Unique Climate One-Stop website unveiled

There's a storm brewing - a storm of information, that is, in climate and environmental research. People are wading through the turbulence, trying to make sense of it all.

At the eye of the storm is a unique new web site called Climate One-Stop ( http://climateonestop.net ).

"It's a 'calm spot' where scientists, decision-makers, non-profit workers, and officials can find all the latest research," says Dan Irwin of Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Centre. "We unveiled the site at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen."

A group of US and international organisations, including Nasa, USAID1, the National Science Foundation, the Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology, the University of Alabama-Huntsville, and CATHALAC2 in Panama, developed the site as a "one-stop shop" for the low-down on Earth with a particular emphasis on international development applications.

"Right now, there's so much climate information scattered out there - it's a real challenge to find exactly what you're looking for by just Googling it," says IAGT's Jessica Coughlin. "Climate One-Stop is the place to go for all the information."

Orlando Altamirano of USAID in El Salvador is the kind of official the website is designed to serve. "We're very vulnerable here in Central America," he says.

(Source: Nasa.com)