# North American Environmental Atlas - Monthly Precipitation, 1950-2000

TypeTIF

TagsNorth America, América del Norte, Amérique du Nord, Climate, Monthly, Precipitation, Mensual, Precipitación, Mensuelle, Précipitation, Canada, Canadá, United States, Estados Unidos, États-Unis, Mexico, México, Mexique, CEC, CCA, CCE

### Summary

    The Monthly Precipitation data set consists of 12 raster files, one for each month, showing mean values derived from monthly precipitation readings. The source data covers the years 1950-2000; individual weather stations used to supply the source data may not have data available for all the years.

### Description

    The North America climate data were derived from WorldClim, a set of global climate layers developed by the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, in collaboration with The International Center for Tropical Agriculture and Rainforest CRC with support from NatureServe.The global climate data layers were generated through interpolation of average monthly climate data from weather stations across North America. The result is a 30-arc-second-resolution (1-Km) grid of mean temperature values.  The North American data were clipped from the global data and reprojected to a Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection.The Total Annual Precipitation data set is a raster file showing precipitation means derived from monthly precipitation readings. The source data covers the years 1950-2000; individual weather stations used to supply the source data may not have data available for all the years.Background information on the WorldClim database is available in: Very High-Resolution Interpolated Climate Surfaces for Global Land Areas; Hijmans, R.J., S.E. Cameron, J.L. Parra, P.G. Jones and A. Jarvis; International Journal of Climatology 25: 1965-1978; 2005.Files Download

### Credits

    Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). 2011. “North American Environmental Atlas - Monthly Precipitation, 1950-2000”. Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. Ed. 1.0, Raster digital data [1-km].

### Use limitations

    This material is licensed under CC BY 4.0, allowing non-exclusive rights to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, so long as attribution is given to the creator.

### Extent

West | -180 | East | -50
North | 85 | South | 14

### Scale Range

Maximum (zoomed in) | 1:5,000
Minimum (zoomed out) | 1:150,000,000

### Topics and Keywords ▼►

Themes or categories of the resourceAtmospheric Sciences, Environment, Geoscientific
Content type ⇔Downloadable Data
  Export to FGDC CSDGM XML format as Resource DescriptionNo
Theme keywordsNorth American Environmental Atlas > Climate > Climate, North American Environmental Atlas > Climate > Precipitation, North American Environmental Atlas > Climate > Monthly Precipitation
  Thesaurus ▼►
    TitleNorth American Environmental Atlas
    Publication date2011-04-01 00:00:00
    Responsible party - publisher
      Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
        Contact information ▼►
          Phone
            Voice+1 514 350 4300
            Fax+1 438 701 1434
          Address
            Typephysical
            Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
            CityMontreal
            Administrative areaQuebec
            Postal codeH3B 4L4
            CountryCA
            e-mail address info@cec.org
          Online resource
            Online location (URL) https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/
Place keywordsMid-latitude, Western Hemisphere, Northern Hemisphere, North America, Canada, Mexico, United States
  Thesaurus ▼►
    TitleNorth American Environmental Atlas
    Publication date2011-04-01 00:00:00
    Responsible party - publisher
      Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
        Contact information ▼►
          Phone
            Voice+1 514 350 4300
            Fax+1 438 701 1434
          Address
            Typephysical
            Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
            CityMontreal
            Administrative areaQuebec
            Postal codeH3B 4L4
            CountryCA
            e-mail address info@cec.org
          Online resource
            Online location (URL) https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/
Temporal keywords1950, 2000

### Citation ▼►

TitleNorth American Environmental Atlas - Monthly Precipitation, 1950-2000
Publication date2011-04-01 00:00:00
Edition1.0
Presentation formats ⇔digital map
FGDC geospatial presentation formatraster digital data
Resource identifier
  ValueNAatlas_5.03

