CMIP6 Climate Projections, model CESM2 (NCAR)

This dataset features a selection of future climate projections variables generated by the CESM2 Earth system model as part of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6).

The data covers the future simulation period 2015–2100 and includes four Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs):

SSP1-2.6: A low-emission "Sustainability" scenario emphasizing inclusive development and environmental stewardship, representing a pathway compatible with keeping global warming below 2°C.

SSP2-4.5: A "Middle-of-the-Road" scenario representing intermediate greenhouse gas emissions and historical patterns of development, with medium challenges to mitigation and adaptation.

SSP3-7.0: A high-emission "Regional Rivalry" scenario driven by resurgent nationalism and regional conflicts, resulting in slow economic growth and high challenges to both mitigation and adaptation.

SSP5-8.5: A very high-emission "Fossil-fueled Development" scenario driven by rapid, energy-intensive global growth, representing the upper boundary of plausible future pathways.

The data is distributed in a compressed Zarr format with near-zero precision loss. It features a daily temporal resolution and is structurally optimized for high-throughput regional assessments and time-series analysis.

Accessing this dataset requires a Zarr v3-compatible library (e.g., zarr-python >= 3.x). Python users can upgrade via pip install "zarr>3".

How to download the data

This Python snippet includes the token directly in the URL.

1import xarray as xr
2
3xr.open_dataset(
4    "https://edh:<your API key>@data.earthdatahub.destine.eu/cmip6/NCAR-CESM2-ScenarioMIP-r10i1p1f1-day-gn-v0.zarr",
5    chunks={},
6    engine="zarr",
7    zarr_format=3,
8)

Variables

Short Name	Units	Description
clt	%	Total Cloud Cover Percentage
pr	kg m-2 s-1	Precipitation
prc	kg m-2 s-1	Convective Precipitation
psl	Pa	Sea Level Pressure
sfcWind	m s-1	Daily-Mean Near-Surface Wind Speed
tas	K	Near-Surface Air Temperature