Supporting data for: Development of alternate climate divisions for Colorado based on gridded data

The official climate divisions for the contiguous United States are used for a wide range of purposes, including ongoing climate monitoring, and through NOAA's long-standing nClimDiv dataset. In Colorado, the climate divisions are based around the basins of the large rivers that flow out of the state. However, considering the complex topography and climate of the state, these divisions do not always represent key climate variations and changes. This study builds upon an approach first developed by Wolter and Allured to establish alternate climate divisions that more closely reflect observed climate variability across Colorado. Hierarchical cluster analysis is applied to gridded temperature and precipitation data (NOAA's nClimGrid) from 1950–2021 to identify areas with similar climate variability, then manual inspection is used to establish 11 divisions. These resulting divisions are being used in an updated state-level climate change assessment. The method is flexible and uses open-sour..., Because NOAA's nClimGrid data sometimes changes retrospectively (owing to late-arriving observations, etc.), the version of the data used for the cluster analysis (obtained in April 2022) is provided here., , # Supporting data for \"Development of alternate climate divisions for Colorado based on gridded data\"

NOAA's nClimGrid monthly temperature and precipitation dataset, originally obtained from [NOAA](https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds/catalog/data-in-development/nclimgrid/catalog.html) in April 2022 and spatially subset to Colorado.

## Description of the data and file structure

Two files are provided, the monthly average temperature and the monthly average precipitation, from 1895-2021 over Colorado. File format is netCDF; data are on a latitude/longitude grid with approximately 4-km horizontal grid spacing.

## Sharing/Access information

Data was derived from

美国本土官方气候分区被广泛应用于诸多场景，包括持续气候监测，该分区依托美国国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration，NOAA）长期运行的nClimDiv数据集实现落地。科罗拉多州的气候分区最初以流出该州的大型河流流域为划分依据，但鉴于该州复杂的地形与气候特征，这些分区并不总能准确反映关键的气候变异与变化情况。本研究基于Wolter与Allured首次提出的方法，构建了更贴合科罗拉多州实测气候变异性的替代气候分区。研究采用层级聚类分析，对1950年至2021年的网格化气温与降水数据（NOAA的nClimGrid）进行处理，以识别气候变异性相似的区域，随后通过人工校验最终划定11个气候分区。上述分区已被应用于最新的州级气候变化评估工作。本方法具备灵活性且采用开源（open-sour...）方案。由于NOAA的nClimGrid数据有时会因后期观测数据补入等原因进行回溯性更新，本研究用于聚类分析的数据版本（于2022年4月获取）已在此处提供。

# 《基于网格化数据构建科罗拉多州替代气候分区》的支撑数据

NOAA的nClimGrid逐月气温与降水数据集，于2022年4月从[NOAA](https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds/catalog/data-in-development/nclimgrid/catalog.html)获取，并经空间裁剪至科罗拉多州范围。

## 数据与文件结构说明

本次提供两份文件，分别涵盖1895年至2021年科罗拉多州的逐月平均气温与逐月平均降水数据。文件格式为netCDF；数据采用经纬网格，水平网格间距约为4千米。

## 共享与获取说明

本数据源自