Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

The term "Palmer Drought Index" has been used collectively to represent multiple indices. This index is simply a water balance model which analyzes precipitation and temperature, and used as a tool to measure meteorological and hydrological drought across space and time. All versions of the...

The Moisture Anomaly Index (Palmer-Z) is an estimate of the moisture difference from normal (a 30-year mean). It attempts to express conditions for the current month regardless of what may have occurred before the month in question.

Percent of Average Precipitation represents the accumulation of precipitation for a location, divided by the long term average value. The long term average value is defined as the average amount over the 1981 – 2010 period. Products are produced for the following timeframes: Agricultural Year,...

The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) has been recognized as the most accessible index for quantifying and reporting meteorological drought. On short timescales, the SPI is closely related to soil moisture, while at longer timescales, the SPI can be related to groundwater and reservoir...

The Blended Index (BI) is a model which employs multiple potential indicators of drought and excess moisture, such as the Palmer drought index, rolling precipitation amounts and soil moisture, and combines them into a weighted, normalized value between 0 and 100. The inputs and weights used in...

The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) is computed similarly to the SPI. The main difference is that SPI assesses precipitation variance, while SPEI also considers demand from evapotranspiration which is subtracted from any precipitation accumulation prior to assessment....

Departure from Average Precipitation represents the accumulated precipitation value for a location, subtracted by the long term average value. The long term average value is defined as the average amount over the 1981 – 2010 period. A negative value indicates that the location has received less...

Dry spell periods are defined as the number of days (April 1 – October 31) where daily precipitation is less than 0.5 mm. This is not an accumulation of precipitation, simply a count of days. Dry spell products are only generated during the Growing Season, April 1 through October 31.

The Agri-Environmental Indicator Risk of Water Contamination by Pesticides dataset reports the annual and semi-decadal status of pesticide transport to surface water, the concentration of pesticide in ground water, and the risk of water contamination by pesticide. Products in this data series...

Minimum Temperature represents the lowest recorded temperature value (°C) at each location for a given time period. Time periods include the previous 24 hours and the previous 7 days from the available date where a climate day starts at 0600UTC.

Maximum Temperature represents the highest recorded temperature value (°C) at each location for a given time period. Time periods include the previous 24 hours and the previous 7 days from the available date where a climate day starts at 0600UTC.

Precipitation Percentiles represents the accumulated precipitation (mm) for the time period compared to historical information for the same time period. This comparison ranks the current precipitation amount and assigns it a percentile value based on a historic record. Products are produced for...

Heat Wave represents the consecutive number of days (April 1 – October 31) where the maximum daily temperature is greater than 25 or 30 degrees respectively. Heat wave products are only generated during the Growing Season, April 1 through October 31.

The Agri-Environmental Indicator Agricultural Greenhouse gas Budget datasets provide estimated net greenhouse gas emissions due to agricultural activities per hectare of Soil Landscapes of Canada agricultural areas. Products in this data series present results for predefined areas as defined by...

30-year Average precipitation represents the average amount (mm) of precipitation received in a month across a 30 year period (1961-1991, 1971-2000, 1981-2010, 1991-2020). These values are calculated across Canada in 10x10 km cells.

30-year Average Number of Days with Minimum Daily Temperature below -30 °C is defined as the count of climate days during the month where the minimum daily temperature was below -30 °C. These values are calculated across Canada in 10x10 km cells.

The impact of climatic variability on the environment is of great importance to the agricultural sector in Canada. Monitoring the impacts on water supplies, soil degradation and agricultural production is essential to the preparedness of the region in dealing with possible drought and other...

There are several species of moths whose caterpillars are significant pests on agricultural crops. While there are natural predators, some are unwilling hosts for parasites. Some parasitoid wasp species contribute to biological control of these caterpillar pests by laying eggs inside live...

30-year Average Number of Days with Minimum Daily Temperature above 20 °C is defined as the count of climate days during the year where the minimum daily temperature was above 20 °C. These values are calculated across Canada in 10x10 km cells

This series of datasets has been created by AAFC’s National Agroclimate Information Service (NAIS) of the Agro-Climate, Geomatics and Earth Observations (ACGEO) Division of the Science and Technology Branch. The Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM) is a composite product developed from a wide...