Filters

A new resource ensures that Federal health and climate research is accessible to inform the Fifth National Climate Assessment. In 2020, the CCHHG began an effort to identify and organize information on federally funded research activities on climate change and human health since 2016. This group, co-led by EPA and NASA, collated this information into a Federal climate change and health research compendium document to help inform authors of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, as well as agency research planning. Nine Federal agencies contributed to the compendium, which includes sections on...
Data & Tools Human Health National Climate Assessment
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 simulate the ocean, atmosphere, land, sea ice, and their interactions. The new system is used for real-time seasonal climate predictions as part of the North American...
Extreme Events Modeling
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 disruptions to...
Adaptation Extreme Events
SilvaCarbon leverages state-of-the-art science and technology to advance the generation and use of information in managing forest and terrestrial carbon. Tropical deforestation and forest degradation are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainable management of tropical forest resources is an important opportunity for climate change mitigation. Many tropical forested countries have committed to providing accurate, transparent information about landscape changes and changes in forest carbon stocks and emissions, but need technical assistance to accomplish their goals. SilvaCarbon...
Carbon Cycle Mitigation International Observations
Collaboration across modeling, observational, and process research communities aims to improve how models represent and predict precipitation. Many extreme events and related impacts are associated with the intensity, duration, and frequency of precipitation, including drought, flooding, wildfire, and severe storms. Understanding when, where, and how much precipitation will fall can help decision-makers and planners in agriculture, emergency management, energy, and other sectors prepare for and reduce costs from potential impacts. While models are skilled at simulating global and regional...
Extreme Events Modeling
Interagency efforts ensure that social science expertise helps shape the Fifth National Climate Assessment. USGCRP’s Social Sciences Coordinating Committee (SSCC) provides regular input into USGCRP’s sustained assessment process, including ongoing engagement with the academic social sciences community and recommendations for the further integration of social science topics into National Climate Assessments. Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) Webinar for Social Scientists. In October 2020, the SSCC hosted a public webinar for social scientists that outlined the different mechanisms for...
Social Science National Climate Assessment
A new tool makes satellite data on field conditions available to producers. Soil moisture data are used to plan crop planting, forecast yields, track droughts or floods, and improve weather forecasts, and can also be used to track changing conditions for U.S. agriculture over time. A new tool developed by USDA makes soil moisture data from NASA available to farmers, researchers, and other users. The Crop-CASMA (Crop Condition and Soil Moisture Analytics) tool uses high-resolution satellite data from NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission to map soil moisture across the United...
Agriculture & Food Data & Tools Observations
A heat health forecast tool aims to help communities better prepare for and respond to extreme heat events. The CCHHG, led by NOAA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with input from the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, developed a Climate and Health Monitor and Outlook Heat Forecast Product for the continental United States based on NOAA seasonal forecasts. The heat health forecast tool displays the rate of heat-related illness by region for a given week and is designed to help communities better prepare for and respond to extreme heat events. CDC is...
Data & Tools Human Health Modeling
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 ) experiment, a DOE and USDA Forest Service initiative, is a 10-year study involving warming of an intact...
Carbon Cycle Ecosystems & Biodiversity
A coordinated observing campaign uncovered the causes of an unexpected methane plume spotted by satellite. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas emitted by both natural sources and processes (such as wetlands, geological seeps, and biomass burning) and human activities (including agriculture, waste and landfills, and fossil fuel extraction). Sources of regional and global methane pollution can be tracked through emission inventories, atmospheric in situ measurements, and remote sensing observations, allowing scientists to detect and study methane emissions and how they are changing. 1 A major...
Energy Observations