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Climate Change Pressures Heat Zones (Map Service)

Metadata Updated: June 21, 2023

Evaluating multiple signals of climate change across the conterminous United States during three 30-year periods (2010�2039, 2040�2069, 2070�2099) during this century to a baseline period (1980�2009) emphasizes potential changes for growing degree days (GDD), plant hardiness zones (PHZ), and heat zones. These indices were derived using the CCSM4 and GFDL CM3 models under the representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5, respectively, and included in Matthews et al. (2018). Daily temperature was downscaled by Maurer et al. (https://doi.org/10.1029/2007EO470006) at a 1/8 degree grid scale and used to obtain growing degree days, plant hardiness zones, and heat zones. Each of these indices provides unique information about plant health related to changes in climatic conditions that influence establishment, growth, and survival. These data and the calculated changes are provided as 14 individual IMG files for each index to assist with management planning and decision making into the future. For each of the four indices the following are included: two baseline files (1980�2009), three files representing 30-year periods for the scenario CCSM4 under RCP 4.5 along with three files of changes, and three files representing 30-year periods for the scenario GFDL CM3 under RCP 8.5 along with three files of changes.Heat zones map the distribution of potential heat stress for plants and animals, including humans. We define heat zones as the number of days with maximum daily temperature >30 �C (86 �F). Because species have unique adaptations and abilities to tolerate a wide variety of conditions, this metric is used merely as an indicator of change in �hot� conditions. The 30 �C value is set primarily for agricultural production and is a general temperature threshold at which photosynthesis can be negatively impacted for C3 plants (e.g., most species including trees), but it certainly also captures temperatures that induce stress in humans as well. In addition, increases in temperature above these thresholds for longer periods, especially when accompanied with prolonged dry conditions, are linked to reduced performance and likely mortality of trees. Each day surpassing the 30 �C threshold was tallied and summed for each year and reported as the mean number of days, per year, over each 30-year period: baseline, early, mid, and late century.�Original data and associated metadata can be downloaded from this website:�https://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/Product/RDS-2019-0001

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: Creative Commons Attribution

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date November 3, 2022
Metadata Updated Date June 21, 2023

Metadata Source

Harvested from USDA JSON

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date November 3, 2022
Metadata Updated Date June 21, 2023
Publisher U.S. Forest Service
Maintainer
Identifier https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=e66c766dea41482aa9d766ff4a16fb3a
Data First Published 2019-06-07
Data Last Modified 2022-08-25
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 005:96
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 25ec3216-40f9-47ff-b426-719125b8baf3
Harvest Source Id d3fafa34-0cb9-48f1-ab1d-5b5fdc783806
Harvest Source Title USDA JSON
Homepage URL https://data-usfs.hub.arcgis.com/documents/usfs::climate-change-pressures-heat-zones-map-service
License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -131.3620,6.8980,-65.6380,72.6220
Program Code 005:059
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 8b7508c62c792e97771bc5778e945383217da760
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -131.3620, 6.8980, -131.3620, 72.6220, -65.6380, 72.6220, -65.6380, 6.8980, -131.3620, 6.8980}

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