EVENT: US Navy War College: The National Security Significance of a Changing Climate, January 8
On January 8, the US Naval War College will host a public conference, The National Security Significance of a Changing Climate: Risk and Resilience in the 21st Century. Center for Climate and Security (CCS)CCS Advisory Board member, the Hon. Alice Hill, will serve as the keynote speaker, and panels feature many members of the CCS staff and community, including CCS Advisory Board Members the Hon. Sherri Goodman, Dr. Marcus King, and Rear Adm. Ann Phillips (Ret). Also on tap to speak are CCS Director John Conger and CCS Senior Research Fellow Josh Busby.
We’re delighted to see such an event on the War College’s agenda–In our Climate Security Plan for America, we recommend expanded training programs across the US government to ensure federal employees understand how to characterize and respond to climate security risks. This type of conference is an excellent step toward fulfilling that recommendation. For more information, check out this video about the conference and please click here to register for what is sure to be a fascinating discussion.
Snapping Shrimp Can Disrupt the Navy’s Search for Mines as the Oceans Warm
Fat-handed Snapping Shrimp. Photographer: Michael Marmach, Museums Victoria
And now for something completely different. Marine biologists presented an interesting paper at the Ocean Science Meeting 2020 on research they conducted on “snapping shrimp.” As ocean temperatures warm because of climate change, the cracking noise that snapping shrimp create increases in loudness and frequency. The cracking likely “helps the shrimp communicate, defend territories and hunt for food.” One of the implications is that the ocean soundscape will become noisier, potentially affecting not only the communication of ocean animals, e.g., fish, but sonar systems used by a fisherman or by the U.S. Navy to detect mines or other operations. Thus, while there are global effects from climate change, the scale of climate change effects will reach all the way down to the very local level – e.g., single species such as snapping shrimp – that can directly interfere with strategic marine national defense assets. Who said this topic couldn’t get any more interesting?
Biome Shifts Due to Climate Change Creates Increased Vulnerabilities for Military Installations
Supporting sustainable range management and training activities on military installations will be challenged by climate change, both in the near term and many years into the future. Odom and Ford (2020) modelled possible changes to biomes located on military lands from climate change to assess installation vulnerability to these shifts. Based on their modelling they found that the Northeast, the Great Lakes states, and western Great Plains will have the largest increases in temperature. These increased temperatures may adversely affect both forest and grasslands which are managed by installations to support training and natural resource management requirements, e.g., Clean Water Act; Endangered Species Act; Sikes Act. Adverse effects may include changed disturbance patterns–e.g., increased erosion in areas where heavy tactical vehicles are used in the winter when less snow occurs– as well as heat, and water stress to natural communities which, in turn, can disrupt scheduled training activities. The modelling results also forecast increased rainfall for the Northeast and Great Lakes. Disruptions to training may affect readiness of both personnel and equipment. These disruptions may then affect planned deployments.
(more…)Climate Change in the US Arctic: A Growing Concern for Homeland Defense?
Is climate change shaping U.S. Arctic posture? For much of its modern history, the U.S. has been considered a reluctant Arctic state, given its limited interest in the High North. In 2015, a survey by the Arctic Studio conducted in the U.S. found a greater affinity among Americans for the Rocky Mountains, the Great Plains, and the Pacific than the Arctic. Anecdotes such as the Seward’s icebox, or the answer sent by President Taft to the discoverer of the North Pole, Robert Peary (“I do not know exactly what I could do with it”), or the “Forgotten War” fought in the Aleutians, are usually quoted as proof of the minimalist US posture towards the Arctic.
(more…)Featured Report
