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Alex Cannon

Research Climatologist

Tel.: 250.472.5591

Email Alex Cannon

Alex holds a PhD in Atmospheric Science from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Prior to joining PCIC, he was Senior Hydroclimatologist with the Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment Canada – Pacific and Yukon Region. His research deals with the development and application of machine learning and statistical models to weather and climate prediction. Research interests include statistical downscaling, automated methods for synoptic map-pattern classification and weather typing, probabilistic weather and climate prediction, stochastic weather simulation, non-stationary extreme value analysis in hydroclimatology, and assessing impacts of climate variability and change on water resources.

Alex has authored more than 40 articles in refereed journals and sits on the Editorial Boards of Computers & Geosciences, PLoS ONE, and ISRN Meteorology. He is a Member of the American Meteorological Society Committee on Artificial Intelligence Applications in Environmental Science and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Earth & Ocean Sciences at UBC. Alex was the recipient of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society’s Tertia M.C. Hughes Memorial Prize in 2008 and the World Meteorological Association’s Research Award for Young Scientists in 2009.

application/pdf iconACannon.FullCV.2012.pdf
Education: 
  • PhD, Atmospheric Science, University of British Columbia
  • MSc, Climatology, University of British Columbia
  • Diploma, Meteorology, University of British Columbia
  • BSc, Physical Geography, University of British Columbia
Selected Publications: 
  • Cannon, A.J., 2012. Regression-guided clustering: a semi-supervised method for circulation-to-environment synoptic classification. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. doi:10.1175/JAMC-D-11-0155.1
  • Cannon, A.J., 2012. Neural networks for probabilistic environmental prediction: Conditional Density Estimation Network Creation & Evaluation (CaDENCE) in R. Computers & Geosciences. doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2011.08.023
  • Cannon, A.J., 2012. Semisupervised multivariate regression trees: putting the "circulation" back into a "circulation-to-environment" synoptic classifier. International Journal of Climatology. doi:10.1002/joc.2417
  • Cohen, S., S. Sheppard, A. Shaw, D. Flanders, S. Burch, B. Taylor, D. Hutchinson, A.J. Cannon, S. Hamilton, B. Burton, and J. Carmichael, 2012. Downscaling and visioning of mountain snow packs and other climate change implications in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Mitigation and Adaptation of Strategies for Global Change, 17(1): 25-49. doi:10.1007/s11027-011-9307-9
  • Rasouli, K., W.W. Hsieh, and A.J. Cannon, 2012. Daily streamflow forecasting by machine learning methods with weather and climate inputs. Journal of Hydrology, 414-415: 284-293. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.10.039
  • Cannon, A.J., 2011. Quantile regression neural networks: implementation in R and application to precipitation downscaling. Computers & Geosciences, 37: 1277-1284, doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2010.07.005
  • Cannon, A.J., 2011. GEVcdn: an R package for nonstationary extreme value analysis by generalized extreme value conditional density estimation network. Computers & Geosciences, 37:1532-1533. doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2011.03.005
  • Jenkner, J., W.W. Hsieh, and A.J. Cannon, 2011. Seasonal modulations of the active MJO cycle characterized by nonlinear principal component analysis. Monthly Weather Review, 139(7): 2259-2275. doi:10.1175/2010MWR3562.1
  • Allen, D.M., A.J. Cannon, M.W. Toews, and J. Scibek, 2010. Variability in simulated recharge using different GCMs, Water Resources Research, 46: W00F03, doi:10.1029/2009WR008932
  • Cannon, A.J., 2010. A flexible nonlinear modelling framework for nonstationary generalized extreme value analysis in hydroclimatology. Hydrological Processes, 24: 673-685.
  • Quamme, H.A., A.J. Cannon, D. Neilsen, J.M. Caprio, and W.G. Taylor, 2010. The potential impact of climate change on the occurrence of winter freeze events in six fruit crops grown in the Okanagan Valley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 90(1): 85-93.
  • Cannon, A.J., 2009. Negative ridge regression parameters for improving the covariance structure of multivariate linear downscaling models. International Journal of Climatology, 29:761-769.
  • Hao, P., A.J. Cannon, P.H. Whitfield, and H. Lu, 2009. Pentad average temperature changes of Inner Mongolia during recent 40 years. Journal of Applied Meteorological Science, 20(4): 443-450.
