The United States National Climate Assessment - Alaska Technical Regional Report

The Alaskan landscape is changing, both in terms of effects of human activities as a consequence of increased population, social and economic development and their effects on the local and broad landscape; and those effects that accompany naturally occurring hazards such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Some of the most prevalent changes, however, are those resulting from a changing climate, with both near term and potential upcoming effects expected to continue into the future. In 1990, Congress passed Public Law 101-606 (1990), which established the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). The purpose of the USGCRP is to provide information that increases the understanding of the cumulative effects of human activities and natural processes on the environment and their response to global change. Section 106 of the Act identifies the requirement for a National Assessment to be delivered to the President of the United States and Congress not less frequently than every 4 years that: Integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the Program and discusses the scientific uncertainties associated with such findings; Analyzes the effects of global change on the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, welfare, human social systems, and biological diversity; and Analyzes current trends in global change, both human-induced and natural, and projects major trends for the subsequent 25-100 years (Public Law 101-606, 1990). The National Climate Assessment (NCA) serves as a status report on climate change science and impacts based on observations made across the country. It incorporates advances in the understanding of climate science into larger social, ecological, and policy systems and serves to integrate scientific information from multiple sources and to highlight key findings and significant knowledge gaps. The First National Assessment report was produced in 2000 and a second, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, was produced in 2009. This document, The United States National Climate Assessment-Alaska Technical Regional Report, is one of eight regional reports that will provide input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment.