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 depiction of the low pressure center of a hurricane approaching the coastline.

A reconstruction of daily weather back to 1806 puts current climate trends into historical perspective.

Historical weather reconstructions, or reanalyses, combine weather model output and observations from many sources to estimate the state of the atmosphere at a particular instant in time, over the entire globe. Reanalyses provide the context for understanding how weather and climate events and trends are changing over time and support improved prediction of future changes.

An interagency partnership between NOAA and DOE supported an...

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...

A next-generation modeling system supports assessment of changing climate risks.

NOAA, the USGS, and Princeton University scientists contributed to the development of a new modeling system for seasonal-to-multidecadal climate predictions and projections, SPEAR (Seamless System for Prediction and Earth System Research), at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory.^{^[1]} SPEAR combines a set of newly developed components that...

Surveys of adaptation efforts adopted by businesses highlight opportunities for building resilience to complex climate events and other stressors.

Increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme climate and weather events put U.S. businesses at risk through closures, infrastructure damage, supply chain disruptions, and physical impacts on health and safety. The interaction among extreme events and other social and environmental stressors that affect U.S. businesses can lead to compound, simultaneous risks with impacts across multiple sectors that cause significant...

A researcher stands next to a large, horizontal stack of tree cross sections salvaged after a hurricane. Her hand rests on the trunk of one of the freshly-cut cross sections.

Studies of vulnerability to hurricane impacts in agriculture and forestry support efforts to reduce risks from future storms.

Three storms in the 2017 hurricane season caused catastrophic damage to communities, livelihoods, and infrastructure in the U.S. Southeast and Caribbean, including billions of dollars in losses in the agriculture and forestry sector. Climate change and other stressors are expected to increase damages and disruptions from hurricanes in the future, driving research to improve understanding of sector-specific vulnerabilities to storms and how best to...

A map of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and part of western Montana showing patterns of aboveground biomass storage in forests. Overall biomass density is highest in western Washington and Oregon.

Mapping forest carbon stocks with in situ, airborne, and satellite data supports forest management in the western United States.

The Carbon Monitoring System (CMS), a NASA-led effort also involving the USDA Forest Service (USDA-FS), NOAA, the USGS, and non-governmental scientists, focuses on improving the monitoring of carbon stocks and fluxes (or the movement of carbon between the oceans, atmosphere, land, and ecosystems) to support carbon management activities. A CMS study is helping the USDA-FS and other...

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...

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...

Map with color-coded circles showing the percentage increase or decrease in snowpack at measurement sites in the western United States. Decreases have been especially prominent in Washington, Oregon, northern California, and the northern Rockies.

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...

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Highlights

Updating a high-resolution reconstruction of the global climate

Assessing the effects of climate change on tropical cyclones

Developing a new seasonal-to-decadal climate prediction system

Exploring small and medium business resilience

Learning from climate disasters

Monitoring forest carbon storage

Studying carbon cycle processes in northern aquatic ecosystems

Investigating how ecosystems respond to climate warming

Understanding air–sea processes

Monitoring snowpack change