Climate Data for Political Areas: Country-oriented Global Climate Database

This database contains three data sets:

(1) TYN CY 1.1 -- This data set provides a summary of the climate of the 20th century for 289 countries and territories (Mitchell et al., 2003). The primary product is the average climate in the recent past (1961-1990), which is supplied for nine climate variables. A secondary product is the set of year-by-year variations over the 20th century (1901-2000), which is supplied for seven climate variables. Each product contains a value for: each calendar month (January-December); each climatic season (March-May, June-August, September-November, December-February); and the calendar year (January-December). The climate variables are: daily minimum temperature (tmn), daily maximum temperature (tmx), diurnal temperature range (dtr), daily mean temperature (tmp), precipitation total (pre), frost day frequency (frs), wet day frequency (wet), vapor pressure (vap), and cloud cover (cld).

(2) TYN CY 2.0 -- This data set provides a summary of some of the possible changes in climate that may be experienced during the 21st century in 289 countries and territories (Mitchell et al., 2002). Two variables are included: temperature change (degrees Celsius) and precipitation change (percentage). Two seasons are included: December-February (DJF) and June-August (JJA). Two emissions scenarios are included: A2 and B2 from the IPCC SRES scenarios (see IPCC or IPCC-DDC websites).

(3) TYN CY 3.0 -- This data set provides a summary of some of the possible changes in climate that may be experienced during the 21st century in 289 countries and territories (Mitchell et al, 2003). There are five climate variables included (daily temperature, diurnal temperature, precipitation, vapor pressure, and cloud cover). Information is provided for the year, all 12 calendar months, and four seasons. Four state-of-the-art climate models were used in this assessment: CGCM2, CSIRO2, PCM, HadCM3. Four emissions scenarios were considered: A1FI, A2, B2, B1 from the IPCC SRES scenarios. The 16 combinations of climate model and emission scenario included here covers 93% of the possible range of global climate change envisaged in the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the IPCC.

Note: These data sets were produced by Dr. Timothy D. Mitchell when he was at the CRU Tyndall Centre.

References:

Mitchell, T. D., T. R. Carter, P. D. Jones, M. Hulme, and M. New. 2003. A comprehensive set of high-resolution grids of monthly climate for Europe and the globe: the observed record (1901-2000) and 16 scenarios (2001-2100). Journal of Climate: submitted.

Mitchell, T. D., M. Hulme, and M. New. 2002. Climate data for political areas. Area 34: 109-112.