Environmental Thematic Maps and Graphics:
Annual sea surface temperature departures (2005 to 2017) from the climate normal at quarter degree grid

The title of this map is “Annual sea surface temperature departures (2005 to 2017) from the climate normal at quarter degree grid.” This map provides a detailed visual representation of the average annual surface temperature change of Canada’s oceans.

On the page, there are three maps and two legends to the upper left and right. The first map (top) displays all of Canada, the second map (left) displays the West Coast and the third map (right) displays the East Coast. On the maps there are small numbers corresponding to marine ecoregions.

The maps show the gridded change in surface temperature in different shades of blue, yellow, orange and red. The first legend (left) lists the map labels and corresponding marine ecoregions. The second legend (right) contains nine temperature categories in degrees Celsius (°C): <-0.5 (navy blue), -0.5 to -0.25 (dark blue), -0.25 to -0.1 (light blue), -0.1 to 0 (aqua), 0 to 0.1 (pale yellow), 0.1 to 0.25 (yellow), 0.25 to 0.5 (pale orange), 0.5 to 1 (orange), ≥1 (red). The legend contains two boundary categories: fine dashed lines indicate provincial boundaries and fine black lines indicate marine ecoregion boundaries.

The maps show that compared to the 1981 to 2010 climate normal, the 2005 to 2017 average annual sea surface temperature generally increased on the East Coast and Offshore Pacific, decreased in Hudson Bay and along the southern coast of British Columbia, and varied in the Arctic marine ecoregions. The Scotian Shelf experienced the greatest increase in temperature and areas that experienced the greatest decrease in temperature include Hudson Bay and coastal waters of the northern peninsula of Newfoundland.

Notes: The climate normal is the three-decade average of climatological variables from 1981 to 2010

Sources:
Locarnini, R. A., et al., 2018. World Ocean Atlas 2018: Volume 1: Temperature, A. Mishonov (Technical Ed.), NOAA Atlas NESDIS 81, 52 pp., https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/SELECT/woaselect/woaselect.html (accessed November 15, 2019).