MAPSS Model Output for Global Vegetation and Climate Impact

MAPSS is a landscape to global vegetation distribution model simulating biosphere impacts and biosphere-atmosphere feedbacks from climatic change. Its output has been used extensively in IPCC regional and global climate change impact assessments. The dataset is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Use Cases

• Assessing climate change impacts on global forest, grassland, and savanna distributions.
• Modeling canopy characteristics and land surface biogeochemistry (nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur).
• Simulating vegetation responses and feedbacks in anthropogenic and agricultural landscapes.
• Providing input for regional and global climate impact assessments, such as those by the IPCC.

Strengths

• Model output has been used in authoritative IPCC climate change assessments.
• Covers multiple terrestrial ecosystem types: forests, grasslands, savannas, and agricultural lands.
• Developed by a major scientific organization (NASA).

Limitations

• Key dataset specifications (row count, file size, column names) are unavailable across all platforms.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date: Data.gov lists 2026-03 13, while NASA Earthdata lists 1995-01-01.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Output from the Mapped Atmosphere-Plant-Soil System (MAPSS) vegetation distribution model.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03-13 00:53:36.023940

Geography

Global