U.S. Geological Survey climate science plan—Future research directions

Executive Summary 

Climate is the primary driver of environmental change and is a key consideration in defining science priorities conducted across all mission areas in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Recognizing the importance of climate change to its future research agenda, the USGS’s Climate Science Steering Committee requested the development of a Climate Science Plan to identify future research directions. Subject matter experts from across the Bureau formed the USGS Climate Science Plan Writing Team, which convened in September 2022 to identify and outline the major climate science topics of future concern and develop an integrated approach to conducting climate science in support of the USGS and U.S. Department of the Interior missions.

The resulting USGS Climate Science Plan identifies three major priorities under which USGS climate science proceeds: (1) characterize climate change and associated impacts, (2) assess climate change risks and develop approaches to mitigate climate change, and (3) provide climate science tools and support. The Climate Science Plan identifies 12 specific goals to achieve the outcomes of the three priorities.

1. Conduct long-term, broad-scale, and multidisciplinary measurements and monitoring and research activities to define, quantify, and predict the impacts of climate change on natural and human systems;
2. Provide leadership to standardize measuring, monitoring, reporting, and verifying greenhouse gas emissions, lateral carbon fluxes, and carbon sinks across lands managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI);
3. Provide science capacity, training, tools, and infrastructure to Tribal partners; support Tribal-led science initiatives;
4. Conduct climate change research in partnership with the broader climate science community;
5. Develop improved data synthesis methods through collaborative and open science across mission areas and between the USGS and agency partners;
6. Translate climate change impacts into risk assessments in support of risk management strategies;
7. Develop new and improved risk assessments, models, and approaches for mitigating climate change, adapting to its impacts, and reducing uncertainties; design early warning systems for risk mitigation;
8. Investigate climate change mitigation strategies and create decision science support tools to inform climate change mitigation and adaptation;
9. Provide a framework that facilitates knowledge co-production needed to inform policy decisions;
10. Provide access to USGS data and information through novel integration and visualization approaches;
11. Build capacity within USGS and DOI through development of scientific training curricula; and
12. Coordinate science and capacity building efforts broadly across the Federal Government.

To achieve these goals, the USGS Climate Science Plan also outlines climate science guidelines—key elements for conducting climate-based research—as well as emerging opportunities to support successful climate science. The USGS Climate Science Plan provided in this circular will guide future research priorities and science-support investments, as well as continued development of the climate workforce for decades to come, ensuring that the USGS continues to serve as one of the Nation’s leading climate science agencies.