Globally Downscaled Climate Data

HadCM3 Model SRES A2 Run 1 Precip Change

Provided below are links to globally-downscaled data. This archive is currently being expanded, and a new interactive interface will be added at at the Green Data Oasis hosted by Lawrence Livermore National Lab. To facilitate their use in the meantime, complete, 150-year files are provided. This follows the approach, file formatting and naming convention of the U.S.-wide dataset available here; please see documentation of that dataset for details of the downscaling method and run numbers associated with each file. Details on how this method was adapted for global downscaling are in Maurer et al. (2009). Data characteristics are:

If using this data, the description should include the following:

Global climate model output, from the World Climate Research Programme's (WCRP's) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) multi-model dataset (Meehl et al., 2007), were obtained from www.engr.scu.edu/~emaurer/global_data/. These data were downscaled as described by Maurer et al. (2009) using the bias-correction/spatial downscaling method (Wood et al., 2004) to a 0.5 degree grid, based on the 1950-1999 gridded observations of Adam and Lettenmaier (2003).

See references and other information below the table.

IPCC Model I.D.
SRES A2
SRES B1
SRES A1B
BCCR-BCM2.0
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
CGCM3.1 (T47)
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
CNRM-CM3
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
CSIRO-Mk3.0
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
GFDL-CM2.0
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
GFDL-CM2.1
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
GISS-ER
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
INM-CM3.0
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
IPSL-CM4
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
MIROC3.2 (medres)
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
ECHO-G
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
ECHAM5/MPI-OM
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
MRI-CGCM2.3.2
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
PCM
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
CCSM3
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
UKMO-HadCM3
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp
Precip; Temp

Global Gridded Observed Data ( from Adam and Lettenmaier, 2003, as modified in Central America per Maurer et al., 2009) are available here (in netCDF; daily are compressed with gzip):

Daily
Monthly

Global daily forcing data for 1950-1999, summarized in Maurer et al., below, are available as >61,000 files in cryptic binary format wrapped up in a 6GB .tgz file here. These are the observationally-derived baseline data for the global downscaling.

References

Adam, J. C. and Lettenmaier, D. P.: Adjustment of global gridded precipitation for systematic bias, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 1–14, 2003.

Maurer, E.P., J.C. Adam, and A.W. Wood: Climate Model based consensus on the hydrologic impacts of climate change to the Rio Lempa basin of Central America, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 13, 183-194, 2009 (connect to online version).

Meehl, G. A., C. Covey, T. Delworth, M. Latif, B. McAvaney, J. F. B. Mitchell, R. J. Stouffer, and K. E. Taylor: The WCRP CMIP3 multi-model dataset: A new era in climate change research, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 88, 1383-1394, 2007.

Wood, A. W., Leung, L. 5 R., Sridhar, V., and Lettenmaier, D. P.: Hydrologic implications of dynamical and statistical approaches to downscaling climate model outputs, Climatic Change, 62, 189–216, 2004.

Utilities

For manipulating or extracting data from these files, the NCO utilites are extremely useful, as is the CDAT software. For demonstration, a sample python script is provided, which uses CDAT functionality, for extracting a sub-area from a pair of netCDF files and printing to text/ascii files.

Standard Disclaimer

These data are being made available to provide immediate access for the convenience of interested persons. These are believed to be reliable, though human or mechanical error remain a possibility. Therefore, there is no guarantee as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or correct sequencing of the data. None of those involved in creating, processing, or distributing this information shall be responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the use or results obtained from the use of this information.

Miscellaneous

ctl files and related code. This is related to specific requests, and will not be meaningful otherwise.


Contact: Ed Maurer