The Worldclim Collections consists of a set of global climate layers (climate grids) covering all global land areas except Antarctica. They are in the latitude / longitude coordinate reference system (not projected) and the datum is WGS84. The data layers were generated through interpolation of average monthly climate data from weather stations.


Citation and attribution: Hijmans, R.J., S.E. Cameron, J.L. Parra, P.G. Jones and A. Jarvis, 2005. Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology 25: 1965-1978.


Licence: CC-BY Attribution 3.0


Full description: See www.worldclim.org/methods


There are two main components to the Worldclim collection: current climate & future climate.


Current climate

Includes: 19 variables over 1 year range at 3 resolutions

  • BIO1 = Annual Mean Temperature
  • BIO2 = Mean Diurnal Range (Mean of monthly (max temp - min temp))
  • BIO3 = Isothermality (BIO2/BIO7) (* 100)
  • BIO4 = Temperature Seasonality (standard deviation *100)
  • BIO5 = Max Temperature of Warmest Month
  • BIO6 = Min Temperature of Coldest Month
  • BIO7 = Temperature Annual Range (BIO5-BIO6)
  • BIO8 = Mean Temperature of Wettest Quarter
  • BIO9 = Mean Temperature of Driest Quarter
  • BIO10 = Mean Temperature of Warmest Quarter
  • BIO11 = Mean Temperature of Coldest Quarter
  • BIO12 = Annual Precipitation
  • BIO13 = Precipitation of Wettest Month
  • BIO14 = Precipitation of Driest Month
  • BIO15 = Precipitation Seasonality (Coefficient of Variation)
  • BIO16 = Precipitation of Wettest Quarter
  • BIO17 = Precipitation of Driest Quarter
  • BIO18 = Precipitation of Warmest Quarter
  • BIO19 = Precipitation of Coldest Quarter
  • 1950-2000
  • 2.5 arcmin
  • 5 arcmin
  • 10 arcmin


Future climate

Includes: 22 variables for 4 emission scenarios and 19 global circulation models across 12 months over 8 years at 3 resolutions

  • BIO1 = Annual Mean Temperature
  • BIO2 = Mean Diurnal Range (Mean of monthly (max temp - min temp))
  • BIO3 = Isothermality (BIO2/BIO7) (* 100)
  • BIO4 = Temperature Seasonality (standard deviation *100)
  • BIO5 = Max Temperature of Warmest Month
  • BIO6 = Min Temperature of Coldest Month
  • BIO7 = Temperature Annual Range (BIO5-BIO6)
  • BIO8 = Mean Temperature of Wettest Quarter
  • BIO9 = Mean Temperature of Driest Quarter
  • BIO10 = Mean Temperature of Warmest Quarter
  • BIO11 = Mean Temperature of Coldest Quarter
  • BIO12 = Annual Precipitation
  • BIO13 = Precipitation of Wettest Month
  • BIO14 = Precipitation of Driest Month
  • BIO15 = Precipitation Seasonality (Coefficient of Variation)
  • BIO16 = Precipitation of Wettest Quarter
  • BIO17 = Precipitation of Driest Quarter
  • BIO18 = Precipitation of Warmest Quarter
  • BIO19 = Precipitation of Coldest Quarter
  • Average Monthly Maximum Temperature
  • Average Monthly Minimum Temperature
  • Average Monthly Precipitation

  • RCP6
  • RCP3PD
  • RCP4.5
  • RCP8.5

  • ACCESS1.0
  • BCC_CSM1.1
  • CCSM4
  • CM3_AOGCM
  • CNRM-CM5
  • CAM5.1
  • ESM2G
  • HadGEM2-A
  • HadGEM2-CC
  • HadGEM2-ES
  • INMCM4.0
  • IPSL-CM4A
  • MPI-ESM-LR
  • MRI-CGMC3
  • MIROC-ESM
  • MIROC-ESM-CHEM
  • MIROC5
  • GISS-E2-R
  • NorESM1-M

  • Jan
  • Feb
  • Mar
  • Apr
  • May
  • Jun
  • Jul
  • Aug
  • Sep
  • Oct
  • Nov
  • Dec

  • 2015
  • 2025
  • 2035
  • 2045
  • 2055
  • 2065
  • 2075
  • 2085

  • 2.5 arcmin
  • 5 arcmin
  • 10 arcmin