Science and Technology News

Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate’s Climate Research Division hosted a workshop to discuss the implementation of the Snow-Watch component of the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW) program.

The Domestic Substances List (DSL) was amended to include the first nanomaterial surface modified nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) in accordance with the New Substances Notifications Regulations (NSNR) under CEPA 1999.

Scientists from Environment Canada’s S&T Branch and Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency participated in an international workshop January 8-10, 2013, designed to address key scientific needs for assessing the potential for commercial chemicals to bioaccumulate in terrestrial ecosystems. 

A new publication by John Fyfe and Nathan Gillett (Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis) and Gareth Marshall (British Antarctic Survey) shows that summer rainfall patterns in the Southern Hemisphere have changed markedly in response to rising greenhouse gas concentrations and ozone layer depletion, both caused by human activity.

The release of the Draft screening assessment report on tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and two of its derivative substances [TBBPA bis(2-hydroxyethyl ether) and TBBPA bis(allyl ether)] was announced in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on November 10, 2012.

Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate scientists Dr. Tom Harner and Dr. Hayley Hung are co-editors with Dr. Matthew MacLeod of Stockholm University of a special issue in the journal Atmospheric Pollution Research titled "Science in Support of International Treaties on POPs." 

A special issue of Climatic Change (Volume 115, Number 1, November 2012) devoted to Science Results from the Canadian International Polar Year (IPY) 2007 – 2008 program is now available. Included in the issue are papers documenting the results of IPY projects in which Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate (ASTD) scientists played leading roles.

Environment Canada scientists completed a comprehensive air quality research study that increases our knowledge of the relationship between changes in both climate and emissions of pollutants, and the potential impacts of these changes on air quality, human health and ecosystems.

Using satellite derived data from 1967 to 2012, Dr. Chris Derksen and Ross Brown from Environment Canada’s Climate Research Division, identified significant declines in snow cover extent across the Northern Hemisphere in May and June.

Following a series of intense storms that deposited over 225 mm of rain on areas of the southern Maritimes, Environment Canada marine water quality monitoring staff acted quickly along with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to put in place emergency shellfish closures.  The closures prohibited shellfish harvesting in several Maritime areas determined to be susceptible to contamination due to storm water run-off.

The release of the Final screening assessment on Perfluorooctanoic Acid, its Salts, and its Precursors was announced in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on August 25, 2012.   

A period of continuing low water conditions across the upper Laurentian Great Lakes since the mid 2000s has highlighted the importance of good water cycle measurements over the region.

A binational water quality modelling effort of the Red and Assiniboine river basin is the first of its kind to make use of harmonized geospatial datasets and combined water quality datasets from federal, provincial and state jurisdictions.

Environment Canada scientists studied gulls from across Canada to investigate how diet affects flame retardant contamination in eggs. Eggs were collected from four gull species in 26 colonies...

Revised Canadian Water Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life--Nitrate Ion--were posted online on July 12, 2012 ... These guidelines provide numeric values to protect freshwater and marine biota from both short-term and long-term exposures....

At the International Polar Year conference in Montreal in April 2012, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) released their third assessment report which focused exclusively on mercury. The overarching goal of the AMAP assessment was to address the question “What controls mercury levels in the Arctic and what are the effects on Arctic biota?” and it provided key policy-related science recommendations.

Environment Canada scientists led a 3-day special session focusing on contaminants research in Polar Regions at the final International Polar Year (IPY) conference – From Knowledge to Action - held in Montreal in April 2012.

High concentrations of perfluorinated compounds have been found in water and aquatic organisms downstream of Hamilton’s John C. Munro International Airport in the Welland River and Lake Niapenco.

... concludes that the three strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are not entering the environment in concentrations or quantities or under conditions that pose a risk to the environment or to human health ...

The draft screening assessment proposes to conclude that the two gas oils (Chemical Abstracts Service numbers 64741-59-9 and 64741-82-8) are not entering the environment in concentrations or quantities or under conditions that pose a risk to the environment or to human health, ...

