Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
III. Using Sound Science to Manage Climate Impacts
Scientific data and insights are essential to help government officials,
communities, and businesses better understand and manage the risks
associated with climate change. The Administration will continue to lead in
advancing the science of climate measurement and adaptation and the
development of tools for climate-relevant decision-making by focusing on
increasing the availability, accessibility, and utility of relevant scientific tools
and information. Specific actions will include:
Developing Actionable Climate Science
:
The President's Fiscal Year 2014
Budget provides more than $2.7 billion, largely through the 13-agency U.S.
Global Change Research Program, to increase understanding of climate-
change impacts, establish a public-private partnership to explore risk and
catastrophe modeling, and develop the information and tools needed by
decision-makers to respond to both long-term climate change impacts and
near-term effects of extreme weather.
Assessing Climate-Change Impacts in the United States:
In the spring of
2014, the Obama Administration will release the third U.S. National Climate
Assessment, highlighting new advances in our understanding of climate-
change impacts across all regions of the United States and on critical sectors of
the economy, including transportation, energy, agriculture, and ecosystems
and biodiversity. For the first time, the National Climate Assessment will
focus not only on dissemination of scientific information but also on
translating scientific insights into practical, useable knowledge that can help
decision-makers anticipate and prepare for specific climate-change impacts.
Launching a Climate Data Initiative:
Consistent with the President's May
2013 Executive Order on Open Data
-
and recognizing that freely available
open government data can fuel entrepreneurship, innovation, scientific
discovery, and public benefits
-
the Administration is launching a Climate
Data Initiative to leverage extensive federal climate-relevant data to stimulate
innovation and private-sector entrepreneurship in support of national climate-
change preparedness
.
Providing a Toolkit for Climate Resilience:
Federal agencies will create a
virtual climate- resilience toolkit that centralizes access to data-driven
resilience tools, services, and best practices, including those developed
through the Climate Data Initiative. The toolkit will provide easy access to
existing resources as well as new tools, including: interactive sea-level rise
maps and a sea-level-rise calculator to aid post-Sandy rebuilding in New York
and New Jersey, new NOAA storm surge models and interactive maps from
