Monthly mean climate data from a transient simulation with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model eXtension (WACCM-X) from 1950 to 2015

This dataset comprises monthly mean data from a global, transient simulation with the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model eXtension (WACCM-X) from 1950 to 2015. WACCM-X is a global atmosphere model covering altitudes from the surface up to ~500 km, i.e. including the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere.

WACCM-X version 2.0 (Liu et al., 2018) was used, part of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) release 2.1.0 made available by the US National Center for Atmospheric Research. The model was run in free-running mode with a horizontal resolution of 1.9° latitude 2.5° longitude (giving 96 latitude points and 144 longitude points) and 126 vertical levels. Further description of the model and simulation setup is provided by Cnossen (2020) and references therein. A large number of variables are included on standard monthly mean output files on the model grid, while selected variables are also offered interpolated to a constant height grid or vertically integrated in height (details below). Zonal mean and global mean output files are included as well.

The following data file types are included:

1)Monthly mean output on the full grid for the full set of variables; [DFT] = ''

2)Zonal mean monthly mean output for the full set of variables; [DFT] = _zm

3)Global mean monthly mean output for the full set of variables; [DFT] = _gm

4)Height-interpolated/-integrated output on the full grid for selected variables; [DFT] = _ht

A cos(latitude) weighting was used when calculating the global means.

Data were interpolated to a set of constant heights (61 levels in total) using the Z3GM variable (for variables output on midpoints, with "lev" as the vertical coordinate) or the Z3GMI variable (for variables output on interfaces, with "ilev" as the vertical coordinate) stored on the original output files (type 1 above). Interpolation was done separately for each longitude, latitude and time.

Mass density (DEN [g/cm3]) was calculated from the M_dens, N2_vmr, O2, and O variables on the original data files before interpolation to constant height levels.

The Joule heating power QJ [W/m3] was calculated using Q_J=_P B^2 [(u_i-u_n )^2+(v_i-v_n )^2+(w_i-w_n )^2] with P = Pedersen conductivity [S], B = geomagnetic field strength [T], ui, vi, and wi = zonal, meridional, and vertical ion velocities [m/s] and un, vn, and wn = neutral wind velocities [m/s]. QJ was integrated vertically in height (using a 2.5 km height grid spacing rather than the 61 levels on output file type 4) to give the JHH variable on the type 4 data files. The QJOULE variable also given is the Joule heating rate [K/s] at each of the 61 height levels.

All data are provided as monthly mean files with one time record per file, giving 792 files for each data file type for the period 1950-2015 (66 years).

Date (Publication): 2020-10-13T14:13:10

Date (Creation): 2020-10-13T14:13:10

Citation identifier: https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/dc91f5e39ae34fd883af81dfdbaf659c

Citation identifier: Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) / dc91f5e39ae34fd883af81dfdbaf659c

Citation identifier: doi / 10.5285/dc91f5e39ae34fd883af81dfdbaf659c

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Unavailable	Cnossen, Ingrid	Unavailable	Author
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	Custodian
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	Distributor
Unavailable	Cnossen, Ingrid	Unavailable	Principal investigator
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	pointofContact
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	Publisher

Maintenance and update frequency: Unknown

Update scope: Dataset

Keywords

WACCM-X
model
climate

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

atmospheric conditions

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Public data: access to these data is available to both registered and non-registered users.

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Under the following licence http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/, appropriate use of these data may fall under any use. This message is intended as guidance, always read the full licence. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record.

Spatial representation type: Grid

Language: English

Topic category

Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

Begin date: 1950-01-01T00:00:00

End date: 2015-12-31T23:59:59

Unique resource identifier: WGS 84

Distribution format

Name	Version
Data are netCDF formatted.

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/dc91f5e39ae34fd883af81dfdbaf659c	CEDA Data Catalogue Page

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	http://data.ceda.ac.uk/badc/deposited2020/WACCM-X_1950-2015/data	DOWNLOAD

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2017MS001232	Liu, H.-L., C.G. Bardeen, B.T. Foster, et al. (2018), Development and validation of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere and ionosphere extension (WACCM-X 2.0), Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 10(2), 381â€“402, doi:60610.1002/2017ms001232.

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020JA028623	Analysis and Attribution of Climate Change in the Upper Atmosphere From 1950 to 2015 Simulated by WACCM‐X

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Conformance result

Title: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication): 2010-12-08

Statement: Data were produced by the project team and supplied for archiving at the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA).

Metadata

File identifier: dc91f5e39ae34fd883af81dfdbaf659c XML

Metadata language: English

Character set: UTF8

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Date stamp: 2025-11-17T03:20:15

Metadata standard name: UK GEMINI

Metadata standard version: 2.3

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)		support@ceda.ac.uk	Point of contact

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