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Strategic Objective

Assess and forecast climate change and its effects.

Strategic Objective

Lead Office: USGS

Themes:

Natural Resources and Environment

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Overview
Progress Update

Overview

The USGS provides scientific research on patterns and impacts of climate and land use change on Earth and human systems. The understanding of these impacts is communicated through peer-reviewed journal articles, vulnerability assessments, resource assessments, forecasts, models and maps to advance the science of climate change and to support land and resource managers and policymakers in their decision making to manage and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Progress Update

The National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) and DOI Climate Science Centers (CSCs) have consistently added to the science knowledge base by developing natural resource and cultural habitat, population, and ecosystem models, assessments, and datasets since 2008. The performance of the NCCWSC and CSCs are meeting the strategic goals outlined in Secretarial Order 3289. The Climate Research & Development (R&D) Program was established in FY2008, and continues to contribute many systematic analyses and investigations. The overall trend is greater productivity during years with relatively flat funding, illustrating the efficiency and effectiveness of these programs.

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Strategic Goals

Strategic Goal:

Provide Science to Understand, Model, and Predict Ecosystem, Climate, and Land Use Change

Statement:

We will support scientific research to assess, understand, model, and forecast the impacts of climate change and other environmental drivers on our ecosystems, natural resources, and communities. Our bureaus will develop and construct strategies for adapting to climate change based on scientific analysis. The Department will assist Federal, state, local, and tribal entities by monitoring water quality and quantity; analyzing energy and mineral resources potential and environmental effects of their extraction and use; and analyzing and monitoring changes to the land and ocean environments.

Strategic Objectives

Identify and predict ecosystem and land use change

Statement:

Identify and predict ecosystem and land use changes at targeted and landscape-levels (biota, land cover, and Earth and ocean systems).

Description:

USGS data holdings and observation networks are vital to understanding the status and trends and health of our Nation’s ecosystems and natural resources. Many of these databases include decades-long records of observations, collected under strict standards of quality assurance and quality control. These programs fill a key role in adaptive management for the Nation’s ecosystems. Data from Landsat and other land-observing systems operated by the USGS are vital for scientists to understand changes occurring on the Earth’s land surface, and to model their impacts for land and resource managers. Socioeconomic data shows a significant return on Landsat investments, with productivity enhancements and cost savings in the public and private sectors. For example, a study demonstrates the potential for approximately $100 million annual savings by using Landsat-derived applications for better water management for irrigated agriculture in the Western United States. The National Land Cover Database (NLCD) supports thousands of science applications in the private, public, and academic sectors, and offers the only national database portraying land cover change spatially as a comprehensive “wall-to-wall” 30-meter cell database. It also provides a critical data layer in national assessments of biological carbon sequestration, water-quality monitoring, wildfire monitoring and modeling, and biodiversity conservation efforts.

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