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.

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...

A Gulfstream-V TRACER-AQ research plane on the runway at sunset

In September 2021, NASA conducted the TRACER–AQ field campaign in the Houston metropolitan area to measure air quality, ozone, and meteorological factors that influence air pollution in the region. This effort was conducted in partnership with the DOE-led TRACER campaign, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and several academic institutions, as part of a set of interagency field activities in the...

Researchers used interagency modeling and observational capabilities to understand the impacts of reduced pollution related to the COVID-19 pandemic on Earth’s energy balance.

Lockdown measures enacted to control the spread of COVID-19 led to a worldwide reduction in emissions of tiny atmospheric particles known as aerosols. Through their interactions with solar energy and clouds, aerosols play a significant role in shaping Earth’s energy balance (or the balance between incoming energy from the sun and outgoing energy from the Earth) and climate that is still inadequately...

A heavily flooded residential area in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Dark, muddy waters cover the roads, and crest just below roof- and treetops.

New research shows that the destructive power of individual tropical cyclones is likely to increase over this century.

New research led by NOAA scientists found that as global temperatures and global average sea level continue to rise throughout this century, the destructive power of individual tropical cyclones (including hurricanes, tropical storms, and typhoons) is likely to increase.^{^[1]} The assessment, conducted by a World Meteorological Organization science team, evaluated modeling studies of how...

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 researcher launches a radiosonde instrument attached to a weather balloon to capture detailed atmospheric data.

The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica is the stormiest place on Earth, marked by heavy cloud cover that helps determine how much of the sun’s energy reaches Earth’s surface. Due in part to the scarcity of field data from the region, current climate models have difficulty reproducing the behavior of clouds over the Southern Ocean, which in turn affects how well they can simulate current and future climate. Motivated by these data limitations, an international multi-agency effort collected atmospheric and oceanographic data via ship-, aircraft-, and island-based instrumentation in a...

The January 2016 melt event on the West Antarctic ice sheet was captured by satellite and surface observations.

An observing campaign on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is improving understanding of influences on recent ice loss and the implications for future sea level rise.

Antarctica holds the largest reservoir of ice on Earth and is significant contributor to sea level rise. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, once considered relatively stable, has shed an increasing amount of ice...

Regional comparisons of submarine (1958–1976 and 1993–1997), ICESat (2003–2007), and CryoSat-2 (2011–2016) ice thickness data, showing declines in ice thickness over time.

Satellite observations of sea ice thickness provide an opportunity to improve seasonal predictions of Arctic sea ice cover.

Arctic sea ice grows and melts each year with the seasons, reaching its low point in September. Summer sea ice cover has shrunk significantly over the past thirty years, although variation from year to year means that the downward trend is not uniform. Arctic sea ice plays a critical role in regulating weather and climate in and beyond the region. Sea ice decline activates a feedback loop in the climate system: as highly...

Forecasts of ocean surface current velocity in the Pacific Ocean off of Baja California generated in part using in-situ observations from NOAA’s Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO)

Upgrades to an observing network in the equatorial Pacific Ocean support valuable forecasts of global shifts in climate and extreme weather.

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a natural climate phenomenon driven in part by the variability of ocean surface temperatures, atmospheric pressure, and trade winds in the tropical Pacific Ocean. ENSO events, occurring every two to seven years on average, cause widespread shifts in precipitation patterns and weather and climate

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Modeling efforts provide new data on the effects of climate change in Antarctica.

Between 1998 and 2016, warming in Antarctica has been rapid and significant. Recent observations also reveal increases in snowfall in western Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica that are unprecedented over the past two millennia. To investigate these changes, a team of NSF-sponsored researchers and NASA scientists merged observation-based NSF-funded research with global modeling efforts that benefited from NASA satellite and airborne-based data^[1]...

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Highlights

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

Tracking Aerosol Convection interactions ExpeRiment – Air Quality

Measuring the atmospheric impacts of COVID-19-related emissions reductions

Assessing the effects of climate change on tropical cyclones

Understanding air–sea processes

Unprecedented observations in the Southern Ocean help improve global climate models

Investigating ice sheet change in Antarctica

Advancing seasonal predictions of Arctic sea ice

Strengthening critical observations of the tropical ocean and atmosphere

Modeling ice sheet change in Antarctica