NASA Global Downscaled Climate Projections for RCP Scenarios

The NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Projections (NEX-GDDP) dataset provides high-resolution climate model outputs for the entire globe. It contains daily and monthly projections for maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and precipitation from 21 CMIP5 models under two greenhouse gas emissions scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). This dataset was developed by NASA's Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) to support the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.

Use Cases

• Analyzing future daily temperature extremes (maximum and minimum) at a ~25 km resolution for specific geographic areas.
• Modeling changes in precipitation patterns under moderate (RCP 4.5) and high (RCP 8.5) emissions scenarios from 2006 to 2099.
• Conducting climate impact assessments by comparing retrospective model runs (1950-2005) against future projections.
• Studying long-term climate trends at a spatial scale relevant for regional planning and resource management.

Strengths

• Provides data from 21 distinct global climate models (GCMs) used in the IPCC AR5, allowing for ensemble analysis.
• Offers a high spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees (~25 km), which is detailed for regional studies.
• Covers a long temporal range from 1950 to 2100, including both historical baselines and future projections.

Limitations

• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2100-12 31 vs. 2026-03-12), suggesting metadata inconsistency.
• Limited to two (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) of the four standard CMIP5 emissions pathways.
• Specific column names, row counts, and total dataset size are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS).

Collection Method

Downscaled projections derived from General Circulation Model (GCM) runs conducted under the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5).

Time Range

1950 through 2100

Freshness

2026-03-12 23:57:56.003514

Geography

Global coverage at 0.25-degree spatial resolution.