On February 4, 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and United States’ President Barack Obama announced the creation of the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council to better align the two countries’ regulatory approaches ...

Environment Canada’s role as a World Class Regulator was confirmed and promoted at the recent INTERPOL 17^th Pollution Crimes Working Group Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. A key element of the meeting was developing the first INTERPOL manual on basic environmental forensics....

The new factsheet, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in the Canadian Environment (Environmental Monitoring and Surveillance in Support of the Chemicals Management Plan), provides an overview of the concentrations, geographic distribution, and trends of the seven polybrominated diphenyl ether congeners in air, water, sediment, aquatic biota, wildlife, landfills, and wastewater ...

Black carbon, generated from burning fossil fuels, contributes to particulate matter air pollution. Recent study results demonstrated that black carbon emissions from light-duty gasoline vehicles were ...

The drastic reduction of Arctic sea ice within the last decade is an environmental concern for Canada. In 2008, the loss of ice reached a mass of one million square kilometres, spanning a total area roughly the size of Ontario. Environment Canada scientists were part of a recent study that investigated ...

The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment’s Water Quality Monitoring Sub-Group and Environment Canada’s Water Quality Index Working Group co-organized a recent workshop for their partners and other stakeholders with an interest in sharing and promoting advances of knowledge in monitoring freshwater quality in Canada....

... The Great Lakes Beach Association is a collaboration of individuals in Canada and the United States (e.g., researchers and beach managers) working to improve recreational beach water quality through an informal information-sharing forum....

A statistically robust analysis of 316 time-series of “legacy” persistent organic pollutants in Arctic biota at various levels revealed mostly decreasing trends and only a few significantly increasing trends....

Environment Canada’s Science and Technology Strategies Directorate is leading development of an international standard for the Environmental Technology Verification program under the International Organization for Standardization. The standard will help ensure that a technology verified in one member country will be accepted as verified in other member countries....

Watershed source determination of fishes is used to assess stock and health, and to determine sources of metals and other contaminants in fish populations. Food web trophic position and watershed source assignment is typically done using carbon and nitrogen isotopes. Research conducted on four fish species shows that, while H isotopes have been posited as a better alternative, metabolic effects and isotope exchange may complicate interpretations....

At a recent International Joint Commission Biennial meeting, Dr. Chris Marvin presented information on Environment Canada’s new nearshore research and monitoring program: Great Lakes Nutrients and Nearshore Program....

The Whistler Peak High Elevation Research Site, a research station located at the peak of Whistler Mountain, is one of only a few high elevation air quality sites in North America....

The Walkerton Clean Water Centre works with leading experts to develop and deliver training for the water treatment industry....

... Although significant research on municipal wastewater and biosolids was being undertaken in Canada, it lacked coordination in priority setting, execution and dissemination. To address these issues...

Over the past two decades, the American Eel, which was once a major fish species of the Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River ecosystem, has been suffering a major decline in population....

New standardized test methods have been released that will help Canadian laboratories remain in compliance with the Fisheries Act....

... A new book on wildlife ecotoxicology provides insight into the processes and mechanisms involved both in environmental scientific investigation and in efforts to effect positive change....

... all nine sea ice regions had statistically significant decreases in total sea ice coverage in summer over the study period....

... the Report provides a synopsis on the state of environmental changes in the Arctic based on peer-reviewed information of recent Arctic observations ...

... Information generated will assist in wise decision making in support of sustainable economic development in the North and remediation of Canada's second highest priority contaminated site, Giant Gold Mine, located in the lower reaches of the basin.

Improved Processes and Parameterization for Prediction in Cold Regions (2006–2011) is a research network devoted to improving understanding of cold regions hydrometeorology ...

... focused on compounds produced largely by golden algae, and showed that they can have significant and sometimes insidious socioeconomic and ecological impacts at several foodweb levels, and potentially affect recruitment success of commercially important fish species such as salmon ...

