Technology from afar reveal changes to the Adirondacks

On the heels of an afternoon at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake in which an assembly of scientists discussed in-the-weeds climate phenomena such as dry lightning and chlorophyll-A, it was an unscientific question from the audience that generated some of the most animated discussion.

“Are you OK?” asked Jill Henck, climate and energy program director for the Adirondack North Country Association.

After a year of cuts to research funding and attacks on the profession from the dregs of social media up to the highest public office in the land, no one needed to be told what those three little words meant. And the scientists were appreciative that she asked.

The event, sponsored by Adirondack Explorer in partnership with NASA and the Adirondack Earth-to-Sky program, examined the Adirondack’s evolving climate through the eyes of space satellites and ground-based field work using cutting edge technology through the Survey of Climate and Adirondack Lake Ecosystems (SCALE). 

Along with concern for the scientists’ well-being, Henck was interested in how to convey the message of a changing climate that is now settled science to an occasionally skeptical public.

The ensuing discussion acknowledged that along with the science, there are two other legs of the stool, those being policy and public engagement. Scientists have been encouraged to focus on their work, without tainting it with anything that smacks of bias in the public debate. But that may be changing.

“I’ve always been very passionate about science communication, and I think it’s a way we can really improve,” said Jenna Robinson, SCALE project manager for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “I think sometimes there’s a little bit of a disconnect because I remember even being taught in undergrad that scientists should not be involved in policy because it makes your science biased. And I inherently disagree with that.”

Mallika Talwar, of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, said public interaction is good both for the people and for science.

“We definitely need more scientists to be communicating, and we need to do that in a way that is not arrogant and actually understands people,” she said. “People do feel left out and we’re seeing a lot of misinformation, a lot of distrust, and to be able to counter that, we need trusted voices out there. and communicating and meeting people where they’re at.” 

Thursday’s program, “From satellite to sediment: What we can learn about the Adirondack Park from space,” was designed to foster such communication, said Explorer Publisher Tracy Ormsbee. 

A packed Wild Center auditorium demonstrated the appetite for such back-and-forths.

NASA scientist Peter Griffith explained how satellite technology supplements and interprets data collected on the ground. “NASA brings in the airborne remote sensing and the satellite remote sensing and modeling to make sense of all of these changes to ecosystems, the impacts on ecosystems, and and the consequences to social systems,” he said. “Social systems have responses that are supposed to be informed by science and NASA does our absolute best to have policy relevant science for good decisions.”

Particular to the Adirondacks, space imagery graphically showed the intensity of Canadian wildfire smoke over the region, and confirmed what many Adirondackers suspected without having to buy their own satellite: This winter was abnormally cold. Imagery showed a blue circle over the Adirondacks this winter, even as much of the rest of the planet was represented by warmer-than-average reds and browns.

The Arctic is warming fastest of all, spiraling more carbon and methane gases into the atmosphere as permafrost melts, which in turn contributes to more warming. Storms increasingly produce dry lightning — electrical storms with no accompanying rain — that ignite the Canadian forests.

At the lake level, Hamid Norouzi, remote sensing specialist for City University of New York, said trends show one degree of water warming per decade — and while the extremes are not increasing, the water is staying warmer throughout more of the year. “We are seeing a longer summer, with warmer waters May through October,” he said.

Few in the audience needed convincing, and were more critical that the governor’s office has signaled a pumping of the brakes on state climate goals. That will “open the floodgates for the gas companies,” one audience member said, about the uncertainty surrounding future renewable projects and the state’s shifting climate timeline.

Maureen Leddy, director of the office of climate change for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, acknowledged the rough ground, but said the state is still determined to push ahead.

“The state has been doing big things around renewable energy development, and there have been a lot of headwinds, even before the federal government changed over,” she said. “There was supply chain disruption and inflation. But these changes now are the most disruptive.”

Leddy said the state was struggling to get existing projects across the finish line and that planned projects have an uncertain future.

“We don’t have all the answers; ​​if we did, we’d be doing it,” she said. “But we’re trying our best to try to support all the investments that have happened, and to realize this vision of clean energy design.”

In response to a final question, scientists said, despite everything, they still feel hopeful.

“On a happy note, we’re trying to move in the right direction and it really comes from the ground up,” Robinson said. “Having this public support makes a difference, so thank you for being here, and thank you for asking the question.”

Watch a recording of the event here: