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The Federal government recently completed a draft strategic plan for the combined U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI). Since the plan provides the roadmap for global change programs, it is important that scientists and stakeholders review areas relevant to their research interests and provide targeted comments. The draft is available on-line, and comments may be provided via e-mail. Comments will be accepted until 18 January 2003. A final version of the plan will be published in April 2003.

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CloudSat, the most advanced radar designed to measure the properties of clouds, will provide the first global measurements of cloud thickness, height, water and ice content, and a wide range of precipitation data linked to cloud development. The Earth System Science Pathfinder Mission is expected to improve weather forecasting and advance our understanding of key climate processes during its two-year design lifetime. CloudSat is planned for launch in 2004 aboard a Boeing Delta rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. "Despite the fundamental role of clouds in climate and weather, there is much we do not know about them," said CloudSat Principal Investigator Dr. Graeme Stephens of Colorado State University's Department of Atmospheric Science, Fort Collins, Colo. "The lack of understanding of cloud feedback is widely acknowledged in the scientific community to be a major obstacle confronting credible prediction of climate change. CloudSat aims to provide observations necessary to greatly advance understanding of climate issues."

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global change data
Updated Carbon Dioxide Emissions Data Released
CDIAC updates 1751-1999 estimates of emissions
The U.S. Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) has released 1751-1999 estimates of CO₂ emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and cement production, on global, regional, and national scales. Published in Trends Online, the estimates, derived primarily from energy statistics published by the United Nations, were calculated using the methods of Marland and Rotty (1984). The estimate for 1999 global CO₂ emissions, 6457 million metric tons of carbon, represents a 2.4% decline from 1998 and marks the second consecutive drop in global annual fossil-fuel CO₂ emissions. Cement production estimates from the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Mines were used to estimate CO₂ emitted during cement production. Emissions from gas flaring were derived primarily from U.N. data but were supplemented with data from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, Rotty (1974), and with a few national estimates provided by Marland.

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global change research
Are Wildland Fires Fueling the Greenhouse?
Study Shows Local Events Have Global Impact on Carbon Cycle
Wildland fires are taking tons of carbon out of storage and feeding it into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, a primary greenhouse gas. Drought makes things worse, stunting tree growth and turning forests into tinderboxes. And when human activity disturbs the environment, the ability of forests to store carbon is further diminished. "We're using the western U.S. as a case study area where climate and land use are interacting in several interesting ways," says NCAR senior scientist David Schimel, who's been collaborating with Dennis Ojima (CSU) and Jason Neff (USGS) on the project. Western lands--especially the evergreen forests--represent roughly half of U.S. carbon storage. Changes in land use, fire suppression strategies, and climate all have potential to increase wildland fires. The conclusion from these early studies is that the fires have had a significant effect on the regional carbon balance, changing Colorado from a storage area to a source of atmospheric carbon. And, since carbon circulates globally, the Colorado fires even had a very small effect on the global carbon budget.

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