The objective of this project was to provide scientists and the general public with access to information about the existence and operation of programs that monitor the effects of global change processes, such as climate and land use change, on important air, land, and water resources. This was a public service project intended to support both education and decision making by providing comprehensive “one stop” access to information about hundreds of monitoring programs in North Carolina and throughout the Southeast. This work aimed to provide additional development of the Global Change Monitoring Portal, which is currently in the pilot phase.
Tasks included:
• Compile, inventory, and map geographically, additional sources (federal, state, local, and non-governmental) of atmospheric, terrestrial, and water quality and quantity information in the region relevant to climate issues;
• Characterize the information sources in terms of the types of measurements made and data collected, sampling purpose, and other relevant metadata;
• Guide development of a user interface to allow display and search of data sources by measurement-specific and geographic criteria;
• Assess other attributes of the information sources, such as longevity and “depth”, consistency over time, and types and quality of information;
• Assess currently available information for use in tracking regional trends, or running scenarios of interest to federal, state and local resource managers;
• Identify key information gaps of concern to federal, state, and local resource managers.
