Wednesday (1/9) seminar focuses on potential climate change effect on Great Lakes region

The potential effect of climate change on the Great Lakes region is the focus of a public seminar hosted by Purdue University Calumet at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday (1/9) in the university’s Calumet Conference Center.

By the end of the 21st century, Great Lakes region temperatures are expected to warm by more than 5 degrees F with more winter precipitation expected at the expense of summer rains.

Purdue University biological engineer Keith Cherkauer, in his presentation, “The Impact of Changing Climate and Precipitation in the Great Lakes Basin,” will explore how an increase in frequent, heavy rainstorms and growing urbanization may lead to more water pollution and flooding.

Cherkauer’s research at Purdue includes a study of the effect of snow and soil frost on surface water, as well as energy balance in the upper Mississippi River basin.

The seminar is the last in a free series offered by Purdue Calumet and the Illinois Indiana Sea Grant Program and funded by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Lake Michigan Coastal Program.

Additional information can be obtained by contacting Illinois Indiana Sea Grant aquatic ecology specialist Leslie Dorworth at 219/989-2726 or dorworth@calumet.purdue.edu

The Calumet Conference Center is located at the far south end of the Purdue Calumet campus, one-third mile north of Interstate 80/94, three blocks east of Indianapolis Boulevard.

News Release Date: January 7, 2008