Ambient Air Quality Measurements in the Canadian Oil Sands Region

Air quality data collected under the Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan for the Oil Sands to determine emissions contributions. The dataset includes daily filter pack concentrations, hourly gaseous mercury and ozone readings, aircraft measurements over 140,000 km², and satellite-derived nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide data. It is provided by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Use Cases

• Modeling industrial emissions dispersion based on aircraft and ground-based monitoring data.
• Analyzing trends in atmospheric pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide using satellite vertical column density data.
• Studying mercury speciation and transport based on measurements of gaseous elemental, reactive gaseous, and particulate mercury.
• Assessing regional aerosol optical depth and its effects on light transmission using AEROCAN network data.

Strengths

• Includes a comprehensive set of aircraft measurements covering an area of 140,000 km².
• Integrates data from multiple monitoring networks and methods, including ground stations, aircraft, and satellites.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Environment and Climate Change Canada

Collection Method

Collected by the Canadian Air and Precipitation Monitoring Network, Canadian Ozone Sonde Network, AEROCAN network, and satellite overpasses.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 12:01:03.113158; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Oil sands region of Canada, with specific data from the Fort McKay Oski-ôtin monitoring site and an aircraft survey area.