NOAA has embarked upon an ambitious program to develop a NOAA Climate Services prototype website (www.climate.gov) with the ultimate goal of becoming the "go-to" website for NOAA's climate data, products and services for all users.

In 2010 NOAA enlisted researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to evaluate the prototype website by focusing on four target audiences (1) the climate-interested public; (2) climate science data users (scientists and applications-oriented professionals); (3) science educators (formal and informal), and (4) climate science policy decision-makers.

Evaluation efforts have been gauging audience perceptions of the accessibility, usability, scope, and functionality of the prototype site, and also assess and evaluate the quality of the relationships that NOAA has with its audiences.

This session will discuss progress to date beginning with results from a literature review completed in November 2010 followed by 2011 findings from focus groups, on-line surveys and usability studies. A salient consideration accompanying the feedback and informing this presentation is the simple fact that assessing NOAA's goal to convey global climate information to all users necessitates a very broad and comprehensive evaluation process.