Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of  western Canada: a review and synthesis

DeBeer, Chris M.; Wheater, Howard S.; Carey, Sean K.; Chun, Kwok P.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1573-2016

Articles | Volume 20, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1573-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Understanding and predicting Earth system and hydrological...

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1573-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 4

Review article

|

25 Apr 2016

Review article |

| 25 Apr 2016

Recent climatic, cryospheric, and hydrological changes over the interior of western Canada: a review and synthesis

Chris M. DeBeer, Howard S. Wheater, Sean K. Carey, and Kwok P. Chun

Data sets

North American Environmental Atlas Commission For Environmental Cooperation http://www.cec.org/sites/default/atlas/map/

National Hydro Network Geobase and Geogratis http://www.geobase.ca/

Adjusted and Homogenized Canadian Climate Data (AHCCD) Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) http://www.ec.gc.ca/dccha-ahccd/

Canadian Gridded Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies (CANGRD) Environment Canada http://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/3d4b68a5-13bc-48bb-ad10-801128aa6604

Canadian Snow Data CD by Province Polar Data Catalogue https://www.polardata.ca/pdcsearch/PDCSearch.jsp?doi_id=1744

NOAA weekly snow cover product Rutgers University Global Snow Lab (GSL) http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/docs.php?target=vis

Peyto Glacier mass balance World Glacier Monitoring Service http://wgms.ch/products_ref_glaciers/peyto-glacier-pacific-coast-range/

Monitoring the World's Changing Glaciers Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) http://www.glims.org/

Circum-arctic map of permafrost and ground ice conditions National Snow and Ice Data Center https://nsidc.org/data/ggd318

PA-IPY Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) Snapshot Borehole Inventory IPA (International Permafrost Association) http://nsidc.org/data/G02190

Water Survey of Canada Hydrometric Database (HYDAT) Environment and Climate Change Canada http://www.ec.gc.ca/rhc-wsc/

Short summary

This paper provides a comprehensive review and up-to-date synthesis of the observed changes in air temperature, precipitation, seasonal snow cover, mountain glaciers, permafrost, freshwater ice cover, and river discharge over the interior of western Canada since the mid- or late 20th century. Important long-term observational networks and data sets are described, and qualitative linkages among the changing Earth system components are highlighted.