Highlights

Since 1989, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) has submitted annual reports to Congress called Our Changing Planet. The reports describe the status of USGCRP research activities, provide progress updates, and document recent accomplishments.

In particular, Our Changing Planet highlights progress and accomplishments in interagency activities. These highlights represent the broad spectrum of USGCRP activities that extend from Earth system observations, modeling, and fundamental research through synthesis and assessment, decision support, education, and public engagement. Highlights describe the state of science at the time of publication of each yearly report, and may not reflect more recent advances in understanding. The date of publication of the source report is noted on each highlight page.

Interagency science informed the synthesis of actionable research to support Federal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March 2020, DoD began working with interagency partners to synthesize actionable research on potential environmental drivers impacting the life and spread of the COVID-19 virus. From this collective research, representatives from the Air Force Directorate of Weather worked with DoD’s operational climate services unit, the 14th Weather Squadron in Asheville, NC, to produce actionable products for senior DoD leaders on potential environmental drivers of...

Three field researchers pictured while making forest assessments, just off a wooded footpath in Vietnam.

A group of researchers gather around computers, engaged in lively discussion during a training session in the Congo Basin.

Two field researchers fastened to a carbon flux tower during a training session in the Andean Amazon.

SilvaCarbon leverages state-of-the-art science and technology to advance the generation and use of information in managing forest and terrestrial carbon.

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Three map panels are shown side-by side, each representing a different decade chronologically from left to right. The area where the average number of nights with minimum temperatures above 70°F occurred increased and moved northward each decade.

A new set of agricultural and climate data products provides the basis for communicating the impacts of climate change on U.S. agricultural lands.

The recent USDA Climate Change Indicators for Agriculture report provides national, regional, and local information to support effective decision-making by U.S. agricultural producers, resource managers, policy makers, and other users.^{^[1]}...

Line graphs show movement of marine species northward by about 20 miles and deeper by an average of 21 feet between 1982 and 2018. Two maps show movement of selected species over the time period that follow the same trend.

New climate indicators and communications efforts tell the story of climate change through federally supported observations.

Climate indicators show trends over time in important aspects of our environment, such as greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere and the start of spring each year. Indicators are based on long-term, consistently collected data and can be used to assess risks and vulnerabilities from a changing climate and to inform response actions. IndIWG developed an interagency web platform for...

A journal special issue highlights advances in the science of protecting species and ecosystems from climate change impacts.

An increasingly important climate change adaptation strategy is to focus conservation on climate change refugia, or areas that are relatively buffered from contemporary climate change. Protection and management of climate change refugia can help shelter native species and ecosystems from current climate change impacts and provide longer-term havens that protect valued ecological and sociocultural resources. The U.S. Geological Survey and EPA,...

An example of the Crop-CASMA tool user interface. A map shows variations in soil moisture across the contiguous United States, with large negative anomalies in the Southwest that indicate drought.

A new tool makes satellite data on field conditions available to producers.

Soil moisture data are used to plan crop planting, forecast yields, track droughts or floods, and improve weather forecasts, and can also be used to track changing conditions for U.S. agriculture over time. A new tool developed by USDA makes soil moisture data from NASA available to farmers, researchers, and other users.

The Crop-CASMA (Crop Condition and Soil Moisture Analytics) tool uses high-resolution...

A field researcher installs a hanging, multi-tiered emerald ash borer trap in the forest.

The Climate Change Response Framework provides landowners with adaptation options to address climate change risks to forests.

Climate change increases uncertainty about future conditions affecting land and natural resources, creating new challenges for land managers working to sustain healthy ecosystems and ecosystem services. In 2020, the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS) and the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub worked side-by-side with land managers to advance regionally specific climate change adaptation strategies. The NIACS...

A close-up shot of an emerald ash borer clinging to the side of a twig. Its metallic brown-green stands out against the blurred, wooded background.

A new scientific assessment provides information on the spread and control of invasive species for land managers.

The spread of invasive species is recognized as a major driver of biodiversity loss and a source of substantial economic and environmental damage. Global environmental changes, including climate change and land use change, continue to influence how invasive species spread and interact with ecosystems, presenting new and ongoing challenges for land managers. A recent USDA Forest Service (USDA-FS) ...

Dried, brown corn stalks wilt under the sun in cracked soil from the effects of extreme heat and drought.

The Drought Learning Network supports knowledge exchange on drought management in the U.S. Southwest.

The Drought Learning Network (DLN) brings together drought management leaders and resource managers to support knowledge sharing and improve collaboration around building resilience among communities impacted by drought in the U.S. Southwest, one of the hottest and driest regions of the world. The DLN was created by drought management leaders from the USDA Southwest Climate Hub, the National...

New data products integrate multiple sources of soil moisture information to improve drought monitoring and prediction.

Drought is one of the most destructive and costly natural disasters, resulting in diminished agricultural production, reduced water resources, and deadly heatwaves. NOAA and the National Integrated Drought Information System have supported interagency activities to develop a national-scale drought product that integrates multiple sources of soil moisture...

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Highlights

Translating research on the environmental drivers of COVID-19 to support decision-making

Improving monitoring of forest carbon stocks

Tracking the impacts of climate change on agriculture

Communicating climate change

Understanding climate change refugia

Informing agricultural operations

Co-designing climate change adaptation strategies with land managers

Supporting management of invasive species in forests and rangelands

Sharing knowledge on drought resilience

Providing national-scale drought information