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Climate Change Dissertation Titles
Climate Change Dissertation Titles
Embarking on the journey of writing a dissertation can be a daunting task, especially when delving
into the intricate realm of climate change. Crafting a compelling and impactful dissertation title that
captures the essence of your research is a crucial step in the process. However, the difficulties
associated with this task are not to be underestimated.
The complexity of climate change as a subject matter poses a unique set of challenges for students.
The need to convey the depth and significance of one's research while adhering to academic
standards can be overwhelming. Striking the right balance between specificity and broad relevance is
often a delicate feat that requires careful consideration.
Furthermore, the evolving nature of climate change research adds an additional layer of complexity.
Staying abreast of the latest developments and incorporating them into the dissertation title is
essential to ensuring the work remains relevant and impactful. This dynamic landscape demands a
nuanced approach to crafting titles that stand the test of time.
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and impactful climate change dissertation titles.
In particular, as noted in this report and others (e.g., NRC, 2009k), the science needs for improved
climate observing systems and improved model projections of future climate change can best be met
through collaborations and partnerships at the international scale. These and other examples of
research needs for supporting actions to limit climate change are listed in Table 4.4. The challenge of
limiting climate change also engages many of the other research themes identified in this chapter.
Chapter 6 describes some recent scenario development efforts as well as several key outstanding
research needs. Finally, research can help to develop frameworks for decision making that allow
these barriers, costs, benefits, co-benefits, and trade-offs to be explicitly evaluated and incorporated
into strategies for reducing emissions. Working across areas of research where no unified community
has yet been assembled represents an additional challenge, one that requires both careful sampling of
views across communities and time to develop mutual understanding. Emerging concerns about how
best to respond to climate change also bring to the fore questions about human interactions with the
climate system: how human activities drive climate change; how people understand, decide, and act
in the climate context; how people are affected by climate change; and how human and social
systems might respond. For example, research will be needed to evaluate the overall effectiveness of
different technologies, possible unintended consequences of large-scale deployment, and possible
tradeoffs and co-benefits with other types of responses. Indeed, available research suggests that, all
too often, scientists’ efforts to provide information are of limited practical value because effective
decision-support systems are lacking (NRC, 2009g). Large-scale social science data collection efforts,
ranging from the census to federally funded surveys such as the National Longitudinal Study of
Adolescent Health, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the General Social Survey, and the
National Election Studies show the feasibility and value of long-term efforts to collect high-quality
social data. It will also require the creation of new institutions to facilitate the needed research at the
appropriate scales and in appropriate contact with decision makers. Recommendation 4: The federal
climate change research program should work with the international research community and other
relevant partners to sup port and develop advanced models and other analytical tools to improve
under standing and assist in decision making related to climate change. Climate change impacts are
not yet dramatically noticeable in the most populated regions of the United States, and even rapid
climate change takes place over decades, making it difficult for people to notice unless they look at
historical records (Bostrom and Lashof, 2007; Moser, 2010). Our charge was to provide a concise
overview of past, present, and future climate change, including its causes and its impacts, and to
recommend steps to advance our current understanding of climate change and the effectiveness of
responses to it (see Appendix B ). The recent report Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate
(NRC, 2009g) identified a set of basic principles of effective decision support that are applicable to
the climate change arena: “(1) begin with users’ needs; (2) give priority to process over products; (3)
link information producers and users; (4) build connec-. A long-range goal of integrated assessment
models is to seamlessly connect models of human activity, GHG emissions, and Earth system
processes, including the impacts of climate change on human and natural systems and the feedbacks
of changes in these systems on climate change. Moreover, the failure to follow through with
periodic, comprehensive national climate change assessments weakened the program’s ability to build
a consistent and sustainable relationship with stakeholders. Rather than focusing on precise
