The IPCC Data Distribution Centre What Can the DDC Provide?

The IPCC Data Distribution Centre will provide four types of data or information. These will be made available to impacts researchers through a variety of media, including internet, CD-ROMs and tapes. There will be a DDC helpline for user enquiries.The four types of information will be:

1 - Observed global climate data sets. These will include a gridded terrestrial climatology of mean monthly data for 1961-90 on a 0.5º latitude/longitude grid, together with decadal anomalies from this mean for the period 1901-95. The variables will include precipitation, mean temperature, diurnal temperature range, frequency of wet days, frequency of ground frost days, vapour pressure, sunshine hours, cloud cover and wind speed. Pointers will also be provided to other relevant global climatologies, including complete land and ocean fields.

2 - Socio-economic scenario information. The socio-economic scenario data supplied will be taken from the assumptions behind both the IS92 emissions scenarios and the new emissions scenarios to emerge from the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES). The variables will include population, Gross National Product (GNP), energy use, land use, and other socio-economic indicators. Pointers will be provided to the emerging work of the SRES.

3 - Results from global climate model experiments. Results from climate change simulations performed by a number of climate modelling centres will be made available. The results will be extracted from transient, warm-start simulations which include both greenhouse gas only and greenhouse gas and sulphate aerosol forcings. Results from control simulations, ensembles and time-slice experiments will also be made available. Fields will be mean monthly changes and also full monthly time series; daily data will be available in some cases from the respective modelling centres. A core set of about eight surface climate variables will be supplied, together with a larger set of optional (and upper air) variables in some cases. Consistent scenarios of global sea-level change and CO2 concentrations will be provided.

4 - Guidance material. The preparation of the guidance material and documentation to accompany the scenario information will be coordinated by Dr. Timothy Carter of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and will include descriptions of the experiments, discussion of scenario uncertainties, guidance on their application in impacts studies, and reporting guidelines for research results. The Guidance Material will be published as a separate report and the DDC will place a version of this report both on the DDC web site and CD-ROM.