----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Please do forgive the double-posting to both lists. During the ACMLA-WAML Joint Conference in Vancouver 2 weeks ago there was some discussion about the difficulty many of us obtaining elevation information for places in Canada. The geographic names server at the University of Michigan does provide the elevation of American places but there is no such tool for Canadian places. Ron Whistance-Smith made mention of the Climatological Station Catalogues (from Atmospheric Environment Service in Downsview) and how useful he had found these for providing just that kind of information. I now have a copy of each of these catalogues and thought that you might be interested in knowing a little more about them. There are 6 of these catalogues: one for Atlantic Provinces, one for Quebec, for Ontario, for Prairie Provinces, for British Columbia, and for The North (Yukon and NWT). Each costs $5.00 (Canadian) for a total of $30.00. I paid $10.00 handling for the set and was granted a 25% discount (to Canadian institutions only??). Title from title page is: Climatological Station Catalogue Des Stations Climatologiques All were published by Environment Canada's Atmospheric Environment Service in Downssview, Ontario in 1989. Using the Ontario catalogue as an example, it is 62 pages long and contains 4300 elevation entries (give or take). The data are arranged in columns with the following column headings: station number station name province latitude longitude elevation (meters) year/month began observation year/month ended observation (if applicable) observing program (synoptic, hourly, temp, precip, etc. etc.) region Although there are a great many entries (i.e., 4300 or so) the situation is not as good as it might seem. Many places are listed several times; for example, Kingston Airport has 14 entries, then there is Kingston Aut (2 entries), Kingston Marine (4 entries), Kingston N & C Gas (3 entries), Kingston Pumping Station (2 entries), Kingston Queens University (13 entries), and Kingston RMC (1 entry). THe reason for the multiple entries seems to be that observation programs at each station would begin and then end, would begin again, then end, and so on. Each period of observation constitutes one entry. I did a spot check for our local area (Waterloo Region in Ontario) and found that all 3 cities in the region are represented in the catalogue (Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge) as are some smaller centres (Elmira, Elora, Fergus, Ayr) but not St. Jacobs, New Hamburg, Breslau, Baden, New Dundee. So it is a bit hit and miss. A note in the introduction states: "The elevation of each site is given to the nearest metre and is generally the height of ground on which the instruments are exposed. Prior to April 1, 1986 at principal stations the elevation was generally the established elevation which is equal to the aerodrome elevation at airports or to the elevation determined for the barometer cistern at on-airport principal stations. To obtain copies of these catalogues, fax a message to Mr. Gary Teeter at 416/739-4446 in Downsview. Or call him at 416/739-4331. I found that he was willing to mail the catalogues along with the invoice as long as the fax message included the name and address of the institution. These catalogues are not as comprehensive as I had hoped but nevertheless they do go part way in addressing our need for elevation information. If you have additional questions, please don't hesititate to email me.