Environment and Climate Change Canada

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) began ambient air monitoring of several nitrogen and sulphur species southeast of the Athabasca oil sands region in February 2015. Continuous measurements of NO, NO2, NOy, NH3, and SO2 are currently being conducted at two sites in Saskatchewan....

The National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) is Canada's public inventory of pollutant releases (to air, water and land), disposals and transfers for recycling. This database contains the full NPRI dataset from 1993 to the current reporting year. To help you navigate, a Microsoft Word file...

The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is a scale designed to help quantify the quality of the air in a certain region on a scale from 1 to 10. When the amount of air pollution is very high, the number is reported as 10+. It also includes a category that describes the health risk associated with the...

Climate warming and permafrost thaw induced land cover change are well documented in much of the circumpolar north. The frequent exposure of Precambrian continental crust in Canada’s Taiga Shield ecoregion could mean impacts of land cover change documented in other regions without this feature...

The purpose of this study was to assess the release and characterization of forms of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in urban effluents across Canada. Samples were collected from various wastewater treatment plants and were measured and analyzed using the single particle ICP-MS technique...

The Air Pollutant Emission Inventory (APEI) is an annual report of air pollutant emissions across Canada published by Environment and Climate Change Canada. The report details the release of air pollutants from all known of sources since 1990. The APEI serves many purposes, including:...

Water quality and ecosystem health data collected using a risk-based monitoring approach to support the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement are included in this dataset. By conducting regular, systematic measurements of the physical, chemical and biological conditions of the Great Lakes...

The Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) program provides data and information to track Canada's performance on key environmental sustainability issues. The Water quality in Canadian rivers indicators provide a measure of the ability of river water across Canada to support...

This study aimed to develop and improve upon analytical methods and sampling techniques for detecting oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) seepage from mining containments and discriminating any seepage from the natural bitumen background in groundwaters influenced by the Alberta McMurray...

Water samples were collected in two headwater stream catchments (Nissouri Creek, Cedar Creek) of the Thames River 2017-2019 to help characterize the contribution of groundwater seepage to water quality. Groundwater wells and surface streams were sampled over the course of the study. The...

The Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) breeds in boreal forest wetlands across North America, and winters in the southeastern USA. This species is listed under Canada’s Species at Risk Act as Special Concern due to population declines. For the study, 1220 Rusty Blackbirds were captured in...

We conducted a species-specific survey for Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) near the northwestern limit of the species’ breeding distribution, in order to investigate relative abundance and also to determine whether a species-specific survey protocol being established for Canada would be...

We documented seasonal and daily activity patterns of Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) near Whitehorse, Yukon, to evaluate the appropriateness at higher latitudes of national survey protocols for this species. Nighthawk vocalizations and audible aerial displays were detected at four locations...

Historical water quality data measured on a continuous basis at over 23 locations across Canada is included in this dataset. Most locations include hourly temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductance and turbidity. Data are collected by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and...

We studied the community structure of crustacean zooplankton along the biogeographical zones of the St. Lawrence River (Québec, Canada), to evaluate how the riverscale hydrological network formed by water masses, and local-scale aquatic environment, influenced the distribution of zooplankton...

We monitored a colony of Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) nesting on an artificial nesting structure that had been built for this species, near the Dezadeash River in Haines Junction, Yukon (60o 44’ 58” N/ 137o 30’ 33” W). We took photographs of the nesting surface of each of the 16...

This project is part of the Northern Contaminants Program core monitoring and looks at contaminant levels in landlocked Arctic char from lakes in Nunavut over time. Landlocked char are the only top predators in most Canadian high Arctic lakes and, therefore, can serve as a sentinel species for...

This dataset contains 21 statistics of wind and waves calculated from hourly reanalysis data of historical surface winds and ocean surface waves for the Canadian East Coast for the period 1954-2018 (each statistic has an annual, 4 seasonal, and 12 monthly values). These data can be used for...

The Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring (Environment Canada and Alberta Environment 2012) included the initiation of new biomonitoring sites on the Lower Athabasca River mainstem and its major tributaries following the study designs proposed in the Integrated...

The Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (WSER), developed under the Fisheries Act, came into force in 2012 to manage wastewater releases by systems that collect an average daily influent volume of 100 cubic metres or more. The WSER also does not apply to any wastewater system located in the...