This dataset contains the monthly climate normals for Quebec as measured at the stations of the Ministry of the Environment, Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks. If you have questions about this data, contact the Info-Climat service: [https://www.environnement.gouv.qc.ca/climat/surveillance/produits.htm](https://www.environnement.gouv.qc.ca/climat/surveillance/produits.htm “Info-Climat”)**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

Climate

Leaf area index (LAI) quantified the density of vegetation irrespective of land cover. LAI quantifies the total foliage surface area per groud surface area. LAI has been identified by the Global Climate Observing System as an essential climate variable required for ecosystem,weather and climate modelling and monitoring. This product consists of annual maps of the maximum LAI during a grownig season (June-July-August) at 100m resolution covering Canada's land mass.

The “Terrestrial Ecoregions of Canada” dataset provides representations of ecoregions. An ecoregion is a subdivision of an ecoprovince and is characterized by distinctive regional ecological factors, including climate, physiography, vegetation, soil, water, and fauna. For example, the Maritime Barrens ecoregion (no. 114) is one of nine ecoregions within the Newfoundland ecoprovince.

This dataset is used for national and coarse-scale provincial reporting such as analyses of climate, demographics and watersheds.

An ecoprovince is an area with consistent climatic or oceanography, relief and regional landforms. There one oceanic, two marine / terrestrial and seven terrestrial ecoprovinces occurring within British Columbia. Ecoprovinces are meant to be mapped at 1:2,000,000 for use in provincial state of the environment reporting

This map displays the distribution of the main soil types found within the province of Alberta. The distribution pattern of soils in Alberta is strongly linked to climate and parent materials. Climate affects the location of different soil groups. The driest area in southeastern Alberta is represented by the presence of Brown Chernozems. As one proceeds north and west, the soils and associated vegetation reflect the increase in available moisture.In Alberta, Organic soils generally occur in association with Luvisolic soils. These soils form under wet conditions where the organic layer (greater than 30% organic matter) accumulates faster than it decomposes. The organic layer varies in thickness from 40 to 160+ cm, and under natural conditions, the water table is at or near the surface. In some areas of the province, Organic soils may be artificially drained and used for agricultural production. This resource was created in 2002 using ArcGIS.

Fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR) quantified the absorbed by green foliage. fAPAR has been identified by the Global Climate Observing System as an essential climate variable required for ecosystem, weather and climate modelling and monitoring. This product consists of a national scale coverage (Canada) of monthly maps of fAPAR during a growing season (May-June-July-August-September) at 20m resolution.References:L. Brown, R. Fernandes, N. Djamai, C. Meier, N. Gobron, H. Morris, C. Canisius, G. Bai, C. Lerebourg, C. Lanconelli, M. Clerici, J. Dash. Validation of baseline and modified Sentinel-2 Level 2 Prototype Processor leaf area index retrievals over the United States IISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens., 175 (2021), pp. 71-87, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2021.02.020. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924271621000617Richard Fernandes, Luke Brown, Francis Canisius, Jadu Dash, Liming He, Gang Hong, Lucy Huang, Nhu Quynh Le, Camryn MacDougall, Courtney Meier, Patrick Osei Darko, Hemit Shah, Lynsay Spafford, Lixin Sun, 2023.Validation of Simplified Level 2 Prototype Processor Sentinel-2 fraction of canopy cover, fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation and leaf area index products over North American forests,Remote Sensing of Environment, Volume 293, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2023.113600.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425723001517

Leaf area index (LAI) quantified the density of vegetation irrespective of land cover. LAI quantifies the total foliage surface area per ground surface area. LAI has been identified by the Global Climate Observing System as an essential climate variable required for ecosystem, weather and climate modelling and monitoring. This product consists of a national scale coverage (Canada) of monthly maps of the maximum LAI during a growing season (May-June-july-August-September) at 20m.References:L. Brown, R. Fernandes, N. Djamai, C. Meier, N. Gobron, H. Morris, C. Canisius, G. Bai, C. Lerebourg, C. Lanconelli, M. Clerici, J. Dash. Validation of baseline and modified Sentinel-2 Level 2 Prototype Processor leaf area index retrievals over the United States IISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens., 175 (2021), pp. 71-87, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2021.02.020. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924271621000617Richard Fernandes, Luke Brown, Francis Canisius, Jadu Dash, Liming He, Gang Hong, Lucy Huang, Nhu Quynh Le, Camryn MacDougall, Courtney Meier, Patrick Osei Darko, Hemit Shah, Lynsay Spafford, Lixin Sun, 2023.Validation of Simplified Level 2 Prototype Processor Sentinel-2 fraction of canopy cover, fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation and leaf area index products over North American forests,Remote Sensing of Environment, Volume 293, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2023.113600.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425723001517

Canada’s landmass is very diversified and comprises 7 distinctive areas called physiographic regions, each of which has its own unique topography and geology. Physiographic regions are large areas that share similar relief and landforms shaped by common geomorphic processes and geological history. Physiographic regions are often used to describe Canada’s geography to show regional differences in climate, vegetation, population and the economy.This dataset collection contains three interrelated datasets mapping the location of Canada’s 7 different physiographic regions, their 21 subregions and many divisions (landforms).