CDIAC has listed the following Web sites because these sites offer high-quality data sets (not available through CDIAC) from a variety of global-change themes. These links will take you outside of CDIAC, therefore, we are not responsible for the content or intent of these outside links. This list is not intended to be comprehensive, but we do hope you find it useful if you cannot find what you are looking for here at CDIAC.

CDIAC's Global Climate Change Links

Multi-Agency Sites

• Global Change Data and Information System (GCDIS)

  GCDIS is a collection of distributed information systems operated by government agencies involved in global change research. GCDIS provides global change data to scientists and researchers, policy makers, educators, industry, and the public at large and includes multidisciplinary data from atmospheric science, ecology, oceanography, as well as economics and sociology. GCDIS is a cooperative activity of agencies participating in the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).

• Global Change Master Directory (GCMD)

  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) GCMD is a comprehensive directory of descriptions of data sets of relevance to global change research. The GCMD database includes descriptions of data sets (DIFs) covering climate change, the biosphere, hydrosphere and oceans, geology, geography, and human dimensions of global change.

• Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)

  GISS, a NASA research institute, is located near Columbia University in New York City, New York. GISS is a subdivision of the Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC) Earth Sciences Directorate in Maryland. A key objective of the GISS research is prediction of atmospheric and climate changes in the 1990s and early 21st century. The research combines analysis of comprehensive global datasets derived mainly from spacecraft observations with global models of atmospheric, land surface, and oceanic processes. The research approach includes study of past changes on Earth such as paleoclimate changes and study of other planets as an aid to prediction of future evolution of the Earth on a planetary scale. The perspective provided by space observations is crucial for monitoring global change and for providing data needed to develop an understanding of the Earth system. As the principal NASA center for Earth observations, the GSFC plays a leading role in global change research. Global change studies at GISS are closely coordinated with research at GSFC's Laboratories for Atmospheres, Hydrospheric Processes and Terrestrial Physics.

• National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)

  As part of the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIC), NCDC is the world's largest active archive of weather data. NCDC produces numerous climate publications and responds to data requests from all over the world. NCDC operates the World Data Center-A, Meteorology which is co-located at NCDC. NCDC supports a three tier national climate services support program - the partners include: NCDC, Regional Climate Centers (RCC's), and State Climatologists. NOAA's NOAA Server offers access to distributed NOAA data and information from NOAA Data Centers and Centers of Data, including NCDC.

• National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

  Located in Boulder, Colorado, NCAR, is sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and is managed (under a cooperative agreement with NSF) by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). NCAR's mission is to plan, organize, and conduct atmospheric and related research programs in collaboration with universities, to provide state-of-the-art research tools and facilities to the entire atmospheric sciences community, to support and enhance university atmospheric research education, and to facilitate the transfer of technology to both the public and private sectors. NCAR's global-change related holdings are vast, and include information for areas such as climate modeling, atmospheric chemistry, El Niño/Southern Oscillation, oceanography, the U.S. Weather Research Program, solar physics, and atmospheric remote sensing.

• University of East Anglia, Climatic Research Unit (UEA/CRU)

  The University of East Anglia's CRU is widely recognized as one of the world's leading institutions concerned with the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change. The aim of the CRU is to improve scientific understanding in three areas: (1) past climate history and its impact on humanity; (2) the course and causes of climate change during the present century; (3) prospects for the future.

• Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM Archive)

  The ARM Archive supports the scientific field experiments of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program by storing and distributing the large quantities of data collected from these experiments. These data are used to research atmospheric radiation balance and cloud feedback processes, which are critical to the understanding of global climate change.

• Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL)

  CMDL, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in Boulder, Colorado, conducts research related to atmospheric constituents that are capable of forcing change in the climate of the earth through modification of the atmospheric radiative environment, for example greenhouse gases and aerosols, and those that may cause depletion of the global ozone layer. Data are available for aerosols, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane, total ozone, surface ozone, station meteorology, nitrous oxide and halocompounds, solar and thermal radiation, and atmospheric transport.

• Langley Atmospheric Sciences Data Center (LARC)

  NASA's LARC, located in Hampton, Virginia, processes, archives, and distributes Earth science data in the areas of radiation budget, clouds, aerosols, and tropospheric chemistry.

