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.
The Drought Learning Network supports knowledge exchange on drought management in the U.S. Southwest.
The Drought Learning Network (DLN) brings together drought management leaders and resource managers to support knowledge sharing and improve collaboration around building resilience among communities impacted by drought in the U.S. Southwest, one of the hottest and driest regions of the world. The DLN was created by drought management leaders from the USDA Southwest Climate Hub, the National...
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...
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...
Much of the precipitation along the U.S. West Coast is delivered by phenomena known as “atmospheric rivers”—narrow bands of moist air that may extend for thousands of miles across regions outside of the tropics, and play a critical role in regional water supply and storm activity. Atmospheric-river events play a beneficial role in building up Western water supply and snowpack but are also the source of a large majority of floods in the region. Many uncertainties about key processes that affect storm development...
Since 2011, California has experienced one of its most severe and widespread droughts since record-keeping began in 1895. USGCRP-supported research helps advance drought science and provides the basis for the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) (Highlight 10), which aims to increase the capacity of the public to better prepare for and respond to drought events through regional Drought Early Warning Systems (DEWS). The NOAA Drought Task...
Water resources in the United States are affected by a number of climate stressors—including increasing temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and extreme events like storms and droughts—and these changing conditions have implications for drinking water and stormwater utilities. Federal agencies are working with one another and with state and local partners to build preparedness and sustainability in this essential sector. For instance, the Federal Support Toolbox—grown out of an initiative led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)—serves as a
In the fall of 2014, several USGCRP agencies and National Coordination Office (NCO) staff supported the Climate Change Preparedness and Resilience Exercise Series, a suite of daylong workshops targeted at state- and local-level decision makers. This initiative was sponsored by the National Security Council, the Council on Environmental Quality, and OSTP, in collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) National Exercise Division. Exercises in this pilot series focused on the
The severe, sustained drought affecting the Central Valley of California has caused a shortage of water for irrigation and crop production. The effect of this shortage is most immediately evident as an increase in the extent of fallowed farmland (or land taken out of agricultural production), which in turn serves as a proxy for socioeconomic impacts. Decision makers can use information about fallowed land to better understand the severity of drought impacts and to support requests for USDA drought disaster designations or emergency proclamations. USDA
Climate change presents new challenges for managing water quality and quantity, particularly in areas where water resources are already stressed. Resource managers need scientifically sound, usable information and training to deal with changing patterns of water extremes and other climate-related issues facing the water sector.
To help meet this need, USACE and DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation have developed a training series titled Assessing Natural
Trout and salmon are economically and ecologically important stream-dwelling species. Researchers from USGS, NOAA, and the University of Montana are working together to assess the effects of current and future climate change on these species’ freshwater habitats throughout the Pacific Northwest, with the goal of providing tools to help managers predict and respond to potential climate impacts on habitats, populations, and the economy.
Research to date indicate that increasing stream water temperatures may lead to fragmentation of suitable habitat for