science Events & Workshops

Capitol Hill briefings on the 2010 hurricane season, which forecasters predict will produce between 14 and 23 named hurricanes - the most active season since 2005, when Hurricane Katrina and 27 other named storms swept the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Key discussion topics include risks an active hurricane season pose for energy-related infrastructure, for inland areas as storm surges push oil from the Gulf spill beyond beaches and marshland, and for stakeholders dealing with flooding in coastal communities in the Gulf and along the East Coast. 

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), The American Geophysical Union (AGU), The American Meteorological Society (AMS), The Ecological Society of America (ESA), and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change held a briefing on climate change impacts and adaptation.

Sea level rise is one of the most widespread climate impacts expected to result from human-induced global warming. New evidence from modern satellite observations on the one hand, and from the study of how large polar ice sheets responded to ancient global warming events on the other, suggests that global warming is already causing sea level to rise and that it could rise faster and to a greater extent this century—and beyond—than previously estimated. This briefing will help congressional staff understand recent scientific progress and current scientific thought on sea level rise.

Two leading experts, Dr. Mathias Vuille and Mr. Walter Vergara, will present the state of knowledge regarding the science and impacts of mountain glacier loss in tropical South America, with special focus on the Andes Mountains of Peru, where glacier retreat is particularly advanced.