Project Outline
General Objective:
- Assess the importance of atmospheric deposition as a potential contributor to ecological impacts of oil sands (OS) development.
Specific Objectives:
- Use snowpack measurements to develop maps of winter-time atmospheric contaminant loadings for the region ~100 km from the major upgrading facilities for 2014 and 2015.
- Assess long-term trends in winter-time atmospheric deposition by compiling 2008 data from Kelly et al. (2009; 2010) and 2011-2015 datasets.
- Determine the potential impact of wintertime snowpack mercury loads on tributary river water mercury concentrations (obtained from Event-based Sampling program (Spring Freshet)) using GIS and hydrological modelling approaches.
- Examine long-term trends in atmospheric PAH, metals and black carbon deposition using dated lake sediments cores from waterbodies within ~100 km of major OS developments to determine the magnitude of change over the long-term.
- Compare trends in mercury and PAC deposition obtained from dated lake sediment cores to those observed in fish from the same lakes, including those located downstream of major developments (Lake Athabasca and Great Slave Lake).
- Examine paleolimnological markers such as cladoceran, chironomid and diatom fossil remains as well as chlorophyll a reconstructions in dated lake sediment cores to assess OS development impacts on biological communities within the context of long-term environmental change in the region.
- Begin coordinating with other groups to compare metals and contaminant loads obtained from snow and dated lake sediment cores to other methods of monitoring including:
- Loadings obtained from precipitation monitoring and spatial patterns in PAC air measurements obtained from passive sampling network (Air Quality group)
- Spatial patterns in metals deposition obtained from lichen measurements (WBEA) and dated lake sediment cores.
Key Outcomes:
- Enhanced knowledge and predictive capabilities.
- Detailed data analyses and incorporation of community input to support recommendations for a long-term snow and paleo-coring monitoring program (i.e., recommendations for sites numbers, sampling frequency, sampling and analyses methods) that is designed to inform other aspects of the JOSM program (i.e., REPs sites and invertebrate, fish, amphibian and bird monitoring).
- Deposition maps of contaminants (PACs, mercury, metals, water quality parameters, etc.) for the major oil sands development area.
- Historical (pre- and post-development) understanding of contaminant deposition utilizing lake paleo-coring techniques.
- Uploads to the JOSM portal of contaminant concentrations in snow and dated lake sediment cores.
Geographic Scope:
Oil Sands development region (within ~200 km of major development areas), and downstream receiving environments.