Canadian Forest Service Publications
North American historical monthly spatial climate dataset, MacDonald, H., McKenney, D.W., Papadopol, P. et al. 1901–2016. Sci Data 7, 411 (2020).
Year: 2020
Issued by: Great Lakes Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 40359
Language: English
Series: Miscellaneous Report (GLFC - Sault Ste. Marie)
Availability: PDF (download)
Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-020-00737-2
† This site may require a fee
Plain Language Summary
The purpose of the paper is to present historical monthly spatial climate models from 1901-2016 using the North American dataset version “j” from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Centres for Environmental Information (NCEI). Mean monthly minimum/maximum temperature and total precipitation were modelled for continental United States and Canada. Compared to similar spatial models published in 2006 by Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN), the current models show substantially less error. The Root GCV, a measure of the predictive error of the surfaces akin to a spatially averaged standard error estimate, averaged 1.1°C for Version “j” maximum temperature models compared to 1.5°C for the 2006 models. Root GCVs for precipitation ranged between 10-20% for the current models compared to 20-40% for the 2006 models. The monthly historical spatial models presented in this manuscript will be of interest to researchers and practitioners that need historical estimates of temperature or precipitation variables for points or regions in North America. Such temperature and precipitation estimates are inputs to species richness, plant hardiness, forest productivity, forest cover change, carbon, water budget, and species distribution models, as well as in determining representativeness of different locations for conservation research.
