ECHAM5-wiso: Historical Climate Model Output with Water Isotopes, 1871-2011

A 141-year historical climate model simulation from 1871 to 2011, run at T106 (approximately 1-degree) resolution. The dataset was produced by Nathan Steiger of Columbia University using the isotope-enabled ECHAM5-wiso model on the Yellowstone supercomputer. It includes standard climate variables like temperature and precipitation, as well as specialized water isotope variables such as d18O and dD in precipitation, snow, and soil moisture.

Use Cases

• Paleoclimate reconstruction based on simulated water-isotope ratios in precipitation and ice cores.
• Validating and comparing isotope-enabled climate models based on the provided d18O and dD variables.
• Analyzing long-term trends in hydrological variables like soil moisture and evaporation over the 141-year period.
• Studying atmospheric circulation patterns based on variables like the stream function at 200 hPa and geopotential height at 500 hPa.

Strengths

• Covers a long historical period of 141 years (1871-2011).
• Includes specialized water isotope variables (d18O, dD) for multiple components like precipitation and snow.
• Provides data at a high spatial resolution of T106 (approximately 1 degree).
• Lists numerous standard climate variables, including 2m temperature, surface pressure, and windspeed.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Nathan Steiger, Columbia University, using model code from Martin Werner of AWI.

Collection Method

Historical simulation using the isotope-enabled ECHAM5-wiso model, run on the Yellowstone supercomputer with interpolated HadISST boundary conditions.

Time Range

1871 to 2011

Geography

Global coverage at T106 (approximately 1-degree) resolution.