Nebraska Legislature - Special Committee - Climate Change Seminar - NSCO

Martha Shulski Author

06/08/2016 Added

48 Plays

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Seminar on Climate Change for the Climate Change Seminar for Elected Officials of the Nebraska Legislature - Nebraska State Climate Office

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[00:00:00.000]Used to be the director of the High Plains
[00:00:01.444]Regional Climate Center.
[00:00:02.541]My name is Martha Shulski.
[00:00:03.801]I'm a meteorologist and climatologist by training.
[00:00:06.483]I've been back in Nebraska since 2009.
[00:00:09.327]Starting on January 1st, so for the last five months,
[00:00:12.679]I've been director of the newly formed
[00:00:15.280]Nebraska State Climate Office,
[00:00:16.926]and I also serve as the State Climatologist
[00:00:18.965]for Nebraska.
[00:00:20.402]Almost all states in the country have
[00:00:22.454]a state climatologist.
[00:00:23.674]I think there are two that currently
[00:00:25.116]do not have a state climatologist.
[00:00:28.469]A lot of what Natalie said, if you apply it to
[00:00:30.805]the state of Nebraska, that's what our office does.
[00:00:35.255]We're very much a service and need based organization,
[00:00:38.587]as opposed to a research based organization.
[00:00:41.695]We do get involved in research projects,
[00:00:43.727]but our primary goal is to serve the climate data
[00:00:47.283]and information needs of the user community,
[00:00:50.066]and we serve a very broad community.
[00:00:53.297]It could be the media, it could be researchers,
[00:00:55.897]it could be university extension, state legislators.
[00:00:59.107]A very broad community that we serve.
[00:01:02.500]When I say Climate Office, I mostly mean
[00:01:06.340]current conditions and historical climate data.
[00:01:09.286]Our office does not run climate models
[00:01:13.309]and produce climate projections,
[00:01:15.686]but a lot of what we do is help people
[00:01:17.393]interpret the climate projections
[00:01:19.384]that are already out there from the outlook scale,
[00:01:22.960]say the upcoming season and upcoming few years,
[00:01:27.410]to the next 50 to 100 years.
[00:01:30.620]There's a lot of questions that we get
[00:01:32.021]into what does this mean for us?
[00:01:34.236]What is this projection saying?
[00:01:36.558]That's how we get involved in climate change issues
[00:01:41.205]is helping people interpret the information
[00:01:43.176]that's already out there.
[00:01:48.274]Our main goal, then, is to deliver weather
[00:01:51.246]and climate data and information
[00:01:52.711]to the user community.
[00:01:54.398]We do that by three main objectives.
[00:01:57.222]One is operating a state-wide weather network.
[00:02:00.879]Nebraska is very fortunate to have this
[00:02:03.052]research-quality network of automated
[00:02:06.080]weather observations throughout the state.
[00:02:08.397]We're up to about 70 weather stations now.
[00:02:11.098]We started with five in 1981.
[00:02:13.526]We've grown significantly, which is very good.
[00:02:17.092]We've got significant financial assistance
[00:02:20.252]from the legislator.
[00:02:22.578]That came into place a few years ago.
[00:02:24.487]We're certainly very grateful to have
[00:02:26.844]that financial assistance to help
[00:02:28.327]operate the network.
[00:02:30.359]We're always looking for opportunities
[00:02:31.639]to expand this network.
[00:02:33.854]We observe things like air temperature
[00:02:36.028]and humidity and precipitation
[00:02:38.040]and soil temperature and soil moisture,
[00:02:42.774]wind speed and direction.
[00:02:44.684]We archive that information and then
[00:02:46.552]develop products based off of that information.
[00:02:50.352]There are a couple of handouts in your folder
[00:02:52.953]that will talk about the office itself,
[00:02:56.610]as well as the state-wide weather network.
[00:03:00.856]Operating the weather network,
[00:03:02.339]that's one of our main objectives.
[00:03:04.452]Another one is serving the needs
[00:03:06.768]of the user community.
[00:03:08.963]Anything related to climate.
[00:03:10.486]It could be climate change, could be climate
[00:03:11.970]variability, it could be historical climate,
[00:03:15.241]future climate.
[00:03:16.094]Anything related to climate, that's what we're
[00:03:19.917]geared toward doing.
[00:03:22.244]Then trying to engage with our stakeholders
[00:03:25.657]and understand the needs of the user community.
[00:03:29.193]Like Natalie said, we don't want to just put out products
[00:03:31.935]that we think are helpful, we want to talk with folks
[00:03:36.852]and see what their needs are and really try
[00:03:39.574]and put out useful and usable information and tools.
[00:03:44.777]Like I said, our office, we're about five months old now,
[00:03:47.276]so we don't yet have a website that I can point you to,
[00:03:50.587]but in the next few months I'll be able to do so
[00:03:54.284]and we'll have a whole range of products
[00:03:57.434]that are geared toward the state of Nebraska,
[00:04:00.482]both current conditions, historical conditions
[00:04:04.261]and we'll also offer some information in regard to
[00:04:06.719]projected climate for Nebraska,
[00:04:09.340]historical trends, and information like that
[00:04:11.738]regarding climate variability and climate change.
[00:04:17.061]Let's see, what else did I want to talk about?
[00:04:21.327]One of my big interests, I talk to a lot of different
[00:04:25.573]groups about climate change and people always ask,
[00:04:28.438]"What does this mean for me?
[00:04:30.592]"What does climate change mean for me?"
[00:04:32.685]And I say, "Well, what are you interested in?
[00:04:35.834]"What affects you?
