CMIP5 MC2 results - western USA

The goal of the Integrated Scenarios of the Future Northwest Environment project (P.Mote, lead PI) was to use the latest global climate models from CMIP5, and state of the science models of vegetation and hydrology, to describe as accurately as possible what the latest science says about the Northwest’s future climate, vegetation, and hydrology. Researchers in the project started by first evaluating the ability of CMIP5 models to simulate observed climate patterns in the Northwest region (Rupp et al. 2013). The researchers then used the best performing models to project likely future changes to Northwest’s climate, hydrology, and vegetation.

One product of this work is this series of freely available datasets that can be used to address specific management questions. These datasets be used to address specific management questions. These datasets are compatible with other hydrological and ecological modeling efforts and represent a next-generation climate change framework for land managers. Original netcdf data are available through the University of Idaho web site: http://climate.nkn.uidaho.edu/IntegratedScenarios/dataportal.php

On April 17, 2014, results from the Integrated Scenarios of the Future Northwest Project were presented at a daylong workshop in Portland, Oregon. David Patte and Stephen Zystra of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have made video from the workshop available. For a video explaining the results from the MC2 model, you can listen to Dominique Bachelet and Tim Sheehan on line:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHcxLmFePLs&feature=youtu.be

The dynamic global vegetation model MC2 was run with CMIP5 climate projections downscaled by John Abatzoglou (MACA method) and Katherine Hegewisch from U. Idaho.

Publications are being generated to document these results.