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.

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.