Climate & Weather Data Webinar Series

Climate & Weather Data Webinar Series

Zoom webinar
22nd September 2020

From weather station data to future climate projection models and decision support tools for farm-level management, this series provided an in-depth look at what data and tools are available and how best to use them for research or agriculture management for climate change adaptation.

COMPLETED RECORDINGS

Weather stations, historical & streamflow data

Full description

Recorded: June 11, 2020

This interactive webinar provides a deep dive into data available for agriculture researchers and agrologists that can be used to support research and farm management as well as develop decision support and forecasting tools. 

  • Tour Farmwest.com, the largest agricultural weather station network portal in the province, from station coverage to the suite of weather-based farm calculators.
  • Be introduced to BC’s gridded climatology data, PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model), that provides temperature and precipitation climatologies at roughly 800 metre resolution across the province. Gain an understanding of how this data differs from weather stations and how to use the interactive web interface.
  • Hydrological modelling of streamflows are critical to understanding water availability for agriculture in a changing climate. The Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium explains the station and gridded hydrological model outputs they have developed for the Peace, Fraser, and Columbia watersheds.

Come prepared with your tough questions and suggestions for how data can support agricultural adaptation research. 

Webinar hosts:
Shauna MacKinnon, BC Agricultural Climate Adaptation Research Network &
Kari Tyler, Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium


Presenters:

Farmwest – Stephanie Tam, BC Ministry of Agriculture
PRISM – Faron Anslow, Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium
Hydrological model outputs Arelia (Werner) Schoeneberg

Climate modelling analysis tools

Full description

Recorded: June 24, 2020

Climate change models offer insight into future temperature, precipitation and weather extremes. Analysis tools help make sense of these models by downscaling data to the regional level and allowing users to define the scenarios, time horizons and regions that are of most interest to them. This is particularly important in B.C. where there is substantial regional variation. This webinar introduces the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium’s latest analysis tools. 

  • Be among the first to test the new version of the user-friendly Plan2Adapt analysis tool designed for those less familiar with climate modelling, but interested in accessing maps and data that assess BC climate change impacts at the regional level.
  • The more sophisticated Climate Explorer tool allows users to select data from a dozen global climate models, 3 GHG emissions scenarios, and many variables including temperature, precipitation, and climate indices as well as a specific time horizon and your region of interest. 

Whether you are new to climate models or are looking for sophisticated analysis, you will leave this webinar knowing how to generate maps, plots, and data describing projected future climate conditions.

Webinar hosts:
Shauna MacKinnon, BC Agricultural Climate Adaptation Research Network  
Kari Tyler, Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium


Presenters:
Plan2Adapt – Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium
Climate Explorer Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium 

Canadian Climate Data Portals

Full description

Recorded: September 22, 2020

There are two Canadian climate data portals available and a new agriculture sector module is under development. Learn more about what data and tools are available from the team that developed them. 

  • ClimateAtlas.ca The Climate Atlas of Canada is an interactive tool that combines climate science, mapping and storytelling to bring the global issue of climate change closer to home, and is designed to inspire local, regional, and national action and solutions. 
  • ClimateData.ca is a more sophisticated data portal developed to support the adaptation efforts of decision makers across Canada – the initial focus was on providing information for the health sector. 
  • A new agriculture sector module is under development that will provide data relevant to the agriculture sector (e.g. growing degree days) and feature case studies of how climate data indicators can feed into agricultural research for adaptation, from pest modelling to future crop suitability.  

Presenters:

  • Christiane Allen, Prairie Climate Services Centre at the University of Winnipeg
  • Elaine Barrow, Senior Climate Advisor, Environment and Climate Change Canada

On-demand cloud computing and open source technology

Full description

Recorded: October 6, 2020

This webinar provides a tour of ClimateEngine.org and an overview of a new platform offering, ClimateEngine.com, launching fall 2020. There will also be an opportunity to discuss the pros, cons and possibilities of using on-demand cloud computing and open source technology to support the use of large data sets for remote sending, climate and weather variables.

ClimateEngine.org is a data portal for academic and research use that leverages Google Earth Engine for on-demand processing of satellite and climate data. It offers unprecedented ease of access to the best available earth systems science for monitoring, analyzing, and forecasting the impacts of environmental change on critical assets. It provides functions such as on-demand value and anomaly mapping, time series queries and spatial summaries across a broad number of satellite and data products.

ClimateEngine.com’s mission is to deliver analysis-ready earth systems data into government and private sector operations and decision support systems. The ClimateEngine.com platform operationalizes the world’s best available science via API or web UI through its satellite and data product marketplace. Build on top of Google Earth Engine and Google Cloud, the platform offers a secure, scalable cloud architecture that leverages both open and proprietary data sources. In doing so, ClimateEngine.com has created the technology and business conduits for world-leading scientists and research organizations to operationalize and monetize their work for global scale and impact.

Presenters:

  • Justin Huntington, Research Professor, Hydrology, Desert Research Institute, Principal Scientist, Climate Engine Inc.
  • Caleb White, Managing Partner, Climate Engine Inc.

Weather & climate data tools for on-farm decision making

Full description

Recorded: Tuesday, October 20

With increasing seasonal variations in temperature and moisture, decision-aid support tools that incorporate real time weather data are more important for aiding farm-level management decisions than ever. From pests to nutrient management decision support tools, this webinar introduces some of the weather and climate-informed tools available to support climate change adaptation at the farm level.

Presentations will include:

The BC Decision Aid System (BC DAS) is an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) decision support system for Okanagan tree fruit growers and pest managers. It provides easy-to-use pest management programs and helps to optimize management decisions for certain insects and diseases.

The BC Application Risk Management (ARM) tool is an online application risk assessment tool that allows producers to quickly determine the risk of manure or nutrient loss after a field application of manure or fertilizer based on 24 and 72-hour predicted cumulative precipitation.

The BC Peace Weather-Agri Network operates a network of weather stations in the BC Peace agriculture region that power tools to advise on fusarium head blight risk and wheat midge emergence.

Presenters:

  • Molly Thurston, Claremont Ranch Organics and Pearl Agricultural Consulting
  • Josh Andrews, Nutrient Management Agrologist, BC Ministry of Agriculture
  • Talon Gauthier, Peace Region Forage Seed Association
  • Andy Nadler, Peak HydroMet