Research Guides: Environmental Science: Reports, Tools & Data by Topic

Overview

Environmental studies is very broad, encompassing topics related to human health, energy, economics, climate science, and more. You may need to consider other disciplines that will be interested in your topic. For example,

If you are interested in ways to improve access to clean water, engineering databases might help you discover systems that have proven effective.
If you're looking at political or regulatory issues, you may want to search databases focused on public policy.
For biodiversity information, you may need to reference very early sources of information not available in most online databases.

Below are resources listed by topic area that can include journal articles, grey literature, such as technical and governmental reports, as well as sources for data.

General or Multidisciplinary Sources for Environmental Data

re3data.org
Global registry of research data repositories.
Data Basin
Provides free access to biological, physical and socioeconomic geospatial data and maps, along with tools to create custom visualizations, drawings and analyses.
NASA Socioeconomic Data & Applications Center
Access data, maps, and other resources on agriculture, climate, governance, land use, built environment, health, poverty, urban areas, and more.
Environmental Systems Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem
Archives and publicly shares data obtained from observational, experimental, and modeling research that is funded by the US DOE’s Office of Science under its Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR) and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) programs within the Environmental Systems Science (ESS) activity.
US Environmental Impact Statements
-Records of all EISs received by EPA since 1987
-EPA comment letters on EISs since 2001
-Electronic (PDF) versions of EISs received by EPA since October 2012
Science.gov
Searches over 60 databases and over 2,200 scientific websites to provide users with access to more than 200 million pages of authoritative US federal science information including research and development results.

Ecology & Biodiversity

BIOSIS Citation Index This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
BIOSIS Citation Index provides access to BIOSIS content using citation-based searching and discovery. This database allows the user to search content from journals, meetings, books, and patents in the life sciences and biomedicine, with backfiles available to 1926.

Biodiversity Heritage Library
The "legacy literature of biodiversity" held in individual collections that has been digitized to make it searchable and openly available to a global audience.
Avian Knowledge Network (AKN)
Partnership of people, institutions and government agencies that supports the conservation of birds and their habitats by improving access to and use of data and tools. Data available on bird-monitoring, banding and citizen-based bird-surveillance.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
GBIF facilitates free and open access to biodiversity data, enabling anyone to discover, use or publish data about all types of life on Earth.
Data Basin
Provides free access to biological, physical and socioeconomic geospatial data and maps, along with tools to create custom visualizations, drawings and analyses.
Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB)
International repository for ecological and environmental data. Data originate from field stations, laboratories, research sites and individual researchers around the world.
Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Data Portal
The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network is a collaborative of researchers and graduate students who focus on long-term ecological processes at 26 LTER sites around the United States, Antarctica, and islands in the Caribbean and Pacific. The LTER Data Portal contains ecological data packages contributed by past and present LTER sites.
UICN Red List of Threatened Species
Taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on plants and animals that have been globally evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. The main purpose of the IUCN Red List is to catalogue and highlight those plants and animals that are facing a higher risk of global extinction (i.e. those listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable).

Environmental Health & Toxicology

Medline via PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed comprises over 30 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed citations and abstracts include the fields of biomedicine and health, covering portions of the life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences, and bioengineering. PubMed also provides access to additional relevant web sites and links to the other NCBI molecular biology resources.

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry
Resources include World Trade Center Registry, Asbestos Registry, Interactive map and links to hazardous waste site documents. Evaluations of hazardous substances and health effects. Screening tools and survey instruments.
IARC: International Agency for Research on Cancer
Reports on the burden of cancer worldwide. IARC Monographs identify environmental factors that can increase the risk of human cancer. These include chemicals, complex mixtures, occupational exposures, physical agents, biological agents, and lifestyle factors.
IRIS: Integrated Risk Information System
EPA's IRIS is a human health assessment program that evaluates information on health effects that may result from exposure to environmental contaminants.
HERO: Health & Environmental Research Online
HERO contains the key studies EPA uses to develop environmental risk assessments for the public. EPA uses risk assessments to characterize the nature and magnitude of health risks to humans and the ecosystem from pollutants and chemicals in the environment. You can browse through the bibliographic references in HERO by topic or assessment, or search for articles by author, title, etc
ECOTOX
From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, this database provides single chemical toxicity data, derived from peer-reviewed literature, for aquatic life, terrestrial plants and wildlife. [This resource is publicly available.]
Canary Database
Curated index of scientific studies reviewing the evidence of animals as "early warning" sentinels of human health hazards. See report on West Nile Fever for an example.

