Environment and Climate Change Canada

Airflows redefine the cost of aerial transport in the wild

Fuel economy matters to both animals and machines, as the cost of transport can determine where, when, and how far locomotion is possible. However, established estimates of these values for animal flight come from laboratories and treat the atmosphere as constant, even though fre...

A standardized permafrost ground temperature collection for Canada 2025

Abstract. Ground temperature is an essential variable for monitoring the thermal state of permafrost, developing models, and conducting fundamental research. However, the usability of GT data in Canada is often hampered by inconsistent file formats, a lack of metadata standardiza...

Frequency of plastic occurrence varies across phylogeny but not ecology in seabirds

Seabirds are especially vulnerable to ingesting plastic pollution. However, we have a limited understanding of which traits might increase their risk of plastic ingestion. Here, we use a dataset of seabird plastic occurrence records (93 281 birds from 240 species) to investigate...

Parasite community structure in slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus) and longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) from tributaries experiencing different levels of oil sands development

Parasite community species richness and structure were assessed in slimy sculpin ( Cottus cognatus ) and longnose dace ( Rhinichthys cataractae ) from the Steepbank and Firebag rivers, two tributaries of the Athabasca River (Alberta, Canada) experiencing differing degrees of oil...

Improving the CLASSIC (v1.8) snow model to better simulate Arctic snowpacks

Abstract. This study enhances the snow model of the Canadian Land Surface Scheme including Biogeochemical Cycles (CLASSIC), with a particular focus on Arctic environments. Key snow model physics improvements include adjustments to the thermal conductivity at the top of the first...

Antarctic sea ice response to meltwater due to Antarctic ice sheet mass loss in a multi-model ensemble

Abstract. We present the first multi-model study of the Antarctic sea ice response to enhanced meltwater due to dynamic mass loss from the Antarctic ice sheet. This meltwater flux (and its future increase under global warming) is not included in the most recent state-of-the-art c...

Microplastics in stair-step moss and lake water on Baffin Island, Nunavut, reflect a local source component

Microplastics (MPs) are contaminants of emerging Arctic concern due to their adverse effects on ecosystems, yet lake water and shorelands on Baffin Island, Nunavut, remain understudied for contamination. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated microplastic pollution in mos...

Towards continental-scale SWOT-based modeling of reservoir operations

The advent of reservoir models has enabled the monitoring and prediction of reservoir operations (inflow, storage, and release); however, the in situ operation data used for model parameterization is spatially scarce. In this study, we evaluate reservoir monitoring capabilities b...

What SWOT KaRIn can and cannot resolve over first-year pack ice: a backscatter continuum and the geometric detection of leads and ridges in Barrow Strait

The scripts process SWOT Level 2 High-Rate Pixel Cloud (L2_HR_PIXC) granules over a fixed footprint in Barrow Strait, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, across eleven cycles from December 2024 to July 2025. They apply quality control, detrend backscatter across the swath within inciden...

An Arctic climatology of particle number size distributions and cloud condensation nuclei during warm and moist intrusions

Abstract Recent studies indicate that warm and moist intrusions are significant sources of aerosols in the Arctic. Yet their contribution to different aerosol particle size modes, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and droplet number concentrations ( N d ) remains largely unconstra...

The Canadian Surface Reanalysis (CaSR) v3.2 precipitation dataset: a 45-year high-resolution analysis for North America (1980–2024)

The Canadian Surface Reanalysis (CaSR) includes an offline, high-resolution gridded total precipitation reanalysis designed to provide accurate estimates across North America. This product, referred to as CaPA-24h, builds on the Canadian Precipitation Analysis (CaPA) system of En...

Consistency between zonal mean stratospheric and total column ozone trends (2000–2024)

This study presents an updated assessment of stratospheric and total column ozone trends over the 2000–2024 period using six merged limb-profile datasets and six merged total ozone datasets. Long-term changes were quantified using a multiple linear regression framework that accou...

Seasonal variation in microplastic abundance, morphology, polymers, and adsorbed contaminants in wastewater treatment sludges and biosolids

This study investigated the seasonal impact on microplastic (MP) characteristics and concentration in the sludge streams (primary, secondary (waste activated) and digested) at a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Ontario. MPs were recovered after digestion and density...

On the Boundary Rigidity of the Planar Jacobian Conjecture Below Degree 125: A Computational Audit of the GGHV (72, 108) Candidate

Second edition of a computational audit of the degree-(72,108) Newton-polygon candidate (GGHV Case (c)) for the planar Jacobian conjecture. Reports a Lean 4 machine-checked valuative-properness predicate for the identity, one elementary triangular automorphism, and arbitrary GL_2...

Extratropical teleconnections in a multi-model ensemble nudged towards the observed QBO

The Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), the dominant mode of interannual variability of monthly-mean zonal winds and temperatures in the equatorial stratosphere, has a significant influence on the circulation in other regions of the stratosphere and troposphere in boreal winter. To...

Centering equity, diversity and inclusion in environmental evidence synthesis: from awareness to action

Abstract Knowledge generated through evidence synthesis is an approach that decision-makers can take to inform policy and management decisions. Evidence syntheses, such as systematic reviews, provide quantitative and qualitative summaries of this evidence, using structured method...

Mapping Oil Spills and Offshore Industrial Activities in the Northwest Atlantic for Marine Conservation and Management

ABSTRACT Anthropogenic activities such as oil pollution, vessel traffic and artificial light pose growing threats to marine ecosystems across Canada's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and adjacent Atlantic waters. Despite their importance, data describing the spatial and temporal di...

Size and coating impacts on copper oxide nanoparticle transformations and toxicity to earthworms

Introduction: A key concern for the risk assessment of metallic engineered nanomaterials in the terrestrial environment is the degree to which particle size and functional coatings may alter particle dissolution transformations and subsequent toxicity and bioaccumulation effects....

Using movement data from satellite telemetry to infer nesting status and breeding propensity of a colonial breeder, the American common eider (Somateria mollissima dresseri)

Abstract Background American common eiders ( Somateria mollissima dresseri ) are ecologically and culturally important sea ducks in northeastern North America. Female eiders may not breed every year, making breeding propensity (the proportion of sexually mature females breeding i...

Using Tower‐Based Observational Networks to Assess the Impact of COVID‐19 Lockdowns on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Six North American Cities

Abstract The onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic in North America and the lockdowns that followed in March 2020 brought forth a rapid change to societal functions disrupting many aspects of normal life, including the greenhouse gas emissions associated with them. In this work, we exam...