Global Warming Information Center - Free Publications and Presentations

Climate ChangePublications

This documents and pages may be useful for students and others doing researcgh into climate change causes and effects.

• Climate Change Research
EPA conducts research to understand the environmental and health impacts of climate change and to provide sustainable solutions for adapting to and reducing the impact from a changing climate.
https://www.epa.gov/climate-research

• Implications of Climate Change
List of climate change factsheets tailored for regions of the United States.
https://www.epa.gov/arc-x/implications-climate-change

• Economics of Climate Change
High level overview of the economics of climate change
https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/economics-climate-change

• Understanding Global Warming Potentials
This page includes information on the global warming impacts of different gases.
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials

• Atmospheric Lifetime and Global Warming Potential Defined
Definitions for Atmospheric Lifetime and Global Warming Potential for Table 1: Gas Applications and Climate Impact in Flat Panel Manufacturing.
https://www.epa.gov/climateleadership/atmospheric-lifetime-and-global-warming-potential-defined

• Climate Change and Justice
Meeting minutes from the Climate Change Outreach Roundtable, Friday, July 24th.
https://www.epa.gov/urbanwaterspartners/climate-change-and-justice

• Superfund Climate Change Adaptation: Information Sources
Resources on climate change adaptation planning and implementation to support climate change adaptation decisions at contaminated sites.
https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-climate-change-adaptation-information-sources

• Agriculture and Climate
Climate change affects agricultural producers because agriculture and fisheries depend on specific climate conditions. Temperature changes can cause crop planting dates to shift. Droughts and floods due to climate change may hinder farming practices.
https://www.epa.gov/agriculture/agriculture-and-climate

• Air Quality and Climate Change Research
EPA is conducting research to understand the relationships between climate change and air quality by advancing the understanding of temperature changs on ozone and particulate matter concentrations and changes in pollen and allergic disease patterns.
https://www.epa.gov/air-research/air-quality-and-climate-change-research
• Climate Change and Heat Islands
Climate and Change in Heat Islands
https://www.epa.gov/heat-islands/climate-change-and-heat-islands

• King Tides and Climate Change
The highest predicted high tide of the year at a coastal location can bring unusually high water levels and can cause flooding. Learn about these tides including what they are, when they occur, and what they can mean for the future.
https://www.epa.gov/cre/king-tides-and-climate-change

• Climate Change in Coastal Communities
Estuaries and coastal areas are vulnerable to many impacts of climate change such as sea level rise and ocean acidification. Learn about these impacts and how resource managers can prepare for them.
https://www.epa.gov/cre/climate-change-coastal-communities

• Climate Change and Children's Health
In 2007, sixteen percent of children lived in counties exceeding the annual fine particulate matter standard. Exposure to higher levels of ambient particulate matter and ozone may increase school absences and hospital admissions due to respiratory illness.
https://www.epa.gov/children/climate-change-and-childrens-health

• Ecosystems and Climate Change Research
EPA researchers are assessing the impacts of climate change on ecosystems.
https://www.epa.gov/climate-research/ecosystems-and-climate-change-research

• Energy and Climate Change Research
EPA is conducting rsearch to understand the impacts of a changing energy system on air pollution emissions, water consumption and other environmental endpoints.
https://www.epa.gov/climate-research/energy-and-climate-change-research

• Library for Climate Change Adaptation
Resources for individuals and communities planning for climate change adaptation.
https://www.epa.gov/arc-x/library-climate-change-adaptation

• Smart Growth and Climate Change
Provides an overview of how smart growth strategies can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help prepare for and adapt to climate change.
https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/smart-growth-and-climate-change

• Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation
Links to resources for adaptation strategies for climate change.
https://www.epa.gov/arc-x/strategies-climate-change-adaptation

• Climate Change Research Grants
EPA's Science to Achieve Results, or STAR, program supports Climate Change research through research grants in three broad areas
https://www.epa.gov/research-grants/climate-change-research-grants

