Harmonized Global Land Use Scenarios for 2015-2100

LUH2-ISIMIP2b provides 0.25-degree gridded, global, annual estimates of fractional land use and land cover from 2015 to 2100. The dataset was created by NASA using the Land Use Harmonization 2 methodology, integrating scenarios from the REMIND-MAgPIE model with climate impacts from four climate models. It supports the ISIMIP2b effort to assess impacts under 1.5°C global warming pathways.

Use Cases

• Projecting changes in cropland area fraction for different crop functional types under RCP2.6 and RCP6.0 scenarios.
• Analyzing annual land-use transitions per grid cell, including shifts between forest, pasture, and cropland.
• Modeling agricultural management inputs such as irrigation and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer application.
• Assessing the effects of CO2 fertilization and climate change on potential crop yields and water availability.
• Evaluating wood harvest and biofuel management dynamics within global land-use change scenarios.

Strengths

• Provides detailed land-use separation, including forest/non-forest subtypes and multiple crop functional types.
• Integrates outputs from four climate models (GFDL, HADGEM, IPSL, MIROC) for two RCP scenarios, offering 8 distinct scenario datasets.
• Covers an 86-year time range (2015-2100) with annual, global 0.25-degree resolution.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, column names, and exact dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist: one source shows 2026-03-13, while others show a placeholder date of 2100-01-01.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Derived using Land Use Harmonization 2 (LUH2) methodology, based on REMIND-MAgPIE model scenarios forced with LPJmL model outputs.

Time Range

2015-2100

Freshness

2026-03-13

Geography

Global