Conservation planning for the more than one thousand animal species that use tree cavities around the world should start with identifying the role of old, standing trees...

Environment Canada scientists have discovered that populations of Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) recently introduced in the St. Lawrence River were considerably less parasitized than two indigenous fish species, whereas the Round Goby is highly infected with parasites in its native range...

Environment Canada scientists chaired and presented a session at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Society of Canadian Ornithologists in Moncton, New Brunswick, to discuss recent research on “incidental take,” the inadvertent destruction of birds, nests and eggs...

On October 3, 2011, the Ministers of Environment and Health announced the launch of the next phase of Canada's Chemicals Management Plan ... The primary emphasis on this phase will be on meeting the 2020 commitment to assess all priority existing substances and any resulting risk management requirements...

Scientists from Environment Canada’s Air Quality Research Division are supporting federal government priorities for the Arctic by developing and deploying innovative atmospheric monitoring equipment and delivering related research studies ...

The recent 10^th International Conference on Mercury as Global Pollutant,  co-sponsored and co-hosted by Environment Canada, successfully engaged a diversity of policymakers, non-governmental organizations, academics, and government scientists in discussions of how to use the best-available science on the environmental fate and distribution of mercury in the environment to inform risk management and regulatory decisions...

The bloody red shrimp (Hemimysis anomala) has invaded all of the Great Lakes except for Lake Superior. Sampling shows the highest numbers in Canadian waters are in the Port of Montréal.  Given its high level of activity, the port could represent a key ...

A recent workshop, Dispersant Use in the Canadian Beaufort Sea, held in Inuvik (Northwest Territories), provided major stakeholders with an understanding of chemical oil spill dispersants and considered the environmental effects and benefits of using dispersants to respond to oil spills ...

Scientists in Environment Canada’s Air Quality Research Division have provided the first scientific evidence that Arctic warming and sea ice retreat due to climate change have induced the re-release of persistent organic pollutants trapped in Arctic sea water, ice, and snow.

Their model calculations suggest that ozone depleting substances, which peaked in concentration in 1995, will be the dominant driver of changes in Southern Ocean circulation until the second quarter of the 21st century, at which point increasing greenhouse gas levels will take over ...

Combined sewer overflows (CSO) may contain pathogenic microorganisms that can cause waterborne diseases through contamination of drinking water supplies and through direct contact in areas of high public access such as recreational waters. An NSERC Collaborative Research and Development Grant was recently awarded to a consortium of researchers from universities, government, and private industry to develop a new treatment process for CSO disinfection, ultimately improving the health of Canadians by protecting our water resources against the threat of pathogenic contamination....

Canada’s participation in the fourth International Polar Year (IPY) involved unprecedented cooperation nationally and internationally. The Government of Canada Program for IPY 2007–2008 recognized that to do research in the Arctic today, it is important for scientists to work closely with Canadian northern residents, who know and understand the land and who may bring with them generations of valuable traditional knowledge.

A new website section highlights the work of the Borden Forest Research Station, an Environment Canada research facility which has been in operation for more than 25 years in a forested area of the Canadian Forces Base Borden, near Angus, Ontario.

During the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the spring/summer of 2010, spill responders and the community at large raised many operational questions about what would happen to the released oil.

A new study, gracing the cover of The Proceedings of the Royal Society B explains why eider ducks wintering in the sea ice of the Canadian Arctic have been observed resting and not feeding during slack tidal currents; a period traditionally thought to be the most optimal foraging time for sea ducks.

The Impact of Typhoons on the Pacific (ITOP) experiment is a multinational endeavor to study the effects of high intensity storms called “Super Typhoons” which are expected to be more frequent with climate change. It is funded by the Office of Naval Research involving University of Miami, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Environment Canada, University of Leeds, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of Washington, Taiwan Naval Academy and Sun Yat-Sen University of Taiwan.

Research led by the University of Guelph and Environment Canada has revealed a new twist in the life story of monarch butterflies.