SNAP GeoNetwork
SNAP GeoNetwork (Scenarios Network for Alaska & Arctic Planning)
Scenarios Network for Alaska & Arctic Planning
Continents, countries, sea regions of the world.
Projected Monthly Vapor Pressure AR5 RCP 8.5
This set of files includes downscaled future projections of vapor pressure (units=hPa) at a 1km spatial scale. This data has been prepared as model input for the Integrated Ecosystem Model (IEM). There can be errors or serious limitations to the application of this data to other analyses. The data constitute the result of a downscaling procedure using 2 General Circulation Models (GCM) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) for RCP 8.5 scenario (2006-2100) monthly time series and Climatic Research Unit (CRU) TS2.0 (1961-1990,10 min spatial resolution) global climatology data. Please note that this data is used to fill in a gap in available data for the Integrated Ecosystem Model (IEM) and does not constitute a complete or precise measurement of this variable in all locations. RCPs: 8.5 Centers, Model Names, Versions, and Acronyms: National Center for Atmospheric Research,Community Earth System Model 4,NCAR-CCSM4 Meteorological Research Institute,Coupled General Circulation Model v3.0,MRI-CGCM3 Methods of creating downscaled relative humidity data: 1. The GCM input data are distributed as relative humidity along with the CRU CL 2.0, therefore no conversion procedure was necessary before beginning the downscaling procedure. 2. Proportional Anomalies generated using the 20c3m Historical relative humidity data 1961-1990 climatology and the projected relative humidity data (2006-2100). 3. These proportional anomalies are interpolated using a spline interpolation to a 10min resolution grid for downscaling with the CRU CL 2.0 Relative Humidity Data. 4. The GCM proportional anomalies are multiplied by month to the baseline CRU CL 2.0 10min relative humidity climatology for the period 1961-1990. Creating a downscaled relative humidity projected time series 2006-2100. 5. Due to the conversion procedure and the low quality of the input data to begin with, there were values that fell well outside of the range of acceptable relative humidity (meaning that there were values >100 percent), these values were re-set to a relative humidity of 95 at the suggestion of the researchers involved in the project. It is well known that the CRU data is spotty for Alaska and the Circumpolar North, due to a lack of weather stations and poor temporal coverage for those stations that exist. 6. The desired output resolution for the AIEM modeling project is 1km, so the newly created downscaled time series is resampled to this resolution using a standard bilinear interpolation resampling procedure. 7. The final step was to convert the downscaled relative humidity data to vapor pressure using the calculation below, which uses a downscaled temperature data set created utilizing the same downscaling procedure. EQUATION: saturated vapor pressure = 6.112 x exp(17.62 x temperature/(243.12+temperature)) vapor pressure = (relative humidity x saturated vapor pressure)/100
Due to the conversion procedure and the low quality of the input data to begin with, there were values that fell well outside of the range of acceptable relative humidity (meaning that there were values >100 percent), these values were re-set to a relative humidity of 95 at the suggestion of the researchers involved in the project. It is well known that the CRU data is spotty for Alaska and the Circumpolar North, due to a lack of weather stations and poor temporal coverage for those stations that exist.
These annual fire history grids (0=no fire, 1=fire) were produced directly from the BLM Alaska Fire Service database and the Canadian National Fire Database. They are simply a 1x1km raster representation of their fire history polygon database that can be obtained from: http://fire.ak.blm.gov/predsvcs/maps.php http://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/datamart Note, fire history data is very unreliable before ~1950 in Alaska. Fires may have been recorded in a given year, but that does not mean all fires that occurred were successfully recorded. This data was assembled from every recorded fire that has been entered into Alaska and Canadian databases. This results in several years containing no fires at all.
Annual ALFRESCO Model Outputs with Historical Fire Scars
These GeoTIFFs include annual spatial representations of the following variables produced through summarization of ALFRESCO model outputs across 200 replicates: Flammability: likelihood of a pixel to burn across 200 replicates Modal vegetation type: statistical mode of vegetation type across 200 replicates Percent vegetation type: percent of each possible vegetation type across 200 replicates These outputs were derived from AR5/CMIP5 climate inputs, historical fire inputs from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC), and several fire management options (FMO) inputs.
