RACMO2.3p2: Monthly Averaged Climate Variables for Antarctica, 1979-2022

Antarctic climate data from 1979 to 2022, simulated by the regional atmospheric model RACMO2.3p2 at a 27 km horizontal resolution. The dataset includes monthly averaged surface mass balance and atmospheric variables, such as temperature, precipitation, and wind speed, forced by ERA5 reanalysis data. It was produced by Jan Melchior van Wessem of Utrecht University.

Use Cases

• Modeling Antarctic surface mass balance (SMB) based on variables like snowfall, snowmelt, and runoff.
• Analyzing long-term atmospheric trends based on 2-meter temperature, humidity, and wind speed data.
• Studying snow processes based on simulated variables for refreezing, sublimation, and drifting snow erosion.

Strengths

• Covers a long temporal range from 1979 to 2022.
• Simulated at a defined horizontal resolution of 27 km over the entire Antarctic ice sheet.
• Includes a specific set of surface and atmospheric variables, such as SMB components and 2-meter temperature.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The data uses a rotated polar coordinate grid that may be troublesome to reproject with standard software.

Provenance

Source

Utrecht University

Collection Method

Simulated by the hydrostatic regional atmospheric climate model RACMO2.3p2, forced by ERA5 reanalysis.

Time Range

1979-2022

Geography

Antarctica