Paleoclimate: simulations and reconstructions of past climates
Climatologies of past climates from the PMIP model intercomparisons, CLIMBER-3α and CLIMBER-X (stadial and interstadial climates, with the transient output of their simulation), and gridded reconstructions of the deglacial climate of Greenland, remapped onto the grids of the domains. Paleoclimate is a thematic dataset made by remapping (see Gridded data): its products are defined in Paleoclimate/remap.toml.
Products
| Product | Source | Fields | Domains |
|---|---|---|---|
Paleoclimate-PMIP3-<model>-<experiment> |
PMIP3/CMIP5 (Braconnot et al., 2012, doi:10.1038/nclimate1456): climatologies of the PMIP variability database (CVDP), 8 models, experiments lgm, midHolocene, piControl | t2m_ann, t2m_djf, t2m_jja, sst_ann (degC), pr_ann, pr_djf, pr_jja (mm d-1); z_srf (m), f_land, f_ice of the model and experiment (CMIP5 fixed fields; not f_ice of FGOALS-g2 lgm, z_srf and f_land of MPI-ESM-P lgm) |
Antarctica, GreenlandPaleo, Greenland, North, Laurentide, Eurasia, Global |
Paleoclimate-PMIP3-<experiment>-mean, Paleoclimate-PMIP3-<experiment>-stdev |
Ensemble mean and standard deviation of the 8 PMIP3 models, for each experiment | as the models, with n_<field>, the number of models with a value |
as above |
Paleoclimate-PMIP3-lgm-boundary-conditions |
PMIP3 LGM boundary conditions (Abe-Ouchi et al., 2015, doi:10.5194/gmd-8-3621-2015) | dz_srf (m), f_land, f_ice |
as above |
Paleoclimate-PMIP4-<model>-<experiment> |
PMIP4/CMIP6 (Kageyama et al., 2018, doi:10.5194/gmd-11-1033-2018): climatologies of the last 100 years, 4 models (AWI-ESM-1-1-LR, INM-CM4-8, MIROC-ES2L, MPI-ESM1-2-LR), experiments lgm, midHolocene, piControl | t2m_*, pr_* (annual, DJF, JJA, monthly), z_srf, f_land, f_ice |
as above |
Paleoclimate-PMIP4-<experiment>-mean, Paleoclimate-PMIP4-<experiment>-stdev |
Ensemble mean and standard deviation of the 4 PMIP4 models, for each experiment | as the models, with n_<field> |
as above |
Paleoclimate-CLIMBER3a-<simulation>, Paleoclimate-CLIMBER3a-<simulation>-ocean |
CLIMBER-3α (Montoya and Levermann, 2008, doi:10.1029/2007GL032560): present day (present) and LGM with wind stress x 1.7, weak and strong Atlantic overturning (lgm_1p7weak, lgm_1p7strong); atmosphere at 22.5° x 7.5°, ocean at 3.75° |
atmosphere: t2m_ann, t2m_jja (degC), pr_ann (mm d-1), z_srf (m), f_land of the model; ocean: to (potential temperature, degC) on depth, mask_ocn |
Antarctica, GreenlandPaleo, Greenland, North, Laurentide, Eurasia, Global |
Paleoclimate-CLIMBERX-Willeit2025-<state>, Paleoclimate-CLIMBERX-Willeit2025-<state>-ocean |
CLIMBER-X (Willeit et al., 2025, doi:10.1038/s41561-025-01814-0), 5°: climate states of the reference simulation under mid-glacial (MIS3) conditions, interstadial, stadial and heinrich (Heinrich stadial), means of the model years of each state (classified by the Atlantic overturning, see ../Willeit2025_climberx/README.md), and the preindustrial control piControl |
t2m_*, sst_* (degC), pr_* (mm d-1), f_sic_*, monthly (_mon) and annual (_ann), with their anomalies relative to piControl (*_anom), z_srf, f_land, f_ice of the model; ocean: to (degC), so (psu) on depth, with to_anom, so_anom, mask_ocn |
Antarctica, GreenlandPaleo, Greenland, North, Laurentide, Eurasia, Global |
Paleoclimate-CLIMBERX-Willeit2025-<run>-transient, ...-<run>-transient-ocean |
The same simulations, HS4 (40-32 ka of the model calendar) and piControl: their 2D output (one model year every 100 years, every 1000 years for piControl), on the model grid |
t2m_mon, pr_mon, sst_mon, f_sic_mon on month and time, state of each record; annual series on time_ann (amoc, t2m_glob, t2m_grl, co2, hosing, sic_ext_nh, …); ocean: to, so on depth and time, the Atlantic overturning streamfunction moc_atl |
Global (GLOBAL-5DEG only) |
Paleoclimate-Buizert2018, Paleoclimate-Buizert2018-1981-2010 |
Buizert et al. (2018): Greenland monthly temperature and precipitation, 22 ka to present, decadal, doi:10.25921/psvs-yg80; and its 1981-2010 baseline | tas (K), pr (kg m-2 s-1) on month and time (years ago), z_srf |
Greenland |
Paleoclimate-Badgeley2020 |
Badgeley et al. (2020): Greenland temperature and precipitation from data assimilation, 20 ka to present, 50-year means, doi:10.18739/A2599Z26M | tas_anom (K), pr_frac, pr_frac_low, pr_frac_high (relative to 1850-2000 CE) on time (years ago) |
Greenland |
On the mountain-glacier domains (Pyrenees, Patagonia, Himalaya), on their 2 km grid: the ensemble means and standard deviations of PMIP3 and PMIP4 (-mean, -stdev; not the members); their nests and crops get these by cropping (see Nests and crops).
