One of the most widely used metrics for estimating exposure is climate change velocity, the direction and rate at which organisms must move to maintain a given climate 3. Our results suggest that mountainous regions are more climatically isolated than previously reported.Ĭlimate change impacts on biota depend in part on climate change exposure, the degree to which a system is exposed to climate variations over time or space 1, 2. In contrast, in flat regions velocity is high where MCE is low, as these areas have negligible climatic resistance to movement. Notably, velocity underestimates exposure in mountainous regions where climate trajectories traverse dissimilar climates, resulting in high MCE. We find that velocity is weakly related to MCE each metric identifies contrasting areas of vulnerability to climate change. Here we calculate velocity and minimum cumulative exposure (MCE) in degrees Celsius along climate trajectories for North America. However, distance is an imperfect measure of exposure because it does not quantify the extent to which trajectories traverse areas of dissimilar climate. Interpreting velocity requires an assumption that climate trajectory length is proportional to climate change exposure longer paths suggest greater exposure.
Climate change velocity is a vector depiction of the rate of climate displacement used for assessing climate change impacts.
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