Cycles global simulation database version 3.6

The Cycles global simulation database version 3.6 provides crop lookup tables, Cycles soil files, and Cycles weather files (1979 to present in CONUS, 2000 to present globally). This version supports the simulations of major crops in any Level-3 (e.g., county level) administrative region in the world. The crops that can be simulated include bean, cassava, lentil, maize, millet, potato, rice, sorghum, soybean, sweet potato, and wheat. Each crop is classified into two categories based on irrigation types: rainfed and irrigated. All versions prior to v2.0 were developed by Dr. Lorne Leonard.

What's new

v3.6

• Re-processed gridMET weather files, following the re-processing of griMET 2024 data.
• Compatible with Cycles v1.4.1+.

v3.6

• Added 2024 data to weather files.
• Compatible with Cycles v1.4.1+.

v3.4

• Re-processed NLDAS-2 and gridMET weather files, following the re-processing of NLDAS-2 forcing.
• Replaced soil organic matter (ORGANIC) in the soil files following the release of Cycles v1.4.1.
• Compatible with Cycles v1.4.1+.

v3.3

• Corrected screening heights of weather files.
• Added gridMET as an option for weather forcing for CONUS region.
• Renamed crop lookup files due to the addition of weather forcing options.
• Added 2023 data to weather files.
• Added a utility to find weather files for given locations.
• Compatible with Cycles v1.0.0 -- v1.3.0.

v3.2

• Fixed a weather file precipitation precision bug, which only rounded down precipitation amount but never rounded up.
• Added a Slurm script for transition to Slurm systems.
• Removed version numbers in crop look-up and soil directories.
• Compatible with Cycles v1.0.0 -- v1.3.0.

v3.1

• Missing values in SoilGrids data were filled with values from adjacent grids.
• A lower bound of 1% was added for minimum relative humidity to address negative specific humidity in GLDAS forcing.
• Fixed a bug that some GLDAS water grids were not correctly filtered out.
• Used the new version of GLDAS elevation file.
• Compatible with Cycles v1.0.0 -- v1.3.0.

Data Sources

• GAEZ+_2015 Crop Harvest Area
• GAEZ+_2015 Crop Production
• Harvested Area and Yield for 175 Crops
• GADM v4.1
• ESA/CCI Land Cover Maps - v2.0.7
• SoilGrids aggregated 5000-m
• Global Hydrologic Soil Groups (HYSOGs250m) for Curve Number-Based Runoff Modeling
• Curve number tables
• GMTED2010 1-km median slope
• GLDAS
• NLDAS
• gridMET

Crop lookup table files

The crop_lookup directory contains crop lookup tables that include all 3rd-level (or above) administrative regions where major crops are harvested, along with the names of corresponding weather files and soil files for the regions. The lookup tables are provided in csv format, and are named using the convention [crop name]_[irrigation type]_[range]_lookup_[file version].csv. For example, maize_irrigated_global_lookup_3.6.csv can be interpreted as follows:

• [crop name] = maize
• [irrigation type] = irrigated
• [range] = global
• [File version] = 3.6

Each lookup table file is structured as:

Column	Description
GID	Unique id representing Administrative region of the world
NAME_0	Country
NAME_1	Level 1 sub-division (e.g., state)
NAME_2	Level 2 sub-division (e.g., county)
Lat	Latitude of region centroid (degree)
Lon	Longitude of region centroid (degree)
AreaKm2	Region area in km2
AreaFraction	Harvested area fraction of the crop
CropLat	Latitude of maximum crop production in the area
CropLon	Longitude of maximum crop production in the area
Weather	Weather file name
Soil	Soil file name

Global look-up tables map regions to GLDAS grids, and CONUS look-up tables match them to NLDAS grids.

Soil file archives

Soil file archives provide global soil files that support the simulations of major crops, and can be found in the soil directory. These files are zipped and follow the naming convention [crop name]_[irrigation type]_global_soil_[file version].7z.

The soil files contain comments indicating the hydrologic soil group to which the soil belongs. The curve number for row crops with straight row treatment is used, assuming good drainage. However, if the cover type, treatment, or drainage is different, please refer to the table below to find the appropriate curve numbers.

Cover type	Treatment	Hydrologic condition	Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Fallow	Bare soil		77	86	91	94
Fallow	CR	Poor	76	85	90	93
Fallow	CR	Good	74	83	88	90
Row crops	SR	Poor	72	81	88	91
Row crops	SR	Good	67	78	85	89
Row crops	SR + CR	Poor	71	80	87	90
Row crops	SR + CR	Good	64	75	82	85
Row crops	C	Poor	70	79	84	88
Row crops	C	Good	65	75	82	86
Row crops	C + CR	Poor	69	78	83	87
Row crops	C + CR	Good	64	74	81	85
Row crops	C & T	Poor	66	74	80	82
Row crops	C & T	Good	62	71	78	81
Row crops	C & T + CR	Poor	65	73	79	81
Row crops	C & T + CR	Good	61	70	77	80
Small grain	SR	Poor	65	76	84	88
Small grain	SR	Good	63	75	83	87
Small grain	SR + CR	Poor	64	75	83	86
Small grain	SR + CR	Good	60	72	80	84
Small grain	C	Poor	63	74	82	85
Small grain	C	Good	61	73	81	84
Small grain	C + CR	Poor	62	73	81	84
Small grain	C + CR	Good	60	72	80	83
Small grain	C & T	Poor	61	72	79	82
Small grain	C & T	Good	59	70	78	81
Small grain	C & T + CR	Poor	60	71	78	81
Small grain	C & T + CR	Good	58	69	77	80
Close-seeded or broadcast legumes or rotation meadow	SR	Poor	66	77	85	89
Close-seeded or broadcast legumes or rotation meadow	SR	Good	58	72	81	85
Close-seeded or broadcast legumes or rotation meadow	C	Poor	64	75	83	85
Close-seeded or broadcast legumes or rotation meadow	C	Good	55	69	78	83
Close-seeded or broadcast legumes or rotation meadow	C & T	Poor	63	73	80	83
Close-seeded or broadcast legumes or rotation meadow	C & T	Good	51	67	76	80

Note:

CR: Crop residue cover

SR: Straight row

C: Contoured

T: Terraced

Weather file archives

Weather file archives are stored in the weather directory. The NLDAS_CONUS_1979-2024_3.6.7z archive contains 52,476 Cycles weather files for the CONUS region, generated from the primary forcing data for Phase 2 of the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS-2). The gridMET_1979-2024_3.6.7z archive contains all 9,216 Cycles weather files that appear in the CONUS look-up tables, generated from the gridMET dataset. The GLDAS_2000-2024_3.6.7z archive contains all 47,215 Cycles weather files that appear in the global look-up tables, generated from the primary forcing data for the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS). The weather files follow the naming convention [reanalysis]_[lat][N or S]_[lon][E or W].weather, where [reanalysis] can be GLDAS, NLDAS or girdMET, and [lat] and [lon] refer to the latitude and longitude of the corresponding grids.