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December 2014

Volume 5, Issue 6

Looking for past issues of this newsletter? An archive is now available.
Click the links below to jump to an article, or scroll down farther to browse all articles. 

In this issue: 

USGCRP Releases Annual Report on Global Change Research

The latest edition of Our Changing Planet, USGCRP's annual report to Congress, illustrates the Program's significant progress in meeting our mandate and fulfilling the 2012-2021 Strategic Plan. The report, which was released in late October, gives an overview of the Federal global change research enterprise and upcoming research priorities, with plain-language highlights spotlighting recent efforts to advance science and support societal needs. Among the many highlights in the report, a few examples include:

  • New satellite missions to measure global change
  • Progress in forecasting near-term climate
  • Understanding natural and human factors in the carbon cycle
  • Modeling climate impacts on agriculture and the agro-economy
  • Delivering the 2014 National Climate Assessment (NCA)
  • Supporting climate preparedness and resilience in the Federal Government
  • Building capacity among climate change interpreters in informal education settings

View the report to learn more.

Major New Steps by the Administration to Respond to Climate Change

In November, the Administration released the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, a suite of science-based resources and real-world case studies to help communities prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate change. Concurrent with the Toolkit’s release, a task force of state, local, and tribal leaders submitted their recommendations for how the Federal Government can support resilience in American communities.

  • Read the full news story to learn more about the Toolkit and the task force recommendations

A new Administration initiative announced this month aims to “lift America’s game” in climate education, literacy, and training. Led by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Climate Education and Literacy Initiative will connect students and citizens with the best-available scientific information about climate change.

  • Read the full news story to learn more about the Initiative and how USGCRP agencies are contributing

Lastly, Climate.Data.gov was recently expanded to include open government data and geospatial tools related to water and ecosystems. These freely available resources and a series of associated initiatives are intended to spur innovation and help environmental planners, natural resource managers, and businesses that depend on ecosystem services make informed decisions on the ground.  

  • Read the blog post by White House Science Advisor John Holdren

Federal Agencies Release Their Sustainability & Adaptation Plans

A wildfire burns near a military base in California. (Credit: U.S. Marine Corps)
A wildfire burns near a military base in California. (Credit: U.S. Marine Corps)
At the end of October, Federal agencies released their annual plans for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for the impacts of climate change. The Sustainability and Climate Change Adaptation Plans build on last year’s editions, which marked the first time that adaptation planning was explicitly incorporated. USGCRP plays an important role in providing the foundational science that agencies use to assess their vulnerabilities and plan their responses to climate change.

  • Read the full news story to learn more about the Plans and climate-related risks identified by Federal agencies like NASA, the Department of Defense, and the National Park Service
  • View the Adaptation Plans via our library of Federal Adaptation Resources

Preparing for Climate Change in Hampton Roads

USGCRP staff member Dr. Fred Lipschultz talks about national and regional climate impacts at the Hampton Roads exercise, which was hosted by Old Dominion University. (Credit: ODU)
USGCRP staff member Dr. Fred Lipschultz talks about national and regional climate impacts at the Hampton Roads exercise, which was hosted by Old Dominion University. (Credit: ODU)

The latest installment in the Climate Change Preparedness and Resilience Exercise Series took place in Hampton Roads, VA, on December 2. Like the previous exercises in Alaska, Colorado, and the Houston-Galveston area of Texas, the Hampton Roads exercise was designed to advance the area’s climate adaptation dialogue and identify collaborative and sustainable approaches to community-based adaptive capabilities. The 2014 National Climate Assessment provided a basis for discussing regional climate impacts, with local experts supplying additional context on issues of particular concern for the area—namely, sea level rise and the impacts of major storms. Participants included local, state, and Federal government representatives as well as private sector, non-governmental, and academic partners. USGCRP staff actively supported this and other events in the Exercise Series, which was sponsored by the White House National Security Council, Council on Environmental Quality, and Office of Science and Technology Policy, in collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Exercise Division.

