CCAFS-CMIP5 Delta Method Downscaling database

We apply a downscaling method, called Delta Method, based on thin plate spline spatial interpolation of anomalies (deltas) of original GCM outputs. Anomalies are interpolated between GCM cell centroids and are then applied to a baseline climate given by a high resolution surface (i.e. WorldClim 1.4 , http://www.worldclim.org/). The process consists in the following steps: 1) Calculation of 30-year averages for present day simulations and 4 future periods; (2) calculation of anomalies as the absolute difference between future and present day values in temperatures (minimum and maximum) and proportional differences in total precipitation; (3) interpolation of these anomalies using centroids of GCM cells as points for interpolation; and (4) addition of the interpolated surfaces to the current climates from WorldClim

WorldClim and full GCM timeseries are freely available in the internet, whilst all other calculations are carried out by means of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. Used formats are NetCDF (for GCM outputs), ESRI-GRID (for WorldClim and final downscaled data), and ESRI-ASCII grids for providing standard and easy-of-use outputs to potential users of the data.

CCAFS and its partners have processed this data to provide seamless continuous future climate surfaces. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Users should acknowledge CCAFS as the source used in the creation of any reports, publications, new data sets, derived products, or services resulting from the use of this data set.