Climate change and climate variability play important roles in shaping the environ-ment, infrastructure, economy, and other aspects of life worldwide. The UnitedStates continues to lead the world in research on climate and other global environ-

mental changes, funding a significant portion of the world’s climate change research toprovide a sound scientific basis for national and international decisions regarding thesechanges.

With the goal of improving understanding of the science behind climate change, Pres-ident Bush launched the interagency Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) in Febru-ary 2002, building on strong U.S. commitment to research on global change. With its$1.5 billion annual investment in monitoring and predicting global change, CCSP isimproving understanding of the natural and human-induced changes in the Earth’s globalenvironmental system.

The United States also conducts a robust technology research, development, demon-stration, and commercialization effort coordinated through the multi-agency ClimateChange Technology Program (CCTP). Since 2003, the United States has invested nearly$3 billion annually to facilitate more rapid development and commercialization of ad-vanced and cost-competitive technologies to help meet the Nation’s long-term goal of re-ducing, and eventually reversing, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CCSP and CCTPcollaborate to address issues at the intersection of science and technology, such as the eval-uation of approaches to sequestration, anthropogenic GHG emissions monitoring, andenergy technology development and market penetration scenarios.

Long-term, high-quality observations of the global environmental system are essentialfor understanding and evaluating Earth system processes. The United States contributesto the development and operation of global observing systems that combine data streamsfrom both research and operational observing platforms to provide a comprehensivemeasure of climate system variability and climate change. The United States supportsmultiple oceanic, atmospheric, terrestrial, and space-based systems, working with inter-national partners to enhance observations and improve data quality and availability.

In developing the roadmap for CCSP, the United States recognized the need for en-hanced observations and the importance of international cooperation in this area. To ad-dress these issues, the United States initiated the first intergovernmental,ministerial-levelEarth Observation Summit, which was held in July 2003. At the third Earth ObservationSummit, in Brussels in 2005, nearly 60 countries adopted a 10-year plan for implementinga Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), that addresses multiple environ-mental data needs, including climate, weather, biodiversity, natural disasters, and waterand energy resource management (GEO 2005).With its focus on climate science, technol-ogy, and Earth observations, the United States is at the forefront of finding long-term an-swers to the complicated issue of global climate change.

8 Research andSystematic ObservationResearch andSystematic Observation

CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 99CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 99

2003a), along with its shorter companiondocument, The U.S. Climate Change Sci-ence Program—Vision for the Program andHighlights of the Scientific Strategic Plan(CCSP and SGCR 2003b). The StrategicPlan is the first comprehensive update ofa U.S. national plan for climate and globalchange research since the originalUSGCRP strategy was issued at the pro-gram’s inception in 1990.

In February 2004, theNRC review com-mittee issued its second public report on theplan, Implementing Climate and GlobalChange Research: A Review of the Final U.S.Climate Change Science Program StrategicPlan (NRC2004).This report expressed thecommittee’s conclusions on the content,objectivity, quality, and comprehensivenessof the final Strategic Plan, on the processused to produce it, and on the proposedprocess for developing subsequent findingsto be reported by CCSP. The NRC reviewmade a number of recommendations onimplementing the plan, concluding:The Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate

Change Science Program articulates a guiding vi-sion, is appropriately ambitious, and is broad inscope. It encompasses activities related to areas oflong-standing importance, together with new orenhanced cross-disciplinary efforts. It appropri-ately plans for close integration with the comple-mentary Climate Change Technology Program.The CCSP has responded constructively to theNational Academies review and other commu-nity input in revising the strategic plan. In fact,the approaches taken by the CCSP to receive andrespond to comments from a large and broadgroup of scientists and stakeholders, including atwo-stage independent review of the plan, set ahigh standard for government research programs.As a result, the revised strategic plan is much im-proved over its November 2002 draft, and nowincludes the elements of a strategic managementframework that could permit it to effectively guideresearch on climate and associated global changesover the next decades. Advancing science on allfronts identified by the program will be of vitalimportance to the nation.

CCSP VisionOver the past 15 years, the United States

has invested heavily in scientific research,monitoring, data management, and assess-

THE U.S. CLIMATE CHANGESCIENCE PROGRAM

CCSP1 is a collaborative interagencyprogram that integrates the U.S. GlobalChange Research Program (USGCRP)with the Administration’s Climate ChangeResearch Initiative (CCRI). CCSP addsvalue to the individual Earth and climatescience missions of its 13 participating fed-eral agencies and their national and inter-national partners by coordinating researchand information to achieve results that nosingle agency, or small group of agencies,could attain. In addition to integrating re-search and observational approachesacross disciplinary boundaries, CCSP isworking to create a more seamless ap-proach among the theory, modeling, ob-servations, and applications that arerequired to address the multiple scientificchallenges posed by climate change andvariability.

Development of the CCSPStrategic Plan

In July 2002, CCSP began a process tocreate a 10-year strategic plan, solicitingand comprehensively examining the re-search and observation needs of nationaland international climate change scientistsand stakeholders. In November 2002, theBush Administration released a “discus-sion” draft of the CCSP strategic plan forpublic review (CCSP 2002). Guided by thepriority information needs identified byscientists and stakeholders, the discussiondraft outlined a comprehensive, collabo-rative approach for developing a more ac-curate understanding of climate changeand its potential impacts.

External comments, obtained throughwell-attended workshops, public reviewperiods, and multiple reviews by the Na-tional Academies’ National ResearchCouncil (NRC), played an important rolein revising the draft plan. After considera-tion of all of the external input and exten-sive comments from the internal U.S.government review process, the Bush Ad-ministration released the final StrategicPlan for the U.S. Climate Change ScienceProgram in July 2003 (CCSP and SGCR

ment for climate change analyses to builda foundation of knowledge for decisionmaking. The seriousness of the issues andthe unique role that science can play inhelping to inform society’s course give riseto CCSP’s guiding vision: A nation and theglobal community empowered with the science-

based knowledge to manage the risks and oppor-

tunities of change in the climate and related

environmental systems.

CCSP MissionThe core precept thatmotivates CCSP is

that the best possible scientific knowledgeshould be the foundation for the informa-tion required to manage climate variabilityand change, and related aspects of globalchange. Thus, CCSP’s mission is to: Facili-tate the creation and application of knowledge of

the Earth’s global environment through research,

observations, decision support, and communica-

tion.

CCSP Core ApproachesCCSP employs the following core ap-

proaches in working toward its goals:2

Scientific Research: Plan, Sponsor, andConduct Research on Changes in Climateand Related Systems—The greatest per-centage of the CCSP budget is devoted tocontinuing the essential ongoing invest-ment in scientific knowledge, facilitatingthe discovery of the unexpected, and ad-vancing the frontiers of science. CCSPagencies coordinate their work throughseven interdisciplinary research elementsand four cross-cutting elements, which to-gether support scientific research across awide range of interconnected issues of cli-mate and global change. The CCSP re-search elements are: (1) AtmosphericComposition, (2) Climate Variability andChange (including Climate Modeling), (3)Global Water Cycle, (4) Land-Use/Land-Cover Change, (5) Global Carbon Cycle,(6) Ecosystems, and (7) Human Contribu-tions and Responses/Decision Support.The four cross-cutting elements are: (1)Observations, (2) Modeling, (3) Commu-nications, and (4) International Research

1 See <http://www.climatescience.gov>.2 For greater detail, see <http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/stratplan2003/final/default.htm>.

