By Dave Kirtland, U.S. Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts global change and related research on behalf of the Department of the Interior (DOI). With the formation of the National Biological Survey and its incorporation in the USGS, all global change research within DOI became focused in the USGS. The addition of biologic research to the geologic, hydrologic, geographic, and mapping investigations of the USGS provides a unique opportunity to study the Earth's systems.

Core Global Change Research

• Biogeochemical Cycles - USGS research on biogeochemical cycles is developing an understanding of the exchanges of water, energy, and nutrients between the atmosphere and land surface. Processes that control the cycling and fate of carbon and other nutrients in soils, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and estuarine systems are critical to understanding issues related to erosion, sediment transport, biogeochemical budgets, snowpack chemistry, surface hydrology, and climate response.

 
• Mississippi Basin Carbon Project - USGS studies are developing a quantitative understanding of the role of land use change and associated erosion and sedimentation processes on carbon storage and nutrient cycles within the Mississippi Basin. Rates of organic carbon accumulation, erosion, and burial are used to develop whole-basin models of these dynamic relationships.

 
• Climate and Land Use History - Climate history research at the USGS focuses on understanding the rates and magnitudes of decadal to millennial scale natural changes in climate and determining how those changes have affected the environment. These studies contribute to regional and global assessments of climatic change and help evaluate models of regional scale response to past and likely future changes in global and regional conditions.

 
• Hydroclimatology - USGS research on hydroclimatology is composed of three major activities: (1) studying the relations between climatic conditions and regional hydrologic variability, including long-term patterns and trends in hydrologic extremes; (2) monitoring trends in the accumulation and dissipation of snow and ice stored in selected U.S. benchmark glaciers; and (3) improving procedures for simulating hydrologic processes and conditions in global climate models.

 
• Impacts on Terrestrial and Coastal Ecosystems, Coastal Wetlands, and Fish and Wildlife - The USGS is researching the sensitivity and response of natural systems and ecological processes to multiple environmental factors, including existing climate and natural and anthropogenic impacts, at the local, landscape, regional, and continental level. This research provides the scientific knowledge and technologies for conservation, rehabilitation, and management of sustainable ecosystems needed by land management agencies of the Federal and state governments.

 
• Land Surface Characterization - USGS contributions to land surface characterization include research and development of techniques to monitor, analyze, describe, apply, and predict land use, land cover, and other surface characteristics data. Data sets are used to characterize and map the Earth's surface, model land surface processes, detect changes over time, and forecast the response of the land surface to changes in climate, environment, land use, and land cover.

 
• Satellite Data Management and Dissemination - The USGS continues to operate and enhance the capabilities of the EROS Data Center to serve as the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive, by maintaining existing data sets, adding new data sets, and converting older data sets from deteriorating media to modern, stable media. The EROS Data Center also maintains and expands the Global Land Information System (GLIS) to provide information about and access to the Center's many land-related data sets.

 
• Terrestrial Earth Surface Processes - USGS research examines the impact of climatic variability and change on processes at the Earth's surface, including vegetation change, soil and sediment dynamics, and carbon sequestration. A detailed history of vegetation change in the Western U.S. and southern Alaska is being constructed. Data sets and techniques are being developed to forecast the effects of possible future regional and global scale vegetation changes. Alaska soil carbon and fire history studies will be expanded.

 

• to begin developing networks of stakeholders;
• to establish teams of scientists, resource managers, and interested citizens from both public and private sectors;
• to conduct scientifically based qualitative and quantitative assessments; and
• to report the results as widely as practicable.

 

Early USGS involvement is described on the following web pages

Workshop Reports - Each of the regions conducted an initial workshop to introduce the assessment.

Reports from those workshops are complete:

Impacts of Climate Change and Land Use on the Southwestern U.S., World Wide Web workshop, July 7-25, 1997, maintained by Peter Schweitzer and Randy Schumann at http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/

Implications of Global Change in Alaska and the Bering Sea Region, Proceedings of a Workshop, Gunter Weller and Patricia Anderson, Editors, The Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research, University of Alaska Fairbanks, April 1998, 152 pp.

Climate Variability and Change in the Southwest: Impacts, Information Needs, and Issues for Policymaking, Final report of the Southwest Regional Climate Change Symposium and Workshop, September 3-5, 1997, Robert Merideth, Diana Liverman, Roger Bales, and Mark Patterson, Editors, The University of Arizona, July 1998, 81 pp.

Proceedings of the Rocky Mountains/Great Basin Regional Climate-Change Workshop, Convened by Frederic Wagner and Jill Baron, February 16-18, 1998, Salt Lake City, Utah, 151 pp.

Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change to Water Resources of the United States, D. Briane Adams (Editor), American Water Resources Association, Herndon, Virginia, TPS-99-1, 1999, 424 pp.

Assessing the Consequences of Climate Change for Alaska and the Bering Sea Region, Proceedings of a Workshop, University of Alaska Fairbanks, October 29-30, 1999, Gunter Weller and Patricia Anderson, editors, Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research, University of Alaska Fairbanks, November 1999, 94 pp.

Final Reports - The Alaskan assessment final report is complete and available by writing to the Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7740, Attn: Dr. Gunter Weller. With the exception of the Hawaii and Pacific Island Territories, which just began their assessment, the remaining regions and sector reports are in draft and are expected by late summer 2000. Current plans are to have drafts of the remaining reports posted for review through the U.S. Global Change Research Program National Assessment web site (http://www.nacc.usgcrp.gov). The Hawaii and Pacific Island Territories assessment should be completed by December 2000.

As the Nation's largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency, the USGS works in cooperation with more than 2,000 organizations across the country to provide reliable, impartial scientific information to resource managers, planners, and other customers. This information is gathered in every State by USGS scientists to minimize the loss of life and property from natural disasters, contribute to the sound conservation and the economic and physical development of the Nation's natural resources, and enhance the quality of life by monitoring water, biological, energy, and mineral resources.

For more information on USGS Global Change and related research:
See http://geochange.er.usgs.gov