An assessment of the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes

This report assesses the current and projected impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes. This assessment aims to evaluate the effects of climate change on the Great Lakes, its shorelines, regional land use, biodiversity, and urban cities on the lakes. The assessment does not aim to address all of the basins feeding the lakes or the states around the lakes.

This study provides an update on prior analyses of such impacts – including GLISA (2016), McDermid et al. (2015), Walsh et al. (2014), Pryor et al. (2014), Wuebbles et al. (2010), Wuebbles and Kling (2006), Wuebbles and Hayhoe (2004), Kling et al. (2003), and Lofgren et al. (2002). The Midwest chapter from Volume II of the 4th National Climate Assessment (USGCRP, 2018) also includes some discussion of the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes; this assessment is intended to be a more thorough look at those current and potential impacts.