SCAR DistAnt Ecological Model Output Repository

This repository provides access to a collection of ecological model outputs (species distribution and similar models) from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. It is a project of the SCAR Expert Group on Biodiversity Informatics in conjunction with ADVANCE (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences) and the Integrated Digital East Antarctica program at the Australian Antarctic Division.

Please note: the inclusion of a layer in this collection is not an endorsement of its quality or suitability for your intended purpose. Users should consult the associated publication for details on the source data and modelling processes. We encourage users to contact the original publication authors to discuss their intended use of these layers.

Model outputs are provided as cloud-optimized geotiffs (COGs), with generally one file per species. The COG will have multiple bands if the original model predictions include uncertainty estimates or multiple model output variables. Each output has been kept on its original coordinate reference system (map projection) and spatial resolution.

There is a table of minimal metadata that describes the layers in the collection. This metadata is intended to be sufficient for users to find potential layers of interest, and make an initial evaluation of their high-level characteristics such as taxonomic details, spatial coverage and resolution, and model output types. Our metadata is NOT intended to provide a comprehensive description of each layer: users are referred to the original publication for that level of detail (see the layer’s reference entry).

Individual data sources might have varying licence conditions: consult the licence field for details.