PS 22-51
Developing a pilot system for national climate change, impact, vulnerability, and response indicators

Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Exhibit Hall, Sacramento Convention Center
Melissa A. Kenney, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center/Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites-Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Anthony C. Janetos, Pardee Center for the Longer-range Future, Boston University, Boston, MA
Richard Pouyat, Chesapeake Bay Career Consulting
Rebecca J. Aicher, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Crystal City, VA
Ainsley Lloyd, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center/Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites-Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Background/Question/Methods

The National Climate Indicators system is being developed as part of sustained activities with the third National Climate Assessment (NCA). The NCA is conducted under the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which is required to provide a report to Congress every 4 years. The National Climate Indicators System is a set of physical, ecological, and societal indicators that communicate key aspects of the physical climate, climate impacts, vulnerabilities, and preparedness for the purpose of informing both decision makers and the public with scientifically valid information.

The Indicators System will address questions important to multiple audiences including (but not limited to) non-scientists (e.g., Congress, U.S. citizens, students), resource managers, and state and municipal planners in a conceptually unified framework. The physical, ecological, and societal indicators will be scalable, to provide information for indicators at national, state, regional, and local scales. The pilot system is a test of the Indicators System for evaluation purposes to assess the readiness of indicators and usability of the system.   

Results/Conclusions

The National Climate Indicator System has developed a pilot given the recommendations of over 150+ scientists and practitioners and 14 multidisciplinary teams, including, for example, greenhouse gases, forests, grasslands, water, human health, oceans and coasts, and energy. The pilot system of indicators includes approximately 30 indicators that are already developed, scientifically vetted, and implementable immediately. Specifically, the pilot indicators include a small set of global climate context indicators, which provide context for the national or regional indicators, as well as a set of nationally important U.S. natural system and human sector indicators. The purpose of the pilot is to evaluate the systems and the individual indicators, using a robust portfolio of evaluation studies, to have a data-driven approach to further develop and improve the National Climate Indicators System.