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Interagency observations and analyses show that emissions of the second-most important ozone-depleting substance are back on the decline after a recent surge. Atmospheric measurements show that concentrations of ozone-depleting gases are declining in response to global controls on their production and use enacted under the Montreal Protocol of 1987 and its amendments. The decline since the early 1990s in the atmospheric concentration of trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11), once widely used as a foaming agent and refrigerant, has been an important component of ozone layer recovery. NOAA and NASA...
International Observations
New ocean sensors will expand the ability of the global Argo Program to monitor and forecast changes in ocean chemistry and marine ecosystem health. The international Argo Program maintains a global fleet of nearly 4,000 ocean floats that help scientists understand how the ocean is changing over time. Underwater sensors provide data on trends related to climate change, including ocean temperature and heat content, salinity and freshwater content, sea level, and large-scale ocean circulation. Now, the program is innovating to improve measurements of ocean chemistry and other indicators...
Observations Oceans
A new set of agricultural and climate data products provides the basis for communicating the impacts of climate change on U.S. agricultural lands. The recent USDA Climate Change Indicators for Agriculture report provides national, regional, and local information to support effective decision-making by U.S. agricultural producers, resource managers, policy makers, and other users. 1 This set of indicators identifies high-priority agricultural and climate data products while providing the basis for tracking the impacts of climate change on American working lands, in support of adaptive...
Indicators Agriculture & Food
Interagency science informed the synthesis of actionable research to support Federal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, DoD began working with interagency partners to synthesize actionable research on potential environmental drivers impacting the life and spread of the COVID-19 virus. From this collective research, representatives from the Air Force Directorate of Weather worked with DoD’s operational climate services unit, the 14th Weather Squadron in Asheville, NC, to produce actionable products for senior DoD leaders on potential environmental drivers of COVID-19, as well as...
Adaptation Ecosystems & Biodiversity
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 2020, a NOAA-led field...
Observations Oceans Physical Climate
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, along with Federal, state...
Adaptation Ecosystems & Biodiversity
A modeling framework provides insight on future coastal flooding risks to guide resilience efforts. Sea level rise and other climate-related changes are increasing risks from the impacts of storms on coastal communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems. To support efforts to build resilience to climate variability and change, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center-Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (ERDC-CHL) developed the Coastal Hazards System (CHS) as a framework to quantify risks from coastal hazards and flooding events caused by hurricanes and other...
Coasts Data & Tools Extreme Events
The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) project concluded a yearlong expedition into the Arctic ice pack, collecting data that aims to advance understanding, modeling, and prediction of Arctic environmental change. Sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has shrunk dramatically over the past four decades as temperatures in the region have warmed at over twice the rate as the rest of the globe. This trend is expected to continue, resulting in nearly sea-ice free late summers in the Arctic by midcentury. 1 Arctic sea ice plays a key role in shaping climate...
Arctic Observations Oceans
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 updated version of the 20th Century Reanalysis Project (...
Modeling Observations
A national system of physical, ecological, and societal indicators is considered a foundational component of the sustained assessment process, serving to help users understand the changing environment, assess risks and vulnerabilities, and make informed decisions to build resilience to change. A 2019 Federal–academic workshop sought to advance the development of socio-environmental systems indicators of climate change to support adaptation and resilience decisions at various scales in the United States. This work was supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) under...
Indicators Social Science