Data Access Requirements

NARCCAP data is restricted to approved users. To provide you with access, we will need a statement of work that addresses the following subjects with regard to your research using NARCCAP data:

• Main research goals
• Research methods
• Research plan
• What data are needed
• Anticipated findings or significance of work

Your statement of work will be published in the NARCCAP User Directory, allowing users with related research interests to find one another.

In order to download NARCCAP data, you will also need an Earth System Grid account.
ESG account registration

For questions or to report problems, contact the NARCCAP User Community Manager, Seth McGinnis: mcginnis@ucar.edu.

Student Access

Students can register for access to NARCCAP data if they have a faculty sponsor who is registered as a regular NARCCAP user. Graduate students working as part of a research team may register this way if their work is covered by the sponsor's statement of work. Students who wish to use the data for a class can register with their course instructor as a sponsor; in this case, we also require information about the class and how the data will be used.

Finding and Downloading Data

On the Earth System Grid, NARCCAP data is organized at the top level by model (RCM) and driver (GCM/NCEP), and then grouped in data tables. Use the data tables page to figure out which variables you're interested in, then go to the ESG NARCCAP data catalog to download data in NetCDF format.

See the Download Walkthrough for a more detailed description of the download process. You may also find the Data Overview useful.

The GIS Howto and ASCII Howto pages provide instruction on importing NARCCAP data into ArcGIS and extracting data in plain-text format, respectively.

Please see the Acknowledgements page for information on how to properly acknowledge NARCCAP in research publications using this data.