Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

USDA Logo U.S. Department of Agriculture

Publication Details

Title:
High resolution interpolation of climate scenario change factors for Alaska derived from AR4 General Circulation Model simulations
Author(s):
Price, David T.; McKenney, Daniel W.; Siltanen, R. Martin; Papadopol, Pia; Lawrence, Kevin; Joyce, Linda A.; Coulson, David P.
Publication Year:
2011
How to Cite:
These data were collected using funding from the Canadian Forest Service and U.S. Government and can be used without additional permissions or fees. If you use these data in a publication, presentation, or other research product please use the following citation:
Price, David T.; McKenney, Daniel W.; Siltanen, R. Martin; Papadopol, Pia; Lawrence, Kevin; Joyce, Linda A.; Coulson, David P. 2011. High resolution interpolation of climate scenario change factors for Alaska derived from AR4 General Circulation Model simulations. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2011-0022
Abstract:
Projections of future global climate have been developed by numerous climate modeling groups around the world; however, this data is often at spatial scales much larger than the spatial scale of resource management. This study develops a set of change factors that can be used with a user-selected historical climate data set to create climate change projections at the spatial scale of approximately 9.25 kilometer grid. Climate projection output was obtained from four well-established general circulation models (GCM) forced by each of three greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions scenarios namely A2, A1B, and B1, from the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, and used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report. Monthly data for the period 1961-2100 were downloaded mainly from Third Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) through the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) web portal. Climate variables included monthly mean daily maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, solar radiation, wind speed, and vapor pressure (used to calculate specific humidity). All variables are expressed as changes relative to the simulated monthly means for 1961-1990, which corrected for GCM bias in reproducing past climate and allowed future projected trends to be compared directly. Each month value at each GCM grid node was normalized either by subtracting (for temperature variables) or dividing by (for other climate variables) the mean of that month's value for the 30-year baseline period 1961-1990. The normalized data (or "deltas") we then formatted for input to ANUSPLIN thin-plate software. The downscaling procedure used ANUSPLIN software package to fit a two-dimensional spline function to each month's change data for each of the six normalized climate variables at a spatial resolution of 5 arcminutes (0.0833 degrees) longitude and latitude.

This research was a collaborative effort between scientists at the Canadian Forest Service and scientists at the USDA Forest Service. Data for the United States and Canada were extracted. Data for Alaska are contained in this dataset.

Keywords:
climate scenario; GCM; downscaling; interpolation; ANUSPLIN; National Center for Atmospheric Research; NCAR; Community Climate System Model; CCSM; Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis; CCCma; Coupled Global Climate Model; CGCM; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation; CSIRO; Climate System Model; Centre for Climate System Research; CCSR; National Institute for Environmental Studies; NIES; Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate; MIROC; grid level; 5 arcminute; climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere; Climate change; Climate change effects; Climatology; Inventory, Monitoring, & Analysis; Monitoring; Alaska
Related publications:
  • Price, David T.; McKenney, Daniel W.; Joyce, Linda A.; Siltanen, R. Martin; Papadopol, Pia; Lawrence, Kevin 2011. High Resolution Interpolation of Climate Scenarios for Canada Derived from General Circulation Model Simulations. Information Report. NOR-X-421. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre.
  • Langner, Linda L.; Daniels, Amy E.; Joyce, Linda A. 2012. Future Scenarios: a technical document supporting the Forest Service 2010 RPA assessment. General Technical Report. RMRS-GTR-272. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 34 p. https://doi.org/10.2737/RMRS-GTR-272
  • Joyce, Linda A.; Price, David T.; McKenney, Daniel W.; Siltanen, R. Martin; Papadopol, Pia; Lawrence, Kevin; Coulson, David P. 2011. High resolution interpolation of climate scenarios for the conterminous USA and Alaska derived from general circulation model simulations. General Technical Report. RMRS-GTR-263. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 87 p. https://doi.org/10.2737/RMRS-GTR-263
  • More (5 total)
Metrics:
Visit count : 604
Download count: 88
More details
Data Access:

Need information about Using our Formats?

https://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/catalog/RDS-2011-0022