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Since 2015, USGCRP’s Interagency Group on Integrative Modeling has convened an annual U.S. Climate Modeling Summit . The Summit brings together representatives from the U.S. CMIP-class climate model development centers and from operational climate prediction programs, with the goal of improving the coordination and communication of national climate modeling goals. Ultimately, the IGIM and the Climate Modeling Summit seek to optimize the investments made by the federal government in global-scale modeling and to better meet national needs for model-based information, tools, and understanding...
Modeling
As dust moving off the Sahel and Sahara regions of Africa mixes with tropical clouds over the eastern Atlantic Ocean, rainy weather systems known as disturbances emerge. These tropical disturbances are often the seedlings for Atlantic hurricanes. By studying the origins of these disturbances in the eastern north Atlantic Ocean, scientists can better understand how they interact with individual cloud systems, may be dissipated by Saharan air and dust, and ultimately why they may or may not turn into powerful storms in the western Atlantic. The Convective Processes Experiment - Cabo Verde (CPEX...
Physical Climate Observations Extreme Events
USGCRP’s Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group (CCIWG) supports carbon cycle research across the federal government and is responsible for defining program goals, setting research priorities, and reviewing the progress of the research programs that contribute to carbon cycle science. In 2022, the CCIWG’s Interagency Carbon Dioxide Removal Coordination workstream compiled information on agency carbon dioxide removal research activities to inform cross-agency discussion. The CCIWG also provided expertise to the newly created Greenhouse Gas Monitoring & Measurement Interagency Working Group (co...
Carbon Cycle Mitigation
Most cities in low-and middle-income countries lack information on the primary and secondary drivers of poor air quality. This lack of data and technical know-how hinders their ability to address the sources of emissions that are polluting the air and contributing to climate change. The USAID-funded Clean Air Catalyst (Catalyst) is piloting an innovative data-to-impact methodology to accelerate clean air action in three cities: Indore, India; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Nairobi, Kenya. The program pairs global scientific partners with local scientists to resolve key uncertainties about the sources...
International
Building upon years of development by USGCRP’s Climate Change and Human Health Group, in May 2022, HHS initiated a monthly Climate and Health Outlook (CHO), in partnership with NOAA, EPA, USDA, DOI, and other federal agencies. Aimed at both the public and health professionals, the CHO interprets 30-to-90-day climate-related hazard forecasts from a health perspective. In addition to showing where climate-related hazards are likely to be greater in coming months, the CHO identifies the health outcomes associated with those hazards, who is most at risk, and what resources are available to protect...
Human Health Adaptation Extreme Events Data & Tools
The new interagency Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation (CMRA) portal helps state, local, and Tribal governments and leaders understand their exposure to climate-related hazards, now and throughout this century. CMRA integrates decision-relevant information from across the federal government to allow users to explore how people and assets in their community may be affected by climate-related hazards. Specifically, CMRA helps people explore how climate conditions in their location are expected to change over the coming decades. The CMRA Assessment Tool integrates information from...
Adaptation Data & Tools
Animals that depend on external sources of body heat (for example, fish and reptiles) are known as ectotherms and are especially sensitive to shifts in climate conditions outside the range they are accustomed to. However, risk assessments often focus on changes in average temperature, ignoring the effects of shifts in temperature variability over time on population health. To provide a fuller picture of how heat risks to ectotherm populations might evolve as the climate changes, researchers funded by NSF and NASA integrated fine-scale climate projections from the latest generation of Earth...
Ecosystems & Biodiversity
Coastal wetlands like mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses play a significant role in carbon storage and sequestration around the world, providing some of the highest density stores of carbon in the biosphere. This long-term storage is known as coastal blue carbon. To date, only a few countries have incorporated blue carbon into their national greenhouse gas inventories, which help track progress towards meeting international climate commitments. The Blue Carbon Inventory Project (BCI), led by NOAA with funding from DOS, works with partner countries to advance the development of greenhouse...
International Carbon Cycle Mitigation
Mountains are vital headwaters to many rivers, supplying a significant amount of the freshwater used by the Earth’s population. Predicting water supply in mountainous regions is especially challenging due to their complex terrain, and continued climate changes are expected to significantly impact water availability for millions of people. The Colorado River Basin, a primary source of water for much of the southwestern United States, is estimated to see reductions in runoff ranging between 10% to nearly 50% by mid-century, raising concerns about its long-term reliability as a critical water...
Observations Water Resources Physical Climate
Coastal salt marshes, found on every coast in the United States, are essential for healthy fisheries, coastlines, and communities. They serve as important habitats, maintain water quality, and sequester carbon from the atmosphere, while also providing protection from storm surge and erosion. As sea level rise accelerates, salt marshes are increasingly vulnerable to drowning and loss, affecting their ability to provide ecosystem services, particularly carbon sequestration. Sediment placement in degraded, low-elevation marshes, typically using nearby dredged sediment, is one option to increase...
Carbon Cycle Coasts Biodiversity & Ecosystems