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...

In support of its international mandate, USGCRP currently helps provide core budget support to three international science organizations: Future Earth, which builds interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral partnerships to advance global sustainability science; the SysTem for Analysis, Research, and Training (START), which provides opportunities for research, education, and training to scientists, policymakers, and practitioners in developing countries; and...

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...

A line graph shows a declining trend in average September sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean over the past three decades, from 2.7 million square miles in 1979 to 1.9 million square miles in 2021. A visualization of the Arctic Ocean shows a smaller sea ic

The CICE model simulates changes to Arctic sea ice and its interactions with the polar environment over seasonal to decadal timescales. The model’s development and maintenance have been led and coordinated by DOE since the early 1990s, with contributions from NOAA, NASA, NSF, ONR, and many other participants. CICE and its support infrastructure are the global standard for sea ice modeling for multiple applications, including scientific research, climate...

A visualization of atmospheric moisture data collected by satellite shows a concentrated stream of moisture stretching from the tropical Pacific Ocean to the West Coast of the United States, landing primarily in California.

Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that move moist air from the tropics to higher latitudes, producing heavy rain and snow upon landfall. They provide much of the rainfall in the western United States and are frequently associated with extreme weather across large parts of the country. The international Atmospheric River Tracking Method Intercomparison Project (ARTMIP) is seeking to improve understanding of the linkages between climate change and atmospheric rivers. ARTMIP...

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]}...

USGCRP agencies mobilized support for research on the health implications of climate change.

As part of its mandate to promote international cooperation in global change research, USGCRP engages with the Belmont Forum, an international partnership that catalyzes funding for research in support of resilience and sustainability. USGCRP member agencies (including NOAA, NSF, USDA, and the National Institutes of Health) participated in the scoping, call text writing, review, and funding of nine research proposals on climate, environment, and health supported...

Scientists lower an array of instruments into the ocean from the side of their research vessel.

An interagency field campaign gathered data on interactions between the tropical ocean and atmosphere to improve weather and climate prediction.

Over the tropical ocean, interactions between winds and warm sea water form low-hanging clouds (known as shallow convective clouds) that act as the building blocks for storms. These clouds and air–sea interactions influence weather and climate conditions all over the world, but are poorly represented in models, in part due to a lack of detailed observations that are needed to understand and accurately simulate their behavior. In...

A close-up view of an ocean float sitting upright near a shoreline, revealing its antennae and body of sensors.

New ocean sensors will expand the ability of the global Argo Program to monitor and forecast changes in ocean chemistry and marine ecosystem health.

The international Argo Program maintains a global fleet of nearly 4,000 ocean floats that help scientists understand how the ocean is changing over time. Underwater sensors provide data on trends related to climate change, including ocean temperature and heat content, salinity and freshwater content, sea level, and large-scale ocean circulation. Now, the program is innovating...

Phytoplankton blooms appear as swirls of color in the Bering Sea, captured in moderate resolution satellite imagery.

Scientists are investigating the movement of carbon from the atmosphere to the deeper ocean via ecological processes.

Microscopic organisms known as phytoplankton in the upper ocean play a critical role in Earth’s carbon cycle and climate, transporting carbon from the surface to the deeper ocean where it is stored for months to millennia. This movement of carbon—known as the biological carbon pump— represents a significant sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide, but measuring it remains a challenge. A better understanding of what influences the function of the ocean's...

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Highlights

LACI

International research coordination

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

Predicting Arctic sea ice change

Advancing modeling of a key source of extreme precipitation (ARTMIP)

Tracking the impacts of climate change on agriculture

Supporting international health and climate research

Understanding air–sea processes

Tracking ocean change

Measuring the strength of the ocean’s biological carbon pump