CGD employs a strong focus on collaborative mechanisms where scientists work to solve challenging climate issues that cannot be addressed by a single investigator or a small group of investigators.

The Climate Data Guide provides concise and reliable information on the strengths and limitations of the key observational data sets, tools and methods used to evaluate Earth system models and to understand the climate system. Citable expert commentaries are authored by experienced data users and developers, enabling scientists to multiply the impacts of their work and the diverse user community to access and understand the essential data.

Community Earth System Model (CESM) is a community-developed, fully-coupled global model that provides state-of-the-art computer simulations. Vital elements for CESM’s development include modern parameterizations, software engineering, and observational data sets. CESM simulation support is targeted to provide the CESM community with a single code base that enables out-of-the-box capabilities for the entire modeling process. This single code base supports model parameterization development, and minimizes computational resources.

CGD Scientific Visitor Program: CGD has a robust and long-standing program that brings scientific visitors to NCAR's Mesa Lab each year for collaborative research. Graduate students and postdocs sponsored by their university are eligible to participate. Enhanced interaction with the university community allows us to play an important role in the education and training of the next generation of scientists.