California Focused Tools & Data

This tab features climate science, mapping tools, modeling tools, and other data sources that focus on California climate impacts. 

Resources are automatically presented by date, but you may also sort by network rating or title. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by sector, climate impact, or tool type. 

 

 

39 results are shown below.

Tool Type

 

 

Resource

BCDC Adapting to Rising Tides: ART Portfolio

September 2015

The Adapting to Rising Tides (ART) Program of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) leads and supports multi-sector, cross-jurisdictional projects that build local and regional capacity in the San Francisco Bay Area of California to plan for and implement adaptation responses. ART offers an online ‘Portfolio’ to provide access to the planning guidance, tools, data and information for adaptation planning in the Bay Area - with a focus on resiliency of shoreline and community resources to sea level rise and coastal storm events, among other climate impacts.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS)

The Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) is a numerical modeling system used to predict coastal flooding due to climate change-driven sea-level rise and storms. CoSMos provides explicit, deterministic modeling of all the relevant physics (e. g. , tides, waves, surge) of a coastal storm scaled down to local flood resolution projections. The system provides coastal planners and emergency managers with hazard information to inform coastal management, mitigate physical damage, and enhance public safety.

Resource Category: Data and tools

 

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Game of Floods

May 2015

The County of Marin, California's “Game of Floods” is an interactive game on sea level rise climate adaptation for Marin and the San Francisco Bay Area. The game is a model for public engagement and education on coastal adaptation - with information on climate impacts and adaptation options, encouraging discussions on the benefits and tradeoffs of adaptation measures. 

Resource Category: Education and Outreach

 

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CalEPA’s Urban Heat Island Interactive Maps

CalEPA’s Urban Heat Island Interactive Maps: The California Environmental Protection Agency has released an interactive urban heat map tool that shows heat islands throughout the state of California. Using Google Earth, the tool color codes the heat of cities according to intensity, with green at the lowest temperatures, and red at the highest. Temperatures were taken over the summer of two years—2006 and 2013. One of the outputs the map provides is an urban heat index, which quantifies the extent and severity of an urban heat island in a particular area within a city.

Resource Category: Data and tools

 

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Sierra Climate Change Toolkit - 3rd Edition

2014

The Sierra Climate Change toolkit addresses climate change across the Sierra Nevada region of California, with localized strategies for emissions reductions and adaptation. The report describes climate change impacts in the Sierra, as well as recent regulations, policy directions, and incentives to reduce emissions and adapt. Adaptation strategies are outlined for water and watershed management, wildlife and habitats, forestry, wildfire, and City and County land-use planning. This 3rd edition from the Sierra Nevada Alliance expands its focus from previous versions with more strategic detail, case studies and further support for the development of an adaptation framework that works within existing planning processes throughout the Sierra.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Critical Linkages: Bay Area and Beyond

2013

The Critical Linkages Project identifies landscape-level connections between wildlands that are crucial to maintaining habitat connectivity, ecological processes, and species’ population survival in three ecoregions surrounding California’s San Francisco Bay Area. Considered by some to be the most important climate change adaptation strategy for wildlife conservation, strategically conserving and restoring connectivity between natural landscapes is the ultimate goal of this project.  14 landscape-level linkages were developed based on priority fish and mammal species, while the linkage network serves each of 66 selected focal species - including mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, birds, invertebrates, and plants - covering a broad range of habitat and movement requirements.

Authors or Affiliated Users: K. Penrod, P.E. Garding, C. Paulman, P. Beier, S. Weiss, N. Schaefer, R. Branciforte, K. Gaffney

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Stormwater Management Toolkit: Urban Watershed Planning Game

June 1, 2013

As part of the Stormwater Management Toolkit, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) developed the Urban Watershed Planning Game. This game helps the SFPUC understand community priorities by presenting a diverse group of community members with the task of updating San Francisco’s sewer system. The game fosters the development of green infrastructure solutions that help San Francisco adapt to the impacts of climate change in a financially feasible, community driven manner.  This game is a great resource for city planners, watershed managers, public engagement officers, and citizens.

Resource Category: Education and Outreach

 

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A Linkage Network for the California Deserts

February 2012

From the Science and Collaboration for Connected Wildlands and Northern Arizona University, this report presents the findings of a comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional habitat connectivity assessment for 44 focal species of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts in southern California. This study aimed to identify “least-cost” land corridors and linkages essential to maintain or restore in order to promote the adaptive capacity of species movement and ecological processes under changing climatic conditions.

Authors or Affiliated Users: Kristeen Penrod, Paul Beier, Emily Garding, Clint Cabanero

Resource Category: Planning

 

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Responding to Climate Change in National Forests: A Guidebook for Developing Adaptation Options

November 2011

Developed by the United States Forest Service (USFS), this guidebook summarizes current knowledge on climate change adaptation and provides science-based tools and processes to guide adaptation planning in national forests. Targeted towards resource managers and planners, the guidebook focuses on topics and approaches related to "climate-smart" resource management on federal lands.

Authors or Affiliated Users: David L. Peterson, Constance I. Millar, Linda A. Joyce, Michael J. Furniss, Jessica E. Halofsky, Ronald P. Neilson, Toni Lyn Morelli

Resource Category: Planning

 

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Flooded Bus Barns and Buckled Rails: Public Transportation and Climate Change Adaptation

August 2011

This report from the Federal Transit Administration compiles climate change adaptation analyses and information for use in adapting U.S. public transportation assets and services to climate change impacts. The report is targeted at transit professionals and aims to prompt the consideration of climate resiliency in the transit industry by providing sector-specific adaptation information.

Author or Affiliated User: Tina Hodges

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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