A new report from the United States (U.S.) Climate Change Science Program, an interagency effort involving 13 federal departments, predicts that changes in the environment induced by climate change could lead to rapid alterations in global ecosystems much sooner than previously predicted. The U.S. Geological Survey was the lead agency in the project. The final report, Abrupt Climate Change, assessed the risks of the inability to adapt to:rn1. Rapid change in glaciers, ice sheets, and sea levelsrn2. Widespread and sustained changes to the hydrologic cyclern3. Abrupt change in the northward flow of warm, salty water in the upper layers of the Atlantic Ocean associated with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)rn4. Rapid release to the atmosphere of methane trapped in permafrost and on continental margins.
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