Human Dimensions
of Global Change
USGCRP Fiscal Year 2006 Accomplishments

USGCRP
Program Elements

Atmospheric Composition

Ecosystems

Global Carbon Cycle

Decision-Support Resources Development and Related Research on Human Contributions and Responses

Climate Variability and Change

The Global
Water Cycle

Observing and Monitoring the Climate System

Communications

International Research and Cooperation

The following are selected highlights of recent research supported by CCSP participating agencies (as reported in the fiscal year 2007 edition of the annual report, Our Changing Planet).

Development of Population Scenarios

Population scenarios have been developed with CCSP funding that bridge the gap between the socioeconomic scenarios (including input to greenhouse gas scenarios) developed by the IPCC and socioeconomic conditions at U.S. State levels. Population scenarios at the State level are needed to assess the consequences of global change for water quality, air quality, human health, and aquatic ecosystems. A new approach was used to develop State-level population projections that are consistent with IPCC assumptions and projections. This method preserves knowledge of the age distribution of the population over time.

Assessments of Transportation-Related Issues

An assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions benefits of heavy-duty natural gas and diesel vehicles in the United States was undertaken to help improve the understanding of the potential for greenhouse gas emissions reduction though use of these vehicles. By evaluating existing CO2 and other transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions data, this study identified future research and data needs to determine the emissions benefits of alternative-fueled heavy-duty vehicles. The study, Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Benefits of Heavy Duty Natural Gas Vehicles in the U.S., can be found online. In addition, an assessment of long-range transportation planning initiatives in northeastern states was conducted. This study examined the climate and energy benefit plans of northeastern States and assessed how transportation and long-range transportation planning fit into the development of State policy approaches to climate change. It addresses the status of State climate change programs, the inclusion of transportation in the programs, and how State departments of transportation could be more effective. This study, Assessing State Long-Range Transportation Planning Initiatives in the Northeast for Climate and Energy Efficiency Benefits [PDF], can be found online.

Tools to Support Different-Place Collaboration of Climate Change Researchers [10, 13]

Collaboratories are virtual places where teams of geographically distributed scientists engage in collaborative research. The NSF-, NOAA-, and USGS-supported Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) project has been developing a collaboratory tool to support work by scientists studying the local- and regional-scale impacts of climate variation and change. The HERO toolkit includes web and other Internet-based methods and tools to enable same-time (synchronous) and different-time (asynchronous) different-place collaboration. The toolkit supports same-time distributed meetings, including video links and shared visual display of geospatial information; different-time perspective-comparison and consensus-building activities; and long-term information sharing and knowledge development. Examples include an e-Delphi tool that supports the sharing and comparing of expert opinions, and a web portal that provides a personal workspace, mechanisms for forming groups and accessing group resources, and methods for encoding information with geographic referencing.

References

1)   Cabrera, V.E., N.E. Breuer, and P.E. Hildebrand, 2005: The dynamic north-Florida dairy farm model: a user-friendly computerized tool for increasing profits while minimizing environmental impacts. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 49, 286-308.

2)   Cabrera, V.E., P.E. Hildebrand, J.W. Jones, D. Letson, and A. de Vries, 2006: An integrated North Florida dairy farm model to reduce environmental impacts under seasonal climate variability. Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment, 113, 82-97.

3)   DCDC, 2006: Decision Center for a Desert City 2005-2006 Annual Progress Report [PDF]. 32 pp.

4)   Fraisse, C.W., N. Breuer, D. Zierden, J.G. Bellow, J. Paz, V. Cabrera, A. Garcia y Garcia, K. Ingram, U. Hatch, G. Hoogenboom, J.W. Jones, and J. O’Brien, 2006: AgClimate: A climate forecast information system for agricultural risk management in the southeastern USA. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 53, pp. 13-27.

5)   Guerra, L.C., G. Hoogenboom, J.E. Hook, D.L. Thomas, V.K. Boken, and K.A. Harrison, 2005: Evaluation of on-farm irrigation applications using the simulation model EPIC. Irrigation Science, 23, 171-181.

6)   Jacobs, J.M., S.R. Satti, M.D. Dukes, and J.W. Jones, 2006: Climate variability and impacts on irrigation water demand: Research and application in Northeast Florida. In: Climate Variations, Climate Change, and Water Resources Engineering [Garbrecht, J.D. and T.C. Piechota (eds.)]. American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, USA, pp. 143-155.

7)   Joyce, L. A. and M. Laskowski, 2006: Natural resource managers respond to climate change: A look at actions, challenges, and trends. In: Global Change in Mountain Regions [M. F. Price (ed)]. Sapiens Publishing, Duncow, UK, pp. 343.

8)   Kaupp, V., C. Hutchinson, S. Drake, T. Haithcoat, W. van Leeuwen, V. Likholetov, D. Tralli,

R. McKellip, and B. Doorn, 2005: Benchmarking the USDA Production Estimates and Crop Assessment DSS Assimilation. USDA, Washington, DC, USA, 197 pp. 

9)   Kinney, P.L., J.E. Rosenthal, C. Rosenzweig, C. Hogrefe, W. Solecki, K. Knowlton, C. Small, B. Lynn, K. Civerolo, J.-Y. Ku, R. Goldberg, and C. Oliveri, 2006: Assessing potential public health impacts of changing climate and land use: The New York Climate and Health Project. In: Climate Change and Variability: Consequences and Responses [Ruth, M., K. Donaghy, and P. Kirshen (eds.)]. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA (in press).

10) MacEachren, A.M., W. Pike, C. Yu, I. Brewer, M. Gahegan, S.D. Weaver, and B. Yarnal, 2006: Building a geocollaboratory: Supporting Human–Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) collaborative science activities. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 30, 201-225.

11) Millar, C.I. and L.B. Brubaker, 2006: Climate change and paleoecology: New contexts for restoration ecology. In: Foundations of Restoration Ecology: The Science and Practice of Ecological Restoration [Palmer, M., D. Falk, and J. Zedler (eds.)]. Island Press, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 315-340.

12) Paltsev, S., H. Jacoby, J. Reilly, L. Viguier, and M. Babiker, 2005: Transport and climate policy modeling in the transport sector: The role of existing fuel taxes in climate policy. In: Energy and Environment, 25th Anniversary Volume of the Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD), Volume 3 [R. Loulou, J.-P. Waaub, and G. Zaccour (eds.)]. Springer-Verlag, New York, New York, USA, pp. 211-238.

13) Pike, W., B. Yarnal, A. MacEachren, M. Gahegan, and C. Yu, 2005: Retooling collaboration: A vision for environmental change research. Environment, 47(2), 8-21.

14) Woodhouse, C.A., S.T. Gray, and D.M. Meko, 2006: Updated streamflow reconstructions for the Upper Colorado River basin. Water Resources Research, 42, W05415, doi: 10.1029/2005WR004455.