ABSTRACT

This chapter deals with an arbitrary, numerical illustration designed specifically to explore the structure of the reaction schedules. The Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas (MINK) Study is a regional impact assessment that concentrated on a four-state region MINK, which was sponsored by the US Department of Energy. The chapter outlines methodologically focused analysis of the impact of potential climate change on the resources and economies in a MINK-state region located in the center of the United States. Models of climate change are growing increasingly complex-so complex, in fact, that it is frequently beyond the scope of the modelers to run even "interesting" time-dependent scenarios of what might happen. The chapter explores the development of a methodology by suggesting a means by which imperfect information might be translated into incomplete and imprecise reaction for a single, very specific decision—the choice that farmers face to switch crops, in response to growing evidence that the climate appears to be changing.