Hint: it’s the largest earthquake that ever hit eastern North America. So why the interest? It’s quite simple. By collecting and dating samples of wood and organic material buried in the debris of ground movements, the researchers can determine whether there have been other major quakes and thus measure the threat of earthquakes in the area.

As a surveyor for the International Boundary Commission, Joe Harrietha “works the line” in locating and maintaining the vast Canada–United States border. The Canadian section of the Commission is part of Natural Resources Canada, and he’s worked in some of the most remote and scenic areas in Canada for more than 25 years. These photos are from some of his expeditions.

An account of Joe Harrietha’s 2017 expedition on the Yukon–Alaska border.

OTTAWA - Climate change affects the Arctic in different ways. Regional impacts include coastal erosion, evolving ocean currents and temperatures, shifting migration patterns over land and sea, and melting permafrost that heaves buildings and roads.

Travelling and working in remote regions of Canada’s North is no easy task. Ask Natural Resources Canada seismologist Andrew Schaeffer, who ventured to the Northwest Territories (NWT) this summer to better understand earthquakes and related natural hazards.

Canada’s southwestern Arctic is of special interest to scientists exploring the interrelated roles of seismic activity, climate change and coastal erosion.

As the second-largest country in the world, Canada has a lot of territory and different types of land cover to map, including urban areas, water, desert, rock, ice and snow formations.

The written word has long helped us understand science and the natural world around us. In fact, Natural Resources Canada is home to the first ever science library in Canada, dating back to 1854.

Recent visitors to the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium in Montreal have been amazed by twenty photographs resulting from Canadian scientific research. One brightly coloured image in particular is attracting attention — a microscopic image taken by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) scientists showing a white walnut or butternut tree defending itself against an exotic pathogenic fungus.

Canada has the world’s largest stock of standing western redcedar, but this once-dominant species is showing disturbing signs of distress. After a few years of very dry conditions, trees on lower-elevation sites in eastern Vancouver Island are slowly dying. Scientists at the Pacific Forestry Centre are trying to get to the root of the problem.