Global warming and climate change have been a top priority for a number of international organizations, and in recent years, a number of states have also become profoundly concerned about these transformations. Not surprisingly, the state of California has been interested in these subjects for some time, and this website is an initiative of the various agencies working in this area of research. On...

While scientists have been talking about global warming for several decades, attempting to get politicians of different political stripes to act on these pressing matters has been frustrating for many people. This provocative and thoughtful documentary from Frontline takes a look at the "political decisions that have prevented the United States government from confronting one of the most serious...

The National Snow and Ice Data Center provide these data showing the "cumulative number of degree-days when air temperatures are below and above zero degrees Celsius." Two data files, one each for the freezing and thaw data, and a readme file are available. A Fortran program is provided in the data documentation to read the data that are in flat binary format.

Released biennially by the United Nations Development Programme, the Human Development Report offers informed commentary and analysis of issues that affect humans across the world. In past years, the report has dealt with civil wars, starvation, economic growth, gender inequality, and a wide range of pressing matters. Released at the end of November 2007, this edition of the Human Development...

A new report containing nearly a century's-worth of air temperature data is available online from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC). The mean monthly and annual values of surface air temperature were compiled from existing World Weather Records, Monthly Climatic Data for the World, and Meteorological Data for Individual Years over the Northern Hemisphere (excluding the former...

The National Research Council's Panel on Reconciling Temperature Observations published this report in 2000. The National Academy Press Website offers free online viewing of this important publication, which evaluated the much-publicized discrepancy between surface and atmospheric temperatures in the global change records. The Panel found that "the warming trend in global-mean surface temperature...

Our Changing Climate is part of a series of reports entitled Reports to the Nation On Our Changing Planet. This new publication was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and published by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Our Changing Climate discusses the changing climate of the earth and how humans impact that change. Report topics include reasons...

The Pew Center for Global Climate Change has posted this report entitled "The Science of Climate Change: Global and US Perspectives," by Tom Wigley of the National Center For Atmospheric Research. The report discusses historical climate patterns, current climate changes, and predictions for the future (including the ability to detect significant changes). Introductory sections of the report may be...

University of Massachusetts geoscientists Drs. Michael Mann and Raymond Bradley published this news-breaking research paper in the April 23rd, 1998 issue of Nature. The authors examine climate data in detail and conclude that three recent years were the warmest since 1400 AD. In addition to the paper (Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format--click on "Study"), the site contains a news release, two of the...