README - FUTURE LAND-USE HARMONIZATION A - VERSION 1.1 This README file describes the data in Version 1.1 of our Future Land-Use Harmonization products. For information on how this data should be cited, and for any additional information/questions/feedback, please contact us at the following: Louise Parsons Chini: lchini@umd.edu, +1-301-405-4050 George Hurtt: gchurtt@umd.edu, +1-301-405-8541 Steve Frolking: steve.frolking@unh.edu, +1-603-862-0244 This release, named LUHa.v1_future.v1.1, is currently available for the IMAGE and AIM models only. It uses an updated version of the AIM dataset and corrects previous versions of the IMAGE data. The data in this release is identical to that in the release candidates LUHa.v1_future.v1.1_rc1 (for AIM) and LUHa.v1_future.v1.1_rc3 (for IMAGE). As before, the future projections are built off our historical land-use product, LUHa.v1. The historical product covers the time period from 1500/1700 to 2005 and the future product continues the timeseries from 2005 to 2100. To view and use the full timeseries you will need to download both our historical product (LUHa.v1) as well as this future landuse data product (LUHa.v1_future.v1.1). The future land-use harmonization data is provided for each of the Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) particpating in the project: IMAGE (LUHa.v1_image.v1.1), AIM (LUHa.v1_image.v1.1), MESSAGE, and MiniCAM (LUHa.v1_future.v1). Within the IAM folders there are four compressed archive files: LUHa.v1_IAM.v1.1 - our baseline product that covers the period from 2005 to 2100 (built off the historical product LUHa.v1 for 1500-2005), computes landuse and transitions between cropland, pasture, primary land and secondary (recovering) land, including the effects of wood harvest and shifting cultivation. LUHa_t1.v1_IAM.v1.1 - the same as LUHa.v1_IAM.v1.1 but built off our historical product LUHa_t1.v1 for the historical period from 1700-2005 LUHa_u2.v1_IAM.v1.1 - the same as LUHa.v1_IAM.v1.1 but also including land-use changes and transitions from/to urban land LUHa_t1u2.v1_IAM.v1.1 - the same as LUHa_t1.v1_IAM.v1.1 but also including land-use changes and transitions from/to urban land (*NOTE*: in the filenames above, 'IAM', is replaced with the name of the relevant IAM) The data are generated using future landuse projections from the IAM implementations of the RCPs. For more information on the four RCPs, see: http://www.iiasa.ac.at/web-apps/tnt/RcpDb/dsd?Action=htmlpage&page=welcome#rcpinfo Our algorithms for computing the associated landuse transitions (including the effects of wood harvest and shifting cultivation and the generation of secondary lands) are similar to those for our historical products and further details can be found in Hurtt et al. 2006 (Global Change Biology 12, p1208-1229). In addition, our harmonization algorithms ensure a continuous transition of land-use states in the harmonization year (2005) and provide gridding of the regional IAM data when needed. We have assumed that the ice and/or water fraction of each gridcell is constant throughout time (see gicew.1700.txt) and in addition to the data in this directory, we have also provided some supporting data files (in ftp://tarot.sr.unh.edu/LU_harmonization/supporting_files/) for a grid/map giving the locations that we assumed to be potential forest (fnf_map.txt) and a grid/map giving locations where we assumed shifting cultivation could occur (shiftcult_map_halfdeg.txt). For additional information about the algorithms, inputs, and options used in creating the future landuse harmonization data, please contact us using the email addresses or phone numbers listed above. As with our historical products, after unpacking the tgz-files, you will find two subdirectories: "lu" and "updated_states": ** lu: contains site-specific files reporting annual landuse transitions for each gridcell. There is one file for each gridcell each each file includes all transitions for that gridcell through time. The "transitions" are reported as fractions of the total gridcell area. The harvested biomass is reported in Mg of carbon per gridcell, per year. The reported transitions are: cp (transition from crop to pasture) pc (transition from pasture to crop) pv (transition from pasture to primary land) vp (transition from primary land to pasture) vc (transition from primary land to crop) cv (transition from crop to primary land) sc (transition from secondary land to crop) cs (transition from crop to secondary land) sp (transition from secondary land to pasture) ps (transition from pasture land to secondary land) vs (transition from primary land to secondary land) cu (transition from crop to urban land) pu (transition from pasture to urban land) vu (transition from primary land to urban land) su (transition from secondary land to urban land) uc (transition from urban land to crop) up (transition from urban land to pasture) us (transition from urban land to secondary land) sbh (woody biomass harvested from mature secondary forested land, in MgC) f_sbh (landuse transition associated with biomass harvested from mature secondary forested land) vbh (woody biomass harvested from primary forested land, in MgC) f_vbh (landuse transition associated with biomass harvested from primary forested land) sbh2 (woody biomass harvested from young secondary forested land, in MgC) f_sbh2 (landuse transition associated with biomass harvested from young secondary forested land) vbh2 (biomass harvested from primary non-forested land, in MgC) f_vbh2 (landuse transition associated with biomass harvested from primary non-forested land) sbh3 (biomass harvested from secondary non-forested land, in MgC) f_sbh3 (landuse transition associated with biomass harvested from secondary non-forested land) ** updated_states: contains map files/grids of landuse states and corresponding transitions through time. One file for each state/transition each year. The landuse states and transitions provided are: gcrop : fraction of each gridcell in cropland gflcp : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from cropland to pasture gflcs : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from cropland to secondary land gflcu : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from cropland to urban land gflpc : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from pasture to cropland gflps : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from pasture to secondary land gflpu : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from pasture to urban land gflsc : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from secondary land to cropland gflsp : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from secondary land to pasture gflsu : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from secondary land to urban land gfluc : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from urban land to cropland gflup : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from urban land to pasture gflus : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from urban land to secondary land gflvc : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from primary land to cropland gflvp : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from primary land to pasture gflvu : fraction of each gridcell that transitioned from primary land to urban land gfsh1 : fraction of each gridcell that had wood harvested from mature secondary forested land gfsh2 : fraction of each gridcell that had wood harvested from young secondary forested land gfsh3 : fraction of each gridcell that had wood harvested from secondary non-forested land gfvh1 : fraction of each gridcell that had wood harvested from primary forested land gfvh2 : fraction of each gridcell that had wood harvested from primary non-forested land gothr : fraction of each gridcell in primary land gpast : fraction of each gridcell in pasture gsbh1 : mature secondary forest biomass harvested from each gridcell (in kgC) gsbh2 : young secondary forest biomass harvested from each gridcell (in kgC) gsbh3 : secondary non-forest biomass harvested from each gridcell (in kgC) gsecd : fraction of each gridcell in secondary land gssma : mean age of secondary land in each gridcell (in years) gssmb : mean biomass density of secondary land in each gridcell (in kgC/m^2) gsumm : the sum of fractions of each gridcell occupied by cropland, pasture, primary, secondary, urban land, and ice/water (should add to 1 everywhere) gurbn : fraction of each gridcell in urban land gvbh1 : primary forest biomass harvested from each gridcell (in kgC) gvbh2 : primary non-forest biomass harvested from each gridcell (in kgC) *NOTE*: the transitions and states files involving urban land-use are only included in the datasets that involve urban land.