IPCC Synthesis Report Confirms Urgency of Climate Threat

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Synthesis Report in early November, confirming that warming in the climate system is unequivocal and, if left unaddressed, will increase the likelihood of pervasive, irreversible damage to the environment and society. The report emphasizes that options are available to limit climate change and adapt to its impacts.

  • Read the full news story to learn more about the report’s findings
  • Visit the IPCC website to view the report and the summary for policy makers

New Research Frontiers: The Urban Carbon Cycle

Four reports, published recently in a special section of the open-access journal Earth’s Future, lay the foundation for building a holistic, interdisciplinary understanding of how humans and carbon interact in urban areas. The reports are the result of a workshop sponsored last year by USGCRP’s Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group (CCIWG), which brought together natural and social scientists and engineers from within and outside the government. 

  • Read the full news story to learn more about understanding human–carbon interactions in cities

More carbon cycle science news:

  • The 29th meeting of the Carbon Cycle Scientific Steering Group (CCSSG) was convened by the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program Office on November 18–19, in Arlington, VA. Members of the CCSSG and the CCIWG discussed emerging coordinated research on urban carbon; carbon observation and monitoring systems; and carbon dynamics related to land use change, the ocean, and the Arctic. The meeting also involved planning for the second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR-2), which will build on the first SOCCR that was published in 2007 as USGCRP’s Synthesis and Assessment Product (SAP) 2.2.
  • CCIWG members participated in NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Science Team Meeting and Applications Workshop, held November 12–14 in Bethesda, MD. The meeting included updates on CMS goals, discussions of Science Team results, introduction of new Science Team members and projects, and progress reports from working groups. Interagency collaboration was highlighted at the meeting and featured in conversations around the need for a National Carbon Monitoring System.
  • To keep up with carbon cycle science news and find related research opportunities, visit carboncyclescience.us.

Crowdsourcing Climate: Citizen Science, Indicators, and the National Climate Assessment

The vision for the sustained National Climate Assessment involves identifying a set of indicators—or physical, ecological, and societal variables—that track climate changes, impacts, and responses. In cooperation with the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and the Federal Community of Practice for Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science, USGCRP recently held a public roundtable (November 18) and an invitation-only workshop (November 19) to explore how crowd-based approaches like citizen science can contribute to indicator networks and the sustained assessment. Citizen science refers to the engagement of non-professionals in scientific investigations—asking questions, collecting data, or interpreting results.

A graphic recording of the roundtable discussions. (Credit: Emily Cloyd)
A graphic recording of the roundtable discussions. (Credit: Emily Cloyd)
At the roundtable (webcast available here), representatives from USGCRP agencies delivered keynote speeches highlighting the ways in which their agencies and USGCRP as a whole engage in citizen science efforts. Leaders in the field from agencies and from outside the government contributed to a lively panel discussion, addressing questions about public participation in science from the international scale to the K­–12 level.  The subsequent workshop afforded a hands-on opportunity to tackle practical questions, including:

  • Which indicators could benefit from the incorporation of citizen science—10 years from now, five years from now, and today?
  • What existing citizen science projects can be leveraged? Are there opportunities for new uses of citizen science?
  • How can citizen science and indicators be used together to help a range of audiences better understand climate change?

The results of the workshop will be reported at the upcoming Citizen Science Association Conference and in a workshop report to be released in 2015.

Report-Out From Recent Climate & Health Events

John Balbus, a co-chair of the CCHHG, presents at the APHA town hall on Federal efforts related to climate change and human health. (Credit: Mark Shimamoto)
John Balbus, a co-chair of the CCHHG, presents at the APHA town hall on Federal efforts related to climate change and human health. (Credit: Mark Shimamoto)
By request of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences’ Standing Committee on the Use of Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions held a public meeting on November 3-4 (webcasts and presentations available here). The meeting brought together environmental health researchers, climate modelers, and public health experts and practitioners to explore new approaches to modeling the human health risks of future climate change. The discussions were constructive and turned frequently to how USGCRP can support the development and improvement of climate and health models.

