LPJ biomes (30-year mean) simulated using monthly historical (1901-2000) CRU TS 2.1 climate data and projected future (2001-2099) CMIP3 A2 and A1B simulated climate data on a 30-second grid of the northwest United States and southwest Canada, version 1.0

This data set consists of biomes (30-year mean) simulated using LPJ, a dynamic global vegetation model (Sitch et al. 2003, Global Change Biology 9:161-185), for a 30-second grid of the northwest United States and southwest Canada. Shafer et al. (2015, PLoS ONE 10: e0138759) describe the methods used to create the biome data. LPJ was run for 1901-2000 using historical climate data developed from the CRU CL 1.0, CRU CL 2.0, and CRU TS 2.1 data sets (http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/hrg/) and for 2001-2099 using projected future climate simulations produced by five coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models: CCSM3, CGCM3.1(T47), GISS-ER, MIROC3.2(medres), and UKMO-HadCM3. These climate simulations were obtained from the World Climate Research Programme\'s (WCRP\'s) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) multi-model data set (http://www-pcmdi.llnl.gov/ipcc/about_ipcc.php). We used simulations produced under the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 and A1B greenhouse gases emissions scenarios. Additional documentation on the climate models is available at: http://www-pcmdi.llnl.gov/ipcc/model_documentation/ipcc_model_documenta…. For each year in the data set (1930-2099), biomes were derived from means of LPJ output for the previous 30 years (i.e., data for 1930 represent biomes derived from LPJ 1901-1930 30-year mean data). The biome data in this data set were developed for use in evaluating species and ecosystem responses to climate change and may not be suitable for other applications. Specifically, these data are model simulations of historical biomes and model-simulated projections (not predictions) of potential future biomes. The data are provided in self-documenting netCDF files, which provide additional details about the data.