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Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) Projections for the Contiguous United States Based on the CMIP5 MACAv2-METDATA Downscaled Climate Dataset

Metadata Updated: September 14, 2025

The dataset consists of projections of 1-12 months Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) between 1950-2099 for the contiguous United States from 20 climate models and 2 emission scenarios at a 4km spatial resolution. The SPEI dataset was developed using the SPEI package in R (Beguería & Vicente-Serrano, 2023). SPEI quantifies standardized departures in the balance between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (PET) across varying timescales, making it highly suitable for assessing drought and water availability (Vicente-Serrano et al., 2010). Monthly precipitation and PET data were sourced from the MACAv2-METDATA dataset for climate projections between 1950-2099 based on 20 global climate models under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 emission scenarios (Abatzoglou, 2013). Projected SPEI values were calculated relative to the 1981-2020 reference period, with SPEI computed using a log-logistic distribution fitted to the difference between precipitation and PET values. This methodology standardizes SPEI values as z-scores, allowing for comparative evaluations of drought and wetness across different regions and timescales (1 to 12 months).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 14, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 14, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-672bdd7bd34e16b32e739aff
Data Last Modified 2025-03-31T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
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 ef3d4af3-5ad6-41a8-a993-d75be371ca97
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -124.7388, 25.0631, -66.9287, 49.3960
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash a35004553b85673bcdaa74ff3e09142e1b3d857aee3b3a70847ad7bd51ed4158
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -124.7388, 25.0631, -124.7388, 49.3960, -66.9287, 49.3960, -66.9287, 25.0631, -124.7388, 25.0631}

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