CHELSA Climate
CHELSA is a high-resolution global climate dataset that provides temperature and precipitation rasters with improved accuracy in mountainous and coastal terrain compared to WorldClim.
Format
GeoTIFF / NetCDF
Geometry
Raster (climate grid)
Coverage
Global (land surface)
Resolution
30 arc-seconds (~1km)
About this dataset
High-resolution global climate data using orographic and downscaled climate models, more accurate in mountainous terrain than WorldClim.
CHELSA (Climatologies at High resolution for the Earth's Land Surface Areas) provides global climate rasters at 30 arc-second resolution using mechanistic statistical downscaling that accounts for orographic effects. It offers improved accuracy compared to WorldClim in mountainous and coastal regions.
How to download
- 1 Open the CHELSA climate downloads page.
- 2 Select the climate variable (temperature, precipitation, bioclim) and time period.
- 3 Download the GeoTIFF or NetCDF rasters for your study area or the global extent.
- 4 Open the data in GeoDataViewer or QGIS and compare with WorldClim for mountainous regions.
FAQ
When should I use CHELSA instead of WorldClim?
Use CHELSA when your study area includes mountainous or coastal terrain where WorldClim's interpolation method underperforms. CHELSA's mechanistic downscaling better captures orographic precipitation and temperature gradients.
Does CHELSA provide future climate projections?
Yes. CHELSA provides downscaled future climate projections based on CMIP5 and CMIP6 scenarios, available alongside the current climatologies.