On November 18, USGCRP’s Climate Change and Human Health Group (CCHHG) held a town hall at the American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Members of the CCHHG presented information on the latest relevant Federal efforts, including the Climate Data Initiative, the Sustainable Climate Resilient Health Care Facilities Initiative, and a live demonstration of the Climate Resilience Toolkit. In addition, a panel of Federal grantees discussed their research and data needs within the context of their ongoing projects. The event received a large turnout, and attendees expressed strong interest in USGCRP efforts ranging from improving and refining data, to circumpolar health considerations in the Arctic, to engagement around the developing USGCRP Climate and Health Assessment. Beyond the town hall, the 2014 National Climate Assessment was well integrated in the APHA meeting’s scientific sessions, with NCA figures and quotations supporting many of the climate-related presentations.

Evaluating the National Climate Assessment: Workshop Report

This past June, 70 people representing Federal agencies, NCA authors, the NCA and Development Advisory Committee, the USGCRP National Coordination Office, the NOAA NCA Technical Support Unit, the NCA partners network (NCAnet), users of the NCA, and evaluation experts convened in Arlington, VA, to discuss frameworks for evaluating the National Climate Assessment. Through participatory voting exercises, plenary panels, and small group discussions, participants provided input on methods that USGCRP can consider in developing an evaluation plan for the 2014 NCA report and the sustained assessment. The newly available workshop report summarizes discussions about a number of topics, including overarching principles for evaluation, audiences for an evaluation, what to evaluate, how to evaluate, and who might participate. 

Upcoming Events Featuring the National Climate Assessment

Already in December, USGCRP National Climate Assessment staff and NCA report authors have participated in conferences of the American Anthropological Association and ACES – A Community on Ecosystem Services. NCA staff and authors will be at several more conferences this winter. Sessions that feature the Assessment and related efforts are listed below, although some NCA authors may be presenting individual talks and posters assigned to other sessions.

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting
San Francisco, CA

American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting
Phoenix, AZ

  • January 5, 11:00 am–5:30 pm MST | The 2014 US National Climate Assessment: Science, Policy, and the Future – Part I, Part II, Part III

Energy and Climate Change: 15th National Conference and Global Forum on Science, Policy, and the Environment
Washington, DC

Citizen Science Association Conference
San Jose, CA

  • February 11-12 | Look for the poster on “Tracking a Changing Climate” (see Crowdsourcing Climate, above)

American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting
San Jose, CA

  • February 15, 1:30 - 4:30 pm | National Climate Assessment: Resource for Climate Literacy and Making Decisions

For more information, see the NCAnet Partners calendar. 

USGCRP Remembers Rick Piltz

Rick Piltz, a former USGCRP staff member known for his commitment to scientific integrity, passed away on Saturday, October 18, at the age of 71. Piltz had a long and distinguished career at the interface of climate science and communication with decision makers. His involvement with USGCRP began with the Program’s founding legislation in the late 1980s and continued until he resigned his position at the USGCRP office in 2005, citing interference with the reporting of climate science by the Bush White House.

 

 

The USGCRP newsletter primarily focuses on programmatic news and updates. If you’re looking for more Federal climate science news, visit our main news page or subscribe to our RSS news feed.  

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[no-lexicon]The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates Federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. USGCRP began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-606), which called for "a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change."

The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is conducted under the auspices of the Global Change Research Act of 1990, which requires a report to the President and Congress every four years that evaluates, integrates, and interprets USGCRP findings. The NCA aims to incorporate advances in the understanding of climate science into larger social, ecological, and policy systems, thereby providing integrated analyses of impacts and vulnerability, helping the Federal Government to prioritize climate science investments, and delivering science that can be used by communities throughout our Nation to plan for a more sustainable and environmentally sound future.[/no-lexicon]