Environment and Climate Change Canada

Ringed seals (Phoca hispida) are harvested annually in Arviat and Resolute (Nunavut), Sachs Harbour (Northwest Territories) and Nain (Labrador) with the help of the communities in the context of an environmental monitoring program. Samples of meat, blubber, liver and kidney are collected for...

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...

Our current understanding of the factors that influence where birds nest is incomplete, yet such information is important for accurate demographic assessments. To address questions related to spatial distributions of shorebird nests and to evaluate factors that may affect nest distribution in...

Although the extent to which large-scale environmental change will affect birds that breed in arctic areas will vary among species, reduced reproductive success and population declines have been observed in long-distance migrants and species whose reproduction depends on non-climatic cues....

Monitoring of sea ice dynamics is of vital importance to our overall understanding of how the Arctic cryosphere is responding to changes in the Earth's climate. With the recent launch of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) in 2019 and the continuing operation of the Sentinel-1 (S1) fleet,...

The objectives of the present long‐term study, spanning a 45 year period, were to 1) investigate the temporal trends of total mercury (THg; muscle and liver) and selenium (Se; liver) in ringed seals (Pusa hispida) from different regions of the Canadian Arctic; and 2) examine possible...

The delivery of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from snowpacks into Lake Hazen, located on Ellesmere Island (Nunavut, Canada) indicates that annual atmospheric deposition is a major source of PFAS that undergo complex cycling in the High Arctic. Perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCA) in...

This dataset contains 2005 concentrations of total mercury (THg), gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), methylated mercury, dimethyl mercury (DMHg) in the water column of the Canadian Arctic. Mercury in the Arctic is an important environmental and human health issue. The reliance of Northern peoples...

Ringed seals (Phoca hispida) have been used as bioindicator species of environmental contamination in Canada since the 1970s. In the present study, seals were harvested during subsistence hunts in four regions of the Canadian Arctic: Beaufort Sea, Arctic Archipelago, Hudson Bay, and coastal...

This dataset contains concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in seawater sampled in various locations in the Arctic ranging from 2005-2008. Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are ubiquitous contaminants of marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments, including remote arctic wildlife....

The atmospheric monitoring subcomponent of the Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) studies long-range transport of anthropogenic organic pollutants in air (AOPA), mercury, and chemicals of emerging arctic concern from around the globe. This subcomponent includes three NCP Core Monitoring...