NASA Web Site Focuses on Global Climate Change
A Web site from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is devoted to educating the public about Earth's changing climate. The Global Climate Change Web site provides easy-to-understand information about the causes and effects of climate change and how NASA studies it.
The Web site may be found at http://climate.jpl.nasa.gov .
Highlights of the site include:
• A continuously updated snapshot of the planet's health, built from NASA data on such climate indicators as the condition of Earth's ice sheets, global average temperatures, sea-level change and concentrations of key greenhouse gases.
• Interactive visualizations of current climate data, including a Sea Level Viewer that provides views from space of ocean surface topography data and related phenomena such as El Nino; and a Global Climate Change Time Machine that takes users back in time to see how Earth's climate has changed in the past and how it is projected to change in the future.
• A downloadable desktop widget that allows users to track key indicators of climate change as measured by NASA satellites.
• Easy-to-understand background articles on the evidence, causes and effects, and uncertainties of global climate change, as well as links to selected resources that provide information about possible solutions.
Currently, the laboratory has six dedicated Earth science spacecraft in orbit, with another five
instruments flying aboard NASA's Terra, Aqua and Aura spacecraft. The newest Earth mission, the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2, launched June 20.