Welcome to the Data Basin Climate Center

In this era of highly politicized debate about climate change, where the scientific exchange of ideas has become so polarized, it has become critical to make observations and simulations of climate-related information available. To quote A. Conan Doyle Sr. “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.” It is thus essential for scientists to share their data and expertise with the community to help inform a healthy scientific debate and provide decision-makers with sufficient facts and/or hypotheses to meet the upcoming challenges.

The role of the Data Basin Climate Center is to facilitate access to climate and impacts data and to provide reliable scientific interpretation to inform the conservation community. Observations of past climate impacts as well as simulations of how projected climate may affect ecosystems are now more readily available in digital format thanks to Data Basin’s partnership with ESRI. As the Data Basin Climate Center develops, new tools will be designed to facilitate the interpretation and visualization of long-term datasets and dynamic changes across the globe at multiple scales.

Comparing new results with data collected at the same or different places, at the same or previous times, may reveal previously unknown patterns over larger areas and timescales. The continuous dynamic process of dataset comparison and data mining for existing patterns can help science progress towards a better understanding of the complex interactions between climate and human activities.

We hope you will share our enthusiasm to provide this capability to the scientific community and the public at large. We also hope users will contribute to Data Basin by providing new datasets or by performing comparisons or by testing the available data and revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the various types of information. This will guide the process of updating and improving the site.

The Data Basin Climate Center is pleased to have the support and council of the following advisors:

• Dr. Lisa Graumlich, Director, School of National Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona
• Dr. Healy Hamilton, Director, Center for Biodiversity Research, California Academy of Sciences
• Dr. Lara Hansen, Chief Scientists and Executive Director, EcoAdapt
• Dr. Phil Duffy, Director of the University of California Institute for Research on Climate Change and its Societal Impacts
• Dr. Mike Furniss, Hydrology, Soils, and Geomorphology, Knowledge Technology, Pacific Northwest Research Station, US Forest Service
• Dr. Neal Lott, National Climactic Data Center, NOAA
• Dr. Rebecca Shaw, Director of Conservation Science, The Nature Conservancy, California

Welcome to the Data Basin Climate Center and may the power of data be with you!