Unsettling: NOAA Research Says Warming Ocean Poses Risk Of Extinction For Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook By 2060s
February 26th, 2021
NOAA Fisheries is using life-cycle modeling that projects threatened Snake River spring/summer chinook salmon will experience starkly lower survival rates during their years in the ocean in the future compared to now. Unusually warm temperatures—including a 2014-2015 marine heatwave— have depressed salmon returns to many West Coast rivers, including the Snake and Columbia.
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Apocalypse Now? Paper Warns Of The Risks Of Extreme Climate Forecasts
February 26th, 2021
For decades, climate change researchers and activists have used dramatic forecasts to attempt to influence public perception of the problem and as a call to action on climate change. These forecasts have frequently been for events that might be called "apocalyptic," because they predict cataclysmic events resulting from climate change.
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Study: With Climate Change, Magnitude Of Flooding In Columbia River Basin Will Increase 30-40 Percent In Some Areas
February 12th, 2021
The Columbia River basin will see an increase in flooding over the next 50 years as a result of climate change, new modeling from Oregon State University indicates.
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UW Study Shows Emissions Reductions Need To Be 80 Percent More Ambitious To Meet Paris Agreement Global Temperature Targets
February 12th, 2021
In 2017, a widely cited study used statistical tools to model how likely the world is to meet the Paris Agreement global temperature targets. The analysis found that on current trends, the planet had only a 5% chance of staying below 2 degrees Celsius warming this century — the international climate treaty’s supposed goal.
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Biden ‘Climate Crisis’ Executive Orders Call For Input On How To Make Fisheries More Resilient To Climate Change
January 29th, 2021
President Biden’s executive orders on climate change come as a warming climate already plays a key role in continued declines of Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead populations listed under the Endangered Species Act. One of the orders directly addresses fisheries.
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Oregon Climate Change Report: Future Will See Heavy Precipitation Events, Less Snowpack, Warmer Summers, Substantial Wildfire Increase, Bigger Floods
January 8th, 2021
The effects of a changing climate continue to significantly affect Oregonians and the state’s resources and infrastructure, the latest biennial report released today by the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute concludes.
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Marine Heatwaves Continue To Dominate Northeast Pacific; Researchers Asking If New Normal
December 11th, 2020
During the summer of 2020, an area of unusually warm ocean water—a marine heatwave—grew off the West Coast of the United States. It became the second most expansive Northeast Pacific heatwave since monitoring began in 1982. The heatwave eventually encompassed about 9.1 million square kilometers, almost six times the size of Alaska, towards the end of September.
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NOAA Fisheries Study Warns Climate Change Poses ‘Catastrophic’ Threat To Survival Of Endangered Snake River Sockeye
October 15th, 2020
Unusually warm river conditions killed most adult sockeye salmon migrating up the Columbia and Snake River system in 2015, reflecting a “new normal” with climate change, a new NOAA Fisheries study finds.
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NW States Agree To ‘Define A Future Collaborative Framework’ For Achieving Abundance Goals For Columbia Basin Salmon/Steelhead
October 15th, 2020
In a letter Friday (Oct.9) the four Northwest states announced they have agreed to work together to rebuild Columbia River salmon and steelhead stocks and to advance the goals of the Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force.