In 2015,
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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.
The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon is a periodic fluctuation of sea-surface temperatures and atmospheric pressure across the tropical Pacific Ocean. During the El Niño phase of the cycle, the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean warms substantially. This can cause significant short-term increases in global-average surface temperatures, and through atmospheric teleconnections, a strong El Niño event can affect weather patterns around the globe. A particularly strong El Niño emerged during the winter/spring season of...
Since 2014, Jamaica has experienced one of its worst droughts in a decade, and the fourth worst on record since the 1970s. The
SERVIR—meaning “to serve” in Spanish—combines NASA’s Earth-observations data and tools with USAID’s expertise in international development, supporting the use of geospatial technologies to help decision makers in developing countries respond to environmental change. Through the SERVIR network, experts at regional hubs in Eastern and Southern Africa, Hindu Kush-Himalaya, and the Mekong River Basin partner with local decision makers and U.S.-based scientists to create new datasets, maps, and decision-support tools related to...
As
USGCRP’s 2012-2021 Strategic Plan recognized the need for better representation of the social dimensions of
In April 2016, USGCRP released The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment (Climate and Health Assessment), a significant advancement in understanding of the impacts of climate change on human health. It strengthens the finding in previous literature that climate change increases health risks for all Americans, that certain populations are particularly vulnerable, and that these threats are likely to increase as climate change progresses. In particular, an annual...
Indicators are measurements or calculations that represent how a complex system is changing over time—for instance, the unemployment rate is an
Scenarios are plausible alternative futures, each describing what might happen under a range of possible assumptions about policy decisions and the behavior of the Earth system. By illustrating possible future conditions, scenarios provide a basis for analyzing the potential impacts of and responses to...
The Global Change Information System (GCIS) was launched in May 2014 as a repository of global-change data that could be easily and efficiently accessed, integrated with other data sets, and maintained and expanded over time. GCIS initially supported traceable data and metadata for findings and graphics in the Third National Climate Assessment (NCA3) and expanded considerably in support of the 2016 assessment...