The model output is on the models’ own grids (some Gaussian), remapped conservatively. Products are made on grids of 8 km and coarser (16 km for the Buizert et al. time series, 32 km for CLIMBER-3α and CLIMBER-X, which are also on global grids of 1° and coarser): finer grids add no information to these sources, and models can remap them online. Each file also has f_valid, the fraction of each cell covered by the source. The ensemble products are made from the files of the models on each grid: in each cell, the mean or the standard deviation (population) of the models with a value there (e.g. sst_ann only over the ocean of each model), n_<field> models.
Precision
The float fields are rounded on output to a tolerance by kind (see Precision and file sizes): temperatures to 0.01 K; precipitation to 1%; z_srf and dz_srf to 0.01 m; fractions (f_*, pr_frac*) to 0.001. The ensemble products are computed from the rounded products of their members and rounded again.
Licences
| Source | Licence |
|---|---|
| PMIP3 (CVDP) | CMIP5 terms of use (non-commercial) and NCAR CVDP (acknowledge the CVDP, cite the models) |
| PMIP3 LGM boundary conditions | None stated |
| PMIP4 (CMIP6) | CC BY-SA 4.0 (the four models): releases must keep the ShareAlike terms |
| Buizert et al. (2018) | NOAA NCEI open data, no licence stated; cite the paper and the data DOI |
| Badgeley et al. (2020) | CC0 1.0 (Arctic Data Center) |
| CLIMBER-3α (Montoya and Levermann, 2008) | CC BY 4.0 (github.com/fesmc/Montoya2008-CLIMBER3a); cite Montoya and Levermann (2008) and Montoya et al. (2005) |
| CLIMBER-X (Willeit et al., 2025) | CC BY 4.0 (output provided by M. Willeit); cite Willeit et al. (2025) and Willeit et al. (2022) |
Not included
Large model output, such as the transient TraCE-21ka simulation, is not remapped here: models should read it with online remapping.
Making the dataset
julia -t 8 fesmdata.jl remap PaleoclimateDownloads
Download the files with fesmdata.jl into $FESMDATA_PRODUCTS/<Domain>/<GRID>/ (see Download), or one by one from the links below. All released datasets are listed under Products.
