rcp85 is an experiment of the CMIP5 - Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 ( https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/mips/cmip5 ). CMIP5 is meant to provide a framework for coordinated climate change experiments for the next five years and thus includes simulations for assessment in the AR5 as well as others that extend beyond the AR5. 4.2 rcp85 (4.2 RCP8.5) - Version 1: Future projection (2006-2100) forced by RCP8.5. RCP8.5 is a representative concentration pathway which approximately results in a radiative forcing of 8.5 W m-2 at year 2100, relative to pre-industrial conditions. RCPs are time-dependent, consistent projections of emissions and concentrations of radiatively active gases and particles. Experiment design: https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/mips/cmip5/experiment_design.html List of output variables: https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/mips/cmip5/datadescription.html Output: time series per variable in model grid spatial resolution in netCDF format Earth System model and the simulation information: CIM repository Entry name/title of data are specified according to the Data Reference Syntax ( https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/mips/cmip5/docs/cmip5_data_reference_syntax.pdf ) as activity/product/institute/model/experiment/frequency/modeling realm/MIP table/ensemble member/version number/variable name/CMOR filename.nc .