Monthly 30-year Average Maximum Temperature represents the average monthly maximum temperature calculated for a given location averaged across a 30 year period (1961-1991, 1971-2000, 1981-2010, 1991-2020). These values are calculated across Canada in 10x10 km cells.

The Crop Stress Index is the ratio of actual evapotranspiration (AET) to potential evapotranspiration (PET) express as: CSI = 1-(AET/PET) AET and PET are calculated within the Versatile Soil Moisture Budget (VSMB) model using temperature and precipitation data and a crop-specific biometeorological time scale model to estimate growth stage (Robertson, 1968), with crop specific phenological and crop water extraction coefficients taken from Chipanshi et al 2013. The WDI ranges between 0 and 1, with a value closer to 1 indicating higher stress Crop Stress Index is modelled for each climate station using measured precipitation and temperature

Fire weather refers to weather conditions that are conducive to fire. These conditions determine the fire season, which is the period(s) of the year during which fires are likely to start, spread and do sufficient damage to warrant organized fire suppression. The length of fire season is the difference between the start- and end-of-fire-season dates. These are defined by the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI; http://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/) start-up and end dates. Start-up occurs when the station has been snow-free for 3 consecutive days, with noon temperatures of at least 12°C. For stations that do not report significant snow cover during the winter (i.e., less than 10 cm or snow-free for 75% of the days in January and February), start-up occurs when the mean daily temperature has been 6°C or higher for 3 consecutive days. The fire season ends with the onset of winter, generally following 7 consecutive days of snow cover. If there are no snow data, shutdown occurs following 7 consecutive days with noon temperatures lower than or equal to 5°C. Historical climate conditions were derived from the 1981–2010 Canadian Climate Normals. Future projections were computed using two different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP). RCPs are different greenhouse gas concentration trajectories adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for its fifth Assessment Report. RCP 2.6 (referred to as rapid emissions reductions) assumes that greenhouse gas concentrations peak between 2010-2020, with emissions declining thereafter. In the RCP 8.5 scenario (referred to as continued emissions increases) greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise throughout the 21st century. Multiple layers are provided. First, the fire season length is shown across Canada for a reference period (1981-2010). Difference in projected fire season length compared to reference period is shown for the short- (2011-2040), medium- (2041-2070), and long-term (2071-2100) under the RCP 8.5 (continued emissions increases) and, for the long-term (2071-2100), under RCP 2.6 (rapid emissions reductions).

Each pixel value corresponds to the mean historical “Best-quality” Max-NDVI value for a given week, as calculated from the previous 20 years in the MODIS historical record (i.e. does not include data from the current year). These data are also often referred to as “weekly baselines” or “weekly normals”.

Seasonal and annual multi-model ensembles of projected relative change (also known as anomalies) in mean precipitation based on an ensemble of twenty-nine Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) global climate models are available for 1901-2100. Projected relative change in mean precipitation is with respect to the reference period of 1986-2005 and expressed as a percentage (%). The 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 95th percentiles of the ensembles of mean precipitation change are available for the historical time period, 1901-2005, and for emission scenarios, RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, for 2006-2100. Twenty-year average changes in mean precipitation (%) for four time periods (2021-2040; 2041-2060; 2061-2080; 2081-2100), with respect to the reference period of 1986-2005, for RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 are also available in a range of formats. The median projected change across the ensemble of CMIP5 climate models is provided. Note: Projections among climate models can vary because of differences in their underlying representation of earth system processes. Thus, the use of a multi-model ensemble approach has been demonstrated in recent scientific literature to likely provide better projected climate change information.

Crop development stage in a numerical scale. All living organisms move from one stage of development to the next over time. For annual crops, it life cycle (growing season) completed within a year. Crop water use differs from one stage to another mostly due to the differences in the amount of green leaves, thus crop stage is closely related to its water consumption and water stress condition. Crop stages are mostly controlled by growing season heat accumulation and regulated by day-length crop some crops. The crop stages provided here are determined by a biometeorlogical time scale model (Robertson, 1968) for cool season crops (wheat, barley etc.) , and a Crop Heat Unit (Brown and Bootsma, 1993) algorithm for warm season crops (corn and soybean etc.).

Zooplankton and ichthyoplankton data are archived in the Institute of Ocean Sciences (IOS) Zooplankton Database. The data available spans from 1980 to 2018 and is an extraction of vertical net hauls as biomass by major taxa collected during surveys conducted in the oceanic and coastal waters of the Northeast Pacific Ocean. The majority of vertical net hauls in this data set were collected from 10 metres above the sea floor or an approximate maximum depth of 250 metres. For further data requests, please use the contact information provided.

Multi-model ensembles of snow depth based on projections from twenty-eight Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) global climate models are available for 1900-2100. Specifically, the 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 95th percentiles of the monthly, seasonal and annual ensembles of snow depth (m) are available for the historical time period, 1900-2005, and for emission scenarios, RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, for 2006-2100. Note: Projections among climate models can vary because of differences in their underlying representation of earth system processes. Thus, the use of a multi-model ensemble approach has been demonstrated in recent scientific literature to likely provide better projected climate change information.