GUD IGSM: Depth-Integrated Plankton Biomass Projections for 1991-2100

51 plankton types, including pico-phytoplankton, coccolithophores, diazotrophs, diatoms, mixotrophs, and zooplankton, are modeled annually from 1991 to 2100. The data represents depth-integrated carbon biomass in mmol C/m², generated by an earth system model from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This model output was used in studies on abrupt plankton community shifts and future phytoplankton diversity published in Science Advances and Nature Communications.

Use Cases

• Projecting long-term trends in plankton biomass based on annual data from 1991-2100.
• Analyzing size-structured community composition based on 51 plankton types with defined Equivalent Spherical Diameters (ESD).
• Studying model-internal climate variability and phenomena like ENSO in plankton ecosystems.
• Validating earth system model outputs against observed plankton dynamics where possible.

Strengths

• Covers a 110-year time series from 1991 to 2100, enabling long-term trend analysis.
• Includes biomass data for 51 distinct plankton types across multiple functional groups.
• Data is associated with peer-reviewed research published in Science Advances and Nature Communications.

Limitations

• Model interannual variability does not align with real-world years for phenomena like ENSO.
• Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (author: Stephanie Dutkiewicz)

Collection Method

Output from an earth system model's atmospheric-ocean component.

Time Range

1991-2100