Atmospheric emissions monitoring and vegetation effects in the Athabasca oil sands region

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Dabbs, D.L. (Editor)

• Atmospheric emissions from oil sands plants are regulated by government. Both Syncrude Canada Ltd. and Suncor Inc. independently operate emission and air quality monitoring and reporting systems. The systems include air quality monitoring trailers and sulphation cylinder stations. In addition to the required monitoring, both Syncrude and Suncor conduct a number of voluntary monitoring research projects to enhance the understanding of regional atmospheric conditions, and the cumulative ecological effects of emissions from oil sands plants in the area. This report presents a consolidation of the findings of four individual projects sponsored by Syncrude. The study area for this report was centred over the emission sources, and extended approximately 50 km around the plants. The additional monitoring projects included stack gas sampling, elemental analysis, and dispersion modelling. Two biological monitoring programs have also been conducted to measure vegetation stress and bioaccumulation of elements in lichens and mosses. The biological monitoring studies were initiated prior to the start-up of the Syncrude plant, and continued with repeat sampling in 1983 and 1984.

• Date created

  1985

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Oil Sands
  • Biomonitoring
  • Oil sands
  • Tar Sands
  • Tar sands
  • Syncrude
  • Environmental Research Monograph 1985-5
  • SO2
  • Air Quality
  • Alberta
  • Lichen
  • Canada, Alberta, Fort McMurray

• Type of Item

  Report

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3TT4FT3P

• License

  Conditions of Use Dabbs, D.L. (Editor), 1985. Atmospheric emissions monitoring and vegetation effects in the Athabasca oil sands region. Syncrude Canada Ltd., Edmonton, Alberta. Environmental Research Monograph 1985-5. 127 pp. Permission for non-commercial use, publication or presentation of excerpts or figures is granted, provided appropriate attribution (as above) is cited. Commercial reproduction, in whole or in part, is not permitted without prior written consent. The use of these materials by the end user is done without any affiliation with or endorsement by Syncrude Canada Ltd. Reliance upon the end user's use of these materials is at the sole risk of the end user.