IM3/HyperFACETS Thermodynamic Global Warming (TGW) Simulation Datasets

Description

Publication

For a thorough description of the methods, see the peer-reviewed paper:

Jones, A.D., Rastogi, D., Vahmani, P. et al. Continental United States climate projections based on thermodynamic modification of historical weather. Sci Data 10, 664 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02485-5

Overview

The IM3 / HyperFACETS climate simulations provide 40-year historical (1980-2019) as well as four 80-year future simulations (2020-2099) over the U.S. The future simulations are split into near (2020-2059) and far future (2060-2099) segments. The future scenarios span a range of plausible changes in future climate (both Global Circulation Model (GCM) and Representative Concentration Pathways/Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (RCP/SSP) dimensions). 

The simulations provide climate variables with high spatiotemporal resolution (25 hourly variables and 207 3-hourly variables at 12 km2). The datasets are generated using dynamical downscaling with the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model (version 4.2.1) and therefore preserve physical consistency across variables. WRF is a state-of-the-art, fully compressible, non-hydrostatic, mesoscale numerical weather prediction model. WRF is coupled with an urban canopy model (UCM), which resolves urban surfaces.

The future scenarios were developed using a thermodynamic global warming approach where past events are replayed under a range of future warming conditions. These scenarios therefore provide a perspective on potential increases in extreme event intensity, geographic scope, and duration, with previously non-extreme conditions potentially crossing new thresholds to be considered extreme by today's standards. This approach is not intended to estimate future changes in extreme event frequency that might result from changes in large-scale atmospheric dynamics.

This dataset has NOT been bias corrected. A bias corrected version of selected variables is under development and will be released here when available.

Scenarios Files

Data for each scenario is provided in weekly NetCDF files. 25 variables are available at hourly resolution, and 207 variables are available at three-hourly resolution. Spatial resolution is 12km and spans the conterminous United States (CONUS), including some areas of Canada and Mexico, resulting in a grid of 424 by 299 cells. The spatial projection is a Lambert Conformal Conic with the following proj-string: "+proj=lcc +lat_0=40.0000076293945 +lon_0=-97 +lat_1=30 +lat_2=45 +x_0=0 +y_0=0 +R=6370000 +units=m +no_defs".

The available scenarios and simulation periods are listed below:

• historical      | 1980 - 2019
• rcp45cooler | 2020 - 2059
• rcp45cooler | 2060 - 2099
• rcp45hotter | 2020 - 2059
• rcp45hotter | 2060 - 2099
• rcp85cooler | 2020 - 2059
• rcp85cooler | 2060 - 2099
• rcp85hotter | 2020 - 2059
• rcp85hotter | 2060 - 2099
•  

* The first year (1979, 2019, and 2059) of data within each scenario represents a model warmup period and should not be used. These are located in the `spinup_files` directory. Historical year 2020 is considered an extra year of data beyond the simulation period and can be found in the `additional_files` directory.

For information on specific variables and a more in-depth discussion of methodology, please refer to the data landing page at https://tgw-data.msdlive.org.

Delta Warming Files

The global and CONUS warming deltas for each scenario are provided in degrees Celsius annually and monthly.

Restart Files

Yearly restart files are provided for each scenario which can be used to restart the WRF model at a particular point in time.

Spinup Files

The first year of data within each simulation period represents a model warmup period and should not be used. The files are provided here for the sake of reproducibility.

Additional Files

Additional years of data are provided as an extension of the historic simulation.

Methods

For a thorough description of the methods, see the peer-reviewed paper:

Jones, A.D., Rastogi, D., Vahmani, P. et al. Continental United States climate projections based on thermodynamic modification of historical weather. Sci Data 10, 664 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02485-5

File Access Info

Accessing the Dataset

Data is available via Globus endpoint. Globus is an efficient file transfer application and download manager. Many computing clusters provide mechanisms for transferring files from Globus endpoints. To download directly to your machine, use the Globus Connect Personal application.

A copy of the data is permanently stored in the MSD-LIVE data repository.

Globus endpoint:

https://app.globus.org/file-manager?origin_id=909be1fe-2949-11ed-8dd0-9f359c660fbd

Additional details