This effort concentrates on improving our understanding of the climate system as a whole, rather than focusing on its individual components, and thus improving our ability to predict climate change and variability. The Global Water Cycle. The goal of this research is to improve our understanding of the movement of water through the land, atmosphere, and ocean, and on how global change may increase or decrease regional water availability. In the decade since the program started scientists have gained a lot of understanding within the focus areas described above. Ongoing research and observations have shown that emissions controls have begun to decrease the concentration of several ozone-depleting gases at the Earth s surface.
Colors show the thickness of the ozone layer over the Earth.
Purple areas show where the ozone layer is thinnest. In this picture, the purple patch covers the entire Antarctic continent. Reds are hotter than normal. Blues are colder than normal. Increasingly rapid changes, driven largely by human activities, are contributing to biodiversity loss, changes in atmospheric composition, and climate change.