Other Sections
of this Report...

Introduction
Agriculture
Atmosphere
Biosphere
Carbon
Cryosphere
Geology
Human Dimensions
Hydrosphere
Land Surface
Oceans
Paleoclimate
Solar Physics

Introduction

Since its inception, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, USGCRP, has had the policy of full and open data availability. This policy has already been implemented not only through the participating agencies but through many inter-agency mechanisms such as publications, Internet based services, and in many international settings.

This present publication is the fifth of a series of yearly publications of newly available agency data related to the USGCRP. (Also included are a few data sets overlooked in the previous yearly publications.) It represents a sigificant step in the interagency process of making the data and information related to the USGCRP available. The series is becoming even more important as the users of this data have expanded from being primarily researchers to increasingly including educators, those making assessments of potential effects of global change, the commercial world, the public, and policy makers at all levels.

One of this publication's objectives is to provide this diverse user community with a concise summary of what data has been cataloged and made newly available each year. This is being done in both a published form, available from GCRIO, and in the Global Change Data and Information System where the publication has links to the individual data sets where available and, with the past publications of this series, is searchable. (Also available at from the US Global Change Research Program) Other objectives, however, are also important. Included are giving recognition to the individuals and organizations who have done the important job of making the data available and providing a mechanism whereby when data sets are used they can be cited similarly to the citations now commonly used in publications to reference other publications.

To help the user of this publication find the data in which they are most interested, the data has been separated into subject categories. These categories, with representative topics that each in includes, are below:

• Agriculture - Crops, Forestry, Livestock, Plants, Soils
• Atmosphere - Aerosols, Atmospheric chemistry, Climate, Clouds, Weather
• Biosphere -- Ecology, Vegetation, Wetlands, Zoology
• Carbon - Atmospheric carbon, Ocean carbon, Sequestration, Soil carbon
• Cryosphere - Glaciers, Ice, Snow
• Geology - Earthquakes, Earth's structure, Gravity, Magnetic fields, Non-renewable resources, Volcanoes
• Human Dimensions - Economic effects, Environmental effects, Human health
• Hydrosphere - Ground water, Precipitation, Surface water, Water quality
• Land Surface - Erosion, Land cover, Land type, Land use, Topography
• Oceans - Coastal processes, Circulation, Resources, Temperature, Waves
• Paleoclimate -- Historical records, Ice, land, and ocean cores
• Solar Physics - Energetic particles, Solar activity, Solar radiation