Projected Monthly Temperature Products - 10 min CMIP5/AR5
This set of files includes downscaled projected estimates of monthly temperature (in degrees Celsius, no unit conversion necessary) from 2006-2300* at 15km x 15km spatial resolution. They include data for Alaska and Western Canada. Each set of files originates from one of five top ranked global circulation models from the CMIP5/AR5 models and RCPs, or is calculated as a 5 Model Average. *Some datasets from the five models used in modeling work by SNAP only have data going out to 2100. This metadata record serves to describe all of these models outputs for the full length of future time available. The downscaling process utilizes CRU CL v. 2.1 climatological datasets from 1961-1990 as the baseline for the Delta Downscaling method.
Projected Decadal Averages of Monthly Snowfall Equivalent 771m CMIP5/AR5
These files include downscaled projections of decadal average monthly snowfall (water) equivalent (SWE) in millimeters for each month of the decades from 2010-2019 to 2090-2099 at 771 x 771 m spatial resolution. Each file represents a decadal average monthly mean. Output is available for the NCAR-CCSM4, GFDL-CM3, GISS-E2-R, IPSL-CM5A-LR, and MRI-CGCM3 models and three emissions scenarios (RCP 4.5, RCP 6.0 and RCP 8.5). SWE estimates were produced by multiplying snow-day fraction ("fs") by decadal average monthly precipitation ("Pr") such that SWE = (fs * Pr) / 100
Historical and Projected Hourly Wind Data for Alaskan Communities, 1980-2099
This dataset consists of observed and modeled wind data at an hourly temporal resolution for 67 communities in Alaska. Hourly ASOS/AWOS wind data (speed and direction) available via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet AK ASOS network were accessed and assessed for completeness, and 67 of those stations were determined to be sufficiently complete for climatological analysis. Those data were cleaned to produce regular hourly data, and adjusted via a combination of changepoint analysis and quantile mapping to correct for potential changes in sensor location and height. Historical (ERA-Interim reanalysis) and projected (GFDL-CM3 and NCAR-CCSM4) outputs from a dynamical downscaling effort were extracted at pixels intersecting the chosen communities and were bias-corrected using the cleaned station data. This bias-corrected historical and projected data along with cleaned station data make up the entirety of this dataset as a collection of CSV files, for each combination of community and origin (station or model name).
Historical and Projected Decadal Average Monthly Snowfall Equivalent and the Ratio of Snowfall Equivalent to Precipitation 771m CMIP5/AR5/CRU TS3.1
These files include climatological summaries of downscaled historical and projected decadal average monthly snowfall (i.e. snow-water) equivalent (SWE) in millimeters, the ratio of snowfall equivalent to precipitation, and future change in snowfall for October-March at 771-meter spatial resolution across the state of Alaska. Data are for summary October to March Alaska climatologies for: 1) historical and future snowfall equivalent (SWE), produced by multiplying snow-day fraction by decadal average monthly precipitation and summing over 6 months from October to March to estimate the total SWE on April 1. 2) historical and future ratio of SWE to precipitation (SFEtoP), SFEtoP is the ratio of October to March total SWE to October to March total precipitation is calculated as total SWE / total precipitation (expressed as percent, 0-100). 3) future change in snowfall equivalent relative to historical ("dSWE"), calculated as (SWE future – SWE historical) / SWE historical (no units, multiply by 100 to obtain percent). The historical reference period is 1970-1999, (file name “H70.99”), calculated from downscaled CRU TS 3.1 data Future climatologies (both RCP 4.5 and 8.5) are for: - 2020s (2010-2039) - 2050s (2040-2069) - 2080s (2070-2099) across 5 GCMs: NCAR-CCSM4, GFDL-CM3, GISS-E2-R, IPSL-CM5, and MRI-CGCM3 as well as a 5-model mean (“5MM”). Following Elsner et al. (2010), <0.1 is rain dominated, 0.1 < SFE:P < 0.4 is transitional, and >0.4 is snow dominated. Only calculated for historical reference climatology 1970-1999 and three future climatologies: 2010-2039, 2040-2069, and 2070-2090, with each climatology representing the mean of three decadal averages from the available decadal grids. Snow fraction data used can be found here: http://ckan.snap.uaf.edu/dataset/projected-decadal-averages-of-monthly-snow-day-fraction-771m-cmip5-ar5 http://ckan.snap.uaf.edu/dataset/historical-decadal-averages-of-monthly-snow-day-fraction-771m-cru-ts3-0-3-1 Precipitation data used can be found here: http://ckan.snap.uaf.edu/dataset/projected-monthly-and-derived-precipitation-products-771m-cmip5-ar5 http://ckan.snap.uaf.edu/dataset/historical-monthly-and-derived-precipitation-products-771m-cru-ts * Note: In Littell et al. 2018, "SWE" is referred to as "SFE", and "SFEtoP" as "SFE:P"
