An expanded and redesigned version of NOAA’s online, open-source Climate Explorer tool was released today to improve support for local planners, policy leaders, and facility and resource managers. The tool gives people a way to explore conditions projected for their locations in the coming decades.
For years, the tool has provided easy access to decision-relevant climate variables — both historical observed and projected future data — for every county in the contiguous United States. Now the tool also offers data for Alaska’s boroughs and will soon expand again to include Hawai’i and U.S. island territories.
“The Climate Explorer has been used by city and county officials as well as consultants to support their long-range plans to build climate resilience,” said David Herring, Communications Division Chief within NOAA’s Climate Program Office. “Last year, my team solicited users’ feedback about the tool to help us consider whether and how we could improve it.”
In response to user feedback, the following changes were made in this new version:
the tool is mobile-friendly, allowing tablet and smartphone users to check future climate projections for their locations;
navigation has been streamlined to provide direct access to all six of the tool’s main features from a single screen, after a user enters a location of interest;
new maps show projections of annual averages for diverse temperature and precipitation variables, as well as the four monthly averages used to represent each season;
maps for all temperature variables now use the same color palette, so users can compare maps of historical and projected conditions across seasons and decades (from 1950-2100); and
charts showing projections from two climate models runs for a higher emission scenario (RCP8.5) are now available for all boroughs in Alaska (except Aleutians West, which is coming soon).
Development of NOAA’s Climate Explorer tool is funded and managed by NOAA’s Climate Program Office, with guidance and expertise provided by a team of climate scientists and modeling experts in the EPA, NASA, NOAA, and the U.S. Geological Survey, chaired by U.S. Global Change Research Program.
Check out the new version of the Climate Explorer >>
MISSION: The Climate and Fisheries Adaptation Program (CAFA) supports targeted research to promote sustainable management, adaptation and resilience of the nation’s valuable fish stocks and fisheries-dependent communities in a changing climate. By bringing together NOAA scientists with the academic community, other federal agency scientists, non-governmental organizations and key fisheries stakeholders, CAFA addresses priority needs for information and tools identified in the 2015 NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy, Fisheries Regional Action Plans, U.S. National Climate Assessment, and other sources.
ISSUE: Healthy and productive fisheries are a significant component of the U.S. economy. Commercial and recreational marine fisheries generate over $200 billion in economic activity and support more than 1.8 million jobs annually. (FEUS 2016) Reliant and sustainable fisheries also support working waterfronts and coastal communities, provide opportunities for commerce, are tied to rich cultures, and help meet the growing demand for seafood across the U.S. and the world.
Climate variability and change are having increasing impacts on fish stocks, fisheries, and marine ecosystems in the U.S., and the impacts are expected to significantly increase with continued climate change. The changing climate and ocean conditions (e.g. warming oceans, extreme events, changing currents and stratification, coastal precipitation, coastal inundation, etc.) directly and indirectly affect marine ecosystems including the abundance, distribution, and productivity of fish stocks that support economically important fisheries. Sustainable fisheries management requires an improved understanding of how climate, fishing, and other stressors interact to affect fish stocks (including their habitats and prey), fisheries and fishing‐dependent communities.
PROGRAM HISTORY: The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Climate Program Office, and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office of Science and Technology launched a partnership in 2014 to advance understanding of climate‐related impacts on fish or other species that support economically important fisheries and fishing communities. The partnership originated through the former Coastal and Ocean Climate Applications (COCA) Program and in 2021 was renamed the Climate and Fisheries Adaptation (CAFA) Program as part of the OAR/CPO Adaptation Sciences Program.
Jennifer Dopkowski NOAA Research
Climate Program Office P: (301) 734-1261 E: jennifer.dopkowski@noaa.gov
Roger Griffis NOAA Fisheries Office of Science and Technology P: (301) 427-8134 E: roger.b.griffis@noaa.gov
Americans’ health, security and economic wellbeing are tied to climate and weather. Every day, we see communities grappling with environmental challenges due to unusual or extreme events related to climate and weather.