ISSN 1551-8450 — Volume 17, Issue 1 — January 7, 2008

Climate Change group seeks better water data

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A better system of providing hydrologic/climate prediction information to water resource managers across the country and the world is high on the agenda for the US Climate Change Science Program, according to the group's revised research plan published for comment in late December. Comments are due by Feb. 28.

The CCSP is not a federal agency, but rather a structure and a mechanism for coordinating and integrating federal research on global change performed by 13 federal departments and agencies. It is charged with making recommendations on priorities that federal agencies consider in their planning, as authorized in the Global Change Research Act of 1990.

Five goals were laid out in the 2003 Strategic Plan for CCSP:

1. Improve knowledge of the Earth's past and present climate and environment, including its natural variability, and improve understanding of the causes of observed variability and change.
2. Improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth's climate and related systems.
3. Reduce uncertainty in projections of how the Earth's climate and related systems may change in the future.
4. Understand the sensitivity and adaptability of different natural and managed ecosystems and human systems to climate and related global changes.
5. Explore the uses and identify the limits of evolving knowledge to manage risks and opportunities related to climate variability and change.

"In the four years since the release of the Strategic Plan, investment in and progress towards CCSP Goals 1 through 3 has been greater than that for Goals 4 and 5," the revised research plan draft says. For instance, CCSP contributed significantly to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment in 2007, which helped address Goals 1, 2 and 3.

"The coming years will see substantially increased need for CCSP to accelerate progress on Goals 4 and 5, in order to more fully understand the implications of climate change for both natural and managed ecosystems and to improve the delivery of that information to land and resource managers and other stakeholders," the revision promised.

One of the examples of implementation priorities for the next few years that CCSP will focus on is the development of an end-to-end hydrologic projection and application capability.

The Generalized Hydrological Modeling/Prediction Framework that CCSP envisions creating is described as "An end-to-end system to provide information to water resource managers and other decision makers on issues related to how climate affects water availability, drought, and water quality."

Creating that framework "requires integration and improvement of existing research and monitoring capabilities to reduce uncertainties in hydrological/climate predictions," the revision says. An "end-to-end global water cycle infrastructure" is also envisioned.

Another priority is developing an early warning system to signal "abrupt changes" in the climate system ― changes that occur more rapidly than the time needed by society and ecosystems to adapt to them.

CCSP seeks to coordinate the climate research of the following agencies and departments: Agency for International Development, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of the Interior, Department of State, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution.

USEPA’s program to assess climate change issues, meanwhile, has produced a number of relevant resources regarding water resources. The US Geological Survey is also investigating climate change issues relevant to water resources.

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