The database of chemical composition of Central Asian forage plants contains just under 1000 desert and steppe species with information such as Latin and Russian names and family and related records of chemical composition from various sources including percentages by weight of protein, ash, cellulose and fat. Where available, it also includes data on digestible protein content, metabolisable energy and Soviet Feed Units (SFU). Records also include information on the country, location, season or month and phenological phase at time of collection of each sample. As one of the original uses of the database was for modelling food and energy intake by the saiga antelope, it also includes information identifying saiga food plant species along with sources of this information. Data on the edibility of many species for livestock in different seasons are also available. See the detailed documentation available here for more information on the data types, definitions and sources. NB The database is in text format and must be imported e.g. into relational database software, as Unicode (UTF-8) in order to convert the Cyrillic characters in Russian names. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/6a5a9a2a-730b-49f7-9e42-2295040aee56

This dataset contains high-resolution (5 km) Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI-HR) drought data for Central Asia. There are forty-eight different SPEI time scales and the available period is from 1981 - 2018, the data was produced using Climate Hazards group InfraRed Precipitation with Station’s (CHIRPS) precipitation dataset and Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model’s (GLEAM) potential evaporation dataset. The SPEI-HR dataset, over time and space, correlates fairly well with SPEI values estimated from coarse-resolution Climate Research Unit (CRU) dataset. Furthermore, the SPEI-HR dataset, for 6-month timescale, displayed a good correlation of 0.66 with GLEAM root zone soil moisture and a positive correlation of 0.26 with normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from Global Inventory Monitoring and Modelling System (GIMMS).

Co-Ordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) data for the Central Asia Domain (CAS-44). The data is produced by the MetOffice Hadley Centre regional model HadRM3P running at 0.44 degree resolution over the Central Asia CORDEX domain (CAS-44). HadRM3P is a regional climate model based on the HadCM3 Coupled Climate Model. The HadRM3P model is driven by European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA-Interim reanalysis data to run the CORDEX Evaluation experiment, representative of the period from 1990 to 2011. The model outputs are stored on the native grid used for the simulation, which has a consistent spatial resolution across the simulation domain. Each variable is stored at the daily timescale. The collection also includes monthly and seasonal averages. In addition, the archive also includes sub-daily data. The CORDEX program is sponsored by the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) to organise an internationally coordinated framework to produce improved regional climate change projections for all land regions world-wide. The CORDEX-results will serve as input for climate change impact and adaptation studies.