Data Distribution Centre

News! We are currently developing a new website. To visit these pages, click here

Help Site map

Technical Guidelines, Fact Sheets and other Supporting Material

Several documents providing technical guidelines(1), fact sheets(2) or other summarising information held on the DDC are downloadable from this site. The process for developing technical guidelines is described here and fact sheets here. They constitute IPCC "Supporting Material"(3) and have been prepared at the request of the Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impacts and Climate Analysis (TGICA). Note that the documents listed here have not been subject to the formal intergovernmental IPCC review process.

TGICA has developed a general guideline on the use of scenario data, which has three main objectives:

  1. To introduce and describe the information and analytical tools being provided by the Data Distribution Centre;
  2. To offer guidance on how to interpret the baseline and scenario data held by the DDC and elsewhere, in order to facilitate the informed selection and use of data in climate change vulnerability, impact and adaptation assessments;
  3. To highlight and illustrate the key steps and procedures that are commonly required in applying baseline and scenario data in vulnerability, impact and adaptation assessments.

More detailed technical guidelines relate to issues such as the development and application of data and scenarios held on the DDC and elsewhere for use in vulnerability, impacts and adaptation assessments (see schematic diagram).

It is strongly recommended that you familiarise yourself with the appropriate guidelines before downloading data from the DDC.

The structure of IPCC DDC guidance materials

General Guidelines Downscaling with Regional Climate Models Statistical Downscaling Sea Level Rise

The guidance documents are available as .pdf files, to view this you will need Acrobat Reader which available free from the Adobe web site.

General Guidelines

Detailed Guidelines

Fact Sheets

Other Supporting Material

Capacity Building

Finally, if you have any questions about the DDC, find errors on the site, or have general questions about climate scenarios then please contact the DDC managers through the helpdesk (support@ceda.ac.uk).


(1) Notes for authors preparing technical guidelines for the IPCC Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis (TGICA) pdf
(2) Notes for authors preparing Fact Sheets for the IPCC Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis (TGICA) pdf
(3) Supporting material is defined in the Procedures for the Preparation, Review, Acceptance, Adoption, Approval, and Publication of IPCC Reports. pdf