Climate Resilience Network

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Unifying the University of Maryland’s groundbreaking research with the immediate requirements of Maryland’s decision-makers to address the complexities of climate change as it affects our home. https://go.umd.edu/essicarticle072125

Top left: A group of people pose for a photo at Maryland Day. Top right: CMNS Dean welcomes the audience at the Scientists Serving Communities conference. Bottom left: Undergraduate student works in a lab. Bottom right: Tim Canty shows two people a water level sensor on a dock.
Photo of one person presenting a water-level sensor to two other people on the dock in downtown Annapolis, Maryland.
Headshot of Dr. Karen Prestegaard. Wed. 11/12: Karen Prestegaard. Changes in precipitation timing and their links to flash floods and droughts. In the past decade, many regions of Maryland have experienced hot, dry periods during summer months leading to flash droughts that have affected crops, forests, and stream baseflow. In the same time period, the intensity of summer storms has been increasing, with some sites experiencing multiple storm events in excess of the 100-year storm in the same year. My research group has been developing techniques to characterize precipitation clustering and the impacts on streamflow. We also have been monitoring small streams in Maryland urban and non-urban areas to measure flood rise rates, stream channel erosion, and the underlying geologic, geomorphic, and land use characteristics that mitigate or enhance these stream responses. Our goal is to provide information that can be used to identify existing flood hazard regions and to identify areas that have enhanced responses when developed.
Nicole Hernandez Hammer is a Guatemalan-American sea-level researcher and climate-change expert. She served as a climate-science and community advocate at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Previously, she was assistant director of the Florida Center for Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University. Hernandez Hammer is a participant in the Keeping Current project at the Van Alen Institute in Miami, Florida.
The road salt issue has a relatively simple solution: use less. It can be an all-around win for communities. In Edina, Minnesota, they install heated sidewalks or position a building’s entrance toward the sun, leveraging better city planning to melt snow. In New Hampshire, workers and contractors who apply salt are often protected from lawsuits from people slipping and falling.
“We have good management plans in place, but the information we have is telling us that the same management plans will probably not be effective enough at some point in the future,” said Kristen Kavanaugh, executive director of the Delaware River Basin Commission.
Why salt is threatening America's rivers and drinking water. Written by Kasha Patel. June 4, 2025. Washington Post. Tall tan grasses known as Phragmites australis are seen along the Anacostia River in Bladensburg, Maryland. These invasive plants, which grow in salty environments, are warning signs of the changing chemistry of the environment.
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