Global Change Data Encyclopedia

Prince Edward Island

Hu, K.¹  Han, N. L.^1*  Liu, C.^2*  Shi, R. X.²

1. Department of Land Resources Management, School of Politics and Public Administration, Hainan University, Haikou 570100, China;

2. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Keywords: Prince Edward Island; Canada; 2015; data encyclopedia

Dataset Availability Statement:

The dataset supporting this paper was published and is accessible through the Digital Journal of Global Change Data Repository at: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2020.05.03.V1.

Prince Edward Island is located in Southeastern Canada, North America, South of St. Lawrence’s Bay, the Northumberland Strait to the southwest, is 12.67 km away from the con-

tinent of North America, 51.52 km east of Cape Breton Island. Its geo-

location is 45°56¢54²N‒47°03¢32²N, 64°24¢50²W‒61°58¢15²W^[1‒3]. The total area of Prince Edward Island calculated based on the Albers projection is 5,676.45 km², and the coastline of the island calculated based on the Lambert projection is 2,282.51 km (Figure 1-2).

Prince Edward Island was originally discovered by the explorer Jacques Cartier while sailing along the coast in 1534 and named it Saint Jean, In 1799, Parliament approved the name of Prince Edward Island after King George III’s fourth son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathson. In terms of administrative divisions, Prince Edward Island is part of the Prince Edward Province of Canada. Prince Edward province is Canada’s smallest and most densely populated province. It is also the country’s most populous province in rural areas. It is connected to neighboring New Brunswick by the Federal Bridge. Its capital, Charlottetown, is located in the south-central part of Prince Edward Island. The main cities on the island are Charlottetown and Sumerside. There is an airport near the two cities.

Figure 2  Map of the Prince Edward Island (.kmz format)

Prince Edward Island has a temperate continental climate. The island climate is affected by the ocean. It has longer winters and warmer and humid summers. The climate is milder than that of continental Canada. There is no fog throughout the year, and the temperature remains around 20 °C. The annual rainfall on the island is about 1,125.8 mm, and the annual snowfall is about 318.2 mm. The soil of Prince Edward Island contains a lot of iron oxide, the ground is reddish brown, the soil is fertile. The fertile soil and the temperate growing season all contribute to the development of the island’s agriculture. At the same time, there are many sandy beaches on the north shore of Prince Edward Island, forming numerous natural bathing beaches. The warm water and beautiful scenery also promote the development of tourism. In general, the island extends northwest-southeast, resembling a crescent moon lying across. It is divided into three almost equal parts: Kings, Queens, and Prince. There are a small part of hilly land in the east and middle of the island, and the height of other places does not exceed 500 m above sea level^[4‒5].

This dataset is developed based on the global multi-scale sea, land (island) shoreline data set of Google Earth remote sensing images (2015), referenced with relevant Canadian maps. The data set consists of 24 data files, archived in .kmz and .shp data formats, with a data size of 5.38 MB (compressed into 1 file, 3.11 MB)

References

[1]      Sino Maps Press. World Map Atlas: Canada Atlas [M]. Beijing: Sino Maps Press, 2019.

[2]      Hu, K., Han, N. L., Liu, C., et al. Prince Edward Island [J/DB/OL]. Digital Journal of Global Change Data Repository, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2020.05.03.V1.

[3]      Liu, C., Shi, R. X., Zhang, Y. H., et al. Global multiple scale shorelines dataset based on Google Earth images (2015) [J/DB/OL]. Digital Journal of Global Change Data Repository, 2019. https://doi.org/10.3974/

geodb.2019.04.13.V1.

[4]      Prince Edward Island [OL]. Encyclopedia Britannica. February 07, 2019. https://www.britannica. com/place/Prince-Edward-Island.

[5]      Holman, H. T., Robb, A. Prince Edward Island [M]. The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Canada, 18 December 2019. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ prince-edward-island. 10 November 2020.