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 atmosphere—known as carbon flux—in the region and the potential impacts on global climate is an...

USGCRP agencies mobilized support for research on the health implications of climate change. As part of its mandate to promote international cooperation in global change research, USGCRP engages with the Belmont Forum , an international partnership that catalyzes funding for research in support of resilience and sustainability. USGCRP member agencies (including NOAA, NSF, USDA, and the National Institutes of Health) participated in the scoping, call text writing, review, and funding of nine research proposals on climate, environment, and health supported through the Belmont Forum. The projects...

A new scientific assessment provides information on the spread and control of invasive species for land managers. The spread of invasive species is recognized as a major driver of biodiversity loss and a source of substantial economic and environmental damage. Global environmental changes, including climate change and land use change, continue to influence how invasive species spread and interact with ecosystems, presenting new and ongoing challenges for land managers. A recent USDA Forest Service (USDA-FS) assessment presents the latest natural and social science research on the ecology...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...