projections of key system variables, integrated assessment models are typically used to compare the
relative effectiveness and implications of different policy measures (see Chapter 17 ). Similar
difficulties could be in store for “smart meters,” which are promoted as devices that will allow
households to manage energy use to save money and reduce emissions, but which are often designed
mainly for the information needs of utility companies rather than consumers. For example, climate
change is sometimes confused with other types of pollution or with other global atmospheric
problems (especially the stratospheric ozone “hole,” which some people erroneously think leads to
global warming by allowing more solar radiation to enter the atmosphere) (Bostrom et al., 1994;
Brechin, 2003; Kempton, 1991). These changes have severely increased the spread of diseases and
damage to homes. Research is needed to improve understanding of the climate system and related
human and environmental systems, to maximize the effectiveness of actions taken to respond to
climate change, and to avoid unintended consequences for human well-being and the Earth system
that sustains us. Science can also support adaptation through research-based development and testing
of decision-support strategies and tools designed to connect scientific information with decision
making. Direct, long-term monitoring of sea level and related oceanographic properties via tide
gauges, ocean altimetry measurements from satellites, and an expanded network of in situ
measurements of temperature and salinity through the full depth of the ocean water column are
needed to quantify the rate and spatial variability of sea level change and to understand the ocean
dynamics that control global and local rates of sea level rise. The major advantage of the continuance
of the USGCRP in this coordinating role is that the program already exists and has the legal
authority and mandate to engage in a cross-agency research program. When such simplified models
are used, however, it is important to ensure that the simplified representations of complex processes
are backed up, supported, and verified by more comprehensive models that can simulate the full
range of critical processes in both the Earth system and human systems. Heuristic models and
exercises have also been developed that engage decision makers, scientists, and others in planning
exercises and gaming to explore futures. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy
of Sciences. For example, individual and household food choices, the layout of communities, and the
design of supply chains all have effects on climate. In the context of climate change, certification
systems and standards are sets of rules and procedures that are intended to ensure that sellers of
credits are following steps that ensure that CO 2 emissions are actually being reduced (see Chapter
17 ). This should not be a process in which decision makers have undue influence on the conduct of
science or scientific conclusions. At the same time, many of the actions taken to limit or adapt to
climate change ultimately play out at local and regional scales.
Large-scale social science data collection efforts, ranging from the census to federally funded surveys
such as the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the Panel Study of Income
Dynamics, the General Social Survey, and the National Election Studies show the feasibility and
value of long-term efforts to collect high-quality social data. Studies conducted in the 1970s and
1980s demonstrate the feasibility of data collection efforts that integrate across the engineering and
social sciences to better understand and model energy consumption (Black et al., 1985; Cramer et
al., 1984; Harris and Blumstein, 1984; Socolow, 1978). Unfortunately, many of the needed
observational assets are either underdeveloped or in decline. Observations are also critical for
developing, initializing, and testing models of future human and environmental changes, and for
monitoring and improving the effectiveness of actions taken to respond to climate change. The act
envisions a program that covers the full spectrum of activities from understanding climate change
and its interactions with other global changes and stresses through developing and improving
responses to these changes. Several of the themes in this chapter represent new or understudied
elements of climate change science, while others represent established research programs. Progress in
all seven themes is needed (either iteratively or concurrently) because they are synergistic. A wide
range of models, tools, and approaches, from quantitative numerical models and analytic techniques
to frameworks and processes that engage interdisciplinary research teams and stakeholders, are
needed to simulate and assess these interactions. For example, coastal inundation models require
better bathymetric data, better data on precipitation rates and stream flows, ways of dealing with
storm-driven sediment transport, and the ability to include the effects of built structures on coastal
wind stress patterns (see Chapter 7 ). In the context of climate change, certification systems and
standards are sets of rules and procedures that are intended to ensure that sellers of credits are
following steps that ensure that CO 2 emissions are actually being reduced (see Chapter 17 ).