100 U.S. CLIMATE ACTION REPORT—2006100 U.S. CLIMATE ACTION REPORT—2006

and Cooperation. CCSP encourages evo-lution of the research elements over thecoming decade in response to new knowl-edge and societal needs.Observations: Enhance Observations

and DataManagement Systems to Generatea Comprehensive Set of Variables Needed forClimate-Related Research—Prior and cur-rent investments in new Earth observa-tions will significantly enhance knowledgeof environmental variables in the comingyears. But enhanced global and regionalintegration of observation and data man-agement systems, especially to help gener-ate new and improved decision-supportproducts, will also be needed. CCSP isworking to increase the capacity to prior-itize, ensure the quality of, archive, anddisseminate (in useful format) the largequantity of available observations.

The intergovernmental Group on EarthObservations (GEO) is committed tocontinuing progress toward the develop-ment of a comprehensive, coordinated,and sustained GEOSS. In February 2005,the GEO released a 10-year implementa-tion plan summarizing the essential stepsto be taken by a global community of na-tions and intergovernmental, interna-tional, and regional organizations (GEO2005). The U.S. contribution to GEOSS isthe Integrated Earth Observation System(IEOS). In March 2005, the National Sci-ence and Technology Council’s Commit-tee on Environment and NaturalResources (CENR) released the StrategicPlan for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observa-tion System (IWGEO and NSTC/CENR2005). The plan addresses the policy, tech-nical, fiscal, and societal benefit compo-nents of this integrated system, and createdthe U.S. Group on Earth Observations(USGEO) as a standing subcommittee ofCENR. CCSP is coordinating its observa-tion priorities with USGEO as IEOS is de-veloped.Decision Support: Develop Improved Sci-

ence-Based Resources to Aid DecisionMak-ing—CCSP is encouraging improvedinteractions with stakeholders and is de-veloping resources to support public dis-

cussion and planning, adaptive manage-ment, and policymaking. The program isalso encouraging development of newmethods,models, and other resources thatfacilitate economic analysis, decision mak-ing under conditions of uncertainty, andintegration and interpretation of informa-tion from the natural and social sciencesin particular decision contexts.Communications: Communicate Results

to Domestic and International Scientific andUser Communities, Stressing Openness andTransparency—CCSP has a responsibilityto communicate with interested partnersin the United States and throughout theworld, and to learn from these partners ona continuing basis. CCSP aims to improvedialogue withpublic- and private-sector constituenciesand to provide users of climate change in-formation with adequate opportunities tohelp frame important scientific researchactivities. This dialogue is an essentialcomponent of the development ofdecision-support tools.

CCSP Scientific GoalsIn its Strategic Plan, CCSP adopted five

overarching scientific goals (CCSP andSGCR 2003a). By developing informationresponsive to these goals, the program en-sures that it addresses the most importantclimate-related issues. The following fivegoals frame what might be termed an“end-to-end” approach to climate andglobal change research, including observa-tions, understanding processes, projec-tions of future change, understandingpotential consequences of change, and ap-plications of knowledge to managementdecisions.• Goal 1—Improve knowledge of the

Earth’s past and present climate and en-vironment, including its natural vari-ability, and improve understanding ofthe causes of observed variability andchange.

• Goal 2—Improve quantification of theforces bringing about changes in theEarth’s climate and related systems.

• Goal 3—Reduce uncertainty in projec-tions of how the Earth’s climate and re-

lated systems may change in the future.• Goal 4—Understand the sensitivity and

adaptability of different natural andmanaged ecosystems and human sys-tems to climate and related globalchanges.

• Goal 5—Explore the uses and identifythe limits of evolving knowledge tomanage risks and opportunities relatedto climate variability and change.

Synthesis and Assessment ProductsCCSP is producing synthesis and as-

sessment products to support informeddiscussion and decision making onclimate variability and change by policy-makers, resource managers, stakeholders,the media, and the general public. Theseproducts provide current evaluations ofthe identified science foundation that canbe used for informing public debate, pol-icy development, and adaptive manage-ment decisions, and for defining andsetting the program’s future direction andpriorities.

U.S. government and nongovernmentalresearchers are producing 21 synthesis andassessment (S&A) products. Each productwill undergo a rigorous peer review by sci-entists, stakeholders, and the general pub-lic, as well as final approval by the U.S.government. These products constitute animportant new form of topic-driven inte-gration of U.S. global change assessmentefforts and will be disseminated by the U.S.government at various dates between 2006and 2008. Box 8-1 presents the list of prod-ucts associated with the five CCSP goals.

The first of these products, S&A Prod-uct 1.1—Temperature Trends in the LowerAtmosphere: Steps for Understanding andReconciling Differences—was released onMay 9, 2006 (CCSP and SGCR 2006b).S&A Product 1.1 addresses some of thelong-standing difficulties that have im-peded understanding changes in atmos-pheric temperatures and the basic causesof these changes. It is an important contri-bution toward improving understandingof climate change and human influenceson temperature trends. S&A Product 1.1and other S&A products to follow will

CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 101CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 101

on a timely and effective basis amongall interested scientists and end users.

• Support development of scientific ca-pabilities and the application of resultsin developing countries to promote thefullest possible participation by scien-tists and scientific institutions in thesecountries.On behalf of the U.S. government

and the scientific community,CCSPpartic-ipates in and provides input to, majorinternational scientific and related organi-zations. In addition, CCSP provides sup-port to maintain the central coordinating

BOX 8-1 Summary of the 21 Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Products

Goal 1: Improve knowledge of the Earth’s past and present climate and environment, including its natural variability, and improve understandingof the causes of observed variability and change.

1.1 Temperature trends in the lower atmosphere: Steps for understanding and reconciling differences. (Released on May 9, 2006).

1.2 Past climate variability and change in the Arctic and at high latitudes.

1.3 Re-analyses of historical climate data for key atmospheric features. Implications for attribution of causes of observed change.

Goal 2: Improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth’s climate and related systems.

2.1 (A) Scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric concentrations, and (B) global change scenarios: their development and use.

2.2 North American carbon budget and implications for the global carbon cycle.

2.3 Aerosol properties and their impacts on climate.

2.4 Trends in emissions of ozone-depleting substances, ozone layer recovery, and implications for ultraviolet exposure and climate change.

Goal 3: Reduce uncertainty in projections of how the Earth’s climate and related systems may change in the future.

3.1 Climate models: an assessment of strengths and limitations for user applications.

3.2 Climate projections based on emission scenarios for long-lived radiatively active trace gases and future climate impacts of short-livedradiatively active gases and aerosols.

3.3 Weather and climate extremes in a changing climate.

3.4 Abrupt climate change.

Goal 4: Understand the sensitivity and adaptability of different natural and managed ecosystems and human systems to climate and relatedglobal changes.

4.1 Coastal elevations and sensitivity to sea level rise.

4.2 State-of-knowledge of thresholds of change that could lead to discontinuities in some ecosystems and climate-sensitive resources.

4.3 The effects of climate change on agriculture, land resources, water resources, and biodiversity.

4.4 Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources.

4.5 Effects of climate change on energy production and use in the United States.

4.6 Analyses of the effects of global change on human health and welfare and human systems.

4.7 Impacts of climate variability and change on transportation systems and infrastructure: Gulf Coast study.

Goal 5: Explore the uses and identify the limits of evolving knowledge to manage risks and opportunities related to climate variability andchange.

5.1 Uses and limitations of observations, data, forecasts, and other projections in decision support for selected sectors and regions.

5.2 Best-practice approaches for characterizing, communicating, and incorporating scientific uncertainty in climate decision making.

5.3 Decision-support experiments and evaluations using seasonal-to-interannual forecasts and observational data.

constitute a valuable source of informationfor policymakers, researchers, and other in-terested parties.

