Cities around the world already have begun responding to climate change, and a new report from the Earth Institute provides a deep analysis about the risks they face and a detailed look at what some cities are doing about it.

A new report gives a worrisome picture of climate-related problems the New York region will likely face this century. Temperatures are projected to rise, extreme precipitation and heat waves will be more frequent, and sea level could rise as much as 6 feet.

NASA has been at the forefront of climate science, launching satellites that take the pulse of Earth’s land, oceans and atmospheric systems. But the agency is increasingly vulnerable itself to the effects of a changing climate.

Cities already lead the action on responding to climate change. And cities are utilizing groups such as the Urban Climate Change Research Network to share lessons from implementation and scholarly research on urban climate change.

Earth Institute scientists across many disciplines are playing key roles in helping New York move forward following Hurricane Sandy. Many were already advising the city about the potential effects of sea-level rise, storm surge, climate change and related issues before the storm hit, For better or worse, their predictions were vindicated, and they now continue efforts to help make infrastructure and population more resilient and sustainable.

In a live webcast this afternoon from Hunter College, Earth Institute scientists Cynthia Rosenzweig and Klaus Jacob will join a panel on “Hurricane Sandy and Challenges to the NY Metropolitan Region.”

Representatives of the worlds’ cities came to Rio in June for a series of events focused on the problems pressing in on the burgeoning urban population. Mayors around the world already are working on solutions and came out of Rio with concrete commitments for the future.

The people living on the northeast coast of Japan had learned to expect large earthquakes. But despite being one of the best-prepared nations, they were caught off-guard by the force of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami that devastated their coastline and led to the meltdown of reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.