Since 1988, the governments of Canada and Quebec have been working together to conserve, restore, protect and develop the St. Lawrence River under the St. Lawrence Action Plan (SLAP). One of the projects identified under the theme of biodiversity conservation is the development of an integrated plan for the conservation of the natural environments and biodiversity of the St. Lawrence River. The identification of priority sites for conservation has been the first step of this planning exercise. Conservation planning of natural environments requires a reliable, accurate and up-to-date image of the spatial distribution of ecosystems in the study area. In order to produce an Atlas of Priority Sites for Conservation in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, an updated cartography of the land cover of this vast territory was undertaken. This project required obtaining reliable information on the natural environments of the St. Lawrence Lowlands. Although several land cover mapping projects have been conducted for specific types of habitats, it was particularly important to obtain a homogeneous product that would cover the entire territory and that would provide the most detailed information on its various thematic components: agricultural, aquatic, human-modified and forest environments, wetlands as well as old fields and bare ground. The methodology used to produce the land cover mapping of the St. Lawrence Lowlands thus relied mainly on combining and enhancing the best existing products for each theme. This project was made in collaboration with MDDELCC as part of the St. Lawrence Action Plan (SLAP).

Each pixel value corresponds to the actual number (count) of valid Best-quality Max-NDVI values used to calculate the mean weekly values for that pixel. Since 2020, the maximum number of possible observations used to create the Mean Best-Quality Max-NDVI for the 2000-2014 period is n=20. However, because data quality varies both temporally and geographically (e.g. cloud cover and snow cover in spring; cloud near large water bodies all year), the actual number (count) of observations used to create baselines can vary significantly for any given week and year.

