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Spatial Extent:

Conterminous USA & Alaska 1

Spatial Resolution:

0.5 degree gridded

Temporal Characteristics:

 
Date Classes Represented:

Time-Series
Time Steps Available:

Monthly & Annual

Dates represented:

1895 - 2100

Please review the VEMAP2 Data Policy and register with VEMAP prior to ordering or using data from EOS-WEBSTER.

Please acknowledge the University of New Hampshire, EOS-WEBSTER Earth Science Information Partner (ESIP) as the data distributor for this dataset.

 

Summary:

Data provided by the Vegetation/Ecosystem Modeling and Analysis Project (VEMAP) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). These data are gridded monthly time series climate data for the United States at 0.5 x 0.5 degree spatial resolution. Datasets within the collection include monthly historical climate (1895-1993 USA; 1922 - 1996 Alaska), future climate scenarios (1994-2100 USA; 1997 - 2100 Alaska) and model estimates of ecosystem response, assuming either constant or increasing CO2 levels (1895-2100 USA only). Scenarios are from the Hadley UK Centre for Climate Prediction and Research and the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis.Visit the VEMAP website for complete information about the VEMAP project and datasets.

EOS-WEBSTER has two VEMAP data collections. Additional VEMAP data can be found in the VEMAP Reference Data collection.

 

The VEMAP2 Transient Dynamics Data collection contains the following datasets:

  • TClimate - gridded monthly historical climate for the continental USA from 1895 - 1993, and Alaska from 1922 - 1996. Release: r3 (USA) and r5 (Alaska).
  • TScenario - gridded monthly climate data of possible future values based on different model scenarios. VEMAP processed these data as follows:

temperature fields - for each month, the modeled change in temperature was added to the 1961-1990 observational baseline.

precipitation fields - for each month the ratio of the modeled change:baseline value was multiplied by the 1961-1990 observational baseline.

radiation and humidity fields - were based on the temperature and precipitation values (from MT-CLIM3) rather than on the actual GCM fields and were not produced as ratios or deltas to the baseline period.

Holdings include the following scenarios:

  • Canadian Climate Center --gridded monthly future climate predictions; Canadian Climate Center. Model Name: CCCma-CGCM1; Experiment: GHG+A 1; 1% per year compounded increase in equivalent CO2 plus IS92A sulphate aerosols; Ensemble 1. 1994-2100 (USA) and 1997-2100 (Alaska). Release: r4 (USA) and r5 (Alaska).
  • UKMO/Hadley -- gridded monthly future climate predictions; UKMO/Hadley -- Model Name: HadCM2; Experiment: HadCM2GSa1; 1% per year compounded increase in equivalent CO2 plus IS92A sulphate aerosols; Ensemble 1. 1994 - 2099 (USA) and 1997 - 2099 (Alaska). Release: r3 (USA) and r5 (Alaska).

     

  • TClimate + TScenario - annual historical climate data + possible future values based on the above different model scenarios.

Holdings include: annual precipitation, solar radiation, minimum and maximum temperatures, and relative humidity.

  • TClimate + TScenario-CGCM1 - historical climate (1895 - 1993) + Canadian Climate Center (see above) predicted future values (1994 - 2100).
  • TClimate + TScenario-HadCM2 - historical climate (1895 - 1993) + UKMO/Hadley predicted future values (1994 - 2099) (see above).

     

  • TResults - annual and monthly biogeography/biogeochemical model estimates of ecosystem response from 1895 to 2100. Holdings include:

The following variables are available for the VEMAP2 datasets:

