Data, containing hydrological scenarios for the whole globe have been made available through OpenEarth. The principle of OpenEarth is to share datasets in a standard format, along with tools to read and manipulate them. As format, OpenEarth chose NetCDF, because it is free, open and can contain as much meta-data as the user requires. Furthermore, if NetCDF files are shared through a special web-protocal called 'OpenDAP', the user of the dataset can access the file along with its full contents, without having to download the entire file (which can be very large!!). Instead, the user can select only those parts of the data within the file that are of interest and download these (e.g. river discharge at specific locations).
The data, in the form of global maps with a resolution of 0.5 degrees are saved as one file per scenario per model. The provided parameters and model runs are provided below.
OpenEarth doesn't yet have a full search facility. Therefore the link to the files is provided below:
http://opendap.deltares.nl/thredds/catalog/opendap/deltares/FEWS-IPCC/catalog.html
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The following parameters are available:
Parameter |
shortname |
unit |
---|---|---|
Channel flow / accumulated discharge |
QC |
m3/s |
Potential evaporation |
ETP |
m/day |
Actual evaporation |
EACT |
m/day |
All data is provided for the scenarios A1B, A2 (period 2081-2100) and the control experiment 20CM3 (period 1971-1990) for all twelve climate models listed below. For comparison a run based on the monthly quantities downscaled to daily values with the ERA-40 reanalysis dataset (van Beek et al, 2008) has been conducted as well.
Model |
Institute |
Country |
shortname |
---|---|---|---|
BCM2.0 |
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research |
Norway |
BCCR |
CGCM3.1 |
Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis |
Canada |
CCCMA |
CGCM2.3.2 |
Meteorological Research Institute |
Japan |
CGCM |
CSIRO-Mk3.0 |
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization |
Australia |
CSIRO |
ECHAM5 |
Max Planck Institute |
Germany |
ECHAM |
ECHO-G |
Freie Universität Berlin |
Germany |
ECHO |
GFDL-CM2.1 |
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Centre |
USA |
GFDL |
GISS-ER |
Goddard institute for Space Studies |
USA |
GISS |
IPSL-CM4 |
Institute Pierre Simon Laplace |
France |
IPSL |
MIROC3.2med |
Center of Climate System Research |
Japan |
MIROC |
CCSM3 |
National Center for Atmospheric Research |
USA |
NCAR |
HADGEM1 |
Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction |
UK |
HADGEM |