{"id":10730,"date":"2011-02-04T17:54:31","date_gmt":"2011-02-05T01:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=10730"},"modified":"2018-02-02T00:51:56","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T00:51:56","slug":"nasas-closer-look-at-the-bay-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/02\/04\/nasas-closer-look-at-the-bay-area\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA’s Closer Look at the Bay Area"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Taking global climate models and “downscaling” them for use at the local level is an ongoing challenge for scientists and for planners. \u00a0But thanks to new climate projections from NASA, the Bay Area now has a sharper view of what may be in store.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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BCDC map showing 16 inches of sea level rise in the SF Bay, which the agency projects will occur by mid-century.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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NASA says two-thirds of its facilities are at risk from sea-level rise, including Ames Research Center<\/a>, which sits at the southern edge of San Francisco Bay.\u00a0 So, it’s not exactly altruism that motivated the agency to deploy its own scientists to take a closer look at what climate change will really mean on the ground in places where it’s heavily invested.<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

“This is the first time we’re actually working with our scientists and taking the data that’s usually at hundreds of miles by hundreds of miles and bringing it down to the local level,” said <\/span> Olga Dominguez, assistant administrator for NASA’s Office of Strategic Infrastructure.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dominguez was at NASA Ames on Friday for a conference on climate change impacts in the South Bay. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

NASA scientists used historic local temperature and precipitation data and sea level rise records from San Francisco to downscale global climate models to produce projections for the southwestern Bay Area, which includes Ames.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Their results indicate that by 2050:
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