International Research and CooperationInternational coordination and cooper-

ation are essential to improve understand-ing of climate variability and change. Asdescribed in theCCSP Strategic Plan, an in-ternational approach to research is requiredbecause of the global scope of the climatesystem, as well as limitations to the scientificcapacity and financial resources of any onenation (CCSP and SGCR 2003a).

The goals of the U.S. efforts to promote

international cooperation in support ofCCSP are:• Actively promote and encourage coop-

eration between U.S. scientists and sci-entific institutions and agencies andtheir counterparts around the globe.

• Expand observing systems to provideglobal observational coverage of vari-ability and change in the atmosphereand oceans and on land.

• Ensure that the data collected are of thehighest quality possible, suitable forboth research and forecasting, and thatthese data are exchanged and archived

102 U.S. CLIMATE ACTION REPORT—2006102 U.S. CLIMATE ACTION REPORT—2006

infrastructure of major international re-search programs and activities that com-plement CCSP and U.S. government goalsand objectives for climate science.

The U.S. government also supports theenvironmental programs of other coun-tries that have reduced GHG emissions,while promoting energy efficiency, forestprotection, biodiversity conservation, andother development goals. This “multiplebenefits" approach to climate change helpsdeveloping and transition countries ex-pand economically without sacrificing en-vironmental protection.

CCSP has provided scientific resourcesand/or direct funding support for interna-tional projects and programs, includingthe Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, theInternational Geosphere-Biosphere Pro-gramme, Diversitas, the InternationalHuman Dimensions Programme, theWorld Climate Research Programme, SyS-Tem for Analysis Research and Training,the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange, and the Northern Eurasia EarthScience Partnership Initiative. The UnitedStates has also established bilateral(climate-related) partnerships with Aus-tralia, Brazil, Canada, China, CentralAmerica (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador,Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, andPanama), the European Union, Germany,India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand,the Republic of Korea, the Russian Feder-ation, and South Africa.

CCSP Workshop: Climate Science inSupport of Decision Making

CCSP has committed to support publicdiscussion and planning, adaptive man-agement, and policymaking. In November2005, the program reported on its progressand future plans regarding these threedecision-support goals at a CCSP-spon-sored public workshop,Climate Science inSupport of Decision Making (CCSP 2005).The more than 700 participants includedan international audience of climate scien-tists, decision makers, and users of infor-mation on climate variability and change,and more than 260 abstracts were submit-ted. A variety of sessions addressed recent

has six complementary goals: (1) reducingemissions from energy use and infrastruc-ture; (2) reducing emissions from energysupply; (3) capturing and sequesteringCO2; (4) reducing emissions of otherGHGs; (5) measuring and monitoringemissions; and (6) bolstering the contri-butions of basic science. Figure 8-1 pro-vides a schematic roadmap for thetechnologies being pursued under thesegoals. A fuller explanation of these tech-nologies is available in CCTP’s Researchand Current Activities (CCTP 2003) andTechnology Options for the Near and LongTerm (CCTP 2005a) reports.

Energy Use and InfrastructureImproving energy efficiency and reduc-

ingGHGemissions intensity in transporta-tion, buildings, and industrial processes cansignificantly reduce overall GHGemissions.In addition, improving the infrastructure ofthe electricity transmission and distributiongrid can reduce GHG emissions by makingpower generation more efficient and byproviding greater grid access for wind andsolar power.

Key research activities include the U.S.Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) FreedomCAR (Cooperative Automotive Research)4

program, a cost-shared, government–industry partnership that is pursuing re-search and development in technologiesneeded to enable themass production of af-fordable, practical hybrid vehicles, such ashydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles. TheU.S. Environmental Protection Agency’sClean Automotive Technology5 program isworking on cost-effective automotive tech-nologies that increase fuel efficiency andproduce ultra-low pollution and GHGemissions. Advanced heavy-duty-vehicletechnologies, zero-energy homes and com-mercial buildings, solid-state lighting, andhigh-temperature superconducting wiresthat virtually eliminate electricity transmis-sion losses are other areas of research thatcould yield significant emission reductions.

and ongoing global change assessments,the application of climate science to adap-tive management (e.g., water, ecosystems,energy systems, coastal and air qualitymanagement), and the use of climate in-formation in analyses of policy options.

Participants provided positive feedbackon the opportunity to learn about CCSP’sactivities and exchange information withother scientists and decision makers.CCSP will use insights from the workshopto guide current and future CCSP pro-grams, and intends to provide additionalforums for future communication aboutthis aspect of the program.

CLIMATE CHANGE TECHNOLOGYPROGRAM

In addition to laying a strong founda-tion in climate science, the United States ismoving ahead on realistic technology op-tions to meet the United Nations Frame-work Convention on Climate Change’s(UNFCCC’s) ultimate objective of stabi-lizing GHG atmospheric concentrations ata level that avoids dangerous human inter-ference with the climate system.

The United States is leading the devel-opment of advanced technologies thathave the potential to reduce, avoid, orsequester GHG emissions. CCTP3 wascreated to coordinate and prioritize theU.S. government’s investment in climate-related technology research, development,demonstration, and commercialization—which was about $3 billion in fiscal year2006—and to further the President’s Na-tional Climate Change Technology Initia-tive, a suite of discrete activities that, ifsuccessful, could advance technologies toavoid, reduce, or capture and store GHGemissions on a large scale.

CCTP developed its August 2005Visionand Framework for Strategy and Planning(CCTP 2005b) and September 2006Strategic Plan (CCTP 2006) to guide andprioritize the federal government’s climatetechnology efforts. CCTP’s strategic vision

3 See <http://www.climatetechnology.gov>.4 See <http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/about/partnerships/freedomcar/index.html>.5 See <http://www.epa.gov/otaq/technology/>.

CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 103CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 103

biomass technologies. In fiscal year 2006,DOE and the U.S.Department of Agricul-ture (USDA) spent a combined $247.5million on wind, solar, and biomass pro-grams. Although the price competitivenessof many of these technologies has im-proved significantly, there still is a need toreduce their manufacturing, operating,and maintenance costs.

There will be a continuing need forportable, storable energy carriers for heat,power, and transportation.Hydrogen is anexcellent energy carrier, generates no emis-sions when used in a fuel cell, and can beproduced from diverse sources, includingrenewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel power

(the last of which could be combined withcarbon capture). President Bush’s $1.2 bil-lion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative6 is exploringthese production options, as well as the in-frastructure needed to store and deliverhydrogen economically and safely. CurrentCCTP research is expected to make possi-ble an industry decision to commercializehydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in 2015, andpossibly bring them to market by 2020.

Advanced fossil-based power and fuelsis an area of special interest for the UnitedStates, because about half of the Nation’s

Energy SupplyFossil fuels, which emit CO2 when

burned, remain the world’s energy supplyof choice. Therefore, a transition to a low-carbon energy future would require theavailability of cost-competitive low- orzero-carbon energy supply options.Whencombined with improved energy carriers,such as electricity and hydrogen, these op-tions could offer the prospect of consider-able reductions in GHG emissions.

