USGS September Evening Public Lecture In Menlo Park

Coral Reefs, Climate Change, and Atoll Sustainability
Will Micronesians become the U.S.’s first climate change refugees?

by Curt Storlazzi, USGS Research Geologist and Oceanographer

Sea level is rising, threatening low-lying atoll islands throughout the western Pacific Ocean
Climate change is degrading the coral reefs that atoll islands have developed upon, decreasing the reefs’ ability to reduce wave energy and thus wave-driven island flooding
Wave-driven island overwash events threaten the limited freshwater and agricultural resources on these low-lying islands
We are trying to assess the impact of climate change and sea-level rise on the infrastructure, freshwater availability, and natural and historic resources of atoll islands under a variety of scenarios to determine “tipping points” - when islands are no longer habitable

When: Thursday, September 24th, 2015, 7:00 p.m. (PDT)

Where: U.S. Geological Survey, Bldg. 3 Rambo Auditorium, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025

More info: http://online.wr.usgs.gov/calendar/