Narrow Results

Every year there are as many as 20,000 scientific papers and reports published about the science of climate and climate change, and the resulting impacts and policy implications. The vast majority of these publications are rigorously done and are peer reviewed before publication, Since about 1990, on a time scale of roughly every 4–6 years, top experts are being asked to assess the state of the science and the implications of the changes occurring in the climate. Internationally, this occurs through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and for the United States, through the US National Climate Assessments (NCAs). These assessments provide important input to policy considerations, at international, national, and local levels…

The article on the Climate Science Special Report: 4th U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA4), Volume I, summarizes the basis and the requirements for developing U.S. national climate assessments. The reader is referred to that material, as it is not repeated here. Instead, the focus in this chapter is on NCA4, Volume II, which is an assessment of climate-related impacts, risks, and adaptation in the United States. NCA4, Volume II (USGCRP, 2018), was published on November 23, 2018, and the entire assessment report is available at NCA2018.globalchange.gov…