Restructuring Federal Climate Research To Meet The Challenges Of Climate Change

Author : National Research Council,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Committee on Strategic Advice on the U.S. Climate Change Science Program
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 267 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2009-03-25
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309185813

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Restructuring Federal Climate Research to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change by National Research Council,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Committee on Strategic Advice on the U.S. Climate Change Science Program Pdf

Climate change is one of the most important global environmental problems facing the world today. Policy decisions are already being made to limit or adapt to climate change and its impacts, but there is a need for greater integration between science and decision making. This book proposes six priorities for restructuring the United States' climate change research program to develop a more robust knowledge base and support informed responses: Reorganize the Program Around Integrated Scientific-Societal Issues Establish a U.S. Climate Observing System Support a New Generation of Coupled Earth System Models Strengthen Research on Adaptation, Mitigation, and Vulnerability Initiate a National Assessment of the Risks and Costs of Climate Change Impacts and Options to Respond Coordinate Federal Efforts to Provide Climate Information, Tools, and Forecasts Routinely to Decision Makers

Author : National Research Council,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate,America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 526 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2011-01-10
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309145886

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Advancing the Science of Climate Change by National Research Council,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate,America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change Pdf

Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for-and in many cases is already affecting-a broad range of human and natural systems. The compelling case for these conclusions is provided in Advancing the Science of Climate Change, part of a congressionally requested suite of studies known as America's Climate Choices. While noting that there is always more to learn and that the scientific process is never closed, the book shows that hypotheses about climate change are supported by multiple lines of evidence and have stood firm in the face of serious debate and careful evaluation of alternative explanations. As decision makers respond to these risks, the nation's scientific enterprise can contribute through research that improves understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change and also is useful to decision makers at the local, regional, national, and international levels. The book identifies decisions being made in 12 sectors, ranging from agriculture to transportation, to identify decisions being made in response to climate change. Advancing the Science of Climate Change calls for a single federal entity or program to coordinate a national, multidisciplinary research effort aimed at improving both understanding and responses to climate change. Seven cross-cutting research themes are identified to support this scientific enterprise. In addition, leaders of federal climate research should redouble efforts to deploy a comprehensive climate observing system, improve climate models and other analytical tools, invest in human capital, and improve linkages between research and decisions by forming partnerships with action-oriented programs.

Author : Committee on a National Strategy for Advancing Climate Modeling,Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate,Division on Earth and Life Studies
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2013-01-07
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309259781

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A National Strategy for Advancing Climate Modeling by Committee on a National Strategy for Advancing Climate Modeling,Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate,Division on Earth and Life Studies Pdf

As climate change has pushed climate patterns outside of historic norms, the need for detailed projections is growing across all sectors, including agriculture, insurance, and emergency preparedness planning. A National Strategy for Advancing Climate Modeling emphasizes the needs for climate models to evolve substantially in order to deliver climate projections at the scale and level of detail desired by decision makers, this report finds. Despite much recent progress in developing reliable climate models, there are still efficiencies to be gained across the large and diverse U.S. climate modeling community. Evolving to a more unified climate modeling enterprise-in particular by developing a common software infrastructure shared by all climate researchers and holding an annual climate modeling forum-could help speed progress. Throughout this report, several recommendations and guidelines are outlined to accelerate progress in climate modeling. The U.S. supports several climate models, each conceptually similar but with components assembled with slightly different software and data output standards. If all U.S. climate models employed a single software system, it could simplify testing and migration to new computing hardware, and allow scientists to compare and interchange climate model components, such as land surface or ocean models. A National Strategy for Advancing Climate Modeling recommends an annual U.S. climate modeling forum be held to help bring the nation's diverse modeling communities together with the users of climate data. This would provide climate model data users with an opportunity to learn more about the strengths and limitations of models and provide input to modelers on their needs and provide a venue for discussions of priorities for the national modeling enterprise, and bring disparate climate science communities together to design common modeling experiments. In addition, A National Strategy for Advancing Climate Modeling explains that U.S. climate modelers will need to address an expanding breadth of scientific problems while striving to make predictions and projections more accurate. Progress toward this goal can be made through a combination of increasing model resolution, advances in observations, improved model physics, and more complete representations of the Earth system. To address the computing needs of the climate modeling community, the report suggests a two-pronged approach that involves the continued use and upgrading of existing climate-dedicated computing resources at modeling centers, together with research on how to effectively exploit the more complex computer hardware systems expected over the next 10 to 20 years.

