"Surface water inventories of Canada's northern territories involve those areas of Canada draining into the Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay (north of the Nelson River drainage basin) and to the Pacific Ocean through Alaska, The major river systems are the Yukon River Basin and the Mackenzie River Basin. The available surface water data for the northern areas are insufficient to describe flow variations and, in many cases, even the mean flow of the rivers. This report reviews the problems of established operation of the hydrometric network which is providing data needed for estimates of averages and streamflow variations and examines proposals for network expansion"--Abstract, p. v.