Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
addClaim

Climate change damages to Alaska public infrastructure and the economics of proactive adaptation, 2015-2017

Authors: orcid bw Rennels, Lisa;
Rennels, Lisa
ORCID
Derived by OpenAIRE algorithms or harvested from 3rd party repositories

Rennels, Lisa in OpenAIRE
orcid bw Boehlert, Brent;
Boehlert, Brent
ORCID
Derived by OpenAIRE algorithms or harvested from 3rd party repositories

Boehlert, Brent in OpenAIRE
orcid bw Nicolsky, Dmitry J.;
Nicolsky, Dmitry J.
ORCID
Derived by OpenAIRE algorithms or harvested from 3rd party repositories

Nicolsky, Dmitry J. in OpenAIRE
orcid bw Marchenko, Sergey S.;
Marchenko, Sergey S.
ORCID
Derived by OpenAIRE algorithms or harvested from 3rd party repositories

Marchenko, Sergey S. in OpenAIRE

Climate change damages to Alaska public infrastructure and the economics of proactive adaptation, 2015-2017

Abstract

This dataset holds information on data and methods for the Melvin et al., 2016 publication entitled Climate change damages to Alaska public infrastructure and the economics of proactive adaptation. The abstract for this paper is as follows: Climate change in the circumpolar region is causing dramatic environmental change that is increasing the vulnerability of infrastructure. We quantified the economic impacts of climate change on Alaska public infrastructure under relatively high and low climate forcing scenarios [representative concentration pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) and RCP4.5] using an infrastructure model modified to account for unique climate impacts at northern latitudes, including near-surface permafrost thaw. Additionally, we evaluated how proactive adaptation influenced economic impacts on select infrastructure types and developed first-order estimates of potential land losses associated with coastal erosion and lengthening of the coastal ice-free season for 12 communities. Cumulative estimated expenses from climate-related damage to infrastructure without adaptation measures (hereafter damages) from 2015 to 2099 totaled $5.5 billion (2015 dollars, 3% discount) for RCP8.5 and $4.2 billion for RCP4.5, suggesting that reducing greenhouse gas emissions could lessen damages by $1.3 billion this century. The distribution of damages varied across the state, with the largest damages projected for the interior and southcentral Alaska. The largest source of damages was road flooding caused by increased precipitation followed by damages to buildings associated with near-surface permafrost thaw. Smaller damages were observed for airports, railroads, and pipelines. Proactive adaptation reduced total projected cumulative expenditures to $2.9 billion for RCP8.5 and $2.3 billion for RCP4.5. For road flooding, adaptation provided an annual savings of 80–100% across four study eras. For nearly all infrastructure types and time periods evaluated, damages and adaptation costs were larger for RCP8.5 than RCP4.5. Estimated coastal erosion losses were also larger for RCP8.5.

Related Organizations
Keywords

climate change, adaptation, infrastructure, Alaska, damages

Powered by OpenAIRE graph
Found an issue? Give us feedback
citations
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average