  • Cannon, A.J., 2008. Probabilistic multi-site precipitation downscaling by an expanded Bernoulli-gamma density network. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 9(6):1284-1300.
  • Cannon, A.J. and W.W. Hsieh, 2008. Robust nonlinear canonical correlation analysis: Application to seasonal climate forecasting. Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 15: 221-232.
  • Stahl, K., R.D. Moore, J.M. Shea, D. Hutchinson, and A.J. Cannon, 2008. Coupled modelling of glacier and streamflow response to future climate scenarios. Water Resources Research, 44: W02422, doi:10.1029/2007WR005956
  • Hsieh, W.W. and A.J. Cannon, 2008. Towards robust nonlinear multivariate analysis by neural network methods. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, 12:97-124. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-78938-3_6
  • Cannon, A.J., 2007. Nonlinear analog predictor analysis: a coupled neural network/analog model for climate downscaling. Neural Networks, 20(4): 444-453.
  • Scibek, J., D.M. Allen, A.J. Cannon, and P.H. Whitfield, 2007. Groundwater-surface water interaction under scenarios of climate change using a high-resolution transient groundwater model. Journal of Hydrology, 333: 165-181.
  • Song, L., A.J. Cannon, and P.H. Whitfield, 2007. Changes in seasonal patterns of temperature and precipitation in China during 1971-2000. Advances in Atmospheric Science, 24(3): 459-473.
  • Cannon, A.J., 2006. Nonlinear principal predictor analysis: application to the Lorenz system. Journal of Climate, 19(4): 579-589.
  • Wang, J.Y., P.H. Whitfield, and A.J. Cannon, 2006. Influence of Pacific climate patterns on low-flows in British Columbia and Yukon, Canada. Canadian Water Resources Journal, 31(1): 25-40.
  • Hall, A.W., P.H. Whitfield, and A.J. Cannon, 2006. Recent variations in temperature, precipitation, and streamflow in the Rio Grande and Pecos River Basins of New Mexico and Colorado. Reviews in Fisheries Science, 14(1-2): 51-78.
  • Cannon, A.J., 2005. Defining climatological seasons using radially constrained clustering. Geophysical Research Letters, 32: L14706, doi:10.1029/2005GL023410
  • Whitfield, P.H., A.W. Hall, and A.J. Cannon, 2004. Changes in the seasonal cycle in the circumpolar Arctic, 1976-1995: Temperature and precipitation. Arctic, 57(1): 80-93.
  • Whitfield, P.H., J.Y. Wang, and A.J. Cannon, 2003. Modelling future streamflow extremes - Floods and low flows in Georgia Basin, British Columbia. Canadian Water Resources Journal, 28(4):633-656.
  • Whitfield, P.H., A.J. Cannon, J.Y. Wang, and C.J. Reynolds, 2003. Modelling streamflows in present and future climates - Examples from rainfall/snowmelt streams in coastal British Columbia. Hydrological Science & Technology, 19(1-4): 41-56.
  • Whitfield, P.H., C.J. Reynolds, and A.J. Cannon, 2002. Modelling streamflow in present and future climates - Examples from the Georgia Basin, British Columbia. Canadian Water Resources Journal, 27(4): 427-456.
  • Cannon, A.J., P.H. Whitfield, and E.R. Lord, 2002. Synoptic map-pattern classification using recursive partitioning and principal component analysis. Monthly Weather Review, 130(5): 1187-1206.
  • Cannon, A.J. and P.H. Whitfield, 2002. Downscaling recent streamflow conditions in British Columbia, Canada using ensemble neural network models. Journal of Hydrology, 259: 136-151.
  • Cannon, A.J. and I.G. McKendry, 2002. A graphical sensitivity analysis for interpreting statistical climate models: Application to Indian monsoon rainfall prediction by artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression models. International Journal of Climatology, 22:1687-1708.
  • Whitfield, P.H., K. Bodtker, and A.J. Cannon, 2002. Recent variations in seasonality of temperature and precipitation in Canada - 1976-1995. International Journal of Climatology, 22: 1617-1644.
  • Cannon, A.J. and P.H. Whitfield, 2001. Modeling transient pH depressions in coastal streams of British Columbia using neural networks. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 37(1): 73-89.
  • Whitfield, P.H. and A.J. Cannon, 2000. Recent variations in climate and hydrology in Canada. Canadian Water Resources Journal, 25(1): 19-65.
  • Whitfield, P.H. and A.J. Cannon, 2000. Polar plotting of seasonal hydrologic and climatic data. Northwest Science, 74(1):76-80.
  • Cannon, A.J. and E.R. Lord, 2000. Forecasting summertime surface level ozone concentrations in the Lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia: An ensemble neural network approach. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 50: 322-339.
  • Cannon, A.J. and I.G. McKendry, 1999. Forecasting all-India summer monsoon rainfall using regional circulation principal components: A comparison between neural network and multiple regression models. International Journal of Climatology, 19(14): 1561-1578.