Climate Indicators and the National Climate Assessment

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is coordinating an interagency effort to highlight and compile climate-relevant indicators based on observational data to track conditions and trends. Climate relevant indicators are useful for communicating the science and serve as a foundational element in USGRCP's National Climate Assessment (NCA) process. The interagency indicators workgroup has been working toward highlighting various efforts across the federal government related to climate indicators and how they can be leveraged for communicating key aspects of climate change. Both volume I and II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment include indicators to characterize observed trends and climate impacts.

This poster presentation will feature indicators and figures compiled for the Fourth National Climate Assessment, detail some of the indicator efforts that federal agencies are undertaking and how this information informs USGCRP's sustained assessment process. It will also discuss the importance of having a broad range of indicators across multiple sectors, scales, and impact areas including those highlight risks to society economic implications.