Fig. 12.1. Velocity difference (m yr^-1) between winter 2012-2013 and winter 2013-2014 measurements for marine-terminating outlet glaciers along the western and southeastern coasts of the Greenland Ice Sheet. The background image is a 20-m resolution RADARSAT-1 SAR mosaic.

Last month, the Climate Program Office co-sponsored a successful workshop led and hosted by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, on December 13, 2011. The workshop, titled Vulnerability and Adaptation to Extreme Events in California in the Context of a Changing Climate: New Scientific Findings, convened a team of disciplinary and multi-disciplinary experts to discuss extreme weather-related events in different sectors of the economy such as energy, public health, agriculture, coastal resources, and ecosystems.

The experts' presentations placed recent extreme events in a historical context and explored how they might be altered under future scenarios of climate change. Speakers included noted scientists including Professor Terry Root (Stanford), Professor Michael Hanemann (UC Berkeley), Dr. Marty Ralph (NOAA), Professor Gary Griggs (UC Santa Cruz), and several others. The event was open to the public.

The workshop was one of a series of events focusing on climate change that the State of California will be undertaking over the next several months. According to the workshop's website, Governor Jerry Brown is "dedicated to ensuring that California is prepared for the impacts of climate change, and that the state continues to lead the nation with its innovation, policy initiatives and commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Currently, the presentation materials from the individual talks are available online. As soon as they are completed, the published proceedings and video of each talk will also be made available at the same location.