Description
The National Climate Database (NCDB) is a high resolution, bias-corrected climate dataset consisting of the three most widely used variables of solar radiation- global horizontal (GHI), direct normal (DNI), and diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI)- as well as other meteorological data. The goal of the NCDB is to provide unbiased high temporal and spatial resolution climate data needed for renewable energy modeling.
The NCDB is modeled using a statistical downscaling approach with Regional Climate Model (RCM)-based climate projections obtained from the North American Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (NA-CORDEX; linked below). Daily climate projections simulated by the Canadian Regional Climate Model 4 (CanRCM4) forced by the second-generation Canadian Earth System Model (CanESM2) for two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 or moderate emissions scenario and RCP8.5 or highest baseline emission scenario) are selected as inputs to the statistical downscaling models. The National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) is used to build and calibrate statistical models.
Resources
| Name | Format | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| NCDB Documentation | Unknown | NCDB Official website. Provides useful information about what the NCDB is, related publications, and outlines potential data applications. | Open resource |
| NCDB Data on AWS | HTML | NCDB high resolution, bias-corrected climate dataset in AWS S3. | Open resource |
| HSDS Usage Examples | Python | Examples of using the HSDS Service to Access NREL NCDB data. | Open resource |
| Website for NA-CORDEX | Unknown | Website for North American Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (NA-CORDEX) with more information and climate projections that were used in the NCDB modeling. | Open resource |
| NCDB Data Lake Registry on AWS | HTML | AWS public dataset program registry page for data released as part of the National Climate Database. The registry page contains information about dataset documentation, access, and contact, for the NCDB Data Lake datasets. | Open resource |