The White House released the third National Climate Assessment today. Mandated at least every four years by the Global Change Research Act of 1990, the National Climate Assessment assesses the science of climate change and its impacts across the United States. It documents climate change related impacts and responses for various sectors and regions, with the goal of better informing public and private decision making at all levels.
To view the full report, visit the third National Climate Assessment’s interactive website at nca2014.globalchange.gov. For a synopsis of the key findings from the Assessment, see the Highlights report or download the 20-page Overview booklet.
NCEI supports the National Climate Assessment development through the Technical Support Unit (TSU), which is housed at the Center. Members of the TSU help pull together the scientific expertise of 240 authors from academia, government, nonprofits, and the private sector to create a scientifically accurate, consistent, and clearly communicated report. The TSU science team and other NCEI scientists made significant contributions to the climate science results presented in the report, including the development of regional climate trends and scenarios reports, available at scenarios.globalchange.gov. TSU communications experts spent countless hours doing technical editing, copy editing, creating graphics, and laying out the final Assessment. Additionally, the TSU has helped ensure openness and transparency in the report by meticulously cataloguing metadata, which can be accessed for several of the figures on the website. The TSU also helped design and develop the Assessment’s interactive website, which allows its findings to be easily shared on social media.