Information Quality in the Assessment

The assessed content in SOCCR2 incorporates referenced materials derived primarily from the existing, peer-reviewed scientific literature and is consistent with guidance regarding the use of other literature. It adheres to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Information Quality Guidelines (USDA 2018) and administrative processes, as well as the Office of Management and Budget’s federal information quality, transparency, and accessibility guidelines (Executive Office of the President 2004) for a HISA-appropriate document. Information from several sources was assessed, including:

1. A public request for technical input released by USDA on behalf of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and the Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group (CCIWG) on February 12, 2016 (FRN 2016);

2. Expert awareness of the literature from the authors;

3. Information provided during scoping and writing workshops and public engagement events such as professional town halls (see Appendix A: Report Development Process); and

4. Continuous chapter-specific identification, information quality checks, and exchange of pertinent technical resources and up-to-date scientific literature by SOCCR2 team members and associated federal agencies.

The first SOCCR2 Federal Register Notice (FRN 2016) included a 30-day call for scientific information and technical input (e.g., submissions of recent, relevant, and scientific and technical research studies including observed, modeled, and projected carbon cycle science information that has been ­peer-reviewed and published or accepted for publication in scientific journals and governmental reports). The Federal Register Notice included a summary of the draft Prospectus and the proposed report structure and scope, along with a web link to the detailed SOCCR2 draft Prospectus, for the public to provide pertinent input and comments via globalchange.gov. The finalized Prospectus and related SOCCR2 resources are available here.

In November 2017, USDA issued a second Federal Register Notice (FRN 2017) on behalf of the USGCRP and U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program that sought input from the public on the “Fourth Order Draft” of SOCCR2. The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) Committee to Review the SOCCR2 Draft also published a review of the same draft in March 2018 (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2018). Additional literature and information sources were incorporated into SOCCR2 in response to both the public and NASEM reviews and to newly available scientific information.