Alberta Government Climate Dataset (`ab-gov`)

Location of Dataset Files

The ab-gov dataset is located under the following directories accessible from multiple clusters:

# DRAC Graham HPC location
/project/rpp-kshook/Climate_Forcing_Data/meteorological-data/ab-gov # rpp-kshook allocation

# DRAC Graham HPC location
/project/rrg-alpie/data/meteorological-data/ab-gov # rrg-alpie allocation

# UCalgary ARC HPC location
/work/comphyd_lab/data/meteorological-data/ab-gov # comphyd_lab allocation

and the structure of the dataset yearly files (containing daily time-steps) is as following:

/path/to/dataset/dir/
├── BCC-CSM2-MR
│   ├── Downscaled_BCC-CSM2-MR_MBCDS_historical_pr_tmn_tmx_1950.nc
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   ├── Downscaled_BCC-CSM2-MR_MBCDS_historical_pr_tmn_tmx_2014.nc
│   ├── Downscaled_BCC-CSM2-MR_MBCDS_ssp126_pr_tmn_tmx_2015.nc
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   ├── Downscaled_BCC-CSM2-MR_MBCDS_ssp126_pr_tmn_tmx_2100.nc
│   ├── Downscaled_BCC-CSM2-MR_MBCDS_ssp370_pr_tmn_tmx_2015.nc
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   └── Downscaled_BCC-CSM2-MR_MBCDS_ssp126_pr_tmn_tmx_2100.nc
.
.
.
├── %model
│   ├── Downscaled_%{model}_MBCDS_historical_pr_tmn_tmx_1950.nc
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   ├── Downscaled_%{model}_MBCDS_historical_pr_tmn_tmx_2014.nc
│   ├── Downscaled_%{model}_MBCDS_ssp%%%_pr_tmn_tmx_2015.nc
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   ├── Downscaled_%{model}_MBCDS_%{scenario}_pr_tmn_tmx_%{year}.nc
│   ├── .
│   ├── .
│   └── Downscaled_%{model}_MBCDS_%{scenario}_pr_tmn_tmx_2100.nc
.
.
.
└── Hybrid-observation
    ├── Hybrid_Daily_BCABSK_US_pr_1950.nc
    ├── .
    ├── .
    ├── .
    ├── Hybrid_Daily_BCABSK_US_%{var}_%{year}.nc
    ├── .
    ├── .
    ├── .
    └── Hybrid_Daily_BCABSK_US_tmin_2019.nc

`ab-gov` Climate Models

This dataset offers outputs of various climate models. Table below summarizes the models and relevant keywords that could be used with the main datatool script:

#	Model (keyword for `--model`)	Scenarios (keyword for `--scenario`)
1	`BCC-CSM2-MR`	`historical`, `ssp126`, `ssp370`
2	`CNRM-CM6-1`	`historical`, `ssp126`, `ssp585`
3	`EC-Earth3-Veg`	`historical`, `ssp126`, `ssp370`
4	`GFDL-CM4`	`historical`, `ssp245`
5	`GFDL-ESM4`	`historical`, `ssp585`
6	`IPSL-CM6A-LR`	`historical`, `ssp126`, `ssp370`
7	`MRI-ESM2-0`	`historical`, `ssp370`, `ssp585`
8	`Hybrid-observation`	no keyword necessary

Coordinate Variables, Spatial and Temporal extents, and Time-stamps

Coordinate Variables

The coordinate variables of the ab-gov climate dataset files are lon and lat representing the longitude and latitude points, respectively.

Temporal Extents and Time-stamps

The time-stamps are already included in the original files. The dataset offers daily time-series of climate variables. The following table describes the temporal extent for senarios included in this dataset:

Model and Scenario Information
#	Model (keyword for `--model`)	Scenarios (keyword for `--scenario`)
1	`BCC-CSM2-MR`	`historical`, `ssp126`, `ssp370`
2	`CNRM-CM6-1`	`historical`, `ssp126`, `ssp585`
3	`EC-Earth3-Veg`	`historical`, `ssp126`, `ssp370`
4	`GFDL-CM4`	`historical`, `ssp245`
5	`GFDL-ESM4`	`historical`, `ssp585`
6	`IPSL-CM6A-LR`	`historical`, `ssp126`, `ssp370`
7	`MRI-ESM2-0`	`historical`, `ssp370`, `ssp585`
8	`Hybrid-observation`	no keyword necessary

Note

Values of the Temporal extent column are the limits for --start-date and --end-date options with the main datatool script.

Note

The Hybrid-observation model does not accept any --scenario values, however, it covers climate date from 1950-01-01 to 2020-01-01.

Dataset Variables

The NetCDF files of the dataset contain 3 variables. You may see a list of variables by using the ncdump -h command on one of the files:

foo@bar:~$ module load gcc
foo@bar:~$ module load cdo
foo@bar:~$ ncdump -h /path/to/ab-gov/BCC-CSM2-MR/Downscaled_BCC-CSM2-MR_MBCDS_ssp126_pr_tmn_tmx_2015.nc

Spatial Extent

The ab-gov dataset covers the entire Canadian province of Alberta (AB), in addition to northern parts of British Columbia (BC), western parts of Saskatchewan (SK), and northern parts of the American State of Montana (MT).

Short Description on `ab-gov` Climate Dataset Variables

This dataset only offers three climate variables: 1) daily precipitation time-series (surface level), 2) daily minimum temperature time-series (@1.5m, near-surface level), and 3) daily maximum temperature time-series (@1.5m, near-surface level). Since the frequency of this dataset is daily, and only offers precipitation and temperature values, therefore, it could be potentially used for forcing conceptual hydrological models that only need daily time-series of these variables.

The table below, summarizes the variables offered by this dataset:

Variable Information
Variable Name	Variable (keyword for `--variable`)	Unit	IPCC Abbreviation
maximum temperature	`tmax`	°C	tasmax
minimum temperature	`tmin`	°C	tasmin
precipitation	`pr`	mm/day	pr

Alberta Government Climate Dataset (ab-gov)