The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts global change research for the Department of the Interior (DOI) and constitutes DOI’s formal participation in USGCRP.

USGS scientists work with other agencies to provide policy makers and resource managers with scientifically valid information and predictive understanding of global change and its effects with the ultimate goal of helping the Nation understand, adapt to, and mitigate global change.

Specifically, the USGS Climate and Land Use Change Research and Development Program supports research to understand processes controlling Earth system responses to global change and model impacts of climate and land-cover change on natural resources. The USGS Land Change Science and Land Remote Sensing programs (such as the Landsat satellite mission and the National Land Cover Database) provide data that is used to assess changes in land use, land cover, ecosystems, and water resources resulting from the interactions between human activities and natural systems. The science products and datasets from these programs are essential for DOI’s biological carbon sequestration project (LandCarbon), which is conducting quantitative studies of carbon storage and greenhouse gas flux in the Nation’s ecosystems.

USGS also leads the regional DOI Climate Science Centers (CSCs) that provide science and technical support to other bureaus as well as region-based partners, such as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs), that are dealing with the impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife, and ecological processes. The LCCs complement and work closely with the CSCs, focusing on convening partners, developing shared plans, and delivering applied tools for addressing climate change and other landscape-scale stressors.