The New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) predicted warmer, wetter weather in the state's future, as well as higher sea levels.
The recent report hopes to help protect communities and city's infrastructure from risks associated with climate change, NASA reported. The NPCC has been studying the effects of climate change on NYC and surrounding regions since 2008 using models from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS).
"The NPCC is a prototype for how federal government scientists and municipal policymakers can work together," said Cynthia Rosenzweig of GISS, who also is affiliated with the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University's Earth Institute, New York. "This collaboration will help ensure that climate science developed for the New York metropolitan region informs and draws from the best available information, positioning residents and planners to confront expected future changes in the most effective way possible."
The recent report showed the mean annual temperature has increased a total of 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit between the years of 1900 and 2013. The data predicts temperatures will increase by between 4.1 and 5.7 degrees by 2050, and by as much as 8.8 degrees by the 2080s. The frequency of heat waves is predicted to increase from the two per year seen in the 1980s to about six per year in 2080.
The panel reported an increase in precipitation of eight inches between 1900 and 2013, and could increase by between five and 13 percent by the 2080s from the 1980s base period. Sea level have also been observed to be rising in NYC, and are up 1.1 feet since 1900. These sea levels are expected to increase by as much as 39 inches in relation to the 2000 to 2004 base period.
"Climate change research isn't just something for the future," Rosenzweig said. "It's affecting how key policy decisions are being made now. NASA is proud to work with New York City and other intergovernmental entities to provide world-class science."
The findings were published recently in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
