Time to Make Abrupt Climate Change and Earth Observation a Policy Priority

The National Research Council released a new report in December calling for the development of an Abrupt Change Early Warning System (ACEWS), adding to the growing list of energy and climate policies the world needs to rapidly adopt. Scientists believe that with additional monitoring and observation sites, society can be warned of abrupt changes in the environment, allowing them to better prepare and reduce the associated impacts. However, Congress has decreased funding to one of the major earth observation systems, in a time when much more data is needed to detect abrupt climate changes, not less.