Natural Resources Canada

Climate warming can bring more frequent and severe forest fires. This map shows the change in forest fire severity levels across Canada from 2090 to 2099, based on Global Generation Circulation Models. The Seasonal Severity Rating (SSR) is a measure of fire danger conditions over a complete fire...

The sensitivity of peatlands to climate warming is shown on this map. Peatlands are massive deposits of peat, a material consisting largely of organic residue that acts as a natural sink for carbon. With global warming, however, they have the potential to become immense sources of greenhouse...

The most sensitive river regions include the Atlantic coast, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Valley regions, the Rocky Mountains and the Prairies. The sensitivity projection for Canada's river regions in response to climate warming was derived based on an examination of the effects of projected...

Wind erosion risk for unprotected soils in areas sensitive to climatic change is shown on this map. The regions that would have the highest sensitivity to a warming climate are likely to occur in the southern and central Prairies and in the southernmost part of Ontario. This risk of wind erosion...

The regional pattern of greenhouse gas emissions for 1998 is shown on this map. The map also shows regional emissions per capita, in terms of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per habitant in each region. Carbon dioxide emissions are a large part, at least 55%, of the total greenhouse gas emissions...

Regional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by sectors of the economy for 1998 are shown here. The map also shows the regional carbon intensity measured in tonnes of CO2-equivalent to per million dollars of Real Domestic Product. The share of economic sectors in the total regional GHG emissions...

The regional trends of greenhouse gas emissions for the period 1990 to 2020 are shown here. Also shown is a projection of regional carbon intensity in terms of tonnes of carbon dioxide per million dollars of Real Domestic Product. This map shows long-term greenhouse gas emissions growth on a...

A drainage basin is an area that drains all precipitation received as a runoff or base flow (groundwater sources) into a particular river or set of rivers. Canada’s major drainage regions are the Atlantic Ocean, Hudson Bay, Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico. A lake can be defined as...

Glaciers and icefields are huge masses of ice, formed on land by the compaction and re-crystallization of snow, that move very slowly down slopes, or move outward due to their own weight. In Canada, an estimated area of 200 000 square kilometres, or about 2% of the country’s area is covered by...

Groundwater is water found beneath the earth’s surface and located at the water table below. In Canada, there is more water underground than on the surface. Groundwater occurs in the tiny spaces between loose materials on top of bedrock, or in cracks of bedrock. The most important concentrations...

Wetlands are lands permanently or temporarily submerged or permeated by water, and characterized by plants adapted to saturated-soil conditions. Wetlands are the only ecosystem designated for conservation by international convention because they absorb the impact of hydrologic events, filter...

Between 1609 and 1628, European explorers charted more unknown waters along the Atlantic Coast, and also penetrated down the St. Lawrence River into the eastern Great Lakes. The routes of four explorers are shown on this map: Hudson (1609), Champlain (1609, 1613 and 1615 to 1616), Brûlé (1615 to...

In the period from 1634 to 1650, exploration in what is now Canada was largely carried out by Jesuit missionaries. Their findings consolidated European knowledge of the eastern Great Lakes. The map shows the routes of seven expeditions: Nicollet (1634), Bogaert (1634 to 1635), Brébeuf and...

This map shows the first phase of exploration of what is now Canada, which was largely confined to the east coast of the island of Newfoundland and to southeastern Labrador. Shown here are the routes of three explorers: Cabot (1497), Corte-Real (1500 to 1501) and Fernandes (1500). The map also...

In the early seventeenth century, there were two voyages that explored the Labrador coastline and southern Baffin Island. These voyages were by Waymouth (1602) and Knight (1606). The map also shows the extent of territory known to Europeans in the period 1497 to 1650; and the navigation of all...

In the period from 1610 to 1632, English navigators explored Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay. This map shows the routes of seven explorers: Hudson (1610 to 1611), Button (1612 to 1613), Bylot (1615 to 1616), Baffin (1615 to 1616), Munk (1619 to 1620), Fox (1631), and James (1631 to 1632). The map...

Champlain's resource surveys of the Atlantic Coast and Saint Lawrence River between 1603 and1607 were the first exploration in this area since Cartier and Bellenger. This map shows five of Champlain's exploration routes. The map also shows the extent of territory known to Europeans in the period...

The map shows the annual mean total precipitation. Over much of the continental interior of Canada, precipitation reaches its annual maximum in the summer months and falls as rain. October marks the transition from mainly rain to snowfall across northern Canada.

The map shows the mean total precipitation in the month of July. Throughout much of the continental interior of Canada, precipitation reaches its annual maximum in the summer months and falls as rain. On the Prairies, the maximum monthly precipitation is usually in June or July, but this shifts...

The map shows the mean total precipitation in the month of January. January precipitation across Canada is mainly in the form of snow. Throughout much of the interior and the north, precipitation amounts are generally less than 20 mm and, in the high Arctic, as little as a few millimetres. The...