Visitors can access general information on the greenhouse effect, how it works, and what impact human-produced emissions are having on the global climate. Materials presented here include discussions of the potential impacts of climate change, actions being taken to mitigate the effects, news articles and publications, tools for estimating emissions and calculating the benefits of reduction strategies, ... Full description.

This page describes El Nino and the Southern Oscillation and how they may contribute to severe weather and the destruction of sensitive ecosystems such as coral reefs. It features text, pictures, scientific illustrations, and links to satellite information and weather-related science activities. Full description.

The deserts of the world today are not the deserts of the planet's past. Fossilized hippopotamus and elephant bones tell us that the Sahara, for instance, was a much moister and more hospitable environment 8,000 years ago than it is now. Each of the Earth's modern deserts are a consequence of one of the following mechanisms: air mass subsidence, rain shadows, distant moisture sources, or cold offshore ... Full description.

Approximately one-third of the Earth's land surface is desert, arid land with meager rainfall that supports only sparse vegetation and a limited population of people and animals. Deserts are also fragile environments. The misuse of these lands is a serious and growing problem in parts of our world. This web page, produced by the U.S. Geological Survey, describes how deserts are defined and classified. ... Full description.

This archive of climatic data houses both national and global datasets as part of the National Climatic Data Center's (NCDC) mission to describe the climate of the United States and to maintain records regarding trends and anomalies of weather and climate. Users may search the archive by data type, national or global coverage, and time period; or by resource type, such as satellite, radar, models, ... Full description.

Visitors to this site can read and view satellite imagery about the most recent La Nina event, which produced less-than-normal snowfalls in Western North America. A TOPEX/Poseidon image of the Pacific ocean illustrates the warmer water and higher-than-normal sea surface height in the Western Pacific which are characteristic of a La Nina event. A discussion of the uncertainties of long-range climate ... Full description.

Users can select a variety of materials on El Nino/La Nina. Materials presented here include bibliographies, news articles, technical and research information, movies, animations, and cartoons. Full description.

This press release examines recent evidence that the rate of global warming is accelerating, and that in the past twenty-five years it achieved the rate of two degrees Celsius per century, a rate that had been predicted for the twenty-first century. Full description.

This news article examines evidence that parts of the Antarctic ice sheet have undergone episodes of instability that appear to correspond with periods of unusually warm temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere during the last ice age. Full description.

Users can view a selection of animations of ocean surface temperature and dynamic height derived from data from the TAO/TRITON buoy array moored in the Pacific Ocean. The animations show temperature and surface topography variations consistent with the development of El Nino and La Nina events. Full description.