Röð uppréttra loftmynda úr loftmyndasafni Náttúrufræðistofnunar sem unnar voru á árunum 2013 til 2018 hjá Jarðvísindastofnun HÍ, sem partur af tveimur verkefnum: 1 - Mælingar á jöklabreytingum úr sögulegum loftmyndum. Þetta verkefni var unnið af Joaquín M.C. Belart í M.Sc. og Ph.D. hjá Jarðvísindastofnun. Útvaldar loftmyndir frá 1945 til 1994 voru skannaðar hjá Landmælingum Íslands sérstaklega fyrir þetta verkefni. Vinnsla þessara loftmynda fór fram með því að nota "Ground Control Points" (GCP) sem teknir voru úr lidarmælingum á íslenskum jöklum. Úrvinnsla gagna úr Drangajökli fór fram með ERDAS hugbúnaðinum. Nánari upplýsingar um vinnsluna er að finna í Magnússon o.fl., 2016 (https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/10/159/2016/tc-10-159-2016.html). Úrvinnsla gagna frá öðrum jöklum var unnin með MicMac hugbúnaðinum, einnig með GCP teknir af lidar. Nánari upplýsingar um vinnsluna eru fáanlegar í Belart o.fl., 2019 (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/article/geodetic-mass-balance-of-eyjafjallajokull-ice-cap -for-19452014-processing-guidelines-and-relation-to-climate/9B715A9E0413A6345C2B151B1173E71D) og Belart o.fl., 2020 (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.31630/feart/full.316390/feart. 2 - Mælingar á hraunmagni Heklugosanna á 20. öld. Þetta verkefni var unnið af Gro B.M. Pedersen sem hluti af verkefni þar sem unnið var að umhverfiskortlagningu og vöktun Íslands með fjarkönnun "Environmental Mapping and Monitoring of Iceland by Remote Sensing" (EMMIRS, fjármagnað af Rannís) á árunum 2015-2018. Loftmyndirnar af Heklu frá 1945 til 1992 voru skannaðar af Landmælingum Íslands. Vinnsla þessara mynda var gerð með ERDAS hugbúnaðinum og nánari upplýsingar um vinnsluna er hægt að nálgast í Pedersen o.fl., 2018 (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2017GL076887) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A series of orthomosaics using the archives of aerial photographs from Náttúrufræðistofnun (Loftmyndasafn) created between 2013 and 2018 at the Institute of Earth Sciences, as part of two projects: 1 - Measurements of glacier changes from historical aerial photographs. This project was conducted by Joaquín M.C. Belart during his M.Sc. and his Ph.D. at the Institute of Earth Sciences. A selection of aerial photographs from 1945 to 1994 were scanned at Náttúrufræðistofnun specifically for this project. The processing of these aerial photographs was done using Ground Control Points (GCPs) extracted from lidar surveys of Icelandic glaciers. The processing of the data from Drangajökull ice cap was done using the ERDAS software. Further details on the processing are available in Magnússon et al., 2016 (https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/10/159/2016/tc-10-159-2016.html). The processing of the data from other glaciers was done using the MicMac software, also with GCPs extracted from lidar. Further details of the processing are available in Belart et al., 2019 (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/article/geodetic-mass-balance-of-eyjafjallajokull-ice-cap-for-19452014-processing-guidelines-and-relation-to-climate/9B715A9E0413A6345C2B151B1173E71D) and Belart et al., 2020 (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2020.00163/full) 2 - Measurements of the lava volumes of the Hekla eruptions in the 20th century. This project was conducted by Gro B.M. Pedersen as part of the Environmental Mapping and Monitoring of Iceland by Remote Sensing (EMMIRS, financed by Rannís) project between 2015-2018. The aerial photographs of Hekla from 1945 to 1992 were scanned by Náttúrufræðistofnun. The processing of these photographs was done using the ERDAS software, and further details of the processing are available in Pedersen et al., 2018 (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2017GL076887) References: Belart J.M.C., Magnússon E., Berthier E., Pálsson, F., Aðalgeirsdóttir, G., & Jóhannesson, T. (2019). The geodetic mass balance of Eyjafjallajökull ice cap for 1945–2014: Processing guidelines and relation to climate. Journal of Glaciology, 65(251), 395-409. doi:10.1017/jog.2019.16 Belart J.M.C., Magnússon E., Berthier E., Gunnlaugsson Á.Þ., Pálsson F., Aðalgeirsdóttir G., Jóhannesson T, Thorsteinsson T and Björnsson H (2020) Mass Balance of 14 Icelandic Glaciers, 1945–2017: Spatial Variations and Links With Climate. Front. Earth Sci. 8:163. doi: 10.3389/feart.2020.00163 Magnússon, E., Belart, J.M.C., Pálsson, F., Ágústsson, H., and Crochet, P.: Geodetic mass balance record with rigorous uncertainty estimates deduced from aerial photographs and lidar data – Case study from Drangajökull ice cap, NW Iceland, The Cryosphere, 10, 159–177, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-159-2016, 2016. Pedersen, G. B. M., Belart, J. M. C., Magnússon, E., Vilmundardóttir, O. K., Kizel, F., Sigurmundsson, F. S., et al. (2018). Hekla volcano, Iceland, in the 20th century: Lava volumes, production rates, and effusion rates. Geophysical Research Letters, 45, 1805–1813. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL076887

