Data Resources

Streamflow Data

• Water Survey of Canada
  Historical and real-time water level and streamflow data. Upstream basin polygons here
• For provincial streamflow data, see Provincial Data and Data Tools below

Meteorological Data (measured)

• MSC Historical Climate Data
  Historical hourly and daily gauge and radar meteorological data (web download month-by-month- for hourly data or year-by-year for daily data).
  • For downloading in bulk, try using the MSCr R package
  • For visualization of data in space and time, try Green Kenue or the
    Environment Canada Data Explorer
• ECCC Adjusted Daily Rainfall/Snowfall data (AdjDlyRS)
  Historical daily data corrected for SWE, gauge undercatch, and trace precipitation. Corrects historical underestimation of total precipitation on the Canadian Open Data Portal.
• Alberta Climate Information Service
  Provincial data source in Alberta
• ClimateData.ca
  A mapping tool for accessing, visualizing, and analyzing Canadian climate data. Temperature, precipitation, and other variables (such as frost days and cooling degree days) available under multiple future climate scenarios.

Meteorological Data (simulated/downscaled)

• Canadian Precipitation Analysis (CaPa)
  Model-interpolated climate data generated from RDPS combined with gauge and radar data
• Canadian Meteorological Centre’s Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models
  Regional (RDPS), Global (GDPS), North American Ensemble (NAEFS) and seasonal forecasts in GRIB format.
• CaSPAr – Canadian Surface Prediction Archive data portal
  Historical ECCC regional climate prediction archives, available in NetCDF format
• ClimateNA_MAP
  North America-wide downscaled GCM climate data; monthly estimated variables from 1901-2010.
• PCIC Downscaled GCMS
  Canada-wide downscaled GCM climate data from the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC). Daily precip and min/max temperature in NetCDF or ASCII format for multiple scenarios.
• Daymet
  1km x 1km gridded daily weather and climatological variables over North America from 1980-present; point and gridded downloads.

Terrain Data

• Canadian Digital Elevation Model (CDEM) [preferred over CDED data]
  Canadian national elevation data product
• Canada Digital Elevation Data (CDED)
  Canadian national elevation data product
• Arctic DEM
  High resolution (5-m or better) digital elevation model data north of 60 latitude
• CanElevation High-resolution DEM
  High resolution DEM (HRDEM) derived from airborne LiDAR at 1m or 2m resolution>
• HydroSHEDS
  Global hydrologically-conditioned digital elevation models south of 60 latitude at 3 arc-second resolution.
• MERIT DEM
  Global hydrologically-conditioned digital elevation models south of 65 latitude at 3 arc-second resolution.

Land Cover Data

• North American Environmental Atlas Land Cover
  30 metre resolution Landsat-generated land cover data harmonized across North America.

Provincial Data and Data Tools

• rivers.alberta.ca
  Streamflow, level, and snow depth data across Alberta provided by Alberta Environment and Parks
• BC Water Tool
  Streamflow, level, water quality, and climate data across Southern British Columbia developed by BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.
• Manitoba Hydro Hydrological Data Portal
  Real-time streamflow and water level data across Manitoba
• Manitoba Infrastructure Water Information
  Real-time flood warning data for Manitoba, plus historical floodway control structure operations
• Ontario Integrated Hydrology Data
  Harmonized Ontario Hydro Network-National Hydro Network stream and water body vector coverage with hydrologically corrected DEM and flow direction raster data for the province of Ontario.
• Ontario Flow Assessment Tool (OFAT)
  Online map-based tool which creates watersheds, calculates watershed characteristics, executes simple hydrology models and reports water flow statistics.
• Centre d’expertise hydrique du Québec (CEHQ) Hydrometric Data
  Water level, streamflow, and real-time forecasts across the province of Québec.

Other Datasets

• CANOPEX – Canadian hydrometeorological watershed database
  Canada-wide database of 698 natural watersheds with 20+ years of record (streamflow and met data) for model intercomparison and assessment
• Polar Data Catalogue
  Extensive database of Arctic and Antarctic physical and political data; includes numerous snow and ice cover datasets
• National Dataset of Streamflow Isotopes across Canada
  Open-access dataset of 18O and 2H streamflow isotope measurements at 331 gauging stations across Canada from 2013 to 2019.
• RivTemp.ca
  Historical and real-time stream temperature data across Québec and the Maritimes.