In preparation for the Fourth National Climate Assessment the EPA created Integrated Climate and Land-Use Scenarios (ICLUS) projected land use for the years 2020 to 2100. Two sets were prepared: one for the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 2 (SSP2) and one for the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 5 (SSP5). There is a rough correspondence between SSP2 and RCP4.5, and between SSP5 and RCP8.5. For details on the five SSPs see the 2017 Global Environmental Change article by Keywan Riahi and multiple co-authors.
In brief, Riahi et al. (p. 157) describe SSP2 as:
Middle of the Road (Medium challenges to mitigation and adaptation): The world follows a path in which social, economic, and technological trends do not shift markedly from historical patterns. Development and income growth proceeds unevenly, with some countries making relatively good progress while others fall short of expectations. Global and national institutions work toward but make slow progress in achieving sustainable development goals. Environmental systems experience degradation, although there are some improvements and overall the intensity of resource and energy use declines. Global population growth is moderate and levels off in the second half of the century. Income inequality persists or improves only slowly and challenges to reducing vulnerability to societal and environmental changes remain.
They also describe (p. 157) SSP5 as:
Fossil-fueled Development – Taking the Highway (High challenges to mitigation, low challenges to adaptation): This world places increasing faith in competitive markets, innovation and participatory societies to produce rapid technological progress and development of human capital as the path to sustainable development. Global markets are increasingly integrated. There are also strong investments in health, education, and institutions to enhance human and social capital. At the same time, the push for economic and social development is coupled with the exploitation of abundant fossil fuel resources and the adoption of resource and energy intensive lifestyles around the world. All these factors lead to rapid growth of the global economy, while global population peaks and declines in the 21st century. Local environmental problems like air pollution are successfully managed. There is faith in the ability to effectively manage social and ecological systems, including by geo-engineering if necessary.
The files listed below are for the state of Georgia. They have been extracted from the national files and reprojected to WGS84. They are too large to easily view from an interactive Web page, but below are several interactive preview maps showing only data for Fulton and DeKalb counties.
Full-screen versions of the preview maps
- Fulton and Dekalb County Actual Land Use for 2010
- Fulton and Dekalb County Projected Land Use for 2050 using SPP2
- Fulton and Dekalb County Projected Land Use for 2100 using SPP2
- Fulton and Dekalb County Projected Land Use for 2050 using SPP5
- Fulton and Dekalb County Projected Land Use for 2100 using SPP5
Complete Georgia maps for download in Geotiff format
- iclus actual land use from year 2000
- iclus actual land use from year 2010
- iclus projected land use from year 2020 for ssp2
- iclus projected land use from year 2020 for ssp5
- iclus projected land use from year 2030 for ssp2
- iclus projected land use from year 2030 for ssp5
- iclus projected land use from year 2040 for ssp2
- iclus projected land use from year 2040 for ssp5
- iclus projected land use from year 2050 for ssp2
- iclus projected land use from year 2050 for ssp5
- iclus projected land use from year 2060 for ssp2
- iclus projected land use from year 2060 for ssp5
- iclus projected land use from year 2070 for ssp2
- iclus projected land use from year 2070 for ssp5
- iclus projected land use from year 2080 for ssp2
- iclus projected land use from year 2080 for ssp5
- iclus projected land use from year 2090 for ssp2
- iclus projected land use from year 2090 for ssp5
- iclus projected land use from year 2100 for ssp2
- iclus projected land use from year 2100 for ssp5
Land use codes, descriptions, and hex color values for Geotiff maps
0: Natural Water (#BED2FF)
1: Reservoirs, Canals (#73B2FF)
2: Wetlands (#E8BEFF)
3: Recreation, Conservation (#CDF57A)
4: Timber (#38A800)
5: Grazing (#98E600)
6: Pasture (#CDAA66)
7: Cropland (#897044)
8: Mining, Barren Land (#CCCCCC)
9: Parks, Golf Courses (#55FF00)
10: Exurban, Low (#FFD34A)
11: Exurban, High (#FFAA00)
12: Suburban (#FFBEBE)
13: Urban Low (#FF7F7F)
14: Urban High (#FF0000)
15: Commercial (#CCCCCC)
16: Industrial (#9C9C9C)
17: Institutional (#686868)
18: Transportation (#343434)