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Global Change and Climate Change Links: Data and Information Sources

» Geophysical Data (incl. Climate Data)

  • GEO Data Portal
    The GEO Data Portal is the authoritative source for data sets used by UNEP and its partners in the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report and other integrated environment assessments. Its online database holds more than 450 different variables, as national, subregional, regional and global statistics or as geospatial data sets (maps), covering themes like Freshwater, Population, Forests, Emissions, Climate, Disasters, Health and GDP. Display them on-the-fly as maps, graphs, data tables or download the data in different formats.
  • WMO: Access to climate system monitoring products
  • GCOS Climate Data and Information
  • GISS Surface Air Temperature Analyses
  • The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
    The National Snow and Ice Data Center was established by NOAA in 1982 to serve as a national information and referral center in support of glaciological research. Our mission today is to make fundamental contributions to cryospheric science and excel in managing data and disseminating information in order to advance understanding of the Earth system. NSIDC is one of four international World Data Centers focusing on cryospheric and polar processes. The WDC-A for Glaciology is maintained at NSIDC through a cooperative agreement between NOAA and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado.
  • World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS)
    As a contribution to the Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS / GTOS) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the WGMS of the International Commission on Snow and Ice (ICSI /IAHS) and the Federation of Astronomical and Geophysical Data Analysis Services (FAGS / ICSU) today collects and publishes worldwide standardized glacier data. At present, the WGMS gets important financial and logistic support from the University of Zürich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich.
  • Global Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC)
  • World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme (WCDMP)
    The purpose of the World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme is to ensure that WMO Members have access to reliable climate data and products derived from existing observations of the global climate system that are in formats suitable for their use. The programme addresses specifically the data requirements for climate change detection, climate applications, monitoring and research, the assessment of impacts on climate, the validation of climate models and forecasts, and the development of strategies to mitigate potentially adverse effects of climate variations and change.
  • Climate Indices: Monthly Atmospheric and Ocean Time Series
  • National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
    NESDIS provides timely access to global environmental data from satellites and other sources to promote, protect, & enhance the Nation's economy, security, environment, & quality of life. NESDIS operates NOAA's National Data Centers for Climate, Geophysics, Oceans, and Coasts.
  • ESDIS - Earth Science Data and Information System Project
    The Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project is responsible for providing scientific and other users access to data from NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. The ESDIS Project provides this access through the development and operation of the Earth Observing System (EOS) Data and Information System (EOSDIS).
  • NCAR Data Support Section (DSS)
    The WWW interface to NCAR's Data Support Section's (DSS) anonymous ftp file system. Through this system, DSS provides access to catalogs, documentation, software, and certain data files from the extensive DSS collection.
  • Solar and Upper Atmospheric Data Services
    The Solar-Terrestrial Physics division of the National Geophysical Data Center is the focal point for data pertaining to solar activity, the ionosphere, and geomagnetic variations.
  • Climate Informationsystem (KLIS) of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD)
  • Climate Data Catalog
  • PANGAEA
    PANGAEA is an information system aimed at archiving, publishing and distributing data from Global Change research with special emphasis on geological, marine and environmental sciences. Data is stored with related metainformation in a relational database, accessible through a client/server system. Data sets can be downloaded through links related to projects, institutes, publishers or principal investigators. The search enginge PangaVista allows to search through the content of PANGAEA by any given keyword. The Advanced Retrieval Tool (ART) enables the user to retrieve and download data with individual configuration.
  • Drought monitoring and early warning site
    www.earlywarning.nl offers the possibility to view and order drought monitoring and crop yield forecasting products. Data for the Sahel region and east Africa are available now. Southern Africa and Europe & north Africa will follow within a few weeks.
  • The German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD)
    The German Remote Sensing Data Center (Deutsches Fernerkundungsdatenzentrum) DFD acts as a national infrastructure for remote sensing (especially earth observation) and focuses on the tasks acquisition of data, user oriented pre-processing, archiving and data storage, non-commercial data distribution and promotion of remote sensing applications.
  • eWOCE - Electronic Atlas of WOCE Data
    All hydrographic, nutrient and tracer data of the WOCE Hydrographic Programme (WHP) have been compiled in an integrated, global dataset. More than 350 section plots of temperature, salinity, oxygen, nutrients and tracers along WHP cruise tracks are available in the eWOCE Gallery. The gallery figures are accessed through interactive maps using your web browser.
  • Institute of Marine Research at the University of Kiel: Physical Oceanography Data
  • Hadley Centre: Climate monitoring and climate datasets
    The Hadley Centre receives, quality controls, and archives large amounts of observed climate data. These are used for monitoring the climate, in studies of the causes of climate change, and in climate modelling. On the national scale, the Central England temperature and the England and Wales precipitation are used as indicators of historical and present changes in climate. On the global scale, we monitor the global average temperature on land and over the sea, and the sea surface temperature in the tropical Pacific, which is an indicator of variations associated with El Niño.
  • British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC)
    The BADC is the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Designated Data Centre for the Atmospheric Sciences. It is sited at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire, part of the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils The role of the BADC is to assist UK atmospheric researchers to locate, access and interpret atmospheric data and to ensure the long-term integrity of atmospheric data produced by NERC projects. The BADC has substantial data holdings of its own and also provides information and links to data held by other data centres.
  • Recent climate in individual countries
    This data set of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research provides a country-by-country summary of the mean climate in the recent past (1961-1990). Variables: daily mean, minimum, and maximum temperature, daily temperature range, frost day frequency, precipitation, wet day frequency, vapour pressure, and cloud cover. Values are given for the year, each season, and each month.
  • Societal Aspects of Weather: Injury and Damage Statistics
     Weather data (rainfall, storm tracks, storm intensities, etc.) generally are readily available, often online. Data on the societal impacts of weather, however, are not. This site includes the resources we have found that contain societal impacts data.

