Building a climate service for North America based on the NA-CORDEX data archive

Abstract The NA-CORDEX data archive contains output from regional climate models run over a domain covering most of North America using boundary conditions from reanalyses and global climate model simulations in the CMIP5 archive. These simulations run from 1950 to 2100 with a spatial resolution of 0.22°/25 km or 0.44°/50 km. Data is available for impacts-relevant variables at daily and longer frequencies in CF-compliant netCDF format. Five of the major variables used by impacts researchers as well as decision makers have also been bias-corrected so that the data can be correctly used for impacts research and stakeholder decision-making. This archive of CORDEX regional simulation outputs for North America makes up the core data element in a climate service that supports appropriate use of these data in climate impacts research and decision-making.