A high-resolution climate simulation dataset for the past 540 million years

Here we perform 55 snapshot simulations for the past 540 million years, with a 10-million-year interval, using the Community Earth System Model version 1.2.2 (CESM1.2.2). The climate simulation dataset includes global distributions of monthly surface temperatures and precipitation, with a 1° horizontal resolution of 0.9° × 1.25° in latitude and longitude. This open access climate dataset is useful for multidisciplinary research, such as paleoclimate, geology, geochemistry, and paleontology.

Climate variables include monthly surface temperatures (T; unit: °C; Not surface air temperatures), precipitation (P; unit: mm month–1), fraction of surface land area (LANDFRAC; unit: fraction), surface geopotential (PHIS; unit: m2 s–2), surface albedo (SALB; unit: fraction), and zonal (U; unit: m s–1) and meridional (V; unit: m s–1) winds at 1000 hPa, averaged over the last 60 model years. T, P, SALB, U, and V have the dimensions of 55 (simulation) × 12 (month) × 192 (latitude) × 288 (longitude). LANDFRAC and PHIS have the dimensions of 55 (simulation) × 192 (latitude) × 288 (longitude).