### Citation Contacts ▼►

Responsible party - point of contact
  Individual's nameDominique Croteau
  Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
  Contact's positionProject Lead, Geospatial and Environmental Information
    Contact information ▼►
      Phone
        Voice+1 514 350 4300
        Fax+1 438 701 1434
      Address
        Typephysical
        Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
        CityMontreal
        Administrative areaQuebec
        Postal codeH3B 4L4
        CountryCA
        e-mail address info@cec.org
Responsible party - resource provider
  Organization's nameUniversity of California, Berkeley
  Contact's positionMuseum of Vertebrate Zoology
    Contact information ▼►
      Phone
        Voice+1 510 642 3567
        Fax+1 510 643 8238
      Address
        Typephysical
        Delivery point3101 Valley Life Sciences Building
        CityBerkeley
        Administrative areaCalifornia
        Postal code94720
        CountryUS
        e-mail address mvz@berkeley.edu
Responsible party - resource provider
  Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
    Contact information ▼►
      Phone
        Voice+1 514 350 4300
        Fax+1 438 701 1434
      Address
        Typephysical
        Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
        CityMontreal
        Administrative areaQuebec
        Postal codeH3B 4L4
        CountryCA
        e-mail address info@cec.org
      Online resource
        Online location (URL) https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/
Responsible party - publisher
  Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
    Contact information ▼►
      Phone
        Voice+1 514 350 4300
        Fax+1 438 701 1434
      Address
        Typephysical
        Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
        CityMontreal
        Administrative areaQuebec
        Postal codeH3B 4L4
        CountryCA
        e-mail address info@cec.org
      Online resource
        Online location (URL) https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/

### Locales ▼►

LocaleEnglish (UNITED STATES)
  TitlePrecipitation (1950-2000) – Annual
LocaleSpanish; Castilian (MEXICO)
  TitlePrecipitación (1950-2000) – Annual
LocaleFrench (CANADA)
  TitlePrécipitations (1950-2000) – Annuelles

### Resource Details ▼►

Dataset languages ⇔English (UNITED STATES)
Dataset character setutf8 - 8 bit UCS Transfer Format
Statuscompleted
Spatial representation type ⇔grid
Spatial resolution
  Ground sample distance
    Precision of spatial datam (meter)
Supplemental information

      The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is an international organization created by Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), which came into force at the same time as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The CEC was established to address regional environmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environmental conflicts, and to promote the effective enforcement of environmental law. As of 2020, the CEC operates in accordance with the Environmental Cooperation Agreement, which entered into force at the same time as the CUSMA/T-MEC/USMCA trade agreement.

      Background information on the WorldClim database is available in: Very High Resolution Interpolated Climate Surfaces for Global Land Areas; Hijmans, R.J., S.E. Cameron, J.L. Parra, P.G. Jones and A. Jarvis; International Journal of Climatology 25: 1965-1978; 2005 (http://www.worldclim.org/worldclim_IJC.pdf).

      This data set is available in several formats, including TIF, Map package, and a PDF Map, along with other files appropriate to particular format, such as .lyrx and .qlr files.

Processing environment ⇔Microsoft Windows 10 Version 10.0 (Build 26100) ; Esri ArcGIS 13.5.3.57366
Credits

      Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). 2011. “North American Environmental Atlas - Monthly Precipitation, 1950-2000”. Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. Ed. 1.0, Raster digital data [1-km].

ArcGIS item properties
  Name ⇔na_precip_jan.tif
  Location ⇔file://E:\Dropbox\CEC\01_CEC_Env_Atlas_Base\5_Climate\5_03_PrecipitationMonthly_1950_2000\02_Deliverables\NA_PrecipitationMonthly_TIF\NA_PrecipitationMonthly\data\01_January\na_precip_jan.tif
    Access protocol ⇔Local Area Network

### Extents ▼►

Extent
  Description

        North America

  Geographic extent
    Bounding rectangle
      Extent type
      Extent used for searching
      West longitude-180
      East longitude-50
      North latitude85
      South latitude14
      Extent contains the resource ⇔Yes
Extent in the item's coordinate system
  westBL ⇔-5762000.000000
  eastBL ⇔3914000.000000
  southBL ⇔-3752000.000000
  northBL ⇔4268000.000000
  exTypeCode ⇔Yes

