ECOData
The ECO Data project at UTM
A portal to free, accessible environmental data at the University of Toronto Mississauga for teaching and research.
The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) is a medium sized university located in the in the city of Mississauga Ontario, 15km southwest of Toronto. A suburban campus, the term “suburban” does not do justice to the natural beauty of UTM. The campus comprises more than 80 ha of forest, grassland, ponds, streams, and wetlands connected with an extensive trail system (UTM Maps). The campus is immediately adjacent and connected to Erindale park, the largest in the city of Mississauga and home to the Credit River, a large naturalized river draining over the Niagara Escarpment into Lake Ontario. UTM has become a world leading institution in environmental and sustainability initiatives lead jointly by the administration, departments, individual faculty members and students, and by the Environmental Affairs Office. Our environmental science undergraduate and graduate (administered through the University of Toronto) programs are among the best in Canada, and this portal is designed to facilitate use of ecosystems and climate data collected on our campus in teaching and student research by both our students and by other students and instructors at every level around the world.
What data are available?
EDUTM contains environmental data collected at a long-term meteorological station operational since 1975 and logged since 1999 area available online. With sensors situated on a tall tower, these data represent the general condition of the atmosphere at large. More recently we have installed microclimate, soils, and water monitoring stations in ecosystems across the campus (*Link to follow). Specifically air temperature and humidity and soil temperature and moisture have been logged since 2009 in a mature forest, a small grassland, and a cattail marsh. Water level of a constructed pond (*Link to follow) has been recorded since 2008.
Why are these data useful?
To explore environmental processes first hand with real, primary data. This includes downloading analyzing, and interpreting, environmental data...conducting real research!
Who can use these data?
Anyone! Students and course instructors will likely find them the most useful. A number of sample exercises from Nathan Basiliko’s Geography 227: Ecosystems and Environmental Change are included here.
Who collects these data?
Primarily Mr. Ken Turner in the Department of Geography.
How do I access and cite data?
To access the environmental datasets, click here.
For more information on citation styles and formats, click here.
Learn more about the University of Toronto Mississauga, and programs in Environment, Geography, and Biology and Graduate Environmental Science Programs at the University of Toronto.