ClimateWNA: A program to generate climate normal data for genecology and climate change studies in western North America

New update: 

 The reference paper for ClimateWNA has been available. 

 ClimateWNA web version launched!

Overview

ClimateWNA extracts and downscales PRISM (Daly et al. 2002) monthly data (2.5 x 2.5 arcmin) for the reference period (1961-1990), and calculates seasonal and annual climate variables for specific locations based on latitude, longitude and elevation (optional) for western North America, shown in the map on the right. This program also downscales and integrates historical (1901-2009) (Mitchell and Jones 2005;Mbogga et al. 2009) and future climate datasets (2020s, 2050s and 2080s) generated by various global circulation models. The output includes both directly calculated and derived climate variables. Methodologies are described in Wang et al. (2012).

ClimateWNA is an expanded version of ClimateBC version 3 with increased coverage, improved functionalities and added GCMs from the IPCC Fouth Assessments.

Contact: Tongli Wang

Download ClimateWNA version 4.62 ((version history)

Note: In case the program does not run on your computer, please download and install this library file and try it again.

If you have downloaded ClimateWNA v4.61, you only need to download the "ClimateWNA_v4.62.exe" file.

If the standard version (ClimateWNA_v4.62.exe) does not run on a managed computer and you have no administrative priviliges to install library files, please run the simplified version "ClimateWNA_v4.62_npb.exe" instead.

 There are 13 AR4 scenario/GCM runs included in this package. The driving files for a complete list of scenario/GCM runs can be downloaded from PCIC. Alternatively, the driving files for all average ensembles can be downloaded from Hamann's lab at the University of Alberta.

Web-based Program d Program

The web-based program is designed for peroidic users or those with program installation restrictions on their computers. This version will only process one location at a time.

References

Wang, T., Hamann, A., Spittlehouse, D., and Murdock, T. N. 2012. ClimateWNA - High-Resolution Spatial Climate Data for Western North America. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology 61: 16-29. The online version is available.

Wang, T., Hamann, A., Spittlehouse, D., and Aitken, S. N. 2006. Development of scale-free climate data for western Canada for use in resource management. International Journal of Climatology, 26(3):383-397.

Hamann, A. and Wang, T. 2005. Models of climatic normals for genecology and climate change studies in British Columbia. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 128: 211-221.

Daly. C., Gibson. W.P., Taylor, G.H., Johnson, G.L., Pasteris, P. 2002. A knowledge-based approach to the statistical mapping of climate. Climate Research, 22:99-113.

Mitchell, T.D. and Jones, P.D. 2005. An improved method of constructing a database of monthly climate observations and associated high-resolution grids. International Journal of Climatology, 25, 693-712.

Mbogga, M., A. Hamann, and T. Wang. 2009. Historical and projected climate data for natural resource management in western Canada. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 149:881-890.

GIS maps generated from ClimateWNA output for western North America

1. Mean annual temperature (MAT) and mean summer precipitation for 1961-1990 normal period.

2. High-resolution maps of mean annual temperature (MAT) in a mountain area of south Washington.