Climatic Impact Assessment Program

The Arctic is now experiencing some of the most rapid and severe climate change on earth. Over the next 100 years, climate change is expected to accelerate, contributing to major physical, ecological, social, and economic changes, many of which have already begun. Changes in arctic climate will also affect the rest of the world through increased global warming and rising sea levels. Arctic Climate Impact Assessment was prepared by an international team of over 300 scientists, experts, and knowledgeable members of indigenous communities. The report has been thoroughly researched, is fully referenced, and provides the first comprehensive evaluation of arctic climate change, changes in ultraviolet radiation and their impacts for the region and for the world. It is illustrated in full color throughout. The results provided the scientific foundations for the ACIA synthesis report - Impacts of a Warming Arctic - published by Cambridge University Press in 2004.

Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By taking steps to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the risks to society and the impacts of continued climate change can be lessened. The National Climate Assessment, coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is a mandated report intended to inform response decisions. Required to be developed every four years, these reports provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of climate change impacts available for the United States, making them a unique and important climate change document. The draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report reviewed here addresses a wide range of topics of high importance to the United States and society more broadly, extending from human health and community well-being, to the built environment, to businesses and economies, to ecosystems and natural resources. This report evaluates the draft NCA4 to determine if it meets the requirements of the federal mandate, whether it provides accurate information grounded in the scientific literature, and whether it effectively communicates climate science, impacts, and responses for general audiences including the public, decision makers, and other stakeholders.

This volume contains the proceedings of the Third Conference on the Climatic Impact Assessment Program (CIAP), held at the DOT Transportation Systems Center from February 26 to March 1, 1972. It includes 45 invited papers, 20 unscheduled presentations, and edited question-and-answer sessions following some of the papers. The conference was essentially a progress report on CIAP. Therefore, some of the papers contain new data not yet published elsewhere, and others describe experimental equipment. Reports on work relevant to CIAP, though not sponsored by it, are also included. The subjects covered include aircraft-engine emissions, the nature of the 'undisturbed' stratosphere of 1974, the nature of the 'perturbed' stratosphere of 1990-2025, the possible resulting tropospheric perturbations, and the biological and economic effects of such perturbations.