Renewable energy includes a range ofdifferent technologies that can play an im-portant role in reducing GHG emissions.The United States invests considerable re-sources in wind, solar photovoltaics, and

FIGURE 8-1 Roadmap for Climate Change Technology Development

LONG-TERM GOALS• Widespread Use of EngineeredUrban Designs & Regional Planning

• Energy-Managed Communities• Integration of Industrial Heat, Power,Processes, & Techniques

• Superconducting Transmission &Equipment

• Zero-Emission Fossil Energy• H2 & Electric Economy• Widespread Renewable Energy• Bio-Inspired Energy & Fuels• Widespread Nuclear Power• Fusion Power Plants

• Track Record of Successful CO2Storage Experience

• Large-Scale Sequestration• Carbon- & CO2-Based Products &Materials

• Safe, Long-Term Ocean Storage

• Integrated Waste ManagementSystem With Automated Sorting,Processing, & Recycling

• Zero-Emission Agriculture• Solid-State Refrigeration/AC Systems

• Fully Operational Integrated MMSystems Architecture (Sensors,Indicators, Data Visualization &Storage, Models)

NEAR-TERM GOALS• Hybrid & Plug-In Hybrid ElectricVehicles

• Engineered Urban Designs• High-Performance Integrated Homes• High-Efficiency Appliances• High-Efficiency Boilers &Combustion Systems

• High-Temperature SuperconductivityDemonstrations

• IGCC Commercialization• Stationary H2 Fuel Cells• Cost-Competitive Solar PV• Demonstrations of Cellulosic Ethanol• Distributed Electric Generation• Advanced Fission Reactor & FuelCycle Technology

• CSLF & CSRP• Post-Combustion Capture• Oxy-Fuel Combustion• Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery• Geologic Reservoir Characterization• Soils Conservation• Dilution of Direct-Injected CO2

• Methane to Markets• Precision Agriculture• Advanced RefrigerationTechnologies

• PM Control Technologies forVehicles

• Low-Cost Sensors andCommunications

MID-TERM GOALS• Fuel Cell Vehicles and H2 Fuels• Low-Emission Aircraft• Solid-State Lighting• Ultra-Efficient HVACR• “Smart” Buildings• Transformational Technologies forEnergy-Intensive Industries

• Energy Storage for Load Leveling

• FutureGen Scale-Up• H2 Co-Production From Coal/Biomass• Low-Wind-Speed Turbines• Advanced Biorefineries• Community-Scale Solar• Gen IV Nuclear Plants• Fusion Pilot Plant Demonstration

• Geologic Storage Proven Safe• CO2 Transport Infrastructure• Soils Uptake & Land Use• Ocean CO2 Biological ImpactsAddressed

• Advanced Landfill Gas Utilization• Soil Microbial Processes• Substitutes for SF6• Catalysts That Reduce N2O to ElementalNitrogen in Diesel Engines

• Large-Scale, Secure Data StorageSystem

• Direct Measurement to Replace Proxies& Estimators

GOAL 1Energy End Use andInfrastructure

GOAL 2Energy Supply

GOAL 3Capture, Storage, &Sequestration

GOAL 4Other Gases

GOAL 5Measure & Monitor

6 See <http://www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/presidents_initiative.html>.

104 U.S. CLIMATE ACTION REPORT—2006104 U.S. CLIMATE ACTION REPORT—2006

electricity demand is generated from itsvast coal reserves. FutureGen7 is a 10-year,$1 billion government–industry collabo-ration to build the world’s first emission-free, coal-fired power plant. This project,which includes India and the Republic ofKorea, will incorporate the latest technolo-gies in carbon sequestration, oxygen andhydrogen separation membranes, tur-bines, fuel cells, and coal-to-hydrogengasification. Through this research, cleancoal can remain part of a diverse, secureenergy portfolio well into the future.

Concerns about resource availability,energy security, and air quality as well asclimate change suggest a larger role for nu-clear power as an energy supply choice.The Generation IV Nuclear Energy Sys-tems Initiative8 is investigating the next-generation reactor and fuel-cycle systems,which represent a significant leap in eco-nomic performance, safety, and prolifera-tion resistance. One promising systembeing developed under the Nuclear Hy-drogen Initiative9 would pair very-high-temperature reactor technology withadvanced hydrogen production capabili-ties that could produce both electricity andhydrogen on a scale to meet transportationneeds. Complementing these programs isthe Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative—Ad-vanced Burner Reactor,10 which is devel-oping advanced, proliferation-resistantnuclear fuel technologies that can improvethe fuel cycle, reduce costs, and increasethe safety of handling nuclear wastes.

Fusion energy11 is a potential majornew source of energy that, if successfullydeveloped, could be used to produce elec-tricity and possibly hydrogen. Fusion hasfeatures that make it an attractive optionfrom both environmental and safety per-

spectives. However, the technical hurdlesof fusion energy are very high, and with acommercialization objective of 2050, itsimpact will not be felt until the second halfof the century.

Recent InitiativesIn his 2006 State of the Union Address,

President Bush outlined plans for an Ad-vanced Energy Initiative (AEI).12 AEI aimsto accelerate the development of advancedtechnologies that could change the wayAmerican homes, businesses, and auto-mobiles are powered. AEI is designed totake advantage of technologies that with alittle push could play a big role in helpingto reduce both the Nation’s use of foreignsources of energy and its pollution andGHG emissions. AEI includes greater in-vestments in zero-emission coal-firedplants, solar and wind power, nuclear en-ergy, better battery and fuel cell technolo-gies for pollution-free cars, and cellulosicbiorefining technologies for biofuels pro-duction. One component of AEI is theGlobal Nuclear Energy Partnership, agroundbreaking effort to develop a world-wide consensus on enabling expanded useof economical, carbon-free nuclear energyto meet growing electricity demand. Thisinitiative is discussed in greater detail laterin the Multilateral Research section, whichbegins on the following page.

Carbon Capture and SequestrationCarbon capture and sequestration is a

central element of CCTP’s strategy, be-cause for the foreseeable future, fossil fuelswill continue to be the world’s most reli-able and lowest-cost form of energy. Thus,a realistic approach is to find ways to “se-quester” the CO2 produced when thesefuels—especially coal—are used. The term

carbon sequestration describes a number oftechnologies and methods to capture,transport, and store CO2 or remove itfrom the atmosphere.

Advanced techniques to capturegaseous CO2 from energy and industrialfacilities and store it permanently in geo-logic formations are under development.DOE’s core Carbon Sequestration Pro-gram13 emphasizes technologies that cap-ture CO2 from large point sources andstore the emissions in geologic formationscapable of holding vast amounts of CO2.In 2003, DOE launched a nationwide net-work of seven Regional Carbon Sequestra-tion Partnerships14 that include 40 states,four Canadian provinces, three Indian na-tions, and over 300 organizations. Thepartnerships’ main focus is on determin-ing the best approaches for sequestrationin their regions. They are also examiningregulatory and infrastructure needs.Small-scale validation testing of 35 sites in-volving terrestrial and geologic sequestra-tion technologies began in 2005, and willcontinue until 2009.

Terrestrial sequestration—removingCO2 from the atmosphere and sequester-ing it in trees, soils, or other organic mate-rials—has proven to be a low-cost meansfor long-term carbon storage. The DOE-supported Carbon Sequestration in Ter-restrial Ecosystems consortium providesresearch on mechanisms that can enhanceterrestrial sequestration.15 In addition,USDA operates the Greenhouse Gas Re-duction ThroughAgricultural Carbon En-hancement Network at 30 locationsaround the country to measure and pre-dict carbon sequestration and GHG emis-sions across a range of agriculturalsystems, soils, and climate zones.

Other Greenhouse GasesA main component of the U.S. strategy

is to reduce other GHGs, such as methane(CH4), nitrous oxides (N2O), sulfur hexa-fluoride (SF6), and fluorocarbons.

