VEMAP2: Gridded Historical and Predicted Climate Data for the Contiguous U.S., 1895-2100

VEMAP2 provides annual and monthly climate data for the Contiguous United States from 1895 to 2100 at a 0.5-degree resolution. The collection includes historical records and future projections from two major climate models, the Canadian CGCM1 and the UK HadCM2. Data were produced by the Vegetation/Ecosystem Modeling and Analysis Project at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Use Cases

• Projecting future ecosystem responses based on annual temperature and precipitation variables.
• Analyzing long-term climate trends from 1895 to 2100 based on the provided historical and scenario data.
• Comparing climate model outputs from the Canadian CGCM1 and UK HadCM2 scenarios.
• Modeling biogeochemical cycles using the annual biogeography/biogeochemical model estimates.

Strengths

• Covers a 206-year time range from 1895 to 2100.
• Provides data from two distinct global climate model scenarios.
• Includes key annual climate variables: minimum temperature, maximum temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation.
• Offers data at a consistent 0.5 x 0.5 degree spatial resolution for the contiguous U.S.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to nasa_earthdata, focusing solely on the contiguous United States.

Provenance

Source

Vegetation/Ecosystem Modeling and Analysis Project (VEMAP) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

Collection Method

Gridded climate data derived from historical records and model predictions from the CCCma-CGCM1 and HadCM2 models.

Time Range

1895 to 2100.

Freshness

Last updated 2100-12-31 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Conterminous United States.