The USGS National Climate Change Viewer: a model visualization web application

Abstract:

The USGS National Climate Change Viewer (NCCV) is an interactive web application for visualizing potential future changes in climate at the state, county and watershed levels for the Continental US on a monthly time scale. The aim of the application is to make climate model results more accessible and understandable to a wide range of users. The application is based on high resolution (~800 m) statistically downscaled climate projections (NEX-DCP30, RCP4.5 and 8.5, produced by NASA) from 30 of the CMIP5 GCMs. We used the climate data to drive a simple water balance model to provide additional insights into the potential for climate-driven change in surface hydrology. The application contains a robust set of tools for characterizing future climate change, including interactive maps, climographs, time series, data tables and downloadable summary reports for each region. The NCCV generally finds future temperature and evaporative demands increase, winter snowpack decreases and the timing of peak runoff is shifted earlier in the season, particularly in the Northeast and mountainous West. The web site has been of interest to the public, local, state and federal government agencies and universities as a teaching tool.