Overview
Hydro Québec provides in-situ data for northern Québec mostly south of the 55° parallel. That is data coverage corresponds mainly to Hydro Québec’s area of interest, where the hydroelectric installations are. Most sites are equipped with complete weather stations (that is parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind and precipitations are covered). In the same vicinities, Hydro Quebec also has a snow data network and hydro stations (flow rate, water level, water temperatures, etc. being measured). Weather, snow and hydro sites are not necessarily situated near each other, but it can happen, especially regarding weather and snow measurements.
Provider's contact information
Open data site: https://www.hydroquebec.com/documents-donnees/loi-sur-acces/demande-acces-information.html
Licensing
Data are available under the terms of “Creative Commons Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International”. For more information, visit the Hydro-Québec webpage regarding open data licence.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en
https://www.hydroquebec.com/documents-donnees/donnees-ouvertes/licence.html
Limitations and strengths of datasets for application in Northern Canada
As of now, open data only contains the last 10 days but upon request the complete history can be available when possible. Gaps in the datasets are common as northern sites are sensible to longer maintenance delays when there is a malfunction at the sites. Only raw datasets are offered for now and Hydro Quebec is will not be responsible for their use.
Dataset: Hydro Québec Temperature
Variable name and units:
All temperatures are in °C. Hourly and daily minimum and maximum temperatures.
Spatial coverage and resolution:
The region between the 50° and 55° parallel in Quebec encloses the northern area of Hydro Quebec’s installations. A little more than 80 weather stations measuring air temperatures composes Hydro Quebec’s network in the north.
Temporal coverage and resolution:
Temporal coverage varies depending on site. The earliest data begin around 1990 (some few sites) and sites have closed and opened with time. Data coverage has increased and is more stable since 2005.
Dataset: Hydro Québec Air Humidity
Variable name and units:
Hourly instant relative air humidity in %.
Spatial coverage and resolution:
In the province of Quebec, between 50° and 55° N, there are about 60 sites with relative air humidity data.
Temporal coverage and resolution:
Temporal coverage varies depending on site. The earliest data begin around 2005 but data coverage has increased mostly after 2010.
Dataset: Wind
Variable name and units:
All winds are in m/s. Hourly wind direction and speed are available.
Spatial coverage and resolution:
In the area between 50 and 55°N, up to 40 sites have wind sensors (at 2,5 or 10 m depending on the sites).
Temporal coverage and resolution:
Temporal coverage varies depending on site. The earliest data begin around 2005 with data coverage increasing in the last few years.
Dataset: Solar Radiation
Variable name and units:
Hourly instant solar radiation in MJ/m2.
Spatial coverage and resolution:
In the northern portion of Quebec, Hydro Quebec has 5 sites where solar radiation is measured.
Temporal coverage and resolution:
Temporal coverage varies depending on site. The earliest data begin around 2005 but some joined later in the 2010’s.
Dataset: Precipitation
Variable name and units:
All precipitation variables are in mm. Hourly and daily total precipitation, rain and snow.
Spatial coverage and resolution:
Still in the Quebec area included between the 50° and 55° parallels, Hydro Quebec a spatial coverage of roughly 90 sites with precipitation data. There are more sites with rain (that is liquid precipitation only) data available. Fewer sites have snow data (that is at the weather station itself where rain data is also available), but still there are almost 80 of them.
Temporal coverage and resolution:
Temporal coverage varies depending on site. The earliest data begin around 1990 (some few sites) and sites have closed and opened with time. Data coverage has increased since 2005.
Dataset: Snow
Variable name and units:
Hourly and daily mean snow height in cm, daily snow water equivalent in mm and daily snow density in %.
Spatial coverage and resolution:
Historically, in the north, Hydro Quebec had about 40 manual snow survey sites. That number is now down to less than 20 and they will totally disappear in the next years. These measurements have been replaced in the last years by a network (with now approximately 60 sites) of automated SWE measurements with GMON (CS725).
Temporal coverage and resolution:
Temporal coverage varies greatly depending on site. The earliest data begin around 1960 and as mentioned above, manual snow surveys sites are now closing and being replaced by GMON sites that mainly opened after 2015
Dataset: Flow rate
Variable name and units:
All flow data are in m3/s. Hourly total flow rate, discharge rate, river discharge and turbinated flow.
Spatial coverage and resolution:
Flow rates and river discharges are measured over approximately 40 watersheds south of 55°N.
Temporal coverage and resolution:
Temporal coverage varies depending on site. The earliest data begin around 1960 and data coverage has increased in the 2000’s.