Source Emissions Monitoring, Oil Sands Region

Air emissions from oil sands development can come from a number of sources including industrial smokestacks, tailings ponds, transportation, and dust from mining operations. Air quality monitoring under the Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan for the Oil Sands is designed to determine the contribution of emissions from oil sands activities to local and regional air quality and atmospheric deposition both now and in the future. Source emission data include:

  • Compiled and assessed information from existing emissions inventories to enhance the quality of high resolution forecasts and simulations of air quality in the oil sands region;

  • Estimates of potential emissions to the air from tailings ponds analysed for reduced sulphur compounds (RSC), volatile organic compounds (VOC) and odour perceptibility.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated April 17, 2026, 21:57 (UTC)
Created April 17, 2026, 21:57 (UTC)
contact_email enviroinfo@ec.gc.ca
contact_person {"fr": "Gouvernement du Canada; Environnement et Changement climatique Canada, 1-800-668-6767, ec.enviroinfo.ec@canada.ca", "en": "Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada, 1-800-668-6767, ec.enviroinfo.ec@canada.ca"}
criticality_level []
data_dictionary []
geographic_scope ["0"]
open_canada_collection primary
open_canada_date_published 2015-12-17 05:00:00
open_canada_keywords {"fr": ["Sables bitumineux", "Qualité de l'air", "émissions", "air ambiant", "qualité de l'air", "sables bitumineux", "inventaire", "dioxyde de soufre", "oxydes d'azote", "hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques", "composés organiques volatiles", "composés sulfurés réduits", "les sources mobiles", "les sources pontuelles", "les sources étendues", "lesser than lesser than Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) greater than greater than", "haute résolution", "analyse des écarts", "Global Environnemental Multi-échelle - Modélisation de la qualité de l'Air et de la CHimie (GEM-MACH)", "concentration atmosphérique", "dépôts", "bassins de résidus", "odeur"], "en": ["Oil sands", "Air quality", "emissions", "ambient air", "air quality", "oil sands", "inventory", "sulphur dioxide", "nitrogen dioxide", "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons", "volatile organic compounds", "reduced sulphur compounds", "mobile source", "point source", "area source", "Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE)", "high resolution", "gap analysis", "Global Environmental Multi-scale - Modelling Air quality and CHemistry (GEM-MACH)", "atmospheric concentrations", "deposition", "tailings pond", "odour"]}
open_canada_subject ["nature_and_environment"]
sensitivity_level unrestricted
title_fr Surveillance des sources d'émissions, région des sables bitumineux
update_frequency as_needed