Older documents

• Global Mitigation of Non-CO ₂ Greenhouse Gases (June 2006). EPA 430-R-06-005. www.epa.gov/climatechange/economics/downloads/GlobalMitigationFullReport.pdf, .
• Climate Change-Basic Information . www.epa.gov/climatechange/basicinfo.html, .
• Climate Change-Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture and Forestry . www.epa.gov/sequestration/overview.html, .
• Climate Change-Future Precipitation and Storm Changes . www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/futurepsc.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects, Coastal Zones and Sea Level Rise . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/coastal/index.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects, Water Availability . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/water/availability.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects, Water Quality . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/water/quality.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects, Water Resources . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/water/index.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects: Agriculture and Food Supply . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/agriculture.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects: Coastal Zones and Sea Level Rise . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/coastal/index.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects: Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifers . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/eco_coral.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects: Energy Production and Use . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/energy.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects: Health . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/health.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects: Public Lands, Recreational Opportunities, and Natural Resources . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/publiclands.html, .
• Climate Change-Health and Environmental Effects: Water Quality . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/water/quality.html, .
• Climate Change-Possible Water Resource Impacts in North America . www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/water/northamerica.html, .
• Climate Change-Science . www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/index.html, .
• Climate Change-Science: Future Precipitation and Storm Changes . www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/futurepsc.html, .
• Climate Change-Science: Future Sea Level Changes . www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/futureslc.html, .
• Climate Change-Science: Precipitation and Storm Changes . www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/recentpsc.html, .
• Climate Change-Science: Sea Level Changes . www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/recentslc.html, .
• Climate Change-Science: Temperature Changes . www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/recenttc.html, .
• Climate Change-U.S. Climate Policy: Climate Change Science Program . www.epa.gov/climatechange/policy/ccsp.html, .
• Climate Change-U.S. Climate Policy: EPA Research and Assessment . www.epa.gov/climatechange/policy/research.html, .
• Glossary of Climate Change Terms . www.epa.gov/climatechange/glossary.html#Greenhouse_effect, .
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions . www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/index.html#ggo, .
• Climate Change Web site . www.epa.gov/climatechange, .
• Human-Related Sources and Sinks of Carbon Dioxide . www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2_human.html, .
• National Water Program Strategy: Response to Climate Change . EPA 800-R-08-001, www.epa.gov/water/climatechange/strategy.html, .
• EPA. Research and Development Web site. Research and Development-Global Change Research Program . www.epa.gov/ORD/npd/globalresearch-intro.htm, .
• EPA. Research and Development Web site. Research and Development-Global Change Research Program: Research Contributions . www.epa.gov/ORD/npd/globalresearch-contribution.htm#c, .
• EPA. Safewater Web site. Safewater-Underground Injection Control Program, Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide . www.epa.gov/ogwdw/uic/wells_sequestration.html, .
• EPA. Ground Water and Drinking Water Web site. Ground Water and Drinking Water-Frequently Asked Questions . www.epa.gov/ogwdw/faq/faq.html#source, .
• EPA. High Global Warming Potential (GWP) Gases Web site. High Global Warming Potential (GWP) Gases - Science. www.epa.gov/highgwp/scientific.html, .
• EPA. Methane Web site. Methane-Science. www.epa.gov/methane/scientific.html, .
• EPA. Nitrous Oxide Web site. Nitrous Oxide-Science . www.epa.gov/nitrousoxide/scientific.html, .
• EPA. Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2007 (April 2009) USEPA #430-R-09-004. www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/usinventoryreport.html, .
• Greenwire-Land Letter. Friday, November 21, 2008. Water woes create hurdle for Western carbon-capture projects . Washington, D.C. www.eenews.net, .
• IPCC. 2005. IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage . Prepared by Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [Metz, B., O. Davidson, H. de Coninck, M. Loos, and L. Meyer (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports_carbon_dioxide.htm, .
• IPCC. 2007a. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability . Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Parry, M.L., O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden, and C.E. Hanson (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1000 pp. www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_wg2_report_impacts_adaptation_and_vulnerability.htm.
• IPCC. 2007b. Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report . Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core writing team: Pachauri, R.K, and A. Reisinger (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, p. 30. www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm, .
• IPCC. 2007c. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis . Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, and M. Manning (eds.)]. www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data /publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report _wg1_report_the_physical_science_basis.htm.
• IPCC. 2007d. Summary for Policymakers. In Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis . Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor, and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-spm.pdf, .
• IPCC. 2008a. Climate Change and Water . IPCC Technical Paper VI, www.ipcc.ch/pdf/technical-papers/climate-change-water-en.pdf, .
• IPCC. 2008b. IPCC Organization . www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.htm, .
• Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability . Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden, and C.E. Hanson (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY. pp. 173-210. www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-chapter3.pdf, .
• Mann, M.E., and L. Kump. 2008. Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming. DK Publishing, Inc., New York, NY. p. 160, 172 and 198.
• Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . [Metz, B., O. Davidson, P. Bosch, R. Dave, and L. Meyer (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY. www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-chapter9.pdf, .
• NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) National Climatic Data Center. 2007. Climate of 2006-Annual Report . www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2006/ann/global.html#Gprcp, .
• Orth, J.R., T.J.B. Carruthers, W.C. Dennison, C.M. Duarte, J.W. Fourqurean, K.L. Jeck, A.R. Hughs, G.A. Kendrick, W.J. Kenworthy, S. Olyarnik, F.T. Short, M. Waycott, and S.L. Williams. 2006. A Global Crisis for Seagrass Ecosystems. BioScience V. 56.
• Smith, P. D. Martino, Z. Cai, D. Gwary, H. Janzen, P. Kumar, B. McCarl, S. Ogle, F. O'Mara, C. Rice, B. Scholes, O. Sirotenko. 2007. Agriculture. In IPCC. 2007. Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . [Metz, B., O. Davidson, P. Bosch, R. Dave, and L. Meyer (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-chapter8.pdf, .
• U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research. (T.J. Wilbanks, V. Bhatt, D.E. Bilello, S.R. Bull, J. Ekmann, W.C. Horak, Y.J. Huang, M.D. Levine, M.J. Sale, D.K. Schmalzer, and M.J. Scott). 2007. Effects of Climate Change on Energy Production and Distribution in the United States. Chapter 3 in "Effects of Climate Change on Energy Production and Use in the United States." U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Washington, DC. p 35.



