The Canadian Downscaled Climate Scenarios-univariate dataset for CMIP5 (Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) provides projected indices of temperature and precipitation, for three emissions scenarios at a ~6x10km resolution. The 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles of an ensemble of 24 climate models are provided. Change values are calculated with respect to the 1971-2000 reference period. See About CanDCS-U5 for citations and more details.
Downscaling method: BCCAQv2
Downscaling target: NRCANmet
Citing this dataset: Citing ClimateData.ca
The Canadian Downscaled Climate Scenarios-univariate dataset for CMIP6 (Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) provides projected indices of temperature and precipitation, for three emissions scenarios at a ~6x10km resolution. The 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles of an ensemble of 26 climate models are provided. Change values are calculated with respect to the 1971-2000 reference period. See About CanDCS-U6 for citations and more details.
Downscaling method: BCCAQv2
Downscaling target: NRCANmet
Citing this dataset: Citing ClimateData.ca
The Canadian Downscaled Climate Scenarios-multivariate dataset for CMIP6 (Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) provides projected indices of temperature and precipitation, for four emissions scenarios at a ~6x10km resolution. The 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles of an ensemble of 26 climate models are provided. Change values are calculated with respect to the 1971-2000 reference period. See About CanDCS-M6 for citations and more details.
Downscaling method: MBCn
Downscaling target: PCIC-Blend
Citing this dataset: Citing ClimateData.ca
The Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) is a drought index based on the difference between precipitation (P) and potential evapotranspiration (PET). Negative (positive) values indicate water deficit (surplus). SPEI only speaks to relative drought – i.e., the difference between future conditions compared to historical conditions – and is not an absolute measure of water availability. An SPEI value of zero indicates no change relative to the historical values.
The projections on ClimateData.ca are provided at a 1 degree (~100km) resolution for three emissions scenarios, with the 10th, 50th (median) and 90th percentiles being calculated from an ensemble of 29 climate models. Prior to calculating SPEI, the temperature and precipitation data were bias-adjusted using the multivariate MBCn method with the CanGRD dataset as the target. See About SPEI for more details and an example of interpretation.
Downscaling method: MBCn
Downscaling target: CanGRD
Citing this dataset: Citing ClimateData.ca
Relative Sea Level Change is the change in ocean level relative to land. Whereas global sea-level change can be attributed to thermal expansion of water and meltwater from glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets, relative sea-level change is the combination of the effects from global sea-level change and the vertical motion of the land.
CMIP6 projected relative sea level change data is available for every decade from 2020-2100, relative to 1994-2015 conditions.
CMIP5 projected relative sea level change data is available for 2006 and for every decade from 2010-2100, relative to 1986-2005 conditions.
See the Relative Sea Level Change variable page for more information.
Downscaling method: See report
Downscaling target: N/A
Citing this dataset: Citing ClimateData.ca
The Humidex index was developed by the Meteorological Service of Canada to describe how hot and humid the weather feels to the average person. In Canada, it is recommended that outdoor activities be moderated when the humidex exceeds 30, and that all unnecessary activities cease when it passes 40. Projections of daily maximum humidex have been used to calculate the three indices available on ClimateData.ca – the number of days when maximum humidex exceeds 30, 35 and 40.
Projections are available a resolution of 0.1° (approximately 9 km) from 1950-2100.Change values are calculated with respect to the 1971-2000 reference period. Uncertainty in the amount of greenhouse gases that will be emitted over the coming century is represented by providing results for multiple emissions scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5). Climate model uncertainty is represented by providing the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile of results across a 19-member model ensemble. See the Humidex variable page for more information.
Downscaling method: MBCn
Downscaling target: ERA5-Land
Citing this dataset: Citing ClimateData.ca
Future rainfall rates are obtained by scaling the historical IDF values according to the Clausius Clapeyron relationship. This states that the water-holding capacity of the atmosphere increases by about 7% for every 1°C of warming. The difference in projected future temperature and historical temperature is combined with historical rainfall rates via the Clausius Clapeyron relationship to scale the rainfall rates for future climate conditions. The annual mean temperature projections used for scaling are from the CanDCS-U5 ensemble of 24 climate models for CMIP5, and from the CanDCS-U6 ensemble of 26 climate models for CMIP6. Changes are relative to 1974-2005. After the scaling is completed, the 10th, 50th (median) and 90th percentile values of the ensemble are calculated as well as the 95% confidence limits. See the ReadMe attached to the downloads for more details.
Temperature data downscaled with BCCAQv2
Temperature data downscaling target is NRCANmet
Citing this dataset: Citing ClimateData.ca
Vertical allowance is defined as the amount by which an asset (e.g., building, wharf) should be raised under rising sea levels so that the present frequency of coastal flooding does not increase for a chosen future period (Zhai et al., 2023). These data incorporate current statistics of tides and storm surges, as well as relative sea-level change projections and the uncertainties in those projections.
Projected vertical allowances (in cm) from CMIP6 are available at a resolution of 0.1° (approximately 11 km latitude, 4-8 km longitude) for the coasts of British Columbia, Atlantic Canada and eastern Arctic south of 70°N for every decade from 2020-2100, relative to 2010 conditions. Vertical allowances up to 2150 are available upon request. The data are available for four Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSP) emissions scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, SSP5-8.5).
See the Vertical Allowance variable page for more information.
Downscaling method: See Relative Sea Level Change report
Downscaling target: N/A
Citing this dataset: Citing ClimateData.ca