A Decadal Assessment of the Carbon Cycle: The SOCCR-2 Process and How We Inform Decisions (Invited Presentation)

The establishment of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) following the 1990 Global Change Research Act and the subsequent coordination of federally funded carbon cycle science research in the U.S. increased both ‘our understanding and our uncertainty’ (NRC, 1992) of this bioegeochemical cycle. Consequently, for decades, a plethora of coordinated projects and campaigns enabling and processing long-term atmospheric and space observations and in-situ ecosystem measurements, followed by collaborative syntheses, models and model intercomparisons, and other large-scale research efforts have been conducted in response to global change science needs as well as government mandates and programs.  This presentation will highlight such observational advances faciliated by the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program under the USGCRP auspices, the 2^nd State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR-2)’s role in informing decisions based on such advances and the collaborative process for developing SOCCR-2 as part of the USGCRP’s Sustained National Climate Assessment,  based on the 2011 U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan and The 2012-2021 National Global Change Research Plan.