When Sarah Das rides her bike out on the Outer Cape, she sees changes that raise red flags for her as a scientist. Bigger storms with bigger tides, more flooding, and drought events, have resulted in rapid erosion, damage to infrastructure, and loss of special places, she said.
“Just year to year I’ve seen the damage,” she said. “I feel like the pace of change has really accelerated in the last decade.”
As an associate scientist in geology and geophysics at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Das is deeply aware of the signs and effects of climate change. Now her knowledge will help guide state leaders who are increasingly concerned about climate change and ensuring Massachusetts can adapt and be resilient.
Das is one of 21 scientists just named to the new state Climate Science Advisory Panel, which the Healey-Driscoll Administration announced on Jan. 12. The panel is connected with the Massachusetts Office of Climate Science, headed by a first-in-the-nation, cabinet-level climate chief. The office was launched last October within the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as part of the ResilientMass Plan.