We are pleased to report a helpful development for communities that struggle to access credible, high quality climate and health data when conducting vulnerability assessments, mitigation efforts, and adaptation planning. The U.S. Climate Resiliency Toolkit is now showcasing the Metadata Access Tool for Climate and Health, known as MATCH, which is a searchable clearinghouse of federal metadata on climate and health.

MATCH is a product of the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), the Federal program that coordinates and integrates global change research across 13 government agencies.  It is openly available for use by private citizens, researchers, state and local planners, and others.

What does metadata mean?

Metadata refers to data about data. In this case, the MATCH tool provides links to over 9,000 geospatial datasets, early warning systems and tools for understanding the effects of climate change on human health.  MATCH is the first tool that makes federal public health metadata available together with federal climate and environmental metadata.

What can MATCH do for me?

If you are a tribal health or environmental professional, you may be making efforts to better understand, mitigate and adapt to the health effects of climate change in your community. You may have experienced that finding the right data to suit your needs can be very time consuming.  MATCH improves accessibility to federal data sources and helps researchers quickly find and review metadata from health, environment, and climate science datasets. For example, MATCH directs visitors to valuable datasets operated by NOAA, NASA, CDC, EPA, USGS, and USACE (US Army Corps of Engineers) on topics ranging from sea surface temperature to arbovirus diseases.

Start exploring for yourself by visiting the tool directly at https://match.globalchange.gov/.