Snow cover is an important control on soil temperatures in cold regions, insulating soils from atmospheric processes in winter. This can mean that the soil is often substantially warmer than the air above – in many cases by as much as 20 degrees at high latitudes, when snow is present.

While a major focus of the climatology group has been on producing high-quality North American (NA) continental historic and future regional climate modelling simulations, focus has also been dedicated to major NA lake regions’ modeling, due to the significant effect that lakes can have on neighboring regions’ climates.

Over large portions of the Arctic, and parts of the sub-Arctic, soils remain perennially frozen, and are known as permafrost soils. One of the major aims of the Canada1Water project is to assess the impact of climate change in Canada’s North, which in large parts is dominate by permafrost.

Weather and climate are the primary drivers of hydrology and as such of critical importance to the mission of Canada 1 Water. The C1W climate modeling team will take advantage of the latest set of global climate projections and use projections from several leading international climate modeling centers as boundary conditions for high-resolution regional climate projections, specifically for Canada.