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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.

Agriculture & Food, Indicators

Tracking the impacts of climate change on agriculture

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]...

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International, Human Health

Supporting international health and climate research

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...

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Oceans, Physical Climate, Observations

Understanding air–sea processes

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...

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Oceans, Observations

Tracking ocean change

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...

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Oceans, Observations, Ecosystems & Biodiversity, Carbon Cycle

Measuring the strength of the ocean’s biological carbon pump

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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Observations, Energy

Investigating methane emissions in the San Juan Basin

A map showing below average background methane levels in the Northeast, Southeast, and Northwest United States; close to normal levels in the Great Plains, Midwest, and partial Southwest regions; and above average levels in the San Juan Basin.

A coordinated observing campaign uncovered the causes of an unexpected methane plume spotted by satellite.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas emitted by both...

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Oceans, Observations, Arctic

Understanding rapid change in the Arctic

An aerial view of the Polarstern during the day, drifting with Arctic sea ice.

The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) project concluded a yearlong expedition into the Arctic ice pack, collecting data that aims to advance understanding, modeling, and prediction of Arctic environmental change.

Sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has shrunk dramatically over the past four decades as temperatures in the region have warmed at over twice the rate as the rest of the globe. This trend is expected to continue, resulting in nearly sea-ice free late...

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Modeling

Modeling efforts drive advances in projections of future climate change

The U.S. research centers that develop climate and Earth system models and the U.S. scientific community are key participants in long-running collaborative efforts to improve knowledge on climate change. A number of major interagency activities supporting improvements in climate modeling took place in 2019.

Most prominently, the World Climate Research Programme Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) is currently in its sixth phase (CMIP6). The earlier phases of CMIP experiments have provided the research community...

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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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International

USGCRP enhances cooperation among international global change science organizations

USGCRP’s International Activities Interagency Working Group (IAIWG) convened its first international and interagency workshop in December 2018, bringing together representatives from System for Analysis, Research and Training (START), Future Earth, and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). These three international programs receive funding through USGCRP to support their activities and to advance USGCRP’s international mandate. USGCRP was represented by ten Federal agencies as well as USGCRP staff. The workshop’s goals were to enhance awareness of mutual priorities, investments, and...

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