Reference Works
Several excellent reference titles are available that deal specifically with climate change and its effects.
Dow, Kirstin and Thomas E. Downing. The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World’s Greatest Challenge. Berkeley, Calif.: Univ. of California Pr., 2007 (ISBN: 978-0-520-25558-6). An invaluable resource for students and researchers, this concise atlas offers an abundance of color maps and graphs covering all aspects of global warming. It graphically illustrates many concepts that might otherwise be difficult for nonscientists to fully grasp. For academic and public libraries.
Johansen, Bruce E. Global Warming in the 21st Century. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2006 (ISBN: 978-0-313-04923-1). This three-volume reference work provides a comprehensive, objective, and up-to-date overview of global warming for the scientifically literate nonspecialist. It is a synthesis of the scientific literature on all aspects of the subject, including potential technological solutions. Volume 1 is Our Evolving Climate Crisis, volume 2 is Melting Ice and Warming Seas, and volume 3 is Plants and Animals in Peril. One of the most comprehensive reference works available on global warming, it belongs in all academic libraries.
Nuttall, Mark, ed. Encyclopedia of the Arctic. New York: Rout-ledge, 2004. (ISBN: 978-1-57958-436-8). This three-volume encyclopedia covers all aspects of the Arctic region, which is currently experiencing global warming at a much faster rate than the rest of the earth. For academic libraries.
Journals
Comprehensive Scientific Journals
Research on global warming is often published in three of the oldest and most prestigious weekly science journals: Nature, PNAS, and Science. These journals are indexed in General Science Index, Science Citation Index, and many other sources.
Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science. London: Nature Publishing Group, 1869–. Weekly (ISSN: 0028-0836).
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, 1914–. Weekly (ISSN: 0027-8424). Free online at www.pnas.org.
Science. Washington, D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1880–. Weekly (ISSN: 0036-8075).
Ecology, Geology, and Climatology Journals
Research on global warming is also frequently published in these earth- and environmental-science journals and others similar to them.
Climatic Change: An Interdisciplinary, International Journal Devoted to the Description, Causes and Implications of Climatic Change. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 1977–. 18 times a year (ISSN: 0165-0009). Indexed in Environment Complete, Geobase, Inspec, and other sources.
Ecological Applications. Washington, D.C.: Ecological Society of America, 1991–. 6 times a year (ISSN: 1051-0761). Indexed in Agricola, Biological Abstracts, Environment Complete, Geobase, Medline, Science Citation Index, and other sources.
Geophysical Research Letters. Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union, 1974–. Semimonthly (ISSN: 00948276). Indexed in Chemical Abstracts, Compendex, Geobase, Inspec, Science Citation Index, and other sources.
Global Environmental Change. Oxford, U.K.: Pergamon (Elsevier), 1990–. 4 times a year (ISSN: 0959-3780). Indexed in Environment Complete, Geobase, Science Citation Index, and other sources.
Journal of Climate. Boston: American Meteorological Society, 1986–. Semimonthly (ISSN: 0894-8755). Indexed in Compendex, Geobase, Science Citation Index, and other sources.
Journal of Quaternary Science. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley, 1986–. 8 times a year (ISSN: 0267-8179). Indexed in Geobase, Science Citation Index, and other sources.
Subscription Databases
Subscription databases offer students and researchers a way to effectively search the periodical literature on a given topic.
Environment Complete. Ipswich, Mass.: EBSCO, 1947–. Online successor to Environment Index, available on the EBSCOHost platform. Search on: adaptation, biodiversity, extinction, ranges, phenology, blooming, or mating, in conjunction with climate change or global warming, to explore the ecological effect of climate change worldwide.
General Science Full Text. Bronx, N.Y.: H.W. Wilson, 1978–. Online edition of General Science Index, available on Wilson-Web. Search on: global warming, climate change, anthropogenic CO2, or greenhouse gases, to find key scientific articles on global warming.
GreenFILE. Ipswich, Mass.: EBSCO, 2008–. Complimentary to all users (academic and public). This new multidisciplinary database is a good entry to the literature on “green” technologies and practices. Search on: recycling, green building, sustainability, renewable energy, and similar topics combined with climate change to understand the options available for minimizing the effects of global warming.
Geobase. Norwich, U.K.: Elsevier, 1977–. Online edition of Geological Abstracts. Search on: sea level, glacial melting, North Atlantic conveyor, radiative forcing, atmospheric carbon, ice cores, or general circulation model to find primary source geophysical research on the earth’s climate.
Web of Science. Philadelphia: Thomson Scientific (ISI), 1961–. Online edition of Science Citation Index. Search on: global warming, climate change, anthropogenic CO2, and greenhouse gases to explore the scientific literature on global warming by citation frequency.