Helping Mid-Atlantic communities become more resilient to a changing climate through improved data, place-based decision support, and public engagement.
December 3, 2019
A new paper by MARISA team members Rui Shi and Benjamin Hobbs proposes two procedures to identify climate adaptation decision problems that would most benefit from using formal decision analysis methods. Careful consideration of uncertainty and flexibility may result in better decisions but requires additional effort. These procedures can help decisionmakers understand in which situations a comprehensive analysis is worthwhile and in which situations a simple analysis should suffice. Download the paper [PDF].
April 29, 2019
RAND’s Jaime Madrigano, working with the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), partnered with the New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and others to develop a heat vulnerability index (HVI) for NYC and address the impacts of extreme heat on city residents. The HVI informed many of the initiatives in Cool Neighborhoods NYC, the mayor’s plan to protect against the worst effects of rising temperatures from climate change. Watch a video on the project or read the report.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (MARISA) program was established in September 2016 through a five-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). MARISA supports integrated, flexible processes for building adaptive capacity to climate variability and change in diverse settings in the Mid- Atlantic region, with an initial focus on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
MARISA is led by the non-profit RAND Corporation, in partnership with researchers in Penn State University’s Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, and the Environment, Energy, Sustainability and Health Institute at Johns Hopkins University, along with support from researchers in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University.
MARISA will rely on scientific models and information alongside close interactions with stakeholders and decisionmakers to achieve its objectives.
Work closely with community leaders, policymakers, practitioners, and academics to create information and decision-support tools that strengthen resilience to climate variability and change.
Develop climate data and tools to understand vulnerabilities in diverse contexts, including a comprehensive flood risk assessment for Chesapeake Bay communities.
Develop planning tools to help ensure sustainable freshwater availability, ecosystem vitality, and economic prosperity.
Train graduate and undergraduate students and community members to understand real-world challenges and opportunities in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Inform and organize national and regional climate assessments through coordination with other regional climate programs.
Evaluate MARISA’s progress and the combined impact of multiple, adjacent regional climate programs. Periodic program-based evaluation will improve planning and operations.
Senior Principal Researcher, RAND Corporation
Professor of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University
If you’d like to find out more about our work or upcoming projects, get in touch with our program manager.
MARISA Program Manager
Associate Physical Scientist, RAND Corporation
