A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant for $3.6 million over five years will support formation of MARISA (Mid-Atlantic Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments), a consortium of NOAA, The RAND Corporation, Penn State, Johns Hopkins University and Cornell University.
The consortium, aimed initially at the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, will support the effective utilization of climate science and the building of adaptive capacity and resilience to climate variability and change across various sectors in the Mid-Atlantic region. MARISA will help translate understanding of climate risks, uncertainties, and vulnerabilities to stakeholders and decision makers in the region; support adaptation planning, decision making, and adaptive management; coordinate and support regional climate assessments and services; and train new leaders.
MARISA is led by Debra Knopman, principal researcher at RAND and professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and Klaus Keller, professor of geosciences, Penn State.
The Chesapeake Bay Watershed covers 64,000 square miles in six states and the District of Columbia, is the home to about 17 million people and a diversity of natural communities. Climate change and variability are projected to impact the region bringing, for example, changes in sea-level, water and air temperatures, precipitation, streamflows, and potentially storm frequency and intensity.
MARISA will use social and physical sciences to create, analyze and translate climate information though time and space and demonstrate its use in decision making for a wide variety of end users.
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Media Contact
A'ndrea Elyse Messer
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