Data for 2026 SciVis Contest

ECCO LLC4320 Data

Overview: This page provides access to hourly data from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO, https://ecco-group.org) Project's 1/48° Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm, https://mitgcm.org) simulation, a 14-month global simulation of the ocean (September 2011 to November 2012) that resolves internal tides and admits submesoscale and internal-gravity-wave variability.

Significance

Data

Variables: The dataset includes various oceanographic variables, each available at 90 different depth levels. These depths represent model layers from the sea surface down to deeper ocean levels. Select the level below to get its corresponding depth from the sea surface in meters:

Select a level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7 Level 8 Level 9 Level 10 Level 11 Level 12 Level 13 Level 14 Level 15 Level 16 Level 17 Level 18 Level 19 Level 20 Level 21 Level 22 Level 23 Level 24 Level 25 Level 26 Level 27 Level 28 Level 29 Level 30 Level 31 Level 32 Level 33 Level 34 Level 35 Level 36 Level 37 Level 38 Level 39 Level 40 Level 41 Level 42 Level 43 Level 44 Level 45 Level 46 Level 47 Level 48 Level 49 Level 50 Level 51 Level 52 Level 53 Level 54 Level 55 Level 56 Level 57 Level 58 Level 59 Level 60 Level 61 Level 62 Level 63 Level 64 Level 65 Level 66 Level 67 Level 68 Level 69 Level 70 Level 71 Level 72 Level 73 Level 74 Level 75 Level 76 Level 77 Level 78 Level 79 Level 80 Level 81 Level 82 Level 83 Level 84 Level 85 Level 86 Level 87 Level 88 Level 89 Level 90

The depths are distributed to capture surface processes more finely while still representing the deeper ocean layers, ensuring both near-surface and deep ocean dynamics are well resolved.

Field Name	Data Type	Unit	Standard Name	Shape	Dimensions
u	float32	m s-1	Sea-surface east-west velocity	(17280, 12960, 90)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
v	float32	m s-1	Sea-surface north-south velocity	(17280, 12960, 90)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
w	float32	m s-1	Sea-surface vertical velocity	(17280, 12960, 90)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
theta	float32	°C	Sea-surface Temperature	(17280, 12960, 90)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
salt	float32	g kg-1	Sea Water Salinity	(17280, 12960, 90)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth

Resolution: 1/48° horizontal grid (~2 km), 90 vertical levels

How to Access: Access via ECCO Data Portal

Jupyter Notebook

Use the ECCO LLC4320 Jupyter Notebook for interactive exploration and analysis of the dataset.

DYAMOND Data

Overview: The DYnamics of the Atmospheric general circulation Modeled On Non-hydrostatic Domains (DYAMOND) data provides high resolution ocean circulation models, offering unprecedented detail. This dataset comprises a C1440 configuration of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) atmospheric model, with 7-km horizontal grid spacing and 72 vertical layers, coupled to a LLC2160 configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm) with 2–4-km grid spacing and 90 vertical levels. The C1440-LLC2160 simulation has been integrated for 14 months, starting from prescribed initial conditions on January 20, 2020.

Significance

This "nature" simulation provides a unique synthetic dataset for atmospheric and oceanic boundary layer studies and for satellite and in-situ observing system design.

Data

Variables: The dataset includes the combination of LLC2160 configuration of MITgcm ocean model and c1440 configuration of GEOS model. These variables are shown below separately.

GEOS Atmospheric Data: The GEOS model uses cubed-sphere grid that helps improve the representation of the polar regions compared to traditional latitude-longitude grids. Thus, there are 6 faces available for each of its fields below.