Climate, Water, Earth & Atmosphere

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Access data on Weather & Climate, Coasts, Oceans, and Geophysics. Temperature, currents, salinity, pH, oxygen, sea level and more.
Marine Geoscience Data System
Providing free public access to a wide variety of primarily marine geoscience data collected during expeditions throughout the global oceans.
US Geological Survey
Check the Products (Maps, Images and Publications) tab for data sets, maps, tools, images, and more.
NASA Global Change Master Directory
Data sets, software and projects worldwide.
NCAR/UCAR Climate Data Guide
Search and access 201 data sets covering the Atmosphere, Ocean, Land and more. Explore climate indices, reanalyses and satellite data and understand their application to climate model metrics.
UCAR/NCAR Digital Asset Service Hub
DASH Search allows users to find, browse, and access data, software, models and publications created and published by NCAR and UCAR Community Programs.
OECD: Environment
Data and statistics on climate, forest, waste, and water from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
EPA Climate Change
^^^This page doesn't exist anymore! For more information about the changes to EPA Climate Change pages see Data & Governance Initiative Report on EPA Climate Change Web Sites

Energy

Energy Information Administration
US government reports and data on energy usage, forecasts, sources and more.
DOE Office of Scientific & Technical Information
Search US Department of Energy's journal articles, technical reports, data, software, and patents.
DOE Data Explorer
Search US Department of Energy's projects and datasets.
OECD: Energy
Data and statistics on energy from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
International Nuclear Information System
contains bibliographic references and full-text documents, including scientific and technical reports, conference proceedings, patents and theses.
More information less...
It covers all areas of IAEA’s activities, including nuclear engineering and technology, nuclear safety and radiation protection, safeguards and non-proliferation, applications of nuclear and isotope techniques, nuclear and high energy physics, nuclear and radiation chemistry, nuclear applications in life sciences, legal aspects, and environmental and economic aspects of nuclear and non-nuclear energy sources.

Building & Engineering

BuildingGreen This link opens in a new window
BuildingGreen provides access to reports and information covering sustainability, sustainable materials and construction, building processes and building design, and green building codes and certification.
Engineering Village (Formerly Compendex) This link opens in a new window
Engineering Village is a specialized discovery platform where researchers can effectively search multiple engineering databases all in one place.
INSPEC (via Engineering Village) This link opens in a new window
Inspec indexes scientific and technical literature in physics, electrical engineering, electronics, communications, control engineering, computers, computing, information technology, manufacturing, and production engineering.
To restrict your search to Inspec, deselect "Compendex" below the search box.

National Technical Reports Library
NTIS acquires, indexes, abstracts, and archives the largest collection of U.S. government-sponsored technical reports in existence. The NTRL offers access to these authenticated government technical reports to libraries and technical information users.

Public Policy

PAIS International This link opens in a new window
PAIS International contains journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies for public affairs, public and social policies, and international relations.
Policy File This link opens in a new window
Policy FIle offers access to U.S. foreign and domestic policy papers and gray literature, with abstracts and links to timely reports, papers, and documents from think tanks, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), research institutes, advocacy groups, agencies, and other entities.

NYU Databases: Public Policy & Administration
A list of other public policy databases available at NYU

Business & Economics

ABI/INFORM This link opens in a new window
ABI/INFORM features full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, key business, and economics periodicals. Researchers can locate country- and industry-focused reports, and its international focus provides a picture of companies and business trends around the world.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Business Source Complete is a full text database of articles from popular, scholarly, and trade publications. Subjects covered include management, economics, finance, accounting, international business. Dates of coverage: 1886 to present.
EconLit This link opens in a new window
EconLit is published by the American Economic Association and indexes and abstracts a wide range of economics-related literature. An expanded version of the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) indexes of journals, books, and dissertations, EconLit covers both economic theory and application. Coverage dates: 1969 to present.

USDA Office of Environmental Markets
The Office of Environmental Markets (OEM) supports the Secretary in the development of emerging markets for water quality, carbon sequestration, wetlands, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services. Environmental markets have the potential to become a new economic driver for rural America.
NYU Business Library
A comprehensive list of resources in business available at NYU.

Agriculture

PubAg
Portal to USDA-authored and other highly relevant agricultural research. Many citations are full-text searchable.
AGRIS
Developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the AGRIS database covers many aspects of agriculture and includes extension literature from over 100 participating countries.

Agricultural & Environmental Science Database This link opens in a new window
This database includes AGRICOLA, TOXLINE, ESPM (Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) databases and provides full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, and government publications. This database includes specialized, editorially-curated A&I resources covering such topics as the effects of pollution on people and animals and environmental action and policy responses.

AGRICOLA Articles * (U.S. government)
AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access) serves as the catalog and index to the collections of the National Agricultural Library, as well as a primary public source for world-wide access to agricultural information. The database covers materials in all formats and periods, including printed works from as far back as the 15th century. Includes journal articles, book chapters, short reports, and reprints.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Link Directly to:
Data, Maps & Analysis
Tools & Applications
USDA Office of Environmental Markets
The Office of Environmental Markets (OEM) supports the Secretary in the development of emerging markets for water quality, carbon sequestration, wetlands, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services. Environmental markets have the potential to become a new economic driver for rural America.
USDA Life Cycle Assessment Data
Data sets and toolkits for assessing environmental impacts.