TerraClimate

TerraClimate is a dataset of monthly climate and climatic water balance for global terrestrial surfaces from 1958-2020. These data provide important inputs for ecological and hydrological studies at global scales that require high spatial resolution and time-varying data. All data have monthly temporal resolution and a 4-km (1/24th degree) spatial resolution.

About the data

Characteristic	Description
Function	Displays monthly climate datasets
Variable	Listed below
Geographic coverage	Global 90N-90S, 180W-180E
Spatial resolution	4-km at equator
Temporal resolution	monthly
Format	GeoTIFF
Unit	See list below

List datasets

Primary Climate Variables: Maximum temperature, minimum temperature, vapor pressure, precipitation accumulation, downward surface shortwave radiation, wind-speed.

Derived variables: Reference evapotranspiration (ASCE Penman-Montieth), Runoff, Actual Evapotranspiration, Climate Water Deficit, Soil Moisture, Snow Water Equivalent, Palmer Drought Severity Index, Vapor pressure deficit.

Name	Description	Units
aet	Actual Evapotranspiration, monthly total	mm
def	Climate Water Deficit, monthly total	mm
pet	Potential evapotranspiration, monthly total	mm
ppt	Precipitation, monthly total	mm
q	Runoff, monthly total	mm
soil	Soil Moisture, total column - at end of month	mm
srad	Downward surface shortwave radiation	W/m2
swe	Snow water equivalent - at end of month	mm
tmax	Max Temperature, average for month	°C
tmin	Min Temperature, average for month	°C
vap	Vapor pressure, average for month	kPa
ws	Wind speed, average for month	m/s
vpd	Vapor Pressure Deficit, average for month	kpa
PDSI	Palmer Drought Severity Index, at end of month	unitless

Data access

Individual years download link: http://thredds.northwestknowledge.net:8080/thredds/catalog/TERRACLIMATE_ALL/data/catalog.html.

Also available at DEC S3: s3://wbgdecinternal-ntl/climate/data/terraclimate.