Improvements in methods and tech-nologies to detect and either collect orprevent CH4 emissions from varioussources—such as landfills, coal mines,

7 See <http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems/futuregen/index.html>.8 See <http://gen-iv.ne.doe.gov>.9 See <http://nuclear.gov/hydrogen/hydrogenOV.html>.10 See <http://www.gnep.energy.gov/gnepAdvancedBurnerReactors.html>.11 See <http://www.sc.doe.gov/Program_Offices/fes.htm>.12 See <http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2006/energy/index.html>.13 See <http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/sequestration/index.html>.14 See <http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/sequestration/partnerships/index.html>.15 Another option being explored is using biotechnology to enhance the ability of plants to take up CO2, and thus sequesteradditional carbon.

CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 105CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 105

Basic ScienceBasic scientific research is a fundamen-

tal element of CCTP. Tackling the dualchallenges of addressing climate changeand meeting growing world energy de-mand is likely to require discoveries andinnovations that can shape the future inoften unexpected ways. The CCTP frame-work aims to strengthen the basic researchenterprise through strategic research thatsupports ongoing or projected researchactivities and exploratory research involv-ing innovative concepts.

Multilateral ResearchThe United States believes that well-

designed multilateral collaborations fo-cused on achieving practical results canaccelerate development and commercial-ization of new technologies. The UnitedStates has initiated or joined a number ofmultilateral technology collaborations inhydrogen, carbon sequestration, nuclearenergy, and fusion that address manyenergy-related concerns (e.g., energy secu-rity, climate change, and environmentalprotection).

International Partnership for theHydrogen Economy16

InNovember 2003, representatives from16 governments gathered in Washington,D.C., to launch the International Partner-ship for the Hydrogen Economy (IPHE), avehicle to coordinate and leveragemultina-tional hydrogen research programs. IPHEwill develop common recommendationsfor internationally recognized standardsand safety protocols to speed market pene-tration of hydrogen technologies. An im-portant aspect of IPHE is maintainingcommunications with the private sectorand other stakeholders to foster public–private collaboration and address the

technological, financial, and institutionalbarriers to hydrogen.

Carbon SequestrationLeadership Forum17

The Carbon Sequestration LeadershipForum (CSLF) is a multilateral U.S. initia-tive that provides a framework for inter-national collaboration on sequestrationtechnologies. Established at a June 2003ministerial meeting held in Washington,D.C., CSLF consists of members from 22governments representing both developedand developing countries.

The CSLF’s main focus is assisting thedevelopment of technologies to separate,capture, transport, and store CO2 safelyover the long term; making carbon seques-tration technologies broadly available in-ternationally; and addressing broaderissues relating to carbon capture and stor-age, such as regulation and policy. To date,CSLF has endorsed 17 international re-search projects, five of which involve theUnited States.

Generation IV International Forum18

In July 2001, under U.S. leadership,nine other countries and Euratom char-tered the Generation IV InternationalForum (GIF), to fulfill the objective of theGeneration IV Nuclear Energy SystemsInitiative. GIF’s goal is to develop a fourthgeneration of advanced, economical, safe,and proliferation-resistant nuclear systemsthat can be adopted commercially by 2030.Six technologies have been selected as themost promising candidates for future de-signs, some of which could be commer-cially ready by 2015. GIF countries arejointly preparing a collaborative researchprogram to develop and demonstrate theprojects.

ITER19

In January 2003, President Bush an-nounced that the United States was joiningthe negotiations for the construction andoperation of the international fusion ex-periment ITER. The goal of this proposedmultilateral $5 billion collaborative projectis to design and demonstrate a fusion en-ergy production system. If successful, ITER

natural gas pipelines, and oil and gas ex-ploration operations—can prevent thisGHG from escaping to the atmosphere.Reducing CH4 emissions may also have apositive benefit in reducing local ozoneproblems, as CH4 is a long-lived ozoneprecursor. In agriculture, improved man-agement practices for fertilizer applica-tions and livestock waste can reduce CH4and N2O emissions appreciably.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluo-rocarbons (PFCs), and SF6 are all highglobal warming potential (GWP) gases.HFCs and PFCs are used as substitutes forozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons andare used in or emitted during complexmanufacturing processes.Advanced meth-ods to reduce the leakage of, reuse, and re-cycle these chemicals and to use lowerGWP alternatives are being explored.

Programs aimed at reducing particulatematter have led to significant advances infuel combustion and emission controltechnologies to reduce U.S. black carbonaerosol emissions. Reducing emissions ofblack carbon, soot, and other chemicalaerosols can have multiple benefits, in-cluding better air quality and public healthand reduced radiative forcing.

Measuring and MonitoringTo meet future GHG emission meas-

urement requirements, a wide array ofsensors,measuring platforms,monitoringand inventorying systems, and inferencemethods are being developed.Many of thebaseline measurement, observation, andsensing systems used to advance climatechange science are being developed as partof CCSP. CCTP’s efforts focus primarilyon validating the performance of variousclimate change technologies, such as interrestrial and geologic sequestration.

16 See <http://www.iphe.net>. IPHE members include the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, EuropeanCommission, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, RussianFederation, and United Kingdom.

17 See <http://www.cslforum.org>. CSLF members include the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia,Denmark, European Commission, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Netherlands,Norway, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and United Kingdom.

18 See <http://www.ne.doe.gov/genIV/neGenIV2.html>. GIF member countries include the United States, Argentina, Brazil,Canada, France, Japan, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.

19 See <http://www.iter.org>. ITER members include the United States, China, European Union, India, Japan, Republic ofKorea, and Russian Federation.

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will advance progress toward producingclean, abundant, commercially available fu-sion energy by the middle of the century.In November 2006, the seven ITER part-ners signed an agreement to construct theproject.20

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership21

The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership(GNEP), a component of AEI, has twomajor goals: (1) expand carbon-free nuclearenergy to meet growing electricity demandworldwide, and (2) promote nonprolifera-tion objectives through the leasing of nu-clear fuel to countries that agree to forgoenrichment and reprocessing. GNEP part-ner countries would consist of both fuel-supplier nations and reactor nations.Fuel-supplier nations would provide reli-able nuclear fuel services to reactor nationsthrough an independent nuclear fuel bro-ker, such as the International Atomic En-ergy Agency.

SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATIONSLong-term,high-quality observations of

the global environmental system are essen-tial for defining the current state of theEarth’s system, its history, and its variability.This task requires both space- and surface-based observation systems. The term cli-mate observations can encompass a broadrange of environmental observations, in-cluding (1) routine weather observations,which, when collected consistently over along period of time, can be used to help de-scribe a region’s climatology; (2) observa-tions collected as part of researchinvestigations to elucidate chemical, dy-namic, biological, or radiative processesthat contribute to maintaining climatepatterns or to their variability; (3) highlyprecise, continuous observations of climatesystem variables collected for the expresspurpose of documenting long-term(decadal-to-centennial) change; and (4)observations of climate proxies, collectedto extend the instrumental climate recordto remote regions and back in time to pro-vide information on climate change formillennial and longer time scales.

Satellite observations provide a unique

prespective of the global integrated Earthsystem and are necessary for good globalclimate coverage. In situ observations are re-quired for the measurement of parametersthat cannot be estimated from space plat-forms (e.g., biodiversity, groundwater, car-bon sequestration at the root zone, andsubsurface ocean parameters). In situ ob-servations also provide long time series ofobservations required for the detection anddiagnosis of global change, such as surfacetemperature, precipitation and water re-sources, weather and other natural hazards,the emission or discharge of pollutants, andthe impacts of multiple stresses on the en-vironment due to human and naturalcauses.

