Integrating federal research on global change and climate change

National Science Foundation (NSF) programs address global change issues through investments that advance frontiers of knowledge and provide state-of-the-art instrumentation and facilities while also cultivating a diverse highly trained workforce and developing resources for public education. In particular, NSF global change research programs support research and related activities to advance the fundamental understanding of physical, chemical, biological, and human systems and the interactions among them. The programs encourage interdisciplinary activities and focus particularly on Earth system processes and the consequences of change for organisms and ecosystems and the essential services they provide to society.

NSF programs facilitate data acquisition and information management activities necessary for fundamental research on global change, and promote the enhancement of models designed to improve understanding of Earth system processes and feedbacks that link ecosystems to global climate systems, and develop advanced analytic methods to facilitate basic research. NSF also supports fundamental research on the processes used by organizations to identify and evaluate policies for mitigation, adaptation, and other responses to the challenge of varying environmental conditions. Through its investment, NSF contributes to the overall goals identified in the 2003 Strategic Plan.

Visit NSF's climate change website.