• World Data Center for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG)

  WDCGG, established by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) in October 1990, collects and distributes data on greenhouse gas concentrations (CO2, CH4, CFCs, N2O, etc.) and related gases (CO, NOX, SO2, VOC, etc.) in the atmosphere and the ocean. The WDCGG collects these data from the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) observing network, research organizations, and other cooperative programmes, such as the flask sampling programme of NOAA. As of December 2000, 180 stations in 45 countries had contributed observational data for greenhouse gases and related gases to the WDCGG.

• Energy Information Administration (EIA)

  The EIA, a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), provides policy-independent data, forecasts, and analyses to promote sound policy making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

  The mission of the U.S. EPA is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment - air, water, and land - upon which life depends. EPA's purpose is to ensure that: all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work; national efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on the best available scientific information; federal laws protecting human health and the environment are enforced fairly and effectively; environmental protection is an integral consideration in U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy; transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy; all parts of societ - communities, individuals, business, state and local governments, tribal governments - have access to accurate; information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks; environmental protection contributes to making our communities and ecosystems diverse, sustainable and economically productive; and the U.S. plays a leadership role in working with other nations to protect the global environment.

• National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)

  The Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) was developed jointly by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and RIVM to meet the urgent need of atmospheric chemistry and climate modelers and the need of policy-makers. The EDGAR anonymous ftp site provides estimates of the annual emissions of direct and indirect greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O; CO, NO_x, non-methane VOC; SO₂), including ozone-depleting compounds (halocarbons) for 1990 on a regional and grid basis.

• World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE)

  WOCE is an unprecedented effort during 1990-1997 by scientists from more than 30 nations to study the large-scale circulation of the ocean. WOCE will employ several satellites, dozens of ships, and thousands of instruments to obtain a basic description of the physical properties and circulation of the global ocean during a limited period. In addition, WOCE is supporting regional experiments, the knowledge from which should improve circulation models, and it is exploring design criteria for long-term measurements with which to assess the representativeness of the global "snapshot." This knowledge will help unravel the role of the ocean circulation in decadal-scale climate change; the data obtained will help develop models for the prediction of such change.

• Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS)

  JGOFS, established under the auspices of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and as a Core Project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), has as an operational goal to assess more accurately, and understand better the processes controlling, regional to global and seasonal to interannual fluxes of carbon between the atmosphere, surface ocean and ocean interior, and their sensitivity to climate changes.

• Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC)

  A source for biogeochemical and ecological data useful for studying environmental processes. These data have been collected on the ground, from aircraft, or by satellite or have been generated by computer models. The extent of data ranges from site-specific to global, and durations range from days to years.

• Regional and Global Data for Global Change Research from ORNL DAAC (Mercury RGD Collection)

  Regional and global data on the biogeochemical dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems held by other data centers have been registered in the ORNL DAAC Mercury Metadata Search and Retrieval System. Mercury is a Web-based system that allows searching of metadata files to identify data sets of interest and direct the user to them. The RGD database in Mercury contains over 100 data sets. Included in the database are climate, gas exchange, hydroclimatology, land use and land cover change, soil, and vegetation data, as well as data from networks of field sites and information on models used to assess biogeochemical dynamics and terrestrial ecology. The RGD metadata contain links to the data, models, and more metadata stored elsewhere.

• Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)

  The center specializes in on-line data and information management, spatial data integration and training, and interdisciplinary research related to human interactions in the environment.

• The World Bank Group: Data and Statistics (World Bank)

  As one of the world's largest sources of assistance to developing economies and with a mission to fight poverty and improve living standards, the World Bank provides loans, policy advice, technical assistance, and knowledge-sharing services. Data provided by the World Bank are derived, either directly or indirectly, from official statistical systems organized and financed by national governments.

• ORNL Global Population Project

  LandScan 2001
  The LandScan 2001 data set, developed as part of ORNL's Global Population Project for estimating ambient populations at risk, is a worldwide population database compiled on a 30" X 30" latitude/longitude grid.

CDIAC
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