
DE: 0434 Data sets
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1630 Impacts of global change (1225)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly