Ray Steventon, one of CCR's founding members, passed away on September 15, 2014. Ray Steventon joined CCR in 1964, within a year of it’s founding by Prof. Reid Bryson. CCR’s early years were notable for a strong emphasis on field research and technical measurements of aspects of earth’s climate – in the state, nation, and world. Ray’s technical expertise was crucial to the early success of these CCR field research projects. Ray retired from the University in 1989, after 25 years of service to CCR and the University. Ray’s contributions to the early and continuing success of CCR, now having passed its 50th year as a UW-Madison research center, are a tribute to his skill and his devotion to the University, and to his team spirit – always helping, always encouraging, always contributing, always gaining satisfaction in seeing others accomplish their goals.

An international research team, including CCR scientist Feng He and professor Zhengyu Liu, published new results in Science exploring the response of Greenland temperature to climate forcing during the last deglaciation. Using independent reconstructions from three ice cores and simulations with a IPCC-type coupled global climate model, the research team found that the Greenland temperatures 12,000 years ago during the Younger Dryas period near the end of the ice age was almost 5 oC warmer than the last glacial maximum as a result of increased carbon dioxide forcing and summer insolation.

A new study published in Nature Climate Change calculates the combined velocities of future climate and land use change in the coterminous US. This work was led by Bryson CPEP fellow Alejandro Ordonez, with colleagues CCR Director Jack Williams and Volker Radeloff and Sebastian Martinuzzi in CALS/Forest Ecology & Wildlife. The study reports that overall, speeds of climate change are higher than land use change, with the upper Midwest and eastern Great Plains as an area of expected to experience high combined climate and land use change.

Professor Zhengyu Liu was interviewed by the University regarding global warming and contradictions being made.

Dr. Michael Notaro was interviewed by middle school student, Juliana Castillo, in a summer journalism class from the Wisconsin Center for AcademicallyTalented Youth (WCATY) Summer Transitional Enrichment Program (STEP). The interview addressed the reality of climate change, role of greenhouse gases, impacts on Wisconsin's climate change on ecosystems and human health, and lake effect snow.

The 2014 G-WOW Institute was held in Ashland, Wisconsin in July 2014. G-WOW stands for Gikinoo'wizhiwe Onji Waaban (Guiding for Tomorrow) Changing Climate, Changing Culture. G-WOW aims to increase awareness of how climate change is affecting Lake Superior's coastal environment, people, cultures, and economies. The institute attracted roughly 30 elementary through high school educators in the Great Lakes region. 

Dr. Michael Notaro provided 3 1/2 hours of training to the educators through three seminars: "Climate Change 101", "Tips and Tools for Educating about Climate Change and Taking Action", and "Addressing the Climate Change Controversy."

On June 25, 2014, Dr. Notaro served on a panel on climate downscaling for the Great Lakes Basin at the GLAA-C Adaptation in the Great Lakes Region Conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Representing CCR and WICCI, he summarized ongoing research on dynamical downscaling of lake-effect snow projections and addressed questions on downscaling methods and applications.

The collaboration among Dr. Michael Notaro of CCR, Dr. Michael Schummer of Long Point Waterfowl and SUNY Oswego, and Dr. Chris Hoving of Michigan DNR, and their recently published study on snow and winter severity projections for central-eastern North America with wildlife implications, are the focus of a news story by the Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks LCC.