Environmental Data
Environment Canada (EC)
Weather data: Environment Canada runs a reference climate site located at the Barrier Lake Field Station.
Station Name: Kananaskis, Alberta
Climate ID: 3053600
- Latitude: 51°01'39.080" N
- Longitude: 115°02'05.060" W
- Elevation: 1,391.10 m
Meteorological data archives date back to August, 1939 to the present recording daily maximum and minimum air temperature and precipitation.
Wind Data: Contact bgi@ucalgary.ca
Air Quality: In January 2011, Environment Canada launched a pilot visibility monitoring site in coordination with IMPROVE (Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environment) with data available until 2017. Aerosol data can be found at
Site: Barrier Lake, Code: BALA1
Alberta Environment and Protected Areas
Since 1998, precipitation samples are sent to Alberta Parks for chemistry analysis (major ions).
Alberta precipitation chemistry data (2013-2022) has been uploaded on the open government portal for all data requests (Listed as AtmosphericPrecipitationChemistry-MajorIons-APQMP-AllSites-YEAR.xlsx ), with site ID: ABPMCAAB1KAN
Since 2024, the reporting data transitioned to NADP National Trends Network. The Analytical Laboratory measures free acidity (H+ as pH), conductance, calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), sulfate (SO42-), nitrate (NO3–), chloride (Cl–), and ammonium (NH4+). Our NTN Site name is AB41 – Kananaskis.
Barrier Lake Field Station Weather Data
A digital-based weather station was installed in February 2000 and records hourly air temperature, soil temperature at 10cm, 30cm and 50cm, solar radiation and rainfall. Download data by clicking on the links below.
Older data files can be requested through email: bgi@ucalgary.ca
Jumpingpound, Kananaskis
Meteorological data from an Onset tower including shielded air temperature, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and rainfall collected every 15 minutes. Start date August, 2010. The station is still operational and will be updated after manual yearly downloads.
The location is 50.9583N, -114.8809W, alt 2083m