Mid-Holocene and pre-industrial climate data from EC-Earth3 and LPJ-GUESS models to study vegetation-climate feedback

Qiong Zhang, Jie Chen

The dataset contains selected output data from the simulations for a study on vegetation-climate feedback on temperature changes in East Asia. We use the CMIP6 version of the earth system model EC-Earth, with a coupled dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS.

We conducted two climate model simulations using the coupled dynamic vegetation configuration (EC-Earth3-veg-LR), and another two using the configuration without dynamic vegetation (EC-Earth3-LR), for the pre-industrial (1850 CE) and mid-Holocene (6000 years before present) periods, respectively. The boundary conditions for pre-industrial and mid-Holocene are following the PMIP4 protocol.

We also performed six simulations using the offline LPJ-GUESS, driven by the atmospheric variables from EC-Earth3-Veg-LR simulation. These sensitivity experiments aim to isolate the effects of precipitation and temperature changes by systematically increasing precipitation and adjusting temperature values based on the pre-industrial simulation.

This dataset illustrates the distribution of vegetation during the mid-Holocene and pre-industrial period, and the climate change in East Asia due to vegetation-climate feedback between the two periods.

Citation

Qiong Zhang, Jie Chen (2023) Mid-Holocene and pre-industrial climate data from EC-Earth3 and LPJ-GUESS models to study vegetation-climate feedback. Dataset version 1. Bolin Centre Database. https://doi.org/10.17043/zhang-2023-holocene-vegetation-1

References

Chen J, Zhang Q, Lu Z, Duan Y, Cao X, Huang J, Chen F (2023) Reconciling East Asia's Holocene temperature discrepancy through vegetation-climate feedback. Submitted to Communications Earth & Environment.

Zhang Q, Berntell E, Axelsson J, Chen J, Han Z, de Nooijer W, Lu Z, Li Q, Zhang Q, Wyser K, Yang S (2021) Simulating the mid-Holocene, last interglacial and mid-Pliocene climate with EC-Earth3-LR, Geosci. Model Dev. 14:1147⁠ – ⁠1169. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1147-2021

National Geophysical Data Center (1993) 5-minute gridded global relief data (ETOPO5). National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA. https://doi.org/10.7289/V5D798BF

Data description

The dataset contains Earth system model results from EC-Earth3 and LPJ-GUESS presented in the study by Chen et al. (2023).

Model configuration

• Time periods: PI (200 year time slice) and MH (6 ka) (200 year time slice)
• model configuration: EC-Earth3-LR, EC-Earth3-veg-LR, LPJ-GUESS
• Horizontal resolution: ~1.125° (~125 km)

For PI and 6 ka, EC-Earth is run with two different configurations:

• PI_orb: pre-industrial boundary conditions with prescribed vegetation (EC-Earth-LR configuration)
• PI_veg: pre-industrial boundary conditions with dynamic vegetation (EC-Earth-Veg-LR configuration)
• 6k_orb: mid-Holocene boundary conditions with prescribed vegetation (EC-Earth-LR configuration)
• 6k_veg: mid-Holocene boundary conditions with dynamic vegetation (EC-Earth-Veg-LR configuration)

For LPJ-GUESS simulation, different configurations:

• PI_offline: atmospheric variables from PI_veg simulation
• PREC_ALL: annual precipitation increases 40% based on PI_veg simulation
• PREC_JJA: summer precipitation increases 40% based on PI_veg simulation
• TEMP_ALL: summer and autumn temperature increase 1.5 and winter and spring temperature decreases 1.5°C based on PI_veg simulation
• TEMP_JJASON: summer and autumn temperature increase 1.5 °C % based on PI_veg simulation
• TEMP_DJFMAM: winter and spring temperature decrease 1.5 °C % based on PI_veg simulation Available data

Annual data for standard meteorological variables include surface air temperature, albedo and radiation. Vegetation data such as dominant vegetation types and vegetation covers.

The analyses are based on the calculation of the difference between the simulations. The visualized data in the publication are the differences (or changes).

ETOPO5 is global 5 arc-minute gridded global relief data (ocean depth and land elevation) from the US National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC). Here we regridded it to 0.5° resolution.

File type: NetCDF-3

List of data files

• EC-Earth.albedo_diff.nc
  • Variable: albedo – surface albedo ((6k_veg - PI_veg) - (6k_orb - PI_orb))
• EC-Earth.div200_diff.nc
  • Variable: div – divergence ((6k_veg - PI_veg) - (6k_orb - PI_orb))
• ETOPO5.720x360.nc
  • Variable: elev – global elevation
• EC-Earth.high_veg_cover_diff.nc
  • Variable: veg_cover – high vegetation cover (forest cover; 6k_veg - PI_veg)
• LPJ-GUESS.high_veg_cover_diff.nc
  • Variable: veg_cover1 – high vegetation cover (PREC_ALL - PI_offline)
  • veg_cover2 – high vegetation cover (PREC_JJA - PI_offline)
  • veg_cover3 – high vegetation cover (TEMP_ALL - PI_offline)
  • veg_cover4 – high vegetation cover (TEMP_JJASON - PI_offline)
  • veg_cover5 – high vegetation cover (TEMP_DJFMAM - PI_offline)
• EC-Earth.ssr_diff.nc
  • Variable: ssr – surface net shortwave radiation ((6k_veg - PI_veg) - (6k_orb - PI_orb))
• EC-Earth.tas_annual_diff.nc
  • Variable: tas_ALL – annual mean surface air temperature (6k_veg - PI_veg)
  • tas_ORB – annual mean surface air temperature (6k_orb - PI_orb)
  • tas_VEG – annual mean surface air temperature ((6k_veg - PI_veg) - (6k_orb - PI_orb))
• EC-Earth.temp_adv_diff.nc
  • Variable: advT – surface air temperature advection ((6k_veg - PI_veg) - (6k_orb - PI_orb))
  • uas – surface zonal wind (10 m; (6k_veg - PI_veg) - (6k_orb - PI_orb))
  • vas– surface meridional wind (10 m; (6k_veg - PI_veg) - (6k_orb - PI_orb))
• EC-Earth.total_LAI_diff.nc
  • Variable: LAI – total leaf area index (6k_veg - PI_veg)
• EC-Earth.tran_diff.nc
  • Variable: tran – transpiration (6k_veg - PI_veg)
• EC-Earth.vegetation_type.MH.nc
  • Variable: tv – dominant vegetation type (6k_veg)
• EC-Earth.vegetation_type.PI.nc
  • Variable: tv – dominant vegetation type (PI_veg)

Comments

Detailed information on model experiment setup and evaluation for mid-Holocene and pre-industrial simulations with EC-Earth3 can be found in Zhang et al. (2021).

More information of the climate model simulations can also be found in the related dataset Simulations for mid-Holocene and pre-industrial climate with EC-Earth3 model — selected data for a study on vegetation feedback.

For the other variables in simulations beyond this research, please contact [javascript protected email address].