Organizations

Associations
  • The Association of American Geographers (AAG) has a number of programs and projects that relate to geography and climate change, as well as several research communities who share interests in these topics.
  • The American Geophysical Union promotes discovery in earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. Earth and space scientists are people who explore the surface, interior, oceans, atmosphere, and outer space environment of Earth.
  • The American Geosciences Institute  is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other earth scientists.
  • The American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications.
  • Climate Adaption Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) is a joint project of the organizations Island Press and EcoAdapt. It is aimed at building a shared knowledge base for managing natural systems in the face of rapid climate change. It offers the most valuable, up-to-date, and authoritative materials on the subject by presenting the best information available, building an online community, creating a directory of practicioners to share knowledge, and explaining information from other sites.

Government Agencies

  • The U.S. Department of Energy works to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.
  • Climate Change is a comprehensive site on all aspects of climate change from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It seeks to inform users of the reason for climate change, its regional impacts, and potential solutions. In addition, it provides information about news, science, and policy.
  • The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Global Climate Change page provides information on solar activity, sea level rise, the temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans, the state of the ozone layer, air pollution, and changes in sea ice and land ice.
  • The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) maintains the world's largest climate data archive and provides climatological services and data to every sector of the United States economy and to users worldwide. Records in the archive range from paleoclimatic data to centuries-old journals to data less than an hour old. The Center's mission is to preserve these data and make them available to the public, business, industry, government, and researchers.
  • The National Research Council (NRC) has a mission to improve government decision making and public policy, increase public understanding, and promote the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge in matters involving science, engineering, technology, and health. The Research Council's independent, expert reports and other scientific activities inform policies and actions that have the power to improve the lives of people in the U.S. and around the world.
  • The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…" It is the funding source for approximately 20% of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science, and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.
  • The U.S. Global Change Research Program's (USGCRP)Online Resource Library provides access to data and information on climate change research, adaptation/mitigation strategies and technologies, and global change-related educational resources on behalf of the various U.S. federal agencies that are involved in the USGCRP.

Academic and other Institutes and Laboratories
  • Scientists at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) develop and use mathematical models and computer simulations to improve our understanding and prediction of the behavior of the atmosphere, the oceans, and climate. They focus on model-building relevant for society, such as hurricane research, prediction, and seasonal forecasting, and understanding global and regional climate change.
  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) seeks to strengthen U.S. security through development and application of world-class science and technology to enhance the nation’s defense; reduce the global threat from terrorism and weapons of mass destruction; and respond with vision, quality, integrity and technical excellence to scientific issues of national importance.
  • The Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting is part of the University of Rhode Island (URI) Office of Marine Programs. Its mission is to promote clear and accurate reporting of scientific news and environmental issues; to strengthen understanding and working relationships between members of the scientific community and members of the news media; and to provide opportunities for journalists to improve their skills in covering science-based topics.
  • Michigan State University hosts the Michigan State Climatologist's Office in the Department of Geography. Further, MSU offers a number of symposia, courses, events and projects related to climate change.
  • The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is a federally funded research and development center devoted to service, research and education in the atmospheric and related sciences. NCAR’s mission is to understand the behavior of the atmosphere and related physical, biological and social systems; to support, enhance and extend the capabilities of the university community and the broader scientific community – nationally and internationally; and to foster transfer of knowledge and technology for the betterment of life on Earth.
  • The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) serves as a hub for recent climate-related work through America's Climate Choices.  It highlights climate studies that have been produced by committees of leading scientists and other experts convened by the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate and numerous other entities within the National Research Council. At this site, you will find brief summaries, booklets, videos, and other resources related to these reports.
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  • The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is home to the Climate Change Science Institute which is focused on inter-disciplinary, cross-directorate collaboration to advance climate change science research. Research programs are integrated across four main themes: Earth system modeling, data integration, terrestrial ecosystem and carbon cycle science, and vulnerability and adaptation research.
  • Penn State Ice and Climate Research integrates glaciology, seismology, modelling and climatalogy in order to address the issue of sea level rise due to the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
  • The University of Delaware's Department of Geography hosts several centers focusing on climatology, global climate, permafrost, environmental observation and the like.

International Communities
  • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change. The IPCC is a scientific body that reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical, and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters.
  • The Climate Change page of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is shaped by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change talks and outcomes and helps countries to respond to their needs under the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol.
  • The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) works to create the conditions for dialogue among civilizations, cultures, and peoples. Its mission is to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development, and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information.

Other Organizations
  • The Met Office hosts the National Climate Information Centre, which holds national and regional climate information for the United Kingdom. Digitized records for the whole country date back to 1910 and data for the Central England Temperature record dates back to 1654 - the world's longest instrumental record.
  • Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Researchers focus on more than 55 areas of computing and collaborate with leading academic, government and industry researchers to advance the state of the art.
  • The Sustainable Urban Development Planner for Climate Change Adaptation (SUDPLAN) project aims at developing a web-based planning, prediction and training tool to support decisions in long-term urban planning, in the hope of assuring the population´s health, comfort, safety, and life quality as well as sustainability of investments in utilities and infrastructures within a changing climate.