The local papers all trumpet the two studies released this week by FSU and FAU, but no one will tell you where to go to find the reports.

Here’s a February draft of the FAU report (38-page PDF file), “Florida’s Resilient Coasts.” I’m fairly sure Barry Heimlich, of Broward Audubon, had a hand in this report, but he is not credited, as far as I can see. This one was easy to find, once I knew what the title of the report was. However, it doesn’t look the final report is publicly available yet. At least, not that I can find.

The final FSU report, on the other hand, was a bit easier to find, or at least it was for me (as always, your mileage may vary). It’s posted on the website of the Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis at FSU. I had to call Julie Harrington herself to get her to email me a copy; while we were talking, she was telling me that people were having trouble finding the FAU report, and now that I’ve noticed I’m reading the February draft report, I guess she was right! And, as it turns out, once I found the website above, finding where the report was located wasn’t too difficult. (Good thing, too, as the emailed copy has yet to reach me. Professors are busy people…)

As the FSU report hastens to point out, their prediction of a .23-.29 foot rise in sea level is conservative. It is based on observed trends, not the modeling that the IPCC has done. And neither FSU nor IPCC factor in the possibility of Greenland giving up its ice in a rapid melt, as Al Gore was so concerned about. One study put the IPCC’s estimate at only about 33% what it should be.

In any event, today was a big news day for climate change reports. Check ’em out!