MOOC Comments

Question

This week, you learned about the impact of climate-related hazards. You first heard Jeff Baranyi and Jessica Bello discuss how GIS is helping communities prepare for immediate climate-related hazards. You then used ArcGIS Pro to create a 3D model to visualize and analyze the risk of future sea level rise in a city.

• Has your community experienced any climate-related hazards, like wildfires, drought, flooding, sea level rise, or extreme heat?
• If so, has the frequency or intensity of these climate-related hazards increased for your community in recent years?
• How could GIS address the impact of climate-related hazards for your community?

Answer

In Toronto, we finally saw smoke from the wildfires in Canada last summer because the wildfires in Quebec got bad enough. Our weather is no longer what it used to be even from back in 2005. Humidity is higher, making mild winters really cold, and mild summers really hot. We used to get 4 seasons, now we don’t anymore. Although this isn’t exactly what the question is asking, thought I highlight this. Some folks who’ve lived here for a long time don’t even realize the change and think it’s always been like this. If we talk about hazards, our seasonal changes were often marked by mild thunderstorms and subtle transitions. Now, our seasonal changes are marked with high wind gusts and unusual hail. Rain comes in larger droves and intensity, and heatwaves last longer and are hotter. These are noticeably different than the 90s and early 2000s.

I would say the frequency of climate hazards has increased. As one would notice seasonal changes are more extreme looking.

GIS can help to make the community more aware of changes from past to present, show community safety features like shelters and emergency supply locations, where to go if the waterways swell, etc. GIS can help show how extreme heat can be amplified by our asphalt roofing, keeping heat and smog in cities longer and hotter and more hazardous to citizens, and howor large sudden rainfall will affect the terrain and potentially flood low-lying parks, buildings and roads