Author : National Research Council,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change,Subcommittee for a Workshop on New Directions in Vulnerability, Impacts, and Adaptation Assessment
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 44 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2009-02-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309178693

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New Directions in Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts, and Adaptation Assessment by National Research Council,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change,Subcommittee for a Workshop on New Directions in Vulnerability, Impacts, and Adaptation Assessment Pdf

With effective climate change mitigation policies still under development, and with even the most aggressive proposals unable to halt climate change immediately, many decision makers are focusing unprecedented attention on the need for strategies to adapt to climate changes that are now unavoidable. The effects of climate change will touch every corner of the world's economies and societies; adaptation is inevitable. The remaining question is to what extent humans will anticipate and reduce undesired consequences of climate change, or postpone response until after climate change impacts have altered ecological and socioeconomic systems so significantly that opportunities for adaptation become limited. This book summarizes a National Research Council workshop at which presentations and discussion identified specific needs associated with this gap between the demand and supply of scientific information about climate change adaptation.

Author : United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology (2007)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 100 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Law
ISBN : UCSD:31822037821493

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Fiscal Year 2011 Research and Development Budget Proposals at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology (2007) Pdf

Author : National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on the Assessment of NASA's Earth Science Program
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 124 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2012-09-03
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309257022

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Earth Science and Applications from Space by National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Space Studies Board,Committee on the Assessment of NASA's Earth Science Program Pdf

Understanding the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment and their implications requires a foundation of integrated observations of land, sea, air and space, on which to build credible information products, forecast models, and other tools for making informed decisions. The 2007 National Research Council report on decadal survey called for a renewal of the national commitment to a program of Earth observations in which attention to securing practical benefits for humankind plays an equal role with the quest to acquire new knowledge about the Earth system. NASA responded favorably and aggressively to this survey, embracing its overall recommendations for Earth observations, missions, technology investments, and priorities for the underlying science. As a result, the science and applications communities have made significant progress over the past 5 years. However, the Committee on Assessment of NASA's Earth Science Program found that the survey vision is being realized at a far slower pace than was recommended, principally because the required budget was not achieved. Exacerbating the budget shortfalls, NASA Earth science programs experienced launch failures and delays and the cost of implementing missions increased substantially as a result of changes in mission scope, increases in launch vehicle costs and/or the lack of availability of a medium-class launch vehicle, under-estimation of costs by the decadal survey, and unfunded programmatic changes that were required by Congress and the Office of Management and Budget. In addition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has made significant reductions in scope to its future Earth environmental observing satellites as it contends with budget shortfalls. Earth Science and Applications from Space: A Midterm Assessment of NASA's Implementation of the Decadal Survey recommends a number of steps to better manage existing programs and to implement future programs that will be recommended by the next decadal survey. The report also highlights the urgent need for the Executive Branch to develop and implement an overarching multiagency national strategy for Earth observations from space, a key recommendation of the 2007 decadal survey that remains unfulfilled.

Author : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Climatic changes
ISBN : UOM:39015089026457

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Climate Services by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Pdf

Author : Susanne C. Moser,Maxwell T. Boykoff
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 365 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2013-07-18
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781135071295

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Successful Adaptation to Climate Change by Susanne C. Moser,Maxwell T. Boykoff Pdf

What does successful adaptation look like? This is a question we are frequently asked by planners, policy makers and other professionals charged with the task of developing and implementing adaptation strategies. While adaptation is increasingly recognized as an important climate risk management strategy, and on-the-ground adaptation planning activity is becoming more common-place, there is no clear guidance as to what success would look like, what to aim for and how to judge progress. This edited volume makes significant progress toward unpacking the question of successful adaptation, offering both scientifically informed and practice-relevant answers from various sectors and regions of the world. It brings together 18 chapters from leading experts within the field to present careful analyses of different cases and situations, questioning throughout commonly avowed truisms and unspoken assumptions that have pervaded climate adaptation science and practice to date. This book offers not one answer but demonstrates how the question of success in important ways is normative and context specific. It identifies the various dimensions of success, such as economic, political, institutional, ecological, and social, explores the tensions between them, and compiles encouraging evidence that resolutions can be found. The book appraises how climatic and non-climatic stressors play a role, what role science does and can play in adaptation decision making, and how trade-offs and other concerns and priorities shape adaptation planning and implementation on the ground. This is timely interdisciplinary text sheds light on key issues that arise in on-the-ground adaptation to climate change. It bridges the gap between science and practical application of successful adaptation strategies and will be of interest to both students, academics and practitioners.

