Climate Scenarios for the conterminous United States at the 5 arc minute grid spatial scale using SRES scenarios A1B and A2 and PRISM climatology

Monthly totals of precipitation in millimeters (mm), monthly means of daily maximum air temperature in degrees Celsius (C), and monthly means of daily minimum air temperature (C) were developed at the 5 arc minute grid level for the conterminous United States (US). Also, included are computed monthly mean of daily potential evapotranspiration (mm) and mean grid elevation in meters (m). These data were developed from climate scenarios used in the Fourth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, specifically the A1B and the A2 SRES (Special Report on Emissions Scenarios) scenarios as modeled by these climate models: CGCM3.1MR, CSIRO-MK3.5, and MIROC3.2MR. The monthly change factors were developed from global model output and downscaled to the 5 arc minute spatial grid using ANUSPLIN. The 30 year mean climatology (1961-1990) was developed from PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) data at the 2.5 arc minute scale and aggregated to the 5 arc minute grid scale. The change factors were imposed upon the 30-year period (1961-1990) to develop the projections for each climate scenario.
The USDA Forest Service (USFS) produces a periodic assessment of the condition and trends of the Nation's renewable resources as required by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act (RPA) of 1974. This RPA Assessment provides a snapshot of current US forest and rangeland conditions and trends on all ownerships, identifies drivers of change, and projects 50 years into the future (//www.fs.fed.us/research/rpa/, accessed 07/06/2015). For 2010 RPA Assessment, an integrated modeling framework is being used in which the potential implications of climate change can be analyzed across some resource areas (Langner et al. 2012). The nature of the climate variables needed to address climate change impacts for these resource analyses in the 2010 RPA Assessment were determined to be monthly precipitation and temperature variables at the 5 arc minute grid level spatial scale.
Original metadata dated 08/02/2010. Minor modifications made to Attribute Accuracy section of metadata on 09/17/2010. Metadata modified on 02/22/2012 to adjust citation to include the addition of a DOI (digital object identifier) and update to the cross-reference section. Minor metadata updates on 02/20/2013. Metadata modified on 07/22/2015 to update cross-reference citations and other minor updates. Additional minor metadata updates on 12/13/2016.