Methods that allow aggregation of data from across a range of regions to develop national-scale
understanding will sometimes be necessary, but local and regional vulnerability assessments will also
be needed, and these depend on both local and appropriately downscaled information (Braden et al.,
2009).The potential exists for greater use of remote sensing to develop indicators of vulnerability to
various climate-related hazards and of the socioeconomic drivers of climate change. Climate data
records (see NRC, 2004a) are generated by a systematic and ongoing process of climate data
integration and reprocessing. Expanded research on decision support would enhance virtually all the
other research called for in this report by improving the design and function of systems that seek to
make climate science findings useful in adaptive management of the risks of climate change. In
addition, a set of fully integrated models capable of analyzing policies that unfold sequentially, while
taking account of uncertainty, could inform policy design and processes of societal and political
judgment, including judgments of acceptable risk. By design, Jason-2 overlaps with the Jason-1
mission, thus providing the requisite intercalibration period and securing the continuity of high-
accuracy satellite altimetry observations. They have also been steadily increasing in detail,
sophistication, and complexity, most notably by improving spatial resolution and incorporating
representations of atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemical cycling, and other Earth system processes.
Integrated assessments—which are done through either formal modeling or through informal
linkages among relevant disciplines—have been used to develop insights into the possible
effectiveness and repercussions of specific environmental policy choices (including, but not limited
to, climate change policy) and to evaluate the impacts, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity of both
human and natural systems to a variety of environmental stresses. This summary follows the
structure of the longer report, which addresses the following topics: Observed changes and their
causes; Future climate change, risks and impacts; Future pathways for adaptation, mitigation and
sustainable development; Adaptation and mitigation. While research on deliberation with analysis
has provided a general framework that has proven effective in local and regional issues concerning
ecosystem, watershed, and natural resource management, more research is needed to determine how
this approach might be employed for national policy decisions or international decision making
around climate change (NRC, 1996, 2005a, 2007a, 2008h). An additional and valuable role of
integrated assessment activities is to help decision makers deal with uncertainty. Technology
development is directed primarily toward the other three strategies: efficiency, lower carbon
intensity, and carbon capture and storage. In addition, growing demands for climate information will
require more people with skills and practice in effective communication, science-policy interaction,
and activities at the interface between research and decision making. Some of the most
consequential climate-relevant decisions and actions are shaped by institutions—such as markets,
government policies, and international treaties—and by public and private organizations. There have
been a number of efforts to establish priority-setting criteria for climate-related research (see, e.g.,
NRC, 2005a, 2009k). With the authoritative science, the technical know-how, the practical support
on the ground and experience in mobilizing multilateral support for the fight against climate change
and poverty, to ensure that the benefits of action are effective in combating climate change while
also reaching those who need them most. LCA has been used to examine the GHG emissions and
land use requirements of renewable energy technologies (e.g., NRC, 2009) and other technolo-. The
integration of tide gauge and satellite data provides an excellent example of how satellite and
surface-based observations are essential complements to one another within an integrated observing
system. Institutional design would likely be enhanced by more systematic research to evaluate past
and current efforts, compare different institutional approaches for reaching the same goals, and
develop and pilot-test new institutional options. The response of human and environmental systems
to this spectrum of changes is likewise complex. Designing effective agricultural strategies for
limiting and adapting to climate change will require models and analyses that reflect these
complicated interactions and that also incorporate the response of farmers and markets not only to
production and prices but to policies and institutions (see Themes 3, 4, and 7 below). Many such
mechanisms are already in operation, and these constitute natural experiments, but the scientific base
for evaluating these experiments and designing effective institutions is limited (see, e.g., Ostrom,
2010; Prakash and Potoski, 2006; Tietenberg, 2002).
The collection also contains theses and dissertations relevant to environmental policy. Our climate
change work falls into four main areas: i. Furthermore, progress on several key crosscutting issues,
such as maintaining and improving climate-related observational programs, have suffered from a lack
of leadership and coordination (e.g., NRC, 2008d). Thus, it is not clear that the USGCRP as
presently con-. Much of the training in these areas will presumably need to take place at regional and
local scales, but federal leadership and support are essential. In the following sections, the seven
integrative, crosscutting research themes identified by the panel are discussed in detail. So-called
“boundary organizations” that purposefully link researchers and decision makers provide one model
for doing so (see, e.g., Brooke, 2008; Moser and Luers, 2008; Pohl, 2008; Tribbia and Moser, 2008).
