Environment Canada, Air Quality Research Branch
The Air Quality Research Branch was formed in 1971, originally to study acid rain. The staff now includes financial and personnel administrators, secretaries, engineers, chemists, meteorologists, physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists. This is the largest group of atmospheric specialists in Canada. About 25% of the employees have advanced degrees to the doctorate level. Air Quality Research Branch has established an international reputation and made a significant contribution to the advancement of the understanding of air pollution problems. It is a research community advancing scientific knowledge on air quality for the well-being of Canadians. The mission is, through research, to provide Canadians with scientific information and advice on air quality issues as a basis for informed decision-making.
The Air Quality Research Branch, together with Environment Canada regional centres, maintains about 40 monitoring stations across Canada to track daily, weekly and seasonal variations in the chemistry and physics of the atmosphere. These stations aid in the research into the chemical atmospheric processes and in verifying computer models. The main laboratories are located on the outskirts of Toronto, with smaller facilities in Ontario (Egbert, Fraserdale and Borden) and in N.W.T. (Alert and Eureka). These laboratories contain state-of-the-art equipment and play host to international scientists in an effort to build strong partnerships, both nationally and internationally.
Over the coming years, Air Quality Research Branch's research program will evolve within the framework of the Federal Government's priorities, together with the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the USA. It is committed to resolving the air pollution problems identified in these government initiatives.
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Don Mckay
Title:
Manager
Area of Responsibility:
Management Executive
Telephone:
(416) 739-4879
Fax:
(416) 739-4224
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National Research Program.
The Air Quality Research Branch of the Atmospheric Environment Service, Environment Canada, conducts laboratory experiments and sets up field stations for taking measurements allowing the scientists to assess the extent of pollution problems and to improve the understanding of the processes involved. This knowledge is used to formulate a computer model which is tested against field measurements. Once the model's performance has been verified, it is used to help in policy decisions by predicting the benefits of different pollution control strategies.
After control measures have been implemented, the Air Quality Research Branch continues monitoring pollution levels to make sure they are reduced to acceptable levels. At each of these stages, the research results are published in technical journals, and communicated to the public.
The Air Quality Research Branch assesses the effectiveness of the Canadian and U.S. control by monitoring the improvement in precipitation and air quality with the Canadian Air and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CAPMoN), and by predicting the long-term response of ecosystems using specially developed computer models. The Canadian control program aims to reduce wet deposition of sulphate to lower than 20 kilograms/hectare/year, a target designed to protect moderately sensitive freshwater systems.
In recent years, the role of the atmosphere as a pathway for toxic chemicals to remote areas has become widely recognized. With the appearance of industrial chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Arctic, scientists began to examine this transport from 'source' regions to 'sink' regions. Several international efforts are underway to identify, measure and trace airborne toxics, to understand the processes that influence them, and to establish safe levels for them.
In 1988, the Canadian Council of Ministers for the Environment set up the NOx/VOC Management Plan to resolve Canada's ozone problem by the year 2005. The plan identifies three areas in Canada that are particularly affected by smog: the Lower Fraser Valley in B.C., the Windsor-Qubec City Corridor and the Southern Atlantic Region. More research is needed to establish precisely where NOx and VOC controls will be most effective. The Branch is taking the lead role in this research, by examining the chemical processes that produce smog, by monitoring concentrations of the pollutants on a regional scale, and by developing appropriate models to evaluate control options.
In the early 1970s, scientists began to suspect that certain human activities might be harming the ozone layer. In particular, it was realized in 1975 that chlorofluorcarbons (CFCs), manufactured as coolants for refrigerators and air conditioners, were destroying stratospheric ozone. Measurements of ozone and other related gases show that ozone depletion is indeed occurring. Above Toronto, for example, the ozone layer has thinned by 4-5% since 1980.
The Air Quality Research Branch has maintained continuous long-term measurements of atmospheric greenhouse gases at Alert since 1986 to understand the global cycles of greenhouse gases, and to assess the effectiveness of control strategies. In 1989, a major research study of the Canadian northern wetlands was initiated to determine Canada's contribution to global natural methane concentrations. International collaboration in these studies has greatly enhanced the common understanding of global climate change, and continues to provide guidance in the development of national and international control strategies.
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