Adaptation Portals and Tools
The following is a sampling of adaptation portals and tools that help get you started. The list includes tools to access, analyze, and visualize existing data and climate projections; examples of tools targeting particular sectors or regions; and portals to help you find the right tool.
Adaptation Portals
CAKE is intended to help build an innovative community of practice around climate adaptation. It helps users to get beyond the limitations of their time and the unwieldy thicket of books, papers, and articles by: vetting and clearly organizing the best information available, building a community via an interactive online platform, creating a directory of practitioners to share knowledge and strategies, and identifying and explaining data, tools, and information available from other sites.
Developed by: Island Press and EcoAdapt
Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC)
The CCRC is a resource center for managers and decision makers who need information and tools to address climate change in planning and project implementation. The CCRC includes educational information, basic science modules, decision support models, maps, simulations, case studies, and toolkits.
Developed by: US Forest Service
Digital Coast
Provides data, tools, training, and information needed to inform management decisions to conserve and protect coastal communities and natural resources.
Developed by: NOAA Coastal Services Center
The Coastal-Marine Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) Tools Network is an alliance of EBM tools users, providers, and researchers to help find, share, and contribute to decision support for interdisciplinary management. It is organized into five areas: tools, projects, resources, organizations, and practitioners.
Developed by: PlaceMatters
weAdapt
This tool offers an online open platform on climate change adaptation issues. It includes innovative tools for knowledge integration to show who is doing what on climate change adaptation.
Developed by: weAdapt
The Center provides information for advancing effective climate, energy, and transportation policy in the United States. It connects state and federal policy makers, analyzes legislative and regulatory developments and assists in program design, shares best practices, and success stories, and serves as a resource to all states addressing and promoting a clean energy economy.
Developed by: Georgetown Law
Data Portals
Data Basin
Data Basin was created to make uploading, using, and visualizing conservation-related spatial data easy and accessible. Is a repository of data that that connects users with spatial datasets, tools, and expertise. The database is searchable and allows individuals and organizations to download datasets as well as upload their own data.
NOAA Climate Services Portal (NCS)
The NCS portal is a prototype data portal, which includes integrated map application and data sets from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, Coastal Services Center, and Climate Prediction Center, among others.
NOAA Topographic and Bathymetric Data Inventory
This is an index of the best elevation and bathymetric data in the United States. It includes information from two inventories, one conducted by the NOAA Coastal Services Center, and one by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Data Basin was created to make uploading, using, and visualizing conservation-related spatial data easy and accessible. Is a repository of data that that connects users with spatial datasets, tools, and expertise. The database is searchable and allows individuals and organizations to download datasets as well as upload their own data.
Developed by: Conservation Biology Institute
NOAA Climate Services Portal (NCS)
The NCS portal is a prototype data portal, which includes integrated map application and data sets from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, Coastal Services Center, and Climate Prediction Center, among others.
Developed by: NOAA Climate Service
NOAA Topographic and Bathymetric Data Inventory
This is an index of the best elevation and bathymetric data in the United States. It includes information from two inventories, one conducted by the NOAA Coastal Services Center, and one by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Developed by: NOAA Coastal Services Center
Analytical Tools
Climate Wizard
This tool enables technical and non-technical audiences alike to access leading climate change information and visualize the impacts anywhere on Earth. This tool enables access to leading climate information around the world. It allows you to view historic changes and assess future changes in a given area.
Developed by: The Nature Conservancy, the University of Washington, and the University of Southern Mississippi
NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index
This Vulnerability Index tools allows for a variety of analysis for plant and animals species by applying readily available information about a species’ natural history, distribution and landscape circumstances to predict whether it will likely suffer a range contraction, population reductions, or both during the coming years.
Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM)
This tool simulates dominant processes involved in wetland conversions and shoreline modifications during long-term sea level rise.
