Which platform to use?
All climate data portals share the same goal: to support decision-makers involved in climate change adaptation. These portals vary in terms of their scope (regional or national), variables and climate indices offered, as well as the visual display of output.
Designed by Ouranos, Climate Portraits is a regional portal of climate-related information that offers spatialized information across Quebec. The portal can be used to visualize climate normals, historic observations and the changes projected by climate models. A number of user-friendly visualization formats are available, including maps, trend graphs and summary tables. It is also possible to download the data and figures generated.
ClimateData.ca is a national portal from the Canadian Centre for Climate Services (CCCS) that offers climate-related information through mapping and georeferenced summaries throughout Canada. Several types of information are available including climate normals, weather station observations, intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves and projected changes. These data can be downloaded and an analysis tool can be used to calculate climate indices using customized thresholds.
PAVICS is a climate data analysis platform catered to users who wish to analyze climate data in the Python programming environment. PAVICS can be used to directly access a number of climate and meteorological data sets and analyze them without having to first download them locally. In addition to offering hydrological modelling tools, the platform can be used for spatio-temporal data slicing , correcting biases, calculating climate indicators and creating maps and graphs.
