These simulation data are taken from aquaplanet and "real-Earth" configurations of the NCAR Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4) and Community Earth System Model version 1.2.2 (hereafter, “CESM1”). The Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) is the atmospheric component of the climate model. Each file contains only a single data field (plus supporting data) for a single simulation. Only two primary data fields are provided in this collection: daily averaged total precipitation (PRECT) and the 31-day running average of vertical pressure velocity at 500 hPa (OMEGA500). All data are on CAM’s nominal 1-deg or 2-deg finite volume grid. PRECT data are concatenated from native daily averaged CAM history files; PRECT data on the native 1-deg grid are also interpolated to the 2-deg grid using area-conservative remapping (“coarse2deg” file name identifier). For the OMEGA500 data (only provided on the 1-deg grid), a sliding 31-day unweighted running average filter is applied in time to the concatenated native history files. The collection contains output from both fixed-SST (~5 yr) and slab-ocean (10-yr) aquaplanet runs that have been allowed to equilibrate, as well as 10 yr each of data from standard (real-Earth) CCSM4 and CESM1 simulations following the AMIP-II protocol. The datasets are intended to be examined to assess precipitation statistics; full simulation details and analysis results can be found in Benedict et al. (2017, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst.).
File naming convention:
“Real-Earth” CCSM4 uses identifier “CCSM4” and CESM1 uses identifier “FAMIPC5”. Fixed-SST aquaplanet data files use prefix “FCxAQUAP” (where x corresponds to the CAM physics version), while slab-ocean aquaplanet data files use prefix “CAMxAQUASOM” (where x can be either “4” or “53” = 5.3 corresponding to the CAM physics version). Grid resolution identifiers are either “1deg” or “2deg”, with “1deg” also possibly having the additional identifier “coarse2deg” to indicate remapping as noted above. Approximate data time spans are indicated by file name identifier “yyyymmdd_to_yyyymmdd”, and the primary file variable is indicated by either “PRECT” or “OMEGA500runAvg”.
