An assessment of carbon stocks in Alaska’s soils and vegetation helped set a baseline for monitoring future change. Alaska’s soils and vegetation store vast quantities of carbon. Increases in temperature throughout the 21st century may increasingly expose these stores to loss from increased wildfire, permafrost thaw, and other changes that could turn Alaska’s ecosystems into a net source of carbon to the atmosphere. However, much of Alaska has previously not been considered in any major national carbon and greenhouse gas inventory reports, and the potential effects of climate change on carbon...

A report on the status of America’s forests and rangelands provides a baseline for monitoring future change and its effect on ecosystem services and livelihoods. Expanding populations, increased urbanization, land use change, and climate change continue to affect American forests and rangelands. Climate change and natural disturbances will alter forest and rangeland ecosystems and affect their ability to provide ecosystem services such as water quality protection, removal of pollutants from the atmosphere, and outdoor recreation. The most recent Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment update...

Collaboration across regions and institutions in Alaska supports increased resilience to climate-related risks to lives and livelihoods. In Alaska, changes in snow, ice, and weather have increased risks to human lives and threats to valuable natural resources, damaged infrastructure, and disrupted hunting, fishing, and livelihoods. The vast and largely undisturbed landscapes of Alaska and Northwest Canada support unique natural and cultural resources that are valued locally and globally. To help address these challenges, leaders from the Aleutian Islands to the Chukchi Sea came together for a...

Interagency efforts are supporting preparedness and safety measures for critical transportation infrastructure. Dust storms in the Southwest can create dangerous and deadly driving conditions, reducing visibility to near zero with very little warning. Interstate 10 is especially vulnerable to dangerous dust-related driving conditions as it passes through a dry lake bed west of Lordsburg near the Arizona border. To help reduce dust-related risks, the NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program and the DOT Federal Highway Administration coordinated with the National Weather...

Coordinated experiments run across major Earth system models help improve model projections and advance climate science understanding. Projections of the future state of the Earth system can differ significantly across models, with various potential sources of uncertainty. To better understand the sources of difference and where fundamental scientific understanding can be improved, the Earth system modeling community uses a set of experiments run across many models known as the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). CMIP is an ongoing effort, now in its sixth phase (CMIP6), and is...

Scientists are using satellites to collect detailed data on forest change in remote parts of Alaska and the Arctic. Rapid warming in the Arctic and boreal regions of Alaska is affecting boreal forests and tundra ecosystems in a number of ways. Higher temperatures and changes in precipitation have led to a higher incidence of wildfire and increased tree mortality from drought, insects, and disease. Increases in the length of the growing season and the amount of energy produced by vegetation have also been observed. While tracking how climate changes are affecting vegetation in these vast...

USGCRP co-led an international group of funders and implementers in initiating development of a collaborative research action. The Belmont Forum is an international partnership between national research funding agencies and international science organizations focused on advancing transdisciplinary global change science and accelerating its application. Its Collaborative Research Actions (CRAs) combine natural science, social science, and stakeholder perspectives to produce knowledge for understanding and responding to global environmental change. In November 2017, the Belmont Forum approved a...

Strong engagement efforts help ensure that USGCRP assessment products are relevant and accessible to users. USGCRP recently finalized the fourth installment of the National Climate Assessment (NCA4). Volume I (the Climate Science Special Report , see Highlight 16) was released in November 2017, and Volume II ( Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States ) was released in late 2018. A technical input to the sustained assessment process, the Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2), was also released in late 2018. To ensure that these assessments provide relevant, usable science...

Collaboration across the modeling community supports critical experiments and scientific advancement. U.S. climate modeling centers play a central role in understanding and predicting global change on seasonal to centennial timescales. They are engaged in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), which produces climate projections underpinning the assessments conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the U.S. National Climate Assessment. Models developed by these centers are designed for different purposes, from providing operational forecast information to...

Climate and health assessment information has been shared widely through a number of platforms and formats, including a Spanish translation of the report overview. In April 2016, the USGCRP released The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment , a groundbreaking report detailing the major risks and vulnerabilities to human health posed by climate change. Since its release, the report has received over 270,000 visits to its website and over 20,000 downloads. Much of this success is the result of outreach efforts by the USGCRP and member agencies...