Dataset(s)
Variable
Description
Unit
TClimate and TScenario irradiance mean monthly irradiance W/m2
TClimate and TScenario precipitation mean monthly precipitation mm/month
TClimate and TScenario relative humidity mean monthly daylight relative humidity percent
TClimate and TScenario solar radiation mean monthly solar radiation kJ/m2/day
TClimate and TScenario minimum temperature mean monthly minimum temperature degrees C
TClimate and TScenario maximum temperature mean monthly maximum temperature degrees C
TClimate and TScenario vapor pressure mean monthly vapor pressure Pa
TClimate and TScenario PET mean monthly potential evapotranspiriation kg/m2/day
TResults NPP annual & monthly totals of net primary production gC/m2/yr & gC/m2/month
TResults AET annual & monthly totals of actual evapotranspiration mm/yr & mm/month
TResults net nitrogen mineralization annual total of net nitrogen mineralization gN/m2/yr
TResults total carbon storage annual average of total carbon storage gC/m2
TResults total vegetation carbon annual average of total vegetation carbon gC/m2
TResults NEP monthly totals of net ecosystem production gC/m2/month
TResults LAI monthly totals of leaf area index unitless

 

Data Citations for the VEMAP2 Transient Dynamics Data collection:

TClimate and TScenario:

Kittel, T.G.F., J.A. Royle, C. Daly, N.A. Rosenbloom, W.P. Gibson, H.H. Fisher, D.S. Schimel, L.M. Berliner, and VEMAP2 Participants (1997). A gridded historical (1895-1993) bioclimate dataset for the conterminous United States. Pages 219-222, in: Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Applied Climatology, 20-24 October 1997, Reno NV. American Meteorological Society, Boston.

Kittel, T.G.F., N.A. Rosenbloom, C. Kaufman, J.A. Royle, C. Daly, H.H. Fisher, W.P. Gibson, S. Aulenbach, R. McKeown, D.S. Schimel, and VEMAP2 Participants (2000). VEMAP Phase 2 Historical and Future Scenario Climate Database.

TResults:

Schimel, D., J. Melillo, H. Tian, A.D. McGuire, D. Kicklighter, T. Kittel, N. Rosenbloom, S. Running, P. Thornton, D. Ojima, W. Parton, R. Kelly, M. Sykes, R. Neilson, and B. Rizzo. 2000. Contribution of increasing CO2 and climate to carbon storage by ecosystems of the United States. Science 287:2004-2006.

VEMAP2 Participants (2000). VEMAP Phase 2 Biogeochemistry and Dynamic Vegetation Modelling Results Set.

 

 

 

MT-CLIM3 References

Daily humidity and radiation estimated using MTCLIM version 4.3, available from the Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group's website at www.forestry.umt.edu/ntsg (go to the "Models to Download" section).

 

MT-CLIM3 References:

Thornton, P.E., H. Hasenauer, and M.A. White (in review). Simultaneous estimation of daily solar radiation and humidity from observed temperature and precipitation: an application over complex terrain in Austria. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology.

Thornton, P.E., and S.W. Running, 1999. An improved algorithm for estimating incident daily solar radiation from measurements of temperature, humidity, and precipitation. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 93:211-228.

Kimball, J.S., S.W. Running, and R. Nemani, 1997. An improved algorithm for estimating surface humidity from daily minimum temperature. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 85:87-98.

Glassy, J.M., and S.W. Running, 1994. Validating diurnal climatology of the MT-CLIM model across a climatic gradient in Oregon. Ecological Applications, 4(2):248-257.

Running, S.W., R.R. Nemani, and R.D. Hungerford, 1987. Extrapolation of synoptic meteorological data in mountainous terrain and its use for simulating forest evaporation and photosynthesis. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 17:472-483.

Bristow, K.L., and G.S. Campbell, 1984. On the relationship between incoming solar radiation and daily maximum and minimum temperature. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 31:159-166.

 

Alaska Data:

Monthly Alaska data for TCLIMATE and TSCENARIO only. Data are in beta format and have not been user-tested. Please contact User Support with any questions you may have about the Alaska data.

 

 

Data Providers:

The VEMAP Data Group at NCAR (contacts: Nan Rosenbloom and Cristina Kaufman), VEMAP Participants, and Ben Felzer. National Center for Atmospheric Reasearch P.O. Box 3000 Boulder, CO 80307-3000. Phone: (303) 497- 1000. Email: User Support .

 

Last Data Update:

12/20/2002

Last Doc. Updated:

2/02/2005

Doc. Updated By:

Denise Blaha

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