Register here to obtain a CD-ROM compilation of Canadian snow data (depth and snow courses) for RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. Commercial users can purchase the CD for $200.00 from Climate Services in Downsview. Please read details below before submitting your request. Thank you!
The Canadian Snow Data CD-ROM was created by the Climate Processes and Earth Observation Division, Climate Research Branch, Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) with the objective of making Canadian snow data more readily available to the user community. The CD-ROM contains the Canadian Daily Snow Depth Database and the Canadian Snow Water Equivalent Database, as well as a bonus publication "A Guide for Ground Based Measurement of the Arctic Snow Cover" by Dr. Ming-ko Woo (November, 1997).
The Canadian Daily Snow Depth Database consists of daily ruler measurements of snow depth taken by Meteorological Service of Canada observers and archived as daily element 013 in the National Climate Data Archive. The depth data also include a substantial number of daily and weekly snow depth observations rescued from paper records as part of a CRYSYS-sponsored data rescue project. The depth data extend from the late 1800s to early 1996 in the database, although most of the data are in the period after 1950. A detailed quality control procedure was applied to flag suspicious values and fill missing data. The QCd data were written in a direct access database which includes all the data available at the time the project was completed in 1997 (data from some stations go to the end of April 1996, but most data end in December 1995). Daily snow depth data from the Canadian National Climate Data Archive have been included on the CD-ROM for the 1996-1999 period to provide users with the capability of updating information to the end of the 1998/1999 snow season. These additional data have only been subject to MSC standard QC checks.
The Canadian Snow Water Equivalent Database contains snow water equivalent (SWE) and snow depth measurements from snow surveys taken by more than twenty agencies at weekly, biweekly or monthly frequencies. It also contains biweekly SWE estimates at Meteorological Service of Canada snow depth observing stations. The data cover the period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s, with a pronounced peak in the 1976-1985 decade. After 1985 there was a steep decline in the amount of data due to closure of snow courses and an erosion of contacts between MSC and other data collection agencies. At peak levels in the early 1980s, there were over 1700 snow course observations per year in the database. This number declined to around 800/year in the early 1990s. In some cases, updates to the snow course data contained in this CD-ROM can can be readily obtained from the various provincial agencies involved in taking snow surveys.
This compilation of snow data was generated by the CRYSYS Project of Environment Canada to support cryospheric research in Canada. This CD is provided free of charge for RESEARCH PURPOSES and is not to be redistributed to third parties. Please refer all other users to Ross Brown (ross.brown@ec.gc.ca). To obtain a copy of the CD-ROM, please fill out the REGISTRATION FORM below. By filling out the form you are agreeing to the following conditions:
NO WARRANTY - This data product is provided free of charge "as-is", and Environment Canada makes no warranty, either express or implied, including but not limited to, warranties of merchant ability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will Environment Canada be liable for any indirect, special, consequential or other similar damages.
In all publications please refer to the data set as: MSC, 2000: Canadian Snow Data CD-ROM. CRYSYS Project, Climate Processes and Earth Observation Division, Meteorological Service of Canada, Downsview, Ontario, January, 2000.
We are sorry, we have run out of copies of the Snow-CD. However, you can download an iso image file (95MB) and burn your own CD. If data transfer rates are too slow to do this, please contact Ross Brown to make other arrangements.
Instructions on how to burn a CD from an iso image file.
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