CLIMATE FUTURES

The Climate Change Institute (CCI) is one of the oldest climate research units in the United States and likely the first with a multi- and inter-disciplinary focus. CCI is a global leader in climate change research and in combination with its UM academic unit partners it offers a robust array of graduate and undergraduate research programs.

CCI integrates transformational field, laboratory and modeling activities to understand the physical, chemical, biological and socio-cultural components of the climate system of the past and present, to better predict future changes in climate and their impacts here in Maine and across the globe. Institute investigations span the last 2 million years to the present – a time of multi-millennial to centennial scale climate changes punctuated by abrupt (annual to decadal) shifts in climate. CCI investigations inform predictions for future climate change based upon an understanding of the full dynamic range of the natural climate system and the evolving dramatic influence of human activity.

CCI has a legacy of major scientific contributions to understanding the timing, causes, and mechanisms of natural and human-forced climate change, and on the effects of physical and chemical climate changes on the biological, economic, social, and political conditions of humans and the ecosystem.