Each of the Portal’s three sections targets different segments of the public for different objectives and so each section operates under different editorial policies and procedures, which are summarized below.
News & Features
Modeled after an online science magazine, News & Features is intended to inform, inspire, educate, and entertain the science-interested public on topics in climate science, adaptation, and mitigation.
Articles and images in News & Features are based on the best available science, including peer-reviewed scientific articles, comprehensive assessment reports, and interviews with experts. All content is produced in consultation with or reviewed by one or more scientific subject matter experts prior to publication. When necessary to ensure accuracy and completeness, or to resolve conflicting opinions among reviewers, authors, and/or editors, the Climate.us editor solicits additional reviews from volunteer science panel members or other subject matter experts whom they recommend.
For submissions from other agencies or organizations, the Climate.us editor verifies that a similarly rigorous editorial procedure was applied. If the contributor’s review process is adequate, an article or other content does not undergo additional subject matter expert review prior to publication in News & Features. If the editorial procedures of the submitted article did not include a rigorous scientific review, the managing editor identifies an appropriate expert(s) to conduct a review prior to publication in News & Features. If necessary, contributors may be asked to revise their articles, have them re-reviewed by their sources, and to resubmit them. The Climate.us editor does not make any revisions to submitted articles without the approval of contributors and, when necessary, their original subject matter expert reviewers.
Maps & Data
The Maps & Data section contains more than 280 descriptions of datasets and services spanning a wide range of climate-related subjects. This collection was assembled when Climate.us operated as Climate.gov in an effort to add value by simplifying and enhancing the discoverability, accessibility, and utility of commonly requested NOAA data. This section aims to serve researchers, scientists, resource managers, business personnel, and other citizens who want to find and use climate data.
Only those data products and services that comply with Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and/or International Standards Organization (ISO-9001) metadata standards are accessible through the section's Dataset Gallery. FGDC metadata is a long-standing federal requirement to allow distributed datasets and products to be accessible and searchable from a central location. Maps & Data built upon this standard to ensure that key fields in the metadata record for each available dataset is populated with required information.
Maps & Data was designed to provide quick access to commonly requested data, tools, and resources from across NOAA. Going forward as Climate.us, the section may evolve to include a broader array of climate data and resources based on user requests and feedback.
Teaching Climate
The Teaching Climate section provides learning activities and curriculum materials, multimedia resources, and professional development opportunities for formal and informal educators who want to incorporate climate topics into their work. For more than a decade, the heart of Teaching Climate was resources from CLEAN—the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network. Initially funded by the National Science Foundation in 2010, CLEAN established a digital collection of scientist- and teacher-vetted resources that are aligned with the Essential Principles of Climate Literacy and Energy Literacy Principles.
About CLEAN
The CLEAN review team consists of experienced classroom teachers and scientists of relevant fields (climate and energy science, social sciences, etc.) and other climate literacy practitioners. The CLEAN review process was informed by review guidelines and criteria from other collections, such as the National Science Digital Library (NSDL), the Science Education Research Center (SERC) Guidelines, the Merlot criteria, and the Climate Change Collection. The CLEAN review criteria were tested and refined in multiple test review rounds and through review comparisons among different reviewers. (See Gold et al., 2012, for the peer-reviewed study.)
At the core of the CLEAN review is a set of review questions to assess educational materials in three categories: (1) scientific accuracy, (2) pedagogic effectiveness, and (3) technical quality/ease of use. Reviewers answer questions about each resource, give an overall rating for each of the three categories mentioned above, and note any strengths and concerns. An overall qualitative recommendation (low, medium, or high priority) decides which path a resource takes through the review process.
All teaching resources that pass through the CLEAN review process are subsequently presented to a panel of four reviewers (educators and scientists) during a review camp. This team of four specialists discusses each resource, and the reviewers’ notes from the previous review round, and makes the final decision about whether to include a resource in the CLEAN collection. All comments of the reviewers are compiled into annotations (notes to the user) on the science, the pedagogy, and the usability of a teaching activity. At a final stage, each resource is tagged with educational standards and key search terms before being entered in the collection.
Changes to Teaching Climate section in 2025
In response to Executive Orders in 2025, several parts of Teaching Climate were removed or redirected to external pages. After the initial launch of Climate.us in June 2026, the team will be working to restore as much of the section's original content and functionality as possible.