Global Warming

This page is designed to allow access to scientific reports, literature, and other internet resources on global warming and climate change for those who wish to educate themselves about the topic. We acknowledge that there is a scientific debate about the causes and effects of global climate change and attempt to provide resources that represent multiple viewpoints about the subject.

Reports and Documents

Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The IPCC was established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environmental Programmed (UNEP) in 1988 and has published several comprehensive reports on climate change.

The most recent report, Climate Change 2007, was finalized in November 2007.
Follow the links below to access the 2007 report:

2007 Summary for Policy Makers
1-The Physical Science Basis
2-Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
3-Mitigation of Climate Change

Links to the 2001 Assessment Report are given below:

Climate Change 2001: IPCC Third Assessment Report consists of four volumes:

1- Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis
2- Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability
3- Climate Change 2001: Mitigation
4- Climate Change 2001: Synthesis Report
A list of all IPCC publications is found at http://www.ipcc.ch/pub/reports.htm

The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change

The Stern Review was published in 2006 by the United Kingdom Treasury department.
Further analysis, frequently asked questions, and responses to critiques about
the report are also available


Reports by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change
As described on the Pew Center Website, "the Pew Center on Global Climate Change was established in 1998 as a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization. The Center's mission is to provide credible information, straight answers, and innovative solutions in the effort to address global climate change."


The Pew Center's reports are available here

While most of the Pew Center's reports center on policy and analysis issues,
their two most recent scientific summaries are:

Climate Data: Insights and Observations (December 13, 2004)

Observed Impacts of Climate Change in the U.S. (November 9, 2004)


Reports from the George Marshall Institute (GMI)
The GMI was founded in 1984 and according to it's website has a mission to "encourage the use of sound science in making public policy about important issues for which science and technology are major considerations. Their current program emphasizes issues in national security and the environment." The Marshall Institute's main page on climate change allows access to over 100 briefs on climate change.

Examples include:
Hurricanes and Global Warming and
The Increase in Global Temperature: What it Does and Does Not Tell Us

Their 2005 book "Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming"and discussion slides by the authors are also available. Unfortunately, the complete text of the book is not available online as is indicated on their website.

Reports from The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA)
According to their website, the NCPA is "a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization, established in 1983. The NCPA's goal is to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and control, solving problems by relying on the strength of the competitive, entrepreneurial
private sector."
The NCPA main page on global warming includes documents such as
The Physical Evidence of Earth’s Unstoppable 1,500-Year Climate Cycle and The Truth about an Inconvenient Truth

Reports from the NASA Goddard Institute (GISS)
The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), at Columbia University in New York City, is a laboratory of the Earth Sciences Division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and a unit of the Columbia University Earth Institute. Research at GISS emphasizes a broad study of global climate
change.
GISS documents include publications by Dr. James Hansen, Director of the Goddard Institute.
Examples include :

The Threat to the Planet including letters and responses and 2006: Global Temperature Change in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, with supplementary material and additional data

Documents that have been submitted for publication include:
Climate Change and Trace Gasses (submitted)
Dangerous Human-Made? Interference with Climate: A GISS ModelE Study (submitted)
Climate simulations for 1880-2003 with GISS modelE (submitted)

USEPA
The USEPA provides information on global climate change at their current
Climate Change site. The older EPA climate change site is also accessible.
Documents include:
Climate change, analysis of key questions (An HTML version is also available)


Reports from The National Academies
Fifteen recent publications from the National Academies about the science and policy implications of global warming and climate change are availabe at the National
Academies Press Global Warming/Global Climate Change Collection

Examples include:
Understanding Climate Change Feedbacks (2003)
Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises (2002)
Communicating Uncertainties in Weather and Climate Information: A Workshop Summary
(2003)

Data Sources

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

NOAA/NDC Climate monitoring Page

Look at the monthly US temperature compared to the 1971 to 2000 average

Data from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center

The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) is the primary climate-change data and information analysis center of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). CDIAC is located at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and includes the World Data Center for Atmospheric Trace Gases.

View the atmospheric CO₂ record at Mauna Loa, Hawaii from 1958 to 2005 with explanatory notes

View the graph of the C0₂ record or download the digital data and graph it yourself

The CDIAC also hosts data from the United States Historical Climatology Network

You can view the historical temperature at your US location (allows you to select the area and the data, daily or monthly, that you would like to graph)

You can go straight to the monthly average data here (scroll down and click on your state)


Data from the IPCC Data Distributions Center
IPCC Data Visualization Tools (Allows you to view the temperature variations from 1961 to 1990 for a user defined region, but this is not very satisfying since post 1990 data is not included.)

Data from CO2 Science (Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change)

Calculate the temperature trend for your location within the United States from 1930 to 2000

Additional Links and Information Sources:

ShipVehicles.com has a nice summary of links to other global warming information sites with an emphasis on regulations and energy use in transportation.