VEMAP 2: Century-Long U.S. Climate Time Series

VEMAP Phase 2 provides a gridded climate dataset for the conterminous United States spanning approximately 100 years. It includes monthly and daily time series with realistic interannual variability, developed by NASA for ecological modeling. The data supports comparisons of biogeochemical model responses to historical climate, atmospheric CO2, and nitrogen deposition scenarios.

Use Cases

• Modeling time-dependent ecological responses of biogeochemical models to historical climate scenarios.
• Comparing coupled biogeochemical-biogeographical model outputs against a century of gridded climate data.
• Analyzing interannual variability in surface temperature, precipitation, humidity, and solar radiation across the U.S.
• Projecting ecosystem impacts under scenarios of changing atmospheric CO2 and nitrogen deposition.

Strengths

• Provides a ~100-year temporal record (1895-1993), enabling long-term trend analysis.
• Includes both monthly and daily gridded time series, offering data at multiple temporal resolutions.
• Developed by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), indicating authoritative provenance.
• Covers the conterminous United States with realistic interannual variability for ecological modeling.

Limitations

• Exact row count, file size, and complete column list are not specified across platforms.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata: one source states 2026-03-12, while another states 1993-12 31.
• Specific license details are unclear, only noted as 'other-license-specified'.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Gridded modeling and analysis project (VEMAP Phase 2).

Time Range

1895-1993

Freshness

2026-03-12 20:35:49.091449

Geography

Conterminous United States