[00:04:37.114]"Is it temperatures during the winter time?
[00:04:40.385]"Is it high temperatures during the summer time?
[00:04:42.945]"Is it heavy rain events?
[00:04:44.672]"What metric is really important to you?"
[00:04:48.025]In my opinion, that's really what is lacking
[00:04:50.828]is that knowledge of the specific metrics
[00:04:55.705]regarding climate change and understanding those
[00:04:58.711]and helping the user community understand
[00:05:01.495]projections of those specific metrics
[00:05:04.380]of climate change.
[00:05:06.249]That's a particular interest that I have.
[00:05:11.471]I just wanted to make a comment, there was discussion
[00:05:13.482]earlier, I can't remember how exactly it got started,
[00:05:17.017]but in talking about climate change,
[00:05:20.289]a lot of the groups that I talk to,
[00:05:21.752]I don't really go in there saying climate change,
[00:05:24.250]climate change, climate change.
[00:05:25.856]I go into a group of farmers and say,
[00:05:27.989]"Well, what have you experienced?
[00:05:29.391]"What changes have you made over time?
[00:05:31.747]"What are you noticing?"
[00:05:33.098]And you talk about extreme events,
[00:05:35.506]and you talk about droughts and floods
[00:05:37.396]and extreme heat.
[00:05:39.488]You walk to their side of the bridge,
[00:05:41.927]so to speak, and you start there.
[00:05:44.344]Then you bring the person over to your side
[00:05:46.681]of the bridge, which is an understanding
[00:05:48.733]and knowledge of climate change.
[00:05:52.045]If you stand at the one side and say,
[00:05:53.487]"Hey, climate change, come over here,
[00:05:55.235]come talk to me," it's probably not going to work
[00:05:58.303]in some groups.
[00:05:59.806]If you go to the middle of the bridge and say,
[00:06:01.899]"Hey, come here, meet me in the middle,"
[00:06:04.012]that might not work, either.
[00:06:05.272]You actually have to go to the other side of the bridge
[00:06:08.603]and start there and take the person by the hand
[00:06:10.716]and guide them back to where you want them.
[00:06:14.414]That's just some of my experiences
[00:06:16.975]in talking with various groups about the topic
[00:06:20.205]of climate change and being really careful
[00:06:22.866]with the message that you use and how you frame it
[00:06:25.365]and making it very salient and relevant
[00:06:30.109]and tangible.
[00:06:31.643]Ken Winston and I over lunch were talking about
[00:06:33.879]making it real and relevant and tangible
[00:06:37.655]and something that people can understand, really,
[00:06:41.091]and make decisions based off of,
[00:06:42.696]as opposed to global climate change,
[00:06:45.561]which is a really difficult concept to think about.
[00:06:51.291]Just wanted to interject a few personal comments
[00:06:53.932]on some of my experiences.
[00:06:57.345]That's a little bit about who we are and what we do.
[00:07:00.860]Like I said, we're a relatively new office.
[00:07:03.156]There's been a State Climatologist in Nebraska
[00:07:05.655]for the last several decades, but there's never been
[00:07:08.519]a formalized State Climate Office with more than
[00:07:11.405]one person.
[00:07:12.827]Now we have that, which is a really good thing,
[00:07:15.427]and so it's really exciting to talk to this group
[00:07:18.658]and to think about where we could go with regard
[00:07:21.401]to climate change and the action plan in Nebraska.
[00:07:27.923]I guess I could maybe take questions, if there's
[00:07:32.322]Yeah, any questions?
[00:07:35.743]Thank you very much, and good luck. (laughs)
[00:07:39.890]Good luck with that website.
[00:07:41.089]Yeah. (laughs)
[00:07:43.385]It's got to be absolutely user-friendly.
[00:07:45.254](laughter)
[00:07:47.976]Good.
[00:07:48.809]Yeah.
[00:07:49.785]Now, I know there's a soil
[00:07:51.207]moisture monitoring network in Nebraska.
[00:07:53.543]Mm-hmm.
[00:07:54.376]Is that part of what you do now
[00:07:55.839]Yes.
[00:07:56.672]Is wet net?
[00:07:57.505]Your whole weather stations are equipped with that?
[00:07:58.338]Yes.
[00:07:59.171]In your packet, there's something called,
[00:08:00.703]"Keeping the Records," so this is our little
[00:08:02.430]two-pager on the network.
[00:08:05.945]Soil moisture is a part of that.
[00:08:08.424]We're actually for new stations that are going in,
[00:08:10.374]we're going to five depths of soil moisture
[00:08:12.752]and temperature as well.
[00:08:15.006]In the past, it's only been temperature
[00:08:16.490]at one depth and moisture at four depths,
[00:08:18.896]but yeah, and I think Don, you were probably involved
[00:08:21.273]in when the soil moisture network started in Nebraska,
[00:08:25.357]but that's at all of our locations here.
[00:08:28.994]Okay.
[00:08:29.827]I think it started about 2002,
[00:08:32.996]when we started adding that instrumentation
[00:08:35.698]to the automated network, and it was through
[00:08:39.274]funding through the Bureau of Reclamation,
[00:08:42.472]as a result of their Drought Assistance Program
[00:08:46.690]in the 2002 drought.
[00:08:49.311]We proposed that we add soil moisture monitoring
[00:08:51.708]to all of our automated sites.
[00:08:53.862]At that time, I think we had 50 or 55 weather stations.
[00:08:57.946]We actually got federal funding to get that going
[00:09:00.323]because soil moisture is the critical resource
[00:09:03.756]for agriculture, but it's also important
[00:09:06.912]for flooding issues and so forth to know what that is.
[00:09:10.735]That's been a really helpful part of the network.
[00:09:15.326]Great, okay.

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Nebraska Legislature - Special Committee - Climate Change Seminar - NSCO

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