Researchers are improving understanding of how shifts in climate conditions affect agricultural production, as well as the
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Highlights
Since 1989, the U.S.
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.
Collaboration across the modeling community supports critical experiments and scientific advancement.
U.S. climate modeling centers play a central role in understanding and predicting...
Interagency collaboration supports predictions of Arctic sea cover used by the U.S. Navy and other operational and research organizations.
Summer sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean shrunk significantly since the early 1980s, with particularly rapid declines in recent years[1]. Arctic sea ice plays a key role in regulating weather and climate in and beyond the region[2], and projections of how sea ice cover will change in the coming years are critical for...
Modeling efforts provide new data on the effects of
Between 1998 and 2016, warming in Antarctica has been rapid and significant. Recent observations also reveal increases in snowfall...
Researchers found that reducing aerosol pollution can achieve both direct and indirect health benefits.
Atmospheric
Scientists are gaining new understanding of processes that control greenhouse gas emissions from Arctic
Rapid warming in the Arctic is causing carbon-rich soils known as permafrost, previously frozen for millennia, to thaw. As thawing soils decompose, the...
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...
Climate scenarios provide a consistent set of possible future conditions to inform analyses of the risks posed by
The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4)...
Regional climate projections can provide information on likely future changes in climate, ecosystems, and water resources at useful scales.
In the Pacific Northwest, average temperatures are projected to increase by at least two and up to 15° F by end of the century, dependent on future greenhouse gas emissions levels. Winters are expected to become wetter and summers drier,
Earth system models allow researchers to evaluate the size and strength of various influences on the climate system and identify the human contribution to the warming trend.
Earth system models allow researchers to distinguish “internal”