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.

This map shows the number of total heat wave days per summer projected for the mid-21st century, as a factor of increase relative to the end of the 20th century (assuming a scenario of rapid economic growth driven by a balanced portfolio of energy sources

Climate change is expected to increase the number of extremely hot days, posing health risks to vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children, and those with existing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. To streamline prediction of and adaptation to these events, HHS’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and NOAA held a Heat Health Summit in Silver Spring, MD, in October 2014. The Summit drew participants from across NOAA, CDC, EPA, DOE, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; state and local health departments;

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In the summer of 2014, heavy monsoon rains combined with the arrival of meltwater from the Himalayas to cause unusually severe flooding in parts of Bangladesh (shown above: the flooded Brahmaputra River valley and Tanquar Haor wetlands). SERVIR’s flood fo

SERVIR—meaning “to serve” in Spanish—is a joint initiative that connects USAID’s expertise in international development and training with NASA’s portfolio of satellite observations. Its goal is to help decision makers in developing regions respond to global change. Over the past decade, SERVIR has worked closely with regional organizations in the developing world to provide analytical products and services that inform decisions about climate adaptation and mitigation, disaster risk

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Federally coordinated regional science centers work individually and together on projects that support tangible outcomes in their regions. For example, Western Water Assessment (WWA, a NOAA RISA team) is partnering with the DOI North Central CSC on a coll

Climate change affects every region of the United States differently, and no single Federal program can tackle the full range of regional decision-support needs. Coordination at the regional scale is vital to ensuring that Federally supported science and risk management efforts best meet the information requirements of decision makers in a variety of sectors. USDA, NOAA, and DOI individually support a portfolio of complementary regional networks that deliver climate science and tools to public officials, agricultural producers, natural resource managers, and

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In the fall of 2014, several USGCRP agencies and National Coordination Office (NCO) staff supported the Climate Change Preparedness and Resilience Exercise Series, a suite of daylong workshops targeted at state- and local-level decision makers. This initiative was sponsored by the National Security Council, the Council on Environmental Quality, and OSTP, in collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) National Exercise Division. Exercises in this pilot series focused on the

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The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit features science-based resources and real-world case studies to help communities adapt to climate change.

The Administration launched the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit in November 2014, with support from the coordinated efforts of various USGCRP agencies—especially NOAA, USGS, USDA, NASA, USACE, and HHS (CDC and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences). The Toolkit aims to help communities, businesses, natural resource managers, and others plan for and respond to the impacts of climate change where they live. As called for in the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Toolkit provides

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The Third National Climate Assessment has provided a basis for understanding change, informing decisions, and communicating about climate, not only on a national scale but also at the regional, state, and local levels. For example, a number of USGCRP agencies are incorporating the Third NCA into their regional-scale science and decision support programs (see related Highlight 15). NOAA and partners have developed regionally tailored guides based on the Third NCA for educators teaching climate (see related Highlight 25). USGCRP supported a series of scenario-

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Participants in a brainstorming activity consider approaches for evaluating the Third NCA. (Source: B. Golden-Chen, USGCRP NCO)

When the Third National Climate Assessment was released in May 2014, it made headlines in national and international media, local news outlets in every region of the country, and Federal, NGO, academic, and trade publications. The thousands of stories, blog posts, op-eds, and even comedy shows that have mentioned the Third NCA attest to its expansive reach, suggesting that the report is both in demand and accessible. But how can its success be measured, and how can that success be improved upon in the next quadrennial NCA?

As a first step in answering

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Land cover change, such as the rapid urban expansion of Las Vegas shown above (left: 1992; right: 2013), interacts with climate change in complex ways. Scenarios can be used to understand and plan for the plausible permutations of these and other interact

Scenarios are descriptions of plausible future conditions—either narrative or quantitative—that provide a basis for analyzing potential impacts of and responses to global change. Scenarios are not predictions or forecasts; rather, they are tools to understand how future conditions might evolve under a range of possible decisions. By providing detailed examples of how different factors could change and interact, scenarios constrain uncertainty and offer valuable input for assessments. USGCRP is working toward scenarios of change that can feed into the

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With leadership by EPA, NOAA, and HHS agencies including CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USGCRP is continuing development of its Climate and Health Assessment, a contribution to the sustained assessment process that will support the next quadrennial NCA report. The USGCRP Climate and Health Assessment will address the need for a more definitive understanding of climate impacts on public health, as called for in the President’s Climate Action Plan. It will synthesize

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$Among many other impacts, the IPCC WGII report finds that the fraction of the world’s population affected by major river floods will increase as the climate warms. Overall, the report concludes that the world is largely ill-prepared for the climate impact$

Following on a draft edition released in March 2014, the Working Group II (WGII) of the IPCC recently delivered its full contribution to AR5, the IPCC’s latest authoritative global assessment of climate change. The product of years of work by leading experts from around the world, the WGII contribution is a thorough examination of the worldwide impacts of climate change and the opportunities for response. It is organized into two report volumes

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Highlights

Preparing for the Health Hazards of Extreme Heat

From Space to Village: Satellite Data For Decisions in the Developing World

Regional Science Networks for Climate-Smart Decision Making

Empowering States and Communities with Climate Science

A Toolkit for Climate Resilience Nationwide

Beyond the Report: Extending the Reach of the National Climate Assessment

The NCA in Review: Frameworks for Evaluation

Scenarios of Change for Sustained Assessment

Assessing the Public Health Risks of Climate Change

A Comprehensive Look at Climate Risks and Responses Worldwide