SciDAC and Biology & Environment: Global Change

The Biological and Environmental Research / SciDAC projects focus on Global Change. Global Change activities include the process research and modeling efforts needed to

1. improve understanding of factors affecting the Earth's radiant-energy balance;
2. predict accurately any global and regional climate change induced by increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases;
3. quantify sources and sinks of energy-related greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide; and
4. improve the scientific basis for assessing the potential consequences of climatic changes, including the potential ecological, social, and economic implications of human-induced climatic changes caused by increases in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the benefits and costs of alternative response options.

Research is focused on understanding the basic chemical, physical, and biological processes of the Earth's atmosphere, land, and oceans and how these processes may be affected by energy production and use, primarily the emission of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion. A major part of the research is designed to provide the data that will enable an objective assessment of the potential for, and consequences of, global warming. The program is comprehensive with an emphasis on the radiation balance from the surface of the Earth to the top of the atmosphere including the role of clouds and on enhancing the quantitative models necessary to predict possible climate change at the global and regional levels. (Learn more about the Biological and Environmental Research Program within the Office of Science.)

The Department of Energy (DOE) Climate Change Prediction Program (CCPP) is the current phase in the evolution of DOE's long-standing climate modeling and simulation research agenda. The CCPP is focused on developing, testing and applying coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (GCMs) for climate simulation and prediction that stay at the leading edge of scientific knowledge and computational technology.

Although the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Second Assessment Report (1996) concluded that "the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate," important uncertainties remain.

• What changes in climate can we expect?
• What will the impacts be on, for example, agriculture, unmanaged ecosystems, and sea level?
• Which regions of the world will be most affected?

URL http://www.scidac.gov/BER/BER_SD.html
Updated: Friday, 06-May-2005 10:47:51 EDT