Climate Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is the primary greenhouse gas responsible for warming the planet.  While the global distribution of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is well known, tracking the emissions of CO₂ to their sources is a challenge, especially over large urban areas.  One approach uses the NASA instrument Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT). Here scientists explore how carbon monoxide (CO) emission measurements from MOPITT can complement existing satellite CO₂ measurements in megacities delineated by SEDAC’s Gridded Population of the World, to provide improved spatial and temporal understanding of CO₂ emissions.

The SEDAC data set Low-elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ) is the basis for a set of national-level indicators of the total area and population in the LECZ circa 2000. Map 2.2 (page 94), Chapter 2 of the World Development Report 2010, Managing Urban Growth and Flood Risk in a Changing Climate in South and Southeast Asia.  

The report on linkages between climate and migration, In Search of Shelter, is featured in a daily geography quiz of the public radio program, PRI’s The World.

SEDAC′s role in making climate change data freely available to the public is noted in a collection of articles on how scientists use Earth science data to learn about the planet.