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.

As part of its international mandate, USGCRP builds and sustains partnerships to promote knowledge-sharing that supports research, data collection, and assessment capabilities in developing countries.

In 2021, USGCRP initiated a new regional engagement effort, the Initiative for Enhancing Capacity for Climate Risk Assessment and Catalyzing Partnerships to Inform Decisions in Latin America and the Caribbean, or LACI. Its overarching vision is to provide opportunities for partnerships among Caribbean, Latin American, and...

A major challenge for natural resource managers in the western United States is anticipating and planning for ecosystem changes caused by complex interactions among climate, wildfire, and vegetation. The Southwest FireCLIME research partnership brings scientists and managers together to support decision-making processes around fire management in a changing climate. The project synthesized current knowledge of regional climate–fire–ecosystem dynamics through a formal science synthesis and annotated bibliography, forecasts of future...

A 2021 report from EPA, USDA-FS, DOI, and NIST compared the air quality and health impacts of smoke from prescribed fire, which is used as a land management tool, with smoke from wildfire. The report found that using prescribed fire is not without risk as it can result in smoke-related air quality and public health impacts—but at a much smaller scale compared to wildfire. The assessment could be informative to multiple levels of government as they engage and plan for future land and fire management activities. The...

The Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) project is a collaborative effort to help guide forest managers in preparing forest ecosystems for climate change. Scientists, land managers, and a variety of partners have developed seven initial trial sites as part of this multi-region study to research long-term ecosystem responses to a range of climate change adaptation actions. USDA-FS scientists partnered with universities and local, state, and federal agencies (including DOI and USACE) to develop...

The Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (RISCC) Management Networks are working to reduce the compounding effects of invasive species and climate change by synthesizing relevant science, communicating decision-makers’ needs to researchers, building stronger scientist–stakeholder communities, and conducting priority research. The RISCC effort started in the Northeast region in 2016 with a collaboration among USGS researchers, university scientists, and state agency partners. It has since...

Barrier islands—narrow deposits of sand that form along the coast—help protect mainland coastal communities from storms and serve as important habitats for many species. Restoring or enhancing barrier islands can build coastal resilience to the effects of storms and protect important habitats that sustain coastal economies. Sediment management (e.g., dredging) can be done as a nature-based solution, if it is designed appropriately, and dredge materials are used to restore or enhance habitat near at-risk communities. A new study...

As the climate changes, hotter-than-usual days and nights are becoming more common, and heat waves are expected to become more frequent and intense. Cities experience higher temperatures than surrounding areas–known as the urban heat island effect–and residents often face higher health risks during extreme heat events. To help monitor changes in the health challenges associated with heat waves in urban areas, the USGS and EPA are developing data, analyses, and indicators for characterizing trends in the urban heat island effect...

Fish are arranged in a row on a wooden drying rack in a grass field with trees and a wooden building in the background.

USGCRP’s Social Sciences Coordinating Committee (SSCC) fosters integration of the methods, findings, and disciplinary perspectives of the social, behavioral, and economic sciences and interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches into USGCRP activities in support of the Program’s goals.

In Fall 2021, the SSCC hosted a three-part public webinar series on food, culture, and climate, with the...

Throughout 2021, the interagency Sea Level Rise Task Force, under the auspices of USGCRP’s CoastsIG and the Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology, engaged in extensive collaboration to produce the 2022 Sea Level Rise Technical Report, which provides the most up-to-date sea level rise projections for all U.S. states and territories by decade for the next 100 years and beyond (Sweet et al., 2022). The report projects that sea levels along the U.S. coastline will rise an additional 10–12...

Houses affected by coastal floodwaters are shown, with varying degrees of damage.

. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the United States, creating widespread coastal flooding and over $60 billion in economic damages. A recent modeling study funded by NASA, NOAA, and NSF, with contributions from DOE and the USGS, found that the impacts of Hurricane Sandy were significantly worsened by sea level rise attributable to climate change (Strauss et al., 2021). Researchers simulated water levels and damages both as they occurred and as they would have occurred across a range of lower sea levels, showing...

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Highlights

LACI

Science–management partnership on climate–fire–ecosystem interactions

Comparing air quality and health impacts from wildfire and prescribed fire

Collaborative forest management in a changing climate

Supporting management of invasive species at the regional level

Restoring barrier islands for coastal protection

Monitoring and assessing urban heat island variations and effects

Food, culture, and climate white paper

Updated interagency sea level rise scenarios

Modeling study shows that Hurricane Sandy damages were worsened by climate change