Projected Ocean Temperature and Salinity in the Northwest Atlantic Under RCP8.5

Six bi-decadal means of projected sea surface and ocean bottom temperature and salinity for the Northwest Atlantic from 1986-2005 to 2080-2099. The dataset is generated by the North Atlantic Ocean-ice Downsling System (NAODS), which downscales the global CCSM4 climate model output. It is provided by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Use Cases

• Modeling regional climate change impacts on marine ecosystems based on projected temperature and salinity.
• Assessing future oceanographic conditions for fisheries management based on high-emission scenario projections.
• Validating and comparing regional downscaling methods based on the NAODS model outputs.
• Analyzing decadal trends in ocean warming and freshening under the RCP8.5 scenario.

Strengths

• Projections cover six distinct future time periods from 1986-2005 to 2080-2099.
• Data is generated by a high-resolution downscaling system (NAODS) coupling 1/12-degree and 1/4-degree models.
• Includes both sea surface and ocean bottom variables for a more complete oceanographic profile.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML tasks.
• Data reflects a single high-emission scenario (RCP8.5), limiting comparative analysis of mitigation pathways.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Collection Method

Generated by the North Atlantic Ocean-ice Downsling System (NAODS) downscaling CCSM4 global model output.

Time Range

Bi-decadal means for 1986-2005, 2006-2025, 2026-2045, 2046-2065, 2066-2085, and 2080-2099.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-22 13:02:56.169385; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northwest Atlantic Ocean.