What is science telling us about climate change? Leading climate change experts discuss one of the most complex scientific puzzles ever to confront humankind.
More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/degree/?WT.mc_id=USNSF_51
Climate Change FAQ Book - Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS)
The CReSIS Climate Change Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) Book is an easy-to-understand question and answer FAQ book divided into three subject areas: (1) climate change; (2) causes of climate change; and (3) ice sheets, sea level and impacts of climate change. The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) is a Science and Technology Center established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2005, with the mission of developing new technologies and computer models to measure and predict the response of sea level change to the mass balance of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Visit the CReSIS web site to learn more about them.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The IPCC was jointly established in 1988, by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with the mandate to assess scientific information related to climate change, to evaluate the environmental and socio-economic consequences of climate change, and to formulate realistic response strategies. The IPCC is currently working on the 5th Assessment Report. The Fourth Assessment Report was released in 2007 and can be downloaded below.
The Physical Science Basis
IPCC 4th Assessment Working Group I Report
The Working Group I contribution to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (released in 2007) describes progress in understanding of the human and natural drivers of climate change, observed climate change, climate processes and attribution, and estimates of projected future climate change.
Impacts, Adaptation & Vulnerability
IPCC 4th Assessment Working Group II Report
This Summary sets out the key policy-relevant findings of the Fourth Assessment (released in 2007) of Working Group II of the IPCC. The Assessment is of current scientific understanding of the impacts of climate change on natural, managed and human systems, the capacity of these systems to adapt and their vulnerability.
Mitigation of Climate Change
IPCC 4th Assessment Working Group III Report
The Working Group III contribution to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (released in 2007) focuses on the scientific, technological, environmental, economic and social aspects of mitigation of climate change.
Polar-Palooza multimedia initiative is focused on Earth’s poles—supported by both NSF and NASA—involving researchers, Alaskan natives, in-person presentations at science centers and natural history museums, video and audio podcasts, and more.
Polar-Palooza's Rap Video 'Take AIM at Climate Change’ includes a music video and audio track.
Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS)
https://www.cresis.ku.edu/
The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) is a Science and Technology Center established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2005, with the mission of developing new technologies and computer models to measure and predict the response of sea level change to the mass balance of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. CReSIS is comprised of six partner universities, with the headquarters located at the lead institution, the University of Kansas. The other universities are Elizabeth City State University, Haskell Indian Nations University, The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Maine. In addition to this core group, CReSIS collaborates with several international institutions and industry partners.
International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS)
http://www.pages-igbp.org/ipics/index.html
With the completion of major projects in Greenland and Antarctica over the last 15 years, the international ice coring community is planning for the next several decades. The costs and scope of future work create the need for coordinated international collaboration. Developing this international collaboration is the charge of IPICS, the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences, a planning group currently composed of ice core scientists, engineers, and drillers from 18 nations.
Norwegian-U.S. Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica
http://traverse.npolar.no/
A massive, largely unexplored region, the East Antarctic ice sheet looms large in the global climate system, yet relatively little is known about its climate variability or the contribution it makes to sea level changes. The field expedition for this international partnership involves scientific investigations along two overland traverses in East Antarctica: one going from the Norwegian Troll Station to the United States South Pole Station in 2007-2008; and a return traverse by a different route in 2008-2009. This project will investigate climate change in East Antarctica.
North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM)
http://neem.ku.dk/
Ice Drilling The North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) is an international ice core research project aimed at retrieving an ice core from Northwest Greenland reaching back through the previous interglacial, the Eemian. The project logistics is managed by the Centre for Ice and Climate, Denmark, and the air support is carried out by US ski equipped Hercules managed through the US Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation.
West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Ice Core
http://waisdivide.unh.edu
The U.S research community is conducting a deep ice coring project in West Antarctica for studies of climate, ice sheet history and cryobiology. This project is collecting a deep ice core from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) ice flow divide and integrating approximately 20 separate but synergistic projects to analyze the ice and interpret the records. The most significant characteristic of the WAIS Divide project is the development of climate records with an absolute, annual-layer-counted chronology for the most recent ~40,000 years. Lower temporal resolution records will extend to ~100,000 years before present. These records will enable comparison of environmental conditions between the northern and southern hemispheres, and the study of greenhouse gas concentrations in the paleo-atmosphere, with a greater level of detail than previously possible.
West Antarctic Ice Sheet Initiative
http://neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov/wais/
A Multidisciplinary Study of Rapid Climate Change and Future Sea Level
U.S. International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ITASE)
http://www2.umaine.edu/USITASE/
From its original formulation in 1990, the International Trans Antarctic Scientific Expedition has had as its primary aim the collection and interpretation of a continental-wide array of environmental parameters assembled through the coordinated efforts of scientists from several nations. The primary planned product of this cooperative endeavor is the description and understanding of environmental change in Antarctica over the last ~200 years.
