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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.

Observations, Mitigation, International, Carbon Cycle

Improving monitoring of forest carbon stocks

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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Indicators

Communicating climate change

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...

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Ecosystems & Biodiversity, Adaptation

Understanding climate change refugia

An up-close, profile shot of an Arctic ground squirrel perched upright on its hind quarters, dried grass filling its mouth.

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,...

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Water Resources, Adaptation

Addressing water supply challenges in the American West

A straight-on view of unsettled water flowing through the All-American Canal, the Southern Californian landscape framing both of its sides.

Collaborative studies among scientists and decision-makers are identifying strategies to meet current and future water demands.                                                  

The western United States faces growing water challenges. Drought, population change, aging infrastructure, and ecosystem needs all strain existing water and power infrastructure, and future climate change is expected to further...

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Data & Tools, National Climate Assessment, Human Health

Developing a new resource on Federal climate change and health research

A new resource ensures that Federal health and climate research is accessible to inform the Fifth National Climate Assessment.

In 2020, the CCHHG began an effort to identify and organize information on federally funded research activities on climate change and human health since 2016. This group, co-led by EPA and NASA, collated this information into a Federal climate change and health research compendium document to help inform authors of the Fifth National...

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Observations, Water Resources

Monitoring snowpack change

Map with color-coded ​​circles showing the percentage increase or decrease in snowpack at measurement sites in the western United States. Decreases have been especially prominent in Washington, Oregon, northern California, and the northern Rockies.

A multiyear observing campaign is tracking changing snowpack in the western United States, laying the groundwork for a future snow satellite mission.

Snowpack plays a critical role in the water cycle and helps regulate Earth’s climate. Storage of snow in the winter feeds spring snowmelt, bringing water to crops, people, and ecosystems downstream. Snowpack also feeds hydropower generation in  the Southwest and Northwest, and snow-related tourism and recreation are important...

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Observations, International

Supporting ozone layer recovery

The American Samoa Observatory situated against a backdrop of green mountains and cloudy blue skies.

Interagency observations and analyses show that emissions of the second-most important ozone-depleting substance are back on the decline after a recent surge.

Atmospheric measurements show that concentrations of ozone-depleting gases are declining in response to global controls on their production and use enacted under the Montreal Protocol of 1987 and its amendments. The decline since the early 1990s in the atmospheric concentration of trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11), once widely used as a foaming agent and refrigerant, has been an important component of ozone layer...

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Human Health

Research and decision tools support management of harmful algal blooms

A bright green algal bloom covers most of the lake surface. Roads, fields, and other settlements are visible along the lake’s edge.

Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when colonies of cyanobacteria grow to a much greater size and density than normal, resulting in negative effects on water quality, ecosystem health, and the health of humans and animals. Climate-related factors contribute to HABs, including water temperatures and the frequency and intensity of extreme events such as intense storms, both of which are affected by climate change. The impacts of climate change are expected to further increase risks from HABs in recreational and drinking water sources in the coming decades....

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Indicators

An interagency platform highlights important indicators of change

A bar chart showing an increase in weather and climate disasters causing more than one billion U.S. dollars in direct losses from 1980 to 2020. Event types shown are drought, flooding, freeze, severe storm, tropical cyclone, wildfire, and winter storm.

Climate indicators show trends over time in key aspects of our environment, such as greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, temperatures across land and sea, and the extent of Arctic sea ice, as well as metrics of social or economic exposure to the impacts of climate variability and change. 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. USGCRP’s Indicators Interagency Working Group (IndIWG) leverages existing agency research, data, and indicators in support of...

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Social Science, Indicators

A collaboration explores socio-environmental systems indicators for climate change adaptation and resilience

A national system of physical, ecological, and societal indicators is considered a foundational component of the sustained assessment process, serving to help users understand the changing environment, assess risks and vulnerabilities, and make informed decisions to build resilience to change. A 2019 Federal–academic workshop sought to advance the development of socio-environmental systems indicators of climate change to support adaptation and resilience decisions at various scales in the United States.

This work was supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (...

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