Climate and Atmospheric Science

Atmospheric Science is the science of the atmosphere - its composition, structure, and dynamics. It is a multidisciplinary subject which incorporates disciplines such as chemistry, biology, geology, and physics. Climate studies also include climate policy.

A good starting point for further research is to look in encyclopedias and other reference books. These books can help you understand your topic better and identify keywords for your searches.

Online Encyclopedias

AccessScience @ McGraw-Hill: the online encyclopedia of science & technology

Encyclopedia of atmospheric sciences

Encyclopedia of world climatology

Print Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of climate and weather

Encyclopedia of global warming and climate change

Books and Printed Materials

The UC Berkeley Library's climate and atmospheric science collections are primarily located in the following campus locations:

• The Earth Sciences & Map Library has collections in climatology which include print and online books and journals on global climate change, atmospheric science, and meteorology. In addition, the library acquires climate atlases, maps, and data.
• The Doe Library contains printed statistical climate data produced by various federal and foreign agencies. Doe/Moffitt Government Information Services, located in the Doe Library, will provide assistance on finding specific information.
• The Bioscience and Natural Resources Library collects information on bioclimatology, the effects of climate on agriculture and ecosystems, and climate change adaptation. Climate data for California (in relation to crops and forestry) is of special importance.
• The Environmental Design Library has an extensive collection of books and periodicals related to the climatic impact of the built environment (architecture and landscape architecture). City and regional planning material includes extensive information on urban sustainability, including local and state climate action plans.

Some new books related to climate and atmospheric science:

**Links open in a new window**

To find articles related to your research, search article databases that index publications from selected journals, magazines, conferences, and other sources. Most of these databases include citations and abstracts with links to full text via UC-eLinks.

Recommended databases

These databases are usually the best starting points for finding research in climate and atmospheric science:

• Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts
  Indexes over 600 journals, conference proceedings, books, and reports on meteorology, climatology, atmospheric chemistry and physics, hydrology, glaciology, physical oceanography and environmental sciences.
  
• GeoRef
  Indexes over 3,500 scholarly journals, books, maps, US and Canadian dissertations, conference proceedings, reports, and government documents published worldwide on geology and other subjects within the geosciences.
  
• Academic Search Complete
  A multidisciplinary index to articles in more than 10,900 journals and other publications in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese; full-text is available for over 5300 journals.
  
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
  Indexes over 6,000 journals, conference proceedings, reports, books, and government publications covering environmental sciences and pollution management.
  
• PAIS International
  Indexes books, journals, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, and web sources related to public policy, politics, economics, and social issues worldwide. Good for research on climate policy. Includes publications from over 120 countries.
  
• Web of Science
  Indexes over 8,000 of the leading journals in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences, providing searching of cited references. Web of Science is a more interdisciplinary database, which makes it excellent for searching across the physical and life sciences.
  

List of major climate and atmospheric science related journals.

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Journal of Climate

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

Journal of Atmospheric Science

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Climatic Change

Find more electronic journals in our E-Journal Titles A-Z database.

Before you can access Library resources from off campus make sure you have configured your computer with proxy server settings.

After you make a one-time change in your web browser settings, the proxy server will ask you to log in with a CalNet ID or Library PIN when you click on the link to a licensed resource.

UC Berkeley

• GeoData@UC Berkeley is the UC Berkeley Libraries' geoportal where users can search, preview, display, map, and download geospatial data in a variety of formats.

U.S. Government Sources

• Data.gov is a comprehensive collection of datasets gathered by the United States Government.
• NOAA Climate.gov is a collection of climate services from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).

• Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC)
  The U.S. Department of Energy's primary center for climate-change data and information analysis. Contains data and information products. See the sidebar on the right to search for publications and data by subject area.
• Climate Prediction Center
  Features research reports, annual summaries, predictions, and data from the National Weather Service.
• Earth Observing System
  Includes images and text documenting aspects of global climate change including land use, greenhouse effect, changes in the polar ice cap, ozone depletion, deforestation and other topics. From the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); includes a glossary of terms and links to NASA Fact Sheets.
• Energy Information Administration (EIA)
  • Carbon Dioxide Emissions Data
  • Environment contains energy-related emissions data and environmental analysis.
• EPA Climate Change
  Provides links to a variety of resources on climate change from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
• Global Change Research Program
  Contains reports and assessments, including annual reports to Congress. The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society.
• Hydrometeorological Prediction Center
  National Weather Service data site with access to real-time weather information, including fronts, winds, station and satellite data
• NASA JPL Earth Imagery
  Daily updated high-resolution satellite imagery of Earth terrain.
• National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
  Contains up-to-date information and data sets concerning the state of Earth's cryosphere.
• Real Time Weather at UCAR
  State of the art weather data site run by the University Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado. Access to weather maps, forecast models, satellite imagery.

International Sources

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• United Kingdom
  • Met Office - Climate
    Information about climate and climate change from the Met Office (UK National Weather Service), including data from the National Climate Information Centre.
  • Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA): Climate Change
    Discusses what the UK is doing to combat climate change.
• United Nations (UN)
  • United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
    Includes emissions data, official documents, information on the treaty ratification status and actions taken to reduce emissions by individual countries, national statements on the treaty and information about the Kyoto Protocol.
• World Meteorological Organization
  This group is focused on creating longer-term forecasts for regions across the world.
  • World Climate Application and Services Programme (WCASP)
  • World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme (WCDMP)
    Provides access to global and national climate data sets.

Some guides for science writing:

The art and the science of writing geoscience reports / by Brian Grant.

Communicating in geography and the environmental sciences / by Iain Hay.

The craft of scientific communication [electronic resource] / by Joseph E. Harmon and Alan G. Gross.

A field guide for science writers [electronic resource] / edited by Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson and Robin Marantz Henig.

Writing in earth science / by Robert L. Bates.

During the course of your research, you may accumulate a large amount of data, which will need to be carefully organized and managed for later analysis. Furthermore, most grant funding agencies require that grant applications include a data management plan. The Library has access to a variety of tools and services to assist you with data management.

DataOne

"Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE) is the foundation of new innovative environmental science through a distributed framework and sustainable cyberinfrastructure that meets the needs of science and society for open, persistent, robust, and secure access to well-described and easily discovered Earth observational data."

UCB/CDL Data Management Tools

DataUp

"An open source tool helping researchers document, manage, and archive their tabular data, DataUp operates within the scientist's workflow and integrates with Microsoft® Excel."

Data Management Plan Tool

Online tool for creating data management plans.

EZID Tool

Automatically generates unique, permanent identifiers for data sets.

California Digital Library Data Management Guide

The CDL maintains this extensive set of guidelines on how to manage data, with links to other guides.

Distributed Active Archive Center for Biogeochemical Dynamics Guide

The DAAC's guide to data management contains comprehensive instructions on managing data for environmental sciences.

The present trend in the sciences is towards greater collaboration, accessibility, and transparency in data management. Certain practices will help facilitate this such as:

• Making a plan to store your data
• Finding the right medium to store your data
• Developing a user-friendly system of organizing your data
• Ensuring that others can have access to your data
• Ensuring that your data is safe and secure

You can find out more about the basics of data management at our Scientific Data Management Practices Overview.

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