| id | name | description | media | pubDate | featured | ||||||||||
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intro-us-ghg-center |
Introduction to the US GHG Center |
The U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center (US GHG Center) is a multi-agency effort to compile greenhouse gas data from observations and models into a collection of trusted greenhouse gas emissions and flux products. |
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2023-08-23 |
true |
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## Why be Concerned about Greenhouse Gases?
Agencies within the U.S. Federal Government and partners have programs and assets that observe and collect information on our changing planet, including emissions and concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
Elevated concentrations of GHGs, including methane and carbon dioxide, are warming the planet. This is leading to changes in Earth's climate that occur at a pace and in a way that threatens human health, society, and the natural environment. These changes include warmer air and ocean temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, retreating snow and ice, increasingly severe weather events, such as hurricanes of greater intensity, and sea level rise, among other impacts.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states: "it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land" and that "widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred." Link to IPCC AR6: [https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/](https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/). The data shows trends and patterns in carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) from anthropogenic (human-related) and natural sources that can be used to inform decisions.
Federal agencies are working together to develop a Greenhouse Gas Monitoring and Information System (GHGMIS) for the U.S. that combines atmospheric- and activity-based approaches to increase confidence in setting, assessing, and meeting climate mitigation goals. This system uses these advanced capabilities, as well as the growth of GHG observational data and models, to provide enhanced emissions and uptake data products.
The US GHG Center will disseminate this GHG data as well as provide decision support tools, engage with users, develop data quality criteria, and communicate data, capability, and expertise needs.
The US GHG Center works to inform mitigation efforts for a range of stakeholders and forms an interface between Federal and non-Federal activities to improve quantification of greenhouse gas exchange within the Earth system.
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**NASA**: *Global Climate Change*: https://climate.nasa.gov/
**EPA**: *Climate Change*: https://www.epa.gov/climate-change
**NIST**: *Climate*: https://www.nist.gov/climate
**NOAA**: *Climate Change Impacts*: https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/climate/climate-change-impacts
The U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center (US GHG Center) is a multi-agency effort to compile greenhouse gas data from observations and models into one environment containing trusted greenhouse gas emissions and flux products for use in research, decision-making, and other applications.
The US GHG Center is built on open source principles and techniques that allow users to access, analyze, visualize, and apply data and products to their own usage.
With this wealth of data pertaining to greenhouse gases, greenhouse gas emissions, and related ancillary information, the US GHG Center can be used to increase understanding of the types of GHG data and measurement platforms to facilitate wider and appropriate usage of GHG information.
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The Center acts as a facilitator of collaboration with networks of interagency, intergovernmental and private sector partners to support setting, assessing, and meeting climate mitigation goals.
The US GHG Center is more than just a funnel for greenhouse gas datasets packaged into a user interface. The US GHG Center also includes and reports on various efforts to engage stakeholders, increase understanding through webinars and training events, inform communities, and empower users with decision insights.
The Greenhouse Gas Monitoring & Measurement Interagency Working Group (IWG) was created in January 2022 to coordinate an approach that brings together Federal, subnational, commercial, philanthropic, and academic capabilities to accelerate the Nation’s progress towards an integrated GHG monitoring and information system that supports the Administration’s GHG reduction goals and mitigation efforts. The IWG has developed a National Strategy to Advance an Integrated [U.S. Greenhouse Monitoring & Information System (US GHGMIS)](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NationalGHGMMISStrategy-2023.pdf&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1713896151059183&usg=AOvVaw1ztcj-BFYRj5SqXliWRJul)
The U.S. Government will use a phased approach in implementing the National Strategy, with Phase 1 taking advantage of, and integrating, mature research capabilities and existing data, and Phase 2 reflecting a more robust monitoring and information system based on well-defined requirements as well as planning and research and development efforts from Phase 1. The US GHG Center supports both phases of the implementation of the National Strategy, following an iterative approach, which begins with input from EPA, NASA, NIST, and NOAA, and is expected to expand and include other agency and non-federal capabilities in the future.
The U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center plans to coordinate with networks of international organizations - including the World Meteorological Organization, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, and the UN Environment’s International Methane Emissions Observatory - to accelerate development and dissemination of the measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification of GHGs. It also will establish criteria for thorough evaluation of the quality, accessibility, and transparency of new data and modeling products.
The US GHG Center contains trusted information on greenhouse gas emissions, concentrations and flux products.
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<figcaption>Anthropogenic GHG Emissions</figcaption>
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<figure style={{display: "inline-block", width:"250px", margin:"2px"}}>
<img src={new URL('./swamp.png', import.meta.url).href} alt='natural sources and sinks' />
<figcaption>Natural GHG Sources and Sinks</figcaption>
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<figcaption>Large Methane Emission Events</figcaption>
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The initial 2-year demonstration phase of the project targets three GHG areas of study in order to
- Provide access to selected anthropogenic gas emission data products;
- Complement anthropogenic GHG inventories with estimates of natural GHG emissions, updates and other fluxes of GHGs, as well as improved usability and visualizations;
- Identify and quantify emissions from large methane (CH₄) leak events leveraging aircraft and space-borne instruments.
The US GHG Center is not a comprehensive accounting of all GHG-relevant products and datasets produced by the U.S. Federal Government. Additional features and data sets will be added as more become available, with links throughout the site to additional resources beyond the Center.
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- **[Discover](https://earth.gov/ghgcenter/data-catalog)** - Users can search the data catalog or learn more about the three demonstration areas
- **Explore and Analyze** - Visualize data from various data products, instruments and models and create time series for desired regions and time periods
- **Use** - Users can access data in a cloud environment and share the results after establishing a user account
- **Learn** - Read our newsletters or find out about webinar and training opportunities
- **Helpdesk** - Submit feedback or request help understanding the US GHG Center contents
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Additions to the US GHG Center will occur in the coming year, including some new features and capabilities that will improve data discovery, exploration and analysis.
- Improvements to the Center design and function of the interface and tools
- More and different kinds of data, such as data from airborne campaigns, new instruments, and other selected data products
- More Jupyter notebooks to help you use the Center data
- GIS or STAC data download for when you want to take the data into another application
- Training, webinar, and summer school events
- More from existing partners plus contributions from new partners, including the private sector
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeVWCrnca08Gt_qoWYjTo6gnj1BEGL4NCUC9VEiQnXA02gzVQ/viewform" target="_blank">
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