Climate Normals for Last Glacial Maximum and Modern (1975-2005), Alaska

This dataset provides two 30-year climate normal data products for conditions during the last glacial maximum (LGM; ~18,000 years ago) and a modern time period (1975-2005) for the entire state of Alaska. The first set of products are monthly climate variable averages at 60 m resolution, including: minimum, maximum, and average temperatures, total precipitation, total surface radiation, rain, snow, potential evapotranspiration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (AET), and water deficit. The second set of products are annual summary climate variable averages for the same variables (excepting average temperature and rain) at 60m, 120m, 240m, 800m, 1km, 2km, 3km, 4km, 5km, 10km and 12km resolutions. The 30-year climate normal monthly averages were derived by topographically downscaling climate variables from existing coarse-resolution general circulation model outputs combined with local weather station data and digital surface models for Alaska for both the LGM and modern time periods at 60 m resolution. From this baseline, monthly averages for total surface radiation, rain, snow, potential evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration, and water deficit were also modeled. The annual averages are coarser resolution upsampled versions of the 60 m resolution monthly average data.