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Earth Sciences

Tool
Mid-Atlantic Regional Climate Impacts Summary and Outlook: Fall 2021
This climate summary aims to inform Mid-Atlantic policymakers and practitioners about fall 2021, regional climate trends, and the upcoming winter season. A tool shows an analysis of future projected changes in temperature, compared to climate normals.
Dec 21, 2021
Journal Article
Adaptive Water Management in the Face of Uncertainty: Integrating Machine Learning, Groundwater Modeling and Robust Decision Making
This study examines climate change and water resources management challenges facing water suppliers in drought-prone regions.
Dec 21, 2021
Blog
Measuring Greenhouse Gases in Los Angeles County
Los Angeles, once the U.S. capital of smog and sprawl, has vowed to lead the nation into a cleaner, greener future by stamping out carbon pollution. A small array of sensors installed on the roof of RAND's Santa Monica headquarters could help it get there.
Nov 30, 2021
Journal Article
Overview of the Jack Rabbit II (JR II) Field Experiments and Summary of the Methods Used in the Dispersion Model Comparisons
This paper summarizes the Jack Rabbit II chlorine release trials conducted at the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground in 2015 and 2016 and provides on overview of comparisons of 17 widely used dense-gas dispersion models using the JR II data.
Nov 23, 2021
Tool
Mid-Atlantic Regional Climate Impacts Summary and Outlook: Summer 2021
This climate summary aims to inform Mid-Atlantic policymakers and practitioners about summer 2021, regional climate trends, and the upcoming fall season. A tool shows an analysis of historic and future projected growing degree days across the Mid-Atlantic.
Sep 20, 2021
Report
Developing the Great Lakes National Center of Expertise for Oil Spill Preparedness and Response: An Opportunity to Reduce Risk and Impacts of Future Spills in Freshwater
In 2016, Congress directed the U.S. Coast Guard to establish the Great Lakes National Center of Expertise for Oil Spill Preparedness and Response. This report makes recommendations for the center, its staffing, potential partnerships, and location.
Aug 31, 2021
Journal Article
Arctic Shipping Guidance from the CMIP6 Ensemble on Operational and Infrastructural Timescales
The expectation of a seasonally ice-free Arctic by mid-century has sparked interest in Arctic opportunities and risks. This paper presents a framework for obtaining more timely and salient information to guide decisions relevant to operational and infrastructural horizons.
Jul 30, 2021
Journal Article
Gaps in Toxic Industrial Chemical Model Systems: Improvements and Changes Over Past 10 Years
To assess the hazards of the releases of toxic chemicals to the atmosphere, comprehensive model systems are often used. This paper reviews knowledge gaps that were resolved in the past ten years by new theoretical and experimental research.
Jul 21, 2021
Report
Factors influencing domestic tourism in the UK and abroad and the role of publicly funded domestic tourism marketing: A rapid evidence assessment
This research, commissioned by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), was undertaken to identify factors that influence people's decisions to take domestic holidays and the impact of publicly funded domestic tourism marketing.
Jul 15, 2021
Tool
Developing Future Projected Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) Curves: Technical Report
To support stormwater managers in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and Virginia in adapting to climate change, this study updated intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves, a common tool used for stormwater infrastructure design, to reflect future climate changes.
Jul 9, 2021
Commentary
Arming the Department of Defense's Environmental Liabilities Program
A new U.S. emphasis on sustainable environmental conditions is emerging just as budget pressures are increasing. The DoD could use this as an opportunity to develop a systematic approach to addressing its environmental liabilities.
Jun 23, 2021
Tool
Mid-Atlantic Regional Climate Impacts Summary and Outlook: Spring 2021
This climate summary aims to inform Mid-Atlantic policymakers and practitioners about spring 2021, regional climate trends, and the upcoming summer season. A tool shows flooding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania under historic and future climate.
Jun 21, 2021
Blog
Reopening the U.S. Economy, Geoengineering, 5G: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the potential effects of reopening the economy before the White House's vaccination goal is met, students' learning experiences during the pandemic, competition in the 5G era, and more.
May 28, 2021
Journal Article
The Impact of Black Carbon Emissions from Projected Arctic Shipping on Regional Ice Transport
Diverting shipping emissions from the Suez Canal to the Arctic will influence regional evolution of sea ice cover with regional differences in future sea ice retreat. These results are likely to have policy implications with expansion of industrial activities into the Arctic.
May 26, 2021
Report
What Are the Geopolitical Risks of Geoengineering?
Geoengineering is the intentional manipulation of an environmental process on Earth to counteract the effects of climate change. Geoengineering implementation could introduce geopolitical risks. This raises the question of whether existing international governance mechanisms can manage these risks.
May 25, 2021
Tool
Mid-Atlantic Regional Climate Impacts Summary and Outlook: Winter 2020–2021
This climate summary aims to inform Mid-Atlantic policymakers and practitioners about winter 2020–2021 weather, regional climate trends, and the upcoming spring season. A tool shows historic snowfall in the Mid-Atlantic from 1981 to 2019.
Mar 17, 2021
Tool
Water Planning for the Uncertain Future
Recent climatic shifts likely will continue to affect water resources management in significant but uncertain ways. This tool provides information about decisionmaking under deep uncertainty methods—specifically, Robust Decision Making—through five case studies.
Mar 8, 2021
Commentary
California Needs a More Flexible Approach to Sea Level Rise Planning
Rising seas create significant risk to the health, safety, and economic vitality of California's coast communities, and we must prepare. A contingency-planning approach would provide flexible action over time and would build capacity that California and the nation need to respond to the many other serious and growing climate-related risks.
Feb 18, 2021
Journal Article
Development of a Quality-Controlled Chlorine Gas Concentration Data Base for the Jack Rabbit II Field Experiments
This paper describes the network of chlorine point sensors used during JR II, corrections to the measurements taken by MiniRAE sensors, and analyses using the concentrations measured along the concentric arcs 0.2–11 km away from the source.
Jan 26, 2021
Journal Article
Achievements and Needs for the Climate Change Scenario Framework
Over the past ten years, the climate change research community has developed a scenario framework combining alternative futures of climate and society to facilitate integrated research and consistent assessment to inform policy. Here we assess how well this framework is working and what challenges it faces.
Jan 6, 2021

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RAND Topic:
Earth Sciences

Topic Synonyms:
Geochemistry;
Geosciences

Research conducted by

RAND Social and Economic Well-Being

Researcher Spotlight

Susan A. Resetar

Senior Operations Researcher

Susan Resetar (she/her) is a senior operations researcher with over 25 years of public policy research at the RAND Corporation, working in the areas of strategic planning, climate and environmental policy, disaster management and recovery, climate change risks to critical infrastructure and…
Gary Cecchine

Director, RAND Gulf States Policy Institute

Gary Cecchine is director of the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute and a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. He leads and conducts technical and policy research in a range of areas, including energy and environmental policy, coastal protection, emergency preparedness and response,…

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