5th National Climate Assessment authors include UW climate experts

A tribal fire crew member in Oregon monitors a prescribed burn, a key tool for preventing large wildfires that are likely to become more common under climate change. — A prescribed burn in Oregon, a key tool for preventing large wildfires that are likely to become more common under climate change.

Three University of Washington experts are among the authors of the newly released Fifth National Climate Assessment, an overview of climate trends, impacts and efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change across the nation. The assessment is produced roughly every four years, led by the U.S. Global Change Research Program and mandated by Congress. The fifth edition, released Nov. 14, assesses current and future risks posed by climate change in 10 regions.

Crystal Raymond, a research scientist at the Climate Impacts Group, was a co-author of the Northwest chapter. She also contributed to a cross-cutting section focused on Western wildfires, a new feature that centralizes critical information on key trends.

“The Fifth National Climate Assessment includes more information on response actions and emphasizes action at the state and local levels,” Raymond said. Since 2018, Raymond said, adaptation plans and actions at the city and state level have increased by about a third across the U.S.

The other UW authors are Kristie Ebi, a professor of global health and of environmental and occupational health sciences, who contributed to the chapter on human health; and Dr. Jeremy Hess, a professor of environmental and occupational health sciences, of global health and of emergency medicine, who was an author on the air quality chapter. Ebi and Hess also are leaders within EarthLab’s Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE), a group of programs at the UW that focuses on climate change and its environmental, social and cultural impacts.