Seasonal Salinity Climatology for British Columbia Pacific EEZ (2001-2020)

Fisheries and Oceans Canada provides seasonal salinity climatology raster layers for the British Columbia Exclusive Economic Zone. The dataset covers the period 2001 to 2020, with a high spatial resolution of 1/300 degree. It was created by spatially interpolating historical observations from multiple oceanographic databases.

Use Cases

• Model seasonal salinity patterns in the Northeast Pacific using the 1/300 degree resolution raster layers for oceanographic research.
• Analyze spatial salinity variability across the Canadian Pacific EEZ for climate impact studies on marine ecosystems.
• Compare seasonal climatologies (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) to identify long-term salinity trends from 2001 to 2020.

Strengths

• Covers a 20-year time range from 2001 to 2020, providing a multi-decadal climatological baseline.
• High spatial resolution of 1/300 degree for detailed analysis of the British Columbia EEZ.
• Integrates observations from multiple authoritative sources including NODC, MEDS, IOS, and CIOOS Pacific.
• Provides data interpolated across up to 52 vertical levels from the surface to 5000m depth.

Limitations

• Uncertainties are introduced due to spatial interpolation of observations, especially at distances from data points.
• The seasonal climatology is an averaged product, which may smooth out interannual variability and extreme events.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, integrating data from NODC, MEDS, IOS, and CIOOS Pacific.

Collection Method

Historical CTD, bottle, and profiling float observations were spatially interpolated using Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis (DIVA) onto a consistent grid, followed by averaging, a median filter, and smoothing.

Time Range

2001 to 2020.

Freshness

Last updated in March 2026, though the underlying data period ends in 2020.

Geography

Northeast Pacific Ocean, specifically the Canadian Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off British Columbia.