Global
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 245 files, 369.8 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate Global # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate GLOBAL-5DEG # one grid
GLOBAL-0.5DEG 52 files, 202.8 MB
GLOBAL-1DEG 63 files, 97.8 MB
GLOBAL-2DEG 63 files, 33.2 MB
GLOBAL-5DEG 67 files, 36.1 MB
Antarctica
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 112 files, 165.6 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate Antarctica # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate ANT-32KM # one grid
ANT-16KM 49 files, 109.6 MB
ANT-32KM 63 files, 55.9 MB
GreenlandPaleo
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 112 files, 42.6 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate GreenlandPaleo # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate GRL-PAL-32KM # one grid
GRL-PAL-16KM 49 files, 27.2 MB
GRL-PAL-32KM 63 files, 15.4 MB
Greenland
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 7 files, 833.4 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate Greenland # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate GRL-32KM # one grid
GRL-8KM 1 files, 1.4 MB
| GRL-8KM_Paleoclimate-Buizert2018-1981-2010.nc | 1.4 MB |
GRL-16KM 3 files, 657.8 MB
| GRL-16KM_Paleoclimate-Badgeley2020.nc | 15.3 MB |
| GRL-16KM_Paleoclimate-Buizert2018-1981-2010.nc | 342.6 kB |
| GRL-16KM_Paleoclimate-Buizert2018.nc | 642.1 MB |
GRL-32KM 3 files, 174.2 MB
| GRL-32KM_Paleoclimate-Badgeley2020.nc | 5.6 MB |
| GRL-32KM_Paleoclimate-Buizert2018-1981-2010.nc | 123.7 kB |
| GRL-32KM_Paleoclimate-Buizert2018.nc | 168.5 MB |
North
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 112 files, 315.0 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate North # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate NH-32KM # one grid
NH-16KM 49 files, 212.3 MB
NH-32KM 63 files, 102.7 MB
Pyrenees
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 12 files, 1.9 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate Pyrenees # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate PYR-2KM # one grid
PYR-2KM 12 files, 1.9 MB
Patagonia
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 12 files, 46.6 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate Patagonia # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate PAT-2KM # one grid
PAT-2KM 12 files, 46.6 MB
Alps
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 12 files, 14.0 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate Alps # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate ALP-2KM # one grid
ALP-2KM 12 files, 14.0 MB
Himalaya
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 12 files, 107.5 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate Himalaya # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate HIM-2KM # one grid
HIM-2KM 12 files, 107.5 MB
Svalbard
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 12 files, 17.9 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate Svalbard # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate SVB-2KM # one grid
SVB-2KM 12 files, 17.9 MB
NewZealand
Version 2.6.1 (2026-10-16, packages). 12 files, 11.1 MB.
julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate NewZealand # all grids julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate NZ-2KM # one grid
NZ-2KM 12 files, 11.1 MB
Nests and crops
These nests and crops get products of Paleoclimate by cropping those of the domain (or crop) that contains them: fetch downloads these and cuts them (see Nests and crops), e.g. julia fesmdata.jl fetch Paleoclimate Amery.
| Nest or crop | Cut from | Products |
|---|---|---|
| Amery | Antarctica | 63 |
| Amundsen | Antarctica | 63 |
| CordilleraDarwin | Patagonia | 12 |
| DrangDrung | Himalaya | 12 |
| Eurasia | North | 63 |
| FilchnerRonne | Antarctica | 63 |
| GranCampoNevado | Patagonia | 12 |
| Greenland | GreenlandPaleo | 63 |
| Helheim | GreenlandPaleo, Greenland | 66 |
| Jakobshavn | GreenlandPaleo, Greenland | 66 |
| Laurentide | North | 63 |
| MonteSarmiento | Patagonia | 12 |
| NEGIS | GreenlandPaleo, Greenland | 66 |
| NorthPatagonianIcefield | Patagonia | 12 |
| Petermann | GreenlandPaleo, Greenland | 66 |
| PineIsland | Antarctica | 63 |
| Ross | Antarctica | 63 |
| SRG | Patagonia | 12 |
| SchiaparelliGlacier | Patagonia | 12 |
| SouthPatagonianIcefield | Patagonia | 12 |
| Thwaites | Antarctica | 63 |
| WilkesBasin | Antarctica | 63 |
Figures
Badgeley2020
Buizert2018
Buizert2018-1981-2010
CLIMBER3a-lgm_1p7strong
CLIMBER3a-lgm_1p7strong-ocean
CLIMBER3a-lgm_1p7weak
CLIMBER3a-lgm_1p7weak-ocean
CLIMBERX-Willeit2025-heinrich
CLIMBERX-Willeit2025-heinrich-ocean
CLIMBERX-Willeit2025-interstadial
CLIMBERX-Willeit2025-interstadial-ocean
CLIMBERX-Willeit2025-stadial
CLIMBERX-Willeit2025-stadial-ocean
PMIP3-CCSM4-lgm
PMIP3-CNRM-CM5-lgm
PMIP3-FGOALS-g2-lgm
PMIP3-GISS-E2-R-lgm
PMIP3-IPSL-CM5A-LR-lgm
PMIP3-MIROC-ESM-lgm
PMIP3-MPI-ESM-P-lgm
PMIP3-MRI-CGCM3-lgm
PMIP3-lgm-boundary-conditions
PMIP3-lgm-mean
PMIP4-AWI-ESM-1-1-LR-lgm
PMIP4-INM-CM4-8-lgm
PMIP4-MIROC-ES2L-lgm
PMIP4-MPI-ESM1-2-LR-lgm
PMIP4-lgm-mean