Sector-Focused Tools
Biodiversity
Adaptation to Climate Change Toolkit: Coasts
This tool includes a series of resources on climate change adaptation for marine turtle habitats, including coastal managers, conservation practitioners, scientists, and educators.
Built Environment
Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics
The Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics (STICS) website includes information for all 50 states and provides a set of Web-based data analysis and display tools to facilitate data retrieval, mapping, analysis, assessments, and comparative studies.
Climate Resilience & Evaluation Tool (CREAT)
CREAT is a tool to help water and wastewater utilities understand potential climate change impacts. The tool allows users to evaluate adaptation options to address climate change impacts, including risk reduction and costs.
Forestry
Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options (TACCIMO)
TACCIMO is a web-based tool that connects forest planning to current climate change science. The formation of TACCIMO was rooted in the need for a standardized, credible, and concise science delivery tool relevant to forest planning and management.
Visualization Tools
This Vulnerability Index tools allows for a variety of analysis for plant and animals species by applying readily available information about a species’ natural history, distribution and landscape circumstances to predict whether it will likely suffer a range contraction, population reductions, or both during the coming years.
Developed by: NatureServe
This tool simulates dominant processes involved in wetland conversions and shoreline modifications during long-term sea level rise.
Developed by: Warren Pinnacle Consulting, Inc.
Sector-Focused Tools
Biodiversity
Adaptation to Climate Change Toolkit: Coasts
This tool includes a series of resources on climate change adaptation for marine turtle habitats, including coastal managers, conservation practitioners, scientists, and educators.
Developed by: World Wildlife Fund Global
Built Environment
Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics
The Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics (STICS) website includes information for all 50 states and provides a set of Web-based data analysis and display tools to facilitate data retrieval, mapping, analysis, assessments, and comparative studies.
Developed by: NOAA Coastal Services Center
Climate Resilience & Evaluation Tool (CREAT)
CREAT is a tool to help water and wastewater utilities understand potential climate change impacts. The tool allows users to evaluate adaptation options to address climate change impacts, including risk reduction and costs.
Developed by: US EPA
Forestry
Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options (TACCIMO)
TACCIMO is a web-based tool that connects forest planning to current climate change science. The formation of TACCIMO was rooted in the need for a standardized, credible, and concise science delivery tool relevant to forest planning and management.
Developed by: Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center
CanViz
Is an easy to use tool that allows users to visualize potential effects of sea level rise on coastal development. It includes docks, building, rising sea waters, and other objects into use photographs to visualize potential scenarios.
Developed by: NOAA Coastal Services Center Digital Coasts
Climate Wizard
In addition to its utility for data access and analysis, ClimateWizard can be used to easily view and download change maps for a range of climate variables.
In addition to its utility for data access and analysis, ClimateWizard can be used to easily view and download change maps for a range of climate variables.
Developed by: The Nature Conservancy, the University of Washington, and the University of Southern Mississippi
State and Regional Tools
Cal-Adapt
A web-based adaptation planning tool for California, including data repository, visualization tools, and community sharing resources. Cal-Adapt allows users to identify potential climate change risks in specific geographic areas throughout the state.
Developed by: UC Berkeley’s Geospatial Innovation Facility
Northeast Climate Data
This web-based database provides registered users with free access to most of the climate data generated for the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment project, including projected changes this century in temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, snow cover, and more that can be expected in the Northeast under higher and lower emission scenarios.
Developed by: the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment
Pacific Northwest Climate Sensitivity Database
This digital database summarizes the inherent climate-change sensitivities for species and habitats of concern throughout the Pacific Northwest and will provide resource managers and decision makers with some of the most basic and most important information about how species and systems will likely respond to climate change.
Developed by: University of Washington
Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts- WICCI
WICCI assess and anticipates climate change impacts on specific Wisconsin natural resources, ecosystems and regions and recommends adaptation strategies. It includes a mapping tool that projects future climate at a particular location.
Developed by: The University of Wisconsin, The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and other state agencies and institutions.