Author : Byron Williston
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780198746713

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The Anthropocene Project by Byron Williston Pdf

The Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC contains a detailed analysis of the threats climate change poses to human security. The IPCC chairman stated recently that the new report shows how our persistent inaction on climate change presents a grave threat to 'the very social stability of human systems'. This book attempts to make philosophical sense of this. We are now in 'the human age' - the Anthropocene - but it argues that this is no mere geological marker. It is instead best viewed as the latest permutation of an already existing moral and political project rooted in Enlightenment values.

Author : National Research Council,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Board on Environmental Change and Society,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate,Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 72 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2012-02-13
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309252379

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A Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Strategic Plan by National Research Council,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Board on Environmental Change and Society,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate,Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program Pdf

The U.S. government supports a large, diverse suite of activities that can be broadly characterized as "global change research." Such research offers a wide array of benefits to the nation, in terms of protecting public health and safety, enhancing economic strength and competitiveness, and protecting the natural systems upon which life depends. The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which coordinates the efforts of numerous agencies and departments across the federal government, was officially established in 1990 through the U.S. Global Change Research Act (GCRA). In the subsequent years, the scope, structure, and priorities of the Program have evolved, (for example, it was referred to as the Climate Change Science Program [CCSP] for the years 2002-2008), but throughout, the Program has played an important role in shaping and coordinating our nation's global change research enterprise. This research enterprise, in turn, has played a crucial role in advancing understanding of our changing global environment and the countless ways in which human society affects and is affected by such changes. In mid-2011, a new NRC Committee to Advise the USGCRP was formed and charged to provide a centralized source of ongoing whole-program advice to the USGCRP. The first major task of this committee was to provide a review of the USGCRP draft Strategic Plan 2012-2021 (referred to herein as "the Plan"), which was made available for public comment on September 30, 2011. A Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Strategic Plan addresses an array of suggestions for improving the Plan, ranging from relatively small edits to large questions about the Program's scope, goals, and capacity to meet those goals. The draft Plan proposes a significant broadening of the Program's scope from the form it took as the CCSP. Outlined in this report, issues of key importance are the need to identify initial steps the Program will take to actually achieve the proposed broadening of its scope, to develop critical science capacity that is now lacking, and to link the production of knowledge to its use; and the need to establish an overall governance structure that will allow the Program to move in the planned new directions.

Author : Andrea Prutsch,Torsten Grothmann,Sabine McCallum,Inke Schauser,Rob Swart
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 343 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2014-02-24
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781134612505

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Climate Change Adaptation Manual by Andrea Prutsch,Torsten Grothmann,Sabine McCallum,Inke Schauser,Rob Swart Pdf

Due to the lack of success in climate change mitigation efforts, the importance of adaptation is becoming more and more apparent and is now one of the main imperatives of international research and action. However, research on adaptation is mostly not directly applicable to adaptation policy or practice, leaving a gap between scientific results and practical advice for decision makers and planners. This book seeks to address this problem and bridge the gap and should provide readers with practical and applicable information on climate change adaptation. Following an introduction, the book is organised into four main sections, each reflecting an essential component in the adaptation process. Climate change adaptation is an emerging subject area and has gained increased political and academic attention within the last decade. Whereas most books in the field focus on adaptation in developing countries, this volume provides an examination of predominantly European policy and offers inter-disciplinary insight into cutting edge knowledge and lessons learnt in a relatively new field of implementation.

