The datasets on this page have been developed by AdaptWest, a project funded by the Wilburforce Foundation to develop information resources for climate adaptation planning. The data were generated using the ClimateNA software. ClimateNA uses data from PRISM and WorldClim for current climate, and downscales data from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) database corresponding to the 6th IPCC Assessment Report for future projections. Ensemble projections are average projections from 13 CMIP5 models (ACCESS-ESM1-5,BCC-CSM2-MR,CNRM-ESM2-1,CanESM5,EC-Earth3,GFDL-ESM4,GISS-E2-1-G,INM-CM5-0,IPSL-CM6A-LR,MIROC6,MPI-ESM1-2-HR,MRI-ESM2-0,UKESM1-0-LL) that were chosen to represent all major clusters of similar AOGCMs (see figure below for more information). In addition to the ensemble projections, data are also provided from 9 individual AOGCMs (ACCESS-ESM1-5,CNRM-ESM2-1,EC-Earth3,GFDL-ESM4,GISS-E2-1-G,MIROC6,MPI-ESM1-2-HR,MRI-ESM2-0,UKESM1-0-LL) that are representative of the larger ensemble. For more information on the emission scenarios used in CMIP6, see this primer.

Please cite the datasets below as:

AdaptWest Project. 2021. Gridded current and projected climate data for North America at 1km resolution, generated using the ClimateNA v7.01 software (T. Wang et al., 2021). Available at adaptwest.databasin.org.

For further information and citation refer to:

For interpolated data produced using CMIP5 projections, see this link.
For interpolated data produced using the older CMIP3 projections, see this link.

The gridded climate layers downloadable below are in Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection, at 1km resolution, and covering North America.

The rasters are provided in the GeoTIFF format, a non-proprietary format which is compatible with most GIS applications. The individual rasters are ~30MB in size, and each zipfile (which contains a group of rasters) is about 1GB in size.

Two sets of variables are available for download. One consists of 33 biologically relevant variables, including seasonal and annual means, extremes, growing and chilling degree days, snow fall, potential evapotranspiration, and a number of drought indices. The second dataset consists of 48 monthly temperature and precipitation variables. See the metadata for complete description of variables.

These data are made available under a CC-BY 4.0 license. This license allows users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator.

Please report issues or questions via email to klamathconservation at gmail dot com with "Adaptwest" in the email subject line.

Model selection

Selecting scenarios for climate change impact and adaptation research is a complex task. We selected nine individual models to represent all major clusters of similar AOGCMs, as shown in the dendrogram below. A broader set of 13 AOGCMs were used to create the ensemble data. Ensemble projections are also provided here for a greater range of time periods and scenarios than are the projections from individual AOGCMs. We encourage you to explore further the commonalities and contrasts between projections from different AOGCMs using this web app developed by Colin Mahony of the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.

Click here to see a high resolution version of the dendrogram and array of thumbnails showing change in precipitation, mean daily maximum temperature, and mean daily minimum temperature for North America for 13 AOGCMS and the ensemble.

To cite the ensemble comparison and web app, see:

Mahony, C.R., T. Wang, A. Hamann, and A.J. Cannon. 2022. A global climate model ensemble for downscaled monthly climate normals over North America. International Journal of Climatology. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7566