Bio-ORACLE v3.0. Pushing marine data layers to the next-generation scenarios of climate change research

Climate change impacts on marine biodiversity are often projected using standardized data layers representing physical, chemical and biological conditions. Yet, the available data layers (1) overlook the next-generation data of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), which comprise the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios, (2) consider a limited number of Atmospheric-Ocean General Circulation Models (AOGCM), and (3) miss important drivers beyond temperature, salinity and sea ice conditions. These limitations might have undermined policy-relevant research, by failing to integrate impact assessments within the context of ongoing climate change policies, raising the uncertainty in estimates, and misinterpreting biodiversity exposure to extreme conditions. Here we provide an extension of Bio-ORACLE, pushing biologically relevant data layers from present-day conditions to the SSP scenarios of future climate change, based on a multi-AOGCM ensemble with data from the sixth phase of CMIP. Alongside, we provide R and Python packages for seamless integration in available modelling workflows. The data layers aim to enhance our understanding of climate change impacts and support well-informed conservation and management strategies.