Project: CORDEX dynamical downscaling data sets based on CMIP5 forcing - CORDEX (http://wcrp-cordex.ipsl.jussieu.fr) is a WCRP initiative to coordinate the downscaling of CMIP5 simulation results produced in support of the IPCC/AR5. About 30 institutes worldwide contributed to the CORDEX data base with more than 20 RCMs in various configurations and versions. CORDEX defined 13 domains (http://wcrp-cordex.ipsl.jussieu.fr/images/pdf/cordex_regions.pdf) with acronyms AFR(Africa), EUR(Europe), ARC(Arctic), ANT(Antarctica), MED(Mediterranean), SAM(South America), CAM(Central America), NAM(North America), WAS(South Asia), EAS(East Asia), CAS(Central Asia), AUS(Austral-Asia), ARB(Mediterranean-North Africa). The priority domain is the African continent. The data are requested to be generated on model grids with an approximate grid cell distance of 50/25/12 km (acronyms -44/-22/-11), preferably on rotated regular latitude-longitude grids. A subset of the requested data is provided on 0.5/0.25/0.125° regular latitude/longitude grids in project CORDEX_DDS-CMIP5_lat-lon-grid. RCM evaluation with the ERA-Interim re-analyses data (1989-2008) is mandatory. Besides, downscaling of historical experiments (1950-2005) and of climate change scenarios RCP 4.5 and 8.5 is requested. Many groups also used RCP 2.6 climate projections. For more details see http://is-enes-data.github.io/cordex_archive_specifications.pdf . A list of the variables requested by CORDEX can be downloaded from this project (CORDEX_variables_requirement_table.pdf). Not all variables will be provided by all RCMs though. Note that 3 and 6 hourly data are also available, however, only at the modelling centres on request. Summary: The data include daily, monthly, and seasonal variables of CORDEX experiments scaled down onto a ca. 12.5 km grid over Europe (acronym: EUR-44) based on the ALARO-0 regional climate model. Each file contains a single variable and is formatted according to the CORDEX data protocol - meaning NetCDF-4 compressed, CF-1.4 compliant, with attributes and filenames according to the specified DRS. The experiments provided are evaluation, historical, rcp85, rcp45 and rcp26 using forcing data derived from the CMIP5 model CNRM-CM5. The data are provided on the model computational (native) grid.