Federal Programs in Climate Change and Health Research

Abstract

The federal government plays an integral role in supporting climate change science and health research in the USA. Federally funded climate change research initially focused on science to understand climate and earth systems change during the 1970s and 1980s. Today, federally supported climate change research involves numerous agencies pursuing a wide range of climate change science topics and applications, including research exploring the connections between human health and climate change. Because each federal agency has a different mandate and range of scientific expertise, the focus and goals of various agencies’ climate change and human health research vary. For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) emphasizes the use of weather and climate forecasts and oceanographic data for public health applications, while the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) emphasizes health applications of remotely sensed data from its satellites. This chapter provides a brief history of federally funded climate research and includes a survey of the relevant agencies, programs, tools, and datasets to illustrate the diversity of health and climate change research supported by the federal government.