The advent of the Internet and evolutionary advances in geospatial data browsers, virtual globes, and immersive visualization displays have significantly increased the potential for a more climate science literate public. At the same time, space-based Earth-observing agencies like NASA and NOAA in the United States have geometrically increased the volume of data they collect everyday over the entire globe. Fortunately, Moore's Law held true during that same time span, so that the processing capacity of modern computers has exponentially increased, enabling scientists to collect, process, and share these data with increasing efficiency and turnaround time. Since 1980, the combination of these technologies has substantially increased public access to cutting-edge climate science data and information. But has there been a corresponding increase in public climate science literacy? Has there also been a corresponding improvement in public attitudes and opinions about climate science research? In this paper, we review current research about public awareness, understanding, and opinions about existing climate research. We also review several initiatives that our agencies (NASA and NOAA) have taken to help improve climate science literacy. Our research coincides with others' findings in, suggesting that it is possible to improve climate science literacy and positive attitudes about modern climate research, via particular methods of communication. We conclude with a call for collaborators to work with NASA and NOAA in the assembly of a "synergetic" new climate science communications and education infrastructure, as articulated by the late R. Buckminster Fuller, in which the whole works together much more effectively than the sum of the individual parts. We argue that the inherent difficulty of improving public climate science literacy, much less addressing the problems that stem from illiteracy and negative attitudes toward climate science, render the problem too great for any one agency or effort to tackle alone. Addressing the problem synergistically through transdisciplinary collaborations increases the potential for success while enriching all those involved in climate literacy efforts.
