THE RESEARCHERS PROPOSE TO CONDUCT A VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS OF THE KSC NATURAL AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS AS THEY PERTAIN TO THEOCCURRENCE OF EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS AND CLIMATIC ANOMALIES THAT CAN BE EXPECTED UNDER VARIOUS GLOBAL CLIMATE-CHANGE SCENARIOS. THEVULNERABILITY ANALYSIS WILL BE CONDUCTED IN THE FOLLOWING STEPS.1. A DETAILED MAPPING OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM IN THE KSC COMPLEX AND SURROUNDING COASTAL AREA WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED USING EXISTING DATABASES AS AVAILABLE.2. A DETAILED MAPPING OF THE PHYSICAL (THAT IS HUMAN-BUILT) ENVIRONMENT WILL BE ADDED TO THAT OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT IN ORDER TODETERMINE THE CURRENT STATE OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE AS IT CO-EXISTS WITH THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT SURROUNDING IT.3. AN ARCHIVE OF AVAILABLE OBSERVED ATMOSPHERIC DATA FOR THE KSC COMPLEX WILL BE EXAMINED FOR THE OCCURRENCE FREQUENCIES OF EXTREMEWEATHER EVENTS SUCH AS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TORNADOES AND TROPICAL CYCLONES AND CLIMATIC ANOMALIES SUCH AS PERIODS OF EXTREME HIGHOR COLD TEMPERATURES DROUGHTS AND FLOODS.4. EVIDENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE FROM THE LOCAL GEOLOGICAL RECORD WILL BE OBTAINED IN ADDITION TO THE ATMOSPHERIC RECORD. A NUMBER OF THEEFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ARE RECORDED IN THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD OF THE SOUTHERN COASTAL STATES. CHANGING TEMPERATURE REGIMES RISING SEALEVELS AND COASTAL STORMS DEPOSIT RECORDS IN THE SEDIMENTARY COLUMN. OF PARTICULAR INTEREST ARE RESPONSES OF MARINE TRANSGRESSIONS ANDREGRESSIONS RELATIVE TO THE CHANGES IN GLOBAL CLIMATE.IN THIS STAGE WE SEEK TO DOCUMENT THE DAMAGE TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE AND IMPACT ON OPERATIONS AND PERSONNEL FROMTHESE EVENTS AND ANOMALIES AND ALSO DOCUMENT THE EVIDENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD. ONCE THESE STEPS ARE COMPLETED WE WILL HAVE A BASELINE FROM WHICH THE EFFECTS OF FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE CAN BE EXAMINED.THE SECOND PORTION OF THE STUDY INVOLVES THE ANALYSIS OF DOWNSCALED CLIMATE MODEL PROJECTION DATA FOR THE KSC REGION. THIS DATA WILL BEUSED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE DATA COLLECTED IN THE FIRST PHASE OF THE STUDY TO DEVELOP PROJECTIONS FOR THE OCCURRENCE FREQUENCIES OFEXTREME EVENTS AND ANOMALIES. ONCE THESE PROJECTIONS HAVE BEEN MADE THEY WILL BE COMPARED TO THE BASELINE IMPACTS DATA TODETERMINE CHANGES IN THE LIKELIHOOD OF POTENTIAL DAMAGE AND IMPACTS TO ENVIRONMENT INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS FROM THESE EVENTSAND ANOMALIES AS THEY WOULD BE OBSERVED IN VARIOUS GLOBAL CLIMATE-CHANGE SCENARIOS. THE EXTENT TO WHICH AN ALTERED GLOBAL CLIMATE WILLCHANGE THE LIKELIHOOD OF DAMAGING WEATHER EVENTS AND CLIMATIC EXTREMES AT KSC CAN THEN BE USED BY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGERS ANDPLANNERS TO DEVELOP PROACTIVE ADAPTATION STRATEGIES IN THE 20-30 YEAR TIME HORIZON AND BEYOND. IF DONE CORRECTLY THE DATABASES BUILTUNDER THIS PROJECT CAN BE UPDATED AS NEWER MORE ACCURATE CLIMATE MODELING DATA BECOME AVAILABLE.