Environment and Climate Change Canada

In the oil sands air monitoring component, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) levels are monitored by ground-based instruments, satellites and other measurements. Monitoring of air pollutants from satellites is becoming an alternative to surface and aircraft measurements, and allows...

Expanded Geographic Area (M9, M10, M11a, M12, BI1, RI1, SL1, SL2, QU1 [2013] and M9, M10, M11a, M12, BI1, BU1, BU2, RI1, SL1, SL2, QU1, MC2 [2011-March 2018]) Water quality chemistry data for 17 sites in the lower Athabasca River (LAR), the Peace and Slave rivers, and their tributaries, including...

Shallow groundwater and the interaction of these waters with surface water in the mineable area of the Athabasca oil sands region are being examined to assess the role and importance of groundwater in the regional river ecosystems. Groundwater quality chemistry data is available from 182 shallow...

Water chemistry, 26 different metals, and polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) were measured at 21 wetland sites where studies of amphibian health are being conducted. The water chemistry measurements (pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids, etc.) are used to further assess water quality,...

Metals in Mallards (pooled 2013 collections) Adult male mallards were collected in 2013 in the area surrounding five Alberta communities south of the Athabasca oil sands industrial region (Mayerthorpe, Barrhead, Lac La Biche, St. Paul and Vermilion) and from two communities north of the...

Assessing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and naphthenic acid concentrations in soils collected in 2012 – Field and Laboratory Assessment of Contaminants The concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and naphthenic acids (NAs) were measured in soil samples collected in 2012....

Plant species richness, composition, and soil chemistry parameters were assessed in wetlands and uplands in the oil sands region of northern Alberta. The concentrations of metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in soil and plant samples collected from 2012-2014, and...

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...

Tributary Biomonitoring (Lower Athabasca River) Benthic macroinvertebrates, comprising insects, crusteaceans, molluscs and worms, represent a group of organisms used widely in environmental monitoring programs as early warning indicators to assess the effects of change in water quality...