|
To answer the complex questions climate change raises requires
the integrated analysis of multiple science disciplines
across local, regional, and global scales. The Climate
Effects Network has established the framework necessary to develop
and make widely accessible integrated information on the status
and trends of ecosystems and natural resources in a changing climate
and an adapting society.more
The CEN has been implemented
through integration of biological, hydrological, geological,
and geographical science and monitoring, USGS’ expertise
in deciphering past climate changes and associated earth system
responses, its history of effective science collaboration with
other Federal, State and local agencies, industry, and academic
institutions and its strength in providing effective and accessible
information to decision makers.
|
The earth's surface does not exist in a static, unchanging "natural" condition
interrupted only by the work of humans, but instead it is a dynamic
system of which humans are a part. Knowledge about changes to
the Earth's surface and the underlying processes that induce
them has enormous impact on how society responds to these changes
and, ultimately, the cost of responding to change.more
USGS Global
Change Research activities strive to achieve a whole-system understanding
of the interrelationships among earth surface processes, ecological
systems, and human activities. Activities of the program focus
on documenting, analyzing, and modeling the character of past
and present environments and the geological, biological, hydrological,
and geochemical processes involved in environmental change so
that future environmental changes and impacts can be anticipated.governmental agencies, and the Nation's
citizens.
|
The USGS integrates climate- and environmental-change datasets
with conceptual and digital models across disciplines including
remote sensing, geography, geology, biology, and hydrology to
better understand impacts to natural resources, agriculture,
and human populations on decadal and regional time scales, local
to global spatial scales, and weather to climate process scales. more
The goal of the Science Applications and Decision Support element
of the Global Change Program is to characterize and understand
the changes in biogeochemical, ecological, and hydrological processes
resulting from changes in climate, and to apply that knowledge
for decision support.
The USGS is in a unique position in the
research and applications community because of its ability to
leverage and integrate research results across the Earth-system
science disciplines with in-situ data, space-based and airborne
observational data, high-end computing capabilities, data and
information management systems, and decision support tool development.
|