### Resource Points of Contact ▼►

Point of contact - point of contact
  Individual's nameDominique Croteau
  Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
  Contact's positionProject Lead, Geospatial and Environmental Information
    Contact information ▼►
      Phone
        Voice+1 514 350 4300
        Fax+1 438 701 1434
      Address
        Typephysical
        Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
        CityMontreal
        Administrative areaQuebec
        Postal codeH3B 4L4
        CountryCA
        e-mail address info@cec.org
Point of contact - publisher
  Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
    Contact information ▼►
      Phone
        Voice+1 514 350 4300
        Fax+1 438 701 1434
      Address
        Typephysical
        Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
        CityMontreal
        Administrative areaQuebec
        Postal codeH3B 4L4
        CountryCA
        e-mail address info@cec.org
      Online resource
        Online location (URL) https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/

### Resource Maintenance ▼►

Resource maintenance
  Update frequencyirregular
  Maintenance contact - publisher
    Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
      Contact information ▼►
        Phone
          Voice+1 514 350 4300
          Fax+1 438 701 1434
        Address
          Typephysical
          Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
          CityMontreal
          Administrative areaQuebec
          Postal codeH3B 4L4
          CountryCA
          e-mail address info@cec.org
        Online resource
          Online location (URL) https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/

### Resource Constraints ▼►

Constraints
  Limitations of use

        This material is licensed under CC BY 4.0, allowing non-exclusive rights to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, so long as attribution is given to the creator.

### Spatial Reference ▼►

ArcGIS coordinate system
  Type ⇔Projected
  Geographic coordinate reference ⇔GCS_Sphere_ARC_INFO
  Projection ⇔Sphere_ARC_INFO_Lambert_Azimuthal_Equal_Area
  Coordinate reference details ⇔
    ProjectedCoordinateSystem
      XOrigin-12742100
      YOrigin-12742100
      XYScale353442495.92849648
      ZOrigin-100000
      ZScale10000
      MOrigin-100000
      MScale10000
      XYTolerance0.001
      ZTolerance0.001
      MTolerance0.001
      HighPrecisiontrue
      WKTPROJCS["Sphere_ARC_INFO_Lambert_Azimuthal_Equal_Area",GEOGCS["GCS_Sphere_ARC_INFO",DATUM["D_Sphere_ARC_INFO",SPHEROID["Sphere_ARC_INFO",6370997.0,0.0]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0.0],UNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]],PROJECTION["Lambert_Azimuthal_Equal_Area"],PARAMETER["false_easting",0.0],PARAMETER["false_northing",0.0],PARAMETER["central_meridian",-100.0],PARAMETER["latitude_of_origin",45.0],UNIT["Meter",1.0]]
Reference system identifier
  Value37008
  CodespaceWKID

### Spatial Data Properties ▼►

Georectified Grid ▼►
  Number of dimensions ⇔2
  Axis dimensions properties - column (x-axis)
    Dimension size ⇔9676
    Resolution ⇔
        1000.000000 m (meter)
  Axis dimensions properties - row (y-axis)
    Dimension size ⇔8020
    Resolution ⇔
        1000.000000 m (meter)
  Cell geometry ⇔area
  Point in pixel ⇔center
  Transformation parameters are available ⇔Yes
  Check points are available ⇔No
  Corner points
    Point ⇔-5762000.000000 -3752000.000000
    Point ⇔-5762000.000000 4268000.000000
    Point ⇔3914000.000000 4268000.000000
    Point ⇔3914000.000000 -3752000.000000
  Center point ⇔-924000.000000 258000.000000
ArcGIS Raster Properties ▼►
  General Information
    Pixel depth ⇔16
    Compression type ⇔LZW
    Number of bands ⇔1
    Raster format ⇔TIFF
    Source type ⇔discrete
    Pixel type ⇔signed integer
    No data value ⇔-9999
    Has colormap ⇔No
    Has pyramids ⇔Yes

### Spatial Data Content ▼►

Image Description
  Type of information ⇔thematic classification
  Attribute described by cell valuesTotal Monthly Precipitation
  Band information
    Description ⇔Band_1
    Maximum value ⇔N/A
    Minimum value ⇔0.000000
    Units
      Symbol[mil_i]
    Number of bits per value ⇔16
  Triangulation has been performedNo
  Radiometric calibration is availableNo
  Camera calibration is availableNo
  Film distortion information is availableNo
  Lens distortion information is availableNo

