EFG T6.3 Polar tundra – current maps

T6. Polar/alpine (cryogenic) biome

Published

June 7, 2024

This page provides information about the valid indicative distribution map for the ecosystem functional group T6.3 Polar tundra and deserts. For older or alternative maps, see here.

Methods

Here is the methods summary for Map code and version: T6.3.web.map v1.0.

Areas corresponding to the tundra climatic zone according to the Köppen-Geiger classification system (Beck et al. 2018) were first identified. Additional areas were then selected in high latitudes corresponding with low annual solar radiation (values <1800 in Beckmann et al. 2014). A union of these maps was created at 30 arc seconds spatial resolution in geographic projection.

Datasets

glUV1.0 (Beckmann et al. 2014):

Source of spatial indicator from remote sensing data. Resolution: <1km2, static. Accuracy evaluation: >70%.

KG-climate-2018 (Beck et al. 2018):

Source of climatic stratification. Resolution: ca. 1km2, periods/epochs. Accuracy evaluation: >80%.

dataset url
KG-climate-2018 http://www.gloh2o.org/koppen/ :: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6396959
glUV1.0 https://www.ufz.de/gluv/

Processing

Processing steps used in this map are: Reclassification :: Buffering :: Thresholds :: Aggregation.

Map evaluation

This map is considered to be a Fine quality map series based on the following characteristics:

Concept alignment is Semi-direct,specific.

Ground observations are NA.

The accuracy evaluation Quantitative accuracy assessment,documented,quantitative.

How to use the data

Available files

Following maps are considered current and valid indicative distribution maps for this ecosystem functional group. Web navigation maps are optimised for use in webapps, but they have similar methods and differ only in details of format and processing.

  • Indicative Map (code: T6.3.IM.alt, version v2.0)
  • Web navigation (code: T6.3.web.map, version v1.0)

You can download geospatial data for this map from the following sources:

T6.3.IM.alt (v2.0): Google Cloud bucket :: Zenodo repository (bundle of maps)

T6.3.web.map (v1.0): Google Cloud bucket :: Zenodo repository (bundle of maps) :: Zenodo repository (EFG map) :: Mapbox tileset :: Earth Engine assets

Note that you need to login to some services like mapbox or earthengine, and in some cases you also need to request access to the files.

License information

Indicative maps have been released with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Datasets used to create this map might have some restriction for commercial use, see details below.

dataset license_info
KG-climate-2018 https://www.gloh2o.org/terms-of-use/ :: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ :: CC BY 4.0

References

References used in this version of the maps.

  • Beckmann M., Václavík T., Manceur A.M., Šprtová L., von Wehrden H., Welk E., Cord A.F. (2014) glUV: A global UV-B radiation dataset for macroecological studies Methods in Ecology and Evolution 5: 372–383. DOI:10.1111/2041-210X.12168
  • Beck, H., Zimmermann, N., McVicar, T. et al. (2018) Present and future Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1-km resolution Sci Data 5, 180214 DOI:10.1038/sdata.2018.214