Field Name	Data Type	Unit	Standard Name	Shape	Dimensions
P	float32	Pa	mid level pressure	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
U	float32	m s-1	eastward wind from level closest to surface	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
V	float32	m s-1	northward wind from level closest to surface	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
W	float32	m s-1	vertical velocity from level closest to surface	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
T	float32	K	air temperature from level closest to surface	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
H	float32	m	mid layer heights from level closest to surface	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
CO	float32	mol mol-1	Carbon Monoxide (All Sources)	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
CO2	float32	mol mol-1	Carbon Dioxide (All Sources)	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
QI	float32	kg kg-1	mass fraction of cloud ice water from level closest to surface	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
QL	float32	kg kg-1	mass fraction of cloud liquid water from level closest to surface	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
RI	float32	m	ice phase cloud particle effective radius	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
RL	float32	m	liquid cloud particle effective radius	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
DELP	float32	Pa	pressure thickness	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
DTHDT	float32	Pa K s-1	pressure weighted potential temperature tendency due to moist	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
DTHDTCN	float32	K s-1	potential temperature tendency due to convection	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
FCLD	float32	1	cloud fraction for radiation	(1440, 1440, 51)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth

LLC2160 Ocean Data:

Field Name	Data Type	Unit	Standard Name	Shape	Dimensions
U	float32	m s-1	Sea-surface east-west velocity	(8640, 6480, 90)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
V	float32	m s-1	Sea-surface north-south velocity	(8640, 6480, 90)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
W	float32	m s-1	Sea-surface vertical velocity	(8640, 6480, 90)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
Theta	float32	°C	Sea-surface Temperature	(8640, 6480, 90)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth
Salt	float32	g kg-1	Sea Water Salinity	(8640, 6480, 90)	Latitude, Longitude, Depth

Resolution: 1/24° horizontal grid (~4 km), 90 vertical levels

How to Access: Access via DYAMOND Data Portal

Jupyter Notebook

Use the DYAMOND Jupyter Notebook for interactive exploration and analysis of the dataset.

NEX GDDP CMIP6 Data

Overview: The NEX-GDDP CMIP6 dataset consists of downscaled climate projections derived from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) and downscaled to a 0.25° x 0.25° grid (~25 km), providing finer spatial details suitable for regional climate impact studies. The dataset includes historical simulations (1950-2014) and future projections (2015-2100) based on different Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), including SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5, which represent different climate futures depending on societal responses to climate change.

Significance

The purpose of this dataset is to provide a set of global, high resolution, bias-corrected climate change projections that can be used to evaluate climate change impacts on processes that are sensitive to finer-scale climate gradients and the effects of local topography on climate conditions.

Models

The NEX-GDDP CMIP6 dataset integrates projections from multiple global climate models (GCMs) included in CMIP6, including models such as GFDL-ESM4, IPSL-CM6A-LR, and MRI-ESM2-0. These models represent a range of climate system behaviors and help provide a more robust assessment of future climate conditions.

Data

Variables: The dataset includes key variables that capture changes in temperature, precipitation, and other climate phenomena. These variables are available for different time periods (historical and future projections) and under various SSPs.

Field Name	Data Type	Unit	Standard Name	Shape	Dimensions
tas	float32	K	Near-Surface Air Temperature	(600, 1440)	Latitude, Longitude
pr	float32	kg m-2 s-1	Precipitation	(600, 1440)	Latitude, Longitude
rsds	float32	W/m²	Surface Downwelling Shortwave Radiation	(600, 1440)	Latitude, Longitude
hurs	float32	%	Near-Surface Relative Humidity	(600, 1440)	Latitude, Longitude
rlds	float32	W/m²	Surface Downwelling Longwave Radiation	(600, 1440)	Latitude, Longitude
sfcWind	float32	m s-1	Daily-Mean Near-Surface Wind Speed	(600, 1440)	Latitude, Longitude
tasmin	float32	K	Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air Temperature	(600, 1440)	Latitude, Longitude
tasmax	float32	K	Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air Temperature	(600, 1440)	Latitude, Longitude

Currently Available Models: ACCESS-CM2, CanESM5, CESM2, CMCC-CM2-SR5, EC-Earth3, GFDL-ESM4, INM-CM5-0, IPSL-CM6A-LR, MIROC6, MPI-ESM1-2-HR, and MRI-ESM2-0

Resolution: 0.25° x 0.25° horizontal grid (~25 km)

More information about the dataset can be found in Microsoft Planetary Computer.

Dashboard

Check out this NEX GDDP CMIP6 Dashboard we deployed for interactive exploration and visualization of the dataset.

Jupyter Notebook

Check out this Quarto documentation for more details on accessing the data.