U.S. Global Change Research Program
Encyclopedia
The United States Global Change Research Program or USGCRP coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The program began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was codified by Congress through 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.
Thirteen departments and agencies participate in the USGCRP, which was known as the U.S. Climate Change Science Program
from 2002 through 2008. The program is steered by the Subcommittee on Global Change Research under the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, overseen by the Executive Office of the President, and facilitated by an Integration and Coordination Office.
During the past two decades, the United States, through the USGCRP, has made the world's largest scientific investment in the areas of climate change and global change research. Since its inception, the USGCRP has supported research and observational activities in collaboration with several other national and international science programs.
These activities led to major advances in several key areas including but not limited to:
These advances have been documented in numerous assessments commissioned by the program and have played prominent roles in international assessments such as those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
. Program results and plans are documented in the program's annual report, Our Changing Planet.
Interagency Working Groups
Decision support activities---including the development of assessments and other tools and information to support adaptation and mitigation decision making---are coordinated in a distributed fashion across the program and are part of the mandate of all IWGs and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research.
* 2008: Revised Research Plan: An Update to the 2003 Strategic Plan
* 2003: Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program
* 1989: Our Changing Planet: The FY 1990 Research Plan
* 1989: Our Changing Planet: A U.S. Strategy for Global Change Research
The program has recently undertaken a series of "listening sessions" with a variety of stakeholder groups around the country to gain a better understanding of the emerging needs for climate information and ways in which federal research might be shaped to meet those needs. Stakeholder engagement that was a central element of the program's first national assessment
The program and its member departments and agencies have also commissioned a number of reports from the NRC to help guide it in its current activities and future planning. Some of the more recent of these reports, available from www.nap.edu, are the following:
* 2009. Restructuring Federal Climate Research to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change. 254 pp.
* 2009. Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate. 200 pp.
* 2008. Ensuring the Climate Record from the NPOESS and GOES-R Spacecraft. 180 pp.
* 2008. Public Participation in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making. Pre-publication.
* 2008. Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation: Special Report. 296 pp.
* 2008. Global Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events: Understanding the Contributions to Infectious Disease Emergence: Workshop Summary. 304 pp.
* 2008. Hydrologic Effects of a Changing Forest Landscape. 194 pp.
* 2008. Observing Weather and Climate from the Ground Up: A Nationwide Network of Networks.
* 2007. Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond. 456 pp.
* 2007. Assessment of the NASA Applied Sciences Program. 160 pp.
* 2007. Evaluating Progress of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program: Methods and Preliminary Results. 170 pp.
* 2007. Analysis of Global Change Assessments. 182 pp.
* 2007. Understanding Multiple Environmental Stresses: Report of a Workshop. 141 pp.
* 2007. Research and Networks for Decision Support in the NOAA Sectoral Applications Research Program. 96 pp.
* 2007. Environmental Data Management at NOAA: Archiving, Stewardship, and Access. 130 pp.
* 2007. NOAA’s Role in Space-Based Global Precipitation Estimation and Application. 142 pp.
Thirteen departments and agencies participate in the USGCRP, which was known as the U.S. Climate Change Science Program
Climate Change Science Program
The Climate Change Science Program was the program responsible for coordinating and integrating research on global warming by U.S. government agencies from February 2002 to June 2009...
from 2002 through 2008. The program is steered by the Subcommittee on Global Change Research under the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, overseen by the Executive Office of the President, and facilitated by an Integration and Coordination Office.
During the past two decades, the United States, through the USGCRP, has made the world's largest scientific investment in the areas of climate change and global change research. Since its inception, the USGCRP has supported research and observational activities in collaboration with several other national and international science programs.
These activities led to major advances in several key areas including but not limited to:
- Observing and understanding short- and long-term changes in climate, the ozone layer, and land cover;
- Identifying the impacts of these changes on ecosystems and society;
- Estimating future changes in the physical environment, and vulnerabilities and risks associated with those changes; and
- Providing scientific information to enable effective decision making to address the threats and opportunities posed by climate and global change.
