The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is pleased to announce the establishment of NCAnet, a network of partners who extend the NCA process and products to a broad audience of assessment producers and users through the development of assessment-related capacities and products. NCAnet currently consists of over 50 partners, and the NCA is seeking additional partners through the process announced in the April 13, 2012 Federal Register Notice available here.
NCAnet partners leverage their abilities to conduct and synthesize science, to communicate with a variety of assessment users, and to convene individuals and organizations interested in climate change science in a variety of ways, including collection and synthesis of data or other technical and scientific information relevant to current and future NCA reports, dissemination of NCA report findings to various users of assessment information, engagement of assessment information producers and users, supporting NCA events, and producing communications materials related to the NCA and NCA report findings.
More information about NCAnet, including a description of the network and ways that organizations may become a partners, a list of current NCAnet partners, and the dates and times of information sessions for anyone interested in joining NCAnet, is available from http://ncanet.usgcrp.gov.
Cross-posted from USGS, a member of the U.S. Global Change Research Program
Young boys working in a newly cropped field in Africa.
Spring rains in the eastern Horn of Africa are projected to begin late this year and be substantially lower than normal.
From March–May, the rains are expected to total only 60 to 85 percentage of the average rainfall in this region. This is a significant deterioration compared to earlier forecasts.
Lower rain amounts would have significant impacts on crop production, rangeland regeneration for livestock, and replenishment of water resources.
This would put greater stress on the region, particularly Somalia which is still recovering from a famine declared last year, as well as Kenya and Ethiopia which also experienced a severe food crisis. An increase in food insecurity and in the size of the food insecure population is likely.
The State Department released a statement on this forecast and their intent to provide additional funding to aid refuges and drought-affected communities.Â
Carbon is the foundation for all life on Earth. It is stored in reservoirs across the planet, including our oceans, atmosphere, plants, soils, and fossil fuels, and is a central component of food, shelter, transportation and other basic needs of human society.
This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of a forthcoming conference call meeting of the DoC NOAA National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee (NCADAC). The call is scheduled for Tuesday, April 10, 2012 from 2-4 p.m. Eastern Time. Public access will be available at the office of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Conference Room A, Suite 250, 1717 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20006.
Phil Duffy, Senior Policy Analyst, Becky Fried, Policy Analyst, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President
New data released last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showed that the 2011-2012 winter season was the fourth warmest ever recorded in the United States.
The data were published in NOAA's National Climatic Data Center State of the Climate report, which provides regularly updated climate and weather information for regions across the United States.
The data show that this past winter was generally both warmer than average and drier than average for the lower 48 States. The average temperature across these states for December through February was 36.8 degrees F, nearly 4 degrees higher than the long-term average for U.S. winters from 1901-2000. Precipitation was down 12 percent on average, and when it came to snow, the United States experienced its third smallest winter snow-cover footprint square miles of snow-cover, as measured by satellites since recording began 46 years ago.