• Waste Management Reports - selected publications related to climate change and municipal waste management.

• Sea Level Rise Reports - a collection of selected publications related to climate change, coastal areas, and sea level rise.

• Reference Material - documents from the UNFCCC and the IPCC as well as a selection of guidance documents.

• Position Papers - a collection of documents providing background on the U.S. position concerning global climate change.

• Outreach Material - a one-stop source for outreach materials designed to inform the public about global warming.

• International Material - a collection of documents focusing beyond the borders of the United States.

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reports - United States inventories of greenhouse gas emissions and sinks.

• EPA Conference Reports - a series of reports from EPA's regional climate change conferences.

• Additional Documents - reports, information sheets, and brochures.

Many of the publications and reports in this section of the site are available for viewing and download in Adobe Acrobat 4.0 (pdf) format. The required Acrobat Reader may be obtained from Adobe Systems at no cost.

Climate Change and Impacts
Human activities are increasing greenhouse gas concentrations and trapping more heat. The Earth- s climate is predicted to change due to the buildup of greenhouse gases; the associated rate of temperature change is significantly faster than any observed changes in the last 10,000 years. Climatic changes could have adverse effects on ecological systems, human health, and socio-economic sectors.

Climate Science:

Individual Slides:
- The Greenhouse Effect - Introduction ( 6k pdf )
- The Greenhouse Effect ( 56k pdf )
- Atmospheric Concentrations of GHGs Are Increasing ( 6k pdf )
- Examples of GHGs Affected by Human Activity ( 8k pdf )
- Historical and Projected Future CO 2 Concentrations ( 12k pdf )
- Temperature Change and CO 2 Concentrations ( 25k pdf )
- Climate Has Changed and Will Continue to Change ( 6k pdf )
- Temperature and Precipitation Trends ( 92k pdf )

Emissions:

Impacts:

Individual Slides:
- Climate Change Impacts - Introduction ( 7k pdf )
- Potential Climate Change Impacts ( 129k pdf )
- Direct Weather-related Mortality ( 6k pdf )
- Average Annual Excess Weather-related Mortality ( 26k pdf )
- Water Resources ( 6k pdf )
- Examples of Regional Water Impacts ( 30k pdf )
- Impacts on Forests ( 6k pdf )
- Change in Potential Vegetation ( 108k pdf )
- Impacts on Coastal Areas ( 6k pdf )
- US Coastal Lands at Risk ( 13k pdf )
- Impacts on Wetlands ( 6k pdf )
- Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge ( 224k pdf )
- Impacts on Species ( 6k pdf )
- Loss of Brown Trout Habitat ( 22k pdf )
- Agriculture ( 7k pdf )
- Change in Regional Crop Production ( 22k pdf )
- Changes in Agriculture Yields ( 21k pdf )