We highly recommend starting with books. Still, we are an online world, and while the net is full of some ridiculous junk on climate change, there is hope

The Basics

Perhaps the best new resource for answering your Climate questions is a module produced by COMET.

COMET produces training modules for forecasters around the world. The National Centers for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)  have developed a module on Climate Change that is superb. You can watch it for free, just sign up on the web site!

A new publication from the UK Met. Office is a VERY GOOD introduction to Climate Change.

Climate Literacy is from several U.S. Govt. agencies is also just released. It’s an excellent primer for those with basic questions.

A new site by NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab. has animations, and a clear, concise summary of several aspects of Climate change.

NOAA has an excellent site that summarizes the IPCC 4th assessment report. This may be the best place to start if you have read almost nothing on the subject.

The National Centers for Atmospheric research have a page about how we know the Earth is warming now. Very worth reading.

More Detail

The Earth System Research Laboratory (NOAA) has an exc. page on the Carbon Cycle. Tons of good info on that site. ESRL is a major research center.

The U.S. Climate Change Science Program has it’s report on “Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate” online. It is about 10MB in a pdf format. Written in plain language. It would make a great assignment for a high school physics class extra credit option. Teachers: HINT! HINT!

Peer Reviewed Science

No we have not forgotten the elephant in the room. The IPCC summary for Policy makers is written so politicians (well most) can understand it. That means you should have no problem. Your not thinking of running for office  are you?? Is there a consensus? Check out Naomi Oreskes’ paper in Science.

The U.S. Climate Change Science Program has released a new report to congress. sap3-4-final-report-all.pdf. Produced by the USGS it is an exhaustive summary of the current knowledge on Climate Change.

Climate Science History

Other Resources We Highly Recommend

Dr. Bob Ryan, the longtime NBC Meteorologist in Washington, has just written a six part series on understanding Climate. It’ superb and we highly recc. it.

Lonnie Thompson (Read anything you find from Lonnie Thompson... trust me on this.) is featured on the books pages. His Keynote address at the American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco is available in VIDEO with slides.

(Watch this if nothing else on this site- A MUST SEE.)

There is also a presentation  he made at the AMS Environmental Policy Seminar in Washington. (scroll down until you see his name. His slides are available from the AMS here.) The AMS link above has a tremendous amount of audio visual material.

Check out the CLIMATE FAQ as well. Want to know more about Glaciers? USGS has what you need.

Dr. Ricky Rood writes an excellent blog on the Weather Underground, and another for the American. Meteorological Society.

An excellent summary of our knowledge of past climates is linked on my Wild Wild Weather Journal.

Lastly, you can download a powerpoint presentation for classroom use. It is aimed at High School age and higher. A presentation for 6-8th is in the works!