Keeping an Eye on Our Changing Planet
Scientists have been studying the relationship between global climate and carbon in the atmosphere for more than a century, with a growing understanding of the massive, inadvertent experiment we’re conducting with our planet. The picture is clear: carbon dioxide released into the air by the burning of fossil fuels—oil, gas, and coal—is changing the world’s climate. read more
The evidence comes from measurements taken by thousands of researchers, working in all domains of physical and biological sciences, gathering data with a host of different instruments over years or often decades.
Their data paint an increasingly detailed portrait of how our planet is changing. At this website, you can explore a small part of the scientific data from different realms being affected by climate change: the Atmosphere, Oceans and Water, Ice, and Land and Living Systems. In the Looking Ahead section, you can explore what computer models tell us about our climate’s future, and how that may impact society. And you’ll begin to learn what can be done to slow down and adapt to climate change.
See more about the Exploratorium's work with climate change and the environment.
