Images

Physical Scientist Michelle Leung and Research Geologist Natalie Kehrwald prepare sediment samples from Santa Fe Lake, New Mexico to analyze records of interactions between past fires and human activity over the last few thousand years. 

Gulkana Glacier area change, from 1957 - 2021. Gulkana Glacier is located along the south flank of the eastern Alaska Range.

South Cascade Glacier area change, 1970 - 2021.  South Cascade Glacier located in a north-northwest facing valley near the crest of the Cascade Range in northwest Washington state.

Wolverine Glacier area change, 1950 - 2020. Wolverine Glacier is in the Kenai Mountains on the coast of south-central Alaska. 

Lemon Creek Glacier area change, 1948 - 2021. Lemon Creek Glacier is located at the southernmost tip of the Juneau Icefield in Southeast Alaska, USA, approximately 6.5 km northeast of the city of Juneau

Time to get our hands dirty! Paleoclimate researchers study sediment cores, which are accumulated layers of mud and dead plant material collected in a long tube, to learn about what the climate and environment of the past was like.

The cold never bothered our USGS scientists! They ask – do you want to collect an ice core?

The secret lives of... trees? Trees can live for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. As they grow, they add new layers of growth – or tree rings – that scientists can study to learn about the tree’s life. The width of tree rings often reflects the factor most influencing growth from one year to the next depending upon where the tree lives.

Climate change data from the USGS National Climate Change Viewer tool is shown by US state and county for the contiguous US.

A scientist looks at a Ponderosa Pine tree core using a rotary measuring stage. Credit: Becky Brice, USGS.

One Green River Ponderosa Pine sample after mounting and sanding lab procedures. Credit: Becky Brice, USGS.

Slide 2: Once a region of interest is selected, the control options are displayed on the left-hand side of the application. These control which climate variable, month, model, scenario, and time period are displayed in the map and charts.

Slide 1: Upon opening the National Climate Change Viewer (NCCV) you must select a region of interest to display the charts by either navigating and clicking on the map or selecting a location from the dropdown menu option on the left-hand side.

Slide 3: The dropdown menus on the left-hand side contain all the variable options that can be individually selected in the NCCV.

Slide 4: On the right-hand side menu, the Model Agreement screen option displays the range of change simulated by the group of climate models with additional information on if the projected change is consistent in sign among the models and if the projections are statistically significant.

Slide 5: From the right-hand side menu, the Ensemble Timeseries Chart summarizes the group of models with a median line and range band, displaying the projected change through time.

Slide 6: From the right-hand side menu, the Data Table view displays the projected change for all models in tabular form. Clicking on the top row of the table allows you to sort the columns in ascending or descending order.

Slide 7: From the right-hand side menu, the Scatter Plot allows you to visualize the spread of all the models for two variables. This can be useful in understanding the relationship between variables in the projections, such as warm-and-wet or warm-and-dry for temperature and precipitation.

Slide 8: The National Climate Change Viewer (NCCV) application includes downloadable PDF reports, CSV data files, or JavaScript JSON data files for every state, county, and watershed.

A USGS scientist preparing a soil monitoring station for winter, with a view of Mt. Baldy in the Colorado Elk Mountains.

A view of Gothic Mountain from the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory research meadow in Gothic, Colorado.