### Data Quality ▼►

Scope of quality information ▼►
  Resource leveldataset
Data quality report - Completeness omission ▼►
  Data quality measure reference
    Measure description

          Data completeness reflects the content of the original WorldClim data. See http://www.worldclim.org/methods  for maps showing the general distribution of weather stations used to supply the source data. Weather stations are not evenly distributed across North America and some stations may not have data for all the source years listed. See the International Journal of Climatology article: Very High Resolution Interpolated Climate Surfaces for Global Land Areas (http://www.worldclim.org/worldclim_IJC.pdf) for information on interpolation methods and quality control in the source data.

  Conformance test results
    Test passedYes
    Product specification ▼►
      TitleNorth American Environmental Atlas - Total Annual Precipitation, 1950-2000
Data quality report ▼►
  Data quality measure reference
    Measure description

          No tests for logical consistency have been performed on this map layer.

  Conformance test results
    Test passedYes
    Product specification ▼►
      TitleNorth American Environmental Atlas - Total Annual Precipitation, 1950-2000

### Lineage ▼►

Lineage statement

      The North America climate data were derived from WorldClim (http://www.worldclim.org/), a set of global climate layers developed by the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, in collaboration with The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/Paginas/index.aspx) and Rainforest CRC (http://www.jcu.edu.au/rainforest/) with support from NatureServe (http://www.natureserve.org/). The global climate data layers were generated through interpolation of average monthly climate data from weather stations across North America. The result is a 30-arc-second-resolution (1-Km) grid of mean temperature values. The North American data were clipped from the global data and reprojected to a Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection. The Total Annual Precipitation data set is a raster file showing precipitation means derived from monthly precipitation readings. The source data covers the years 1950-2000; individual weather stations used to supply the source data may not have data available for all the years.

Process step ▼►
  When the process occurred2011-06-15 00:00:00
  Description

        The monthly precipitation data files were downloaded from WorldClim and clipped using the North American coastline. The resulting files contain data for Canada, Mexico, and the USA only; all the water pixels were given a value of NoData. The data were converted to GRID format and reprojected to the standard Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection used for the North American Environmental Atlas.

  Source data ▼►
    Relationship to the process stepused
    Source citation ▼►
      TitleWorldClim
Source data ▼►
  Description

        Very High Resolution Interpolated Climate Surfaces For Global Land Areas

  Source medium nameonline link
  Source citation ▼►
    TitleVery High Resolution Interpolated Climate Surfaces For Global Land Areas
    Publication date2005-06-15 00:00:00
    FGDC geospatial presentation formatraster digital data
    Resource identifier
      ValueWorldClim
    Responsible party - originator
      Organization's nameUniversity of California, Berkeley
      Contact's positionMuseum of Vertebrate Zoology
        Contact information ▼►
          Phone
            Voice+1 510 642 3567
            Fax+1 510 643 8238
          Address
            Typephysical
            Delivery point3101 Valley Life Sciences Building
            CityBerkeley
            Administrative areaCalifornia
            Postal code94720
            CountryUS
            e-mail address mvz@berkeley.edu
    Resource location online
      Online location (URL) https://www.worldclim.org/
Source data ▼►
  Description

        North American Coastline

  Source citation ▼►
    TitleNorth American Coastline
    Publication date2010-06-15 00:00:00
    FGDC geospatial presentation formatvector digital data
    Resource identifier
      ValueCoastline
    Responsible party - originator
      Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
        Contact information ▼►
          Phone
            Voice+1 514 350 4300
            Fax+1 438 701 1434
          Address
            Typephysical
            Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
            CityMontreal
            Administrative areaQuebec
            Postal codeH3B 4L4
            CountryCA
            e-mail address info@cec.org
          Online resource
            Online location (URL) https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/

