Monitoring Climate Change Impacts: Metrics at the Intersection of the Human Earth Systems

摘要

In early 2008, the National Academy of Sciences began a series of activities to facilitate the increased involvement of scientists in answering questions related to climate and environmental change, energy, natural disasters, and national security. The goal is to advance scientific understanding of global climate change and other environmental and disaster-related phenomena, while considering the implications of this understanding for U.S. national security. As part of a suite of activities on climate, energy, and national security, the National Research Council (NRC) appointed the Committee on Indicators for Understanding Global Climate Change, which was tasked with identifying indicators that can increase the understanding of global climate change and environmental sustainability (see Appendix A for Statement of Task). To begin, the committee sought input from a broad cross-section of physical, biological, and social scientists engaged in research in areas broadly related to environmental sustainability and climate change. Eight panels provided input (see pages v and vi for membership): cryosphere, land-surface and terrestrial ecosystems, hydrology and water resources, atmosphere, human health and other dimensions, oceans (both physical and biological/chemical), and natural disasters. The panels identified measurements and then metrics that, in their expert judgment, could serve as useful indicators. The panels also suggested illustrative locations around the globe where measurements of the underlying observations could be gathered. The exercise was intended to draw upon the scientific imagination of the participants and not the capabilities of any particular observing platform. What follows in this report is the committees judgment of potential key metrics for monitoring climate change with an eye toward environmental sustainability.