» Paleodata

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» Environmental and Ecological Data

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» Global Change Data

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  • UNDP Climate Change Country Profiles
    These country-level climate data summaries are intended to address the climate change information gap for developing countries by making use of existing climate data to generate a series of country-level studies of climate observations and the multi-model projections made available through the WCRP CMIP3. A consistent approach has been applied for 52 developing countries in order to produce an 'off the shelf' analysis of climate data, and also make available the underlying data for each country for use in further research.
  • Africa Data Dissemination Service (ADDS)
  • Core Data Sets for Integrated Environment Assessments
    Integrated Environment Assessment requires a vast amount of statistical and geographical data sets, describing the 'state of the world'. Typically, they are collected by statistical offices at the country level, and reported to UN and other international agencies. Core data include population numbers, economic production, temperature and precipitation, for example, and are assembled and published by organisations such as UN-DESIPA, UNDP, FAO, WMO, the World Bank, the World Resources Institute, and many others. The IEA/GEO Core Data list was initiated by UNEP and RIVM, while other major global data reporting organizations, both inside and outside UN, provided substantial input. In order to fill data gaps such as noted by the Data Working Group, RIVM has produced several core data sets in house throughout the years.
  • Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC)
    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.
  • U.S. Global Change Research Information Office (GCRIO)
    The GCRIO, in support of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, serves as an information resource service for access to information and data concerning the prevention, mitigation, and adaptation to the effects of global change.
  • NOAA/ESRL Global Monitoring Division
    GMD's mission is to observe and understand, through accurate, long-term records of atmospheric gases, aerosol particles, and solar radiation, the Earth's atmospheric system controlling climate forcing, ozone depletion and baseline air quality, in order to develop products that will advance global and regional environmental information and services.
  • Global Change Data Center
    Our mission is to ensure worldwide access to earth science data in support of the U.S. Global Change Program and the NASA Mission to Planet Earth.
  • NASA Global Change Master Directory (GCMD)
    a comprehensive source of information about Earth science, environmental, climate, and global change data holdings available to the scientific community throughout the world.
  • Information Center of the Russian National Committee for IGBP
    The Center participates in creating of real time information system of metadata type describing different information resources and data bases created and maintained under the Russian branch of the IGBP program. The cartographic unit makes it possible to search for the data bases using an arbitrary point of the required region in the former USSR map. The linguistic unit analyses the documents entered and compiles a dictionary of the words from 3 to 8 characters long. Any of them can be used as a keyword. The information file contains the descriptions (metadata) of over 170 data bases (of total of more than 250 available at the Center).
  • The Environmental Systems Information Center (ENSIC)
    ENSIC was established in 1978 to provide developing countries with needed information on environmental engineering and management. ENSIC provides the effective channel of communication on environmental issues, focus on scientific, technical and policy-related aspects of the environment. The center is also a special sectoral source of UNEP-INFOTERRA Environmental Information Network