Organic soils in the boreal forest commonly store as much carbon as the vegetation above ground. While recent efforts through the National Forest Inventory has yielded new spatial datasets of forest structure across the vast area of Canada’s boreal forest, organic soils are poorly mapped. In this geospatial dataset, we produce a map primarily of forested and treed peatlands, those with more than 40 cm of peat accumulation and over 10% tree canopy cover. National Forest Inventory ground plots were used to identify the range of forest structure that corresponds to the presence of over 40 cm of peat soils. Areas containing that range of forest cover were identified using the National Forest Inventory k-NN forest structure maps and assigned a probability (0-100% as integer) of being a forested or treed peatland according to a statistical model. While this mapping product captures the distribution of forested and treed peatlands at a 250 m resolution, open, completely treeless peatlands are not fully captured by this mapping product as forest cover information was used to create the maps. The methodology used in the creation of this product is described in: Thompson DK, Simpson BN, Beaudoin A. 2016. Using forest structure to predict the distribution of treed boreal peatlands in Canada. Forest Ecology and Management, 372, 19-27. https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/publications?id=36751 This distribution uses an updated forest attribute layer current to 2011 from: Beaudoin A, Bernier PY, Villemaire P, Guindon L, Guo XJ. 2017. Species composition, forest properties and land cover types across Canada’s forests at 250m resolution for 2001 and 2011. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Laurentian Forestry Centre, Quebec, Canada. https://doi.org/10.23687/ec9e2659-1c29-4ddb-87a2-6aced147a990 Additionally, this distribution varies slightly from the original published in 2016 in that here slope data is derived from the CDEM: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/7f245e4d-76c2-4caa-951a-45d1d2051333 The above peatland probability map was further processed to delineate bogs vs fens (based on mapped Larix content via the k-NN maps), as well as an approximation of the extent of open peatlands using EOSD data. The result is a 9-type peatland map with a more complete methodology as detailed in: Webster, K. L., Bhatti, J. S., Thompson, D. K., Nelson, S. A., Shaw, C. H., Bona, K. A., Hayne, S. L., & Kurz, W. A. (2018). Spatially-integrated estimates of net ecosystem exchange and methane fluxes from Canadian peatlands. Carbon Balance and Management, 13(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-018-0105-5 In plain text, the legend for the 9-class map is as follows: value="0" label="not peat" alpha="0" value="1" label="Open Bog" alpha="255" color="#0a4b32" value="2" label="Open Poor Fen" alpha="255" color="#5c5430" value="3" label="Open Rich Fen" alpha="255" color="#792652" value="4" label="Treed Bog" alpha="255" color="#6a917b" value="5" label="Treed Poor Fen" alpha="255" color="#aba476" value="6" label="Treed Rich Fen" alpha="255" color="#af7a8f" value="7" label="Forested Bog" alpha="255" color="#aad7bf" value="8" label="Forested Poor Fen" alpha="255" color="#fbfabc" value="9" label="Forested Rich Fen" alpha="255" color="#ffb6db" This colour scale is given in qml/xml format in the resources below. The 9-type peatland map from Webster et al 2018 was further refined slightly following two simple conditions: (1) any 250-m raster cell with greater than 40% pine content is classified as upland (non-peat); (2) all 250-m raster cells classified as water or agriculture via the NRCan North American Land Cover Monitoring System (https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9111098) is also classified as non-peatland (value of zero in the 9-class map. This mapping scheme was used at a regional scale in the following paper: Thompson, D. K., Simpson, B. N., Whitman, E., Barber, Q. E., & Parisien, M.-A. (2019). Peatland Hydrological Dynamics as A Driver of Landscape Connectivity and Fire Activity in the Boreal Plain of Canada. Forests, 10(7), 534. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10070534 And is reproduced here at a national scale. Note that this mapping product does not fully capture all permafrost peatland features covered by open canopy spruce woodland with lichen ground cover. Nor are treeless peatlands near the northern treeline captured in the training data, resulting in unknown mapping quality in those regions.

The “Land Cover for Agricultural Regions of Canada (circa 2000), Date Index” dataset is a geospatial data layer containing polygon features representing the Landsat scene number, associated dates and other products that were incorporated into the thematic land cover classification which is contained within the AAFC Landcover (circa 2000) product.