Scenarios are critical for helping decision makers establish targets or budgets for future GHG
emissions and devise plans to adapt to the projected impacts of climate change in the context of
changes in other human and environmental systems. Scenario development is an inherently
interdisciplinary and integrative activity requiring contributions from many different scientific fields
as well as processes that link scientific analysis with decision making. Socioeconomic data are also
critical for linking environmental observations with assessments of climate-related risk, vulnerability,
resilience, and adaptive capacity in human systems. As with other types of observations, long time
series are needed to monitor changes in the drivers of climate change and trends in resilience and
vulnerability. For example, individuals and organizations are currently far less energy efficient than
is technologically feasible or economically optimal (Jaffe and Stavins, 1994; Weber, 2009).
Certification systems typically span a product’s entire supply chain, from source materials or
activities to end consumer. The recent study Observing Weather and Climate from the Ground Up: A
Nationwide Network of Networks (NRC, 2009j) discusses the value and challenges of coordinating
the wide range of ground-based weather, climate, and climate-related observing systems to create a
more integrated system that could be greater than the sum of its individual parts. New and improved
technologies will be needed to meet the challenges of limiting climate change and adapting to its
impacts (NRC, 2010a,c). However, as noted in Chapter 7, precise projections are not easy to provide.
Identifying and setting research priorities across such a broad and diverse range of scientific
activities is much more challenging than priority setting within individual disciplines, which usually
share common practices, understandings, and language. LCA also points out the importance of
farming practices in shaping agricultural GHG emissions and to the potential for alternative plant
inputs, such as cellulose, as a feedstock for liquid fuels. These products may include models and
simulations, mapping and visualization products, websites, and applications of techniques for
structuring decisions, such as cost-benefit analysis, multiattribute decision analysis, and scenario
analysis. There is a natural balance that exists between vegetation and the atmosphere, once a lot of
deforestation has taken place then an imbalance is created resulting in more environmental problems.
Chapter 13 includes additional discussion on these topics. Climate researchers and research managers
will also need training in decision-support and outreach activities needed to shape a decision-
relevant science agenda. These products may include models and simulations, mapping and
visualization products, websites, and applications of techniques for structuring decisions, such as
cost-benefit analysis, multiattribute decision analysis, and scenario analysis. Third, people commonly
use analogies, associations, or simplified mental models to communicate or comprehend climate
change, and these simplifications can result in significant misunderstandings. Second, the time scale
of climate change makes it difficult for most people to observe these changes in their daily lives.
However, the success of new urban and building designs will depend on better understanding of how
technology design, social and economic considerations, and attractiveness to potential occupants can
be brought together in the cultural contexts where the developments will occur. For more detail on
how we collect, store and use your information, please read our privacy policy. The USGCRP and
other elements of the nation’s climate change science research enterprise will be essential partners in
the success of these adaptation efforts. When such simplified models are used, however, it is
important to ensure that the simplified representations of complex processes are backed up,
supported, and verified by more comprehensive models that can simulate the full range of critical
processes in both the Earth system and human systems. Heuristic models and exercises have also
been developed that engage decision makers, scientists, and others in planning exercises and gaming
to explore futures. Finally, a research enterprise that includes the development, testing, and
implementation of improved risk assessment approaches and decision-support systems will enhance
the capacity of decision makers in the coastal zone—as well as other sectors—to respond effectively
to climate change. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document. The
purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the
institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets
institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. Enhanced
integrated assessment capability, including improved representation of diverse elements of the
coupled human-environment system in integrated assessment models, promises benefits across a wide
range of scientific fields as well as for supporting decision making.
Science that supports effective responses to climate change also will require integration of
information across spatial and temporal scales. For example, individual and household food choices,
the layout of communities, and the design of supply chains all have effects on climate. As described
later in the chapter, a number of domestic and international scientific programs have organized the
research community to focus on climate and other regional and global environmental changes. These.
