Resources
Quick links
Websites and Databases
Websites and Databases
Maine
The network was initiated by faculty at the University of Maine to increase communication and coordination among those working on issues related to climate change and agriculture. This website provides an initial portal to some of the climate-related activities at the University of Maine and serves as an invitation to those with an interest in this topic to participate.
Resources: Maine Climate and Agriculture Network Farm Response to Changing Weather Factsheet (PDF)
Maine Climate Change Adaptation Providers Network (CCAP)
The Maine CCAP Network is a network of adaptation professionals committed to working together to build community resilience in Maine. A CCAP member is someone in Maine who works with or within communities to implement climate change solutions. Throughout our website, we’ve compiled the best information and best practices to assist communities in building local climate resilience.
Maine Ocean and Coastal Acidification Partnership (MOCA)
Coordinates the work of governmental agencies and private organizations and citizens who are studying and implementing means to reduce the impacts of or help adapt to ocean and coastal acidification.
University of Maine School of Forest Resources, Research Facilities
The University of Maine has significant expertise in climate and forest resources, which exists across academics units, centers, and institutes. This web portal is intended to serve as a point of access to these resources and encourage networking among university expertise as well as external stakeholders.
Signs of the Seasons: The New England Phenology Program
Using their backyards as laboratories, participants in the Signs of the Seasons program help scientists document the local effects of global climate change. Hundreds are trained to observe and record the phenology (seasonal changes) of common plants and animals living in their own communities, a citizen science project that fills a gap in regional climate research. Volunteers across Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts record the growth of milkweed, the nesting of robins, and more. The goal is to build a rich, detailed record of the region’s seasonal turns, a resource too costly to build without a network of citizen volunteers. The collected data are made available to our collaborating scientists and resource managers.
Regional
Building on capacity within USDA to deliver science-based knowledge and practical information to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners.
The Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems
The Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) spans coastal waters from the Canadian Maritime Provinces to the New York Bight. NERACOOS provides weather and ocean data to fishers and commercial shippers determining if conditions are safe for passage and to emergency managers issuing storm warnings. NERACOOS is also advancing efforts to improve water quality monitoring, harmful algal bloom predictions and warnings, and coastal flooding and erosion forecasting systems.
NOAA Ocean Acidification Program
NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program seeks to better prepare society to respond to changing ocean conditions and resources by expanding understanding of ocean acidification, through interdisciplinary partnerships, nationally and internationally. Ocean acidification is occurring because our ocean is absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, leading to lower pH and greater acidity. This is causing a fundamental change in the chemistry of the ocean from pole to pole.
Northeast Coastal Acidification Network
The Northeast Coastal Acidification Network (NECAN) represents a nexus of scientists, federal and state resource managers, and marine industry partners dedicated to coordinating and guiding regional observing, research, and modeling endeavors focused on ocean and coastal acidification (OCA).
Resilience and Adaptation in New England
This database catalogs activities in more than 100 jurisdictions in New England that are addressing flooding, heat, extreme weather events, sea level rise, and more. You can use the database to learn from others, research actions that are being taken at the state, regional or community level, or share actions that you are taking to address climate change.
Nationwide
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Services website presents a hub of groundbreaking news in climate science, with access to data libraries and interactive visualizations of Earth’s climate system.
NOAA Ocean Acidification Program
NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program seeks to better prepare society to respond to changing ocean conditions and resources by expanding understanding of ocean acidification, through interdisciplinary partnerships, nationally and internationally. Ocean acidification is occurring because our ocean is absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, leading to lower pH and greater acidity. This is causing a fundamental change in the chemistry of the ocean from pole to pole.
Yale Program Climate Change Communication
This program produces scientific research on public climate change knowledge, attitudes, policy preferences, and behavior, and the underlying psychological, cultural, and political factors that influence them.
National Fish, Wildlife & Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy
The National Fish, Wildlife & Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy is a unified effort by federal, state, and tribal government agencies to provide a ‘framework for cooperative climate response’ to changes in our national natural resources. The Strategy is still under development, and will be publicly released in June 2012. Meanwhile, check out the above informational website for background information and progress.
Climate Central is a nonprofit science and media organization created to provide clear and objective information about climate change and its potential solutions, founded by Dr. John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology, and Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Administrator. A prestigious group of scientists and journalists are involved in this project to “bridge the gap between the scientific community and the public.” Their website may be useful in developing educational programs and materials. Sign up to receive updates on broadcasts and webcasts.
Focusing on the social and political implications of climate science, a host of vibrant science writers and researchers regularly contribute articles to this forum. Audio Archives.
The American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ESF College of Environmental Science and Forestry Office of Sustainability website)
In 2006, 12 college and university presidents in the U.S. drafted a commitment pledging to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions through a series of immediate and long-term actions. To date, nearly 700 presidents have signed the commitment and over 1200 institutions have submitted greenhouse gas inventories to the organization.
Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS)
Over 6,000 volunteers across the U.S. contribute daily weather observations to this community-generated precipitation database. Cumulative reports are mapped out in real-time and are available to the public.
Keep track of atmospheric CO2 concentrations through Mauna Loa, Hawaii Observatory updates.
53 Sources for Climate Change News (Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University / GW Public Health Online website)
This list is maintained by George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. It includes 53 reputable sources that provide information about research, expert analysis, and breaking news.
News Articles
Citizen Science Comes of Age by Alastair Bland, Hakai Magazine, February 19, 2019. Increasingly, scientists are relying on data gathered by volunteers to make their research happen.
Botanists, with help from Thoreau, find climate change puts spring wildflowers in the shade by Beth Staples, UMaine News, February 4, 2019.
Scientists Single Out a Suspect in Starfish Carnage: Warming Oceans by Kendra Pierre-Louis, New York Times, January 30, 2019.
How Extreme Weather is Shrinking the Planet by Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, November 16, 2018.
Greenland Is Melting by Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, October 24, 2016. The shrinking of the country’s ice sheet is triggering feedback loops that accelerate the global crisis. The floodgates may already be open.
Published Reports
Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, 2019 (IPCC)
2018 State of U.S. High Tide Flooding with a 2019 Outlook (National Ocean Service Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, NOAA)
Maine’s Climate Future – 2020 Update (Climate Change Institute website) and Maine’s Climate Future 2015 (Sea Grant Maine at the University of Maine, Maine Sea Grant / Marine Science for Maine People website)
Coastal Maine Climate Report (Climate Change Institute, University of Maine)
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change website)
Fourth National Climate Assessment, 2018 (GlobalChange.gov, U.S. Global Change Research Program website)
Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States (GlobalChange.gov, U.S. Global Change Research Program website)
Fourth National Climate Assessment Chapter 18: Northeast (GlobalChange.gov, U.S. Global Change Research Program website)
Climate Science Special Report (CSSR website)
Global Warming of 1.5C (IPCC Special Report)
Climate Science Special Report (Fourth National Climate Assessment, released 2017)
Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (GlobalChange.gov, U.S. Global Change Research Program website)