Author : National Research Council,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change,Panel on Strategies and Methods for Climate-Related Decision Support
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2009-07-04
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309137379

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Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate by National Research Council,Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education,Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change,Panel on Strategies and Methods for Climate-Related Decision Support Pdf

Everyone-government agencies, private organizations, and individuals-is facing a changing climate: an environment in which it is no longer prudent to follow routines based on past climatic averages. State and local agencies in particular, as well as the federal government, need to consider what they will have to do differently if the 100-year flood arrives every decade or so, if the protected areas for threatened species are no longer habitable, or if a region can expect more frequent and more severe wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, water shortages, or other extreme environmental events. Both conceptually and practically, people and organizations will have to adjust what may be life-long assumptions to meet the potential consequences of climate change. How and where should bridges be built? What zoning rules may need to be changed? How can targets for reduced carbon emissions be met? These and myriad other questions will need to be answered in the coming years and decades. Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate examines the growing need for climate-related decision support-that is, organized efforts to produce, disseminate, and facilitate the use of data and information in order to improve the quality and efficacy of climate-related decisions. Drawing on evidence from past efforts to organize science for improved decision making, it develops guidance for government agencies and other institutions that will provide or use information for coping with climate change. This volume provides critical analysis of interest to agencies at every level, as well as private organizations that will have to cope with the world's changing climate.

Author : National Research Council,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate,America's Climate Choices: Panel on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2011-01-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780309145916

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Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change by National Research Council,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate,America's Climate Choices: Panel on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change Pdf

Across the United States, impacts of climate change are already evident. Heat waves have become more frequent and intense, cold extremes have become less frequent, and patterns of rainfall are likely changing. The proportion of precipitation that falls as rain rather than snow has increased across the western United States and Arctic sea ice has been reduced significantly. Sea level has been rising faster than at any time in recent history, threatening the natural and built environments on the coasts. Even if emissions of greenhouse gases were substantially reduced now, climate change and its resulting impacts would continue for some time to come. To date, decisions related to the management and protection of the nation's people, resources, and infrastructure have been based on records in the recent past, when climate was relatively stable. Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change, part of the congressionally requested America's Climate Choices suite of studies, calls for a new paradigm-one that considers a range of possible future climate conditions and impacts that may be well outside the realm of past experience. Adaptation requires actions from many decision makers in federal, state, tribal, and local governments; the private sector; non-governmental organizations; and community groups. However, current efforts are hampered by a lack of solid information about the benefits, costs, and effectiveness of various adaptation options; climate information on regional and local scales; and a lack of coordination. Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change calls for a national adaptation strategy that provides needed technical and scientific resources, incentives to begin adaptation planning, guidance across jurisdictions, shared lessons learned, and support of scientific research to expand knowledge of impacts and adaptation.

Author : David C. Trimble
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
Page : 95 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781437987980

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Climate Change: Improvements Needed to Clarify National Priorities and Better Align Them with Federal Funding Decisions by David C. Trimble Pdf

Climate change poses risks to many environmental and economic systems, including agriculture, infrastructure, and ecosystems. This report examines: (1) federal funding for climate change activities and how these activities are organized; (2) the extent to which methods for defining and reporting climate change funding are interpreted consistently across the federal government; (3) federal climate change strategic priorities, and the extent to which funding is aligned with these priorities; and (4) what options, if any, are available to better align federal climate change funding with strategic priorities. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find publication.

Author : Katharine Jacobs,Susanne Moser,James Buizer
Publisher : Springer
Page : 201 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2016-08-09
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319418025

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The US National Climate Assessment by Katharine Jacobs,Susanne Moser,James Buizer Pdf

This book offers valuable climate policy and climate assessment lessons, depicting what it takes to build a sustained climate assessment process. It explores the third U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA3) report as compared with previous US national climate assessments, from both a process and content perspective. The U.S. Global Change Research Program is required by law to produce a National Climate Assessment report every four years, and these reports provide a comprehensive evaluation of climate science as well as observed and projected climate impacts on a variety of sectors. As the book describes, a key contribution of the NCA3 approach is a far more deliberate interdisciplinary process, as well as an engagement strategy that brought hundreds of public and private sector stakeholders into the assessment community. Among its most important conceptual contributions was an explicit focus on building the infrastructure to conduct better assessments over time and an experimental approach to analysis of the impacts of climate on cross-sectoral systems and inter-locking and cascading effects across sectors. Readers may explore innovations such as the development of regional climatologies and projections for every region of the US, as well as the development of the Global Change Information System. The book also highlights the need for decision-makers to be part of the assessment process, in order for assessment findings to be truly useful from a decision-maker's perspective. Many lessons have been learned by the NCA3 authors that can be useful in future assessments and adaptation processes, both within the US and internationally. This book passes on such lessons and includes an evaluation of the role of state climate assessments in ongoing national assessment processes.