COWCLIP2.0: Ocean Wave Climate and Extremes Statistics from CMIP5 Models

A collection of climate and extremes statistics for ocean waves, generated from models driven by CMIP5 global climate models for historical and future projection periods. The data were produced by the Coordinated Ocean Wave Climate Project (COWCLIP) using a coherent set of codes across all modelled wave datasets. The findings are published in Morim et al (2019), and this collection accompanies a data descriptor paper in Scientific Data.

Use Cases

• Projecting future ocean wave climate based on CMIP5-driven model outputs described in the collection.
• Analyzing wave extremes statistics for coastal engineering and hazard assessment based on the standardized climate data.
• Comparing wave climate model outputs across different scenarios using the aligned and merged statistical data.
• Validating wave climate models against historical data using the processed statistics from the coordinated project.

Strengths

• Data is aligned and generated using a coherent set of codes across all modelled wave datasets, facilitating direct comparison.
• Based on CMIP5 global climate model outputs, a standard suite used in climate research.
• Accompanies a peer-reviewed data descriptor paper in Scientific Data, indicating documented provenance.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal and model bias inherent to the CMIP5-driven wave models used.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Modelled ocean wave data driven by CMIP5 global climate models, processed with standardized codes to generate statistics.

Time Range

Historical and future projection periods (specific years not stated).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-14 06:50:54.332015; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global ocean coverage implied by CMIP5 models.