The vision for the National Climate Assessment (NCA) is to create a system of indicators that will help inform policy-makers and citizens understand key aspects of our changing climate. Scientific information about physical climate conditions, climate impacts, vulnerabilities, and preparedness will be tracked and compiled. These measures are called indicators. The goals of the Indicators System are to:

• Provide meaningful, authoritative climate-relevant measures about the status, rates, and trends of key physical, ecological, and societal variables and values
• Inform decisions on management, research, and education at regional to national scales
• Identify climate-related conditions and impacts to help develop effective mitigation and adaptation measures
• Provide analytical tools by which user communities can derive their own indicators for particular purposes