Leveraging U.S. Climate Assessment Research Gaps to Inform Science Innovation

Over three decades, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) has developed an assessment process to integrate, evaluate, and interpret scientific findings on climate change as well as discuss uncertainties. In six USGCRP assessments, authors identified research gaps, or topics that they indicated required more information or study. Examining research gaps on a continual and systematic basis can aid decisions about research projects, programmatic priorities, and strategic scientific visions. The methodology presented here addresses two aims: 1) identify and categorize research gaps within a searchable database and 2) demonstrate use of the database to inform future science planning and assessment. Results include the top 10 database themes, 18 recurring topics across assessments, and a search example for vulnerability gaps. The benefits and limitations of this approach are discussed, along with recommendations to improve future U.S. climate assessment products. Significance Statement The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) regularly assesses the state of the science of climate change and its impacts in national-level reports written by federal scientists, academic researchers, practitioners, and other experts from across the country. These reports are designed to inform policy choices and decision-making by addressing scientific confidence, uncertainty, and research gaps that limit conclusions. We identified research gaps from six climate reports and organized them into a database with over 1000 entries, spanning more than 300 topic areas. Database entries were also sorted into 22 themes for searchability. The database can be used by students, researchers, and program managers to find open research questions and plan future work.