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.

Product Details

Visibility: Public
Owner: Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
Created: 3 Apr 2024
Last Updated: 21 Aug 2025

Product Contents

Overview

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.

Citing

The layers in this collection have been re-released under their original license where applicable, or a CC-BY licence otherwise. Please cite when using, and also cite the original data sources used. For example:

Kovacs J (2020) A model of my favourite Southern Ocean species. Journal of Southern Ocean Stuff 123:1-10. Data obtained from the SCAR DistAnt Ecological Model Output Repository, 10.5281/zenodo.10910075

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

Contribute data

If you have generated some model outputs that would be suitable for this collection, or are aware of some that we haven’t yet included, please open an issue and let us know.

The focus for this repository --- at least initially --- is on circumpolar layers that encompass the whole Southern Ocean or whole Antarctic continent. However, regional outputs that cover smaller domains will be considered, particularly if they relate to a taxon or output variable for which there is no circumpolar output.

Project contributors

Charlie Plasman, Anton Van de Putte (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles)

Salomé Fabri-Ruiz (Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer)

Jennifer Freer, Huw Griffiths (British Antarctic Survey)

David Green, Benjamin Viola, Briannyn Woods (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies)

Jean-Olivier Irisson (Institut de la Mer de Villefranche)

Lucas Krüger (Instituto Antártico Chileno)

Benjamin Merkel (Norwegian Polar Institute)

Matt Pinkerton (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research)

Ryan Reisinger (University of Southampton)

Giovanni Testa, Andrea Piñones (Centro de Investigación en Dinámica de Ecosistemas Marinos de Altas Latitudes)

Anikó Tóth (University of New South Wales)

José Xavier (University of Coimbra, British Antarctic Survey)

Ben Raymond, Aleks Terauds (Australian Antarctic Division)

Contents

The metadata.csv file provides 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).