Atmospheric and Climate Science Directorate

Regional Case Studies

The AIR Group and other researchers commonly use regional case studies to understand how human-engineered and natural systems respond to changes in weather, climate and other atmospheric conditions. Regions may be defined based upon their biogeophysical characteristics (e.g. watersheds, ecozones, wetlands, estuaries, air sheds, ranges of flora/fauna, etc.), their political or management units (e.g. nations, provinces, municipalities, national parks, etc.), their recreation or tourism zones, or using other criteria (e.g., rural/urban, wealth, demographics, culture, commuter-sheds. The common traits and issues that bind a region together influence its vulnerability to changes in climate and atmospheric conditions. Comparisons of regional units (e.g., different municipalities or national parks) through time and over geographic space provides useful information about the relative vulnerability and adaptive capacity of regions. Lessons learned from one regional case study can benefit another in managing climate and other atmospheric impacts.

The AIR Group has taken the lead in climate change impact assessments of the entire country, The Canada Country Study: Climate Impacts and Adaptation, and of two large watersheds, the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River Basin and the Mackenzie River Basin . Contributions and leadership were also provided in the North American component of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPPC) special report on the Regional Impacts of Climate Change: An Assessment of Vulnerability, and contributions to the Working Group II (WGII) Report of the IPCC's Third Assessment.

On-going research in this area includes:

• The Toronto-Niagara Region Study, that examines the vulnerability of the urban environment to climate and air quality stressors
• The case study on Climate Change and Water Management in the Okanagan Basin
• The Georgia Basin Futures Project, that addresses several aspects of regional sustainability, including climate change
• Other regional case studies have focussed on national parks, the Columbia and Grand River watersheds, the Yangtze Delta, the Georgian Lakelands tourism district of south-central Ontario, and weather-related motor vehicle collision rates in several Canadian urban centres

Other case studies with a strong spatial dimension included:

• Regional severe storm climatology analyses
• A Hudson Bay bioregion report
• North American IPCC regional impacts chapter
• Great Lake wetlands
• various regional Canada Country Study efforts
• heat stress/mortality studies in s.Ont urban centres
• municipal winter road maintenance
• rural atmospheric issues

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