One critical challenge to the Earth ob-servation field is tomaintain existing obser-vation capabilities in a variety of areas. Forexample, maintaining the observationalrecord of stratospheric ozone is essential indiscerning the effects of climate change onthe nature and timing of ozone recovery.Other key areas include radiative energyfluxes of the Sun and Earth, atmosphericcarbon dioxide, and global surface temper-ature. Efforts to create a long-term recordof global land cover, started by Landsat inthe 1970s, are currently being prepared forthe transition to a Landsat Data ContinuityMission (LDCM) being planned by theNa-tional Aeronautics and Space Administra-tion (NASA) and the U.S. GeologicalSurvey.22 The LDCM is expected to have a5-yearmission life with 10-year expendableprovisions.

Planning continues on deploying theNational Polar-orbiting Operational Envi-ronmental Satellite System (NPOESS).Thissatellite system is designed to monitorglobal environmental conditions, and tocollect and disseminate data related toweather, atmosphere, oceans, land, andnear-space environment. NPOESS willmaintain a continuous global climaterecord for a subset of the environmentalparameters measured on current U.S. re-search and operational satellites. TheUnited States is currently evaluating the im-pacts of the current configuration, and is

addressing options that could enhance fu-tureU.S. satellite-based climatemonitoring.AnNPOESS Preparatory Reportmission isscheduled for launch in 2009, and the firstNPOESS spacecraft is scheduled for launchin 2013.

To meet the long-term needs for thedocumentation of global changes, theUnited States integrates observations fromboth research and operational systems.TheUnited States supports the need to improveglobal observing systems for climate, and toexchange information on national plansand programs that contribute to the globalcapacity in this area.

Providing for wide access to informationfrom the Global Earth Observation Systemof Systems (GEOSS) for applications thatbenefit society has been a focus of effortscoordinated by the intergovernmentalGroup on Earth Observations (GEO) andthe U.S. Group on Earth Observation(USGEO).An international framework foropen access toGEOSS data was established,and aU.S. strategic planwas drafted to pro-vide a basis for international cooperation.At the third Earth Observation Summit inFebruary 2005, the United States joinednearly 60 countries and the EuropeanCommission in endorsing to a plan that,over the next 10 years,will revolutionize theunderstanding of Earth systemprocesses. 23

A key regional effort of GEOSS in theWestern Hemisphere is known as GEOSSin the Americas. The vision of this effort isto build partnershipswith countries and or-ganizations in the Americas and theCaribbean to strengthen the ability to utilizeeach other’s research and operational Earthobservations. The first significant GEOSSin theAmericas project involved the shiftingof the GOES-10 satellite in 2006 to a neworbit, to greatly improve environmentalsatellite coverage of the Western Hemi-sphere, especially over South America. By

20 The seven ITER partners are the European Union, India,Japan, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea,Russian Federation, and United States.

21 See <http://www.gnep.energy.gov>.22 See <http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/>.23 For more details, see <http://earthobservations.org>.

CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 107CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 107

as a large number of remote-sensing satel-lite platforms that are essential to climatemonitoring.

In Situ Atmospheric ObservationsThe United States supports 75 stations

in the Global Climate Observing System(GCOS) Surface Network (GSN), 21 sta-tions in the GCOS Upper Air Network(GUAN), and 4 stations in the Global At-mospheric Watch (GAW). These stationsare distributed geographically as pre-scribed in the GCOS and GAW networkdesigns. The data (metadata and observa-tions) from these stations are shared ac-cording to GCOS and GAW protocols.

Since publishing its last report to theUNFCCC, the United States has begunfielding and commissioning a systemknown as the Climate Reference Network(CRN). The CRN is designed to answerthe question: How has the U.S. climatechanged over the past 50 years at national,regional, and local levels? Since 2002, 74CRN stations have been commissionedout of a planned 110 stations.25

The U.S. GCOS program supports anumber of climate observing systems andprojects in developing nations. In 2002,there were 20 nontransmitting GUAN sta-tions around the globe. Through focusedprojects, the number of nontransmittingstations has dropped to 6. The GCOS pro-gram continues to ensure the long-termsustainability of all stations through theestablishment of regional technical andmaintenance support centers for southernand eastern Africa, the Caribbean, and thePacific Islands. Related to this capacity-building activity, the program will be sup-porting an intensive upper-air campaignas part of the African Monsoon Multidis-ciplinary Analysis, with the installation ofa new hydrogen generator at the upper-airsite in Dakar, Senegal.

While it is difficult to list all observingcampaigns and systems, several othersshould be noted for their global climatesignificance. The Southern HemisphereADditional OZonesondes (SHADOZ)provides a consistent dataset fromballoon-borne ozonesondes for ground

verification of satellite tropospheric ozonemeasurements at 12 sites across the tropi-cal and subtropical regions of the southernhemisphere.26 Another key system alongthese lines is the Aerosol Robotic NET-work (AERONET), which is a federationof ground-based, remote-sensing aerosolnetworks established in part by NASA andFrance’s Centre Nationale de RechercheScientifique (CNRS).27 AERONET pro-vides a long-term, continuous, and readilyaccessible public domain database ofaerosol optical properties for research andcharacterization of aerosols and for vali-dation of satellite retrievals. AERONETprovides synergy with other databases,along with a series of globally distributedobservations of spectral aerosol opticaldepth, inversion products, and precip-itable water in diverse aerosol regimes.

The collaborative effort betweenNASA’s Advanced Global AtmosphericGases Experiment (AGAGE) and NOAA’sFlask Monitoring Network has been in-strumental in measuring the compositionof the global atmosphere continuouslysince 1978. The AGAGE is distinguishedby its capability to measure globally and athigh frequency most of the importantgases in the Montreal Protocol to protectthe ozone layer and almost all of the sig-nificant non-CO2 gases in the Kyoto Pro-tocol to mitigate climate change. This keyclimate monitoring activity demonstratesNASA’s and NOAA’s significant collabora-tive research efforts.28

The primary goal of the AtmosphericRadiation Measurement (ARM) ClimateResearch Facility (ACRF) is to provide theinfrastructure needed for studies investi-gating atmospheric processes in severalclimatic regimes and for climate model de-velopment and evaluation. The ACRFconsists of three stationary facilities, anARM Mobile Facility (AMF), and theARM Aerial Vehicles Program (AAVP).The stationary sites provide scientific testbeds in three climatically significant re-gions (mid-latitude, polar, and tropical),and the AMF provides a capability to ad-dress high-priority scientific questions in

significantly enhancing satellite detection ofsuch natural hazards as severe storms,floods, drought, landslides, and wildfires,the shift will help protect lives and propertyin both South America and the UnitedStates, and will allow for improved predic-tion, response, and follow-up and ex-panded understanding of Earth systemprocesses.24

Potential benefits of Earth observationswere detailed in the IEOS 10-year strategicplan that covered climate and eightother related areas—agriculture, disasters,ecology, energy, health, integration, oceanresources, water resources, and weather(IWGEO and NSTC/CENR 2005). Simi-larly, the CCSP Strategic Plan (CCSP andSGCR 2003a) has identified several over-arching questions for observing and mon-itoring the climate system, such as: Howcan we provide stewardship for open accessto integrated data and products with suffi-cient accuracy and precision to address cli-mate and associated global changes?

Documentation of U.S. ClimateObservations

As part of its continuing contributionsto systematic observations in support ofclimate monitoring, the United States sub-mitted The United States Detailed NationalReport on Systematic Observations for Cli-mate to the UNFCCC Secretariat on Sep-tember 6, 2001 (U.S. DOC/NOAA 2001).The report documents the U.S. systematicclimate observing program and includesinformation on in situ atmospheric obser-vations, in situ oceanographic observa-tions, in situ terrestrial observations, andsatellite-based observations. The report at-tempted to cover all relevant observationsystems and is representative of the largerU.S. effort to collect environmental data.The United States supports a broad net-work of in situ global atmospheric, ocean,and terrestrial observation systems, as well

24 See <http://www.strategies.org/EOPA.html>.25 See <http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/uscrn>.26 See <http://croc.gsfc.nasa.gov/shadoz/>.27 See <http://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/data_frame.html>.28 See <http://agage.eas.gatech.edu/> and<http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/>.

