December 2019

A trio of Earth observation satellites launched in June 2019 is providing Canadians with a more detailed picture of our country and oceans than ever before.

Known collectively as the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM), these satellites mark a significant upgrade to Canada’s RADARSAT program. And by using a new imaging technology assessed and recommended by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), RCM images provide scientists with more information to better understand our planet.

The Arctic Ocean is a vast, cold, isolated and utterly fascinating part of the northern hemisphere. Beneath its surface, thousands of metres below, is an extension of our country known as the continental shelf. And now, based on massive amounts of geoscientific data measuring the seafloor, an additional 1.2 million square kilometres could be added to Canada’s land area of 9.98 million km².

Based on massive amounts of geoscientific data measuring the seafloor, an additional 1.2 million square kilometres could be added to Canada’s land area of 9.98 million km².

The world’s oceans in their great vastness support an incredible diversity of aquatic species. But how much do we really know about life beneath the surface? For instance, in the deep waters off the coasts of B.C. and Alaska, a truly unique community of organisms combines to form glass sponge reefs that were once thought to be extinct — a discovery so unexpected that scientists often compare it to finding a herd of dinosaurs still roaming the earth.

The boreal forest of North America developed after the last ice age about 10,000 years ago. We might expect that climate change and human occupation of the territory would put the boreal forest at greater risk of fire. But a recent scientific study involving Martin Girardin, a research scientist from the Laurentian Forestry Centre at the Canadian Forest Service, has found the opposite.

Historically, much of the waste from mining activities has posed long-term liability issues with little or no economic value. But what if mining companies could recover the metals, like gold, and then sell them? The answer, these days, is obvious: they could reduce their environmental impact and, at the same time, contribute to a green economy.

For weeks, Simon Tolszczuk-Leclerc and the Emergency Geomatics Service (EGS) team have been following the spring thaw and river ice breakup. They know exactly what to do, and they’re ready to take immediate action.

On the morning of February 8, 1855, a 5.2-magnitude earthquake near Moncton, New Brunswick, sent rumbles through the Maritimes and Maine. Over a century later, newspaper archives have allowed research scientists to uncover much information about this event.

Global warming provides some of the most dynamic backdrops for climate change scientists at work today. This is especially true for Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) researchers who are on the leading edge, looking to gain a greater understanding of the unsettling effects of climate change.

What do 360-degree virtual reality, the oil and gas sector and threatened boreal caribou have in common? Plenty, it turns out. And especially in Alberta, where work is underway to restore tens of thousands of kilometres of seismic lines — those narrow clear-cut strips found throughout Canada’s boreal forest that were created to help locate oil and natural gas deposits.