### Distribution ▼►

Distributor ▼►
  Contact information - distributor
    Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
      Contact information ▼►
        Phone
          Voice+1 514 350 4300
          Fax+1 438 701 1434
        Address
          Typephysical
          Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
          CityMontreal
          Administrative areaQuebec
          Postal codeH3B 4L4
          CountryCA
          e-mail address info@cec.org
        Online resource
          Online location (URL) https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/
Distribution format
  NameTIF
  SpecificationAlthough these data have been processed successfully on computer systems at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the utility of the data on any other system, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. No responsibility is assumed by these agencies in the use of this data.
Transfer options
  Units of distributionMB
  Transfer size141

### Fields ▼►

Details for object na_precip_jan.tif.vat ▼►
  Type ⇔Table
  Row countN/A
  Definition

        Annual precipitation GRID image grid cell.

  Definition source

        Commission for Environmental Cooperation

  Field OID ▼►
    Alias ⇔OID
    Data type ⇔OID
    Width ⇔4
    Precision ⇔0
    Scale ⇔0
    Field description ⇔

          Internal feature number.

    Description source ⇔

          Esri

    Description of values ⇔

          Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

  Field VALUE ▼►
    Alias ⇔VALUE
    Data type ⇔Integer
    Width ⇔10
    Precision ⇔10
    Scale ⇔0
    Field description

          Monthly precipitation value for the grid cell, in millimeters.

    Description source

          Commission for Environmental Cooperation

  Field COUNT ▼►
    Alias ⇔COUNT
    Data type ⇔Integer
    Width ⇔10
    Precision ⇔10
    Scale ⇔0
    Field description

          Number of pixels by monthly precipitation value.

    Description source

          Commission for Environmental Cooperation

### Metadata Details ▼►

Metadata language ⇔English (UNITED STATES)
Metadata character setutf8 - 8 bit UCS Transfer Format
Metadata identifierNAatlas_5.03_metadata
Scope of the data described by the metadatadataset
Scope name ⇔dataset
Last update2011-04-01
ArcGIS metadata properties
  Metadata formatArcGIS 1.0
  Standard or profile used to edit metadataISO19115_3
  Created in ArcGIS for the item2022-09-28 13:15:09
  Last modified in ArcGIS for the item2025-09-18 20:28:03
  Automatic updates
    Have been performedYes
    Last update2025-09-15 13:26:04

### Metadata Contacts ▼►

Metadata contact - point of contact
  Individual's nameDominique Croteau
  Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
  Contact's positionProject Lead, Geospatial and Environmental Information
    Contact information ▼►
      Phone
        Voice+1 514 350 4300
        Fax+1 438 701 1434
      Address
        Typephysical
        Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
        CityMontreal
        Administrative areaQuebec
        Postal codeH3B 4L4
        CountryCA
        e-mail address info@cec.org
Metadata contact - publisher
  Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
    Contact information ▼►
      Phone
        Voice+1 514 350 4300
        Fax+1 438 701 1434
      Address
        Typephysical
        Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
        CityMontreal
        Administrative areaQuebec
        Postal codeH3B 4L4
        CountryCA
        e-mail address info@cec.org
      Online resource
        Online location (URL) https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/

### Metadata Maintenance ▼►

Maintenance
  Update frequencyirregular
  Maintenance contact - publisher
    Organization's nameCommission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
      Contact information ▼►
        Phone
          Voice+1 514 350 4300
          Fax+1 438 701 1434
        Address
          Typephysical
          Delivery point1001 Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, Suite 1620
          CityMontreal
          Administrative areaQuebec
          Postal codeH3B 4L4
          CountryCA
          e-mail address info@cec.org
        Online resource
          Online location (URL) https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/

### Metadata Constraints ▼►

Constraints
  Limitations of use

        None. Acknowledgment of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation would be appreciated in products derived from these data. All data for Canada and other areas outside of Mexico and the United States of America are covered by the Geogratis License Agreement for Unrestricted Use of Digital Data; see http://geogratis.cgdi.gc.ca/geogratis/en/licence.jsp.

Legal constraints
  Limitations of use

        This material is licensed under CC BY 4.0, allowing non-exclusive rights to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, so long as attribution is given to the creator.