Future Climate Datasets available on Biosecurity Commons 

Climate Change Projection Datasets (GCM, Resolution, Emission Scenarios) #future 

 

Future Climate datasets 

Future climate datasets are those which include forecasts about future climate scenarios based on current climate data. There are three types of future global warming scenarios, the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES), Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). Within these, there are a number of different forecasts which relate to future emission scenarios. Note that these alone do not forecast future climate variables such as temperature or rainfall. For more information about these, check out ourteaching video. 

In addition to the RCPs and SRESs, future climate datasets may include future climate models which incorporate the RCPs or the SRESs and current climate data. These models are known as general circulation models (GCM) and are used to forecast climate variables such as temperature and rainfall.  Across the world, there are 27 different research groups, that have constructed one or more general circulation models (GCM).  

 

Example: -  

Location, climate projection, emission scenario based on GCMresolutionyear 

as, 

Australia, Climate Projection, SRESB2 based on GISS-MODELER2.5 arcmin (~5km) - 2035 

More information about these can be found by following the link in the ‘Info’ button on the Dataset Collection. 

 

 

Emission Scenarios 

SRES 

Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) 

  

RCPs 

Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 

  

SSPs 

Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) 

  

 

Abbreviation 

Details 

Goddard Institute for Space Studies - ModelE, NASA 

Institut Pierre Simon Laplace - Coupled Model 4 

 

Parallel Climate Model 

 

 

 

Earth System Model 

 

 

Some Recommended Datasets have been showcased below: 

Australia, Climate Projection, SRESA2 based on NCAR-CCSM30, 2.5 arcmin (~5km) - 2035 

South-East Australia Future Climate, (2030), (SRES-A2-RR1) based on CCCMA3.1, 36 arcsec (~1km)  

South-East Australia Future Climate, (2070), (SRES-A2-RR2) based on CCCMA3.1, 36 arcsec (~1km) 

Australia, Climate Projection, RCP2.6 based on NCAR-PCM1, 2.5 arcmin (~5km) - 2045 

Australia, Climate Projection, RCP6.0 based on UKMO-HADGEM1, 2.5 arcmin (~5km) - 2075 

Australia, Climate Projection, RCP8.5 based on UKMO-HADGEM1, 2.5 arcmin (~5km) - 2025 

 

 

There are currently Six future climate databases available in the BCCVL’s Climate Change projection (Secondary Experiment). 

 

Name, Geographic extent and Database 

Sample Name and example 

Variables/ Layers 

Year Range 

Domain 

Australia Future climate data 

 
Australia 

Location1, Climate Projection, emission scenario2 based on GCM3resolution4-year5 

  

Example: 

Australia1, Climate Projection, SRESB22 based on GISS-MODELER32.5 arcmin (~5km)4 - 20355 

  

Bioclim 01: Annual mean temperature 

Bioclim 02: Mean Diurnal Range (Mean of monthly (max temp - min temp)) 

Bioclim 03: Isothermality (BIO2/BIO7) (* 100) 

Bioclim 04: Temperature Seasonality (standard deviation *100) 

Bioclim 05: Max Temperature of Warmest Month 

Bioclim 06: Min Temperature of Coldest Month 

Bioclim 07: Temperature Annual Range (BIO5-BIO6) 

Bioclim 08: Mean Temperature of Wettest Quarter 

Bioclim 09: Mean Temperature of Driest Quarter 

Bioclim 10: Mean Temperature of Warmest Quarter 

Bioclim 11: Mean Temperature of Coldest Quarter 

Bioclim 12: Annual Precipitation 

Bioclim 13: Precipitation of Wettest Month 

Bioclim 14: Precipitation of Driest Month 

Bioclim 15: Precipitation Seasonality (Coefficient of Variation) 

Bioclim 16: Precipitation of Wettest Quarter 

Bioclim 17: Precipitation of Driest Quarter 

Bioclim 18: Precipitation of Warmest Quarter 

Bioclim 19: Precipitation of Coldest Quarter