TerraClimate: Monthly Climate and Climatic Water Balance for Global Terrestrial Surfaces
type: Dataset
comment: This dataset metadata was generated with the use of AI and reviewed by an expert. If you see any mistakes please file an issue on GitHub at https://github.com/earthcube/communityCollections/issues.
description: TerraClimate is a dataset of monthly climate and climatic water balance for global terrestrial land surfaces at ~4-km (1/24°) spatial resolution. TerraClimate v1.1 provides time-varying monthly climate fields from 1950-present using climatically aided interpolation: high-resolution climatological normals from WorldClim are combined with monthly anomalies from ERA5 reanalysis. TerraClimate also produces monthly surface water balance variables using a modified Thornthwaite-Mather climatic water-balance model incorporating precipitation, temperature, reference evapotranspiration, and soil water capacity. Additional future layers are provided for +2°C and +4°C global mean temperature futures, plus a counterfactual climate scenario, for pseudo-years 1950-2025. Data are distributed primarily as compressed NetCDF (NetCDF4) via THREDDS/OPeNDAP and related web services and are also available as a Google Earth Engine image collection.
is accessible for free: true
keywords: TerraClimate
keywords: monthly climate
keywords: climatic water balance
keywords: temperature
keywords: precipitation
keywords: vapor pressure
keywords: solar radiation
keywords: wind speed
keywords: evapotranspiration
keywords: runoff
keywords: soil moisture
keywords: snow water equivalent
keywords: PDSI
keywords: drought
keywords: WorldClim
keywords: ERA5
keywords: NetCDF4
keywords: THREDDS
keywords: OPeNDAP
keywords: NCSS
keywords: WMS
keywords: WCS
keywords: Google Earth Engine
creator: John T. Abatzoglou
  type: Person
  affiliation: University of Idaho
creator: S. Z. Dobrowski
creator: S. A. Parks
creator: K. C. Hegewisch
publisher: Climatology Lab
  type: Organization
  parent organization: University of Idaho
publisher: Northwest Knowledge Network (NKN)
  type: Organization
  description: Primary THREDDS hosting and web services for TerraClimate NetCDF distributions.
license: CC0 1.0 Universal (Public Domain Dedication)
encoding format: application/x-netcdf
encoding format: text/html
variable measured: Maximum temperature
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: C
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Minimum temperature
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: C
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Vapor pressure
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: kPa
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Precipitation accumulation
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: mm
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Downward surface shortwave radiation
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: W/m2
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Wind speed
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: m/s
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Reference evapotranspiration (ASCE Penman–Monteith)
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: mm
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Runoff
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: mm
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Actual evapotranspiration
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: mm
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Climate water deficit
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: mm
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Soil moisture (total column, end of month)
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: mm
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Snow water equivalent (end of month)
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: mm
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI)
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: unitless
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
variable measured: Vapor pressure deficit (VPD)
  type: PropertyValue
  unit text: kPa
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/..
  temporal coverage: 1950-01-01/2025-12-31
  spatial coverage: Global terrestrial land surfaces
    type: Place
    geo: GeoShape
      box: -180,-90 180,90
  temporal resolution: P1M
  spatial resolution: 1/24 degree (~4 km)
measurement technique: Climatically aided interpolation using high-resolution climatological normals (WorldClim) combined with monthly anomalies from ERA5 reanalysis
measurement technique: Modified Thornthwaite–Mather climatic water-balance model for derived water-balance variables
distribution: TerraClimate THREDDS catalog (all data, summaries, climatologies, and +2°C/+4°C scenarios)
  type: DataDownload
  description: Browsable THREDDS catalog containing annual/monthly NetCDF files and aggregated products, including summaries, climatologies, and climate futures (+2°C and +4°C).
  encoding format: text/html
distribution: TerraClimate THREDDS aggregated catalog (monthly aggregations by variable)
distribution: Example OP(e)NDAP access endpoint (aggregated monthly variable file)
distribution: Google Earth Engine ImageCollection: IDAHO_EPSCOR/TERRACLIMATE
citation: TerraClimate, a high-resolution global dataset of monthly climate and climatic water balance from 1958–2015
about: Climate
about: Climatology
about: Hydrology
about: Drought
about: Evapotranspiration
about: Water balance
about: Ecological and hydrological studies

PropertyValue
property ID: doi
value: 10.1038/sdata.2017.191

TerraClimate THREDDS aggregated catalog (monthly aggregations by variable)
type: DataDownload
description: THREDDS aggregated catalogs providing service endpoints (OPeNDAP/NetCDF Subset/NCSS/WMS/WCS) for monthly aggregations by variable.
encoding format: text/html

Example OP(e)NDAP access endpoint (aggregated monthly variable file)
type: DataDownload
description: Example OPeNDAP endpoint for an aggregated monthly variable NetCDF. Replace the variable/file identifier as needed for other variables and products available in the THREDDS aggregated catalog.
encoding format: application/x-netcdf

Google Earth Engine ImageCollection: IDAHO_EPSCOR/TERRACLIMATE
type: DataDownload
description: TerraClimate is also available as a Google Earth Engine ImageCollection for cloud-based analysis and visualization.
encoding format: text/html

TerraClimate, a high-resolution global dataset of monthly climate and climatic water balance from 1958–2015
type: ScholarlyArticle
author: J. T. Abatzoglou
author: S. Z. Dobrowski
author: S. A. Parks
author: K. C. Hegewisch
is part of: Scientific Data
date published: 2018

Climate
type: Thing

Climatology
type: Thing

Hydrology
type: Thing

Drought
type: Thing

Evapotranspiration
type: Thing

Water balance
type: Thing

Ecological and hydrological studies
type: Thing