NASA’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT AND CLIMATE LITERACY

The vantage point of space provides an amazing array of observations that can be used to understand land, ocean, and atmospheric properties and their interactions in a complex Earth system. NASA Earth science observations, models, research, and applications play a critical role understanding how climate is changing, quantifying impacts to physical, natural, and social systems, and informing adaptation and mitigation activities. Consequently, the agency has been actively involved in the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s (USGCRP) National Climate Assessment (NCA). The NCA produces quadrennial reports that assess the science of climate change and its current and future impacts, analyzes impacts and responses for various sectors and regions, and aims to inform decision-making. The Third NCA was released in May 2014, and through an ongoing sustained assessment process, USGCRP is supporting capacity within the federal and external community to conduct ongoing assessments. During this presentation, I will provide an overview of how NASA scientifically contributes to NCA reports and a sustained assessment process, and helps communicate report findings and the underlying data through visualizations, the Global Change Information System, and educational activities. Additionally, NASA supports several assessment science programs, which fosters the ability of graduate students, post-docs, and researchers at all levels to participate in NCAs and encourages the research community to better understand the needs of climate assessors and decision makers. Combined, these activities promote climate literacy within the research community and the public.