About ecoClimate
The goal of ecoClimate is to provide an open database of processed climatic simulations in a suitable resolution and user-friendly format for macroecological and biogeographical studies.
Data availability
The dataset includes simulations for modern (1950-1999), historical (1900-1949), pre-industrial (~1760), Mid-Holocene (6ka), Last Glacial Maximum (21ka), Pliocene (3Ma) and future conditions (mean of simulations for 2080-2100), for nine coupled atmosphere-ocean global climate models (AOGCMs). Future simulations include four representative concentration pathways (RCPs): RCP2.6 (low emissions scenarios), RCP4.5 and RCP6.0 (intermediate emissions scenarios), and RCP 8.5 (high emissions scenario) (see details in Taylor et al. 2009, 2012).
Data downscaling
Monthly simulations of precipitation and mean, maximum and minimum temperature for all time periods and AOGCMs were downloaded in netCDF format from CMIP5 and PMIP3, with spatial resolution originally ranging between 0.9o (e.g., CCSM4) to 2.8o (e.g., MIROC-ESM).
All data were downscaled to 0.5o x 0.5o resolution, according to the standard change-factor approach (Wilby et al. 2004), namely: i) firstly we computed the change-factor (also called climate change trends or anomalies) between past/future and baseline climate for each raw variable at model-specific native spatial resolution, (ii) secondarily we downscaled the change-factor (instead of past/future climate values) and its respective baseline climate from each AOGCM to the standard 0.5o resolution, and (iii) thirdly applied the downscaled change-factor to the downscaled baseline climate to reconstitute values and obtain the downscaled layers for past and future climates. From downscaled data, we generated the 19 bioclimatic variables described in WorldClim. This procedure was done using a script developed by Matheus Lima-Ribeiro in https://github.com/ecoClimate.
References
- TAYLOR KE, STOUFFER RJ and MEEHL GA (2009) A summary of the CMIP5 Experiment Design. Available in CMIP5.
- TAYLOR KE, STOUFFER RJ and MEEHL GA (2012) An overview of CMIP5 and the Experiment Design. American Meteorological Society. 93: 485–498.
- WILBY RL, CHARLES SP, ZORITA E, TIMBAL B, WHETTON P, MEARNS LO (2004) Guidelines for use of climate scenarios developed from statistical downscaling methods. IPCC Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis. https://www.ipcc-data.org/guidelines/dgm_no2_v1_09_2004.pdf
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the World Climate Research Programme, which coordinates and promotes CMIP projects through its Working Group on Coupled Modeling. We thank the climate modeling groups for producing and making available model outputs, the Earth System Grid Federation - ESGF for archiving the data and providing access, and the multiple funding agencies who support CMIP and ESGF.
We also thank Brazilian institutions for their support of our work in various aspects. The National Laboratory for Scientific Computing - LNCC provides digital infrastructure for data storage and software development through the National High Performance Computing System (SINAPAD), improving usability and facilitating the sharing of ecoClimate content. The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq and the Foundation for Research Support in the State of Goiás - FAPEG have provided ongoing financial support through fellowships and grants, especially the research networks GENPAC (Geographical Genetics and Regional Planning for Natural Resources in Brazilian Cerrado) and INCTEECBio (National Institute for Science and Technology in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation).
Finally, we dedicate the ecoClimate to the memory of Mariana Rocha, who was enthusiastically interested in this project when integrating the early ecoClimate team.