Our Changing Planet
Abstract
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) supports research on the interactions of natural and human-induced changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The USGCRP began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was codified by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-606), which mandates development of a coordinated interagency research program. Participants in the USGCRP include the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Interior (U.S. Geological Survey), State, and Transportation; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; the National Science Foundation; and the Smithsonian Institution. The Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Council on Environmental Quality provide oversight on behalf of the Executive Office of the President. Since its inception, USGCRP-supported research and observational activities, in collaboration with several other national and international science programs, have documented and characterized important aspects of the sources, abundances, and lifetimes of greenhouse gases; mounted extensive space-based systems for global monitoring of climate and ecosystem parameters; begun to address the complex issues of various aerosol species that may significantly influence climate parameters; advanced understanding of the global water and carbon cycles; and taken major strides in computer modeling of the global climate.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA465634
Entities
Organizations
- Executive Office of the President of the United States