The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit is a website designed to help people find and use tools, information, and subject matter expertise to build climate resilience. The Toolkit offers information from all across the U.S. federal government in one easy-to-use location. The goal is to improve people’s ability to understand and manage their climate-related risks and opportunities, and to help them make their communities and businesses more resilient to extreme events.
What is the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit? Why was it built?
Who owns and manages this site?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) led development of the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, in partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other departments and agencies in the United States Global Change Research Program. The site is managed by NOAA’s Climate Program Office and hosted by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
How can I submit questions, comments, or suggestions about this site? When can I expect a reply?
We’d love to hear from you. Please send any questions, comments, or suggestions about the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit to noaa.toolkit@noaa.gov. Expect a reply within one week.
What is the recommended citation for this resource?
Citation requirements vary depending on your preferred style guide, but usually require the author, publication date, and title of the work cited. Some guides require a URL if an online resource is cited, and some may also require the date information was accessed. This website was initially published in 2014; however, the publication date for individual pages varies as content is added and modified. If you are citing an individual page, the date of that page's most recent modification can be found at the bottom of the page, and should replace the 2014 publication date. In general, the following is the recommended citation for this U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. This information can be adapted to conform to the style guide you are following.
Example citation for the entire Climate Resilience Toolkit:
U.S. Federal Government, 2014: U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. [Online] http://toolkit.climate.gov. Accessed [DATE].
Example citation for a specific page of the Climate Resilience Toolkit:
U.S. Federal Government, 2016: "Transportation." U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. [Online] https://toolkit.climate.gov/topics/transportation-and-supply-chain. Accessed [DATE].
How can I contribute content to this site?
The site is focused on providing information and tools provided by U.S. federal science agencies. Interagency teams were formed to help set the Toolkit’s scope and provide content in these topic areas: Built Environment, Coasts, Ecosystems, Energy, Food, Health, Marine, Transportation, Tribal Nations, and Water. If you work for a federal science agency and would like to contribute content in one or more of these areas, then please let us know.
Eventually, we plan to widen our scope to also include information, tools, case studies, and reports from state, local, and tribal governments. If you work at one or more of these levels of government and would like to contribute content, then please let us know.
Who decides what content, tools, or functionality is added to this site?
Everything published on the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit is reviewed and approved prior to publication by relevant subject matter experts from U.S. federal science agencies. We primarily pull content from, or paraphrase, authoritative sources of climate science information that have already been reviewed, approved, and published by authoritative sources (such as the Fourth National Climate Assessment).
May I have permission to use images, videos, text, or other site information? Are your images copyrighted?
Unless otherwise noted (copyrighted material, for example), information presented on this website is considered public information and may be distributed freely. If you elect to use materials from the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, please cite the U.S. Federal Government as the source (see the above FAQ for citation information).
Note that selected copyrighted images have been contributed to this site. Source information and licensing status for large images found at the top of pages (banner images) can be found at the bottom of those individual pages. Clicking on the smaller images found on a page reveals their source information and licensing status in a new window. If you would like to reproduce these copyrighted images (those not bearing a public domain or Creative Commons license notation), you must contact the contributing source for approval.
How do I report a broken link or if something on the site isn’t working?
Please send any comments or concerns about the Climate Resilience Toolkit to noaa.toolkit@noaa.gov. In the subject field, please indicate “broken link” or something similar to help us notice and respond to your concern as soon as possible.
Which web browser should I use to explore this site?
The site is designed to be widely accessible and compatible with most popular, current web browsers and computing platforms, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer 11, and Safari.
Currently, the Climate Explorer tool is best viewed on a desktop or laptop web browser (Windows, OS X, Linux). The Climate Explorer is not yet optimized for viewing on mobile devices.
How does this site relate to climate.data.gov?
The climate.data.gov website complements the interagency Climate Data Initiative—an effort to leverage open federal data to spur innovation and private-sector entrepreneurship in order to advance awareness of and preparedness for the impacts of climate change. Both climate.data.gov and this U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit are being developed in tandem with the formation and development of inter-agency teams of subject matter experts who focus on the intersections of climate and a given sector or subject domain, including (but not limited to): Coastal Flood Risk, Food Resilience, Human Health, Ecosystem Vulnerability, Water Resources, Energy Supply and Infrastructure, and Transportation and Supply Chain. These seven “Theme Teams” help guide and inform development of both sites, and help ensure the scientific accuracy and utility of their contents.
The sites housing climate.data.gov and the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit are cross-linked, and the teams developing both sites work closely together to ensure they are complementary and not duplicative.
Why do climate.data.gov and the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit live in different locations?
In the interest of allowing both sites to develop rapidly and “nimbly,” based on user inputs and feedback, climate.data.gov and this U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit have different system requirements and are hosted in different locations. In the long run, our aim is to integrate them into one “seamless” system. In the interim, we will use a “no wrong door” approach that allows different users to access data and tools via climate.data.gov and toolkit.climate.gov, and that offers multiple pathways for users to access integrated climate resilience information.
How do climate.data.gov and the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit differ in scope and purpose?
Climate.data.gov is basically a “technological bridge” designed to make it easier for people to find and use climate-related data. Toolkit.climate.gov is basically a “cognitive bridge” to help people understand and manage climate-related risks and opportunities, and improve their resilience to extreme events.
