/ RM. EJ Research on climate changes and its consequences NordFoU Workshop January 29th, 2007

/ RM. EJ Adaptation to climate change in the road management; Prestudy. Seppo Saarelainen & Lasse Makkonen, VTT Summary, how is Finnish climate expected to change until year 2100: - Mean temperature rises 3-5 °C - Maximum temperature rises in summertime about 5 °C - Minimum temperature rises in wintertime about 10 °C - Annual rainfall rises about 15 % - Increasing risk of floods because of heavy rains - Increasing risk of floods in water systems and artificial lakes - Spring floods doesn´t rise significantly - Summers are warmer and dryer, so the level of the groundwater decreases

/ RM. EJ - Not significant increase in storminess - Maximum snow load decreases in Southern Finland into half but remains the same in Northern Finland - The average length of winter and snow cover decreases especially in Southern Finland - The number of short-term snow falls that disturb the traffic increases - The possibilities to maintain the roads on frozen lakes decreases - The traffic conditions become more slippery in Northern Finland

/ RM. EJ Adaptation and proactive measures against climate impacts are: - Contingency planning (rescue operations). Description of tasks, contents, focusing and organising in protection and rescue planning operations (e.g. the guidelines for reservation of road management during flooding by the Road District of Lapland, 2005). - Adaptation of road maintenance (friction control, snow removal, protection against flooding, erosion control and so on). For critical weather-borne impacts, operations, methods and organising have to be defined both for acute actions as well as the need of development in the activities in a long run, considering the changes in the intensity and occurrence of impacts.

/ RM. EJ - Control of design criteria (wind, precipitation, flood levels) and improvement of current roads to assure the service level. - Improvements in the strength of roads (improvement of drainage, erosion control, rising the road surface levels). - Warning and informing. Occurrence of coming, important weather events should be informed beforehand and warned in advance, applying correct methods and channels.

/ RM. EJ