Title: Assessing the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Current Coastal Ecosystems—A Canadian Case Study

Journal: Remote Sensing

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15194742

Abstract: Understanding how climate change affects coastal ecosystems is one of the most important elements in determining vulnerability and resilience for long-term ecosystem management in the face of the increasing risk of coastal hazards (e.g., sea level rise, coastal flooding, and storm surge). This research attempts to undertake a study on the ecosystem–climate nexus in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island (PEI). Cloud-based remote sensing techniques with Google Earth Engine (GGE) are utilized to identify ecosystem changes over time. In addition, the effects of coastal flooding and storm surge ecosystems under different climate scenarios are examined. The results suggest a reduction in the forest (3%), open water or marsh component (9%), salt water (5%), no open water or marsh component (3%), and salt or brackish marsh (17%) ecosystems from 2013 to 2022. Dune and beach exhibit a non-uniform distribution across the period because of variations in natural processes, with an upward trend ranging from 0% to 11%. Approximately 257 km² (9.4%) of PEI’s ecosystems would be affected by extreme coastal flooding (scenario 4), compared to 142 km² (5.2%), 155 km² (5.7%), and 191 km² (7%) in scenarios 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Under a 4 m storm surge scenario, around 223 km² (8.2%) of PEI’s ecosystems would be flooded, compared to 61 km² (2.2%), 113 km² (4.1%), and 168 km² (6.1%) under 1 m, 2 m, and 3 m scenarios, respectively. The findings from this research would enable policymakers to take necessary actions to sustain ecosystem services in PEI while confronting the impacts of climate change.

The following paper about the mapping of crop evapotranspiration using remote sensing technologies has been recently accepted for publication by Frontiers in Remote Sensing.

Imtiaz, F., A. Farooque, X. Wang, F. Abbas, H. Afzaal, T. Esau, B. Acharya, and Q. Zaman. Mapping Crop Evapotranspiration with High-Resolution Imagery and Meteorological Data: Insights for Sustainable Agriculture in Prince Edward Island. Frontiers in Remote Sensing, accepted on September 29, 2023.

More details will come soon once the paper is published.

The following paper about the potential impacts of climate change on PEI’s ecosystems has been recently accepted for publication by Remote Sensing.

Dau, V. Q., X. Wang, A. Shah, P. Kinay, and S. Basheer. Assessing the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Current Coastal Ecosystems – A Canadian Case Study. Remote Sensing, accepted on September 25, 2023.

More details will come soon once the paper is published.

Title: Spatiotemporal trends in temperature and precipitation for Prince Edward Island over 1971–2020

Journal: Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjce-2023-0186

Abstract: Climate change has been attracting significant attention in Canada lately. This study investigates spatiotemporal air temperature and precipitation changes by developing high-resolution (i.e., 1 m × 1 km grid) climate maps from 1971 to 2020. The climate monitoring data are collected and synthesized from various sources, and then used to develop high-resolution climate maps with state-of-the-art spatial interpolation methods. The error metrics results show that the inverse distance weighting method performs the best for air temperature and precipitation and thus is used in this study. Significant temporal trends show that the annual mean temperature increased by 0.03 °C/year in western and eastern Prince Edward Island (PEI), covering 62.75% of PEI area. Similarly, the annual precipitation has decreased by around 4.8 mm/year in Prince County and eastern parts of Queens and Kings Counties, covering 62.81% of PEI area. In growing season, temperature has increased by 0.05 °C/year and precipitation is decreased by 2.1 mm/year in Prince County. This information illustrates the dynamics of temperature and precipitation toward the changing climate.

Title: Potential benefits of limiting global warming for the mitigation of temperature extremes in China

Journal: npj Climate and Atmospheric Science

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-023-00412-4

Abstract: In this study, we attempt to quantify the potential impacts of two global warming levels (i.e., 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C) on extreme temperature indices across China. The CMIP6 dataset is first evaluated against the CN05.1 observation for the historical period of 1995–2014. Then, future spatiotemporal patterns of changes in extreme temperature at two global warming levels under two shared socio-economic pathway scenarios (SSP245 and SSP585) are further analyzed. Overall, China will experience more frequent and intense high temperature events, such as summer days (SU), tropical nights (TR), warm days (TX90p) and nights (TN90p). On the other hand, under the SSP585, the number of icing days and frost days is projected to decrease at two global warming levels, with the maximal days of decrease (exceeding 20 days) seen in the west of China. Our results suggest that limiting global warming to 1.5 °C rather than 2.0 °C is beneficial to reduce extreme temperature risks. As temperature increases to 1.5 °C and then 2.0 °C above preindustrial levels, the most extreme temperature indices are expected to increase proportionately more during the final 0.5° than during the first 1.5° across most regions of China. For some warm indices, such as the warmest day (TXx), summer days (SU), and warm days (TX90p), the largest incremental changes (from 1.5° to 2.0°) tend to be found in the southwest. Under the SSP585, the incremental changes are similar to the change in the SSP245, but smaller magnitude and spatial extent.