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.

A warmed TRACE plot in the USDA-Forest Service Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico.

Field research provides new data advancing our ability to project how tropical forests will respond to a changing climate.

Tropical forests store vast amounts of carbon and play a key role in regulating Earth’s climate. As climate changes, these ecosystems have the potential to become a net contributor to global warming if they shift to releasing more carbon to the atmosphere than they absorb^[1]. However, how these forests will be affected by a warming climate and changing atmosphere is still uncertain¾and is critical...

Mangrove forests store large amounts of carbon, protect the coastline from erosion, and provide shelter for many species.

A new research network aims to accelerate discoveries in the science of these important natural carbon sources and sinks.

Coastal wetlands provide protection from wind and waves, support habitats and fisheries, and store large amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide for centuries to millennia. These ecosystems can also be sources of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere; wetlands that do not have the capacity to keep pace with sea-level rise, for example, can erode and release soil carbon rapidly to the atmosphere. Freshwater and brackish wetlands also emit methane, a...

The Ten Thousand Islands mangrove ecosystem in the Florida Everglades pictured before (top, March 28, 2017) and after (bottom, December 1, 2017) Hurricane Irma

Interagency collaboration supported recovery efforts after Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

During the 2017 hurricane season, hurricanes Irma and Maria, two of the most significant storms to affect Florida and the U.S. Caribbean in recent history, caused catastrophic damage that affected ecosystems, livelihoods, and economic stability throughout the region. USGCRP provided one venue for facilitating interagency efforts—involving USDA, DOE, NASA, NSF, DOI, and FEMA—that are tracking storm damage and recovery in forests and the agricultural sector and supporting recovery and...

Imagery captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite on May 2, 2017

Interagency collaboration supported rapid response efforts.

Periods of heavy rainfall caused extensive flooding across much of the Midwestern United States and Mississippi River Basin in spring 2017, including widespread accumulation of 7–10 inches of rain, flash floods, and long-term river flooding. In response, NASA’s Earth Science Disasters Program assembled a team of scientists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, other NASA centers, and NASA-affiliated partners to assist the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. National...

The Strawberry Advisory System tool, which shows risk levels for climate-related disease in strawberry crops, helps growers make decisions about fungicide application.

Interagency efforts develop and deliver science-based information and technologies to help agricultural producers and natural resource managers make optimal management decisions.

Farmers, ranchers, and land managers across the country rely on weather and climate information in their management decisions. To help producers and managers better understand the risks and opportunities that extreme weather events and climate change present for their operations, interagency efforts produce and deliver a range of information tools and resources that help guide climate risk...

USGCRP co-led an international group of funders and implementers in initiating development of a collaborative research action.

The Belmont Forum is an international partnership between national research funding agencies and international science organizations focused on advancing transdisciplinary global change science and accelerating its application. Its Collaborative Research Actions (CRAs) combine natural science, social science, and stakeholder perspectives to produce knowledge for understanding and responding to global environmental change. In November...

Protecting Fish, Wildlife, Plants, and Ecosystems in a Changing Climate

As climate change and other stressors increasingly threaten ecosystem health, natural-resource agencies and their partners and stakeholders are wrestling with similar management challenges and seeking common, coordinated solutions. Called for by both Congress and the Executive Branch, the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy (NFWPCAS or Strategy) was developed collectively by diverse teams of experts from Federal, state, and tribal conservation agencies and through an extensive national...

Flooding from heavy rains damaged Boulder, Colorado, in September 2013—one of several extreme events examined in the collaborative report. (Source: S. Zumwalt, FEMA)

Extreme events such as heavy rains, severe storms, drought, and heat waves can have devastating effects on infrastructure, the economy, and vulnerable segments of the population. A growing field of climate science seeks to understand the drivers behind extreme events and how they connect to broader climate trends. Building on efforts to monitor the global climate (see Highlight 1), a recent report published in BAMS integrates findings from 20 different research

...

This graph shows the number of days by which the start of spring in each year differs from the average start of spring during the 20th century. The spring of 2012 (circled) set a record for earliest start. (Source: Adapted from the USGCRP indicators pilot

In 2012, spring came earlier for the contiguous United States than in any year since 1900, according to recent research by a team of scientists with the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN). This research used the USA-NPN suite of “spring indices”—or algorithms based on the accumulated warmth needed to initiate growth in temperature-sensitive plants, which are validated by nationwide historical

...

Green infrastructure projects, such as this stormwater planter, help to collect and absorb runoff, among other benefits. Local-level capacity and reliable cost-benefit information are needed to effectively incorporate such solutions into stormwater manage

Water resources in the United States are affected by a number of climate stressors—including increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and extreme events like storms and droughts—and these changing conditions have implications for drinking water and stormwater utilities. Federal agencies are working with one another and with state and local partners to build preparedness and sustainability in this essential sector. For instance, the Federal Support Toolbox—grown out of an initiative led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)—serves as a

...

GlobalChange.gov

Utility

Global search

Share

Highlights

Predicting the future of tropical forests

Understanding carbon flows in vulnerable coastal wetlands

Supporting recovery from the 2017 hurricane season

Responding to the 2017 Midwestern floods

Providing climate information tools to agricultural communities

Developing international support for research on climate, environment, and human health

Protecting Fish, Wildlife, Plants, and Ecosystems in a Changing Climate

Explaining Extreme Events from a Climate Perspective

The Record-Setting Early Spring of 2012

Supporting Resilient Water Resources and Utilities