Final Guidelines
CCSP Synthesis and Assessment Products
Announcement Letter

See also: Guidelines for Producing CCSP Synthesis and Assessment Products

Also available: PDF version

See also notice (dtd 13 Dec 2004) in Federal Register.  The Federal Register notice also is available as a PDF file.

Dear Colleague -

We are pleased to release the guidelines for the synthesis and assessment products being prepared by the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP). These guidelines are intended to ensure consistency and transparency in the process that will be used in preparing the products. The guidelines were made available for public comment from March 29, 2004 to May 7, 2004. They have been revised extensively in response to these comments and to input from the National Research Council (NRC) provided during a meeting of the NRC’s Coordinating Committee on Global Change held in Washington, DC on 8-9 April 2004. The original draft version of the guidelines [PDF] and a collation of comments submitted during the review period are also available on the CCSP website.

The guidelines describe the steps to be followed in each of three phases of the preparation process -- developing the prospectus, drafting and revising the document, and final approval and publication of each product. This broadly standardized methodology for product development will facilitate involvement of the research community and the public in ensuring that the products are focused in a useful fashion and meet the highest standards of scientific excellence. The guidelines also encourage transparency by ensuring that public information about the status of the products will be provided through the Federal Register, on the CCSP website, and through other means.

The CCSP synthesis and assessment products are described in the Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. The products are intended to provide useful information for a variety of end users about key climate change topics. The products include reports, data sets, and evaluations of the uses and limits of climate information in decision support. See Chapter 2 of the Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program for a detailed description of the products.

The Climate Change Science Program is an interagency collaboration, with 13 participating Federal agencies and departments. One or more of the designated agencies that comprise CCSP will take the lead in preparing each product. The national and international research community is invited to play a major role in the preparation of these products.

If you submitted comments during the review process, we thank you for your participation and constructive comments. We look forward to engaging with you in preparation of the products, and we encourage you to visit our website frequently for updates and announcements of opportunity to participate in framing or commenting on the products as they are developed.

Sincerely,

James R. Mahoney, Ph.D .
Assistant Secretary of Commerce
for Oceans and Atmosphere
& Director, U.S. Climate Change Science Program