Data include a collection of annual land cover maps derived from MODIS 250 m spatial resolution remotely sensed imagery for the period 2000 to 2011. Processing of the time series was designed to reduce the occurrence of false change between maps. The method was based on change updating as described in Pouliot et al. (2011, 2013). Change detection accounted for both abrupt changes such as forest harvesting and more gradual changes such as recurrent insect defoliation. To determine the new label for a pixel identified as change, an evidential reasoning approach was used to combine spectral and contextual information. The 2005 MODIS land cover of Canada at 250 m spatial resolution described in Latifovic et al. (2012) was used as the base map. It contains 39 land cover classes, which for time series development was considered too detailed and was reduced to 25 and 19 class versions. The 19 class version corresponds to the North America Land Change Monitoring System (NALCMS) Level 2 legend as described in Latifovic et al. (2012). Accuracy assessment of time series is difficult due to the need to assess many maps. For areas of change in the time series accuracy was found to be 70% based on the 19 class thematic legend. This time series captures the spatial distribution of dominant land cover transitions. It is intended for use in modeling, development of remote sensing products such as leaf area index or land cover based albedo retrievals, and other exploratory analysis. It is not appropriate for use in any rigorous reporting or inventory assessments due to the accuracy of the land cover classification and uncertainty as to the capture of all relevant changes for an application.

Note: To visualize the data in the viewer, zoom into the area of interest. The National Air Photo Library (NAPL) of Natural Resources Canada archives over 6 million aerial photographs covering all of Canada, some of which date back to the 1920s. This collection includes Time Series of aerial orthophoto mosaics over a selection of major cities or targeted areas that allow the observation of various changes that occur over time in those selected regions. These mosaics are disseminated through the Data Cube Platform implemented by NRCan using geospatial big data management technologies. These technologies enable the rapid and efficient visualization of high-resolution geospatial data and allow for the rapid generation of dynamically derived products. The data is available as Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) for direct access and as Web Map Services (WMS) or Web Coverage Services (WCS) with a temporal dimension for consumption in Web or GIS applications. The NAPL mosaics are made from the best spatial resolution available for each time period, which means that the orthophotos composing a NAPL Time Series are not necessarily coregistrated. For this dataset, the spatial resolutions are: 100 cm for the year 1947 and 50 cm for the year 1967. The NAPL indexes and stores federal aerial photography for Canada, and maintains a comprehensive historical archive and public reference centre. The Earth Observation Data Management System (EODMS) online application allows clients to search and retrieve metadata for over 3 million out of 6 million air photos. The EODMS online application enables public and government users to search and order raw Government of Canada Earth Observation images and archived products managed by NRCan such as aerial photos and satellite imagery. To access air photos, you can visit the EODMS web site: https://eodms-sgdot.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/index-en.html

McElhanney Consulting Services Ltd (MCSL) has performed a LiDAR and Imagery survey in southern Saskatchewan. The acquisition was completed between the 16th and 25th of October, 2009. The survey consisted of approximately 790 square kilometers of coverage. While collecting the LiDAR data, we also acquired aerial photo in RGB and NIR modes consisting of 1649 frames each.

Note: To visualize the data in the viewer, zoom into the area of interest. The National Air Photo Library (NAPL) of Natural Resources Canada archives over 6 million aerial photographs covering all of Canada, some of which date back to the 1920s. This collection includes Time Series of aerial orthophoto mosaics over a selection of major cities or targeted areas that allow the observation of various changes that occur over time in those selected regions. These mosaics are disseminated through the Data Cube Platform implemented by NRCan using geospatial big data management technologies. These technologies enable the rapid and efficient visualization of high-resolution geospatial data and allow for the rapid generation of dynamically derived products. The data is available as Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) for direct access and as Web Map Services (WMS) or Web Coverage Services (WCS) with a temporal dimension for consumption in Web or GIS applications. The NAPL mosaics are made from the best spatial resolution available for each time period, which means that the orthophotos composing a NAPL Time Series are not necessarily coregistrated. For this dataset, the spatial resolutions are: 75 cm for the year 1960 and 50 cm for the year 1974. The NAPL indexes and stores federal aerial photography for Canada, and maintains a comprehensive historical archive and public reference centre. The Earth Observation Data Management System (EODMS) online application allows clients to search and retrieve metadata for over 3 million out of 6 million air photos. The EODMS online application enables public and government users to search and order raw Government of Canada Earth Observation images and archived product managed by NRCan such as aerial photos and satellite imagery. To access air photos, you can visit the EODMS web site: https://eodms-sgdot.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/index-en.html