Hurricane Ike and Increasing Vulnerability to Hurricanes: Global Warming’s Wake-Up Call for the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts

National Wildlife Federation Climate Scientist Dr. Amanda Staudt is available to talk about the latest science on global warming, increased vulnerability to hurricanes, and how Hurricane Ike fits the pattern of a new era of stronger storms.

Dr. Staudt is the lead author of a new report Increasing Vulnerability to Hurricanes:
Global Warming’s Wake-Up Call for the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts,
http://www.nwf.org/nwfwebadmin/binaryVault/Hurricanes_FNL_LoRes1.pdf
detailing how:
•Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger As Oceans Warm;
•More Stormy Weather Lies Ahead;
•Increasing Coastal Population and Development Puts People in Harm’s Way;
•Hurricanes Affect Wildlife;
•Wetlands Are The First Line of Defense Against Hurricanes; and
•To Reduce Risks and Prepare for Future Hurricanes
Dr. Amanda Staudt provides scientific expertise for the National Wildlife Federation’s activities on global warming. While at NWF, she has coauthored reports on the connection between global warming and extreme weather and on how global warming will affect aquatic habitats in California and the Chesapeake Bay. Previously, as a senior program officer at the National Academies, her work focused on climate change, air quality, and weather impacts. As a key liaison between the scientific community and the federal agencies that support climate change research, she directed the National Academies Climate Research Committee and helped author more than a dozen reports on topics including the U.S. strategy for supporting climate change research, radiative forcing of climate, past records of surface temperature, and practices for effective global change assessments. She holds a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences (2001) and an A.B. in environmental engineering and sciences (1996) from Harvard University. She is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.