Climate Indicators in NCA5

The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is a quadrennial assessment mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The report, led by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), evaluates the current state of the science of global change and analyzes the effects of global change on regions and sectors of the United States. In addition, each NCA is required to analyze trends in global change for the subsequent 25 to 100 years. To date, four NCAs have been released, the most recent in 2018. Work on the fifth assessment, NCA5, is currently underway.

Data describing key long-term variables, often referred to as climate indicators, can be used to track climate conditions and trends over time. This session describes how indicators are useful for communicating science, tracking important trends, and serve as a foundational element in USGRCP's NCA process. The USGCRP's interagency indicators workgroup is building a web platform and working to facilitate the development and integration of climate indicators into USGCRP activities and products. This session also highlights the importance of having a broad range of indicators across multiple sectors, scales, and impact areas including those highlight risks to society economic implications.