Population density dataset

[znichollscr]

Some groups need population information apparently. From the discussion here (not public link, sorry, but all the info is now here):

• @ssmithClimate seemed to be our key contact for this. The last discussions were about contacting Bryan Jones (CUNY) and Detlef or someone about HYDE (Utrect U.).
• Then there is also the note by @vnaik60 that the SSP population projections used GPWv3, which may or may not be the same as HYDE.
• whatever dataset we end up with, we need to connect with the data provider and go through the usual process. Ideally we find the same data provider for historical and scenarios to make harmonisation easier.

[durack1]

WorldPop/FuturePop grant - supported by https://wellcome.org/

Contacts below:

From: Felipe Colon Gonzalez @wellcome.org
Sent: Tuesday, February 4, 2025 10:26 AM
To: Joy Shumake-Guillemot @wmo.int; Andrew Tatem @soton.ac.uk; Laurence Hawker @bristol.ac.uk
Cc: Donna James @wellcome.org
Subject: [Introduction] Introducing the FuturePop/WorldPop team

Dear Joy,

I hope this email finds you well. I would like to introduce you to the PIs of our WorldPop/FuturePop grant.
They've been awarded some funds to develop a new gridded dataset of global population projections for
all SSP scenarios at a high spatial resolution. Moreover, they will disaggregate those estimates by age
brackets and sex something that has not been attempted before. WorldPop has also been awarded some
funds to support the main data assets of spatiotemporal data they host and that are highly relevant to
the C&H community.

We believe that by putting your team and theirs in touch you could collaborate in meaningful ways to
strengthen the C&H field. We hope this connection leads to effective and long-standing collaborations.

I will leave it to Andy and Laurence to tell you more about the great work they do.

Best wishes,

Felipe

Dr. Felipe Colón (He/Him/His)
(/fɛˈli pɛ/, [feˈli.pe] /, phe lee peh)
Technology Lead
Data for Science and Health
Wellcome Trust
Gibbs Building
215 Euston Road, NW1 2BE, UK
E: [firstInitial.lastName@wellcome.org]

[eleanororourke]

I am in contact with the Future Pop/World Pop team and they are keen to meet, which I will set up this week (with a Doodle). Some additional info from them:

Our original project timeline had a target of Q2 2026 for a release in Africa which would then be rolled out to the global by the end of 2026.

However, an 'alpha' version of FuturePop population counts already exists for the globe and I would expect a good 'beta' standard product to be available by the end of this year. Age/sex disaggregated maps would lag around 6 months behind these.

It would be great to have a call to find out requirements. For instance if a particular region is of most interest we can focus on that (but I assume you need global).

We are very keen to be involved and hope we can come to some sort of agreement to provide you with what you need.

[vnaik60]

On historical population density dataset, we have been approached by Fang Li for the possiblity of sharing the HYDE3.4 dataset that she processed for the CESM model.

Dear Paul and Vaishali,

I am writing as the fire model developer of CESM and co-chair of CMIP7 FireMIP.
I noticed that the CMIP7 population density forcing is currently marked as TBD. As population density is a crucial input for ESM fire modeling, I would like to share a relevant dataset I recently developed.
This is a global 0.5-degree annual population density dataset spanning 1850-2023, derived from HYDE3.4 population data (decadal before 1950 and annual for 1950-2023). The dataset will serve as forcing data for CESM3 (https://github.com/ESCOMP/CTSM/issues/2701#issuecomment-2635071041). 

I would be happy to provide this dataset if it would be useful for CMIP7.

Best regards,
Fang

________________________________________
Fang Li (she, her, hers) 
Professor (Full), 
International Center for Climate and Environment Sciences (ICCES) 
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences 
Office 406, Building 3, No 81 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China 
Phone: +86-10-82995282