Projected Monthly and Derived Temperature Products - 771m CMIP5/AR5
This set of files includes downscaled projections of monthly means, and derived annual, seasonal, and decadal means of monthly mean temperatures (in degrees Celsius, no unit conversion necessary) from Jan 2006 - Dec 2100 at 771x771 meter spatial resolution. For seasonal means, the four seasons are referred to by the first letter of 3 months making up that season: * `JJA`: summer (June, July, August) * `SON`: fall (September, October, November) * `DJF`: winter (December, January, February) * `MAM`: spring (March, April, May) The downscaling process utilizes PRISM climatological datasets from 1971-2000. Each set of files originates from one of five top-ranked global circulation models from the CMIP5/AR5 models and RCPs or is calculated as a 5 Model Average.
PRISM precipitation climatologies for Alaska
This data set consists of PRSIM precipitation climatologies for Alaska in GeoTIFF format. The files in this data set are available from the PRISM Climate Group as text files but have been processed into GeoTIFFs. These are monthly climatologies with a resolution of 771m. Units are millimeters. There are multiple climatological periods currently available through PRISM, but only one is currently available through SNAP in this dataset: 1971-2000.
Chukchi Sea Daily Landfast Sea Ice Extent October 1996 – July 2023
A dataset of landfast ice extent along the Alaska coast of the Chukchi Sea and adjacent waters in Russia, spanning the winters of 1996-2023. Landfast ice extent is defined as the area between the coast and the seaward landfast ice edge (SLIE), meaning that small areas of open water than can form at the coast springtime will not be represented. Spatial resolution is 100 m. Compilation of the dataset is described in detail by Mahoney et al (2024). In brief, it is derived from three sources: From 1996-2008, the dataset is derived from analysis of sequential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from the RadarSAT and EnviSAT constellations, as described by Mahoney et al (2014); From 2008-2023, the data represent an average landfast extent identified in ice charts from the U.S. National Weather Service Alaska Sea Ice Program (ASIP) and the U.S. National Ice Center (NIC). Within each GeoTIFF file there are 5 different pixel values representing different characteristics: 0 - Not Landfast Ice 32 - Coast Vector Shadow 64 - Out of Bounds 128 - Land 255 - Landfast ice The file naming convention is as follows: chukchi_$YYYYMMDD_$source_slie.tif For example, the name chukchi_20170302_asip_and_nic_average_slie.tif indicates the file represents data for March 2, 2017 and that the data is derived from an average of the ASIP and NIC data sources. These data were updated on August 21, 2025 to rectify the omission of some NIC chart data sources for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.
McAfee et al., 2013: Statistically downscaled projections of snow/rain partitioning for Alaska
Littell et al., 2018: Alaska Snowpack Response to Climate Change: Statewide Snowfall Equivalent and Snowpack Water Scenarios
URL to web-accessible folder containing downloads for this data set.
Chukchi Sea Landfast Sea Ice: Daily Seaward Landfast Ice Edge (SLIE) Extent October 1996-July 2023
Mahoney AR, Bieniek P, Danielson S, Einhorn AH, Hedstrom KS, Jones JM, Klenz, T. (University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK). 2024. Landfast ice climatology within the Arctic OCS. Anchorage (AK): U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. 121 p. Report No.: OCS Study BOEM 2024-034
Mahoney, A. R., H. Eicken, A. G. Gaylord, and R. Gens (2014), Landfast sea ice extent in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas: The annual cycle and decadal variability, Cold Reg. Sci. Tech., 103(0), 41-56, doi:
Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning