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Grow Degree Days (GDD) under climate change

Description

GDD are the total number of degrees Celsius that the mean daily temperature is above a base threshold temperature (10 degrees Celsius) in a year. The ensemble annual means across six Globabl Climate Models (GCMs) are provided for:

  • the historical baseline (1981-2000),
  • mid-century (2041-2060) and
  • end of century (2081-2100)
for four Representive Concentration Pathways (RCP) of future anthropogenic emissions.

 

Date: December 2023 Version: v1

Owner: NIWA

Contact: Dr Abha Sood, NIWA

 

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Dataset attributes

Spatial extent New Zealand
Spatial resolution 5km climate grid
Temporal extent Three time periods: historical baseline (1981-2000), mid-century (2031-2050) and end of century (2081-2100)
Temporal resolution
Evaluation method (Validation) None
Evaluation result (Numeric)
Evaluation result (Categorical)
Uncertainty method Not supplied but an estimate of uncertainty can be generated by assessing the variability of estimates between years and GCMs
Uncertainty data format (Numeric)
Uncertainty data format (Categorical)

 

Methodology

The GDD (base threshold of 10 deg) estimates were averaged across the six Global Climate Models and the relevant time period (historical baseline (1986-2005), mid-century (2041-2060) and end of century (2081-2100)) for each of four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) of future anthropogenic emissions (2.6, 4.5, 6.0, 8.5).

 

Fitness for purpose / limitations

This table indicates whether the dataset is suitable for different types of questions at different scales.

Note: Users should carefully consider their purpose as this dataset may not be suitable.

Operational Absolute Relative Screening/scoping
Block/farm No No No Maybe
Multi-farms(5+) Maybe Maybe Maybe Yes
Catchment Yes Yes Yes Yes
National/regional Yes Yes Yes Yes
Caveat(s) The climate information is too coarse for use at finer scales.

Data and Resources