108 U.S. CLIMATE ACTION REPORT—2006108 U.S. CLIMATE ACTION REPORT—2006

regions other than the stationary sites. TheAAVP provides a capability to obtain insitu cloud and radiation measurementsthat complement the ground measure-ments. Data streams produced by theACRF will be available to the atmosphericcommunity for use in testing and improv-ing parameterizations in global climatemodels. The AMF was deployed inNiamey, Niger, in 2006 measuring radia-tion, cloud, and aerosol properties duringthe monsoon and dry seasons.

In Situ Ocean ObservationsThe climate requirements of the Global

Ocean Observing System (GOOS) are thesame as those for GCOS. Also like GCOS,GOOS is based on a number of in situ andspace-based observing components. TheUnited States supports the IntegratedOcean Observing System’s surface andmarine observations through a variety ofcomponents, including fixed and surface-drifting buoys, subsurface floats, and vol-unteer observing ships. It also supports theGlobal Sea Level Observing Systemthrough a network of sea level tidal gauges.

The United States currently providessatellite coverage of the global oceans forsea-surface temperatures, surface elevation,ocean-surface vector winds, sea ice, oceancolor, and other climate variables. The firstelement of the climate portion of GOOS,completed in September 2005, is the globaldrifting buoy array, which is a network of1,250 drifting buoys measuring sea-surfacetemperature and other variables as theyflow in the ocean currents.

Continued upgrading of the Global SeaLevel Observing System (GLOSS) tidalgauge network from 43 to 170 stations isplanned for 2006–10. Ocean carbon in-ventory surveys in a 10-year repeat surveycycle help determine the anthropogenicintake of carbon into the oceans. Plans foradvancement of the global Tropical–Atmosphere–Ocean (TAO) network ofocean buoys include an expansion of thenetwork into the Indian Ocean (the PacificOcean has a current array of 70 TAObuoys).During 2005-07, 8 new TAO buoyswere installed in the Indian Ocean in col-

laboration with partners from India, In-donesia, and France. Plans call for a totalof 39 TAO buoys in the Indian Ocean by2013. These moorings will enhance thetropical networks currently monitoringabove-surface, surface, and subsurfaceconditions in the Pacific and AtlanticOceans. As of the end of 2006,57 percent of the GOOS suite of oceanclimate observing platforms had beenfielded; the full system of ocean climatesensors is scheduled for completionby 2010.

The Integrated Ocean Observing Sys-tem (IOOS) is the U.S. coastal observingcomponent of GOOS. IOOS is envisionedas a coordinated national and interna-tional network of observations, data man-agement, and analyses that systematicallyacquires and disseminates data and infor-mation on past, present, and future statesof the oceans. A coordinated IOOS effortis being established by NOAA via a na-tional IOOS Program Office co-locatedwith the Ocean.US consortium of officesconsisting of NASA, NOAA, the NationalScience Foundation, and the U.S. Navy.29

The IOOS observing subsystem employsboth remote and in situ sensing. Remotesensing includes satellite-, aircraft-, andland-based sensors; power sources; andtransmitters. In situ sensing includes plat-forms (ships, buoys, gliders, etc.); in situsensors; power sources; sampling devices;laboratory-based measurements; andtransmitters.

In Situ Terrestrial ObservationsFor terrestrial observations, GCOS and

the Global Terrestrial Observing System(GTOS) have identified permafrost thermalstate and permafrost active layer as key vari-ables for monitoring the state of the cryo-sphere. The United States operates a long-term “benchmark” glacier program to in-tensively monitor climate, glacier motion,glacier mass balance, glacier geometry, andstream runoff at a few select sites. The datacollected are used to understand glacier-related hydrologic processes and improvethe quantitative prediction of water re-sources, glacier-related hazards, and the

consequences of climate change. Long-term, mass-balance monitoring programshave been established at threewidely spacedU.S. glacier basins that clearly sample dif-ferent climate-glacier-runoff regimes.SNOTEL and SCAN Networks—The

SNOTEL (SNOpack TELemetry) andSCAN (Soil Climate Analysis Network)monitoring networks provide automatedcomprehensive snowpack, soil moisture,and related climate information designedto support natural resource assessments.SNOTEL operates more than 660 remotesites in mountain snowpack zones of thewestern United States. SCAN,which beganas a pilot program, now consists of morethan 120 sites. These networks collect anddisseminate continuous, standardized soilmoisture and other climate data in publiclyavailable databases and climate reports.Uses for these data include inputs to globalcirculation models, verifying and groundtruthing satellite data, monitoring droughtdevelopment, forecasting water supply, andpredicting sustainability for cropping sys-tems.Polar Climate Observations—Polar cli-

mate observations will continue to be afocus of U.S. activities as preparations aremade for the International Polar Year be-ginning in 2007. Currently, the UnitedStates maintains soil-moisture climate sta-tions in both Alaska and Antarctica, andplans to increase efforts on observations ofthe Arctic atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean.Working with a number of Arctic nationsvia the InternationalArctic Systems forOb-serving the Atmosphere (IASOA), theUnited States will deploy and/or participatein a number of observing activities to pro-duce a higher-resolution characterization ofclouds and aerosols and of both incomingand outgoing radiation, to provide thehigh-quality records needed to detect cli-mate change and to improve calibration ofbroad-scale satellite observations in theArctic. For example, through the IASOAprocess, the United States will be working

29 See <http://www.ocean.us/>.

CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 109CHAPTER 8—RESEARCH AND SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION 109

clude instruments on the GeostationaryOperational Environmental Satellites(GOES) and Polar Operational Environ-mental Satellites (POES), the series of EarthObserving Satellites (EOS), the Landsats 5and 7, the TotalOzoneMapping Spectrom-eter satellite, and the Jason satellitemeasur-ing sea-surface height, winds, and waves.Additional satellite missions in support ofGCOS include (1) the Active Cavity Ra-diometer Irradiance Monitor for measur-ing solar irradiance; (2) the EOS-Terra,Aqua, andAura series; (3) QuickSCAT; (4)the Sea-viewingWide Field-of-view Sensor(SeaWiFS) for studying ocean and produc-tivity, as well as aerosols; (5) the ShuttleRadar Topography Mission; and (6) theTropical Rainfall Measuring Mission formeasuring rainfall, clouds, sea-surface tem-perature, radiation, and lightning.A majorupgrade to the GOES system, known asGOES-R, is under development,with a firstlaunch scheduled for late 2012.

Also, several new missions will belaunched during the next few years: (1) theOrbiting Carbon Observatorymission willmeasure CO2 (2008 launch); (2) Glorymissionwillmeasure black carbon soot andother aerosols, as well as total solar irradi-ance (2008 launch); (3) the altimetryOcean Surface Topography mission willprovide sea-surface heights for determiningocean circulation, climate change, and sealevel rise (2008 launch); (4) Aquarius willmeasure global sea surface salinity (2009launch); and (5) the Global PrecipitationMeasurement mission will monitor world-wide precipitation (2012 launch).

