En-ROADS Simulation - Climate Change and the Ocean

En-ROADS is a climate change simulation that allows users to explore how different policies and actions could address temperature increase by 2100. It has been designed by Climate Interactive, the MIT Sloan School of Management’s System Dynamics Group and Sustainability Initiative, and Ventana Systems. 

For an introduction and example of how to use the program visit my post on the Powerful Geography Author's Blog which provides some introductory lesson activities to be used with students. 

En-ROADs can be accessed here:
https://www.climateinteractive.org/en-roads/

Figure 1: The En-ROADS simulator provides a user friendly interface that allows students to easily access basic functionality.

Figure 2: In the example above, the levels of carbon dioxide removal for both Nature-based removal and Technological removal have been increased to the highest level. This results in an overall decline in Temperature increase by 2100 by 1% (increase is at 3.2 degrees celsius rather than 3.3).

Exploring Climate Change and Impacts on our Oceans

The En-ROADS Climate Change simulation allows users to explore the impacts of climate change on a range of indicators with current temperature increase projections. It also allows users to explore the impact of implementing policy changes on these indicators. The ocean-related indicators in the simulation include: sea level rise, a sea level rise flood risk map, population exposed to sea level rise, ocean acidification, probability of ice-free arctic summer, loss in ocean life from warming.

​Figure 3: The Flood Risk map demonstrating sea level rise under various scenarios can be viewed at the global scale or zoomed in to view specific locations, e.g. Sydney Harbour.

​Figure 4 & 5: En-ROADS users can use the sliders to change policies to be implemented to address climate change. In the examples shown above, the selected policies resulted in a reduction in temperature increase as a result of climate change from 3.3 to 2.7 degrees celsius. It also shows a reduction in the level of sea level rise. These examples also show that a range of other data can be displayed, e.g. the impact of policies on Global Population.

Figure 6: The En-ROADs simulation can display information about the global population exposed to sea level rise, based on policies selected in the simulation.

Figure 7: In the examples shown above, the selected policies resulted in a reduction in temperature increase as a result of climate change from 3.3 to 2.8 degrees celsius. It also shows a reduction in probability of ice-free Arctic Summer in 2100.

En-ROADs is a powerful tool to allow users to explore the impact of climate change on our oceans, and to explore a range of policies that can be implemented to reduce its impacts. 

Lesson Activity:
Students explore a range of climate change policies and strategies that can be address to mitigate the ocean-related impacts of climate change. 

1. Experiment with the sliders on the main page of the En-ROADS climate interactive. Experiment with the climate change policies and explore how these strategies impact on sea level rise, population exposed to sea level rise, ocean acidification, probability of ice-free arctic summer, and loss in ocean life from warming.
2. Choose three policies that you believe will have a positive impact on ocean-related impacts from climate change. Provide a summary of the three policies, explain how they could be implemented in a practical sense, and how these policies might be communicated to the general population. 
3. Choose one example of a location that is susceptible to ocean-related climate change impacts. Explore the sea level rise flood risk map. Zoom in to your chosen location, and provide a 2-3 paragraph analysis of how your chosen policies will impact on this location. 

Syllabus Links:
The En-ROADs simulation provides an excellent, practical student-centred learning activity for students to engage in Study 3: Climate Change, of the Human-Environments Interaction for Preliminary Geography, or the Oceanography topic in Elective Geography.

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