[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 129 (Monday, September 14, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9329-S9330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Kerry, 
        and Mrs. Gillibrand):
  S. 1667. A bill to provide for the development and coordinator of a 
comprehensive and integrated United States research program that 
assists the people of the United States and the world to understand 
past, assess present, and predict future human-induced and natural 
processes of abrupt climate change, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to offer a bill to authorize 
funding for abrupt climate change research. I am pleased to be joined 
on this bill by Senator Cantwell as lead cosponsor and by our 
colleagues, Senators Snowe, Kerry, and Gillibrand.
  Abrupt climate change is defined as a large-scale change in the 
climate system that takes place over a few decades or less, persists, 
or is anticipated to persist, for at least a few decades, and causes 
substantial disruptions in human and natural systems.
  Our bill authorizes $10 million per year for the next 6 years for a 
comprehensive and integrated competitive, peer-reviewed, research 
program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 
understand, assess, and predict abrupt climate change.
  Abrupt climate change is not necessarily a result of increased 
amounts of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. It can be caused by 
natural phenomena, such massive volcanic eruptions, or natural climate 
variability.
  However it comes about, abrupt climate change can pose significant 
risks and challenges to our society. For us to uphold our 
responsibility as stewards of the Nation's environmental and economic 
security, it is crucial that we better understand abrupt climate change 
so that we can recognize it early and respond to it effectively.
  Understanding and predicting climate change are enormous scientific 
challenges. The challenges are made even more difficult with the 
recognition that the climate system is capable of dramatic and abrupt 
changes. Past global temperatures have swung as much as 20 degrees 
fahrenheit within a decade, accompanied by drought in some places and 
catastrophic floods in others. An abrupt climate change triggered by 
the ongoing buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would also 
likely result in the redistribution of atmospheric moisture and 
rainfall, with substantial impact on the world's food supplies. 
Unfortunately, we have no satisfactory understanding of what triggers 
abrupt climate changes.
  The National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Climate Change Science 
Program have identified abrupt climate change as a key priority for 
additional research. The National Academy of Sciences stated that 
``Large, abrupt climate changes have repeatedly affected much or all of 
the Earth.'' Furthermore, the Academy went on to state that ``abrupt 
climate changes are not only possible but likely in the future, 
potentially with large impacts on ecosystems and societies,'' and noted 
that we're not doing nearly enough to identify the threat of abrupt 
climate change. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program last reported 
to the President and Congress on abrupt climate change in December 
2008. The overarching recommendation of this report is the urgent need 
for committed and sustained monitoring of components of the climate 
system particularly vulnerable to abrupt climate change. Our bill 
provides a framework and funds for the U.S. to better understand and 
address abrupt climate change.
  One reason this funding is so urgent is that we are rapidly losing 
one of the greatest sources of information: ice cores from glaciers. 
The University of Maine's Climate Change Institute has one of the best 
abrupt climate change research programs in the world. The Climate 
Change Institute uses ice cores from glaciers and ice sheets around the 
world to make discoveries that change the way we think about climate 
change. Unfortunately, numerous glaciers around the world are melting, 
and when they go, we lose the very record that has given us so much of 
this critical climatic history.
  I have had several opportunities to see how scientists are able to 
use glaciers and ice sheets to understand climate change. In 2006, I 
joined Senators McCain and Sununu in traveling to the South Pole to see 
groundbreaking research taking place on ice more than 2 miles deep. 
Along the way we toured some of the University of Maine research sites 
in New Zealand with distinguished Professor George Denton, who was the 
first scientist from the University of Maine to be elected to the 
National Academy of Sciences. According to Professor Denton, 50 percent 
of the glaciers in New Zealand have melted since 1860, and this melting 
is unprecedented in the last 5,000 years. We stood with the professor 
on sites that had been buried by massive glaciers at the beginning of 
the 20th century, but are now ice free.
  I also traveled with Senators McCain, Sununu, and others to Ny-
Alesund, the northernmost community in the world. The scientists we met 
with told us that the global climate is changing more rapidly now than 
at any time since the beginning of civilization. They further stated 
that the region of the globe changing most rapidly is the Arctic. The 
changes are remarkable and disturbing.

[[Page S9330]]

  In the last 30 years, the Arctic has lost sea-ice cover over an area 
10 times as large as the State of Maine. In the summer, the change is 
even more dramatic, with twice as much ice loss. The ice that remains 
is as much as 40 percent thinner than it was just a few decades ago. In 
Ny-Alesund, Senator McCain and I witnessed massive blocks of ice 
falling off glaciers that had already retreated well back from the 
shores where they once rested.
  The melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost, and 
the increases in sea levels resulting from warming are already 
beginning to cause environmental, social, and economic changes. If 
these changes were to be compounded with an abrupt climate change on 
the scale seen in our climatic history, the result could be 
devastating.
  Mr. President, this measure has passed the Senate many times, as part 
of the 2001, 2003, and 2007 energy bills. I hope this is the year that 
we finally pass this important provision into law. I urge my colleagues 
to support this bill.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1667

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Abrupt Climate Change 
     Research Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE DEFINED.

       In this Act, the term ``abrupt climate change'' means a 
     change in the climate that occurs so rapidly or unexpectedly 
     that human or natural systems have difficulty adapting to the 
     climate as changed.

     SEC. 3. ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH PROGRAM.

       (a) Establishment of Program.--The Secretary of Commerce 
     shall establish within the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric 
     Research of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
     Administration, and carry out, a program of extramural 
     awards, made on a peer-reviewed and competitive basis, to 
     conduct scientific research on abrupt climate change.
       (b) Purposes of Program.--The purposes of the program 
     established under subsection (a) shall be as follows:
       (1) To develop a global array of terrestrial and 
     oceanographic indicators of paleoclimate in order to 
     sufficiently identify and describe past instances of abrupt 
     climate change.
       (2) To improve understanding of thresholds and 
     nonlinearities in geophysical systems related to the 
     mechanisms of abrupt climate change.
       (3) To incorporate such mechanisms into advanced 
     geophysical models of climate change.
       (4) To test the simulation of climate change by such models 
     against an improved global array of records of past abrupt 
     climate changes.

     SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized 
     to be appropriated to the Secretary of Commerce for each of 
     fiscal years 2010 through 2016, $10,000,000 to carry out the 
     research program established under section 3(a).
       (b) Availability of Funds.--Amounts appropriated pursuant 
     to the authorization of appropriations in subsection (a) are 
     authorized to remain available until expended.

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