Global Gridded Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Ice Concentration Boundary Conditions at 1 by 1 Degree Resolution for CMIP5, 1870-2012

This data set provides sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice concentration (i.e., percentage of area covered by sea ice) boundary conditions for model intercomparison projects (e.g., CMIP5 and AMIP2). It is based on the merged data product of observed monthly mean SST) and sea ice concentration from 1870 to 2012 at 1x1 degree resolution described by Hurrell et al., 2008). The boundary condition data sets are described by Taylor et al. (2000). SST and sea ice concentration boundary conditions are specified such that the monthly means computed from the model output precisely agree with the observations. The boundary conditions can be obtained in one of two ways: (1) complete a short form requesting that the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory prepare the boundary condition data sets specifically for the grid used by the user’s model or (2) obtain the boundary condition data sets at the highest resolution available (1x1 degree), and then interpolate to the model’s grid. The data are available in several formats: ASCII files; NetCDF files; and GRIB files. Cautions about using the second approach are explained at [http://www-pcmdi.llnl.gov/projects/amip/AMIP2EXPDSN/BCS/amip2bcs.php]. References: Hurrell, J.W., J.J. Hack, D. Shea, J.M. Caron, and J. Rosinski. 2008. A New Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Ice Boundary Dataset for the Community Atmosphere Model. J. Climate 21: 5145–5153. Taylor, K.E., D. Williamson, and F. Zwiers. 2000. The sea surface temperature and sea-ice concentration boundary conditions for AMIP II simulations, PCMDI Report No. 60, Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, 25 pp.