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Science Products
This page provides information on selected scientific papers, reports, and other references produced by researchers and grantees in the Global Change Research Program in EPA's Office of Research and Development.
Research papers are available from published journals or through PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles.
To obtain copies of ORD (and other EPA) documents:
- National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP): NSCEP is EPA's central repository of all EPA documents with over 7,000 titles available in paper or electronic form.NSCEP also produces the EPA National Publications Catalog which is available on their web site.
- National Environmental Publications Internet Site (NEPIS): NSPIS is EPA's largest electronic documents site which allows you to search view and print, including full images of all original pages and full-text, from a collection of over 10,000 archival and current documents. This collection may include documents that are no longer available in print form. ORD publications are listed at "Publication Title List - 600 Series."
Tools for Water Resource Managers
The program developed a Climate Assessment Tool to help water resource managers address the high sensitivity of water resources and aquatic ecosystems to changes in climate. This tool is incorporated into EPA's watershed management program, BASINS (Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources). The tool allows managers to meet future demands for water and water quality regulations by considering changes in the risk of floods and droughts, river channel stability, water quality, and wildlife habitats due to climate change.
More information at the Better Assessment Science Integrating Point & Nonpoint Sources.
Tools and Data from the Pileaus Project
The Global Change Research Program sponsored the Pileaus Project at Michigan State University. The goal of the Pileaus Project is to conduct an assessment of the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes Region, and to provide useful information about climate to decision-makers. The current focus is on agriculture and tourism, two leading industries in the Great Lakes region. Products include over 25 research publications, presentations, posters or abstracts; and eleven climate, tourism and agriculture tools such as the Historical Weather Tool, which provides the user with over 40 years of daily weather data from 18 Great Lakes weather stations, and the Perennial Crop Investment Tool, which helps farmers model the economic impact of climate variations.
More information at the Pileus Project 
Guide for Protecting Coral Reefs
The health and survival of the world's coral reefs are at risk because of climate change, pollution, UV radiation, and overfishing. The Global Change Research Program partnered with the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to publish A Reef Manager's Guide to Coral Bleaching. The guide is used by resource managers to protect these critical ecosystems.
More information in the Reef Manager's Guide (PDF) (178 pp, 5.13MB)
Assessments Tools for Disease Prevention
The assessments done by the Global Change Research Program have led to on-the-ground interventions to prevent disease and protect the public's health. In partnership with The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, the program discovered that the 1993 outbreak of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) in the Southwestern United States was due to increased rodent populations caused by unusual weather associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation event of 1991-92. The program found that high-risk areas for the disease can be predicted over six months in advance with the use of satellite-generated maps of climate-sensitive land cover. This led to the development of risk maps in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Indian Health Service. The maps are being used as tools for disease prevention in the Southwest by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Model for Air Quality Control Management
The Global Change Research Program has collaborated with the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), a multi-state association of state-level air quality control organizations, to develop a regional version of the MARKAL model. MARKAL is a linear programming model tailored specifically to the energy infrastructure of six New England states, each modeled as its own region. NESCAUM is using the model to analyze a range of transportation, energy and air quality protection programs with a time horizon of 30 years and a focus on the cost and environmental implications of key program design elements. The model identifies pathways that most efficiently meet regional energy demands and air emission constraints, and explores alternative characterizations of technology availability and cost, fuel prices, and policies to encourage adoption of cleaner technologies.
More information on the NE-MARKAL Model.
Sierra Climate Change Watershed Yield Calculator
The calculator is a practical tool funded through the Global Change Research Program and developed by the American River Watershed Institute for evaluating the influence of climatic change on watershed yield for the west slope of the Sierra Nevada.
More information on the Sierra Climate Change Watershed Yield Calculator.
Report on Combined Sewer System Overflows
Combined sewer systems (CSSs) collect and co-treat storm water and municipal wastewater. During high intensity rainfall events, the capacity of CSSs can be exceeded resulting in the discharge of untreated storm water and wastewater directly into receiving streams. These combined sewer overflow events (CSOs) can result in high concentrations of microbial pathogens, biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, and other pollutants in receiving waters. An external review draft report entitled A screening assessment of the potential impacts of climate change on combined sewer overflow mitigation in the Great Lakes and New England regions (PDF) (38 pp, 7.58MB, About PDF) provides an overview of research to characterize the nature and extent of climate change impacts on CSO mitigation efforts in the Great Lakes region(GLR) and New England Region (NER). The study examined the extent to which CSO long-term control plans may be under-designed if planners assume that past precipitation conditions are representative of future conditions. The primary areas of focus were on potential changes related to CSO frequency and design characteristics of mitigation efforts in response to climate change.