Canadian Forest Service Publications
Spatial climate models for Canada’s forestry community. 2013. McKenney, D.; Pedlar, J.; Hutchinson, M.; Papadopol, P.; Lawrence, K.; Campbell, K.; Milewska, E.; Hopkinson, R.F.; Price, D. The Forestry Chronicle 89:659-663.
Year: 2013
Issued by: Great Lakes Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 35193
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Plain Language Summary
We summarize ongoing efforts at the Canadian Forest Service to produce spatial climate models for Canada and the United States. Our models, which encompass a wide range of variables and spatiotemporal extents, typically employ thin plate smoothing splines to interpolate and extrapolate climate station values as a function of latitude, longitude and elevation. The resulting surfaces can be resolved as grids (i.e., maps) or as point estimates at locations of interest. Recent efforts, detailed here include: updated models for the most recent 30-year normal period (i.e., 1981-2010), moisture balance models, future climate projections using the latest round of general circulation model (GCM) outputs and emissions scenarios, lake ice freeze/thaw models, and growing season models. These models are available to the Canadian forest community and beyond via the internet (http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/projects/3) or by contacting the senior author.