» Technical and Energy Data

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International Energy Agency (IEA)

  • International Energy Agency (IEA) statistics
  • ETDE World Energy Base (ETDEWEB)
    ETDEWEB includes information on energy R&D; energy policy and planning; basic sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry and biomedical) and materials research; the environmental impact of energy production and use, including climate change; energy conservation; nuclear (e.g., reactors, isotopes, waste management); coal and fossil fuels; renewable energy technologies (e.g., solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydro) and much, much more. ETDEWEB includes information from ETDE's Energy Database and information from US DOE/OSTI's Energy Citations Database. In addition to information from member countries, ETDEWEB contains worldwide information in the nuclear, coal, and global climate change areas.
  • Dealing with Climate Change policies and measures database
    The Dealing with Climate Change policies and measures database offers access to information on energy-related policies and measures taken or planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The database covers measures taken in IEA member countries and also includes some information on policies in Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. This online service aims to complement the policy analysis carried out by the IEA on energy-related climate change mitigation. With over 1,500 records dating back to 1999, the database provides an excellent source of information on climate change mitigation policies in these countries.
  • International Energy Agency Energy Efficiency Policy Database
    The Energy Efficiency Policies and Measures database provides information on policies and measures taken or planned to improve energy efficiency. The database covers measures in IEA member countries, Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Mexico, Poland, Russia and South Africa. Comprising more than 1,000 records dating back to the year 2000 and sometimes earlier, the database provides an excellent source of information on energy efficiency policy developments.
  • Global Renewable Energy Policies and Measures Database
    The Global Renewable Energy Policies and Measures Database provides information on policies and measures taken or planned to encourage the uptake of renewable energy. The database covers measures in IEA member countries, together with members of the Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition (JREC), and Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. Comprising more than 1,000 records dating back to 2000 and sometimes earlier, the database provides an excellent source of information on renewable energy policy developments.

US-Energy Information Administration (EIA/DOE)

  • International Energy Information
  • International Energy Annual
    The International Energy Annual (IEA) is the Energy Information Administration’s primary report of international energy statistics. For many series, data begin with the year 1980 and extend through 2005. Included are data on energy consumption and production; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, and electricity, as well as carbon dioxide emissions from the use of fossil fuels, petroleum prices, energy reserves, and population.
  • Annual Energy Outlook (USA)
    The Annual Energy Outlook presents projections and analysis of US energy supply, demand, and prices. The projections are based on results from the Energy Information Administration's National Energy Modeling System.
  • International Energy Outlook
    The International Energy Outlook presents an assessment by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the outlook for international energy markets.

» Emission Data

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UNFCC

  • UNFCCC Greenhouse Gas Inventory Database
    In accordance with Articles 4 and 12 of the Convention Parties to the Convention submit national greenhouse gas inventories to the Climate Change secretariat. These inventory data are provided in the national communications under the Convention by Annex I and non-Annex I Parties. In addition, Annex I Parties submit annual national greenhouse gas inventories. This site contains summary tables and an on-line database of emission estimates for three main gases: CO2, CH4, N2O, as well as for CO, NOX, NMVOCs, and SO2. These data are in general available for 1990 - 1997.
  • pdf-fileSynthesis and Assessment Report on the Greenhouse Gas Inventories Submitted in the year 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006
  • pdf-file Key GHG Data
    In this publication, the United Nations Climate Change secretariat confirms that developed countries, taken as a group, have achieved sizable emission reductions. Compared to the 1990 levels, overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of these countries were down 5.9% in 2003. But the secretariat warns that further efforts are required to sustain these reductions and to cut the emissions further.
  • Emissions of GHG in Annex I countries and globally (GRID-Arendal)

