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.

A journal special issue highlights advances in the science of protecting species and ecosystems from climate change impacts.

An increasingly important climate change adaptation strategy is to focus conservation on climate change refugia, or areas that are relatively buffered from contemporary climate change. Protection and management of climate change refugia can help shelter native species and ecosystems from current climate change impacts and provide longer-term havens that protect valued ecological and sociocultural resources. The U.S. Geological Survey and EPA,...

A field researcher installs a hanging, multi-tiered emerald ash borer trap in the forest.

The Climate Change Response Framework provides landowners with adaptation options to address climate change risks to forests.

Climate change increases uncertainty about future conditions affecting land and natural resources, creating new challenges for land managers working to sustain healthy ecosystems and ecosystem services. In 2020, the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS) and the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub worked side-by-side with land managers to advance regionally specific climate change adaptation strategies. The NIACS...

A close-up shot of an emerald ash borer clinging to the side of a twig. Its metallic brown-green stands out against the blurred, wooded background.

A new scientific assessment provides information on the spread and control of invasive species for land managers.

The spread of invasive species is recognized as a major driver of biodiversity loss and a source of substantial economic and environmental damage. Global environmental changes, including climate change and land use change, continue to influence how invasive species spread and interact with ecosystems, presenting new and ongoing challenges for land managers. A recent USDA Forest Service (USDA-FS) ...

Calm water snakes through a salt marsh surrounded by green vegetation on a sunny day.

Satellite data products are helping land managers quickly evaluate the health of vulnerable coastal wetlands.

Salt marshes protect communities and infrastructure from storms, filter pollution, and provide habitat for fish and shellfish. These coastal wetlands and the ecosystem services they provide are increasingly threatened by rising sea levels, erosion, and land use change, and land and resource managers need tools to track changes and trends in their health and extent. Satellite data products provide one method for quickly evaluating marsh vulnerability to environmental...

A close-up of an ice lake section with methane gas bubbles trapped beneath the surface.

Recent studies are improving the ability to quantify ecosystem carbon dynamics and greenhouse gas exchange in changing Arctic and boreal landscapes.

Northern high latitudes are warming at more than twice the global average, driving permafrost thaw, changes in surface water extent, increased wildfire, and other changes that affect how much carbon is stored in and emitted to the atmosphere by soils, vegetation, and inland waters.^{^[1]} Measuring the flow of carbon between ecosystems, landscapes, and the...

An aerial view of the experimental enclosures fixed over intact black spruce peatland.

Experimental warming of a peatland ecosystem showed a rapid shift towards net carbon loss to the atmosphere.

Peatlands cover only about 3 percent of Earth’s land surface but store around 30 percent of global soil carbon. As the climate warms, these carbon stocks are vulnerable to release into the atmosphere as the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane, contributing to a cycle of further warming and carbon release. The SPRUCE (Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments...

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...

A photo shows a pine-covered mountain. Roughly half of the trees have been killed by drought and a drought-driven western pine beetle outbreak.

Most regions of the United States are projected to experience a higher frequency of severe droughts and longer dry periods as a result of a warming climate.[1] In 2016, USDA Forest Service (USDA-FS) scientists and partners prepared a state-of-the-science synthesis of drought effects on the nation’s forests designed to inform drought resilience and adaptation efforts. A new volume released in 2019 builds on that work, linking recent scientific...

A natural-color image captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite on August 27, 2017, shows dozens of wildfires burning in the western United States.

Wildfires affect communities throughout the United States each year, threatening lives, property and infrastructure, and ecosystems.^[1] Understanding the climatic conditions that influence wildfire patterns can improve our ability to predict the occurrence and severity of future wildfires, and ultimately support the development of effective adaptation strategies.

In response to this need, multiple programs within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Department of the Interior’s...

G-LiHT measurements for an area within Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest near Fairbanks, Alaska.

Scientists are using aerial and ground survey methods to measure change in Alaska’s interior forests and its impact on ecosystem services.

The boreal forests of interior Alaska are changing rapidly as the climate warms. Wildfires are more frequent and more severe, and declines in growth of spruce trees may be driving a shift towards ecosystems normally found in warmer climates. These changes can have significant impacts on the quality of wildlife habitat and ecosystem services that support the subsistence economies of many native Alaskan...

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Highlights

Understanding climate change refugia

Co-designing climate change adaptation strategies with land managers

Supporting management of invasive species in forests and rangelands

Assessing the health of coastal wetlands nationwide

Studying carbon cycle processes in northern aquatic ecosystems

Investigating how ecosystems respond to climate warming

Measuring the strength of the ocean’s biological carbon pump

A new assessment links the latest drought science with management responses

Drought and wildfire research supports adaptation planning in the western United States

Monitoring change in Alaskan forests