A simulated Northern Hemisphere terrestrial climate dataset for the past 60,000 years

Edward Armstrong,Paul J Valdes,Peter O Hopcroft

doi:10.1038/s41597-019-0277-1

Edward Armstrong, Paul J Valdes + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0277-1

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Journal: Scientific Data	Publication Date: Nov 7, 2019
Citations: 36	License type: open-access

Affiliation: University of Bristol, University of Birmingham

Abstract

We present a continuous land-based climate reconstruction dataset extending back 60 kyr from 0 BP (1950) at 0.5° resolution on a monthly timestep for 0°N to 90°N. It has been generated from 42 discrete snapshot simulations using the HadCM3B-M2.1 coupled general circulation model. We incorporate Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) and Heinrich events to represent millennial scale variability, based on a temperature reconstruction from Greenland ice-cores, with a spatial fingerprint based on a freshwater hosing simulation with HadCM3B-M2.1. Interannual variability is also added and derived from the initial snapshot simulations. Model output has been downscaled to 0.5° resolution (using simple bilinear interpolation) and bias corrected. Here we present surface air temperature, precipitation, incoming shortwave energy, minimum monthly temperature, snow depth, wind chill and number of rainy days per month. This is one of the first open access climate datasets of this kind and can be used to study the impact of millennial to orbital-scale climate change on terrestrial greenhouse gas cycling, northern extra-tropical vegetation, and megaflora and megafauna population dynamics.

Highlights

Background & SummaryThe last glacial period witnessed significant fluctuations in global climate, in the long term driven predominantly by orbital changes but with additional more rapid millennial scale fluctuations
We present a continuous land-based climate reconstruction dataset extending back 60 kyr from 0 before present (BP)
Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) and Heinrich events to represent millennial scale variability, based on a temperature reconstruction from Greenland ice-cores, with a spatial fingerprint based on a freshwater hosing simulation with Hadley Centre Coupled Model 3 Bristol (HadCM3B)-M2.1

Summary

Background & Summary

The last glacial period witnessed significant fluctuations in global climate, in the long term driven predominantly by orbital changes but with additional more rapid millennial scale fluctuations. The mechanisms responsible for these events are not fully understood, they are thought to be driven by abrupt changes in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) strength, possibly due to perturbations in the freshwater budget due to the melting of icebergs and sea-ice fluctuations[28,29] Imprinted on these millennial scale fluctuations is higher frequency inter/intra-annual and seasonal variability, including internal climate oscillations, driven by the different response times and non-linear interactions within the climate system. Millennial scale variability is added by incorporating the spatial results of hosing experiments, which simulate a change in the strength of the AMOC analogous to a D-O event This is combined with a temperature reconstruction from Greenland ice-core derived from nitrogen isotopes. The data has been downscaled to 0.5° resolution and bias corrected using the Climate Research Unit (CRU) data[32]

Methods

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