Obama administration to form new agency to monitor climate change

Washington - The Obama administration has proposed the formation of a new federal agency that will study and report to the goverment on the changing climate.

Due to widespread concern in recent years about rising temperatures that may threaten coastlines, crops and even spread disease, the U.S. government will form a new Climate Service that will provide information to help governments and businesses adapt to climate change, reports the New York Times. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced that NOAA will set up the new Climate Service to operate alongside NOAA's National Weather Service and National Ocean Service. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Service would be similar to the National Weather Service said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke at a press conference on Monday, but would "provide long-term projections of how climate will change, and hopefully spur a new private climate information sector", reports Environmental Leader. Mr. Locke said, "Even with our best efforts, we know that some degree of climate change is inevitable. American citizens, businesses and governments, from local to federal, must be able to rise to the challenges that lie ahead. And that's where NOAA's climate service will prove absolutely invaluable." Ms. Lubchenco said at the press conference, "More and more people are asking for more and more information about climate and how it's going to affect them," and added, "Climate change is real, it's happening now," reported CNS News. As plans for the new climate service go into motion, NOAA has launched a new Web site, climate.gov, which is designed to provide access to a wide range of climate information. The site posts links to federal reports to a "dashboard" that allows visitors to examine data on climatic conditions for any year between 1880 and 2009.