SHARING THE SCIENCE OF CLIMATE ONLINE AND CONNECTING WITH VARIOUS AUDIENCES THROUGH WINDOWS TO THE UNIVERSE

The effects of climate change on our planet fill the news headlines at a time when reports of declining science literacy in the United States have been of concern. Providing resources for students and the general public to explore the science of climate with an Earth system science perspective promotes science literacy among students and the general public, enhancing understanding of our interconnected planet. To facilitate understanding of what is known about Earth's climate and how climate research is conducted, allowing students and the general public to better understand reports of climate impacts and future predictions, we have created a wealth of climate and global change content on the Windows to the Universe Web site.

Windows to the Universe (www.windows.ucar.edu), a long-standing and widely-used Web resource (with over 20 million user sessions in the past 12 months), provides extensive information about the Earth and space sciences at three levels - beginner, intermediate, and advanced – to serve the needs of upper elementary through lower undergraduate students and the general public. These resources are available in both English and Spanish. A section entitled “Climate and Global Change” allow users of all ages to navigate through climate topics such as the effects of climate change, climate modeling, and brief articles about recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change results. Climate topics link to related areas of the broader Web site such as sections about the Sun and Earth's Atmosphere. A new section of the site called “Earth's Polar Regions” made its debut in March 2007, at the start of International Polar Year. Since warming of the polar regions is of keen interest, climate change topics are explored throughout this new content. Another feature, “Postcards from the Field” allows scientists to share their research with the general public and students. Resources for K-12 teachers include a collection of educational activities that bring climate topics into the classroom. Funding for climate and polar content development has been provided by primarily the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Science Foundation.