These advances have been documented in numerous assessments commissioned by the program and have played prominent roles in international assessments such as those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
. Program results and plans are documented in the program's annual report, Our Changing Planet.
Participating Agencies
The following is a list of participating agencies:.- Agency for International Development
- United States Department of AgricultureUnited States Department of AgricultureThe United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationNational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
, United States Department of CommerceUnited States Department of CommerceThe United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. It was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903...
and National Institute of Standards and TechnologyNational Institute of Standards and TechnologyThe National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce... - United States Department of DefenseUnited States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
- United States Department of EnergyUnited States Department of EnergyThe United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
- National Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of HealthThe National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
, United States Department of Health and Human ServicesUnited States Department of Health and Human ServicesThe United States Department of Health and Human Services is a Cabinet department of the United States government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America"... - United States Department of State
- United States Department of TransportationUnited States Department of TransportationThe United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...
- United States Geological SurveyUnited States Geological SurveyThe United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
, United States Department of the InteriorUnited States Department of the InteriorThe United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native... - Environmental Protection Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Science FoundationNational Science FoundationThe National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
- Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
Program Elements
The USGCRP's thirteen participating agencies coordinate their work through Interagency Working Groups (IWGs) that span a wide range of interconnected issues of climate and global change. The IWGs address major components of the Earth’s environmental and human systems, as well as cross-disciplinary approaches for addressing issues under the purview of the USGCRP. The IWGs are composed of representatives from federal departments and agencies responsible for activities in each area. The IWGs are overseen by the Subcommittee on Global Change Research.Interagency Working Groups
- Atmospheric Composition
- Climate Variability and Change and Modeling
- Communications and Education
- Ecosystems
- Global Carbon Cycle
- Global Water Cycle
- Human Contributions and Responses
- International Research and Cooperation
- Land Use and Land Cover Change
- Observations & Monitoring
Decision support activities---including the development of assessments and other tools and information to support adaptation and mitigation decision making---are coordinated in a distributed fashion across the program and are part of the mandate of all IWGs and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research.
Strategic Planning
The USGCRP has been guided over time by the following strategic plans:* 2008: Revised Research Plan: An Update to the 2003 Strategic Plan
* 2003: Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program
* 1989: Our Changing Planet: The FY 1990 Research Plan
* 1989: Our Changing Planet: A U.S. Strategy for Global Change Research
The program has recently undertaken a series of "listening sessions" with a variety of stakeholder groups around the country to gain a better understanding of the emerging needs for climate information and ways in which federal research might be shaped to meet those needs. Stakeholder engagement that was a central element of the program's first national assessment
The program and its member departments and agencies have also commissioned a number of reports from the NRC to help guide it in its current activities and future planning. Some of the more recent of these reports, available from www.nap.edu, are the following:
* 2009. Restructuring Federal Climate Research to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change. 254 pp.
* 2009. Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate. 200 pp.
* 2008. Ensuring the Climate Record from the NPOESS and GOES-R Spacecraft. 180 pp.
* 2008. Public Participation in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making. Pre-publication.
* 2008. Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation: Special Report. 296 pp.
* 2008. Global Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events: Understanding the Contributions to Infectious Disease Emergence: Workshop Summary. 304 pp.
* 2008. Hydrologic Effects of a Changing Forest Landscape. 194 pp.
* 2008. Observing Weather and Climate from the Ground Up: A Nationwide Network of Networks.
* 2007. Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond. 456 pp.
* 2007. Assessment of the NASA Applied Sciences Program. 160 pp.
* 2007. Evaluating Progress of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program: Methods and Preliminary Results. 170 pp.
* 2007. Analysis of Global Change Assessments. 182 pp.
* 2007. Understanding Multiple Environmental Stresses: Report of a Workshop. 141 pp.
* 2007. Research and Networks for Decision Support in the NOAA Sectoral Applications Research Program. 96 pp.
* 2007. Environmental Data Management at NOAA: Archiving, Stewardship, and Access. 130 pp.
* 2007. NOAA’s Role in Space-Based Global Precipitation Estimation and Application. 142 pp.