Title:

Bioclimatic variables of conterminous USA from NASA NEX-DCP30-CMIP6 climate projections

Author(s):

Kim, John B.; Barndt, Scott A.; Borja, Maria O.; Brosnan, Ian G.; Greenler, Skye M.; Groff, Shannon C.; Kamoske, Aaron G.; Maclennan, Audrey L.; Naficy, Cameron E.; Povak, Nicholas A.; Reilly, Matthew J.; Rock, Ryan P.; Schaaf, Abigail N.; Thorne, James H.; Thrasher, Bridget L.; Wahlberg, Maximillian M.

Publication Year:

2026

How to Cite:

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Kim, John B.; Barndt, Scott A.; Borja, Maria O.; Brosnan, Ian G.; Greenler, Skye M.; Groff, Shannon C.; Kamoske, Aaron G.; Maclennan, Audrey L.; Naficy, Cameron E.; Povak, Nicholas A.; Reilly, Matthew J.; Rock, Ryan P.; Schaaf, Abigail N.; Thorne, James H.; Thrasher, Bridget L.; Wahlberg, Maximillian M. 2026. Bioclimatic variables of conterminous USA from NASA NEX-DCP30-CMIP6 climate projections. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2026-0027

Abstract:

We calculated a suite of bioclimatic variables from NASA NEX-DCP30-CMIP6 downscaled climate projections. The twenty bioclimate variables comprise monthly, seasonal and annual climate metrics that may be useful for predicting climate relationships to species physiology and biogeography. Bioclimatic variables were calculated from NEX-DCP30-CMIP6, which are 30 arc-second spatial resolution downscaled climate projections spanning the conterminous United States. Outputs from thirty global climate models (GCMs) simulating SSP2-45 and SSP5-85 scenarios were included in the bioclimatic variable calculations and this was repeated for three time periods: historical (1970-1999), mid-century (2035-2064) and late-century (2070-2099), adjusting for water years. The resulting data are available as TIF files, each containing 20 bands of bioclimatic variables. We also calculated bioclimatic variables from Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) for the historical period (1970-1999) as a reference.

Keywords:

climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere; biota; environment; Forest & Plant Health; Climate change; Climate change effects; Wildlife (or Fauna); bioclimate; climate; downscaled; CMIP6; conterminous United States; CONUS

Related publications:

• Mahony, Colin R.; Wang, Tongli; Hamann, Andreas; Cannon, Alex J. 2022. A global climate model ensemble for downscaled monthly climate normals over North America. International Journal of Climatology. 42(11): 5871-5891. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7566
• O'Donnell, Michael S.; Ignizio, Drew A. 2012. Bioclimatic predictors for supporting ecological applications in the conterminous United States. U.S. Geological Survey Data Series. 691. 10 p.
• Thrasher, Bridget; Khajehei, Sepideh; Kim, John B.; Brosnan, Ian. 2024. NASA Earth Exchange Downscaled Climate Projections 30 Arcseconds CMIP6. Scientific Data. 11(1): 1346. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-04188-x https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/68843

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  • RDS-2026-0027_Data_Late_SSP245.zip (21.3 GB; Checksum)
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