News Archive
publications
Searchable Database of Citations Available
A new searchable database of publication
citations is now available on the globalchange.gov website.
Derived from global change-related reports and publications, the
database contains citations organized by the following disciplines:
agriculture, atmosphere, biosphere, carbon, cryosphere, human
dimensions, hydrosphere, oceans, and historical climate or paleoclimate.
The citations in the initial database come from various reports from the
U.S. National Assessment and the IPCC report Climate Change 2001:
The Scientific Basis. This database complements the searchable
database of new agency datasets also available on the globalchange.gov website.
U.S. Global Change Research Program, Data and
Information Working Group (DIWG). Searchable database of citations
available here.
Searchable database of new agency datasets available here.
global change data
Reprocessed Soil Water and Temperature System (SWATS) Data Released
U.S. Dept. of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program Announces Improved SWATS Data
The Soil Water And Temperature System (SWATS), operated at 21 of the
U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM)
Southern Great Plains (SGP) Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) Extended
Facilities, is designed to provide information about the temperature of
the soil and the status of water in the soil profile. Historical data
from the SWATS instruments have recently been reprocessed and are now
available at the ARM Archive. As part of reprocessing, corrected
calibration coefficients for determining matric potential and soil
water content were used, erroneous values were flagged, and duplicate
measurements were eliminated.
SWATS Sensors installed at various depths below the soil surface
provide hourly measurements of soil temperature and estimates of
soil-water potential and volumetric water content. The SWATS instrument
system is comprised of 16 sensors: eight sensors located at different
depths in the soil profile, replicated in two profiles. At most of the
SGP Extended Facilities, sampling began in 1996.
U. S. Department of Energy.
Background information about the Soil Water and
Temperature System (SWATS) is available here.
SWATS data are available at the ARM Archive here.
global change news
New Computer Model Promises Detailed Picture of Worldwide Climate
Capping two years of research, a nationwide group of over 100 scientists
has created a powerful new computer model of the Earth's climate. The
model surpasses previous efforts by successfully incorporating the
impact of such variables as ocean currents and changes in land-surface
temperatures. Researchers will use the model, called CCSM-2 (Community
Climate System Model, version 2) to probe how our climate works and to
experiment with 'what-if' scenarios to predict what our climate may be
like in the future. The model will also look at past climate. For example,
researchers plan to perform an extended, multicentury simulation of past
shifts in the climate's equilibrium.
The model's increased capabilities will permit new types of studies,
such as the 'Flying Leap Experiment,' which will track fossil fuel carbon
emissions as they are dissolved in the oceans and subsequently released
back into the atmosphere. Jeffrey Kiehl, a key leader in development
of the model at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, expects
the CCSM-2 to play an integral role in the next climate assessment
by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the international
organization that issues periodic assessments of global climate change.
Based at NCAR, the model is funded by the National Science Foundation
and the Department of Energy.
National Science Foundation and Department
of Energy. Press release available here.
global change data
NASA's Terra Satellite Refines Map of Global Land Cover
New NASA land cover maps are providing scientists with the most refined
global picture ever produced of the distribution of Earth's ecosystems
and land use patterns. High-quality land cover maps aid scientists and
policy makers involved in natural resource management and a range of
research and global monitoring objectives. The land cover maps were
developed at Boston University in Boston, Mass., using data from the
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on
NASA's Terra satellite. The maps are based on a digital database of
Earth images collected between November 2000 and October 2001.
"These maps, with spatial resolution of 1 kilometer (0.6 mile), mark
a significant step forward in global land cover mapping by providing
a clearer, more detailed picture than previously available maps," says
Mark Friedl, one of the project's investigators. The last maps of this
kind were produced from data collected in 1992 and 1993 by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer.
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. Press release available here.
global change news
El Niņo Makes Its Official Return, NOAA Reports
It's now official: El Niņo is back. It's not the powerful, climatic
juggernaut of 1997-98, but a milder, weaker version that may begin
affecting weather in the United States by Fall 2002, according to NOAA's
National Weather Service. The agency's climate experts today said mature
El Niņo conditions likely will develop in a few months. In its latest
El Niņo/Southern Oscillation Diagnostic Discussion, NOAA scientists said
weather conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean, including consecutive
months of warmer-than-normal sea-surface temperatures and abnormally
heavy rainfall in areas of South America, met NOAA's threshold to be
classified as an El Niņo.
"This time around, El Niņo will not be as powerful as the 1997-98
event, but we'll track it closely for any change in its projected
strength," said Vernon Kousky, a meteorologist and climate specialist at
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md. Once it matures,
Kousky said the El Niņo should maintain a weak-to-moderate strength.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. Press release available here.
A recently concluded NASA aerial field experiment, high above our nation's
heartland, may lead to a clearer understanding of soil moisture -- a key
variable in Earth's global water cycle that profoundly influences seasonal
weather patterns and agriculture. Flying thousands of feet above Iowa
farmlands in a NASA DC-8 and a National Center for Atmospheric Research
C-130 aircraft, scientists and engineers from multiple NASA centers
participated in a three-week field experiment using remote sensing
techniques to measure soil moisture content. The NASA scientists were
joined by researchers from the Department of Agriculture's Agricultural
Research Service, several universities and other agencies, including
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The experiment will help pave the way for the eventual development
of a remote global soil moisture observing system that will provide
observations every three days, or less, over most of the unfrozen,
non-forested regions of the globe (dense vegetation such as forests
limits the ability to sense the underlying soil moisture). A proposal
for such an observing system, called Hydros, was selected recently by
NASA as an alternate mission under the Earth System Science Pathfinder
small satellite program.
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. Press release available here.
Dataset database now searchable on the web
This catalog provides
a comprehensive list of global change-related data sets made
available during 2001 from federal agencies. The fifth in a series
of yearly publications, this catalog represents an important step in
the interagency process of making data and information from the U.S.
Global Change Research Program available to researchers, the
commercial world, policy makers, and the public. This 2001 edition is
now stored in a searchable database. To search the database, click here.
On-line editions of Newly Available Agency Data Sets That
Are Significantly Global Change Related are available
for 1997,
1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001.
U.S. Global Change Research Program, Data and
Information Working Group (DIWG). Original document available here. Searchable database
available here.
global change news
President Announces Clear Skies & Global Climate Change Initiatives
On 14 February, President George W. Bush announced a new approach to the
challenge of global climate change. According to the White House, this
approach is designed to harness the power of markets and technological
innovation. In a speech delivered at NOAA offices in Silver Spring,
Maryland, the President said, ". . . we must clean our air, and we must
address the issue of global climate change. We must also act in a serious
and responsible way, given the scientific uncertainties. While these
uncertainties remain, we can begin now to address the human factors that
contribute to climate change. Wise action now is an insurance policy
against future risks." The President's announcement included a proposed
effort to cut power plant emissions, called the Clear Skies Initiative,
as well as other initiatives designed to reduce greenhouse gas intensity,
spur investments in renewable energy, and stimulate development of
technologies to combat global climate change.
White House. The full text of the President's
speech and additional information about the proposed initiatives are
available as follows:
Previous News Stories...