Europe

USA

  • Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States (EIA)
  • Greenhouse Gas Emissions (US EPA)
    This section of the EPA Climate Change Site provides information and data on emissions of greenhouse gases to Earth’s atmosphere, and also the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
  • Global Warming: Emissions (US EPA archival site)
    Annual U.S. emissions for the period of time from 1990-2004 are summarized and presented by source category and sector. The inventory contains estimates of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perflourocarbons (PFC), and sulfur hexaflouride (SF6) emissions.
  • The Vulcan Project
    The Vulcan Project is a NASA/DOE funded effort under the North American Carbon Program (NACP)to quantify North American fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at space and time scales much finer than has been achieved in the past. The purpose is to aid in quantification of the North American carbon budget, to support inverse estimation of carbon sources and sinks, and to support the demands posed by the launch of the Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO)scheduled for 2008/2009. The detail and scope of the Vulcan CO2 inventory has also made it a valuable tool for policymakers, demographers and social scientists.
  • Canada's GHG Emissions
    This site features a variety of information on GHGs, the greenhouse effect, FAQs, data tables of Canada's GHG emissions, and all the latest information and tools you need for measuring, verifying and reporting facility GHG emissions.
  • Australia's National Greenhouse Accounts
    Australia's National Greenhouse Accounts are a comprehensive set of reports outlining Australia's greenhouse gas emissions - as a nation, by state, and by industry.
  • Energy Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New Zealand
    This annually-updated publication provides a picture of energy sector emissions for the calendar years 1990-2006. Emission estimates are derived for the direct greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Also included are estimates of carbon dioxide emissions from chemical processes used in industrial production. The inventory has a base year of 1990.
  • Analysis of BP Statistical Review of World Energy with respect to CO2 emissions
    This working paper analyses the BP Statistical Review of World Energy with respect to CO2 emissions from fossil fuel consumption. The focus is put on the classification of Annex B ("industrialized countries") and non-Annex B countries ("developing countries") as defined in the Kyoto Protocol.

» Socio Economics

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  • UNECE Statistical Database
    Comparable data for Europe, North America and Central Asia
  • Harvard International Environmental Policy Reference Guide
    This reference guide contains an annotated bibliography for selected international environmental policy resources available from Harvard University libraries and the Internet. It is not intended to be a comprehensive literature review; rather, it provides a starting point for research in the field of international environmental policy.
  • Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC)
    The Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) has been designated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to create and operate SEDAC, one of the data centers in the Earth Observing Data and Information System (EOSDIS). SEDAC's mission is to develop and deliver information products and services that integrate social and natural science data in ways useful for decision making.
    • The Policy Instruments Database (PIDB)
      online browsing and searching of full text, summaries, and status of treaties and other international agreements related to global environmental change
    • Thematic Guide to Integrated Assessment Modeling
      The Thematic Guide provides users with a variety of information regarding the integrated assessment of global environmental change. The guide contains both general and detailed information which will enhance the ability of users to understand the often confusing discipline of integrated assessment. Not only is integrated assessment defined and explained, numerous articles and abstracts can be accessed which provide detailed discussion of the contemporary issues associated with integrated assessment modeling.
  • Eldis: the Electronic Development and Environment Information System
    Eldis is a gateway to online information on development or the environment, focusing on countries of the South. Eldis makes a qualitative selection of materials and structures it for easy access. Eldis is funded by Danida and hosted by the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex
  • Information for Development in the 21st Century (ID21)
    The ID21 Development Research reporting service, a selection of the latest and best UK-based development research offers hundreds of summaries of problem-solving work on critical development dilemmas around the world.
  • German Umweltbewusstseins-Survey 2000

» Links to other sources on the Net

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  • UNEP Climate Change Portal
    The Climate Portal is UNEP's principal gateway to the most up-to-date information on climate change. It provides access to a great deal of newly released or updated information, including: greenhouse gas emission graphs showing emissions by country (annex 1); an interactive map service showing national achievements towards their Kyoto Protocol commitments; the latest assessments from the world's foremost scientific body dealing with climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); an interactive climate model that lets web site visitors experiment with and learn about climate change; the best quality and most authoritative information on climate change available, categorized for quick reference.