Such knowledge underlies the ability to solve focused problems of climate response, such as
deciding how to prioritize investments in protecting coastal communities from sea level rise,
choosing policies to meet federal or state targets for reducing GHG emissions, and developing better
ways to help citizens understand what science can and cannot tell them about potential climate-
driven water supply changes. These efforts can be expected to increase intellectual capacity and
practical experience, both of which will be useful to both the research community and society at
large. However, improving our understanding of the flexibility and efficacy of current institutions
and integrating this body of knowledge with existing work on international treaties, national policies,
and other governance regimes remains a significant research challenge. Identification of differences
in vulnerability across space and time is both a pivotal research issue and a critical way in which
scientific research can provide input to decision makers as they make plans to adapt to climate.
Changes to the Global Change Research Act or other mechanisms, such as an Executive Order or
performance measures, may be appropriate means to implement these changes and strengthen the
program’s budget coordination and alignment with identified research priorities. Also, you can type
in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book. Hence, adaptive capacity
can often only be assessed based on assumptions about different factors that might facilitate or
constrain response and action (Eakin and Luers, 2006; Engle and Lemos, 2010) or through the use
of model projections. In addition, leaders of federal climate research should redouble efforts to
deploy a comprehensive climate observing system, improve climate models and other analytical tools,
invest in human capital, and improve linkages between research and decisions by forming
partnerships with action-oriented programs. The underlying model is simple enough to be used in
real time by policy makers to ask “what if” questions that can inform negotiations. As states and
other entities adopt policies to limit GHG emissions, sustained and integrated efforts to collect data
on environmentally significant consumption will be extremely helpful for monitoring progress and
honing programs and policies. For example, widespread adoption of batteries and fuel cells would
switch the main source of transportation energy from petroleum to electricity, but this switch will
only result in significant GHG emissions reductions if the electricity sector can provide low- and no-
GHG electricity on a large scale. A coordinated strategy for promoting and integrating energy-
related research is needed to ensure the most efficient use of investments among these disciplines
and activities. Finally, to support adaptive risk management and iterative decision making with re-.
Regional climate models, which are discussed later in this chapter, are a key tool in this area of
research. Any time partners are involved, control must be shared, and the success of the mission
depends critically on the performance of all partners. Declassified data from the 1960s have already
been used for this purpose with great success (Csatho et al., 1999; Joughin et al., 2002; Stokes et al.,
2006). More recently, a large amount of sea ice imagery was released for scientific study (NRC,
2009l). One key element in this research area is the development of more refined metrics and
indicators of social change. Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new
publications in your areas of interest when they're released. For example, understanding and
comparing the full effects of various energy technologies or climate policies (including their
comparative benefits, costs, risks, and distributional effects) typically requires an integration of
climate models with energy and economic models ( Theme 7 ), which in turn are based on
fundamental understanding of the climate system ( Theme 1 ) and human systems. As discussed in
Chapter 4, these efforts, and those established in the future, will require the climate change science
community’s assistance in providing more and better decision-relevant information, as well as
scientific research on improved communication and decision-support tools and structures. These
decisions would similarly benefit from integrated analyses or linked “end-to-end” models ( Theme 7
) of how policies and other actions influence emissions, how the climate system and related
environmental systems will respond to these changes in emissions, and how human and natural
systems will be affected by all of these changes—all of which again depend critically on
observations ( Theme 6 ). Expanded computing resources and human capital are also needed.
Continued participation in these international activities will be crucial to an effective climate science
enterprise in the United States. An external advisory board would help to ensure that priorities for
research are informed by and responsive to the needs of decision makers and other information
users, and it could assess and improve the program’s decision-support capabilities. A number of
climate and climate-related processes have the potential to damage human and environmental
systems in the coastal zone, including sea level rise; saltwater intrusion; storm surge and damages
from flooding, inundation, and erosion; changes in the number and strength of coastal storms; and
overall changes in precipitation amounts and intensity. This should not be a process in which
decision makers have undue influence on the conduct of science or scientific conclusions. These and
other examples of research needs for supporting actions to limit climate change are listed in Table
4.4. The challenge of limiting climate change also engages many of the other research themes
identified in this chapter.