Effects of Global Warming on Texas 4/14 Sherman

Earth System & Global Change Science Lecture Series

Thursday, April 14, 2005
Ida Green Theatre
11:00 - Noon

The Effects of Global Warming on Texas
Dr. Jerry North
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
Texas A&M University College Station

>>All lectures are free and open to the public.<<


The Effects of Global Warming on Texas

The Earth's average temperature appears to be warming at a rate
unprecedented
over the last thousand years. The rate of warming is about 0.1 deg
Fahrenheit
per year. In some places and seasons the warming is greater than in
others.
Along with the warming are accompanying changes in precipitation and
sea level.
Other phenomena such as storm frequency may change as well. The best
candidate
to explain the climate changes is the increases in greenhouse gases
that are
mainly emitted from the burning of fossil fuels. The so-called
greenhouse effect
theoretically leads to increases of about the right magnitude, and the
theory
suggests that the next century will see much more warming than the
last. Texas
lies in the upper subtropics and as such will experience about the same
changes
as the global average in terms of temperature. However, Texas has some
peculiar
geographical features that make it particularly vulnerable to the
changes. The
Rio Grande Valley is expected to become drier and many rivers flowing
from West
Texas will exhibit much less water volumes than at present. Some will
not make
it to the Gulf of Mexico. Sea level rises of a foot or more will cause
some
difficulties along the Gulf Coast, particularly as hurricanes reach
landfall.
Theory suggests that the intensity and frequency of Atlantic Hurricanes
will
increase, but this aspect of the theory needs further checking.

Dr. Jerry North is a Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at
Texas
A&M, College Station. He majored in physics at the University of
Tennessee, and
received a PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Wisconsin.
He was a
postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in physics,
and a
physics professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis for ten
years. He then
went to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a Research Scientist for
eight years
before coming to Texas A&M in Atmospheric Sciences in 1986.

For more information, contact Jan Beckert at (903) 813-2034
Funded by a grant from NASA/USRA


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Driving Directions
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Austin College is located in Sherman, Texas, a community of about
38,000 on U.S.
Hwy 75 about 60 miles north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The
main campus
occupies 70 acres near the downtown area, with a 28 acre lake campus on
beautiful Lake Texoma.

From the East (U.S. Hwy. 82 or State Hwy. 11):
From Highways 82 or 11, take State Hwy 56 West, turn right on Grand
Avenue.
Austin College is 1/2 mile on the left.

From the West (U.S. Hwy. 82):
From U.S. Hwy. 82, take Exit 21 for State Hwy 91 (Texoma Parkway),
turn right
on Texoma Parkway and proceed to third traffic light (Grand Avenue).
Turn left
on Grand Avenue and continue on Grand across the overpass. Austin
College is 1/2
mile on the right.

From the North (U.S. Hwy. 75):
From U.S. Hwy. 75, take Exit 63 to U.S. Hwy 82. Travel east on U.S.
Hwy 82 and
follow directions "From the West" as stated above.

From the South (U.S. Hwy. 75):
From U.S. Hwy 75 North, take Exit 61 for State Hwy 91 (Texoma
Parkway). Turn
right at the second traffic light on Grand Avenue. Continue on Grand
across the
overpass. Austin College is 1/2 mile on the right.

For parking instructions: http://www.austincollege.edu/Info.asp?820