Some recent missions since the last re-port to the UNFCCC include:• The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation

Satellite (ICESat), launched in 2003, hasbeenmeasuring surface elevations of iceand land, vertical distributions of cloudsand aerosols, vegetation-canopy heights,and other features with unprecedentedaccuracy and sensitivity. The primarypurpose of ICESat has been to acquiretime series of ice-sheet elevationchanges for determining the present-daymass balance of the ice sheets, to study

associations between observed icechanges and polar climate, and to im-prove estimates of the present and futurecontributions to global sea level rise.

• The Solar Radiation andClimate Exper-iment (SORCE) satellite, launched in2003, is equippedwith four instrumentsthat measure variations in solar radia-tion much more accurately than previ-ous measurements and observe some ofthe spectral properties of solar radiationfor the first time.

• The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and InfraredPathfinder Satellite Observation(CALIPSO) andCloudSat satellites weresuccessfully launched in April 2006.CALIPSO andCloudSat are highly com-plementary and together will providenew, three-dimensional perspectives ofhow clouds and aerosols form, evolve,and affect weather and climate. BothCalipso and CloudSat fly in formationas part of the NASA A-Train constella-tion (e.g., along with Aqua, Aura, andthe French PARASOL spacecraft), pro-viding the benefits of near simultaneityand, thus, the opportunity for synergisticmeasurements made with complemen-tary techniques.NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate

Experiment (GRACE) twin satellites cele-brated their fifth anniversary on orbit inMarch 2007, completing a successful pri-mary mission that has provided improvedestimates of the Earth’s gravity field on anongoing basis. In conjunction with otherdata andmodels,GRACEhas provided ob-servations of terrestrial water storagechanges, ice-mass variations, ocean bottompressure changes, and sea level variations.

Data ManagementData management is an important as-

pect of any systematic observing effort.U.S.agencies have separate and unique man-dates for climate-focused and -related sys-tematic observations, and for the attendantdata processing, archiving, and use of theimportant information from these observ-ing systems.

Cooperative efforts by CCSP andUSGEO agencies are moving toward

with its international partners in establish-ing a super-site climate observatory in theRussian Arctic in Tiksi, north of the ArcticCircle at latitude 71.50º North.The AmeriFLUXNetwork—TheAmeri-

FLUXnetwork endeavors to establish an in-frastructure for guiding, collecting,synthesizing, and disseminating long-termmeasurements of CO2, water, and energyexchange from a variety of ecosystems. Itsobjectives are to collect critical new infor-mation to help define the current globalCO2 budget, enable improved projectionsof future concentrations of atmosphericCO2, and enhance the understanding ofcarbon fluxes, net ecosystem production,and carbon sequestration in the terrestrialbiosphere.North American Carbon Program—A

major focus of the U.S. CCSP, the NorthAmerican Carbon Program measures andstudies the sources and sinks of CO2,CH4,and CO in North America and in adjacentocean regions.

Space-Based ObservationsSpace-based, remote-sensing observa-

tions of the atmosphere–ocean–land sys-tem have evolved substantially since theearly 1970s, when the first operationalweather satellite systems were launched.Over the last decade satellites have proventheir observational capability to accuratelymonitor nearly all aspects of the total Earthsystem on a global basis. Currently, satellitesystemsmonitor the evolution and impactsof El Niño and La Niña, weather phenom-ena, natural hazards, and vegetation cycles;the ozone hole; solar fluctuations; changesin snow cover, sea ice and ice sheets, oceansurface temperatures, and biologicalactivity; coastal zones and algal blooms;deforestation and forest fires; urban devel-opment; volcanic activity; tectonic platemotions; aerosol and three-dimensionalcloud distributions; water distribution; andother climate-related information.

A number of U.S. satellite operationaland research missions form the basis of arobust national remote-sensing programthat fully supports the requirements ofGCOS (U.S.DOC/NOAA 2001).These in-

110 U.S. CLIMATE ACTION REPORT—2006110 U.S. CLIMATE ACTION REPORT—2006

providing integrated andmore easily acces-sible Earth observations. Currently operat-ing CCSP systems for data managementand distribution highlighted in the 2007OurChanging Planet report includeNASA’sGlobal ChangeMasterDirectory and EarthObserving System Data and InformationSystem, and DOE’s Carbon Dioxide Infor-mation Analysis Center (CCSP and SGCR2006a). NOAA’s National Climatic DataCenter’s (NCDC’s) Climate Data Onlinesite provides climate data frommultiple sta-tions around the world. Plans for 2007 and2008 include the International Polar Year(IPY) participation through a focus onpolar climate observations via NCDC’sWorld Data Center for Meteorology.30 Datamanagement for IPY is coordinated amongmultiple U.S. agencies and throughout theworld.

U.S. agencies and participants in CCSPand USGEO are working with their part-ners in Earth observation for climate actionon local, state, regional, and national levelsand in government, academia, and the pri-vate sector.

Finally, efforts are being explored to im-prove climate data integration in the PacificIslands region and produce more useful,end-user-driven climate products. The Pa-cific Region Integrated Data Enterprise(PRIDE), currently underway in Hawaii, isefficiently using existing resources via anewly created NOAA Integrated Data andEnvironmental Applications (IDEA) Cen-ter, which is developing more customer-focused, integrated environmental prod-ucts. Operating under the auspices of

NOAA’s NCDC, the IDEA Center is part-neringwith academic institutions and otherfederal and local agencies in the region toprovide information on (1) issues related toPacific islands, including past, current, andfuture trends in patterns of climate- andweather-related extreme events (e.g., tropi-cal cyclones, flooding, drought, and oceantemperature extremes); (2) their implica-tions for key sectors of the economy, suchas agriculture, tourism, and fisheries; and(3) options for coastal communities andmarine ecosystemmanagers to adapt to andmanage the effects of variable and changingenvironmental conditions.31

International and Regional Support andCooperation for Sustained ClimateObservations

The Regional Implementation Work-shop, initiated byGCOS in response toDe-cision 6/CP.5 of the UNFCCC, expandedon the Secretariat of the Pacific RegionalEnvironment Program’s needs analysis.Held in Apia, Samoa, in August 2000 withthe support and active participation of Aus-tralian and U.S. experts, the workshop pro-vided the basis for development of a PacificIsland-GCOS (PI-GCOS) program32 to im-plement high-priority actions required torestore and improve observing systems inthe region, to effectivelymonitor and detecttrends and changes in the region’s climate.The U.S.GCOS Program Office at NOAA’sNCDC supports and contributes resourcesto the PI-GCOS effort.

Since 2002, theUnited States has enteredinto a number of important bilateral cli-mate agreements, funding projects with

Australia, China, New Zealand, and SouthAfrica. These wide-ranging projects dealwith climate prediction, ocean observation,stratospheric detection, water vapor meas-urements, capacity building and training,and communication of information, andfocus the attention and resources of thesecountries on developing amore sustainableand robust GCOS program.

Finally, the transition of the GlobalObserving System Information Center(GOSIC)33 from a developmental activity atthe University of Delaware to an opera-tional global data facility at NOAA’sNCDCwas completed on behalf of and with theconcurrence of the global observing com-munity in October 2006. GOSIC providesinformation, and facilitates easier access todata and information produced by GCOS,GOOS, and GTOS and their partner pro-grams. The distributed nature of this vastsystem of global and regional data and in-formation systems is best served by this sin-gle entry point for users. GOSIC providesexplanations of the various global data sys-tems, as well as an integrated overview ofthe myriad global observing programs,which includes on-line access to their data,information, and services. GOSIC offers asearch capability across international datacenters, to enhance access to a worldwideset of observations and derived products.

30 See <http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/wdc/>.31 See <http://www.apdrc.soest.hawaii.edu/PRIDE>.32 See <http://pi-gcos.org>.33 For more details, see <http://gosic.org>.