Library: GEO 235: Sustainable Climate Communities: Useful Websites

Websites on climate change and climate data

Climate change indicators
The EPA partners with government agencies, academic institutions, and other organizations to compile a key set of indicators related to the causes and effects of climate change.
Climate Change Policy and Practice
Knowledge base of international activities on climate change from the International Institute of Sustainable Development
Datasets from the Goddard Institute of Space Studies
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Established by the World Meterological Organization and the U.N. Environment Programme, IPCC assesses a range of information on human-caused climate change. Nobel Peace Prize winner, IPCC includes a number of reports.
Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet
From NASA, this site provides overviews of evidence, causes, effects, etc. with related references. Key websites, videos and images.
National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
Search and find climate data from prehistory through to an hour ago in the world's largest climate data archive.
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Scientific data on Glaciers, Ice Sheets, Ice Shelves, Permafrost, Sea Ice, Soil Moisture
Snow, and more
United Nations Climate Change Portal
Search or browse climate change subjects including the underlying science, climate change mitigation, adaptation, financing, negotiations, and advocacy. Includes many full text reports, convention documents, training materials, and UN documents.
USDA Climate Change Program
The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's climate change site includes links to its full reports on the effects of climate change on agriculture, biodiversity, and land and water resources, as well as report updates on specific topics.
US Global Change Research Program
Information from 13 American governmental agencies to empower the nation with global change science

Additional data and mapping sites

CIA World Factbook
Very basic international data and information to familiarize yourself with world nations
GEO-Portal
Browse data resources by societal benefit areas. Provided by European Space Agency
International Data - People and Households
International census data from the U.S. Census Bureau
UNdata
World Bank Data
American FactFinder
Census data and more.
Data.gov
Portal for federal government statistics
EarthExplorer
from the US Geological Survey.
National Atlas home page
U.S. Board on Geographic Names
search domestic and foreign place names
USGS: Maps, Imagery, and Publications

Historic maps

These sites can be useful for identifying locations where political lines and populations centers have changed over the decades.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection: 35,000 local, regional, national and world maps from the 18th and 19th centuries. Focus on the Americas, but includes maps from around the world.
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection - University of Texas Libraries: thousands of historic and current maps from around the world